Love this site. I've learned a ton from you guys in the last few weeks. I was hoping you wouldn't mind looking at this basic mechanic. I want to start adding chrome to it, but I want to make sure there are no bugs with the basics so they don't bite me after several more weeks of work.

CHARACTERS
You’re character will be made up of a written description that contains several keywords or “Traits” (such as “strong”, “brave”, or “cunning”). Traits are inherent abilities or qualities that will help your character during his adventures. “Flaws” are keywords that have a negative impact on your character’s performance. Your character will also have a number of skills with a number rating, and may progress along any number of training paths. Each path has a series of Steps that grant increasingly useful abilities.

THE RULES
Skills are rated from 0 to 5. When you want to do something, the GM will tell you which of your skills is appropriate. Roll a d10 and add your skill number. If you have a Trait that can be applied to the skill attempt you roll an additional die (a d6 for a minor Trait, a d8 for a major trait), and take the best result of the skill die and trait die. If you have a Flaw that applies to the skill attempt your skill die will decrease (the d10 skill die becomes a d8 for a minor Flaw or a d6 for a major flaw).

Ok, those are the bare bones basics. Not too ground breaking. My design goals: After playing a lot of d20 games I wanted a game with a minimum of number crunching, keeping rolls + skill and bonuses under 20 for easy handling. I wanted to reduce the wiff factor (hence the secondary trait die) and incorporate some player defined abilities (the keyword Traits and Flaws). Feats from d20 are a big hit with my players, so I'm trying to incorporate similiar "rule-breaking" abilities in the guise of Steps along training paths.

My questions for you:

1) I need a math formula ti determine the various probablities for my dice rolling (d10 and d6, take the highest, d10 and d8 take the highest, d8 and d6 take the highest, d6 and d6, take the highest).

2) Skills are rated from 0 to 5. With such low numbers, does this make luck more important than skill level? Would increasing skill levels to a max of 10 reduce the importance of the die roll?

3) The keyword traits. I know several other games use player defined abilities (HeroQuest, Unknown Armies). Do they limit what the players can come up with? I'm toying with the idea of limiting Traits to a predetermined list of keywords, but I think that would rob the feature of its fun.

That's it for now. Thanks for taking a look at this.

-John

Just some ideas....

Usually freeform traits don't have set skill lists, why would you want to do both? Also, you are using a dice pool mechanic, but using addition in the mechanic. Why not have the skill level associated to a die type (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12) that gives you 5 levels of increasing skill.

I got to thinking about attributes: Strength, Agility, etc. and realized I didn't really care about them. I mean, in DnD does it really matter if Joe has a 10 Strength and Bill has a 12. It doesn't really define their character. But Arnold with his 18 strength, that's intrinisic to who he is.

I wanted a broad list of Traits so players could make characters who are "Really strong, have a wicked sense of humor and can fly a plane" rather than listing out scores of abilities that may not define their chracter very well. I wanted to trim the fat of unneccessary statistics.

The skill list is for when I need the characters to do something. I find myself asking for "notice checks" even in games that don't have them. If the players can come up with their own skill list, they may not have some of the skills I'll want to use frequently during sessions.

Finally, is it really a dice pool mechanic? I always thought of dice pools as using the results from all the dice thrown, with a character's skill/abbility determining how many dice are thrown or what the target number is. I want to use only two dice and take the highest. The extra trait die is like insurance, helping your character accomplish tasks you've designed him to be good at.

Thanks for the feedback.

John,

I am not really sure what type of game play you are interested in creating. I would take a hybrid approach to limiting keywords, make a list of them, but don't limit not creating your own. That way players have a feel for what kind of world/setting/situations you want this game to create.

One thing you might consider is making this a roll under system. It would take a bit of monkeying around with the system, but it would be even simpler than an add system. One possible suggestion: all skills run 1-5, roll maybe a D10, D12 if minorly flawed, D20 if majorly flawed or you have no applicable skill (chance with a 1 as a success). In addition to your main die, roll a minor trait die of D8 or a major trait die of D6 (if applicable). If you roll equal to or under your skill level keep the die, otherwise ignore it (the result = 0). If you roll successfully on both dice, add them together. Results will run 0 - 10. You must equal or exceed a difficulty or an opposing skill level (which need not be rolled).

Your system should work great though, I just don't want you to ignore your options.

I can't really tell you whether you need to limit your keywords. What type of game is this mechanic supporting? My thought is that if you are going to include feat tracks, that yes, you will probably need to limit keywords. Need more information.

Later,
Mark