Friday, October 31, 2014

RPG systems

If you ask me what I love to play, my answer would include one of these systems:
-Barbarians of Lemuria (BoL)
-Epées et Sorcellerie (EeS)
-FUDGE
-Microlite74 (M74)
-Dragonlance 5th Age (SAGA System)
-ICONS

What about systems I like?
-GURPS
-Savage Worlds
-Swords & Wizardry
-FATE
-AD&D 2nd edition
-OPERA (a Brazilian generic roleplaying system)
-Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game (SAGA System)

Now, I've played my share of games (28 years of roleplaying teaches on a lot of things), from the well known incarnations of the most famous RPG on the market to BESM, Kult, Paranoia... I don't include them on the love or like lists above now, but that doesn't mean I haven't done that in the past.

Do you have your favorites?

Thursday, October 30, 2014

BoL - "Flavor Text" Magic

My system of choice for my current campaign is the great Barbarians of Lemuria (BoL for now on). It's a fantastic system (you may read my review here) for swords & sorcery action.

Now, while I love BoL's standard magic system (it's perfect for those EHP and cultists you love to dismember), I also like to tinker... I've already managed to create kind of rune magic system for BoL, but this time I wanted to do something different. Keep reading.

What is magic? When you answer that question you define how you want your magic system to be. I'm considering the following alternative: magic is simply flavor text.

Why do that? Because, depending on how you treat magic, that's what happens. Let's see some examples:

-The sorcerer casts a spell to hit a foe at range.
-The sorcerer creates a magic blade and strikes his enemy.
-The sorcerer charms the guard into letting him pass.
-The sorcerer opens a lock by touching it with his wand.
-The sorcerer levitates over a chasm to reach the other side.
-The sorcerer shapechanges himself into a wolf.


Picture the scenes above. Done that? Good. Now consider this:

-The warrior hits a foe with his bow.
-The barbarian strikes his enemy with his might axe.
-The cunning maid uses her appeal to convince the guard to let her pass.
-The rogue opens a lock using his tools.
-The acrobat tosses a rope to the other side of a chasm and uses it to cross it.
-The sorcerer shapechanges himself into a wolf.


Except for the last example, everything the sorcerer did was just something another competent hero could do, only using magic! What was magic in those examples? Just flavor text. Just a catch-all term for the action.

That said, how to deal with those cases (I'll let the last example for later)? How to codify the system?

First of all, in order to use sorcery (magic, conjurations, whatever), one must have a few ranks of a Sorcerer (or something like that) career - even 0.

Then remember that BoL uses Attribute + Combat Stat to resolve combats and Attribute + Career to resolve other actions. This is important! I've onsidered at first to use the Sorcerer ranks in combat and it became completely unbalanced (a Sorcerer would devote all his combat points to Initiative and/or Defense, using sorcery to attack and defend blows). Don't mess with it.

So, how will this work? Simple.

When in combat, the sorcerer will use the standard stats assigned on Initiative, Melee, Ranged and Defense (or Brawl, Melee, Ranged and Defense if you use Legendary or older rules). He may describe the magical effects of his actions, but it's simply flavor text. Sure, he can't be disarmed or spend his last "arrow", since everything is created by magic... Or you can use the following rule:

When using magic in combat, if the caster rolls doubles and the number rolled is over the double of his Sorcerer career rank, the spell cast was the last his Resolve could muster... Additional castings will result in 1 LB loss until he spends a few hours resting/meditating/fasting...

So, a hero with 2 ranks in Sorcery will begin to lose LB to cast spells after he rolls double 3s, double 4s, double 5s or double 6s. A 4-rank Sorcerer would suffer such effects only after rolling duble 5s or double 6s.

What about using magic outside combat in order to perform tasks other heroes could do in mundane ways? Attribute + Sorcerer rank, magic is just flavor text and the risk is the same as above. Just consider this: if a rogue picking a lock would take 10 minutes to be successful, a sorcerer using magic to open that lock would need a 10-minute casting time (chanting, tracing runes) to conjure the spell. Remember: this is just flavor text!

So, magic is flexible? Yes. But using too much magic may result in LB loss. And, additionally...

...rolling a Catastrofic Failure may result in severe backlash. A random table could have interesting results here.

Ok, I got it. Magic is flexible, is considered flavor text, and have a few risks... But what about attempting real magic effects, like the shapechanging you mentioned?

I'm glad you asked that. Again, this is simple. Remember those Hero Points you've hoarded for being a great player, allowing everyone to have fun and creating memorable scenes? Use them!

A Hero Point can be spent by a Sorcerer in order to conjure real magic. It's simply a way to have narrative control of the scene for a moment - i.e., just another flavor text, only more powerful.

Okay, I think this is it. If you have any questions or comments, please join the discussion. Also, I'd love to see your random backlash tables.

Post-scriptum: You can also use the standard BoL magic system. It would represent a ritualistic approach to magic, while the flavor text would be just an improvisational style.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Small Area Hex Map

If you want to hexplore a small region, this may fit the bill.

Friday, October 24, 2014

Dropping negative numbers in FUDGE/FATE

(It seems I'm on a FUDGE vibe)

When playing FUDGE, I've heard many players complain about the negative numbers. Being used to roll natural numbers all their lives, the idea of having a Mediocre (-1) skill and roll -2 on the die was inconceivable. I know, it is simple to add negative numbers, but somehow they considered that to be unnatural and against the laws of the universe.

The alternative? Upscaling the numbers. It'll be the same system and it'll address their complaints.

First of all, you should use 4d3 instead 4dF. This will ensure you'll roll something from 4 to 12. If you prefer some alternative rolling method--keep reading.

The Attributes and Skills now are changed too. The new ladder is:

Terrible (1) - Poor (2) - Mediocre (3) - Fair (4) - Good (5) - Great (6) - Superb (7)

If you look closer, that means the new ladder is the same as the old, but with 4 added to each step.

Having considered that, the next step is to determine Target Numbers. Since the old zero roll is now equal to 8, a Fairly skilled hero would need 8 on the dice to succeed on a Fair task. Fair skill (4) + 8 (rolled) = 12. The other numbers can be extrapolated from this, as below:

Difficult Target Number
Superb
15
Great
14
Good
13
Fair
12
Mediocre
11
Poor
10
Terrible
9

Simple? Yes.

But what about using the 3d6 drop mid method I explained yesterday (or any method that gives you a -5 to +5 result)? It's just a matter of changing the target numbers...

Yesterday I told you to roll 3d6, drop the middle die, and subtract 7. That would give you a -5 to +5 result. Now we won't subtract anything, having a result from 2 to 12.

(Trait + 3d6, drop mid) is now the main mechanic. A Fair result on the dice will be a 7 now, so a Fairly skilled (4) hero would need to roll a 7 to succeed on a Fair task, as below:

Difficult Target Number
Superb
14
Great
13
Good
12
Fair
11
Mediocre
10
Poor
9
Terrible
8

Yet, let me tell you this: once you are used with this, there's the risk of dropping the adjectives and using only the numbers...

Thursday, October 23, 2014

FUDGE/FATE Dice alternatives

It's no secret I'm very fond of FUDGE (Freeform Universal Do-it-yourself Gaming Engine), but I know the standard Fudge die (a d6 with two plus sides, two minus sides and two blank sides, essentially a d3-2) is not too easy to find.

Of course this can also be used on FATE, a derived system.

My first 4dF were standard d6 painted red (for the minus sides) and black (for the plus sides) with acryllic paint. After that, for years, I've used the 4d6 alternative explained in the rules. Then I finally got some Fudge dice (including the velvet bag). It was great.

However, I do like standard d6, and the 4d6 alternative was a bit cumbersome to explain to new players. On a side note, I admit I don't like the d6-d6 mechanics used in some FATE games, so this is a no-no.

Then it hit me: since FUDGE already uses standard 3d6 for its Min-Med-Max damage system, why not use 3d6 for action resolution too? But how to implement 3d6 and still keep the standard bell curve of 4dF?

This is what I propose: roll 3d6, keep the highest and the lowest rolls (in essence, 3d6, drop mid), minus 7. This will give you a -5 to +5 range with 25% of rolling exact 0.

The graph below shows this and other rolling methods together (click to embigger):

What do you think?

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Magical Runes

Random magical runes created this morning...
I imagine the casters dancing when invoking them... It has some interesting flavor.

Reboot

I've decided to change a few things around here. In fact, this is a complete reboot of the blog, a course of action I should have done a lot sooner.

Anyway, stay tuned for the news...