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It's been a while since I've graced the boards, but I've just finished the rough draft of my new Social Based RPG. I was hoping that I can pass the core rules through here and see if I've missed something non-apparent, or if other people have some problems.

Dice Rolling/Attribute rules: The 5 Attributes have a rating between 2 to 12, and all challenges are rolled on 2d6 vs. an Attribute, modified by bonuses (As -'s) and Penalties (as +'s). You want to roll your Attribute or less.

Physical Confrontation Rule: Physical Conflict is resolved on a roll of 1d6, a 3 or less succeeds. No long term serious injuries occur, due to the Cartoon Physics rules.

Determination Point Rules: All players start with 2 determination points, and gain more naturally during play, by DM. Determination points allow you to use some powers, turn failures into successes, or recover from a Heartbroken state.

Gimps and Tags: Each player has a number of tags and gimps. A tag is a characteristic of a player that another player (including a DM) can use to gain a +2 bonus on their checks, as long as both players work out how it helps. A Gimp is like a Tag, except that it prevents a player from accomplishing an action. In exchange, they get a point of determination to use on a different action later on.

Depression: Whenever a player fails, they gain a point of depression. The first one does nothing, the second and third one impart a +1 and +2 penalty, and the last point makes a character "heartbroken". When a character is heartbroken, they can continue to interact with the game, but they are not allowed to assist with the party goals.

Scenario Generation: Game Play is Episodic. A scenario typically has 24 points to accomplish, divided into 4 groups of 6. The Scenarios are generated by the party, through a Mad-Libs style form, allowing the party to define goals that they wish to accomplish while playing that session.

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And that's it for the rules, really. Everything else is Modifers for Race, Powers, and Knacks (Equivlant of Skills that grant a -1 bonus to recover)

Whoh a roll under system. They're kinda rare these days (of course I use one).

Could you remind us of your setting? You posted in the pledges a bit back that you had one but didn't elaborate much on what it was. I take it from your name and from the mention of a toon like setting you're doing some kind of high school or coming of age anime?

As far as what you've written I see nothing wrong with it, where it becomes an issue is if the rules help or hinder the setting.

Well, the current project that this rule set is being used for is for a Talking Pony game. I'm currently working on sample fluff and some illustrations to provide separation from That Corporation's Franchise, but I plan on giving the game away to that fanbase. I had started some brief notes about a year ago when someone posted that they wanted to use D&D for playing the game, and I went "That is so wrong!".

Actually, one member of that fan base has put together a remarkable book using Savage Worlds, and while it does the trick, I feel it doesn't accomplish the same thing I am trying to accomplish here.

Okay why would physical confrontation be handled differently than other confrontations? Wouldn't it just be an attribute vs attribute?

How do Determination points work?

Something in me says that "gimp" really isn't a good term to use, (zeds dead...) and you should replace it with "demerits", "liabilities" or "failings". Speaking of which, it may be better to render the system as using a demerit gives you a penalty to an action, not an automatic failure - or else it turns into a vicious cycle of use liability, gain DP, use DP to pay off depression from using demerit - no net gain. Another possibility would be to set up a rubric of DP rewards vs depression. Choosing to fail at something important or possibly dangerous will gain more points than simply tripping up at minor times to gain free points.

Aside from that, you need to be really mindful of the 2d6 bell curve. Seven is the most commonly rolled, and the relative effect of a bonus changes notably. +2 means a lot more to a person rated at four than one with an attribute of eight. What is the median attribute for most player characters?

The old D6 Starwars game had darkside points - where a GM could tempt a player into certain actions by offering free force points (which were quite powerful bonuses.) Perhaps a similar temptation to be bad/defect mechanic could have a role in this game as well.

I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of games where different types of action have different systems associated with them.

The general description looks like a decent set up for a system.

Onix : Physical Confrontation is resolved differently because there is no Trait for Strength, nor any kind of Fighting System, outside of the die roll. In the game, Traits represent desired traits in friends, instead of the traditional Physical/Mental setup of most RPG's. There just needs to be a rule for "Ponies move heavy rocks out of way/Pony knocks out Giant Chicken", so on and so on.

Determination points are much like Hero or Action points in other games. They are handed out as tokens, and are spent on the actions as described above.

Chainsaw : Oh dear. I had not realized that I had never written down the intent that Gimp cards were not suppose to add to the Depression track anywhere. Thank you for catching that!

The idea behind Gimps was to make the game more interactive between players, which would encourage a little party competition, as well as to give the game master a way to hinder the party a little, as the game lacks serious adversarial conflict. I will consider a different name for the Trait.

I will also consider applying it as a Penalty as well.

I'm aware of the penalty of the bell curve. The largest Negative Modifier in the game is a -4 (To break another character out of being heartbroken without using Determination Points), and even then, I am waiting till playtest to decide if that number shouldn't really be lower. The average Trait should be about 8, but I'm expecting someone to game the system, and start with like two 10's, and 8, and two 2's.

I like the Darkside system from the D6 Star Wars system, but I am not sure if it fits the themes I am looking for. A "Bully" track is an interesting idea, though. I'll have to think about it some, and make a note of it into the "Incomplete Thoughts for Game" section for now.

As stated in the into pargraph, Determination Points turn failures into success. Yes, it's an autosuccess.

I disagree that Universal Resolution System is desirable in all games, and adding a Virtue or Statistic instead of making it an odd rule out will encourage players to use is more aggressively. The rule is there for when it's needed, but the plan is to deliberately not placed on any sheets (Except for one which has a mention, which will be the exception to the rule) so that "Getting Tough" is not thought of as a go to solution.

(Forgive for not giving a lot of details, but Breeds of Pony are more of a "Piddling little details" thing that doesn't affect mechanical issues in general, so I don't feel needs to go into detail, really)

Forward: My appologies, but I felt that I needed to rant a little about Classic Role Playing Resolutions, and territory I've been thinking and trying to press into for at least a year and a half now. In this, I refer to the previous Onix post about some pony games, which he felt would be useful to me, which they may indeed prove. However, that triggered a reaction about a common thread shared by all pony games I've been exposed to, and that problem is strangled deep into Role Playing Game roots.

Of the systems you have shown me (Yeah! Two news ones to look at, to the 4 I'd known about before), the one that had it's paged pulled intrigued me the most. I wish I could have seen it to know more. The other one has the same basic flaw as every other pony game that I've seen, and that is they stay within the confines that D&D has defined. They make what the show that they are inspired by a secondary trait, and one that doesn't directly influence what a character does. I give mad props for the First site to have incorporated it at all, though! That's about the second one that I've seen do that.

I want to take those elements from the show, and place them front and center. In the game I am presenting, you don't do an act of friendship, and get a bonus to a task, you act against or with your Nature (as defined by the traits of friendship) to push forward the Scenario's Goals. The question of "Is that Friend stronger than you" or "Is that character Smarter than you" don't need to be answered ever, or if a player thinks it's important, they put down on their Gifts "Strong", and for an episode, they are Strong.

As such, the question of "Can I jump X?" the answer is "Yes." Because Ponies are awesome. The only time it would be a no is if it was defined by one of the character's traits, which creates drama as players role play out how the pony can get across, and what is more important to get them across, being loyal? Being kind? Being happy? Their tests move the plot, and help keep the focus of the game where it should be.

One of the things that John Wick's design of Yesterday's Tomorrows showed me was that you didn't have to stick to the standard line of St/Dx/Cn/In/Ws/Ch, in whatever form you wanted. You could present statistics that were important to your game without having to go to the default roots. Between that, and my recent passion that HP's and Monster Statistics get in the way of games, I'm trying to press into new territory. I've not completely left the roots with this system, but I'm mostly there. Part of the reason I've discarded so many Pony games (With one exception) is that they don't go as far as I'd like them to go, and when push comes to shove, you could probably play the exact same kind of game as people have been playing for 30+ years. To avoid people thinking along those lines, and to push forward the somewhat loopy reality that is Cartoon Physics, I've eliminated those things from the game. The reason that physical tasks are given a very separate rule that doesn't match with the rest of the system is to emphasis that Combat Doesn't Matter, and in the Scenario Section, the statement "The Results of Physical Conflict typically do not add to the Success Tracks of the Episode".

I'm not saying "Don't do physical things in the game", but I am saying "Fighting physically isn't important to friendships", and hopefully, by setting that tone, I help shape the rest of the tones for the game.