working out a game idea, for all to see
Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 3:20 pmSo I've had this game idea eating at me for a few months now. I keep coming up with post apocalypse games, so why not make a general system for survival style games? My own spin on how to run games where there characters are always fighting just to be alive. As I sat down I realized I like having you all giving me suggestions and support, so I'm going to do much of the writing here. Please note I'm not going to give you the exact way it will be in the final draft, this is being written at you monkeys....
Part 1, section 1: character creation, stats
The basic philosophy of the game's system is "all things being equal". The stats of the game, while still the skeleton, are to show how the character is doing. This will be a pool system with all character rolls starting with the same # of dice, then applying what the characters stats do to that # then any other bonuses/penalties.
We class the stats into 3 categories; Needs, condition, and environment. All stats have are #/# with the first being the character Threshold (full strength) and the second # being where its at right now.
Needs:are the basics one need to survive. They are food, water, shelter, and clothing. The average human has a rating at 20-25, a max of 40 and a min. of 10.
*Food shows how flexible one is with nutrition and just how well fed they are at the moment. As it goes down it starts to reduce the number of dice a character has to roll when dealing with physical and mental activity, ones strength of either starts to fail. It also starts to lower your health and energy (see conditions). Complete loss causes the character to start to die with out help.
*Water shows how water it take a character to be hydrated as well as what there current level of hydration is. As it goes down it starts to reduce the number of dice a character has to roll when dealing with physical and mental activity, ones stamina of mind and body weakens. It also starts to lower your energy and calm (see conditions). Complete loss causes the character to start to die with out help.
*Shelter shows how well protected at night the character is as well as there ability to resist environmental changes. Threshold shows how well one tolerates loss of comfort at rest or sleep. As it goes down penalties to dealing with environment increases, one is less equipped to deal with the world. It also starts to lower your energy, calm, and health. Complete loss takes dice away from a character's rolls, Their body is no longer able to maintain its normal.
*Clothing shows how well protected at day or night the character is as well as there ability to resist environmental changes. Threshold shows how well one tolerates loss of comfort while active. As it goes down penalties to dealing with environment increases, one is less equipped to deal with the world. It also starts to lower your energy, calm, and health. Complete loss takes dice away from a character's rolls, Their body is no longer able to Maintain its normal.
Food, water, and cloths tend to shift allot over a game day or week. Water is the most sensitive, of course, a day with out water is damaging. Food is next worse 2-3 days is damaging with a week bringing the start of real problems. Cloths are the most flexible, you can take off and put back on cloths to adjust to weather.
Shelter tends to shift by weeks or months, based on season and weather. That's not to say its a minor issue, try not sleeping much for 3 days and then tell me if it matters...
Condition:while needs cover how well maintained you are, condition's are how well you are doing as a whole. They are Health, Calm, Energy, and Sanity. The average human has a rating at 20-25, a max of 40 and a min. of 10.
*Health represents not how damaged you are (but that will lower your health), but rather what state your body is in. Its threshold show how resilient you are, how much your body can go through be for weakening. As it goes down it starts to reduce the number of dice a character has to roll when dealing with physical activity.You start being penalized dice towards acting. Complete loss causes the character to start to die with out help.
*Calm show how well one can keep their emotions in check will dealing with people and events. As Calm drops the difficulty the less mental/social activities a character can do be for breaking down. You begin to cope with less and less. Complete loss causes the character to freak out, all the can do is scream and shout or run around. As this goes on the character regains calm at a rate of 1 point per turn (about 3 seconds) the character stops when there calm reaches a penalty step (see below) that ='s threshold - (the number in the ten's places, min 1) {Ex: the average person stops at 1/2 threshold...see below}
*Energy show just how much physical activity you can/have done before passing out. As it drops the character starts to have to make a roll (with die reduction) to keep going and not sit their ass down. None lethal damage lowers your energy as if you had been active. Complete loss causes the character to pass out for 5-(the # in the tens place of of your energy, min 0)mins. When the character wakes up they will be at 1/4 of threshold. (see below)
*Sanity is a rating to show how well one deals with reality, how fragile that hold is, and where they are at compared to their own "NORMAL" As you start to lose sanity, mental activity become more difficult. The penalties for mental acts increase. Complete loss causes the character to loss touch with reality, The Death Hand (GM's title) will start to feed you what the character thinks is going on.....this lasts till some thing challenges this reality view, as which point the character rolls to snap out of it...then recovery is a slow process.
Before moving on to environment lets talk a quick moment on penalty steps....For needs and conditions as the rating falls to specific points bad things (see above) occur. These points are at 3/4, 1/2, and 1/4 of your threshold (round up) this is why low is BAD!!! you have less wiggle room to survive with.
next post environment and what you get to spend on stats in character creation.
Part 1, section 1: character creation, stats
The basic philosophy of the game's system is "all things being equal". The stats of the game, while still the skeleton, are to show how the character is doing. This will be a pool system with all character rolls starting with the same # of dice, then applying what the characters stats do to that # then any other bonuses/penalties.
We class the stats into 3 categories; Needs, condition, and environment. All stats have are #/# with the first being the character Threshold (full strength) and the second # being where its at right now.
Needs:are the basics one need to survive. They are food, water, shelter, and clothing. The average human has a rating at 20-25, a max of 40 and a min. of 10.
*Food shows how flexible one is with nutrition and just how well fed they are at the moment. As it goes down it starts to reduce the number of dice a character has to roll when dealing with physical and mental activity, ones strength of either starts to fail. It also starts to lower your health and energy (see conditions). Complete loss causes the character to start to die with out help.
*Water shows how water it take a character to be hydrated as well as what there current level of hydration is. As it goes down it starts to reduce the number of dice a character has to roll when dealing with physical and mental activity, ones stamina of mind and body weakens. It also starts to lower your energy and calm (see conditions). Complete loss causes the character to start to die with out help.
*Shelter shows how well protected at night the character is as well as there ability to resist environmental changes. Threshold shows how well one tolerates loss of comfort at rest or sleep. As it goes down penalties to dealing with environment increases, one is less equipped to deal with the world. It also starts to lower your energy, calm, and health. Complete loss takes dice away from a character's rolls, Their body is no longer able to maintain its normal.
*Clothing shows how well protected at day or night the character is as well as there ability to resist environmental changes. Threshold shows how well one tolerates loss of comfort while active. As it goes down penalties to dealing with environment increases, one is less equipped to deal with the world. It also starts to lower your energy, calm, and health. Complete loss takes dice away from a character's rolls, Their body is no longer able to Maintain its normal.
Food, water, and cloths tend to shift allot over a game day or week. Water is the most sensitive, of course, a day with out water is damaging. Food is next worse 2-3 days is damaging with a week bringing the start of real problems. Cloths are the most flexible, you can take off and put back on cloths to adjust to weather.
Shelter tends to shift by weeks or months, based on season and weather. That's not to say its a minor issue, try not sleeping much for 3 days and then tell me if it matters...
Condition:while needs cover how well maintained you are, condition's are how well you are doing as a whole. They are Health, Calm, Energy, and Sanity. The average human has a rating at 20-25, a max of 40 and a min. of 10.
*Health represents not how damaged you are (but that will lower your health), but rather what state your body is in. Its threshold show how resilient you are, how much your body can go through be for weakening. As it goes down it starts to reduce the number of dice a character has to roll when dealing with physical activity.You start being penalized dice towards acting. Complete loss causes the character to start to die with out help.
*Calm show how well one can keep their emotions in check will dealing with people and events. As Calm drops the difficulty the less mental/social activities a character can do be for breaking down. You begin to cope with less and less. Complete loss causes the character to freak out, all the can do is scream and shout or run around. As this goes on the character regains calm at a rate of 1 point per turn (about 3 seconds) the character stops when there calm reaches a penalty step (see below) that ='s threshold - (the number in the ten's places, min 1) {Ex: the average person stops at 1/2 threshold...see below}
*Energy show just how much physical activity you can/have done before passing out. As it drops the character starts to have to make a roll (with die reduction) to keep going and not sit their ass down. None lethal damage lowers your energy as if you had been active. Complete loss causes the character to pass out for 5-(the # in the tens place of of your energy, min 0)mins. When the character wakes up they will be at 1/4 of threshold. (see below)
*Sanity is a rating to show how well one deals with reality, how fragile that hold is, and where they are at compared to their own "NORMAL" As you start to lose sanity, mental activity become more difficult. The penalties for mental acts increase. Complete loss causes the character to loss touch with reality, The Death Hand (GM's title) will start to feed you what the character thinks is going on.....this lasts till some thing challenges this reality view, as which point the character rolls to snap out of it...then recovery is a slow process.
Before moving on to environment lets talk a quick moment on penalty steps....For needs and conditions as the rating falls to specific points bad things (see above) occur. These points are at 3/4, 1/2, and 1/4 of your threshold (round up) this is why low is BAD!!! you have less wiggle room to survive with.
next post environment and what you get to spend on stats in character creation.