Post by Lorpius Prime on Dec 21, 2010 21:36:48 GMT -5
We'll be using a minimalist rule set based on The Window for this game, so I encourage everyone to take a look at least at the website's quick-start page, which shows an example character sheet and explains the basic rules.
www.mimgames.com/window/rules/quickstart.html
In our game, all characters will have the following basic traits:
Strength: A character's ability to break, lift, or manipulate massive or sturdy objects. Basically what you expect this stat to be in an RPG.
Agility: Also the standard-fare RPG trait. This is a character's ability to perform physical feats quickly and precisely.
Health: A character's toughness or physical constitution. We don't have hit-points; instead health rolls will determine a character's ability to remain in action despite the shock of physical blows. However, injuries may result in the loss of Health ranks, progressively increasing the difficulty of Health rolls.
Perception: A character's ability to notice things, from hidden enemies to another character's lying expression.
Cleverness: The mental version of agility. I won't be attempting to model your characters' general intelligence or overall smarts; rather this is the ability to reason and comprehend information quickly. Cleverness may be used to bluff your way out of difficult conversation, grasp the principles of a complex pattern before the Chompers kill you, or recalibrate artillery targeting on the fly.
In addition to traits, every character will have a set of skills. These are learned, rather than innate, abilities. Since there are an infinite number of possible skills, it's advisable to focus on the most important ones to your particular character. If a situation comes during the game which requires a roll on an unlisted skill, we can determine a value at that time (in such cases, the decision is more likely to be an "average" to "poor" skill, rather than an exceptional one).
The following are some skills which might be useful or common to a variety of characters in our game:
Skill with handguns
Knowledge of alien languages
Training in close-quarters combat
Knowledge of computer programming
Skill at spaceship piloting
Training in astrogation
When creating your own list, feel free to get very specific (perhaps your character is skilled at fighting a particular type of spaceship, or even one individual vessel, but not so good with others).
The final list in your character sheet will be for your character's equipment. While this should mostly just be an ordinary list, it should be noted that a few items may have characteristics which involve dice rolls just like traits or skills. For the most part, these will be objects like armor, which would allow a roll to absorb damage before making a Health roll. Characters may also have items which could modify or replace a skill roll, such as a handheld computer with an electronic lockpicking program.
As for die rolls themselves, most rolls will be success rolls against a target of 6 (special circumstances may involve a different target). This means the smaller the die, the higher chance of success; so smaller dice correspond to higher ranks of a particular trait or skill. To summarize the meaning of the standard dice:
d4: This is a superhuman ability. None of your starting characters should roll a d4 for any trait or skill.
d6: A master-level ability. I am strongly disinclined to allow any of you to have d6 traits or skills at the start. You'll need a good story justification to convince me otherwise.
d8: Highly capable. Your character is only likely to have a couple of these—the skills or abilities which are his primary focus.
d10: Above average. These are likely to be anything in which your character has trained or studied as part of his job or a life interest.
d12: Average. This is likely to be the character's ability in most tasks, especially common skills in which a character has no particular training or experience.
d20: Weak. Skills or abilities in which your character is something of a klutz, or skills required for the performance of more delicate tasks—but in which your character has no experience.
d30: Very weak. These are things which your character would never attempt if he could help it—unless he were a masochist. If your character is a fish, he will roll a d30 when attempting unassisted movement on land.
While these are the only dice used in the original Window system. But since our rolls will likely be computer-simulated, we have the option of rolling dice with more exotic numbers of sides. If you think such case fits your character, feel free to suggest it for consideration.
Remember that when listing characteristics, the qualitative adjectives are more important than the die-value themselves. The emphasis here is on storytelling, and the more descriptive the description, the better feel I'll have for how your characters' skills will work in the game.
To finish off, I'll draw up an example character sheet for myself. Hopefully your characters will be a little more impressive.
Lorpy
Lorpy is a 6' tall, 23 year old white male with short brown hair, green eyes, and thick glasses. His origins remain a mystery, even to himself, but they are undoubtedly spectacular.
Traits:
Strength: d20—has difficulty breaking sticks.
Agility: d12—can run, jump, and skip like normal.
Health: d10—rarely falls ill.
Perception: d30—woefully unobservant.
Cleverness: d10—makes witty remarks when he can think of them.
Skills:
Good general education—d10
Studies history and economics—d8
Awful at chess—d30
Good at shooter games—d10
Has never touched a real gun—d20
Amateur writer—d12
Well-practiced at debate—d8
Licensed driver—d12
Equipment:
Simple clothes (pants, t-shirt, walking shoes)
Eyeglasses—d30 armor for the eyes
Pen
Pencil
Scrap paper
Cell phone—d6 calculator for simple math
www.mimgames.com/window/rules/quickstart.html
In our game, all characters will have the following basic traits:
Strength: A character's ability to break, lift, or manipulate massive or sturdy objects. Basically what you expect this stat to be in an RPG.
Agility: Also the standard-fare RPG trait. This is a character's ability to perform physical feats quickly and precisely.
Health: A character's toughness or physical constitution. We don't have hit-points; instead health rolls will determine a character's ability to remain in action despite the shock of physical blows. However, injuries may result in the loss of Health ranks, progressively increasing the difficulty of Health rolls.
Perception: A character's ability to notice things, from hidden enemies to another character's lying expression.
Cleverness: The mental version of agility. I won't be attempting to model your characters' general intelligence or overall smarts; rather this is the ability to reason and comprehend information quickly. Cleverness may be used to bluff your way out of difficult conversation, grasp the principles of a complex pattern before the Chompers kill you, or recalibrate artillery targeting on the fly.
In addition to traits, every character will have a set of skills. These are learned, rather than innate, abilities. Since there are an infinite number of possible skills, it's advisable to focus on the most important ones to your particular character. If a situation comes during the game which requires a roll on an unlisted skill, we can determine a value at that time (in such cases, the decision is more likely to be an "average" to "poor" skill, rather than an exceptional one).
The following are some skills which might be useful or common to a variety of characters in our game:
Skill with handguns
Knowledge of alien languages
Training in close-quarters combat
Knowledge of computer programming
Skill at spaceship piloting
Training in astrogation
When creating your own list, feel free to get very specific (perhaps your character is skilled at fighting a particular type of spaceship, or even one individual vessel, but not so good with others).
The final list in your character sheet will be for your character's equipment. While this should mostly just be an ordinary list, it should be noted that a few items may have characteristics which involve dice rolls just like traits or skills. For the most part, these will be objects like armor, which would allow a roll to absorb damage before making a Health roll. Characters may also have items which could modify or replace a skill roll, such as a handheld computer with an electronic lockpicking program.
As for die rolls themselves, most rolls will be success rolls against a target of 6 (special circumstances may involve a different target). This means the smaller the die, the higher chance of success; so smaller dice correspond to higher ranks of a particular trait or skill. To summarize the meaning of the standard dice:
d4: This is a superhuman ability. None of your starting characters should roll a d4 for any trait or skill.
d6: A master-level ability. I am strongly disinclined to allow any of you to have d6 traits or skills at the start. You'll need a good story justification to convince me otherwise.
d8: Highly capable. Your character is only likely to have a couple of these—the skills or abilities which are his primary focus.
d10: Above average. These are likely to be anything in which your character has trained or studied as part of his job or a life interest.
d12: Average. This is likely to be the character's ability in most tasks, especially common skills in which a character has no particular training or experience.
d20: Weak. Skills or abilities in which your character is something of a klutz, or skills required for the performance of more delicate tasks—but in which your character has no experience.
d30: Very weak. These are things which your character would never attempt if he could help it—unless he were a masochist. If your character is a fish, he will roll a d30 when attempting unassisted movement on land.
While these are the only dice used in the original Window system. But since our rolls will likely be computer-simulated, we have the option of rolling dice with more exotic numbers of sides. If you think such case fits your character, feel free to suggest it for consideration.
Remember that when listing characteristics, the qualitative adjectives are more important than the die-value themselves. The emphasis here is on storytelling, and the more descriptive the description, the better feel I'll have for how your characters' skills will work in the game.
To finish off, I'll draw up an example character sheet for myself. Hopefully your characters will be a little more impressive.
Lorpy
Lorpy is a 6' tall, 23 year old white male with short brown hair, green eyes, and thick glasses. His origins remain a mystery, even to himself, but they are undoubtedly spectacular.
Traits:
Strength: d20—has difficulty breaking sticks.
Agility: d12—can run, jump, and skip like normal.
Health: d10—rarely falls ill.
Perception: d30—woefully unobservant.
Cleverness: d10—makes witty remarks when he can think of them.
Skills:
Good general education—d10
Studies history and economics—d8
Awful at chess—d30
Good at shooter games—d10
Has never touched a real gun—d20
Amateur writer—d12
Well-practiced at debate—d8
Licensed driver—d12
Equipment:
Simple clothes (pants, t-shirt, walking shoes)
Eyeglasses—d30 armor for the eyes
Pen
Pencil
Scrap paper
Cell phone—d6 calculator for simple math