Last year, I started reading the Discworld series, and I was hooked immediately. A fantasy world with lots of fun and adventure, along with enough humor to leave me in tears. For those unfamiliar with it, Discworld is a series, or rather a universe, with 40+ books. Luckily, you don't have to read from Book 1-40+ in order. Inside the universe are multiple mini-series that cover different groups and their adventures.
You have Rincewind the wizard, the Witches, the city Watch, and even Death himself. They all have their own stories while also intertwining with each other.
Well, being a player of roleplaying games, I decided just reading the books isn't enough; I wanted to play a character in that world itself. Not having or being able to join a gaming group at this time, I could use Mythic for solo play, but I still needed rules for stats, combat, etc. I did pick up the GURPS Discworld RPG, and while it has a ton of background info and gives me ideas for stats, I wanted something simpler.
So here's my system:
I started with the rules from my Supers game but simplified it. I also borrowed from Two Hour Wargames and its use of 3 Skills. The difference being that THW uses Rep for Combat and Magic and Skills for everything else. My system uses 3 Abilities for everything and only Level for advancement.
I'm posting this to hopefully get input from others, as well as ideas and suggestions on the best way to proceed. For Task Resolution (combat, magic, etc.), I'm using Mythic as the stats translate 1:1.
Finally, I still have a long way to go in reading all of the books. I plan to get Thief of Time and Equal Rites next, so my knowledge of certain areas is limited.
With that in mind, let's get started:
Discworld Mixed-Rules RPG
Instead of 5 Abilities, like in my Supers game, I'll only be using 3:
Do: This is for any physical actions, such as lifting, running, jumping, bashing skulls, and combat.
Think: This is for mental actions, such as reading, deciphering, stealth, awareness, and magic.
Say: Any interactions with others. This is the only Ability that only works with others. You don't gets points for talking to yourself, no matter how engaging the conversation.
Stats for each ability can go from positive to negative, usually from +3 to -3 with 0 being average.
Each Level, a Character gets 2 Ability Points. So a Level 3 Character gets 6 Ability Points. In addition, Points can be traded from one Ability to another.
Edit. Level 0 Characters get 0 points.
Should they get bonuses for Race?
For example:
A Level 0 Bandit has 0 Ability Points, but I want him to have +1 Do for his ability to use a weapon. I need to trade off another Ability, so I go with giving him -1 Think. This means he's above average in combat and physical tasks but below average in mental tasks. It also means he has a -1 when attempting to resist magic. Hope that cloaked figure he tries to rob isn't a wizard.
From Level 2 on, a character can also trade in an Ability Point for 3 Skill Points. Skills allow you to specialize your characters in certain areas.
Suggested Skills for each Ability are:
Do: Strength, Speed, Stamina, Combat.
Think: Wit, Thieving, Alert, Magic.
Say: Bluff, Charm, Intimidate, Question.
For example:
My starting character has +1 Do and +1 Say. He's a guard who tries to maintain the peace. Reaching Level 2, I decide to give him another point in Do. However, I also want him to notice him others are sneaking around, as well as noticing clues to crimes. Therefore, I trade in the second point for +3 Alert.
Races:
Originally, I gave each race bonuses and penalties in multiple Abilities and Skills, as well as special powers for some. But this just seemed way too complicated for what I'm trying to accomplish. Finally, I just thought, '**** it,' and went with a much simpler method. Maybe too simple, but I'll give it a shot. I want to generate NPC's quickly when playing games.
With that in mind, each Race simply gets a +1 to one of the Abilities. Maybe the race is stronger than average, maybe they're quicker, or maybe they're good in combat. It all should hopefully work. Let me know if I missed any races (No elves, please , at least not yet. From what I read, they're supposed to be a rare and mysterious race).
Races:
Human: +1 to any Ability of choice.
Dwarf: +1 to Do.
Troll: +1 to Do.
Golem: +1 to Do.
Werewolf: +1 to Do.
Goblin: +1 to Think.
Gnome: +1 to Think.
Vampire: +1 to Talk.
Zombie: +1 to Do.
Orc: +1 to Do.
BTW, I'm aware that orcs only exist in pretty much one book, Unseen Academicals (which is also on my to-read list). But I really want to play as one so I'm including it.
Classes:
This is where I'm going back and forth. I have 2 ideas for this, but I'm debating on which to use. When using Classes, I thought about how Wizards are a special breed and so using magic should be limited to them (Okay, okay, and Witches and Time Monks, but again, those books are on my to-read list, so we'll stick with Wizards just while figuring this out!). I figured, however, that other Classes should have some kind of balance to them.
So I came up with the following. Each Class gets to add its Level to certain rolls. These are added to Abilities and skills.
Classes:
Warrior: + to Combat.
Wizard: + to Magic.
Rogue: + to Sneaky.
Expert: + Non-magic, non-sneaky Think rolls.
Acrobat: + to Non-combat Do rolls.
Charlatan: + to Talk.
So a Level 2 Warrior with +4 Do would get a +7 when fighting but +4 when trying to jump over a gorge, A Level 2 Acrobat with the same stats, however, would get +7 when flipping over the gorge but +4 in Combat.
I'm not sure if that makes things more complicated so here's Method 2:
Classes are strictly cosmetic and exist mostly to describe characters, their behavior, and their actions.
For example, a Level 2 Guard is more likely to stand his ground and fight, while a Level 2 Thief might prefer to slip away and strike from a distance.
However, there is 1 exception (Okay more than one, but again, I haven't read those books yet!):
Wizards
Wizards can access Magic to cast spells. Everyone else can only use the Magic Skill (if they have it) to resist spells).
Wizards spells are divided into Damage, Defend, Move, and Effect (These are similar to Mythic's Clash actions, only I changed Escape to Move and added Defend.).
Wizards can cast spells an unlimited number of times per day.
However, if a spell fails, the Wizard suffers a -1 Rank Shift until taking a short rest.
Critical Failure results in -3 RS until a long rest, assuming the wizard survived.
Wizards get a lot of neat stuff that they can do, right? So what's the catch?
The catch is that, when creating the character, they have to permanently sacrifice 1 Ability Point.
Think of a Wizard sacrificing a point from Do as being out of shape or not-so great in combat, while sacrificing a point of Talk means the wizard is definitely not a people person.
Edit:
The new plan is to not include History Monks for the time being, as I'm currently reading Thief of Time and wondering if they're too powerful as PCs.
Magic Classes for the time being are just Wizards and Witches. While I've read The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic, as well as viewed the film, the book Equal Rites, which covers Witches, is still on my to-buy list. Because of that, I'm treating Wizards and Witches the same. Wizards are male while Witches are female. Otherwise they operate the same. But until I read more about Witches, I'm just going to use the word Wizards in my rules. Just easier that way.
Wizards must sacrifice 1 Ability Point to use Magic. This only happens once, usually when the character is first created.
Example:
Bolean Softop is a Dwarf who decides on a life of magic. He starts with +1 to Do and puts the 2 Ability points into Think. However, he must sacrifice a point so he chooses the +1 to Do. His starting points, therefore are 0 Do, +2 Think, 0 Talk. Upon reaching Level 2, he puts 1 point into Do and the other into Think. His new stats are +1 Do, +3 Think.
Sound good? No onto the fun stuff!
Spells:
Wizards gain access to spells with each level. The Spell Level is its Resisted Rank or Difficulty when casting the spell. The wizard adds his casting ability (Think + Magic Skill if any) and subtract the Difficulty.
Spell Levels are determined by the Magic rules in MM #21.
Wizards get 3 spells per level. He may choose 2 of them but the third is chosen at random from the Spell Effects table. This is to . . . okay i'll be honest, I added the random element just for fun in having to adapt to with figuring out a spell.
So those are the ideas I have at this point. I'm open to ideas, suggestions, and anything else I can add to my game. Thanks in advance.
Now that I have all of that out of the way, I'm going to create my first Discworld character. My first game takes place some time after Guards Guards, though I'm not sure how much.
Kaylor
As a teenager, Kaylor had one day wandered around the city of Ankh-Morpork, or more specifically, around the Unseen University. Eyes wandering over the enormous structure, he imagined life within its walls.
"I wish I could see a wizard," he mumbled once.
Then he heard a crash behind him. Spinning around, young Kaylor spotted a brand new, freshly-made crater in the ground. Approaching it, he saw rubble, lots of blood, and what appeared to be an arm extending from underneath.
Then he fingers moved.
Darting forward, Kaylor grasped the hand and tried to pull the person out. But there was a ripping sound, and he found himself holding a hand, and not much else.
Feeling a sudden shock, Kaylor dropped the hand. Then he looked back at the rubble and saw pieces of a wizard's robe.
Years later, Kaylor passed the test and got admitted into the Unseen University. Quickly, he learned that higher level wizardry tended to be cuthroat (literally!), so he decided early on to focus on low-level magic only. Rarely wearing the robes of the wizards, he prefers normal clothing, as he doesn't like to stand out.
Kaylor
Human Level 1 Wizard.
Do: 0, Think: +2, Talk: 0.
Spells:
Levitate: Level 0; For up to 10 minutes, the wizard can lift and manipulate (such as turning or spinning) any object, up to 50 lbs. Wizards cannot use this to attack directly, but they can use it to affect opponents indirectly (like lifting a rock over an opponent's head and then dispelling it early).
Danger Sense: Level 0; The wizard must spend 10 minutes preparing the spell. For the next 4 hours, an alarm will go off in his head if he's in any danger, granting a +3 (Too high?) on any defensive rolls. This is usually learned by wizards in training to avoid and (or rather many) mishaps from their studies.
For his third spell, I rolled on Mythic's Spell Effects table to get an idea. I didn't want anything too powerful. After all, he's only a starting caster, so a utility spell would make more sense.
Of course, for my first few rolls, I get:
"Powerful" "Weapon,"
"Earth" "Travel,"
"Break" "Creature."
Finally, I rolled, "Helpful" "Imbue." I'm thinking this means a spectral hand appears. For the next 10 minutes, it can point the wizard in the right direction, like a compass. But that wouldn't be fun enough, now would it?
Helpful Hand (I'd prefer a better name. Any suggestions?): Level 0. For the next 10 minutes, a spectral hand appears. It can point the wizard to his goal, answer yes or no questions, with certain signals, and even offer advice (like number of ingredients needed). However, the more this spell is cast, the more the hand gains a personality of its own, and often it can get quite snarky and insulting.
Okay, that's it for now. Next time, I'll run Kaylor's first adventure.
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