Let's build an RPG together.

Haha, I think I lost track of where this thread was going with the explosion of interest and posts. I'll want to try and catch up later, though.

Like, I have a quick idea for only using d6s.

Keep the same attributes: Body, Move, Mind, Will, Soul.

Roll 1d3 for each attribute, but the result are read like this instead:
1-2: 0
3-4: 1
5-6: 2

Then you have 18 - (the total of your attributes) Skill Points to buy skills at the following rate:
Skill Rank / Cost
1 / 1
2 / 4
3 / 9

When rolling your dice, roll 2d6. You succeed if at least 1 die rolls equal to or lower than your skill + attribute. But beware of doubles!

So, the lower your attributes, the more skills you'll have?

I haven't lost interest, but I do need to focus on work today.

Yeah, in order to make up for crappy rolls...

I like the idea, characters will be balanced but different

Another possibility would be to give more Luck to a player who have rolled crappy, but I haven't worked on Luck yet on this d6 version...

How about you start with a number of HP equal to your Body + 6.
You die once you reach a number of negative HP equal to your Will + 2.

Weapons could inflict damage like this:
Unarmed attack: 1d6÷3 (1d2)
Small melee weapons: 1d6÷2 (1d3)
Medium melee weapon: 1d6
Large melee weapon: 1d6+2
Light firearm: 2d6
Heavy firearm: 2d6+3
Explosive: 3d6 (on a radius)

Keeping things very simple here...

An interesting project. I'll keep an eye, maybe toss out a few comments here and there.

I do notice a lot of your ideas buy into a lot of standard RPG tropes (granular hit points, and attributes that govern skills, generating mechanics to cover really narrow details like differentiating between category of weapon). You might find it interesting to push beyond that, and try something a bit different.

Instead of granular hit points as numbers, what about something like Burning Wheel's condition-based vitality. Instead of the typical attribute > skill system, why not a system that simply uses skills (or a system that simply uses attributes, and doesn't try to represent every micro-detail of a character). What about a system that encourages failure, or at least risk taking (players are rewarded for failing rolls in some way)?

Just some thoughts, and bit of pressing to expand your thinking beyond those tropes.

Well, my original idea was the use of wounds check boxes. I guess I can always move back to that idea. It's just that with a Body score which now varies between 0 and 2, I did not have an immediate idea how to implement those, so I went to an HP system instead. I can always try to implement those wound boxes again.

Using attributes + skill just seems more natural. It's a combination of your potential plus your training. It also seems more intuitive that way. I guess I could use an attribute only or a skill only system, but honestly, those type of games seem weird to me and they're usually games I don't feel like playing... and I'd like to work on a game I'd want to play.
So far, the only game I know of which manages to use only attributes and ignore skills to my satisfaction is Dungeonslayers. Their "skills" were basically a combination of an attribute and a trait (a sub-division of your attributes) which gave you a TN you had to roll equal to or lower. This could always be another possibility...

Rewarding failure sounds like an interesting concept. Perhaps a double is always bad, but can always bring some good to the player? I'll have to look into this...

Okay, Kalajel, so using the system that you brought up earlier in the thread, I'm building my anarchist street punk

Name: John Exampleman
Goal: To help Justin understand the rules

Body d8
Move d6
Mind d4
Will d12
Soul d10

I'm not sure how many skills I would receive if my Mind is d4 and my Will is d12. I don't think I'm interpreting the chart clearly.

For Wounds I rolled a Willd12, got 11 and a Bodyd8 and I got a 1
so my Wound threshold is 12

How do I determine my gift rating?

@Justin. I haven't really worked on The Gift yet. I'm not even sure if we'll go with this system or not.

To follow Candi's advice, I tried reworking my system a bit, and I think I might have something which might work well.

First, the Attributes are changed. The are called Aspects, and are grouped under categories.
Body Group -> Strength, Vitality, Stamina
Move Group -> Agility, Technique, Reflexes
Mind Group -> Intellect, Wisdom, Logic
Wit Group -> Courage, Charm, Willpower
Soul Group -> Awareness, Intuition, Presence

At character creation, players select 7 of their Aspect they'll roll for, all remaining Aspect are considered to have a score of 0. For rolling an Aspect, a player rolls 1d6, but the results are a bit different. On a roll of 1 to 4, your Aspect gains that many points. A roll of 5 is worth 1 point, and a roll of 6 is worth 2 points. so your Aspects will be rated between 1 to 4, with greater chances of having a 1 or 2.

Next, the player select a certain number of Traits, such as "I am skilled in __________" or "I am good at __________". When rolling for an action, still use the 2d6 method with at least one die needing to roll equal to or under the Aspect appropriate for the action. If more than 1 Aspect would qualify, then the player rolls under the highest Aspect +1. If a Trait would apply to the action in question, then the player can reroll 1 die of his choosing.

That is pretty much all I have so far...

I've worked a little bit more on my idea. Basically, I'm trying to find some use to all the Aspects in order to make it a hard choice for the players when choosing the 7 of which to roll the score for... Also, as you'll notice, my flavour text... leaves a bit to be desired... That's because I'm more of a crunch guy rather than a fluff guy. Hopefully, since this is a cooperative effort, there are some among you who will be a bit more eloquent... XD :P

The character is divided in several Aspects, each grouped together in a certain category.
Aspects are a mix of your natural potential and training. They are rated between 0 and 4. An Aspect of 0 does not mean you are unable to do thing, it simply means that either your natural potential is unremarkable, or that you lack training. An Aspect of 0 can always be increased later with Character Points. Groups are not rated, and only serve to regroup similar Aspects together for various purposes.

Body Group -> Endurance, Strength, Vitality.
Move Group -> Agility, Reflexes, Technique.
Mind Group -> Intellect, Perception, Wisdom.
Wit Group -> Charm, Courage, Willpower.
Soul Group -> Awareness, Intuition, Luck.

Body Group: The Body Group represents your physical capabilities. It is a representation of how tough and vigorous you are. Its associated Aspects are Endurance, Strength, and Vitality.

Move Group: The Move Group encompasses the various natural movements your body makes, not only when walking, but also when exerting itself in some task or other. Its associated Aspects are Agility, Reflexes, and Technique.

Mind Group: The Mind Group represents your mental faculties, your ability to reason and process information. Its associated Aspects are Intellect, Perception, and Wisdom.

Wit Group: The Wit Group is a representation of your personality, magnetism, and emotional stability. Its associated Aspects are Charm, Courage, and Willpower.

Soul Group: The Soul Group represents things about yourself that are difficult to explain. It is a measure of those "feelings" and "hunches" you get from time to time. Its associated Aspects are Awareness, Intuition, and Luck.

Endurance: Endurance is your reserve of energies. The more enduring you are, the longer you can perform certain actions. It measures your reserves of Stamina. Type of rolls endurance can be used for: Running or swimming for long periods of time, trying to say awake, etc.

Strength: Strength is a measure of your muscle power and your ability to apply force, it shows you how strong you are. Type of rolls Strength can be used for: Pushing, lifting, climbing, jumping, holding something in place, hitting, breaking things, intimidation, sprinting, etc.

Vitality: Vitality … Types or rolls Vitality can be used for: Resisting poisons and diseases, shrugging off wounds, shaving off the effects of dehydration and hunger, etc.

Agility: Agility is… Types of rolls Agility can be used for: Shooting, throwing, gymnastics, acrobatics, swinging from ropes, running, etc.

Reflexes: Reflexes is how quick you are to react. Types of rolls Reflexes can be used for: Dodging, weaving, diving for cover, getting out of the way, catching something, etc.

Technique: Technique is a mix of your manual dexterity, fine motor skills, and coordination. Types of rolls Technique can be used for: Fixing a watch, hot-wiring a car, soldering electronic components, playing an instrument, cheating, sleight of hand, etc.

Intellect: Intellect is a measure of your intelligence and life experiences. It is your ability to process information. Types of rolls Intellect can be used for: Knowledge, remembering something, computer programming, etc.

Perception: Perception is a measure of your senses. Types of rolls Perception can be used for: Seeing things, hearing things, tasting poison, feeling wind on your skin, finding the book you are looking for in a bookshelf, etc.

Wisdom: Wisdom represents your common sense. Types of rolls Wisdom can be used for: Judging quantities accurately, estimating, choosing the shortest or fastest route, etc.

Charm: Charm represents your charisma, magnetism, and your ability to say the right things. Types of rolls Charm can be used for: Flirting, seduction, diplomacy, bluffing, lying, intimidation, etc.

Courage: Courage … Type of rolls Courage can be used for: Resisting fear and intimidation, jumping through flames, jumping down great height, climbing a cliff without gear, etc.

Willpower: Willpower is your ability to say "no" and resist temptations. Type of rolls Willpower can be used for: Resisting intimidation and seduction attempts, quitting an addictive substance, ignoring pain, etc.

Awareness: Awareness is how much aware you are of your surroundings, how hard you are to surprise and how quick you are to notice things around you. Types of rolls Awareness can be used for: Noticing ambush, find hidden things, spotting danger, etc.

Intuition: Intuition represents your "gut feeling". Types of rolls Intuition can be used for: Discerning a person’s motives or disposition, know if someone is lying or cheating, etc.

Luck: Luck is well, how lucky you are. Things tend to go your way or you tend to be at the right place at the right time. Types of rolls Luck can be used for: Gambling, avoiding risks, making a "one in a million" shot, pulling the right item on the first try out of a large full bag, etc.

A player chooses 7 (?) Aspects for which he will rolled 1d6 to assign points to, all other Aspects are considered to be at 0. For each Aspects selected, roll 1d6. On a roll of 1 to 4, apply that value to the aspect. On a roll of 5, apply 1 point to that Aspect. And on a roll of 6, apply 2 points to that attribute.

The the player chooses 3 (?) Traits. Each Traits are defined as "I am skilled in ________" or "I am good at ______". Other Traits such as "Ace at the wheel", "Expert Marksman", or "World renown martial artist" are also acceptable. However, "Good at everything" or "Always knocks weapon out of enemy’s hands" are not. Each Traits will allow 1 possible reroll (to succeed a roll or avoid a double, the reroll is not mandatory) on rolls they can apply to.

A player then has 2 (?) advantages to choose from. An advantage allows the player to ignore a double once per session on a particular type of rolls. Alternatively, you could merge your two advantage together to instead ignore the effect of a double once per scene or encounter. For example, the advantage Computer Geek could allow you to ignore the effect of a double once per session on any rolls involving computers. The advance form of this advantage could be called 1337 Hacker and allow you to ignore the effect of one double once per scene on rolls involving computers. When creating advantages, it can affect rolls involving a certain situation, object, or Aspect Group (Athletic for example could allow to avoid the effect of one double per session on any Body Group Aspect rolls).

To determine Wounds, a player must add his Vitality (how thought the character is) and Willpower (his will to live) Aspects together to see how many check boxes his character has. The various halt levels are as follows:
Fine: No wound boxes checked.
Nicked: At least one wound box checked, no penalties unless Injured or Wounded boxes are checked.
Injured: At least one Injured wound box is checked, penalty of -1 to all rolls’ TNs.
Wounded: At least one Wounded wound box is checked, penalty of -2 on all rolls’ TNs.
Dying: If Dying wound box is checked, the player must roll Vitality + Willpower or die. If he succeeds, he is unconscious for 1d6 hours or until he receives medical attention.
The amount of boxes a character has is as follows:
Vitality + Willpower Aspects
0-1 [Nicked], [Injured], [Injured], [Wounded], [Wounded], [Dying]
2-4 [Nicked], [Injured], [Injured], [Wounded], [Wounded], [Wounded], [Dying]
5-6 [Nicked], [Nicked], [Injured], [Injured], [Wounded], [Wounded], [Wounded], [Dying]
7 [Nicked], [Nicked], [Injured], [Injured], [Injured], [Wounded], [Wounded], [Dying]
8 [Nicked], [Nicked], [Injured], [Injured], [Injured], [Wounded], [Wounded], [Wounded], [Dying]

A character can move a number of spaces (squares, hexes, inches on a mapless table) per round equal to their Agility Aspect score + 4. If not using miniature and playing "mind’s-eye theatre", then imagine each space as being roughly 1 meter or 1 yard. If a player wishes to move more, he can try running, moving 2 more space plus a number of extra spaces equal to the result of his roll if successful.

Your character has a maximum number of Luck Points equal to your Luck Aspect score + 1, although, you start at 0. A point of luck, when you have one, can be used to reroll both dice. Once used they are gone. The player can gain them by rolling a double or as an award from his GM for succeeding against great odds or for coming up with a cunning plan which succeeded. The GM can also award all of his players a Luck Point for surviving a particularly rough encounter.

Your character can carry only so much on his person. Your character has an amount of encumbrance slots equal to his Strength Aspect rating + 6. Encumbrance Points are a rather abstract way of figuring out how much weight you can carry. Most objects take up 1 encumbrance slot, but some lighter or smaller objects could take up a single encumbrance slot for a grouping of 2, 5, 10, or more, depending on what your GM decides. the GM might even decided that some objects, like the clothes on the character’s backs, take now encumbrance slots at all. Similarly, particularly heavy or large or cumbersome objects might take up 2 or more encumbrance slots. Some objects, like backpacks and duffel bags, will allow a character to have anywhere from 2 to 4 more encumbrance slots, but might very well take up a character’s encumbrance slot to begin with.

Most characters will have some version of "The Gift". The Gift is what allows your characters to see the invasion for what it truly is. It allows you to see humans who have been infected and mutated by the virus. However, not everyone is strong with The Gift, and even worse, not everyone has it. to figure out if you have The Gift, at character creation, make rolls (rolling 2d6) under your Awareness, your Courage, and finally Intuition. Not one roll under the highest of the three with a +1 bonus for the other two like when performing an action, but rather an unmodified roll for each. No double penalties, no modifiers, no use of Traits or Advantages, just a straight roll. Then count the number of success you rolled.
Number of Successes
3: You have The Gift. You will always notice infected people and will always recognize the invasion for what it is.
1-2: You have the potential for The Gift. Your Gift is not completely developed and will likely never improve. You cannot perceive infected humans and the invasion unless you ingest some mind-altering substance (the exact substance differs from person to person). Once under the effect of such a substance, you can attempt an Awareness or Intuition roll (one or the other, cannot use the other to increase the score you have to roll under like when performing actions, double penalties apply). On a success, you can see infected people for what they are, however, you perceive a distorted version of what they are. You must then roll an Intellect roll to interpret your visions correctly. You can use stronger substances to help you out, giving you a bonus shift modifier of -1 or -2 to your Awareness, Intellect, or Intuition Gift rolls, but an equal penalty die shift to all other rolls.
0: You do not possess The Gift. Who knows why you follow this bunch of coocs…

When performing actions, you simply roll 2d6. You succeed if at least one of your dice rolls equal to or under the Aspect you used in your roll. If more than one aspect applies to a roll, use your highest Aspect to roll under, but consider it to be 1 higher for each additional Aspect which applies, to a maximum of 5, and only if those Aspects are rated 1 or higher. For example: Tim is driving a car during a high speed pursuit. His GM asks him under what Aspect he will roll. Tim declares that Technique, Reflexes, Perception and Awareness would all apply and his GM agrees. Tim’s Technique is 3, his Reflexes are 2, Awareness 1, but his Perception is 0. This will mean Tim will roll under his Technique of 3+2, or a 5. Since his Perception of 0 cannot be used to increase the number under which he must roll, an seven if it was rated at a 1 or higher, it still would not change anything since Tim is already rolling under a 5 which is the maximum he can get.
However, you must also try to avoid rolling doubles. Doubles are bad. When you roll a double…

Circumstances can make an action easier or more difficult. When performing harder or easier actions, you apply a modifier to your die roll, either decreasing it (making the action easier) or increasing it (making the action harder). This die shift can be applied to dice as the player desires, however, no dice can be lowered below 0 (which is the only way to succeed at an action which requires the use of an Aspect with a score of 0), and no dice can be increased above 6, any remaining shift must be applied to the other die. If both dice are reduced to 0, remaining shifts are ignored (not that a double 0 is not a double). If both dice are increased to 6, remaining shifts are counter an additional double with a value equal to the remaining shifts, in addition to having rolled a double 6.
Difficulty / Die Shift
Trivial / -3
Very Easy / -2
Easy / -1
Hard / +1
Very Hard / +2
Insane / +3

With Character Points, a character can increase Aspects, or purchase more Traits or even an advantage.
Aspect / Cost
1 / 1
2 / 4
3 / 9
4 / 16
New Trait: 5
New Advantage: 3 for once per session or 7 for once per scene or encounter.

I've been slowly working a bit more on this new system. Work has been slow because, I still don,t know what system exactly we'll settle on and also partly because I'm busy with other things.

Finally, every characters will start with a normal set of clothes, 3 (?) tools with resource cost no higher than 2 (?) and 4d6 (+Charm?) resources. (?)
Resources are an abstract measure of wealth, credit, connections, and favours owed to your character. (?)
Toll die Shift Resource Cost
-1 2
-2 6
-3 12
(?)

Combat
When combat start, each combatants start by rolling initiative. They do so by rolling 1d6 + Awareness + Reflexes. Combat then proceeds each rounds from the highest initiative to the lowest initiative. In cases of ties, highest Awareness goes first. if there is still a tie, highest Reflexes goes first. If this is still a tie, settle it with a roll of 1d6.
Each round a character can move and perform an action. The move can either be take before or after the action, but the character cannot take art of his move, perform an action, and then finish his move unless the character possess some advantage which would allow him to do so. A character can attempt to perform more than one action each rounds, but each extra action will suffer a cumulative -1 penalty to the Aspect’s TN. If the TN drops below 0, the action cannot be performed. For example, a character attacked earlier this round, but suddenly needs to dodge 2 attacks, he rolls his first dodge at -1 and his second dodge at -2.
Rounds are a means to measure the amount of time a combat lasts. The length of a round can vary depending on the number and type of actions taken, but usually vary between 2 to 12 seconds long.
Melee attacks are usually resolved by rolling under the Strength Aspect. Ranged attacks are usually resolved by rolling under the Agility Aspect. Dodging an attack is usually resolved by rolling under the Reflexes Aspect.
Other actions which doesn’t require rolls to perform are falling prone, standing up form prone, drawing a weapon, changing a weapon, loading a weapon, picking up a weapon, opening or closing a door, etc.

Death and damage.
When someone is hit by an attack and fail to successfully defend against it, they get damaged. Depending on the weapon used, the victim will take 1 or more points of damage. Some weapons will also inflict an additional 1 or more point of damage per point the attack rolled under the TN. Some armor will absorb some points of damage which will reduce the total amount of damaged suffered by that amount. Anything above that, and the victim best another chance to lower the damage with a successful Endurance roll as a free action (no multiple action penalty). Each points of damage the target suffers is a wound box that he must checked. (?)

Climbing, swimming, crawling, etc.
A character climbs or swims at half his normal movement rate, rounded up, but can still attempt to "run" as per the normal rules when using those modes of movement. A character can only crawl 1 space per round but can still attempt to "run" as per the normal rules when crawling.
A character can jump an horizontal distance equal to up to his normal movement rate. If the character runs before jumping, he can increase his horizontal jumping distance by half that, rounded up. Vertical jumping distances are one quarter the above-listed distances, rounded down.

Sorry I haven't been able to contribute more; life. But I'm also not comfortable commenting on the game system, I just don't have the experience. I'm happy to chip in with fluff, whenever it's needed.

No problems.

Nice you're willing to work fluff because fluff is a bit of my weakness. I mean I can do fluff, but not as well as I do crunch.

Still, I can't help but notice there,s been a sudden drop of interest in this project when I tried to follow Candi's suggestion. Maybe people are not comfortable with thinking outside the box on this first project and would rather stick to the familiar "attribute+skill" format...

I'll wait and see what others have to say about this before I continue working on any mechanics...

I haven't been involved because I've been on vacation. I also love working on fluff and lore and stuff. I'm not so good with mechanics

Cool, every little bits help. I was thinking of including a small introductory fiction in the game. A new recruit who's being shown the ropes... I haven't really worked on the details much, because once again, fluff not my forte, but I had this idea for a few lines where the recruit asks "How do you guys fund all this?", and the grizzled veteran answers "Have you ever heard the rumours of lost fortune in Nazi gold? Well, guess who found it..." XD

:-) I like it.

The nazis' reputation with paranormal investigations would work well here. Perhaps Hitler himself was under the control of whatever the bad guys are. And his impressive oration was actually mass mind-control powers.

I don't know, I think that cheapens the horror that humans are capable of. now if the aliens used hitler as an example why our world needs them to "shepherd" us into the next age