Playtest Opportunity

Hi all. I have an idea for a game that I want to play-test here on Gamers Plane. I'm hoping I can find enough interest to get a game going and see how my ideas are working. I'd like to get through one complete "mission" that should explore the game rules and world well enough so I know if I'm looking at a viable game. If we are still having fun after, I will consider expanding to a full campaign. I guess I also want to know if I am unintentionally ripping off an existing product, so if it sounds like I am, let me know.

Quick synopsis of my story:

The world is like ours, but set in that nebulous "twenty minutes into the future" where technology is just slightly more advanced. Drones are a common sight. Cars can be set to auto-drive, and electric engines are gaining ground on fossil fuels. Holograms and AR displays are everywhere. (No human looking androids yet, but possibly soon.) Day-to-day life is much the same, you get up, go to work, come home, go to bed, you get up and do it all again.

At least, for most people that is how it goes. What people don't know is that there are dark forces lurking in the shadows of society. Magic is real, but it comes at a price. Demons barter power for souls and dark sacrifices. Ghosts haunt the sites of their grizzly demises, thirsting for revenge. Creatures of wholly fey and aberrant origins lurk in the alleyways most would not dare to walk down at night.

There are however a few who choose to fight. These few seek to stem the tide of darkness and save those souls they can get to in time. Gifted with psychic powers that set them apart from their fellow men, but give them the power to combat the horrors. Those that have awoken to the existence of the dark things must combat them or be consumed by them.

Quick overview of the system:

Characters are made up of Attributes, Skills, and Powers. Through a point-buy system Attributes and Powers will set your Target Number (TN). When taking an action, you will roll a d20. The goal is to get equal to or under your TN. If you roll your TN exactly, that is like a critical hit. A 1 is a success with a cost. Over your TN is a failure and a Nat 20 is a critical failure.

Skills are a bit freeform. They are not tied to an Attribute or Power. If the skill fits the action you are taking, it increases your TN so your chance of success is better. Multiple skills can apply to a single roll. Someone skilled in Interrogation, Law, and Psycho Analysis would get a +3 when attempting to get information from an uncooperative witness by threatening them with jail time and reading their reaction. Players get to pick their skills, with the intent that they be focused, but not too general or specific.

There's a little more, but I don't want to get to deep into it now. If anyone is interested in actually playing this, post here. If I get enough interest I will launch a game and we can see what happens.

Sure, I'd be down.

A little Shadowrun-cum-Dresden Files? :P Sounds cool.

I hadn't considered Shadowrun, but yeah I guess so. Perhaps not quite as "Corporate controlled Dystopian" as Shadowrun, but yeah, some similarities. Definitely some Dresden Files influences. Witch Hunter Robin also. I remembered this anime last night. I saw it years ago. That is probably the biggest influence for the setting. But I also like world building, so I am going to ask players to add some things to make it a better experience for them.

Today I am revising my first draft. I found some inconsistencies that I needed to fix.

Shadowrun influences are obvious, even if the magic/supernatural part is not known to the main populace. Not familiar with Dresden Files, but the part about the heroes fighting back kinda reminds me of Delta Green, a game where players are shadow operatives fighting against monstrosities of the Cthulhu Mythos

Man, I loved Shadowrun and Dresden, but Witch Hunter Robin was my jam. I think I saw that, Ergo Proxy, and Texhnolyze all around the same time. It was the closest I ever got to feeling goth/emo (hope I don't offend anyone; I never really got the difference, other than era). Description also reminds me a bit of an old GDW game called Dark Conspiracy.

Maskcot, I'd be interested in playtesting if you're still gathering folks.

I am finishing up a detail or two and will be launching my game early next week.

I had a bout of self doubt that made me almost scrap this idea, but I've decided even if it turns out to be highly derivative of the named inspirations it isn't the end of the world. I'm not planning to change careers to game designer, I just have ideas that I think make a good game. We will see what comes of it.

I think it's a feature that the world evokes familiar things that people like, not derivative.

One thing that struck me in the dice mechanic is that you've got a 1 being success with a cost and equaling your target number being the critical. I'd consider switching those unless you've got a specific reason for doing it that way.

Here's why: that way it becomes a simple intuitive rule - lower is better. 1 is the lowest, and is thus the critical success. Anything between 1 and your TN is a success. If you equal your TN, you succeed, but at a cost. Above your TN is a failure. 20 is a critical failure.

The equal chance of crit fail, crit succes, and the succeed with a cost results is cool.

When I first read about this the game Hunter: The Reckoning popped into my head. I'm getting the same kind of feel to both games. Many similarities there.

I get what you are saying Origamisamurai. I did consider that, but when developing the health system I decided it needed to be this way. I didn't want to give away all my design features in the original post for fear of making the post boringly long, but the reason the TN is higher is that i wanted to use one die roll per action. Your damage output is equal to the number on the die. In this game combat is done with contested rolls, as opposed to static numbers like AC in D&D. If an attacker rolls their TN or under, that is how much damage they do. The defender rolls their die and if they succeed, they subtract their result form the damage taken. An attacker that succeeds on their roll always gets a hit, but the defender can mitigate that damage with their roll. I use Stress and Wounds. If a character takes to much Stress, they are knocked out in the traditional manner. An empty Stress is erased after a scene, but if a character takes damage, it becomes a Wound. The amount of damage is recorded. If a character takes to much damage, they die outright. The amount of damage taken for each Wound is also recorded and affects Healing in the game.

So yeah, having the "rolling low is best" makes for a simpler, more intuitive system, but it made damage and healing MUCH more complicated for me. I decided on the "Price is Right" system of "closest without going over" as the way to make my math work.
Thanks, I am proud of this feature too. I mean, you have an even chance at rolling any specific number on a d20 every time you roll, so where you put those markers is totally up to the designer. In D&D they lack the "succeed at a cost" option, but I really like that option from Fate, so I wanted decided to borrow it. This also related to your first point. Before I developed my damage system I did consider the TN being the "succeed with a cost" number, but it had to be flipped around in the end.

I agree. Hunter is very similar in tome and setting. I considered that they might be too close, but in the end, I am moving forward with my plans. The one thing about Hunter that I don't currently have in my design is all the World of Darkness lore and history. I love WoD, but it can get a little screwy. Especially if you mix the various properties in one game.

I don't claim to have done it better or all that different, but I am trying to make it my own setting.

OK, so some of you may have noticed this game went live finally. You can follow the link here to apply.

Cool, dude. :)