Oldest World -- My 6 year old baby brainchild

Greetings, one and all! I am very new here.

Those introductions aside, I am in the late stages of working on a fully-fleshed out system and setting, for which medieval fantasy is optimal. I have set up a GoFundMe to help me along the way, but it hasn't gotten much visibility. I was hoping that people here might be interested in hearing about it, seeing as I've been working on it almost 24/7 for a long time, despite job difficulties and illness. There's a lot there, a lot to love I hope, and a lot to critique I'm sure.

So, who's interested in hearing more?

I'd like to hear more.

I'd be happy to hear more about it

Alright, I'm sure we'll pull in more people along the way. Two is definitely a good start. I'll begin with a brief description of the mission statement and core rules, then I can start taking questions.

(What follows is protected by the Creative Commons)

Oldest World was started on three simple guidelines. One, it needs to be more about facilitating roleplay with a reasonably light-moderate system of rules, that places the work on the Game Master and not the players. Two, the magic system needs to be a dynamic living thing where instead of preparing and casting named spells, the players say what they want to do (e.g. throw a 15 ft. boulder at an enemy 60 ft. away with enough force to kill) and the magic rules will show the Game Master how to govern that process with dice rolls and other limitations. Three, creatures populating the world cannot be stolen from popular media and things outside the public domain (i.e. hobbits, ents, orcs all being created exclusively by Tolkien, having not existed in myth before that). Furthermore on rule 3, the creatures will be inspired by as old and public-domain of legends as possible, drawing from many corroborating sources, then designed from the ground up to be a special part of the setting.

Oldest World eschews the presence of the d20 entirely. Characters have six Virtues ranking in a range from 1 to 9. The rank of 4 is about average for most humans, but 3 is unusually weak and 5 is heroically strong. Past that, the lesser and far greater ranks do not symbolize what a normal person should be able to attain, but the levels of power held by monsters and "gods." Being exemplary is instead a matter of gaining temporary boosts and reductions to one's Virtues, which have a limited effect on how much better rolls get in certain circumstances. The Six Virtues of LEGEND are: Leon, Eyrie, Grand, Enlight, Nemesis, and Daimon. While they can be understood as very similar to Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma, they are far more than that. The physical three also have a mental side, and the mental three also have a physical side; all six are primarily spiritual in nature, meaning that excelling in one is not a matter of being truly stronger or smarter than other people, but being a prime example of that quality to the spirits who embolden one's powers.

The Virtues of LEGEND operate on the power of six Heroic Spirits, which go by the names assigned to each virtue. They favor different kinds of people, and will grant them enormous power to change the world if they are deemed worthy. The average human may have a 4 in any given Virtue, but only gains benefit from one of them in this way. Leon, the Heroic Lion Spirit, favors the enraged, destructive, and careless; not merely the strong. Eyrie, the Heroic Wing Spirit, favors the violent, skilled, and graceful; not merely the dextrous. Grand, the Heroic Beast Spirit, favors the enduring, the brave, and those dominated by subtler vices like Gluttony and Sloth. Enlight, the Heroic Sun Spirit, favors the intelligent, it is true, but specifically those who seek to gain and share knowledge with others and seek the enlightenment of all. Nemesis, the Heroic Conflict Spirit, seeks out those engaged in battle between their good and evil, their enlightenment and deception, and those who gain unusual secrets through the conflict. Daimon, the Heroic Hooded Spirit, favors the trickster, those who can deceive others and benefit themselves through more power than they actually have. None of these are literal good or evil forces in their entirety.

If your primary (highest selected) Virtue is Leon, you are automatically assigned the Juggernaut basic class. The same goes for Eyrie and the Fury basic class, Grand and the Atlas basic class, Enlight and the Judge basic class, Nemesis and the Sage basic class, or Daimon and the Aesthete basic class. More on that later.

Any questions so far?

Sounds very interesting. Love how you have done attributes!

It sounds like a fascinating concept. I've always loved the concept of a free-form magic system and have often thought of working on one, but it's such a daunting concept! I also love the focus on RP and the original ideas you've presented

Thanks, both of you! Anything you want to hear about next? I've got lots of material: more on the player races, how the classes work, the magic system...

Start with the basics (Races) and then move up from there :)

As you wish. :)

The first thing to know about the playable Races in my system is that they are ranked on power. The Game Master is strongly advised not to allow the higher levels unless both they and the other players are willing and ready to share a game with someone that will likely unbalance gameplay. These levels are Low, Moderate, High, and Very-High.

The Low Power Races are sampled from the Human, Siir, and Rafa
Humans are what you know them as, to a certain degree, but instead of being a single (basic) race, they are subdivided into several meaningful groups. The low power ones are Rudhir, Galura, Zeel, Jasil, Sini, Porph, and Neutrati, and include some Swill and Felbreed.

The first six are from a group called the Purebleed, or Pureblooded People. The ancestors of humanity were given certain gifts by the Heroic Spirits, reflected by a change in the color of their blood. These gifts reflected the strengths and weaknesses of how the human subraces developed.

The Rudhir, or Red-Blooded People, were notable for being superhumanly stronger than other humans, but of weak minds. Aside from mere physical power, the Lion Spirit liked them because they were more destructive and wrathful than other humans. Fewer women and children were as destructive as the men, and this, rather than actual strength, is reflected in their stats.

The Galura, or Orange-Blooded People, were notable for their vast powers of abstract thought, will, and magical potential, but were less swift or skillful than the others. The Conflict Spirit liked them because their morality was very clearly bifurcated, with most people being incapable of the same acts of depravity that their delinquents and criminals committed; also, their magic prospects were very powerful and set apart, while the rest had zero magical skill whatsoever, no grey areas.

The Zeel, or Yellow-Blooded People, were fast, good at physical skills, and often quite violent. Unlike their destructive cousins, the Rudhir, these people kept the collateral damage to a minimum, and fine-tuned their murderous impulses into lethal martial combat. A Red-Blood is fun to watch, from a very safe distance; a Yellow-Blood is much more effective, but boring to watch. While they gained the favor of the Wing Spirit, few of their people have any real magical potential, and tend to suck at problem solving.

The Jasil, or Green-Blooded People, had no gifts of strength or speed, and tended to be ugly and ignorant of social graces. However, the Beast Spirit favored them for their resilience in battle, their quick mending, resistance to poison and disease, and their typical potential to live a long time. While resistant to most non-magical threats, they are not known for being all that effective against magical manipulation. Many of them are practically immortal in normal conditions, but marked by a prominent curse placed on them long ago by some ancient wizard or inhuman creature.

The Sini, or Blue-Bloods, are the polar opposite of the Jasil. They tend to be silver-tongued and beautiful, if somewhat sickly, and have learned to defend their frail lives and beautiful art with advanced weapons and excellent skill. The Hooded Spirit favors them as more refined, and deceptive, than the more "primitive" or gullible races.

The Porph, or Violet-Bloods, are everything the Rudhir are not, and somewhat rare as a result. The Sun Spirit has set them apart early in human history, because they are weak, but vastly more intelligent than the others. They value study, logic, and truth, but also the power to shape the truth with their advanced magic.

These six Purebleeds also have a rare defect they share: the Bright-Blood. While colorfully named, the six do not actually look that different on average. Rudhir have "normal" blood to our eyes, the Galura and Zeel have more of a rust color to their blood, and the Jasil and Sini have more of a pale color. The Porph are strange, because their blood is a bright bluish-purple and does not seem red at all. But if a person has the rare Bright-Blood trait, their blood has a bold, paint-like color as explained by the name of their race. Along with it, their race's typical gift is far stronger, and their typical weakness suffers. For example, a Bright-Blooded Rudhir is not simply on bodybuilder level, but able to hoist a draft horse or wagon over their head and hurl it many yards without trouble; as a twist, the poor creature is rather foolish.

Hi, this looks interesting.

So there's a Purebreed person, let's say a Sini.
How strongly does this define culture?
How strongly does this define personal attitude?

They 'tend to be' is rather vague.

The vagueness is intentional, as this is merely a reference to my actual written work, instead of being written out in all the detail my real documents are in. Doesn't mean I can't elaborate though, so hold on.

The gifting of the six is a prominent influence on a personal level, but I'd say no more important to a culture than its other features. Each of the six Virtues has special powers to offer, but you only get the powers of your strongest Virtue (or the most relevant one to your character, in event of a tie). There are things most people can do, like push an object or read a book, but then there are special things not every normal citizen gets. For the Rudhir, that is their three powers: strength from long hair a la Samson, destructive attacks and movement, and a fearsome voice.

The long hair note means that, even if a normal Rudhir doesn't have heroic powers, long hair is still probably a status symbol in Rudhir cultures. Might mean that some cultures chop off hair to demean or punish someone. Most Rudhir probably wouldn't notice how destructive their actions are unless compared to "weaker" beings; this is because not every Rudhir shatters the ground as they run, just the heroic ones, so they'll think of that action as being "typical" of their greatest warriors, and will look down on warriors of non-Rudhir people as not being able to do that. Finally, a Rudhir's intimidating voice is based on their Leon stat, so it doesn't really work too well on each other.

The cultural trend is more based on the overarching theme of the three powers. Cultures with solely or mainly Rudhir citizens will be built around power and intimidation, and thus tend to be less civilized. When they are, it is because their culture has destroyed all civilized competition and picked up the pieces left behind, similar to Saiyans in Dragonball.

The theme of the three Zeel powers is Avian. They've got a sight-based power, a swift movement power, and a related power that lets them glide, so they will probably build structures taller and farther apart, with larger rooms on the lower levels. They probably also have a great respect for high places and birds, though this is not necessarily the case for all. I'll stop here a moment to explain that these six are not "1 race to 1 culture." Rather, there are several cultures that exemplify each subrace, some that have multiple, and some that prefer not to distinguish citizens by the six Purebleed subraces at all.

As for personal attitude, that depends how much one would use their powers. A scholarly Porph with the powers of the Judge class might not use them all that often, in comparison to their spells, or may not even use magic except in emergencies. When looking at the behaviors of an individual or their whole culture, humans become more homogeneous, and similar to real life or other fantasy settings, with the distinction being that some citizens define themselves on one or more of their fantastic traits; others do not.

But more on the powers of the six basic classes later. For now, I'll move back to a survey of the races.

Aside from the Purebleed section, we also have the Modified and Impure sections. A Modified human is someone who seems human but comes from different origins, or someone who was a Purebleed but lost that quality by changing their anatomy. Perhaps the change was an accident, or perhaps it was done on purpose. We'll see most of the Modified in higher power levels, but the subrace of interest at Low Power is the Neutrati, also known as the Whitebloods.

The Neutrati are the result of an experiment to eradicate enslavement of "real" humans. These experiments were to breed a servile creature with all the same capabilities as humans, since robotics was not advanced to a level where such servants could be built. It was determined that anything "too human" would resist enforced servitude, so secret labs blended elements from human flesh, animals, plant life, and even fungi, to create a being with no free will. Such a being would hypothetically be very similar to humans physically, and even able to pass as one if needed, but would follow orders without question. They have come to be called "White-Bloods" because they lack any of the spiritual gifts the Purebleeds have, and what runs through them is only distantly related to the compound in human veins -- the result being a pale, almost colorless or transparent liquid.

The Neutrati have no males or females, nor secondary sexual characteristics, and do not have children. They are produced from semi-organic laboratory pods in a fully mature state. That is what is known about them by the Purebleed humans; everything else, including the question of "Do they truly have free will?" is a secret held by their creators or by the Neutrati themselves. Without the spiritual gifts, they have a fairly baseline set of stats for gameplay, as one might expect from humans in most games. While they have features that are different from humans, such as cells that are chitinous like those of fungi, these differences are not well-known in game, and not sufficient to make them play differently except as a roleplay choice. If a player were to desire a character that is gender-neutral, comes from an oppressive background, and plays near identically to humans without actually being one, then the Neutrati is an excellent choice.

You really put a lot of effort into this, that shows.
I'm still unclear on this culture / genetics (/ or what?) line, so I'll ask from a different angle, if you don't mind.

Is being a Zeel a cultural thing or in the blood?
Do the Avian powers of the Zeel come from personal outlook, from the bloodline or from the highest Virtue?
Is it possible to change these powers (intentionally or not) during one's life?

Ah, I appreciate the clear questions. It is very similar to genetics, but works on a spiritual level instead of physical. If two Zeel have a child, it will absolutely be a Zeel, 100%. If two Purebleeds of different kinds mix, it becomes a Swill immediately, and the child will have no Purebleed descendants. Because of this, countries can have multiple Purebleed lines, but this will lead to an exponential increase of Swill population anywhere the two mix. To be CLEAR, mixed ethnicities do not cause this; two white people will create a Swill if one is a Rudhir and the other is a Porph, or any such combination. Likewise a white person and a person of color, both Zeel, will produce a Zeel that has the same mixed-race genes such a child normally would.

The special powers are a spiritual gift, which any Zeel can have, but not every Zeel does. "Heroes" (basically the player characters and anyone designed by GM to be a fair match for them) will have the powers. And no, it is not possible to gain new powers, because the spirits do not revoke their gifts and grant new ones. I suppose they could in extremely rare, one-in-a-million circumstances, but it's more likely you'd just lose your powers and get nothing back. What happens instead is that a Zeel who is unnaturally intelligent and not as fast could get the Enlight Virtue's mind-over-matter powers instead of the avian ones. That switch happens from the very beginning and is not reversible.

(sorry for the delay; I had no opportunity to write an away post prior to traveling)

Did that answer your question well, or is there another angle I can approach it from?

I am interested in how your mechanics will work. I like the reimagining of character stats into the 6 Virtues using a scale of 1 to 9 and where player characters generally fall in between the 3 to 5 range. How will these Virtues play out in combat, skill checks, feats of strength or whatever? How will rolls of the d20 be modified or interpreted from these Virtues of 1 to 9?

Excellent questions!

To begin with, the d20 is not used at all! The Virtues have Power Values (or PV for short) with a dice chart. I won't go into it here, but PV 1 uses 2d4, while PV 9 uses 8d8, and the others fall into the area between. For example, the average human value is a 4, which makes all its rolls with 3d6.

There are two ways to roll, depending on what you're trying to do. Skills are rolled normally. Roll 3d6, add the values together, and add your skill bonus if you have one relevant. For most other rolls, it is Success based. A roll of 1 on a die is Failure, any other result is a Success. You add up the Successes, and either ignore Failures or subtract them, depending on what the rules state for that situation. For example, roll 3d6, get 1, 2, 6, that's two successes. While there is a chart for what difficulty is represented by what successes, most situations will state in the rules what is needed, and the GM can easily make up their own requirements. They might say, "Oh, you want to lift the wagon wheel off your teammate? That needs 3 successes on a Leon roll."

If any roll has two Failures, that is called a Botch. Where Failures are normally ignored, a Botch means something bad happens. If you needed two successes, rolled 4d6, and got 1, 1, 2, 3, you would still succeed. But something bad would complicate matters. You might bash yourself and take damage, or "nearly fail" and need to make some other kind of roll; there's all kinds of possibilities.

If your roll is all Failures, that is called an Utter Failure (i.e. getting 1, 1, 1, on a 3d6 roll). Not only do you fail to accomplish whatever you had set out to do, but something horrible happens as well. The example I use most often is jumping over a 10 ft. gap. To do so, you need 2 successes on Eyrie, but you roll three 1's. Not only do you fall in, but you bash your head on the edge, take damage from that, and fall unconscious. Make sense?

Yes it does.

One thing I really wanted to accomplish with this system is to create a more visceral means of combat, exciting and not drawn out too terribly long (though perhaps not totally realistic). In it, your character trains with a certain Combat Style, though they can use any weapon. For example, you might have a spear, a sword, a dagger, and a bow, but your specific training is with the spear Combat Style. When you wish to attack, you pick a technique from that style and roll, adding a bonus from your training to a basic attack roll. No damage is rolled, because each technique with each weapon has a fixed damage. To suit this, character don't have much in the way of health, but they have multiple ways to protect themselves from harm, and an attack must be directed against a specific body part.

I'm liking these ideas. Is this the only "public" place where you've published this info so far? It would be great to see these ideas in a Wiki or similar so people can comment on & reference them more easily.

I don't really have the means to set that up at present. This is the best option for me. However, I do have a GoFundMe where people can support my work. This thread was really meant to gather support, but I didn't know if posting the link would be permitted. If an admin or something could help answer that, I'd really appreciate it.

I'm always of the opinion that within reason, things should be allowed. I'm ok with a link to support your work, as long as you're not actively advocating people support your work (eg, having a link so people can opt to do so is fine). As long as people don't abuse the right, I'm glad to see people move further towards their goals. I'll write up official rules for it, but for now, we'll keep it case by case, but if its RPG/gaming related, I'll almost definitely say yes, and otherwise, determine based on circumstance.

Well it's an RPG system, so I'd say it's related. Clarify for me though, the difference between "link to support my work" vs. "actively advocating people support my work." I don't want to do the wrong one.

What it sounds like you're saying is if I put up a link in this thread, and let people go check out the GoFundMe, that's permissible. Thanks for responding so quickly!

Alright, I've waited long enough for a reply. I'm going to post a link now. If you want me to delete this post, I will.

A couple of questions as I'm curious about a couple of things regarding your system.

First off who is your target player base? Like does this system favor those that like a really in depth system in terms of how things play out or are you gearing this in the sense of "I can have someone playing this game without too much reference in the book" which is kind of the way monte cook went when he released numenera if that's a good example for the latter.

The second is a question towards your dice system with failures. At level 1 2d4 there's no way to botch since two ones would indicate utter failure. That makes sense, and so does 3d6 for level 4. My question lies in the fact that at the highest level with 8d8 it seems as though even though this is described as a godly level of power that you're more likely to botch a roll than you are to with say 3d6 at level 4 just because there is simply more dice to roll which means more chances to land on a 1, regardless of the amount of sides on the dice. Is this an intended mechanic or how would you alleviate a situation where it might be more favorable to not seek out increasing these levels past a certain point

My target player base is definitely those who want an empowered roleplaying experience. While my system will have a lot of reading for the Game Master, the objective is to put the bulk of the effort on them, allowing them to pick and choose from the provided materials and let the players focus on getting immersed in their characters. For example, I have taken out a lot of chance where you might expect it (random Health, random damage, random stats), and instead put it into things like success-based rolls and percentile chances of rare events (for example, a blunt strike from certain weapons has a 10% chance to do much more damage, per strike). Additionally, I have focused the rules on defining the experience, rather than restricting it. The written materials will help the Game Master understand my way of play, and help them form their own, while keeping most of that behind the scenes. One thing I use to illustrate the difference is that I do not use the d20 at all. I find that 3-4 dice of the d4, d6, or d8 variety give much more reliable results.

As to your second question, that egregious amount of potential botches is meant to provide balance. Yes, your chances of rolling an utter failure are 20% higher than someone with 2d4 faces, but you have vastly more power at your disposal. There is no such thing as a double botch, or a triple botch, or anything like that. That means having 5 failures on 8 dice is just as bad as having 2 failures. See below:

If we presume a roll of 8, 6, 3, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1...
And the Game Master asked for a check with a difficulty of 3 successes...
Then you would definitely botch, but you would also succeed. Even though you rolled five 1's, which is more than a normal player ever could, you still passed a very difficult check. One that would require a normal player to roll successes on all their dice. The price of a botch isn't a total loss, just a slight disadvantage applied to either victory or defeat. In this case, you'd pass the extraordinary challenge, but something bad would happen as well.

In my opinion, a 20% difference between an ant and a god is more than fair. Next question?

Let's say we only need 1 success though. Could you choose to roll a lesser amount of dice if you're at a higher level? i understand how you explained it earlier in which yeah you have a higher chance to botch but you can pass what someone with 3d6 might fail more easily. But if we're talking about a task that requires less successes to pass then in my head the 3d6 player is at an advantage to the 8d8 player in the fact that they're both likely to pass, but the god is more likely to botch what is likely a mundane task considering their level of power

Outside of the rules, this could be handled one of two ways. A) the GM just says the god doesn't need to try, because it's too easy. Most tasks of that level, like forcing open a stuck door, could be overcome in ways other than a simple Power Value check. The only two PV 9 creatures I can think of off the top of my head are archangels and dragons. Or B) One could rule that the disadvantage makes sense. Juggling that kind of power and being more used to handling things on a such a highly advanced level, the PV 9 being might struggle to do something so simple without collateral damage. For example, you roll 3 successes instead of 1, but you also roll 5 failures. Now you far more than succeed, but damage your environment, or hurt someone, or break your weapon/other tool.

You do have a point that this places a burden on the higher Power Value, though. I'd be open to discussing changes. How might you implement this idea of choosing how many dice you roll?

Hello? Did you miss my reply?

Well, I have constructed a new version, if you're still interested.

Power Value 1 (or "PV 1")
Your character rolls a four-sided die (1d4). On a 4, the character may roll an additional die (for a total of 2d4).
PV 2
Your character rolls a six-sided die (1d6). On a 4 or higher, the character may roll an additional die (for a total of 2d6).
PV 3
Your character rolls two four-sided dice (2d4). If a 4 is rolled on either, this may be raised to 3d4, and no higher.
PV 4
Your character rolls two six-sided dice (2d6). If a result of 4 or higher is rolled on either, this may be raised to 3d6, and no higher.
PV 5
Your character rolls an eight-sided die (1d8). On a 4 or 5, an additional die may be added (2d8). On a 6 or higher, up to two dice may be added (for a total of 3d8).
PV 6
Your character rolls two six-sided dice (2d6). For each result of 4 or higher that you roll on those two, an additional die may be added. This can raise the total to 4d6 and no higher.
PV 7
Your character rolls an eight-sided die (1d8). On a 4 or higher, you may add another die. This is true for each die you roll, up to a maximum value of 4d8.
PV 8
Your character rolls two eight-sided dice (2d8). For each result of 4 or higher that you roll on those two, an additional die may be added. If you roll 4 or higher on those new dice, you may add up to two more, bringing the maximum total to 6d8.
PV 9
Your character rolls two eight-sided dice (2d8). On a 4 or higher, you may add another die. This is true for each die you roll, up to a maximum value of 8d8.

Anyone have thoughts about if this improves on the old system?

I like the concept of the new system, but the way the probabilities work out for the dice rolls is kind of odd. Going from a PV of 2 to a PV of 3 actually reduces the probability of rolling additional dice

PV 2: 4 and above is a 50% chance
PV3: 4 on either die is a combined total of a 43.75% chance

Just an observation, but since I don't know how exactly your successes work or if they've changed since the first post about it, it might not be an issue!

I have since been advised that the new proposal is god-awful and worse than the first one. A new one is underway and will be posted for consideration by the end of the night. Hopefully sooner.

Alright, I haven't gotten my adviser to check it out, but here's one idea.

Power Value 1 (or "PV 1")
Roll a d6. If your result is a 1, it is a "failure." If your result is a 6, add a die. Do not add more than one.
PV 2
If your result is a 5 or higher, add a die.
PV 3
If your result on the first die is 5 or higher, add a die.
If your result on the second die is a 6, add a die.
PV 4
If your result on the first die is 4 or higher, add a die.
If your result on the second die is a 5 or higher, add a die.
PV 5
If your result on the first die is 3 or higher, add a die.
If your result on the second die is a 4 or higher, add a die.
PV 6
For the first two dice, you want a 3 or higher.
If your result on the third die is a 6, add a die.
PV 7
For the first two dice, you want a 3 or higher.
If your result on the third die is a 5 or higher, add a die.
PV 8
For the first two dice, you want a 3 or higher.
If your result on the third die is a 4 or higher, add a die.
If your result on the fourth or fifth dice is a 6, add a die.
PV 9
For the first three dice, you want a 3 or higher.
If your result on the fourth or fifth dice is a 5 or higher, add a die.
If your result on the sixth or seventh dice is a 6, add a die.

If I could get feedback on this, and/or some additional questions, I'd be really excited to answer.

So I read your thread and I had a lot of thoughts. I started to post about all of them but decided I just had to test your system a bit before I could give constructive criticism. I don't have all the time so I only tested PVs 4 through 6 using the Tools Dice on this site for ten rolls each and this is what I got:

(#s= Number of Successes/ ns=No successes)

PV 4
Roll 1: 2 (ns)
Roll 2: 3 (ns)
Roll 3: 6/4 (1s)
Roll 4: 2 (ns)
Roll 5: 1 (ns - Total failure? negative 1 success?)
Roll 6: 6/2 (1s)
Roll 7: 2 (ns)
Roll 8: 3 (ns)
Roll 9: 4/5/4 (2s)
Roll 10: 6/6/2 (2s)

Total successful rolls: Four, two of which had 2 successes
Failures: six, one of which was potential a total failure?

PV 5
Roll 1: 5/6/3 (2s)
Roll 2: 5/6/3 (2s)
Roll 3: 5/3 (1s)
Roll 4: 3/2 (1s)
Roll 5: 3/3 (1s)
Roll 6: 3/4/4 (2s)
Roll 7: 4/1 (ns)
Roll 8: 6/2 (1s)
Roll 9: 4/1 (ns)
Roll 10: 2 (ns)

Total success rolls: Seven, three of which had 2 successes
Failures: Three, two of them would have been successes if 1s didn't subtract the first success.

PV 6
Roll 1: 5/6/2 (2s)
Roll 2: 3/4/4 (2s)
Roll 3: 3/2 (1s)
Roll 4: 3/1 (ns)
Roll 5: 4/3/5 (2s)
Roll 6: 1 (ns/total failure?)
Roll 7: 1 (ns/total failure?)
Roll 8: 3/5/5 (2s)
Roll 9: 4/1 (ns)
Roll 10: 3/4/6/2 (3s)

Total success rolls: Six, four with 2 successes, one with 3 success
Failures: Four, two total failures. If 1s don't subtract, then there would only be 2 outright failures.

So overall, a total of 17 successes, 13 failures out of 30 rolls. Slightly better than half overall is pretty good I think. If the 1s aren't still subtracting from successes it changes things, resulting in more successes.

Now, on to my thoughts about what I'm reading...
You mentioned before that tasks might require more successes. I would like to see more details on those guidelines. From my results, requiring 3 successes on any task at less than superhuman level would be overdoing it. So the vast scope of actions should only require 1 success I think.

As a personal note...I find the idea of rolling one die...then checking to see if I get to roll the next die...then checking to see if I can roll another die...etc and so on...quite cumbersome. Specifically in a narrative RPG situation (in a board game it would be fine I think). If my stats are at different levels, and for every action I take I have to remember what the rules are for the PV, it would be taxing on my brain power to shift gears so often.

You haven't talked about the GM rolling dice (or if you did I missed it, sorry). My thoughts on this topic is that the GM should never touch dice. Players are likely to fail nearly 50% of the time on their own (plus or minus). That is a good rate if you aren't playing to be an antagonistic GM.

This does lead to the question of Hit Points or Wounds...again if you put this somewhere and I missed it, sorry. How are you planning to run damage both on PCs and NPCs? And PC vs. PC combat? I have thoughts on this, but don't want to flood your thread with my game design theories.

I can sum up the results of your rolls by saying that there appears to be a misunderstanding about what a success is. Anything other than a 1 is a success. How can I best communicate that more clearly?

The thing about your Power Values is that they almost never change, and usually only in a temporary sense. If your Leon PV is 4, you have a 4 for the entire game. That means you don't have to keep checking. You may have to look at your sheet a couple times the first session, but it should be really easy to remember in the long run. Granted I haven't tested this. How would you recommend making it less cumbersome?

Ideally, the GM won't do much rolling, except when controlling monsters or certain NPCs, and then not much is really needed. But in those cases, it works the same as for players.

I will get more into the other rules after I get the basic set ironed out, because it has been extremely taxing to reconfigure the backbone of several years' work. If you like, I can discuss combat with you in private for a bit until this thread catches up?

OK...yeah, I missed this details somewhere. Perhaps in your re-configuring it was obvious to you, but in reading the thread I misunderstood that. I thought I read that anything less than the initial number based on your PV was a failure and 1 subtracts successes. So yes that does change things a lot. The only suggestion here would be a reposting of the most current rules, but that may be more than you want to do. Your call there. Now I get it, but the next person to come along might be confused also. As for us, I'm now on the same page with you.

So my thoughts now are that 2 successes is not as crazy, 3 still seems high, but maybe your rules and guidelines for setting the difficulties is balanced to that end. I shall wait and see.
I was thinking about rolling different stats. A particular PC might have a Leon PV 4, and a Nemesis PV of 5 correct? And the other stats could be anywhere else between 1 and 9. So on one turn I kick down the door using my Leon PV 4 rules, then the next round I could use Enlight PV 5 rules to interrogate a criminal and sift through their words to discover the truth they are trying to hide. So I have to shift gears and remember that on Round 1 I need a 4 and a 5 to destroy the door, the next time I roll I need to remember a 3 and 4 is good to succeed.

I'm comparing this to D&D where on the turn I kick down a door, I add my Str bonus to kick down the door and maybe my Wis bonus or Cha bonus to talk to the criminal. In that game, I just have to remember which number to add to the d20 roll each time. I probably still have to check my character sheet a bunch, but for the most part I only need to find one number to add to my roll, while your system requires me to remember a new set of rules each time.

With practice I might memorize it, but it is a turn off to me as a player with this initial read. Who knows though, I love to try new games, and it could be simpler than I feel it is right now. Until I can sit down and actually do it though, it feels clunky. I'm not sure what I would change to make that simpler that wouldn't result in another complete change to your system.
With my new understanding of the rules, this seems OK now. Again, other than having to know the rules for rolling any of 9 different PVs. But really, a GM only ever rolls for monsters and NPCs...that's all there is for a GM to roll for. Even and inanimate trap could be viewed as a monster for the (typically) one turn it actually is a threat.
I'm in no hurry. You post what you can when you can. Just had some extra time tonight and thought I'd offer up my 2 cents on the matter. Over all it seems interesting. I've thought about making my own games int he past. You have touched on one or two ideas that I have toyed with before so it was interesting reading what you had developed.

Let me see if I can make it clearer:
At PV 1, roll d6. If you roll a 1, failure. If you roll not-1, success. Get enough "successes," that's a passing roll.
If your result is a 6, add a die. You may roll a maximum of 2 dice.

From PV 2 to 5, the number you have to get on your first roll, for a bonus die, goes down by 1 each time.
Your maximum dice increase by +1 at PV 3 and PV 6. At PV 8 and 9, they go up +2.
Remember that your PV is not going to be fluctuating throughout the game, but stays the same.
Each new die starts over at 6 for bonus dice, and goes down with higher PV (no lower than 3).

I hope that is at least a little better.

If it helps, think of the bonus dice as a GM reward instead of something you manage. You just roll one die, no matter what your PV is, and all you're looking for is a 1. Anything else is good. Standardized difficulties are rated in such a way that needing 3 successes will not come up often, because that is the best any human can do. The GM might say you need 2 successes, or they might not say anything but "Okay, roll." You roll 1 success and "Something" happens. Might not be enough, or the GM might surprise you. The system as a whole is designed to encourage creative solutions rather than brute-forcing your problems.

I like the sound of that. It makes more sense now. And I like the idea that the GM can give partial successes for getting 1 of the 2 successes a task might have required.

I'm not sure how I feel about the idea of rolling a 1 being the only way to fail, as it seems a 1 in 6 chance is too easy. In my examples, I only got a natural 1 on three occasions out of 30 rolls. If 1s subtract from successes as I they did earlier, that still only raises the total number of failures to 7 out of 30...or +/-23% failure rate.

At this point I'm just not sure. I'd have to see it in action. When you're ready, I'd be willing to play test on this site if you want.

I can gladly say that the design is that way for a reason. My main fault with Pathfinder is that the d20 rolling system is too random given the level of skill your character is supposed to have. If your character is good at something, failure should be minimal and never disastrous, unless the environmental conditions have a negative bearing on it. So I made my system easier, where part of the fun is how often you get away with great rolls. That way, a negative roll enhances the gameplay.

Oh, and I wanted to address that a "failure" result (rolling a 1) does not necessarily subtract from successes. By default, you count your successes and ignore your failures. If a specific rule, like certain parts of the magic system, say "tally up successes and subtract your failures" then you just do so at that time.

Would you like to move on from the basic rules, or do you feel this mechanic still needs work?

Right, onto a survey of the system then. Let's see, where to start...

Well, to begin with, races are handled rather differently than you'd expect in, say, Pathfinder. I have created a very wide variety, ranging from normal human abilities all the way to archangels and full-sized dragons. These are obviously not equal in power, so I have ranked them from Low to Very High, and written specific instructions for the Game Master on how to make the best use of each. But let's just talk about them as if we were playing a Very High power game, and everything was up for grabs.

The races are divided into Human, Siir, Kemuim, Basol, Yon, Rafa, and Tannin.

Humans are for the most part pretty basic, but there's a lot of cool customization available. Aside from the six Purebleed sub-races, there are also Modified humans with special powers, and the Impure (monstrous humanoids born from unlikely pairings). Humans are naturally xenophobic, and tend not to like each other, or other races. For that matter, most humans in my setting don't believe that the non-human races exist. They may not even think magic is real.

The Siir are the fae races of my world, divided into Light, Grey, and Dark. The two Light Siir options are Elves and Pixi (Pix singular), who represent the land and the seasons. Elves draw immortality and rapid healing from the biome in which they were born. Say you're playing one from the desert. So long as you're in desert terrain, you gain benefit from your special features. The Pixi are rather different, standing no more than 2 ft. tall at the extreme most (think like the Yao Ming or Robert Wadlow of their kind). They have wings, only live during a specific season, but resurrect from the dead every year, and they have phenomenal magic powers based on which season they belong to.

These are the most common races you'll see in-game. Now, a brief word on classes. You don't actually pick your "basic class," though that's not Fighter or Wizard like you might be expecting. When you pick your race, it comes with a preset selection of Power Values for each of your six Virtues of LEGEND. The one that is the highest is your "primary Virtue," which controls whether you are a Juggernaut, Fury, Atlas, Judge, Sage, or Aesthete. Basic classes are a loose configuration of features based around what you have the most strength in. From there, you may pick from a wide variety of sub-classes, which are more like the classes you're thinking of and have a 20 level progression. There are so many, I can't list them here, but they include close-range warriors like the Fighter and Rogue, defenders like the Shieldmaiden and Wild Guardsman, archers like the Reserve Ranger and Feral Keeper, and even a variety of social and skill-based classes like the Blacksmith, Mariner, Potter, and Prosecutor.

Something important to mention here, long before we get into the magic system, is that there are no "caster classes." Instead, every subclass comes with its own Magic Variant, meaning that you can play the caster version of anything. It will be weaker in non-magic concerns, but have the full support of my dynamic magic system. If you choose not to have magic, you will instead gain much more powerful attacks you can use many times in one turn, special abilities not available to the casters, and much more control over your skills. In particular, your subclass will supply you with daily Special Ability features, as well as Special Traits usable as many times as you like, special "Virtue Charges" that improve what you've got in a cool and noticeable fashion, and the almighty Master Abilities you gain at Level 16 and Level 20. These function like the Special Abilities you've had all along, including that they can only be used once per day, but they are extraordinarily powerful, rivaling or exceeding many spells. Some classes like the Feral Keeper and the Erudite even have special powers that would appear magical, but are distinct from any available magic. You only get to use those powers if you play that subclass.

Anyone have questions on a specific race, basic class, sub-race, sub-class, or something else?

Any questions at all?