Oldest World -- My 6 year old baby brainchild

load previous
Mar 30, 2018 4:36 pm
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.
Mar 30, 2018 9:48 pm
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?
Apr 15, 2018 12:35 am
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?

You do not have permission to post in this thread.