B&S RPG part 2

 Bash & Slash RPG part 2 - The Bloatening

Aaaannnnd the bloat has already set in.  This is intended to be a solo dungeon crawl, but I keep trying to build in general role playing capabilities.  These don't work in a solo crawl - there isn't anybody else to save you.  

Good things are never easy.  Especially when I keep changing my mind about little details like how the combat system works.  I want armor shields to be important, maybe as important as the combatant's skill.   But armor has to actually do something.  So do shields reduce your chance to be hit, or reduce your chance to be injured after a successful hit?  Do I have detailed armor, or generic "light/medium/heavy"?  Same thing for weapons.  Do I build in the difference between bash/slash/poke, or just give certain weapons an armor piercing ability?  That sounds easier, now that I write it down.  Speaking of armor piercing - swords simply don't do well at that.  That's why armor was invented, after all.  Then why would anybody ever use a sword?  Because no hand weapon does more damage to unarmored flesh, that's why.  And they're the absolute best at parrying other weapons, to keep you from getting cut.  But does any of this really matter in a (hopefully) simple dungeon crawl?

Speaking of bloat - I already have two different systems to track encumbrance - by weight and by slots.  Only need one of these, and slots is probably the better idea.  Either would work, I guess, but I like the idea of having to know where everything is, and digging around in your pack (or, heaven help you, in a big sack) to find the thing you're desperately looking for while the giant spider approaches.

Simple is hard.  Complicated is easy.  Concise is hard.  Verbose is easy.  Genre focus is proving to be harder than I thought.

All that being said, here's the current WIP.  I am certain that there will be massive changes before I'm satisfied with it.

Bash & Slash
A role playing game system by me (Alpha 0.2, MAR 2021)

Definitions

Skill Test (lower = better):  Roll a d20, and you succeed if the result is less than or equal to an Attribute plus an optional Boost.  A roll of 20 (19 or 20 for a disfavored Attribute) is a critical failure, and your character loses one point of Stamina.

Boost Test (lower = better):  Roll a d6, and you succeed if the result is less than or equal to the value of the Boost.  A roll of 6 always fails.

Opposed Test (high under):  A skill test against an active opponent.  Both sides roll a skill test, and the higher successful result wins.  In case of a tie, both sides succeed.

Effort Check (higher = better):  Roll one (or more) dice and take the result.  This is mostly used for damage rolls, but also for some tasks that will take extended effort to accomplish. 

Advantage (ADV):  Roll an extra die, and discard the worst result.  May be abbreviated as an “A” following a die roll type, as in “d6A”.

Disadvantage (DIS):  Roll an extra die, and discard the best result.  May be abbreviated as a “D” following a die roll type, as in “d20D”.

Advantage and Disadvantage cancel each other on a one-for-one basis.  Advantages and Disadvantages stack, to a limit of two.  Double advantage (2ADV) means roll two extra dice, and discard the worst two.  Double disadvantage (2DIS) means roll two extra dice, and discard the best two.  Examples:  d20A:  Roll two twenty-sided dice and keep the best.  d6DD:  Roll three six-sided dice and keep only the worst.  3d6A:  Roll four six-sided dice, discard the lowest, and add the higher three together.

Middling (MID):  Roll three dice and discard the highest and lowest.  May be abbreviated as an “M” following a die roll type, as in “d6M”.

d6:  A six-sided die.
d3:  A six sided die, with the result halved.  When halving a number, always round up.
d66:  Roll a d6 twice to select from 36 possible outcomes, labeled 11 through 66.
2d6+1:  Roll two six-sided dice, add the results together, then add one.

A Scene is a full encounter.  It includes local exploration, dealing with traps, fighting monsters, picking locks, gathering treasure, etc.  In general, one room in a dungeon is a single scene.

Distance is measured relative to you or your target.  Intimate is wrestling and whispering range.  Close is melee and talking range.  Near is thrown weapons and shouting range.  Far is missile weapons and whistling range.  Distant is only within the range of siege weapons and bagpipes.

Character Creation

The five Attributes your character has are:

            Agility (AGL):  Melee combat, dodging, and acrobatics.
            Brawn (BRN):  Lifting, carrying, brawling, intimidating, and taking damage.
            Cunning (CNG):  Magic, shooting, healing, and crafting.
            Deviousness (DEV):  Manipulating, sneaking, and noticing.
            Endurance (END):  Stamina, general health, and luck.

Attributes can never rise above 20.  Attributes may be temporarily reduced.  If any attribute is reduced to zero, the character may die.  Whenever an attribute is reduced to 5 or less, test it with a d6.  If the test fails (the result is higher than the attribute), their Stamina is reduced to one, their Sweat is maxed out, they pass out for d6 hours, and the affected attribute is permanently reduced by one. 

Pick two attributes to favor.  They have a value of 10.  Mark them with a “+”. Pick one attribute to disfavor.  It has a value of 8.  Mark it with a “-“.  The other two attributes have a value of 9.

Stamina:  How much physical effort your character can perform without becoming exhausted.  Your character’s base Stamina is equal to your Endurance plus Grit and Luck (boosts, discussed later).  [For more epic adventuring, add half your Brawn.] 

Sweat:  Hard work (like melee combat) is exhausting.  Sweat is used in place of traditional “hit points” to avoid deadly damage, to power spells, and enable mighty feats of daring.  Sweat recovers quickly, returning to zero at the end of each scene.  When sweat equals Stamina, reduce your Stamina by one, and any additional sweat is applied randomly to your Attributes as damage. 

Roll:                1          2-3       4          5          6
            Attribute:        AGL    BRN    CNG   DEV    END

Rest:  Your character can go Stamina hours without rest or food.  If you do not stop to eat and rest for an hour after that many hours, you are exhausted and gain one burden each additional hour you go without rest.  (Attempting to rest after fewer than half that many hours has no effect.)  When your character takes an hour to rest and eat, Sweat is reduced to zero and all Stamina is restored.  For each reduced Boost, roll a d6.  On a 1-2, you regain one point.  You may also make a healing test to recover one point to a single reduced Attribute or to eliminate a poison.  Note that resting characters tend to attract wandering monsters, who are attracted to the smell of the cheese you’re eating.

 

 

Burden:  How wearying your character’s existence has become.  Carrying a heavy load, wearing armor, illness, adventuring too long without rest, or being cursed all add to your burden.  At the beginning of each scene, increase your sweat by your burden.

Carry Capacity (CC) in stones is Brawn plus Strong (a boost).  [For more epic adventuring, add half your Endurance.]  If you carry too much, your Burden increases and you may suffer disadvantage on all skill tests.  You cannot carry more than 10 stone more than your capacity.

Load:               ≤ CC               ≤ CC+3           ≤ CC+6           ≤ CC+8           ≤ CC+10
Burden:           0                      1                      3                      6 + DIS            10 + 2DIS

Containers:  Since your character probably only has two hands, most items have to be carried in various containers.  You can strap one very large or two large items to your poor, aching back.  Pants pockets have not yet been invented, and would be hidden under your armor, anyways.  Other containers are listed below.  It takes one round to find any particular item in a pouch, 1d3 rounds to retrieve something from a purse or backpack, and 1d6 rounds to find and extricate what you’re looking for in a bag or sack.

·         A purse is a very small item, and can carry up to 1000 tiny items (like coins and gems).

·         A pouch is a small item, and can carry 6 very small items.  A pouch full of purses full of coins weighs ½ stone.

·         A pocket on a robe or vest counts as a pouch.

·         A belt can carry 6 small items and one medium one.  You can wear up to two belts.

·         A backpack can carry 20 small items and 6 medium ones.  You can only wear one backpack.

·         A bag is carried in one hand, and has the same carry capacity as a backpack.

·         A sack is lugged in two hands, and can carry 100 small items and 20 medium ones, along with either one very large item or six large ones.

Death:  When an attribute reaches zero, the character may die.  Test your Luck boost.  If you succeed (the roll is ≤ Luck), your character will remain unconscious for 2d20 hours, then awaken with a score of one in that attribute.  If the test fails, your character will die in 1d6 rounds unless magically healed.  If your character survives, the affected attribute will be permanently reduced by 1d3+1 and your Luck will be permanently reduced by one (to no less than zero).

Boosts:  Your character can learn tricks to improve their performance at various tasks.  Boosts are associated with specific Attributes.  Boosts are used passively to increase the Attribute during skill tests.  Active use of a Boost reduces it by one level (after the use), but can accomplish incredible things, depending on the nature of the Boost.  Boosts with a value of 0 cannot be used actively, as their value cannot drop below 0 or rise above 5.  (You can still take that sort of action by rolling an Attribute test.  You just gain no additional benefits.)  Active uses only affect actions directly involving that boost, unless otherwise stated.  The effects of active uses do not require a test unless otherwise stated.  Each boost may recover a single level during a rest on a d6 roll of 1-2.

 

v  Generic

Ø  All Boosts have the following two active uses:

§  Reroll the skill test, keeping the better result.

§  Add its value to the die roll of a test you have succeeded at.  This can help you win an opposed test by having a higher final result than your opponent.

v  Agility

Ø  Fight:  Use when engaged in melee combat.  If you are unarmed, test with disadvantage.  Active use:

§  Defend a close ally by forcing their opponent to fight you instead.

§  Add a die to your melee damage, based on its current level:

1: d4    2: d6    3: d8    4: d10  5: d12

Ø  Dodge:  Use when avoiding dangerous flying objects.  When fighting defensively, add Dodge to Fight, but you cannot deal damage to your opponent.  Also useful for avoiding some traps.  Active use:

§  Reduce any non-magic damage you receive (to a minimum of 0), based on its level:

1: d4    2: d6    3: d8    4: d10  5: d12

Ø  Acrobatics:  Use creatively to climb, jump, swing, or generally move over, under, around, past, through, or away from obstacles and threats.  Active use:

§  Grant a swashbuckling Advantage to any Agility or Brawn based test you have not yet rolled.

 

v  Brawn

Ø  Brawl:  Use to intimidate or to have a good old time wrasslin’ a bear.  Active uses:

§  Disarm an opponent.  This requires a d6 check.  If their weapon is two handed, this check has Disadvantage.  If you fail, you still complete the act, but take d3 damage.

§  Trip, push, or otherwise manhandle an opponent.  If they are armed, this requires a d6 check.  If you fail, you still complete the act, but take d3 damage.

Ø  Strong:  Use to lift and carry, open stuck doors, and hit things harder.  Passively adds its level to melee damage and all Brawn based effort checks.  Active use:

§  Add a die to melee damage or a Brawn based effort check, based on its current level:

1: d4    2: d6    3: d8    4: d10  5: d12

Ø  Throw:  Use to throw missile weapons, like spears, darts, and stones.  Also applies to tossing opponents out of the tavern window.

§  Add a die to thrown weapon damage, based on its current level:

1: d4    2: d6    3: d8    4: d10  5: d12

 

 

v  Cunning

Ø  Shoot:  Shooting a bow or crossbow, using a sling, or aiming spells.  Active use:

§  Ignore any distance and/or low light penalties.  If you are shooting into total darkness at a target you have some means of knowing is there, you can still try, but with disadvantage (2DIS if the target is far).

§  Add a die to your missile damage, based on its current level:

1: d4    2: d6    3: d8    4: d10  5: d12

Ø  Heal:  Non-magical healing.  A successful test while resting can restore a single point to one attribute, or you may eliminate a single poison.  A Healer’s Kit will grant advantage on this test.  Active uses:

§  Reduce subject’s Sweat to zero. Restore their Stamina according to your Heal level:

1: d4    2: d6    3: d8    4: d10  5: d12

§  Immediately awaken a person who has passed out (this can’t be you).  Their Sweat is reduced to 1d3.  Restore their Stamina according to your Heal level:

1: d4    2: d6    3: d8    4: d10  5: d12

Ø  Craft:  Create or repair items.  Requires appropriate tools and materials, along with hours, days, or weeks of effort.  Active use:

§  Quickly repair one point of damage to any single item.  If attempted without basic tools (sometimes duct tape really is enough!), this use must pass a Cunning test.  If the test fails, the item receives an additional point of damage instead.

Ø  Brew:  Brew beer and other magic potions.  Active use:

§  Drink part of a potion without using it up.  You gain the full benefit of the potion, and it is still available for later use.

Ø  Mana:  Spells cannot be cast without Mana.  When a spell is miscast, reduce your Mana by one.  Active uses:

§  Double the radius or duration of any spell.

§  Force spell resistance checks to be made with disadvantage.

§  Add a die to magical effort, based on its current level.

1: d4    2: d6    3: d8    4: d10  5: d12

 

 

v  Deviousness

Ø  Con:  Talk people into doing things that they probably shouldn’t.  The target being inebriated grants you advantage.  Also used for making disguises.  Active use:

§  Fake your way in an unknown language for a brief, simple conversation with lots of arm gestures.

Ø  Fiddle:  Convince objects that they’d prefer to be in a different shape, position, or place.  Like how that purse should be in your hand instead of the mark’s pouch.  Also remarkably handy for getting through locked doors and past traps.  Active use:

§  Improvise a trick that will delay or damage an opponent.  The delay or damage are determined by its level:

1: d4    2: d6    3: d8    4: d10  5: d12

Ø  Sneak:  The ability to be and act unnoticed.  Handy for getting close enough to that mark with the pouch full of fat purses, or sneaking past the guards.  Active use:

§  Add a die to your melee or thrown weapon damage, based on its current level:

1: d4    2: d6    3: d8    4: d10  5: d12

Ø  Notice:  Pay attention, especially to your sixth (danger) sense.  Active use:

§  Grant advantage to any Deviousness based test or check not yet rolled.

 

v  Endurance

Ø  Grit:  Work through the pain and nausea.  This Boost adds to Stamina.  Active uses:

§  Restore 1d3 Stamina and reduce Sweat to zero.

Ø  Luck:  Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.  This Boost adds to Stamina.  Its generic active uses can be used to aid any action your character makes.  Active uses:

§  Force an opponent to reroll any test or check, keeping the worst result.  This includes damage rolls.

§  Subtract its value from the die roll of a test your opponent has succeeded at.  This can help you win an opposed test by having a higher final result than your opponent.

§  Cause an opponent to “accidentally” make a melee attack against one of his allies instead of against you or your allies.  This requires a d6 check.  If it fails, the target takes no action.

§  Allow an ally to make any test or check not yet rolled with advantage.

§  Make any test or check (not yet rolled) of your own with double advantage.