/gdg/ - Game Design General

>>50428552
>I'm not sure how successful they are
Very not.

Instead of posting pasta post questions. Better yet just make a normal thread instead of a general. Generals suck.

File: 1473795099312.jpg (26KB, 471x540px) Image search: [Google]

26KB, 471x540px

>>50428552
They aren't successful.

That being said, I'm willing to chat. What up, you wanna swap system ideas and stuff?

File: Bath_Messenger_BE.jpg (764KB, 1920x1080px) Image search: [Google]

764KB, 1920x1080px

>>50429176
Well, I hadn't wanted to go first, and I need to really format things better, but I guess I'll have to.

The idea I've been working on is a Bloodborne/Innistrad/Castlevania/Van Helsing sort of thing. I've been wanting to run that sort of game for a while, and after Monotreem's "Bloodbrew", I started thinking about things. Admittedly, the mechanics are more inspired by Dark Souls, since until yesterday that was the only Soulsborne game I'd played (I've now played a bit of DaS2). Primarily, the mechanics for combat (the thing I've been working on) are all about managing a refreshing amount of Action Points which need to be spent attacking, dodging, and moving around.

The system is essentially a d% roll under system, like Dark Heresy, only instead of a d% I'm using a d20 (since +1 on a d20 is +5%). Another slight variation is that instead of trying to get as low as possible, you want to get as high as you can, but not higher than your Target Number. It's something a friend uses in her OSR game's skill system, and she apparently took it from another OSR game. If your TN is 12, rolling 4 is good, rolling 10 is better, and rolling 13 means you failed. For combat, and sometimes other things, you'll be able to roll an additional funny die with your d20 roll and add that result to your total *after* you've determined your pass/fail. So 1d20+1d6 at TN 12 where you roll 10+5 means you succeed the TN 12 as if you'd rolled 15, even though rolling a 15 on the d20 would be a failure.

>>50430071
Each combat action has a set cost of AP based on the action you're doing (with each weapon or armour having their own base AP cost). A standard attack might be [W], while an accurate attack that gives +2 to the TN would be 1.5[W]. A flurry of attacks, which could be multiple attacks against the same target, or against multiple targets, would mean paying .5[W] for each additional attack (this would be paid first, and rolled as a single action, treated as if you rolled 2 less for each time you paid. So if I pay 2[W] at TN 12 and roll 10+5, I'd be treated as if I rolled 15, then 13, then 11; I'm against repeated attacks rolled as separate actions). Due to the Bloodborne inspiration, weapons will probably have different "stances", like the Trick Weapons.

Defensive actions would also have costs, generally based on your armour. The current idea is that if you don't pay to Defend in some manner, you're effectively just standing there and take the hit provided your attacker rolls well. A standard Dodge would cost [A] while simply breaking away for a run might be 2[A] and give a bonus, like the accurate attack. Dodging would mean rolling against your own Dodge TN, and if you succeed and do better than your opponent's attack, you don't take damage. This would probably not count any bonus die they get from their weapon (so that TN 12 roll of 10+5 would be treated as a 10, so when your own TN 12 roll shows up as a 12 on the die, you'd successfully Dodge). A more passive Dodge, treated as if you'd rolled a 9, might be cheaper in terms of AP costs.

Armour, when it's available, would primarily be relatively light in terms of defense, and mostly be for holding enchantments of some kind. Shields or other turtle up powers would allow you to take a hit from your AP instead of your Vitality, up to the shield's value. A shield with a value of 5 means that if you get hit for 7, five of that comes from your AP. If you lose all your AP due to a hit, you're staggered.

>I'm not sure how successful they are
They used to last awhile but I haven't seen one do well in months. Don't know why, used to post in here all the time.

>>50430071
>Bloodborne/Innistrad/Castlevania/Van Helsing sort of thing
I actually started working on a similar idea just a few days ago.

If you want to adapt the video game mechanics to tabletop, my first advice would be STOP and asses if that's actually worth doing. In a tabletop game the mechanics need to support a narrative, whereas video games are usually the other way around.

If you still want to do it, go play Bloodborne right now. I've beaten DaS1-3 and just picked up BB a couple weeks ago, it is a whole different beast. Seriously, I can't stress how much differently you need to think in BB than in DaS.

I think your core mechanic sounds interesting but you need to keep a few things in mind. I would recommend just rolling 2d10 instead of 1d20 and letting the player decide which die goes in which digit (though if playtesting shows that takes too long, pre-determine one beforehand). This will produce transparent percentile results, help give players some control and even out your rolls a little. Adding bonus dice to this is gonna be a cluster though, best to just add flat mods but be warned - there's a reason 1d20+mods systems suck: rolling one die produces uneven results.

>>50430202
I think you should reevaluate your stamina system. Give players a flat pool to reduce TNs that expands with their level. Unlike DaS, armor is mostly for fashion in BB (unless you really need a resistance edge against a boss) and weapons are all pretty viable, it's just a question of your personal style. Look into something like Cypher.

Honestly I don't think OSR or D&D inspiration is a good fit for BB, because it emphasizes player skill and control with a compelling narrative. Your system seems to be pretty mathy and highly random, which kind of goes against your muse.

File: f7e11a90f22fd52e966bba69019c7ccc.jpg (468KB, 1000x1389px) Image search: [Google]

468KB, 1000x1389px

Damage is likely to be half of the d20 roll (hence why higher is better) plus the weapon's die. Possibly plus Strength as a flat value, with Dexterity being what determines the TN for an attack. Currently the values I'm testing are 1d4 to 1d8, with the second stance of each weapon being twice that (and weapon costs being [die size]/2+1 as the cost for the first stance). Each also has a bit of a special ability: The dagger doesn't get an extra die or higher AP cost, but adds 1d4 for each additional Flurry you make. The sword doesn't actually do anything in the second stance other than be 2d6, and the axe is 2d8 with the ability to ignore two points of armour.

I'm tempted to have multiple hit locations, though I don't really think there's any easy way to do that--especially without making multiple charts--and still keep things simple. Health, however, is just going to be two physical traits (Strength and Stamina) put together, while AP is based on either Stamina alone, or Stamina+Willpower. The starting value for each trait is 5, while the max at character creation is 13.

If I do hit locations, the location will be based on the attack roll (sort of like how Dark Heresy does it), with a Called Shot maneuver allowing you to shift the numbers or choose a location. Each location will also have mounting worsening conditions as you lose health to them, and the idea is that healing will be relatively scarce.

Other thoughts and musings include a "tick" system similar to Exalted's, with weapons and actions having different speeds. Though, again, I'm more fond of quick gameplay and minimal rolling or bookkeeping, and I've already got the idea that using counters or fishtank marbles would be a good way of tracking AP.

File: bloodborne_fanart___lanternflail_weapon_idea_by_daemonstar-d8pjvx3.jpg (81KB, 1024x640px) Image search: [Google]

81KB, 1024x640px

>>50430290
Actually, part of the reason for this is because I keep seeing people wanting to play a Bloodborne/Dark Souls game, but few systems get that 'feel' right. And the ones that do don't interest me.

The core dice system is less like D&D and more like Dark Heresy. It's not really based on D&D or OSR at all, other than the mechanic I liked where rolling high but below the TN is good coming from an OSR system. Part of the reason for AP and the maneuvers is actually so that the system is more about control, resource management, and knowing when to turtle up or avoid things and when to wail on it.

I'm doing a rework of Magical Burst, making my own system that is hopefully better but still fundamentally similar. So far I haven't got the core combat, character generation, or advancement in yet, which would theoretically be bad but I know pretty much how it should work since it's just "Magical Burst but better".

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TmWonJIbPfqCWwOUKN7H2RrjBSkevnyq_eoGiGIWfy8/edit

Note the issues section at the very end, those are things for which any feedback would be especially helpful.

File: StageAreas.jpg (83KB, 1758x876px) Image search: [Google]

83KB, 1758x876px

What do you guys think about using theatre blocking terms when describing environments?

I'd like to talk initiative systems really quick. I thought something up and while it might seem like a good idea to me that doesn't necessarily make it one.

First, a bit of background information. One of the base physical stats is Speed. Characters have floating pools of stamina that recharge at the top of the round, typically by about 25% for a character with perfectly balanced stats. Stamina (or STA) is spent to perform most physical actions.

>Turn Order
>The order characters act in is a vital part of any encounter. Going first can mean disrupting the opponents strategy or eliminating a weaker foe before they have a chance to act.

>At the start of an encounter characters are listed from highest speed to lowest. This is the default turn order, with faster characters acting earlier than slower ones.

>At the start of each round, after STA and WIL have been recovered, characters can spend STA to increase their effective speed for the purpose of determining turn order. Each point of STA spent in this manner increases their effective speed by one, this change in order only lasts until the beginning of the next round.

>In the event of a tie the characters involved each roll a d10, with the higher roll acting first. Further ties are settled with further d10 rolls.

The idea here being that faster characters have an advantage in acting first, but players can temporarily modify the turn order if they've the Stamina to spare.

I don't think having a fluid turn order would be too hard to manage, but that may very well be the case. What's more is that the members of a party are always going to know what order they'll be acting in. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not.

>>50430513
In a game played on a grid I think the area might be better described by drawing/pointing. However, if the game is more contextual in its movement/positioning stage area descriptions could actually work really well.

The issue I see with it is more with the players. They may or may not understand the terms used and it could take a while for them to pick up on the idea. For example; I, personally, would have no idea what you're talking about.

>>50430741
Sounds fine.

>>50428552
Is it a bad thing to present a TCG to a company without illustrations?

>>50432569
No, since they'd be the ones contracting illustrators. But some doodles or prototype artwork taken from Google (and probably sourced) is going to be a lot better.

I know I once saw a Kickstarter game with art from a Magic card with TEST ART across it. And Magic itself is playtested tested without art.
Also just a suggestion but I'd say not to take it to any company (they're unlikely to want your idea to begin with) and instead do some research on how to kickstart an idea. There are a lot of card games that have been kickstarted. Of course, you'll want to playtest it first.

>>50432942
For the graphism, I guess I do like you said and use some stock illustrations for now.

For the way to publish it, that's a good idea, but the problem I have with kickstarting it is that I don't know how to make my advertising.
I'm a game designer, not an advertiser.

>>50428552
What can you recommend for doing the layout of a rulebook? I habe been using Open Office thus far, but ever since inserting a background image for the pages the resulting PDF runs like shit.

Anyone have either any tips on how to insert a background into a Open Office document without screwing document performance, or just generally a program that does it better?

File: Nekomata.pdf (1B, 486x500px)

1B, 486x500px

>>50433113
Google it.

>>50433169
Make the margins 0, then set them up by hand with the little arrows at the top of the page on the ruler. Hit enter for about five lines at the top and bottom. It's not perfect, but it's more impressive than a Word file saved as pdf. Don't bother doing the fancying until you're ready to show it off, though. Since you're faking the margins at the top and bottom, you'll end up needing to fix those whenever you edit it.

There's also LaTeX, but that's complicated and I still haven't figured it out myself.

>>50430513
Only works if you have an audience. Otherwise up and down are indistinguishable and therefore so are left and right.

>>50430741
Can players delay their turn?

If an effect is reducing a players speed, does it lower their place in the turn order? If it does, does the change happen immediately or at the start of the next round?

Are stamina points spent secretly like a bid and then that's it?

Can players keep pumping points into their initiative to try and act first until one relents and stops spending them, like a game of chicken?

>>50430800
>>50437318

Here's the idea:
The players are instructed to imagine the tabletop as a stage, and imagine the GM screen as the backdrop.
The end of the table closest to the GM is up stage.
The end of the table furthest from the GM is down stage.
The part of the table to the GM's right is right stage. The part of the table to the GM's left is left stage.

Tactical positioning in combat is handled with a simple 3x3 grid similar (plus an additional 'off-stage' zone.)

>>50439117
What happens if they go onto the apron or into the house? Or the wings?

>right stage
>left stage
It's stage right and stage left.

I think you might need to learn a bit of theater stuff before basing a system on it.

>>50439267
>What happens if they go onto the apron or into the house? Or the wings?
That would be "off-stage".

>>50439340
The apron isn't off-stage. The house technically could be called that I guess, but it's really not because you're still on display to the audience.

>>50438775
>Can players delay their turn?
Yes, I suppose they could. I'm not sure if they'd be doing it at the start of the round when turn order is modified, or declaring it at the start of their turn.

>If an effect is reducing a players speed, does it lower their place in the turn order? If it does, does the change happen immediately or at the start of the next round?
Changes to speed would change turn order, but those changes wouldn't come into effect until the beginning of the next round.

>Are stamina points spent secretly like a bid and then that's it?
That was the idea, yes.

>Can players keep pumping points into their initiative to try and act first until one relents and stops spending them, like a game of chicken?
But this idea is nice. I like the "game of chicken" angle.

>>50439357
Not every stage has an apron, and it doesn't matter if the house is arguably off-stage or not because no one cares.

You are arguing semantics that the average player won't care about because they didn't take drama in high school. The only real criticism to the idea is that it brings a heavy thematic sense to it, so the rest of the game should reflect that. If you use stage directions, but then the rest of the mechanics and terminology reflects smash and loot instead roleplaying, then there'll be a conflict which draws players out of the game experience.

>>50439641
>Not every stage has an apron
I challenge you to find one in the last three hundred years excluding stages built for the round and symphonies that lacks one.

A bit of an open ended question but I'll ask: thinking in MTG terms, what does it take to make an interesting aggro creature? There are only so many ways you can say "when X happens this gets +X/+0".

So I've been thinking about one of the most common actions found in wargames: the charge. In most games, the charge usually combines 2 actions in a model/unit's economy into one, movement and attack into one action, at the cost of both items normally separately but with a bonus, usually an increase in movement and a boost to the attack. Examples include Warmahordes, which gives +3" to movement and Boosts the damage roll, or Malifaux which uses a separate movement stat, which is usually higher, and allows 2 attacks to be made.

But recently I've been looking at the game Dark Age a lot more, and they do it differently. Instead of charging being a separate action, any move that takes you into melee range of an enemy counts as a charge and let's you attack. I've been looking at it and been thinking about a similar system, since I've already been trying to encourage more movement in my game, instead of the standard issue most games have, where once everyone hits the centerline and engages in combat, they tend to sit there and whack at each other until someone dies. I already have it so you don't need to charge to be able to attack in combat, and you get a benefit from actively trying to circle your opponent. I was thinking of having it be that if you move into melee with a model and you were not engaged at the start of the move, you charge and get an attack with a boost. Most models will have 2 AP, and one thing I can forsee is models engaged at the start of their activation will have 3 choices if they want to attack back; use their AP to attack twice, try to disengage and then charge back in, or move around to try and get the backstab. It also would mean powerful models wouldn't have to sit around with a thumb up their ass if they charge in and kill a model in one go.

>>50428552
>Game Design General
>Bloodborne art in the OP pic

You are making the Doll proud!

>>50439513
Which of these ideas sounds better /gdg/?

Players secretly bid Stamina (essentially action points) to change up the turn order. All bids are final upon the reveal.

Or...

Players openly bid points to increase their position and can continue to do so until everyone chickens out. All points bid are spent.

>>50440697
Secret bids sounds better. The open bidding brings up images of people trying to push the other out of spot in a line, or when you have a race and one person catches up to the other, so the other tries harder, done for comical effect.

>>50440697
I would prefer open for logistical reasons. You would have to write a hidden bid down which hampers flow.

>>50440940
Actually, I was planning on giving my players a number of pennies equal to their Stamina and nickels equal to their Willpower.

Points spent are slid out from the player, points recovered slide back in, points burnt go back into the change jar. It keeps people from "forgetting" to write something down while also providing a visual to just how much they have to work with.

In the case of a secret bid, it'd be "hold out your closed hand with the STA you want to spend, all hands open at once"

Something I want to talk about that I have been thinking a lot about lately is this:
>For a complex dedicated system you need to provide something unique, and experience not catered to by other systems

For this I examined my homebrews and came to a conclusion. The most unique experience I ever game as a homebrewer was one of my first, years ago. It was founded on the concept of a hybrid wargame and ttrpg that would transition from the control of individual characters to units in large scale combat.

The original hack used Warhammer Fantasy as a base.


Essentially every Player would have a unit that they themselves own. This unit would generally be from 5-10 pieces. This unit would be defined by a "Standard Job" which every member of the unit has as a base for their stats, and "Promotions". Promotions came in a variety of flavors, including making someone a bannerman, musician, or leader of the unit. However it also gave specializations like physician, scout, woodsman, accountant, and more. Each individual piece contributed towards a unit's stats. A big part of the game was making sure your army was supplied, they had work, your pieces were outfitted, morale was high, etc.

These indivudal pieces each could be controlled and their specalizations made use of out of combat. Therefore you essentially have several characters each with their own thing.

Now the players together came to form an Army. An Army has both the units of the player's, but also Army Resources. These were often in the form of siege engines, monstrous creatures, and other strange units.

When participating in engagements both the Army and the Units earn XP. These are used to purchase those jobs I talked about earlier. For armies it is used to purchase tactics and clout. The army sheet has such things on it like Army Relations with various factions, your current contract holder, army resources (like the siege engines), etc.

>>50441172
Now I have gotten off track and rambled. What I wanted to talk about is that I do not know of game that tried to do this blend of having units, engaging in combat, and transitioning to controlling only a few pieces. What I want to ask /gdg/ is this idea something worth moving forward with?

As well I have had more ideas on "Unique Experiences" and the sort of niches one can try and fill. I have ended up throwing out a lot of old stuff in favor of this new design concept. The idea of if one wants to make a rules heavy system the rules must be used to anchor oneself firmly to a niche of a unique experience.

>>50440104
Well the game idea I wanted to start the thread for was Bloodborne related.

Unfortunately no one really seems interested...

>>50441231
dunno man, your idea seems way too complicated for no reason. I'm not in the everything needs to be super dumb and simple camp, but what you presented is not elegant which is imo very bad. I usually don't post when that is the case esp if it looks fresh, people quit way too easy cuz of bad feedback.

>>50441278
I'm trying to keep it simple. The only complex part to me (at the moment) is the different maneuvers, but there isn't really any way to fix that. I mean, it's not much more different than having several powers in D&D or something.

It's a simple roll under system. The only thing that's really different from Dark Heresy or something like that is the AP costs for different actions instead of having a set number of them.

>>50441349
ofc it is not complicated to you, you fucking made it. do you make this just for fun or? what is the idea behind AP point cost system?

>>50441465
To feel more like the Soulsborne franchise.

I mean, let's be honest, I barely RP and my friends barely RP, so it'll probably never even get out of the planning stage.

>>50441144
I like the idea of tokens in tabletop, they're an excellent way of tracking constantly changing values.

You might not want to use coins though. I did that for one group long ago and found myself running out.

I've got a question:

I've got a post-apoc style idea where everything from the mechanics to the rules writing says the world sucks and you're probably going to die. Part of this will be driven by a metacurrency the GM uses to create problems (Think of it like going into xp debt and you need to claw your way out). Now, I want the game to tell players that they should avoid other players, but have a hidden mechanical benefit to actually accepting help. For example, Player A needs to move a boulder that requires Strength 12 to move, but Player A only has 10 Strength. If Player A accepts help, then both players get a -4 Strength penalty. On the surface this discourages seeking help, but mechanically both players together can actually move that boulder (10-4=6, 6*2=12).

The problem happens when more than one person wants to help, or if skills are different than each other. I also need to maintain negative rules language (only penalties, never bonuses), so I can't just say "Additional players only contribute 2 extra to the DC" because that's essentially phrased as a bonus. Is there a good, simple way to express that regardless of differing participants or skill values while maintaining negative language?

>>50443129
Who would even bother to steal pennies and nickels? Or were you using quarters as your tokens?

>>50443571
It was dimes and I'm pretty sure I know who was doing it. The best word I can think of to describe him would be Troglodite

>>50440697
It depends on the tone of your game.

Silent bidding works well with other stealthy and secretive mechanics you might have, while open bidding works well with revealing your powerlevel, intimidation, and rap battles.

>>50440697
Open bidding, hands down. Silent is a hassle to do and doesn't allow any kinds of mindgames or deeper strategic behavior.

>>50441906
It's really complicated and strange with too much fiddly bits. I played in a basically homebrew system with similar mechanics (d20 roll less than TN) and Fallout like AP. And it still was less complicated. Though it had other problems.

For example why do you need this shitty "funny die" roll in combat? What does it achieve? If you want some criticals you can just give bonus for rolling exactly TN on d20.

Another way to do or support it is non-linear damage bonus from attack roll. Not adding d20 or d20/2 to damage. Instead if you roll 1+ you deal [Damage] if you roll 5+ you deal 2x[Damage] and if you roll 15+ you deal 3x[Damage].

Counting from 1 to 3 successes instead of exact number on the roll also let's you to not transform combat into "whack a mole" fest. Because with your proposed system characters with good skill have 50% chance of hitting each other with normal attack. Not very Soulsborne where defence and positioning play a critical role.

>>50433169
Try Scribus

>>50447466
That's not necessarily true. Shouldn't bidding is like Poker, and Pulley is a literal embodiment of mindgames and deeper strategic behavior.

>>50443129
Make the penalty escalate with the number of helpers for instance it could be each player takes -(3+number of helpers) or -2*n° of helpers...Different skill values is not a problem, supposing one player has STR 11 and the other one has 10, together they would add up to STR ((11-4)+(10-4))=13 and be able to move the boulder.

>>50440697
I agree with >>50447403 , just one point about silent bidding is that the participants should be aware of each others "pools" so that they can plan accordingly.

>>50447767
Non-linear damage ftw,
By the way what do you guys think about "armor" as an expendable resource that reduces damage multipliers (to the minimum of 1x)? In my system damage multipliers usually range from 1 to 6 (with the latter usually having less than 3% of chance against a passive target), and most player can only take 8~12x damage.

>>50450565
Are you phoneposting? It seems like some of those words are wrong.

>>50445163
What the fuck.

Then again, I've gotten plenty of people that scrounge what they can to pay for their smokes dump a few dollars worth of nickels and dimes on my counter. Gotta beat that nic fit.

>>50447767
It's... literally just a simpler version of Dark Heresy's system. The only addition is the AP costs instead of juggling Half/Full/Reaction Actions.

In DH you roll d% and compare it to a target number, then for every ten points *below* that target number you get +1 and then you roll your weapon's damage, which will probably add the Bonus of your Strength, which is [Strength]/10 rounded off.

d20 is d% to the 5% place, and getting *higher* on the roll is mathematically equivalent, but easier to figure out since it doesn't require subtraction. "Half your Strength" when Strength is going to always be bellow 15 or so is also much easier than "only the tens place". Treating the damage die as the same roll as the to-hit roll just speeds things up, instead of waiting until after the hit is determined.

>Because with your proposed system characters with good skill have 50% chance of hitting each other with normal attack. Not very Soulsborne where defence and positioning play a critical role.
And characters with a good defense have 50% or more chance of *avoiding* an attack. But that costs AP, which is required to actually take actions like your own attacks. The idea is to make it so that dodging is viable, but also costs effort that is necessary to do other things. And if you get ganged up on or overwhelmed, you can end up expending too much energy dodging to launch a counterattack.

>>50430741 here. I've opted to go with an open bid. The players/GM are aware of the turn order (though only the GM is aware of the exact Speed stats of NPCs) and can openly spend Stamina to pump up their Speed for the purpose of acting sooner.

This can and will result in bidding wars as characters may continually spend more STA to get the edge over one another.

Of course, since STA is used to perform physical actions/reactions they need to keep some in reserve so they can actually do things on their turn.

Managing these pools of resources is going to be an important part of the game, since Stamina and Willpower don't fully regenerate each round.

Phoneposting bump.

>>50451761
It was right before I went to bed, so I'm not surprised I didn't catch those.

Silent bidding, Pulley=Poker

>>50450649
The main problem is explaining that as easily as possible. I want each person to contribute 55% towards a task, but I can't go the easy route and say 50%+x. Both of the formulas you offered are pretty good, but they rely on certain value ranges to actually work. That's not necessarily bad, but it does mean that event DCs and Skill values need to be hardlocked for the math to work.


the skill differences issue was mostly for large gaps. If one player has STR 10, but the rest of the party has STR 3,4, and 5, there's no way to move an STR 12 boulder. With the above, that might just mean I'll have to hardcode minimum skill values so that the math always works. Skill variety might not even need to be that important depending on exactly how I handle it.

The main interaction throughout the game is going into Powerlevel debt, and having to claw your way out of the debt+interest that accumulates. This "aid another" idea will also be used for removing some of that debt. Two ways you can go into debt are from expensive one-time purchases (a sandwich costs x metacurrency), or by accumulation (get a house you character can return to, but in exchange you have a Vice/Addiction that ticks y metacurrency per session). Getting rid of the accumulation only works if someone else takes on your burden (increasing the amount per tick initially, but over time reducing the original amount. I.e. an addiction causes 10negxp per session. Overcoming that addiction requries someone to copy that tick to themselves (20negxp per session), but after every session reducing the new total by 2 (18, 16, 14, etc.). Eventually you can reduce the debt to 0 and remove the addiction, but it takes some investment and more problems by way of the GM being able to throw more obstacles in your path (the NegXP metacurrency, name tbd) is spent by the GM to craft encounters like monster attacks, skill challenges, etc).

I just need the mechanics to reflect the theme as simply as possible.

>>50450565
Have you ever played poker, nigger? You raise or match in full view, it's not silent at all.

>>50454550
I don't have problems with underlying system. Why are you describing it again? I pointed to the retarded "funny die" that doesn't serve much of a purpose.

>And characters with a good defense have 50% or more chance of *avoiding* an attack.
Well. Let's look at it more.

Will you make Soulsborne like HP/Damage balance? Because if you will it means characters and smaller monsters will die in 1-5 hits. Averaging 3. Now let us add AP in the equation which means possibility of multiple attacks with 50% chance of scoring a hit. If character can throw 3 or more attacks in a round there is almost no incentive to defend. And if he can't use 3 or more attacks your AP system doesn't serve any purpose because you can use something DnD-like without adding complexity of AP system.

>>50457320
Well actual best formula for aid another is something like X = sqrt (A^2 + B^2 + C^2).

It works the best but, yeah, that's square roots.

So /tg/, what would you want to see in a Pacific Rim/Evangelion inspired board game? This is an idea I've had kicking around for some time but I'm having trouble settling on exactly how the mechanics should work. I play a lot of the fighting game inspired board games (EXCEED, BattleCON, Yomi) so a deck system seems to make the most sense. Different decks for different mecha, and I guess an AI deck for whatever the big bad monster is. So generally speaking the ideas I've cobbled together:

-Different decks for different mechs.

-An 'overdrive' system for each mech allowing you to push your limits in exchange for handicaps.

-A variety of human/alien factions that focus on different strategies and powers. E.g. the UN prefers guns and has high-tech mechs.

-Grid based combat system.

Those are all super vague because I'm bad at this and know this is all just half baked nonsense that probably won't materialize. Still, I like thinking about it.

>>50461895
I've always liked the idea of creating a mecha out of multiple cards. Like having slots for Body, Core, Cockpit, Limbs, etc. Perhaps the way you build your Mecha determines what action cards you can use. I.e., Parts with weapons let you add more Attack cards to your battle deck, while parts with Wheels/Tracks/Wings or whatever let you add more Movement cards.

Something like combining Yomi, Dominion, and Munchkin together.

File: playing-cards.jpg (604KB, 1920x1440px) Image search: [Google]

604KB, 1920x1440px

How would you handle a game that uses cards?

I don't mean combat, because that's a thing everyone always thinks about, I mean in general. How would you handle things in general, how would you theme it, what would you do? I know there are games out there that use playing cards--like Deadlands originally did--but most of them seem to only use the cards for small aspects of it, like initiative.

Off the top of my head, I think that hand size should vary and be related to some stat, as well as the ability to draw more cards at a time. Special abilities should be activated through things like pairs or straights.

>>50461895
>So /tg/, what would you want to see in a Pacific Rim/Evangelion inspired board game?
I've actually seen that before. It was on Kickstarter and most of the pieces/3D models were tweaked copyright friendly versions of super robot characters, and the characters themselves were all fan art recolours.

>>50461981

Yea this is something I've been thinking about, but I want to nail the core game first. But a mecha building aspect is something I'd want to do in like my first revision or whatever. Having small decks (e.g. laser rifle deck, pile bunker deck) that you can combine to make a custom robot would be awesome. I'd probably set it up like primary and secondary weapon (decks), support deck, and special deck. Combine all four to make a mecha.

>I've actually seen that before. It was on Kickstarter and most of the pieces/3D models were tweaked copyright friendly versions of super robot characters, and the characters themselves were all fan art recolours.

If you can dig it up I'd love to look at it, there was a fighting game esque one on a little while ago where you chose a mecha and pilot and mixed their decks together that looked fun.

>>50461895
I had a similar idea long ago.

Each Mech would have a small deck of cards. For example, one might have three movement cards, two cards for its primary weapon, one card for a secondary weapon, and a few cards for bonus granting subsystems.

Players would place two cards from the deck face down for each Mech they control, then the first card of the fastest mech would go face up and resolve. Then the second fastest, then third and so on. After all first cards have been revealed, the second cards come up.

Damage would be shuffling the deck of the damaged Mech and randomly discarding a number of cards equal to the damage dealt.

Lose all the cards for your primary weapon? It got blown off. Run out of movement cards? You're disabled.

>>50460142
"Funny die" means the nonstandard dice used in roleplaying games. The purpose the dice serves is as the basic damage of the weapon. I'm not sure where you got the idea that it was meant to be a sort of "critical". Though for other, non-weapon things, I guess it could be considered a "critical", though the idea there is to allow you to be treated as if you rolled higher than you normally would have. It's also a system that I particularly like.

I'm not really sure how you reach the conclusions that you do.

Defense is likely to have an advantage over attacking, though it will obviously cost some amount of AP. AP is, ultimately, a system that's "DnD-like", except instead of the complicated juggling of how many Swift actions equal a standard action or how many standard actions equal a full action or how many total move actions you could take, everything is given a cost based on what you're doing, and then you choose how to spend that cost.
It's essentially the difference between Spells-per-Day and Spell Points, or whatever the optional mana system is.

As for damage, currently the idea is for it to be similar to Dark Heresy in that regard as well: A buffer of Wounds for each hit location and then successive penalties.

>>50462048
I don't remember what it was called, sorry.

>>50462053

That's a pretty cool idea, thanks anon. Mind if I borrow it potentially?


>>50462069
>I don't remember what it was called, sorry.

No sweat! The game I was thinking of is called Giga Robo.

And if anyone's curious, the general mecha/factions I've come up with so far:

UN: inspired by gundam, focus on long range combat. Primary mecha uses a combination of a laser sniper rifle and short range missiles. Overdrive allows for more shooting.

Sacred Circle: a collection of the world's most prominent religions, they channel divine power into their mecha allowing them to create miracles for their allies. Primary mecha is support oriented. Can overdrive to protect allies. Escaflowne inspired designs.

Illuminati: A collection of megacorps, wealthy individuals, and other extra-governmental interests, the illuminati has radical and dubiously legal mecha designs. They prefer fast, mobile strikes to preserve their investments. Can overdrive for more movement options. Inspired by Evangelion.

Scrappers: a collection of rebels, revolutionaries, and mad scientists the scrappers have restored old mecha to working order to protect those the other factions would ignore or exploit. Their mecha have poor stats and focus on close combat. They can overdrive for a boost to all stats, and boost more frequently than others. Inspired by classic mecha/Big O.

>>50462188
Take it, I'll never use it.

I also thought of using facing (certain mechs only being able to turn by certain value, firing arcs and so on), but that isn't done very well on a square grid. Hexagons on the other hand...

>>50461985
I'm building a card based magical girl game out of shounen final burst, castle falkenstien and a few deck builders.

It seems to work okay so far. Combat is done by drawing a hand of cards each turn, multiples of a number for defence and straights for attack.

Just working on some of the abilities. Stats and new items are all purchased with ex gained each session.

>>50462387
I meant playing cards, it sounds like you mean specially designed cards. Although if you mean something else, tell me more.

>>50462434
Nope, standard playing cards. Abilities are associated with certain suits or combinations of cards.

>>50462578
Well tell me more.

File: MahoShoujo.pdf (1B, 486x500px)

1B, 486x500px

>>50462718
Here is the rough draft I've been working on. Have a read tell me what you think. I still need to add the rest of the abilities and the technical write ups for them.

>>50462789
Though it looks like the pictures of cards didn't make it into the PDF. I'll fix it tomorrow.

>>50462578
Use the root of the card. Spades for combat/intimidation, clubs for peasant work, maybe wilderness exploring. The royal/army/folk/priest aspect can be worked to untie and allow a few mechanics.

>>50461985
Well, most of my game uses cards, you cant do pretty much everything if your conditions is just "my game must have cards".

That lack of some limits.

What is your idea of game? I could help better if I had something more than just "game with cards"

How active/useful is the discord?

>>50468859
It depends a bit on who's online, it's a bit like /gdg/ where you can get better help with specific questions but it's a bit easier to engage in proper discussions

>>50462789
>body and toughness as separate stats
I'm sure you have an idea of that these should mean, but I recommend choosing terms that are more distinct.

>>50469288
I've been having problems with /gdg/, since its mostly just RPGers. I was hoping the discord was getting enough traffic as to lure in some wargamers for feedback.

Alright /gdg/. What's the most immediate problem you have about your project? Is it a Mechanical thing, a conceptual thing, a meta thing?

Lay it out here and maybe someone can help you out.

>>50472832
I can't make up my mind on the setting. Everytime I work on one, I start thinking of stuff for the other.

>>50473284
Have you tried thinking about both at once? I've done that when juggling multiple ideas. It allows me to filter and assign thoughts into whatever they fit best and later I can go through and dig deeper into each specific group.

File: Combat Example.pdf (1B, 486x500px)

1B, 486x500px

>>50472832
>Combat

>My base system is 2d6 + Attribute (D8, D10, or D12) + Weapon (usually +1 - 4) + Trait (Average is around a +3, but may not even apply).
>Players roll that and you take off that much from the Encounter's Tenacity (Players x Difficulty Number).
>Encounter than rolls 2 die, and does what it says on a chart (pic related)
My players like it sometimes, other times it doesn't feel right, any ideas? I can post the full rules PDF if need be.

>>50473284
What are you thinking about? Sci-Fi? Fantasy?

>>50472832
For me, its juggling three different projects that each have their own needs. My first project is my favorite (fantasy RPG made out of mechanics I really enjoy), but all the information ended up not being on the cloud and instead on a computer I haven't been able to fix for over a year. I don't feel like I want or need to rewrite it because of how close I could be to fixing that computer as soon as I get some money. The second project is a dogfighting RPG/boardgame. It really should be easy to finish, but I just haven't ever felt the desire to do some of the more tedious work. Not only that, but I haven't been able to playtest the core rules either, so I don't know if it should just be scrapped period. The third project I mentioned a bit here >>50443234 and >>50457320. It could end up anywhere between RPG and boardgame too, but I end up running into problems that require a lot of brain power for a tertiary project.

It just feels like I only think about one of the projects once a week and I end up never making meaningful progress. The first project was started 5 years ago, and though its gone through a lot of iteration, it's definitely not 5 years worth of work.

>>50473414
Yeah, I tend to do that a lot. That's part of the problem, being unable to focus on just one.

>>50473418
I've got both. I have a sci-fantasy about a near-future earth being invaded by demons, and a Classical era themed kitchen sink fantasy.

>>50473504
That's what I mean though. Use that lack of focus to build up enough depth for both projects. Then you'll have a lot of variety to chew through even though its just the one setting.

To help with that, assuming you aren't doing it already, have a place to write down notes whenever you get an idea. It'll help you brain think that you've fully considered the idea and you can move on to another one. I personally use Google Keep to write down any random thought that pertains to a game idea. If its something relevant to a game I'm already working on, I'll place it in that game's notepage. If its a new mechanic or concept, then it goes into a generic Game Ideas note.

And then of course I'll ask /gdg/ and /wbg/ for ideas when I'm stuck or as a pseudo-bump to facilitate discussion.

>>50473418
How does combat fit into your game? It looks fairly abstracted which makes me feel like it's more cinematic. In addition, do other, non combat systems use that same mechanic? If yes, then how do they work out. If no, then why are they different?

File: Lovely People.jpg (55KB, 725x291px) Image search: [Google]

55KB, 725x291px

>>50473859
A means to an end mostly, I like to tell stories and have the players be the main characters, combat is important, but it's not THE GOAL, it's rather a way to get to THE GOAL.

No, the main success-fail is a simple roll-over system. I use this method to speed up combat and to stop a combat monster from solving all the problems in combat and making everyone else feel useless. I took a bit from the a MMO Active-Quest-Thing, where a bunch of people could contribute to a common goal to beat it faster, better, and easier.

That and making combat a little more balanced for "Whoops, sorry I'll miss the session" moments.

>>50472832
I have a problem similar to another anon in that I can't settle on a setting. Problem is, this situation cannot be solved by just mashing them together.

On the one hand the setting I was making it for is well known to my friends (likely the only people to ever play it, if I finish) and it being in that setting is something they would enjoy.

However, some aspects of this setting are limiting my potential. I had an idea I really like but I don't think it's compatible with this setting. Changing to another setting would grant me more freedom, but it would alienate my player base.

File: c9496e8d2295e324f613c9088874c932.jpg (250KB, 882x1172px) Image search: [Google]

250KB, 882x1172px

>>50472832
I need the Wound system to be scalable for different creature sizes. I would like to have it work from insect size up to dinosaur size ideally. (A slight break on the small scale using swarm rules is fine.)

PCs have 3 wound levels (minor/medium/mayor) per body section. Each level has a descending number of wounds 12/8/4.

Changing the number of body section works somewhat and is an assumption I made right away, but I can't add more than the creature logically has distinct parts when going up. And when going down even with three, two or one section total rats, snakes and insects would be to sturdy.

Next logical thing to add would be damage reduction or bonus depending on size difference.
This works too, but only for small differences in sizes. When size differences are large I have lots of unused granularity, because small creatures would always take a ton of damage the 24 distinct wounds minimum on them is ridiculous.

So ergo change the number of wounds per wound level, right? Except I'm not happy with almost any change interval there, because there will be debuffs that depend on damage taken the math has to remain clear for that. Basically I can't have more HP lead to a greater capacity for debuffs and I don't want to encumber the rules with players having to figure out damage percentages here.

Is there something obvious I am overlooking?

File: Knight Helm onoff.jpg (119KB, 900x900px) Image search: [Google]

119KB, 900x900px

>>50474462
Give us the pitch for your setting, and we can see if we can help.

File: crystal sword.png (17KB, 369x109px) Image search: [Google]

17KB, 369x109px

>>50473418
My first instinct is that it is a bit bare bones, but that doesn't apply because I'm to much of a simulationist type for that to be valid.

I assume the tables don't have to be written from scratch every time?

Doesn't feel right, hm... maybe because it has this named move character, where always one choice happens. Maybe a different nomenclature and a split in distinct phases would do the trick? Like you have 2 sequences, one offensive and one defensive.
Just spitballing here.

File: Warlock with Space Stuff.png (247KB, 710x576px) Image search: [Google]

247KB, 710x576px

>>50474835
The system is a generic one, so pre-session a GM would have to write out the encounters, that entire document took me about 15 minutes, but that was mostly the tables and names (Spot the reference and you get one free internet).

An Offensive / Defensive Sequence would be interesting, kind of bouncing back and forth. Hmm, I'll think on it.

File: 1 2 3 4 dashing is the infantry, the infantry, the infantry.png (112KB, 428x400px) Image search: [Google]

112KB, 428x400px

>>50474948
Or a three step rhythm.

*Defense->Attack->Disengage

*Setup/Magic->Attack->Defense

*Charge->Parry/counterattack->Strike

*Bind->Flank->? Defense

>>50474474
You could try changing the wound total to something more divisible. 60 comes to mind, as you can divide it by 2,3,4,5,6,9,10,12,15,18,20, and 30 very easily. That would allow you to use the damage scaling solution a bit better. It would also allow you to scale debuffs by percentages if you wanted, because you have so many of the easily mathed ones available (1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, 2/3, etc).

>>50474542
I initially started working on an RPG system with no setting in mind, it was simply an exercise in design. In time I began thinking about a science-fantasy scenario it could apply to.

I eventually realized that my system could potentially serve as a tabletop adaptation of a very popular franchise that myself and my friends enjoy, one that I know other people have attempted to adapt (with mixed success) in the past, Dragonball Z.

When I developed for no system I just brainstormed until I ran out of ideas. When I started thinking about science-fantasy those creative juices came back and a made a bunch of progress until again I hit a rut. Working what I had into a DBZ thing gave me more focus and honed a lot of ideas.

I'm now at another rut and I can see the the way out, the gateway to a bunch of new concepts, and it's by ditching DBZ and growing in a new direction. Of course, my friends may be less interested in playing it if I do.

Hmm...

Writing out my problem to ask for help has actually given me a way on how to apply the new concepts I was thinking of. I guess it's kind of like how talking about your problems out loud can present solutions, even when no one is listening.

File: Forge Knight.jpg (170KB, 782x1022px) Image search: [Google]

170KB, 782x1022px

>>50475271
>Writing out my problem to ask for help has actually given me a way on how to apply the new concepts I was thinking of. I guess it's kind of like how talking about your problems out loud can present solutions, even when no one is listening.
Usually that helps me more than anything, post some ideas you were thinking of applying if it helps.

I'm uncertain as to whether this belongs here or not, but it seems like it would fall under this thread's purview.
My friends have long decided that democratically controlling a single character- like a quest, almost- is more fun than each having their own character, for whatever reason. And while they've enjoyed the last couple of games I've run, they're starting to wish for some better visuals. I found a game that allows you to drop in various spaceships in a skirmish mode and have them fight against each other, and spent the last couple months creating a massive roster of ships to pitch against each other that are (roughly) balanced.
The question is, is using a videogame to simulate combat in a game even a good idea?

>>50475294
It's a half baked idea I had back before I had any system ideas. There are no classes in this system, but even with differing stats and custom powers I anticipate that characters are going to end up kind of samey.

The idea was to introduce what I call Masteries. They aren't classes, more like class features. Each level in a given mastery might add bonuses for actions or entirely new actions or abilities. Characters can mix and match Masteries to develop their own unique way of fighting or adventuring.

File: Dragon Knight.jpg (530KB, 800x903px) Image search: [Google]

530KB, 800x903px

>>50475704
I like it, just remember to try and keep the masteries balanced and that they don't mingle TO well. Players are very good at finding ULTRA combos you couldn't see.

File: Aramatus Pit.png (307KB, 340x786px) Image search: [Google]

307KB, 340x786px

>>50475186
If I understand correctly that would allow me to scale more easily between creatures.

But the problem remains that I would require players to make potential complicated divisions for deriving debuffs from damage percentage per wound level. I'd basically require the Quotient of the first Quotient to be easily solvable, which it wouldn't for all cases.

I'm probably miscommunicating since english isn't my mother tongue.

In the system up to now I was planing on giving penalties of:
-1 per 4 light wounds
-2 per 4 medium wounds
-3 per 1 mayor wound

I was also entertaining the though of later connecting a mechanic that rolls the wound categories because they equal die sizes. I could even roll debuff intervalls (d4) for blood loss or something. Or roll the wound category for bleeding to be simpler.

I like how it has good potential for one size, but it seems hard to preserve at a different scale.
Another tangential problem I just remembered:
Blood magic exists.
Effects are derived from spend blood logically.
A bigger creature would;
a) have a larger volume of blood, thus being a better blood mage.
b) have to spend an equal percentage of blood, but that would mean the same mass of blood suddenly have less magic density.
I'm fine with a huge Monster being a big blood resource when hunted or captured, but I don't want to incentivize PCs being large in order to do blood magic.

File: 277671-alexfas01.jpg (2MB, 4296x2530px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 4296x2530px

>>50475513
I find it a bit peculiar that visuals is the thing your group longs for in a p&p rpg, have you done the step to normal location maps first? Some portraits perhaps?

Obviously using a game isn't practical for a system that wants to spread, but your group can have fun with this gimmick if it ends up working for everybody.

>>50475767
Just thought of the option of having a cutoff at a certain size difference where a whole wound category is simply changed in size.

Mammoth simply won't feel minor damage, need to do medium at least to fill his minor wound points up. In effect it would be kind of like having 12 mayor wounds on its leg or wherever.

Until now I have no method to do more than mayor damage, but the lower rank can always be filled up to spill over into the greater. And for something big and resilient maybe that is just appropriate.

>>50474474
I think using size based multipliers is the solution here.

For example, a rat might have a x4 wound multiplier. Hit one with an attack that deals 2 wounds? Well, now it's 8.

A hippo might have a 1/3 multiplier. So an attack that would deal 4 wounds to a human would only deal 1 and 1/3 (4/3) to a hippo.

>>50469766
Replace body with Physique perhaps?

>>50477131
That's what I was thinking too, but conceptually it also doesn't exactly work with the constraints.

Perhaps if it was combined with >>50475186's idea of 60 and the wound total, it would scale well enough.

The basics of my game are:

>main resolution mechanic: d20 + mod vs target number

>players always roll
If they attack, they roll against the enemy defense rating. If they are being attacked, they roll against the enemy attack rating.

>damage is (roll) result minus the target number
This way I remove additional roll that could slow down the pace, and hitting higher means hitting better, not only a binary hit/miss check.

>living beings have Stamina and Health
Common damage reduce Stamina (common HP, but renamed to avoid discussion about the abstraction of the mechanic), as in "you sweat to avoid the blow" (or, if the attack missed, you avoided it without breaking a sweat). When out of Stamina you lose Health. Health = 0 equals unconscious, and any hit after that means death.

>critical hit bypass Stamina directly for Health

File: Old Parchment cards.jpg (526KB, 1536x864px) Image search: [Google]

526KB, 1536x864px

I've been musing over a card based system.

When you perform an action, you draw cards based on your traits, then look for either pairs/kinds (2 2 2) or straights (5 4 3) and do like in ORE with Height and Width giving you additional information, such as hit location or success rate. This could possibly be added to a more static trait as well, though that might not be necessary. Basically instead of rolling a dice pool, you'd draw cards. A Flush (one of each suit) would be the equivalent of a critical.

Each player would have their own deck, and would draw up to whatever number is needed for the size of the hand they're working with is. Special character qualities might allow splitting the hand (a pair and three of a kind being used for two attacks for instance), adding additional Width or Height ("do X action as if you had +1 of a kind" or "treat pairs as if they were #+1"), adding wild cards ("Aces wild for X action"), or performing special maneuvers ("Discard a face card Heart to regain X life").

Character creation would probably be done like random rolling, but with drawing cards. Possibly laying them out like a Tarot reading or something.
Not sure what to do with the face cards, though. Poker chips would also be involved.

>>50472832
It's the fact that core mechanics are easy, but everything else is time consuming. I mean, look at what I wrote up there. So many vague mentions of qualities. Even if you have a good core mechanic, that's not much of a system. You need to know what your traits are, you need to write the Feats/Edges/Merits/Qualities and sometimes special powers like magic, the rules for equipment, special situations, things like that.
It's a lot of fucking work. Even when I know what I want to do the hard part is sitting down and doing it, especially when no one else is interested and I don't really even like running games lately.

And then there's the lore!
All this bookkeeping shit is harder than coming up with a neat idea.

>>50475734
My friends are likely to be my first play testers. Not only do I expect them to break the game, I encourage it.

how to versatile/customizable magic

>>50484695
You have basic spell effects, simple stuff whose effects are determined by the level of skill and lucky rolls. More skill = bigger bonuses = bigger numbers on that spell.

Then you have spell modifiers. Things that change core aspects of the spell. How it targets, its duration, what element/status effect it deals.

For example:

Say there is an Explosion spell effect. By default, it creates a wave of force outward from the caster. The more skill that caster has in such effects the more damage it deals.

With the Thrown spell modifier it becomes an effect the caster can throw at a target. With the Freezing modifier its type becomes cold and it can freeze of a critical. With the Magnitude modifier it's blast radius increases.

All of these increase the difficulty of casting the spell, but allow a caster to customize their spells of the fly.

>>50485107
Thanks, that really helped get my juices flowing.

Hey /gdg/, I need a word for a stat. Think 'the unwieldiness' of a weapon. Weapons already have 'accuracy' which is used for a different mechanic (it modifies hit location rolls on a D10), but this stat is to deduct from shooting/combat rolls for weapons that are heftier. Might do it through traits/special rules, but not certain.

>>50485311
Cumbrous.

>>50485311
Inertia
Bulk

>>50484695
You could also price out a list, quatifying what effects you can get per your smallest mana unit. Then simply sum it up for spells.

>>50485623
I like bulk, thank you.


So my game is intended to be a mecha skirmish game.
An attack comes in multiple parts.

>Roll pilot skill to hit. Will be either a D10 or D20 and a TN.
Fire modes on weapons, either Single, Burst, or Auto. Make 1 roll for Single, 2 for Burst, and 3 for Auto.

>Roll for Hit Location
A D10 roll for each successful hit.
10 - Head/Cockpit
9, 8, 7 - Body
6, 5 - Right Arm
4, 3 - Left Arm
2, 1 - Legs
Choose to add or subtract a weapon's Accuracy rating, if it has one. (Acc 1, for example, could go to 7, 6, or 5 if a 6 were rolled).

>Lastly roll damage
Roll the weapon's damage. (Would be written as a XDY+/-Z)
Mecha have Armor values locationally, and an overall Shields/Fields value. Weapons also have an AP value which subtracts from (and only from) the Armor Value of the hit location.
>If the damage rolled is greater than the combination of the Hit Location's Armor + the Shields value, a box of 'Integrity Damage' is done to the hit location.
>If the damage rolled is Double the AV+S, then 2 boxes of Integrity Damage is done to the hit location.
Hit locations will have around 4 boxes of integrity.
>Each box is 'worth' escalating values. 1 box would be 1, 2 boxes would be 2, 3 boxes would be 4, and 4 boxes would be 8.
Working on mechanics for effects of damaged parts. The whole Mecha will also have a Hull value, akin to a Hit Point value. If the total Integrity Damage values are greater than the Hull value, the mecha is destroyed.

my rules doc is a hot mess, but it's only two pages

would anyone be willing to have a look at it and give me their general thoughts on the rules so far? assuming those rules are even intelligible

docs.google.com/document/d/12L-RTB5FRVOsUpsAAA-srwkJ6SMoMVVaNb0p3eMDfac/edit?usp=sharing

>>50478804
I don't normally picture magical girls as being body builders.

>>50486259
It looks fine so far. Its not crazy different than say, DnD, but its more defined for a specific way of thinking about the combat, which is all you really have.

More content will obviously lead to more to critique, and more questions to ask, so keep going.

>>50488429
Then you're doing it wrong.

File: 6e2104dd810ceb9bf895332393d3e048.jpg (245KB, 950x1346px) Image search: [Google]

245KB, 950x1346px

>>50488429

File: Desert_sketch_1_v3_140105.jpg (153KB, 770x1200px) Image search: [Google]

153KB, 770x1200px

I'm working on some fluff for a tabletop conversion of a friend's upcoming erotic fantasy (but actually sci-fi) novel. Apparently a bunch of his readers are /tg/ transplants.

Anyway, I'm wondering if I should incorporate an existing system, or hack some rules-lite thing. I've been looking at a few single resolution mechanic games that seem alright, but I don't have any guinea pigs. I'm only really familiar with D&D. I could keep the material system-agnostic, but where's the fun in that. Have you guys had success with a 2d6+attribute kind of thing? I've ran homebrew d20 games before, but never anything from scratch.

>>50493126
>erotic fantasy (but actually sci-fi) novel
Tell me more.

>>50493159
>The story will follow a thief who discovers a robotic woman while raiding a tomb who claims to be an angel, but is actually the proxy of an orbiting satellite AI, the last vestiges of the old civilization, who is trying to manipulate him into reactivating the planet's dormant defense systems. There'll be an Elf trap tagging along too.
Takes place on a tidally locked planet, where various slightly genetically engineered humans live in perpetual dusk in a habitable temperate ring. The colony failed, they lost most of their knowledge and regressed to a more primitive state of existence. The AI lost contact and doesn't know what happened to the rest of humanity, got bored and started playing god. So every once in a while, he sends down a herald and some sweet Asgard type shit, seemingly magical artifacts. Down on the ground, you've got your typical medieval schlock, but with a mix of alien flora and fauna, and what few species they brought along that managed to eke out a niche. And this is all pretty much a pretense for fujo-tier romance.

>>50493298
>fujo-tier romance.
What?
I assume that means "appealing to fujoshi", but this doesn't sound very erotic so far.

"Advanced satellite plays god" seems neat, though, and I do like robot romances

>>50493402
Oh he goes nuts with the sex scenes, I'm just not really into that bit. Apparently the robot blueballs the protagonist, who then takes his frustrations out on a twink elf. He usually writes guys who are inexperienced, and hook up with ayy lmaos. Makes it easier for the reader to self-insert when the cultural expectations are different. But this guy's a bit different. More of a however-he-can-get-it kind of guy. More cocksure.

Magical realm might be unavoidable here, but the rub is that I don't know what system would work well for the setting. The only magic is of the "sufficiently advanced technology" type. So there's a presumption of realism underlying the superstitions.

I'd like to talk about stats really quick.

I started with eight stats (name pending on all of them): Strength, Precision, Speed, Endurance, Logic, Creativity, Sociability and Instinct.

Unfortunately, as the system developed I found that I couldn't think of many uses for Precision or Creativity in standard gameplay. So I decided to nix Precision, dividing it's few functions between Strength and the newly named Agility (formerly Speed). Creativity got divided between Sociability and the newly named Intellect (Formerly Logic).

This left me with:
Strength
Agility
Endurance
Intellect
Instinct
Sociability

God damned it, I wasn't crimping on D&Ds stats but for some reason I ended up there. I don't believe in being different for the sake of being different so I'm not inclined to change them, but it feels weird that I arrived at so similar a group.

Are the standard (if sometimes poorly defined) stats of D&D just that good at representing a characters capabilities?

>>50493569
Personally I like Mind, Body and Soul.

Yes, there's a difference between aerobic and anaerobic fitness, but stats are abstractions. There's a good chance your characters aren't hitting up Ye Olde Gold's Gyme. They're probably natty and well-rounded. And whether your setting incorporates metaphysical joojoo or not, Soul represents that element of human intuition and will.

>>50493624
I've also always liked Mind, Body and Soul. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite fit with what I've got going on. Adapting to use just those would require pretty much starting again from the beginning.

>>50493569
When you think about it numerically, there's a lot that those 6 styles of stats have going for them.

You've got two divisions of relatively Physical and Mental stats. Among those, you have three different variations that are both unique in function, but also mesh well to create the aforementioned whole. From each of the two, you have representations of Power, Precision, and Presence. 2 is a good number for showing differences, and 3 is a good number for comparison. 6 takes aspects of both.

Because of how 6 divides between 2 and 3, you can easily organize it into multiple groupings. For one of my own projects, I decided on 7 stats specifically to imbalance what 6 stats could do. I had 3 offensive and 3 defensive stats with one that could be used for either. In addition, Attack opposed Defense, Accuracy opposed Evasion, and Magic opposed Magical Defense. I wanted more meaningful choice than to choose two stats and pump them to the max. One of the ways was for Speed to be its own stat, which affected movement speed. Now if you wanted to be full offense, you'd need 4/7 stats, but because of other design decisions, you couldn't max out all of them. One of those 4 would have to be a weakness in addition to all of your defensive stats being weak. The same is true of a Defense-minded character. Both speed and evasion would help you avoid damage, but you wouldn't be able to have both avoidance and mitigation.

So again, 6 is a really good number, and DnD style divisions really are a good representation. There are also some design decisions to consider to determine whether or not you actually want 6 though. I wanted many of the benefits of 6 while also throwing in a bit of a wrinkle, so I chose 7.

>>50492964
Why do I find this cute?

File: 8d616c94499f1bee36172ebc5639c184.jpg (193KB, 695x900px) Image search: [Google]

193KB, 695x900px

>>50495706
Because it is.
Artist is ez6, though they do loli, a bit of bloodless but extreme guro, and lots of extreme gaping, among the muscle girls and cuteness.

>>50496699
>Big fat tats
>Muscles
Pick one and only one.

>>50497094
>>
how bout no

>>50496699
>/tg/
>you don't even need other boards

So, to keep this on topic, linear or bell curve?

>>50497646
I generally go for linear or pyramid, bell curve makes the extreme results too uncommon.

>>50481900
>taking notmal cards
>applying effects to them to make it look as though they're beat up
Holy hell that's fucking stupid.
>exact same rips and tears on each
And lazy.

>>50484695
A character has access to certain elements or abilities and can do anything that applies to them, on a certain roll and/or resource expenditure. That becomes more difficult/expensive for certain factors like if the effect is permanent, has mechanical/combat effect, or only indirectly relates to your elements/powers.

Could be combined with something like this
>>50485107
where each element has a basic difficulty/cost and each modifier adds to it. But it could also be an "on top of" system, where the basic magic use is freeform but limited to narrative effects only.

How do you generate defensive DCs (that is, AC equivalent)?
How about hit points?

I'm having trouble here, might just go with every character starting the same, but...

Other current thoughts:
Make defense based on lowest two primary stats. This would solve the other problem I have, that right now it seems more optimal for players to heavily lean towards one stat and only attack with that one. Downside is, it doesn't make sense.
Could make health (resolve) based on friendships. This has the problem that it's really hard to control for in terms of design, and could vary a lot depending on playstyles. It also has the problem that it forces people to use the social situation fairly heavily, which not all groups like. But, that problem is also a merit, because this is a magical girl game and people want friendship to matter. However, I'm not sure this is the way in which it should matter, even though I have the cool-seeming idea in my head of friendship bringing a wounded girl back by having a social event on the battlefield, and stuff.

>>50501855
The system I'm working on (right now, in fact) uses actions and reactions.

The attacker makes their attack roll and the defender makes a roll based on how they're defending themselves. The defenders roll is effectively the DC the attacker needs to beat.

The reactions I have work differently from one another and there are some situations where one reaction isn't nearly as good as another.

I don't know if that helps you with your problem...

>>50501855
One way is to mathematically know beforehand what the numbers should be, but that almost never happens, not ends up being fun if it does.

Another option is to toss some numbers at it and see how it feels. Then it's just a matter of high iteration to figure out the right number. It's a longer process but easily brute forced and ends up being what people usually will do.

>>50502024
The system I'm basing this one on uses a similar system, but because of what I did to stats, it doesn't really work any more. Although, I guess I could come up with defenses just as I came up with attacks... I'm not sure what they would be though. My main basic attacks are a high damage one, an AoE one, and one that generates a point of bond (Basically, friendship exp).

>>50502181
No, I know what the numbers should be, but I don't know how to get the PCs to have (more or less) those numbers. It's not a math/statistics issue, but a design issue.

>>50501855
>>50502221
Make they share a team resolve. Like a multipart boss. This would be the sum of all their resolve. Enemies can attack to reduce one individual resolve, but let them have powers to deal with it. Maybe one girl can share damage taken while the other can share resolve to heal others and another have damage reduction. Together they're powerful and resourceful, but splitted...

>>50502221
Then in that case, start from the average and work your way to the outliers from there. You already have the correct numbers, so this should be pretty straightforward.

>>50502401
Those are good ideas for abilities, although I'm not sure how well they map to my stats (fury which is physical, heart which is social, and magic which is magic). They also need a bit of work to make the numbers work, since the utility of them isn't balanced, but I can handle that.

>>50502419
No, like I said it's not a math issue. To clarify, I'm working on character generation now and I'm not sure how the player will determine what the stats are for their characters.

>>50502534
Well, that's definitely not what you described initially.

However, some of the same concepts apply. Take some ideas (http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=21479 is my favorite resource) and start trying them out in your head. If it fits, make a note and move on to the next idea. Discard the rest. Figure out what mechanic best represents your theme.

I'll give an example of one of my projects. I like the idea of Nature vs Nurture, or things you don't control and things you do control affecting your individual development. What people don't control is how they were born. I gave people 7 arrays of stat growths that, while they could choose among 7 options, they cannot change how those stats naturally grow throughout the rest of the game. It represents the idea of genetics. However, during each level up, players can increase their stats however they wish. This represents a character's choice in what they like and dislike, or how they were raised. Level 1 characters will look mostly the same (like babies tend to), while level 20 characters can be wildly different, even if they all chose the same starting array. The mechanic reflected the theme I had, and the math was made to fit both average cases (like if a player attacked a clone of themselves), and complete opposite cases (maximum physical attack vs both maximum physical defense, and minimum physical defense). How you arrive at your numbers doesn't really mean much from a systemic standpoint, but it will mean a lot from a thematic standpoint. Even if its just comparing rolled stats vs point-buy or whatever, something is going to fit your theme well with the right presentation.

>>50503062
>Well, that's definitely not what you described initially.
I probably should have given more context, since I can see how the context that you assumed would lead you to a very different result than starting with the context that I intended.

Regarding the link, I'm not really seeing the relevant section there, though there's a lot to get mixed up with. It also seems like it's oriented towards a very traditional design paradigm, whereas I'm leaning more on Japanese and indie paradigms. That's not to say I'm averse to drawing from such systems, and there's probably stuff in that document which is useful to me, but it makes it hard to use that resource since it's arranged in a way that very much de-emphasizes what would be useful, and there's a whole lot that's not relevant.

>stat arrays and etc
Yeah, I'm just doing point buy for my attributes. The problem with doing it for defense and health is that unlike with attributes, there isn't really a whole pool of values to trade off against. And I don't want to roll something like that because it's a purely linear "good vs suck" axis, there's no color or detail to it really.

>How you arrive at your numbers doesn't really mean much from a systemic standpoint
Well, it can, albeit not directly. Consider the possibilities mentioned in >>50501855 (You)
That idea for defense is going to constrain the range of attributes at the same level, and that that idea for mechanics is not inherently constrained regarding how much HP you get, and your maximum HP is then based a lot on in-game actions, and is going to heavily incentivize us of the social system, perhaps excessively so if I don't come up with an organic way to constrain it.

>>50503348
The link is there purely for inspiration. Its a collection and brief analysis of what's been done, and often times that can be all you need to spark you own ideas. I can't recall off the top of my head, but I don't think it mentions stat arrays as a char-gen concept. And yet, that link has inspired a lot of my mechanics. Particularly my wounds/hp hybrid health system (in addition to other traditional works like DnD 4e).

That reminds me, also consider your source material. If its about magical girls, then how to they display your needed mechanics in the shows? Perhaps you feel like its best represented by hp, or maybe wounds. Perhaps defense needs to become its own attribute, or maybe its fine by combining the two weakest attributes like you've mentioned. Perhaps soaking hits and avoiding hits need to be differentiated, or maybe it doesn't matter and they can be rolled into one. Reviewing the source mats can be one of the better guiding lights you have.

>>50503798
>how to they display your needed mechanics in the shows?
There's a pretty wide variety. There aren't normally wounds, but more along the lines of stamina and resolve. It's not supposed to be realistic after all. That's why a HP model seems to make sense - that and because it's simple.

>Perhaps defense needs to become its own attribute, or maybe its fine by combining the two weakest attributes like you've mentioned.
Defense can't be an attribute on the level of the other three, but there needs to be some number against which attacks are rolled. Whether that's a derived stat or the result of an action the player takes or what, it needs to exist because otherwise every attack just succeeds and that's not as dramatic.

>Perhaps soaking hits and avoiding hits need to be differentiated, or maybe it doesn't matter
It's not that they strictly need to, but there's a lot more potential for gameplay if you have a miss chance separate from your HP pool. As for alternatives to HP pool, aside from stuff that's basically a small pool with penalties (Storyteller-style wounds) or is very complicated (Song of Swords et al.) I can't really think of appropriate penalties for being hit that aren't essentially just debuffs. I think keeping a HP pool is a good idea in combat-oriented games in general, if you're not going the simulationist route and modeling blood loss and stuff.

>Reviewing the source mats can be one of the better guiding lights you have.
Are you telling me to go watch some anime? Well, it's not like I wasn't going to do that this evening anyway.

>>50499057
How is a pyramid too different from a bellcurve? Wouldn't the extreme outcomes be very rare in both cases?

File: Ideas.jpg (3MB, 3584x2172px) Image search: [Google]

3MB, 3584x2172px

I'm working on a game based on the Only War system set in the Strike Witches universe. Not based around the loli witches who take priority in the show, but around the airmen who support them.

I picked the Only War system due to, much like the Imperial Guard, most of the things you'll do will never be recognized and you are horribly vulnerable in the situation you're in.

I really don't have much in the way of rules or basic gameplay yet, still working on the foundation and getting everything laid out. I really have no idea what I'm doing as I've never made a homebrew system before but this is what I have so far.

http://pastebin.com/FhZWc5Qq

>>50508918
Only War did get discontinued by FFG because of GW. I like the idea of people making 'retro clones' of it.

File: 2b632169a31e7b5ede58e20c2597204e.jpg (186KB, 1000x1314px) Image search: [Google]

186KB, 1000x1314px

What are your thoughts on NSFW board games?

It can be subject matter, art, theme, gameplay or whatever and even any combination.

Currently working on an idea that I don't know whether it's time worth investing for the intents to be shared with others or just for the sake of stretching the creative albeit perverted muscles.

File: 3d6 vs 2d6.png (17KB, 1696x562px) Image search: [Google]

17KB, 1696x562px

>>50506452
It is more pronounced the greater the die size. The bellcurve plateaus at the ends and has more values under my cutoff because of this.
Personally I don't like to dip below 1%.

>>50511908
Nothing good can come from this. NSFW games should only be computer ones.

File: 3d10 vs 2d10.png (20KB, 928x939px) Image search: [Google]

20KB, 928x939px

>>50512061
>>50506452

File: 5f598cf9682376e94575d87ad105dd11.jpg (116KB, 700x960px) Image search: [Google]

116KB, 700x960px

>>50512079

Table Top Simulator? :^)

But for real though, is it just because of the awkwardness/cringe of a group of people playing a game about sex/fetishism or is it something else?

>>50512184
I think it would be in a kind of uncanny valley.
To cringy and raunchy for polite company.
For a sexually charged or flirty situation it is a speed bump and would be inferior to just play a known card game as strip- version.
For fun with the mate a boardgame sounds to rigid and restrains you from the things you want to do. And you can be much more creative doing erp freeform.

>>50512288
Fair enough, it feels more like a reskin/rework of a farming-esque game already.

Might just change the theme.

>>50504000
Have you considered having a defense for each stat? In addition to having balanced stats for defensive purposes, it would also incentivize your players to attack with multiple stats to avoid the enemy's best defense.

>>50512184
>>50512288
>>50511908
>>50512079
I think that Kingdom Death shows there's a market for that.
Also, maybe it's just me, but strip card games aren't sexy.
Meanwhile I know a lot of people who do erotic roleplaying.

>>50514980
KD have an ecchi, sexual models, but the core gameplay is totally independent from that. A game focused on sexual act? No way.

>>50510072
Only War got discontinued? It seemed pretty popular when it came out. Did it just bomb in sales?

>>50514467
Ah, that's the simple and beautiful solution that I was hoping for. Thanks! That will work perfectly. That also means my enemies can have physical type attacks, magic type attacks, and despair type attacks. It's perfect!

>>50516636
I don't know the details, but the contract between FFG and GW ended, so ALL Warhammer games are being discontinued. I'm guessing because of GW's recent push into board games, they didn't want to spread their IP too thin and have the outside competition.

>>50490242
Thanks, man. I know it's very barebones right now, but I appreciate you taking a look at it.

I take it nothing leaped out at you as being a pointless, roundabout, or otherwise regressive in way of the mechanics so far?

There's a fair amount I've got bouncing around my head that I haven't quite been able to codify in the rules doc yet. Since it's not entirely fleshed out, I'm finding it difficult to organize any of my documentation. It's also hard to segregate the mechanics that are more or less final (conceptually) from the unwritten/incomplete mechanics without sacrificing clarity of the former.

>>50515075
And most of that stuff isn't in the core game.

>>50519607
>I take it nothing leaped out at you as being a pointless, roundabout, or otherwise regressive in way of the mechanics so far?
I tend to look at things with a fairly "We can make it work" attitude. Now, by the end you might not keep all the mechanics you've tried out, but I don't view things as inherently dissonant. Part of the skill of a designer is making two things mesh, and right now I don't see anything that is terribly offensive. Then again, there's not a lot there, so there's a lot of different possibilities. As you start narrowing and focusing the design through additional mechanics and systems, it'll become more important to design within the system.

>>50493569
tell us more about overall system

>>50519835
Again, I really appreciate it. I think you've motivated me to keep on keeping on.

Thanks bunches, anon.

>Finally get to sit down and write
>Finally have the motivation and drive to really write
>Everything is coming out like hot garbage
Welp...

>>50523763
cycle it through the grinder a few times and it'll come out better

>>50525206
Its just an awkward way of handling it that hanging me up. I have roll-over the stat as how it works, so its either bonuses are negative to the stat, or plus to the dice roll, but having to make it clear that it doesn't affect certain other rules and lacking a clear term to call it.

>>50525287
It seems like the feeling you're trying to evoke revolves around the action being easier than expected, or better than expected. These words can more or less convey that meaning:

Exceed
Excess
Extraordinary
Exceptional
Serendipitous
Bountiful

With the right supporting phrases, maybe these could also work:

Confidence
Faith
Ambition
Fortune
Conviction
Glory
Aptitude
Talent
Expertise
Mastery
Triumph
Penchant
Knack

Here's my tweak to AC.

All weapons and armor now have a penetration class (PC) ranging from 0-3. If the PC of an armor exceeds that of the weapon targeting it, it gains a bonus (PC Bonus) to its AC. Example:

>Heavy Armor
AC:4
PC:3
PC bonus:4

Heavy armor would have an effective AC of 4 against a 3 PC Warhammer, and an effective AC of 8 against and 2 PC Longsword.
Give me your opinions /gdg/

First, is an armor system like this worth implementing into any combat system at all? What would make it worth it?

How should I go about balancing/tweaking weapons in a system like this?

What are some of the grander, less apparent influences this would have on combat?

Should I stick with the values I gave in my example or tweak them?

Other thoughts?