A Renaissance Fantasy RPG

Submitted by Ar Kayon on Sun, 2010-06-27 21:43. Design | Feedback

Concept
* Based on late 15th century - early 16th century Europe.
* As continental population exploded and social and cultural values were radically transformed, demonic influences became more accessible. In an effort to improve military might without depleting resources on training, states chartered schools of magic which were affordable to commoners and churned out large numbers of brash and ambitious neophyte wizards. Many of them were lured towards the quick and easy path of profane power. However, the repercussions to nature and society would be deep and volatile.
* Amongst others, players may take the role of displaced or landless nobles, holy warriors or black knights in the service of demon lords, experienced wizards or partially-possessed warlocks, or middle eastern or oriental mercenaries and emissaries looking to take advantage of lucrative opportunities and political instability.
* As a result of great turmoil combined with the new magic-economy, the adventurer class emerged.

Mechanics
The core of the system uses what I call the Graduated Dice Method, or the Dice Rank System. The GDM is designed to realistically model character skill and perfectly scale in relation to opposition. There are several dice ranks - d4, d6, d8, etc. - which may be used during resolution. If opposition is equal, the standard dice is used (1d10). If your skill is higher than the opposition, you use a *lower* dice rank. Lower dice ranks, or lower variability, represents greater consistency in skill use. Thus, instead of rolling above a target number, you must roll within the 1-3 range for success; 1 for a critical success, 2 for a moderate success, and 3 for a minor success. Higher dice ranks also have the potential for critical failures, which result upon rolling too high.

Combat
Combat is intended to be represented as robust and violent tactical skirmishes, in which the system's logic is designed to handle a large number of combatants without breaking down. Combat is also intended to accurately model Renaissance fighting methods. To this end, each weapon or mode of combat has its own unique numerical makeup which has a profound impact upon your effectiveness in battle. ((Please inquire for a more indepth discussion on combat mechanics.))

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I've seen something using a

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 2010-06-28 22:32.

I've seen something using a system like this many years ago...it was something I wanted to play with, but I never got around to it.

The original version used a thing called the "finger game".

A finger game basically consists of holding your hand behind your back with "X" fingers upright. You then compare the number of fingers to determine the winner.

A two finger game lets you hold up one or two fingers. If the number of fingers held up by each player is equal, the aggressor wins. If two opposing forces were roughly equal, you'd play a two finger game.

A three finger game lets you hold up one, two or three fingers (not surprising really). This is what you use when two unequal forces oppose each other. If the two combatants hold up an equal number of fingers, the weaker party wins. If the two combatants hold up a varying number of fingers, the stronger party wins. You might even gain an extra degree of success if the number of fingers varies by 2 (one player throws a single finger while the other throws three).

A four finger game allows one, two, three or four fingers to be displayed. This is when the odds are really stacked in one force's favour. The same rules apply as the three finger game...if the results are the same, the weaker party wins; and if the results vary, the stronger party wins.

It's a simple mechanism, it doesn't rely on dice (so it'd be great for a live action system). It basically just works off comparison of character traits/statistics then deciding what level of finger game to play.

I'm only writing this because the same sort of thing seems to be at work here. Traits are compared to determine which die to roll; if they are equal you roll one type, if they vary a bit you roll a second type, if they vary by even more you roll a third type, etc.

But in essence it all comes down to a variable randomness after the comparison of traits...unlike D&D where the traits are added into a standard set of randomness.

Make sense?

Helpful?

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It makes sense...

Submitted by Ar Kayon on Thu, 2010-07-01 00:27.

It's simple, but the dice give me the precision and complexity I'm looking for.

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I'd like to see more about GDM first

Submitted by SheikhJahbooty on Mon, 2010-06-28 09:26.

I'm not sure I get it.

So if you are equal to the challenge, you only succeed 30% of the time?

Or do you roll more than one die based on a skill level or an attribute or something?

You know, like die size represents talent, and die number represents training, so a moderate talented novice rolls 1d10, and succeeds 30% of the time, but a moderately talented person with training would roll 2d10 and take the lowest number, so he would succeed 51% of the time.

I'm just guessing, trying to figure it out.

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About GDM

Submitted by Ar Kayon on Wed, 2010-06-30 23:58.

Overall, you have a 50% chance of defeating an equally skilled opponent because you are both using the same dice rank. However, an individual dice roll is for an exchange of blows, and it is in my opinion that 3:10 is the most accurate ratio for equal combatants.

The default standard is DR 4 (d10), but different kinds of opposition (like moving a big rock or playing roulette) will require different standards.

For every +/-1 disparity in skill, the greater reduces 1 dice rank from the standard, and the lesser increases 1 dice rank. Thus, a +/-1 will be 1d8 vs. 1d12 (there tends to be a 3 out of 5 advantage after repeated rolls), and 1d6 vs. 2d8 for a +/-2 disparity (tends to be a 4 out of 5 advantage).

Despite the tough numbers, a wide variety of strategies and weapons are available to level out the playing field.

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Weapons and Strategies

Submitted by Ar Kayon on Thu, 2010-07-01 07:10.

Each weapon type must be individually developed in skill, which spans from 0 to 5. Weapon types are grouped by similarity in technique, thus "longsword" encompasses the traditional longsword, hand and a half sword, zweihander, claymore and estoc as they all utilize sweeping two-handed strikes and half-sword techniques, although some may favor certain techniques over others (estoc favors thrusting).

Each weapon has its own unique numerical makeup of attributes, which makes them ideal for certain situations. The attributes of weapons (melee) are as follows:
Speed - In a melee exchange, speed determines who rolls first. This is important because if both combatants are successful, the highest speed gets counted first and may negate the opponent's attack. Speed also offers a DR (dice rank) bonus for certain skilled maneuvers, such as follow-up attack and counterattack. Unfortunately, rapiers of the time period were not designed to fight in double time, but an unarmed attack or a parrying dagger has a sufficient speed rating to capitalize on these maneuvers.
Maneuverability - This attribute represents how dextrous the weapon is. Weapons with a high rating in this attribute will receive a bonus to make an active defense, to open an opponent's guard and possibly disarm him, and to make a covered attack.
Range - Every weapon has an ideal fighting range which makes it important to jockey for position during a melee. When facing a (sufficiently) longer weapon, you must first successfully break the distance, otherwise your opponent will receive a free attack against you. Also, if your weapon is within range, but not an ideal range, you may receive a penalty to attack and defense unless if you have developed a secondary-use skill for that weapon (e.g. half-swording). You must successfully break the distance or give ground in order to shift melee ranges.
Lethality - Your weapon's lethality affects your degree of success for the attack. Under standard conditions, a roll of 1 is a critical success, 2 a moderate, and 3 a minor. However, with a highly lethal weapon, such as the zweihander, a roll of 2 may count as a critical and the range of success may even expand to a roll of 4. With weapons of low lethality, such as the fists, range and degree of success may be negatively affected.
Armor Penetration - In Renaissance times, certain armors have the capacity to completely negate the effects of many weapons. Therefore, especially during actual battles, the armor penetration value of your weapon is a large factor in your survivability against men-at-arms. A weapon that receives an armor penetration bonus incurs a dice rank penalty upon the opponent's armor check when he is struck, increasing the odds that he will receive a damaging or lethal blow.

As you improve in skill with a weapon type, you will be able to use skilled maneuvers, which are general tactics and extra combat options that may help you gain a superior position. There are about 5 maneuvers available, and include:
Counterattack - When you attempt the technique, your opponent receives +1 DR penalty against you, and if his attack fails (by a reasonable amount), you may make any standard attack against him, adding the speed bonus of your weapon. Even if your weapon doesn't receive a speed bonus, counterattack allows you to have an aggressive defense as opposed to the standard defense option, which only allows you to ward off attacks.
Open Guard - Represents a good feint or using your weapon to deflect the opponent's line of defense. Roll attack, adding your maneuverability bonus. If successful to any degree, you receive a follow-up attack and may choose for it to be modified by maneuverability instead of speed (or simply choose a minimum -1 DR bonus). Also, your opponent’s shield won’t factor into his armor check. A critical success results in your opponent being disarmed, but if you're using a shield to open guard, the opponent instead gets pushed to the ground 1 distance increment back.

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