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Designing a base mechanic for an epic fantasy setting

Started by Adrien Sourdot, April 18, 2025, 08:05:49 AM

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Adrien Sourdot

Does this draft makes sense?

"Basic roll mechanic:

Determine the actual Difficulty of the attempted task and its associated Base Target Number or Base TN by comparing your character's Base Tier and the Base Difficulty of attempted task.

Roll your d6 Fate Die to determine whether Fate is on your side or not. A 6 on your Fate Die increases your Base Tier (the Tier of the Base Attribute used to overcome that challenge) one step. A 1 on your Fate Die decreases your Base Tier one step AND it activates any and all 1s that you may roll on your Skill Dice.

Roll your Skill Dice to determine whether your expertise make that task feel easier to you. A 6 decreases the Base Difficulty of the challenge by one step. If you rolled a 1 on your Fate Die then each result of 1 on your Skill Dice increases the Base Difficulty by one step.

A 6 on a Skill Die also cancels any 1 rolled on other Skill Dice, and that 6's property is lost in the process, that 6 is spent to cancel a 1 instead of reducing the Base Difficulty of the task at hand. A 6 on a Skill Die may also cancel a 1 on a Fate Die, but only once all other 1s on other Skill Dice have eventually been cancelled.

Base Difficulty is what it is, a steep wall or a gentle slope, regardless of Fate, your Skill or your Base Attribute. Your Base Attribute always determines your corresponding Base TN: the match between your Base Attribute and the Base Difficulty determines that Base TN before Fate and Skills come into play. Fate favours you or mocks you. Skills make things feel easier or harder.

After determining your Base TN, rolling your Fate and Skills and subsequently modifiying your Base TN accordingly you can roll your d12 Base Die to match or beat that Final TN. A 1 on your Base Die is always a Fail, a 12 is always a success no matter the Final TN.

A 1 on your d12 Base Die accompanied by a 1 on your Fate Die (that you might not have been able to cancel due to not enough 6s rolled on your Skill Dice) triggers an Automatic Fumble (ie. In combat: loose grip on weapon, or fall prone); whereas a 12 on your d12 Base Die accompanied by a 6 on your Fate Die triggers an Automatic Critical Success (ie. In combat: MAX damage+automatic Critical Injury).

When time comes to evaluate the degree of success of an attempted action compare the result of the d12 Base Die against the Final TN, that difference is called the Success Margin. It can indicates the speed or brilliance with which you achieve a task or mechanically be used as modifier to damage applied in combat."

THANK YOU KINDLY FOR YOUR FEEDBACK
Adi

Adrien Sourdot

#1
thinking now of removing Skill Dice, and have skill level directly modify the TN, or be applied directly as a straight modifier to the d12 Base Die roll.
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what do you guys think about the curve -4, -2, 0, +1, +3, +7, +15, +31? It is meant to feel brutal and swingy.

Adrien Sourdot

#2
Among the existing game systems out there, which do you think best translates the feel of a setting where one character goes from adventurer to king, from 1v1 human size melee combat, 50v50 skirmish between various size monsters, 1v100 heroic stand offs, kingdom and mass endeavour management, resolution of stuff like armies fighting against colossi, titanic sky-monsters laying siege to a city...? I look to find (or build with the inspiration of) a system built on a relatively universal solution to resolve different issues on a very broad scale, from personal to epic and beyond. Any recommendation? I look for a system that could help roll things like: one man versus 15 men, a sapper team taking down an entire city, a manipulator influencing the people for the next 12months, an elite squad fighting a titanic sky-monster, an army against another army, one man versus a dragon... All with a one round resolution roll with very very high stakes.