Context for the game

For the last two months I've been running two different playtest groups for my new system I'm designing Be Not Afraid so far I'm 3 sessions deep with one, and 4 sessions deep with another (not counting session zeros)

The core inspirations for this game is:

Hunter: The Reckoning - World of Darkness (1999)

The Invisible College (OSR system, by RPGpundit)


The idea of the game is you play the Convicted. Normal people; by which an  external benevolent force in a crucial moment, have the veil of the supernatural ripped from their eyes, and given a bit of power to push back the dark.

You play people who can see what others can't in our modern mundane world, and have powers that are specifically anti supernatural, as they typically only target or nullify supernatural things.



Context for system

The system is a very standard OSR affair and mechanically inspired by Invisible College, you play modern day people.

One of my player groups really likes the magic system mechanically, the other really doesn't like it.

How the magic system works

This is the part I took the most mechanical inspiration from Reckoning.

1. every Convicted has a state called Conviction it ranges from 1-100 and typically at the start of the game starts at 1d4+1, and goes up by 1 percent every session you successfully use a power.

2. You get a bonus at 1/10th the percentage rounded down, so at 17% you +1 and at 20% +2 etc. this bonus is towards a dice pool

3. players have have a dice-pool of d6s that is equal to  one of their six attributes + Conviction Bonus. They roll this dice pool to activate their powers, typically every success over the first in the dice pool grants extra stuff, like +1 to damage or so forth.


4. Conviction Points are spent and risked it always takes 1 point to activate a power, but you can risk more to get a increase the dice pool, if you fail you lose everything you risked however, if you get a success you get everything back +1  Likewise points are from 0-10, you can only have 10 points in reverse max but this is independent of Conviction score or bonus, character's point ranges differ based on succeeding with taking risks this is the flywheel aspect of the system


5. if a player's dice-pool is 0 or less, they roll a single die and must roll a 6 to get a single success to activate the power. just so there is always a chance to activate it



Hiccups so far

I actually like this mechanic but I've run into and have imagined a couple issues. the big one so far is the early levels and characters with low attributes almost never get off their powers. likewise gaining lost points is quite slow (once a day to a max of 3) so once they are empty they are kind of screwed powers wise.


Likewise I can imagine a super maxed character with +10 Conviction Bonus and 10 conviction points rolling 20d6 every time they use a power and never failing ever...

so I like the zero to hero aspect but the curve is quite sharp, I like the narrative of most Convicted probably dying before they ever get to a certain power-level, it makes it special but rolling a million dice can be annoying.

There is also the argument a dice pool is just bad design, I disagree but I have felt at times when using it in this manner (being that the powers are the only dice pool in the system) that it is a bit clunky.

The issue is I have yet to see another method that let's me do the point gambling and fly-wheel type feel the same way.

I could go for something like GLOG and it's magic dice, my issue there is the risk is botches and backfires, that's fun for an arcane sort of magic, it doesn't fit the monster hunting modern day theme I'm going with.

the players are underdog heroes touched by a minor amount of angelic grace, random mutations from botching their powers doesn't make sense to me so I'm still thinking everything out.

I am adapting Witchery by Levi Kornelson to my home brew game. It is a noun, verb, casting method style of magic system. It features magic that can cause side effects even if successfully cast. These include:

• Affliction: Things like being tangled, sickened, cursed, blinded or even physically transformed.
• Delay: Actions taking up more time than one might expect, or even 'hanging' indefinitely until something else is done to fix the delay.
• Displacement: Things ending up where they shouldn't, including effects going astray.
• Expense: Resources (usually items) being used up.
• Helplessness: The spellcaster being rendered heavily entangled, paralyzed, unconscious, or comatose.
• Injury: General damage, sometimes of a broad type (burning, etc) being done to the spellcaster or their allies.
• Peril: Entirely new threats being generated or attracted (like lighting striking the building you're in and setting it on fire).
• Strangeness: Odd effects, often unsettling or confusing to onlookers, which can complicate the situation at hand.
• Weariness: Imposes exhaustion levels.

I implemented a increased duration/impact mechanic based on the severity of risk the caster takes. The choices also allow for mitigation of large risks by spreading out results, so a bit of injury, some strangeness, and a helping of peril.

I'm in the process of creating NPC's in the system. The players were given the 1.0 version last night. I'm hoping the inclusion of free form casting with memorized spells will ween them off Vancian magic.

Quote from: swzl on June 16, 2024, 07:24:37 AMI am adapting Witchery by Levi Kornelson to my home brew game. It is a noun, verb, casting method style of magic system. It features magic that can cause side effects even if successfully cast. These include:

• Affliction: Things like being tangled, sickened, cursed, blinded or even physically transformed.
• Delay: Actions taking up more time than one might expect, or even 'hanging' indefinitely until something else is done to fix the delay.
• Displacement: Things ending up where they shouldn't, including effects going astray.
• Expense: Resources (usually items) being used up.
• Helplessness: The spellcaster being rendered heavily entangled, paralyzed, unconscious, or comatose.
• Injury: General damage, sometimes of a broad type (burning, etc) being done to the spellcaster or their allies.
• Peril: Entirely new threats being generated or attracted (like lighting striking the building you're in and setting it on fire).
• Strangeness: Odd effects, often unsettling or confusing to onlookers, which can complicate the situation at hand.
• Weariness: Imposes exhaustion levels.

I implemented a increased duration/impact mechanic based on the severity of risk the caster takes. The choices also allow for mitigation of large risks by spreading out results, so a bit of injury, some strangeness, and a helping of peril.

I'm in the process of creating NPC's in the system. The players were given the 1.0 version last night. I'm hoping the inclusion of free form casting with memorized spells will ween them off Vancian magic.

I was playing with the concept of an Noun + Verb magic system in the vein of Ars Magica, but again I'm not going for a wizard like arcane magic system, but more discrete powers where the effects scale based on risk of investment into them.

Update:

I've decided after much consideration and some input from fellow designers and my playtest group to move to a 3d6 roll over system for power activation.