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Playtesting wanted !

Started by EidolonRPG, September 17, 2015, 04:07:52 PM

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EidolonRPG

Hey everyone :)

I've written a Sci-fi RPG that I would love other people to read and playtest, and give me any feedback they have.

It's called IRREGULARS.

The game is set in a sci-fi galaxy that has recently been ravaged by centuries of war and chaos. The PCs are mercenaries that work for governments, corporations and warlords as 'irregular' forces, to perform the missions they don't want to waste their valuable regular forces on.

The pdfs are divided into two books. The first book, RULES, has 9 chapters and details all the game mechanics, character generation and all the information the GM needs to run the game (including a host of NPCs). The second book, HARDWARE, has 7 chapters, with all the equipment, armoury, cybernetics, androids, vehicles, aircraft, and spacecraft statistics.

The game uses a d8 system. Put as simply as possible, you roll a number of d8 equal to your relevant statistic, and your skill level determines whether 8s, 7s, 6s, or whatever count as a 'strike'; the number of strikes you get is how well you do on the check. So the higher your stat the more dice you roll, and the higher your skill level the more of those dice are likely to get 'strikes'.

You'll need a handful of d8, but the game mechanic has a built in max of 20d8 for any single check.

The manuscript pdfs can be downloaded here https://copy.com/SjoofUbGVF1APyY
(Seems that, for some reason, if you click the link it doesn't work, but if you copy/paste to your address bar it does).

Hopefully some of you are interested, take a look, and are grabbed enough to want to read it and hopefully do some playtesting.

Meanwhile I'll be working on illustrations. I've already got a lot of weapons, armour, vehicles and aircraft illustrated, and anyone that gets in touch, provides helpful feedback and wants to be positively involved will get to see some of that artwork.

And if it results in a fully finished, illustrated pdf, anyone who helped will of course receive a copy of the finished product.
Here\'s my sci-fi RPG, go check it out...

http://irregularsrpg.com

EidolonRPG

Here\'s my sci-fi RPG, go check it out...

http://irregularsrpg.com

Spinachcat

First edit as a playtester...your thread should be Playtesting wanted!

Unless, Palytesting is a thing.

Also, WTF D8s instead of D6s or D10s?

Bloody Stupid Johnson

I don't generally playtest but I did have a look at the skills, game system and characters chapters. Interesting...pretty crunchy...I quite like a number of the rules (and saw a few things I don't think I've seen before) so kudos...
In the interest of giving you constructive feedback, some specific comments:

*Terminology: I can't handle Con as the abbreviation for concentration, because D&D. Likewise, Storyteller and Shadowrun (I think - 1E, at least, the one I'm most familiar with) normally use "Target Number" as the roll needed on each dice, not the number of hits or successes.

*dual wielding penalties look crazy high (-10 for offhand?!)

*hit locations are maybe slightly wonky (I think the odds of left vs. right are slightly different because of the v-curve of the 2d8).

*I really liked the autofire # shots determination table, although perhaps unfortunately I don't know if its really necessary, given that extra shots are just a +1 die each in the same location.

*Wondering if movement could also be streamlined (4 different action types x 4 different movement rates so Minor Jog or Complex Run..?? Perhaps you could just have a 1:1 setup so Complex = running for the whole round?)

*With the core mechanic itself, looks like the highest skill levels give fairly marginal return in terms of extra strikes (e.g. 4+ to 2+) and the way the system works a contest between highly-skilled characters is going to nearly always go to the guy with the highest stat. Possibly you need something like "8s let you roll an extra dice" or similar open-ending rule (For this bit, feel free to quote or discuss further in the core mechanics thread if you prefer..).

*The setup with the substats being added together is interesting as well, I think I see what you're doing there (a game balance rationale?) though the dice pools are perhaps a bit larger than I would personally prefer as a result.

Also, I'm unsure how to-hit successes are supposed to modify damage, if at all (may be in there somewhere but I only saw the passing note on criticals under the general skill rules).

EidolonRPG

Bloody Stupid Johnson, thanks for the reply, and sorry it took me a while to get back and reply to your reply...

Terminology: I don't like avoiding abbreviations just because it clashes with another game, and I don't believe every game should use the same terms to mean the same things. Every game system is its own thing, and uses the words and abbreviations that are most suitable for that system.

Dual Wielding: Yep, the penalties are high, as I believe they should be for untrained characters. There are special abilities (called Gifts in the IRREGULARS system) that compensate for these penalties, so an advanced character who takes all the relevant abilities can eventually dual wield without any penalties.

Hit Locations. Yeah, you're right. I've adjusted that for the next draft of the rules manuscript.

Autofire: The +1 damage per extra hot works well in my playtesting so far, and when you get deep into the maths and probability of causing certain levels of wounds, it works out in ways that I am happy with.

Movement: I'm currently looking at this, taking your thoughts on board and considering a simplified method.

Core Mechanic: I have a lot of tables examining and detailing the probabilities of success at Checks with different Stats and Skill Levels versus various Target Numbers. Having a higher Skill is more beneficial than having a higher Stat, as a Stat requires on average 2 or 3 points of increase to provide the same probability increase as a single level of Skill improvement.

Stats: Yes, this is absolutely a 'balance' thing. I know some people may not like the numbers of dice that are often required, but I actually really like rolling a handful of dice. A lot of dice is an issue if there's a lot of adding up to do, but there isn't in this system; you just have to quickly count how many of the dice have a certain number or higher.

Damage Bonus: The bit you saw was probably the bonus you get to damage when you get a Critical Success on your Check to make the attack. A Critical Success is when you beat the Target Number by 5, and if you do so when attacking you get a +2 bonus to damage.
Here\'s my sci-fi RPG, go check it out...

http://irregularsrpg.com

Bloody Stupid Johnson

Thanks for the reply.
On movement: Well on some re-reading I can see why you've done it that way. Its fairly unique in that you could do multiple actions in sequence, and multi-task during those individual actions as well, so that you could walk forward and take a shot, then break into a sprint for the rest of the round (during the remaining actions). It works because for that there's a speed-based penalty to other actions. Now I think actually I was mistaken, and simplifying to a single action type would lose something.

On rolling lots of dice I went through a dice pool phase myself (  http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=24381 )
though now eh, over it. Have come to appreciate more being able to make lots of rolls simultaneously, GM-side.
(that's more a theoretical discussion; the system is what it is).

With crits: why not a 1:1 flow-through - e.g. 1 extra 'strike' = +1 damage die (or half that) rather that the set critical? (the old storyteller method)?