Ok, so I'm going to post my design ideas here having discussed this in my other thread (this way lies madness). They are going to be cut and paste from my google docs file, consequently they might not read very well at this stage. Furthermore what's being presented first are the rules. I haven't written the setting yet, but it's going to be action-oriented, comic book style romp - as opposed to realistic. The most important things to point out about the setting are the character types:

Norm - human characters that make up the majority of the wasteland population. They aren't mutated and don't have psychic powers. Instead they get special talents fuelled by something called Experience.
Mutants - 'homo mutatis' is a race born of the apocalypse. They are small in number and are a mistrusted yet powerful underclass. Mutants generate internal power known as Rads (ie radiation). They have no control over this, but they can focus it to fuel mutant Powers. If they don't they reach 'critical mass'. This means they explode - but here's the twist: they reform (like Dr Manhattan). However anyone caught in the blast probably won't.
Mindwalkers - in the latter days of the War the Union (and the Red Republic that invaded it) played host to the next step in human evolution. They now exist as humans in almost every way except for their psychic talents and total lack of body hair (all mindwalkers are totally bald). Though smaller in number than the mutant community, they are less feared. Mindwalkers are organised as a spiritual community: the Church of the Mind with it's ruling Psynod. Psychics have Powers too, but these are fuelled directly by taking physical damage. Psychics can only acess a few powers at a time, but, if they enter any Church of the Mind, they can swap out their powers for new ones - all Mindwalkers have the potential to access the greater psychic unconscious.
Robot - the machines of war still litter the Wasteland, largely the legacy of the Combine, the great military industrial conglomerate that supplied the war effort (possibly on both sides, noone really knows anymore). Dismebodied brains that lurk within the depths of their Wasteland-wide complexes, the Combine were succesful in creating both cyborgs and sentient robots (the rules don't distinguish), as such players can be Robots. Such characters have Programs as special abilities. Robots can use their programs by gaining points toward their character's Memory limit. Once this is reached the Robot is in danger of randomly triggering one of two states: temprorary shutdown, whiel the unit cools, and Overload, where the robot goes out of control as its primary self preservation software kicks in. Neither are desirable.

The second most important aspect of the game is Ammo: this is a catch all term representing the limited resources of the Wasteland. It serves as the actual currency that characters will trade in as well as a fuel for several functions in the game: field medicine (healing), field repairs (mending machinery), damage (ammo multiplies damage for certain weapons and is thus needed to use them). It can also reduce the difficulty for actions where spent. Ammo is acquired in many ways: trading, salvaging wreckage, finding supplies, looting the dead, etc.

Tradertowns are an important concept in that they are serve defined functions, usually to do with characters. Trading, healing and repairs can all be done in tradertowns much simpler than their field variants. Certain attributes and stats can be changed and characters can trade.

That's a basic overview.

Players roll stat in order to resolve actions.
To make a stat roll, players roll (stat)d6, comparing the total to the ambient difficulty (which, for opposed rolls is increased by the opposing stat). If their result is no lower their attempt succeeds. .
If the action is a group effort, each participant beyond the active participant (whose player is making the roll) adds a single die to the pool. Group efforts may sometimes be contested by a higher than normal difficulty to reflect the need for a group acting together.
If the action is opposed by a group effort then likewise, each other participant in the process of of opposition adds +1 to the opposing stat.
The difference between the difficulty and the result is known as the margin of success. Not every action makes use of this value.

Stats (attributes, characteristics, skills, all rolled into one statistic) define every character. All characters have a rating from 1-5 in every statistic so as to allow everyone to at elast try and participate, thus no player has to feel left out at least.

Reflexes is used when a character needs to test his dexterity and reactions. In particular it is used as a component in calculating Initiative during combat where opponents have already been established.
Awareness is used when a character is consciously or unconsciously trying to perceive details in the environment. Such details might include awareness of ambient danger or perhaps the presence of waiting enemies.
Technician is used when a character is trying to interact with the workings of a device, machine or other item of technology - regardless of its origin. This stat helps with jerry-rigged contraptions and the process of retroengineering technology. Repair per se is covered by Ammo - so long as Ammo, where required, can be spent, the device is in working order.
Operator is used when a character is trying to drive or otherwise pilot any kind of vehicle. The stat doesn't differentiate between vehcile types. As with Technician, this stat doesn't cover repair functions. That is what Ammo is for.
Mind is used when a character uses his academic skills or intellect. Anytime a character seeks to apply academic discipline or understanding this stat is used. Mind doesn't cover operation of technology, that is a separate stat, though the character might understand the principles involved, the Operator stat is needed for practical use.
Lore is used when a character is interacting with the wasteland. Lore is used when a character seeks to navigate when lost, understand local customs (within and without towns).
Guns is used when a character is attacking with any ranged weapon. In combat a character uses this stat to fire ranged weapons of any kind.
Fighting is used when a character is attacking either unarmed or using a non-ranged weapon. Conversely Fighting covers any attack made without ranged ordnance.
Guts is used when a character needs to test his strength either through force of will or force of body. The two are abstracted into a single stat.
Command is used to determine soical dominance and interaction. Whenever a character seeks to deal with another socially this stat is used to see who gets the upper hand, either through subterfuge or outright intimidation. The mode of interaction is up to the player.
Medic - this is used specifically and solely for field medical effects, which is to say removing damage and healing injury out in the wasteland.

Great to see you posting stuff about the game. Hopefully, you'll get some really useful feedback from this.

I should start of by saying that any comments I make should be read charitably, and are merely observations, rather than trying to say "But you should do it this way!". Right, caveats done.

Looking at your last post, that seems to be an awful lot of stats you've got there. Some of them seem to overlap a fair bit and I would worry that might lead to people trying to shoehorn a 'good' stat into a situation in place of something they are deficient in. Maybe you could drop the number of stats down a little, by combining things and then allowing the players to define why they are good at certain things. Like:

Reflexes + Awareness become Awareness
Technician + Science become Technical (or Scientific, or something)
Guns + Fighting become Fighting

But, you could get the players to add a descriptor to the stat and have anything outwith that descriptor act at, say, one die less. For example:

Fighting 3 - I'm a crack shot!

So, anything to do with shooting, the character gets 3, but if it's to with combat and not about shooting, they get 2.

Or:

Technical 4 - I can jury rig just about anything

So, when it comes to making repairs or fixing up some A-Team style device, you get 4. Any other technical or scientific things get 3.

With group actions, I'd be interested in hearing why each additional participant gets to add only one die to the pool? That seems like it could be pretty disadvantageous in situations where banding together is the only valid and workable option. Maybe when acting as a team, you have one character be the 'leader' and and everyone else gets to use their stat minus one (or, some kind of situational modifier). So, if there are four of you facing down a hideous radioactive monster, it gives you a much better chance of taking it down.

Hope this helps in some way.

Cheers
Malcolm

Thanks for the feedback, but I don't agree with the issue of too many/redundant stats. In many games characters have stats and skills (the total of which is much greater than the 10 listed here); these stats are both together.
Reflexes and Awareness may seem similar, but they serve different purposes. Both are used separately for Initiative (as will be explained) and both are rolled for different things. Awareness is noticing what's in the environment and reflexes is jumping out of a moving car. Both serve different puirposes and given that I can't legislate for people's game experiences (nor would I want to) I think that definition is important.
Technician and Operator and Science are again different in purpose. Technician is about repairing and engineering machinery and is used to repair things. Operator is used for driving/piloting and Science covers academia and scholarly knowledge. The choice of the word Science may seem confusing in this context, but it's the most appropriate moniker.

So for example, Technician would be used to get a computer working (even if it just means finding the on switch - if the device is not commonly used in the way modern pc's are), while Science is how to search on Google to find stuff like a chemical formula.

Fighting and Guns could have been merged, but I thought it important to differentiate between the two types of combat (melee and ranged) so that characters could specialise in one or the other (or perhaps both). This isn't really an issue of complexity, but of strategy. While it should be as simple as possible combat gets a little too vanilla if this distinction isn't made.

So it's possible to have someone good at Driving, but clueless about Repair - as opposed to his techie sidekick (in true action movie style) who is the reverse. That is a level of detail I don't feel good about compromising.

I think most gamers can handle 10 stats if they can handle games with 50 or so skills, like CoC, Atomic Highway has a lot of stats as well.

EDIT: one stat, Medic, was missing.

Error! The following stat is missing:

Medic - used to heal people in the wasteland (otherwise known as field medicine). It's the flesh and blood equivalent of the Technician stat in that regard.

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;395477I think that definition is important.
Technician and Operator and Science are again different in purpose. Technician is about repairing and engineering machinery and is used to repair things. Operator is used for driving/piloting and Science covers academia and scholarly knowledge. The choice of the word Science may seem confusing in this context, but it's the most appropriate moniker.

As long as they are given some clear lines of demarcation, I think it can work. I mean stats work better when they have a clear radius of effectiveness, if not if there is too much overlap then you run into problems. Despite saying this I think it depends on the tone and genre of the game though as well--High Valor's traits tend to be pretty broad, so to CAH S2 (yet its good to have backups in the latter.) Hearts & Souls has very broad usefulness for some effects, via traits. (You can fight with several active traits for example.) Yet it makes more sense for a superhero game.

Well there may be an argument for collapsing reflexes and awareness into one stat. It's not a huge issue though.

The specifics of how group actions work is really only going to be found through actual playtesting. I don't intend group action rules to be used if the players are in combat, say fighting a single monster.

Barbarian - know then o prince...the wasteland is yours to shape into whatever morality you desire that you may know the pleasures of this life with little care for the next. Blood and sandald, the roar of the crowd, the feel of the Bolter trigger.
Outlaw - the only law in the Wasteland is there is no law save the law of the jungle. Rob from the rich to give to whomever...then maybe rob the poor as well. Oh well.
Believer - there is more to this life than the Wasteland. This is the proving ground of the faithful who will all be forged anew in the fires of these end times. You are their shepherd they, whether they like it or not, are your flock.
Warden - compassion may be in short supply in these strange and testing times, but there will never be a shortage of heroes raised in the classic tradition, whether raised on comic book morality or the beliefs of the ancients.
Pagan - strange is the cycle of life and yet again mother nature teaches a harsh lesson to a sickly and dependent mankind. Now is the time to throw off the shackles of technology and embrace a better way.

Each character will have a Role. It's purpose is to modify behaviour when meeting others, particularly in towns. Other factors modify this also (usually the character's origin), so that a Norm Outlaw may find that he's not particularly welcome in a town run by Wardens. Or perhaps a Mutant Warden may have a tougher time than his Norm counterpart when dealing with a town run by Norm Outlaws.

Roles have numerical ratings, but these are only used as a guide to determing relations with others. They are not rolled against per se and can change throughout play. The higher the number, the stronger the character's conviction within this sphere.

(NB: Mutant, Norm, Robot and Mindwalker are known as Origins).

Given that your "attributes" are also going to cover your skills, I think your list is mostly appropriate.  I agree with keeping Awareness and Reflexes separate.  The only beef I have is with some of the labels you chose:

Both Science and Lore are sort of misleading given the descriptions you gave for them.  Also, because you threw first aid and survival skills into Lore and yet have a Medic attribute, the waters are pretty muddy.  I might reconsider using a scheme like this:

Knowledge: Scientific and cultural information.  Area lore.
Survival: Navigation, food safety, hunting, basic first-aid, plant identification
Medicine: Treating serious injury, radiation, surgery

Also, unrelated, I'm not sure Command is the most appropriate label for that attribute.  It seems awfully narrow considering your description tells us every social interaction will use it (maybe Guts will be involved when resisting).  I think Persuasion, Personality, or (forgive me) even Charisma are more appropriate.

Hope something there is helpful.  Looking forward to reading more from you.

That must have been an earlier draft I didn't repair. Lore shouldn't include healing at all. it's basically survival, orienteering, navigation and streetwise. it covers stuff in and out of towns, knowing hte local lingo and the customs of people and places as well as how to navigate a radioactive maze or something. I have amended the above entry.

The word Science could well be substituted with Knowledge, but I prefer the vibe of that word.

Command may sound aggresive, but it works. it's a more evocative word than simply 'charisma' and it covers whatever methods of interpersonal communication the player desires at the time: leadership, subterfuge, interrogation, seduction, haggling...

Setting seems solid with lots of interesting factions.
Nice take on the mutant powers!

# of att. seems good as they subsume skills.
What part will "role" (Warden etc.) play in determining att. (mods/availability), if at all? Ditto for background.

Keeping Ref./Awr. seperate is a good call IMO. Someone can be very aware but without good reflexes. Awr. preceeds Ref. in most cases.
I am assuming Ref. would be used in suprise situations that rely on a motor response? (perhaps mod. by Awr., see the last few questions below)

A few questions reg. att.;
In the description for Tech. it states that this will cover using equip. regardless of origin. Medic states that this will cover healing in the wastelands etc. So what att. is used if the healing involves med. equip.?

How do the att. interact or do you make more rolls based on another relavent att.?

Could the success of one att. check mod. the next in a related chain?

Science seems to be a purely thought process att. (I use the term "extrapolation" for this sort of thing) is this correct?( there is no "motor" skill associated, purely cerebral?). How would this mod. a roll based on the insight gained? like using Sci. to figure out new equip. then using Tech. to make function.

Resolution mech. seems straightforward...playtesting will tell...

Origin is Norm, Mutant, Robot or Mindwalker.

Role is Warden, Barbarian, Outlaw, Believer, and Pagan. These are sort of like the character's nature. Their purpose is to guide relations with other people/factions in the world as well as define the character's general outlook. They are fairly broad: a Pagan can be fairly nihilistic or as samaritanesque as a Warden. Conversely, a Barbarian needn't be a bloodthirsty killing machine. It's what the player wants to make of it. Just that, if a Warden goes to a place run by Outlaws, for example, they will react more adversely to him than perhaps others. The strength of that adversity is commensurate with the value assigned currently to his Role. That value I envision changing (ie increasing) the more the player acts in direct accordance with their character's nature.

It's important not to overthink it. This is a broad set of definitions that shouldn't be so tight.

The material resources used for healing and repairs (which are the primary functions of the medic and technician stats respetively) are represented by Ammo. This will be explained later. Both function similary and uniquely for field medicine and field repairs. There is no crossover in the stats and so the score of a character's Technician won't impinge (or improve) the performance of their healing efforts. This is the same as saying a high Science stat doesn't improve the use of Technician. Stats are exclusive and intended to be that way for simplicity if nothing else.

When characters get hurt they take Hurt points; these points accumulate to a limit set by the character's Guts+40 at which point the character dies. Most damage is taken as points in this fashion, but some damage is non-fatal. Consequently the first (20+Guts) Hurt points that a character can take are known as Stun damage. This first threshold only applies when Stun level Hurt is taken: if the character takes enough of that kind of hurt so as to exceed his Stun threshold the excess is lost. Instead of taking that extra damage, the character is knocked out for a number of hours equal to that excess (6 is the maximum). KO'd characters are extremely vulnerable (all stats default to 0 for opposed rolls), but will recover, if not aided otherwise, in the predetermiend number of hours. Knocked out characters still count their Armour/Cover as appropriate.

(I fear that isn't explained well in writing).

Initiative:
At the start of each round of combat, participants make individual Initiative checks to determine the order in which combatants act, action by action. This order is determined by rolling Awareness as a dice pool and using the total, from highest to lowest (compare Awreness as a stat or roll a single die to break ties). Once all combatants have taken their main, and possibly only, action bonus actions then resolve likewise until no one has any further actions, or until all combatants pass on their action consecutively (ie noone chooses to act that round). At which point the round ends.
Combatants receive 1 bonus action if they roll a doubles on their Initiative roll, 2 bonus actions if they roll a triple, and so on up to a limit set by their Reflexes stat.
When taking an action, the player may, on his turn, delay his action until a later time in the round. He must define a trigger point or an individual he is hoping to interrupt at which point he must either act or forfeit the action. If he acts he interrupts the flow of actions at that point and goes before the character that would otherwise act at this point.
While driving, a character rolling for Initiative substitutes his Operator for his Reflexes stat in all above situations.
 
Combat:
Attack rolls are opposed stat rolls using either the Fighting or Guns stat for melee or ranged combat, respectively. The stat is opposed by the target's Fighting or Reflexes stat, again respectively. The base difficulty is dependent on the circumstances particular to the attacker, such as visibility and knowing where the target is (if behind cover).

Full Defence:
Regardless of a character's Initiative, the player can choose to commit his character to act fully defensively for the round. A character on Full Defence, is harder to hit; but he cannot attack at all during the round and can only move. Such characters oppose attacks against them by adding their Reflexes to the total difficulty to hit them (which means Reflexes is used twice for the purposes of ranged attacks).

Hurt:
If the attack required Ammo expenditure (for gun or bomb type weapons), then Ammo must be spent to deal damage, however additional Ammo can be spent in the same way as for field medicine/repairs: total Hurt taken x Ammo spent, but each point beyond the first reduces by 1, each time, the margin of success added (this is due to the increased stress on the weapon causing it to fire less accurately).
If the attack deson't require Ammo expenditure (melee type weapon, including unarmed), the damage is equal to the margin of success plus the greater of the attacker's Fighting or Guts stat. The attacker can choose to pull his punches, on such an attack, by declaring thus prior to making the roll, in which case Hurt casued is only applied as Stun.

Range:
Weapons firing over ranged can fire at several increments, from Point Blank (20metres), Near (50m), Far (100m), and Extreme (175m). The actual measurements should be a used as a guideline at best. Only shotguns and pistols can fire at point blank, but cannot reach Far or Extreme ranges. Weapons can, with the aid of a scope, fire beyond their listed range, except for Shotguns. However doing so is done at +2 Difficulty. Not all weapons can accomadate a scope.
Pistols fire at ranges up to Extreme.
Rifles fire from Near to Extreme.
Machine Guns fire Near to Far.
Shotguns fire from Point Blank to Near.
Rules for other types of ranged weapons (such as mortars or guided ordnance) are handled in their own rules.

(NB: the rules regarding how much Hurt a character can take are likley to change).