The Sixth World · Legacy archive
Alpha Game mechanics
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Alpha Game mechanics
#1Coin game
There are three levels of dice:
Levels Coinage Points
Level 1 1 quarter 1 x 25pts
Level 2 2 dimes 2 x 10 pts
Level 3 3 nickels 3 x 5 pts
Traits have a level of detail based on the level of the attribute. Only one level may be assigned to an attribute, and all levels must be used.
The traits have the following levels of detail for the corresponding attribute levels.
Attribute Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
Physical Body Toughness, Agility Strength, Dexterity, Constitution
Mental Mind Intelligence, Wisdom Cognition, Aptitude, Knowledge
Magical Magic Arcane, Spiritual Force, Prowess, Resolution
Each character has a total of six traits. The number of traits an attribute has will vary from character to character.
Each character also has hit points. These are equal to the total of the coins for the characters physical attribute. Characters also get bonus skill points equal to the level of the character's mental attribute. Lastly, characters also get Karma to do fun and dramatic things with. Karma is equal to the character's magic attribute.
Trait points
Trait Points (TP) are assigned individually for each attribute. The level of the attribute is equal to the number of TP available. TP may be assigned to the traits however the player chooses, from 3 TP down to 0. The higher the TP assigned, the better the character is in that trait and the more they've used it.
Skill points
Skill points are assigned for each trait. The number of skill points for each trait is equal to the level of the attribute times the TP assigned to the trait.
Checks and Challenges
In games, players like to do things. Most of these things have a certain outcome, like walking, breathing and eating food. Many other things don't have a certain outcome, like climbing a mountain, making a sword, hitting a bad guy, or nicking off with the baron's jewel encrusted codpiece in the middle of a parade. Those things require tests to see the out come.
There are two types of tests: checks and challenges. Checks are for tests against things that don't contest the player, like climbing mountains, swimming a river, disarming a trap, and delivering a death blow to the back of a motionless, unconscious, drunken, tied up man with a shallow pulse. Maybe not that extreme, but you get the idea. To perform a check, the DM will tell you the successes needed, often 1, and you flip your coins and see how many successes you get. If the successes needed are 2 or 3, put serious thought into an alternate plan, as what you are trying to do is something only professionals usually attempt, but that's part of the fun, isn't it?
Challenges are for the occasion where the player is trying to do something to something or someone that might seek to resist them doing it. For example, hitting something with a weapon, taking someone's purse, or convincing a stranger's horse to follow you into the burning building so you can tie it to the chest you need to get out. Challenges are often resolved faster than checks, as you simply compare the relevant numbers with the higher number winning, and flip for successes in case there's a tie. The numbers are compared in a specific order, and both parties start at the top and compare numbers. The order is as follows:
1. Artifact level
2. Skill level
3. Item level - both magic items and weapons
4. Trait level
5. Attribute
So, two fighters would probally not have artifacts, so would compare skill levels in their weapons first, then compare their weapons level as those would be items, then trait levels, physical (agility/dexterity) in this case, then attribute levels, that being physical, of course. If all those are tied, flip coins untill one has more successes than the other.
Now if one of them disarms the other, they first compare the armed fighters weapon skill against the unarmed fighters dodge or unarmed fighting skill, or whatever skill he's chosen for his action (beg), then item levels, and one of them has an item, and one of them doesn't, so he loses. That's the way it goes, arm yourself appropriately. -
Alpha Game mechanics
#2A couple examples of character creation:
Gruug's player starts by assigning Gruug's Attributes. Gruug's player wants Gruug to be big and strong sot Gruug can smash! He gives Gruug a 3 in Physical so Gruug can smash in many different ways. He also decides the only thing cooler than smashing is smashing with a magice rock, so he gives Gruug a 2 in Magic. Lastly, Gruug gets a 1 in Mental so Gruug can find rocks to smash things with.
Now Gruug gets to flesh out his Traits. Gruug's Level 3 Physical means he has Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution, and he has 3 Trait Points to assign to them. Gruug considers carefully, since this is Gruug's most important part. Higher Dexterity will let Gruug weild not just rocks, but swords, polearms, maybe even exotic weapons, but Gruug is happy with rocks, so Gruug gives Dexterity a zero, 0. Gruug does not want a glass jaw, so Gruug gives Constitution a 1. That leaves Strength with a 2, so Gruug can lift all but the heaviest rocks. Gruug happy.
Gruug's Mental is simple. Level 1 Mental gives Gruug 1 Trait Point to assign to his Mind.
Gruug has Level 2 Magic, so he has Arcane and Spiritual Traits and 2 Trait Pointsfor them. Gruug's Arcane trait lets Gruug cast higher levels of spells and have more spells ready to cast, and Spiritual lets him know more spells to be able to cast. Gruug decides he would only want to be able to cast level 1 spells so he gives both Arcane and Spiritual Trait levels of 1
Gruug's player begins picking skills. Gruug's attributes look like this:
Physical Level 3 Strength 2 Dexterity 0 Constitution 1
Mental Level 1 Mind 1
Magic Level 2 Arcane 1 Spiritual 1
Gruug's Strength trait times his Physical attribute gives him 6 skill points for Strength skills. Gruug want to be able to lift and throw big rocks, so he gets Lift at 2 and Throw at 2, the highest level he can get with a Strength of 2. He also gets Climb at 1 and Swim at 1 so he can go up mountains to find rocks and knows he should drop his rocks if he doesn't want to drown.
Gruug's Dexterity of 0 means no skill points there, but he writes down Wield Weapon because are free to all, and it helps him remember he can only use primitive weapons like clubs and spears. Gruug might have liked to get Unarmed Combat, but it's a Rank 1 skill and he would need a Dexterity of at least 1 to be able to learn that.
With a Constitution of 1 times his Physical level 3 Gruug has 3 skill points for Constitution skills. Although Dodge was a level 0 Dexterity skill, Gruug thinks running away is cowardly, so he gets Block at 1, so he can keep from getting hurt. He might not always be able to find big rock where ever he goes, so Grugg decides to take some with him using Carry at Level 1. Lastly, Grugg wants to be able to walk where ever large rocks may be found, so he gets Hiking at 1.
Gruug's Mental level 1 and Mind trait level 1 gives 1 skill point for Mind skills. Gruug decides to get Read at Level 1.
For Gruug's Magic attribute he has 2 skill points for both Arcane and Spiritual. He gets Spellcasting using 1 skill point from Arcane and Use Magic Item with the other. He spends the 2 skill points from Spiritual on skills I need help creating.
Gruug now assigns his Bonus skills points from his Mind attribute. With a Mind of 1, he gets 1 bonus skill point! He gets Dodge at Level 1 because he thinks that it might be all right to dodge if the other guy is bigger than you.
With a Physical Level 3 Gruug gets 15 hit points. With a Magic level 2 he gets 2 Karma points. Gruug just needs to pick his equipment and then he can begin his adventures. -
Alpha Game mechanics
#3Okay, let's see if I've got this.
Kalera is a fairly athletic young woman, so she gets a 3 for her Physical. She's pretty smart, but she wouldn't know an enchantment from a doorknob, so she gets 2 for Mental and a 1 for magic.
Kalera's got a 3 in Physical, so that means Strength, Dex, and Constitution. She's very quick and agile, and knows how to use a few different weapons, so Dex gets 2 trait points. She can take a few hits, so her Constitution is a 1. When it comes to brute strength, however, she's a wimp (0 points), so relies on her speed and agility and lets others do the lifting and bashing.
2 in Mental, so 2 Trait points there. She's street smart and has a lot of common sense, but she hasn't had very much schooling, so both points go into Intelligence.
1 in the Magic Attribute means a 1 in her Magic Trait.
So right now, Kalera looks like this:
Physical Level 3 Strength 0 Dexterity 2 Constitution 1
Mental Level 2 Intelligence 2 Wisdom 0
Magic Level 1 Magic 1
Skill time! This is where it gets a little confusing, since we're still making the skills up. I made up some of my own, if that's okay.
No skill points for Strenth. 6 for Dex skills, so she has Wield Weapon , meaning she can handle a sword or two. I think. She's also gotten into some tavern brawls in her time, so Unarmed Combat . It's better to not get hit at all than to try to block and risk a hit, so Dodge . She's fairly sure on her feet, so she has Balance .
Three points for Constition. She's sometimes found it necessary to run for a while, so she's learned how to do it with out tiring herself out. Run . Sometimes you just can't dodge, so you'd best have a backup plan, or Block . She gets wanderlust sometimes, but she doesn't like horses, so Hiking .
Since she put all of her Trait points in Intelligence, that gives her 4 skill points. She can read some, she knows how to get people to tell her things, and she can sometimes tell when a person's lying. Read , Gather Info , Sense Motive .
She gets one point for magic, which I'll assign later.
Since she has a Mental of 2, she gets 2 bonus skill points. She'll take Swim , because she doesn't want to drown, and Climb .
Having a Magic of 1 gives her 1 Karma point. She has 15 hit points because of her Physical of 3. (Question: Why do higher levels of Physical mean fewer hit points? Shouldn't it be the other way around?)
Did I get that right, Agar? -
Alpha Game mechanics
#4
Skill time! This is where it gets a little confusing, since we're still making the skills up. I made up some of my own, if that's okay.
Is it okay? That is precisely the help I need. The only thing that might need some debate would be which skill goes with which trait.
And on your charcter you also wanted more street smarts and less schooling, so that would be more Wisdom than Intelligence. You character looks good.
As for higher levels getting less hit points, well, I really only have it set up the way it is because it's simple to figure out. I'm open to suggestions for other simple ideas for hit points. Maybe 15 times Physical level would be better. But that makes level 1 real wimpy and level 3 real tough... Voice your own thoughts on that. -
Alpha Game mechanics
#5My turn.
Red Mirror Shadow is a secretive assassin-for-hire, so he also gets a 3 for his Physical. Like Ria's character, he's not much for Magic, but he's of a thinking sort, so his Mental is 2, and his Magic, 1.
(Physical 3, Mental 2, Magic 1)
Mirror has Strength, Dex, and Constitution. He's not the kind of fighter for brute force, so his Strength is only 1. For the same reason, his Constitution is 0. He's fast, agile, and can use a variety of assassination equipment, so his Dexterity is 2. Mirror, like Ria's character, is street smart, not wise, so his points go into Intelligence. He's got 1 Magic.
(Physical 3 [Str 1, Con 0, Dex 2], Mental 2 [Int 2], Magic [Magic 1])
Oh goody! Skills! No Constitution skills. For Dexterity, his six points go like this:
Cat's Footfall Stealth for sneaking. He's an assassin.
Eight Winds Acrobatics for leaping and jumping and wall-crawling and such.
Mirror-Style Martial Arts for his special Mirror-Style Karate
Wielding the Bloodstained Arm for using his dagger or short sword.
For his one Strength skill, he has Climb like the Monkey, because it's necessary for wall-scaling and so on.
For Mirror's Intelligence skills, we have 4 points, so:
See the Way of Refuge for escaping pursuers
Eye-Decieving Masquerade for pretending to be somebody that he's not
Don't know what to do for magic. Help me out with that, Agar.
The bonus points allotted him by his Mental 2 are given to Balance Like the Scales for staying steady and such, and Strike the Sparrow's Eye for throwing his throwing daggers and shurikens.
He's got 1 Karma due to his 1 Magic, and he has 15 Hit Points.
So:
Red Mirror Shadow =
(Physical 3 [Str 1{Climb like the Monkey }, Con 0, Dex 2{Cat's Footfall Stealth , Eight Winds Acrobatics , Mirror-Style Martial Arts , Wielding the Bloodstained Arm ], Mental 2 [Int 2{See the Way of Refuge , Eye-Decieving Masquerade ], Magic [Magic 1] + [{Strike the Sparrow's Eye , Balance Like the Scales }] + 15 Hit Points + Karma 1) -
Alpha Game mechanics
#6Woops, didn't read your last post, Agar. Sorry. -
Alpha Game mechanics
#7Checks and Challenges Example.
Gruug wandered the lands looking for adventure and heard of a fort surrounded in mist appearing on a mountain side. Thinking that sounds like adventure, Gruug traveled to the mountain and began to climb towards the mist shrouded fort. The mountain is like many other mountains, not a sheer cliff, but not a really big hill either, so the GM (or should I make that CM for Coin Master?) reads the difficulty for the Check as 1. Gruug's Climb skill is 1, so he can attempt the climb. Climb is a Physical Skill, so Gruug flips his 3 nickels and gets 2 successes. He only needed one, so the GM tells him his extra success let him notice there is no obvious trail, animal track or abandoned road or otherwise.
As Gruug approaches the fort, he can see several small, bird sized objects moving rapidly thourgh the fog. They suddenly speed towards him, then a sudden flash lights up the surrounding mist. As Gruug looks back towards the fort, he sees a loose collection of floating spheres approaching him. Gruug feels threatened, so he picks up a rock and throws it at the spheres. Gruug's Weild weapon is a 0 and the spheres' Dodge is a 1 so the spheres easily float away from the rock.
Not to be thwarted so quickly, Gruug uses a point of karma to ignore the Challenge order and just flip coins against the spheres. Gruug's Physical is 3 and the Sphere's physical is 1. The spheres flip thier quarter and get heads for 1 success, the best they can do, and Gruug flips and gets 2 heads and hits the spheres for damage.
Damage is kinda defined right now, but kinda not, so the spheres take 10 points of damage, 5 for each nickel, and break apart with a flash. -
Alpha Game mechanics
#8The checks and challenges example points out to me a mistake I made during Gruug's character creation. Skill levels are NOT limited to the level of the trait, or even the level of the attribute. Skill points may be assigned from 1 to 3 even if that is higher than the trait or attribute it is associated with. Thus, Gruug could have a Weild Weapon at level 3, making him quite skilled in bashing things with rocks and clubs.
I'll post a in depth look at Magic and it's Traits later, I'm out of time for the moment. -
Alpha Game mechanics
#9I LOVE IT! :D The only thing im not liking is the american currency (quarter, dime, nickel :P)
Mind if I have a try?
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Elquin's player decides that there are enough brawny people out there to give Elquin a bit of cover, so he gives Elquins' physical a 1. Now, he is aware that It might be an idea to give Elquin a bit of smarts, but he wants Elquin to be able to handle himself magically. Therefore his Mental is given a 2. Finally, Magic is given a 3, so he can do flashy things :D
Now, for the Traits. A level 3 in Magic, means that he has Force, Prowess, and Resolution and 3 points to give them. Now, Elquin wants his spells to be extra strong, so people won't laugh at him when he casts a huge spell and it only burns off someones eyebrows. So therefore, he gets a 2 in Force. He also wants his spells to be able to be cast even with lots of distractions around, so, to not be distracted, he gets a 1 in resolution. This means a 0 in prowess, so when there is lots of danger around, he won't be as couragous, and may fumble his spells :(
Elquin has a 1 in physical, so this means 1 point to give to his body - He is reedy, and would probably not even be able to LIFT a halberd properly.
Elquin has a level 2 in Mental, however. Now, he has studied book after book after book. He is quite intelligent. But he has only read about everything, not experienced them, so he gets a 2 for intelligence, and a 0 for wisdom.
So far:
Physical Level 1: Body 1
Mental level 2: Intelligence, 2. Wisdom, 0.
Magic level 3: Force, 2. Prowess, 0. Resolution, 1.
Elquins Magic times force skills, means 6 skill points for Force skills. Elquin decides he would like to be able to hit his enemies where is hurts most, so he gets a critical shot skill level 2, meaning he has more chance of hitting his enemies. He would also like to make sure that his spells last for longer, and are more concentrated so he can do more damage, so he gets an Intensity skill, level 2. lastly, he decides on making sure he doesnt throw a spell at an enemy that is going to enjoy what he casts, so he gets a detection skill level 2, so as to find the enemies weaknesses.
Since his Prowess is level 0, he gets no skill points, but he can write down fearlessness just to remind him that when the pressure is on, he could be in trouble, so stay back ;)
A resolution level 1, means he has 3 points for resolution skills. He decides first, on conservation skill level 2, so he doesnt fall unconscious from tiredness after casting one spell, and he can keep casting for a while. He also supposes that it is a good idea to get concentration, level 1, so he doesnt get interrupted by his teammate coughing, beside him.
Elquins physical and body level 1 gives him one skill for body. He decides on stamina, level 1 - he doesnt want to huff and puff after ten steps!
Elquins Mental level 2, and Intelligence level 2, means four skill points in intelligence. He decides that he would like 2 of those to go into Mythology, so he is able to study the enemies he knows. This skill will back up his magical 'detection' skill, enabling him to know what spells would be best to use on what. He also decides on getting Read level 2, so he is able to read and understand his spellbooks easily, plus pick up a few phrases of foreign languages.
Two bonus points are given for his Mental level. He decides to put both of those on reputation. His teammates may be bumbling ogres who want to smash things, but he would also like to be respected for what he does.
Elquin has 5 hit points, and 3 karma points. He now must pick his equipment and begin adventuring.
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How was that? Some skills may not be that good ^_^ -
Alpha Game mechanics
#10I'm not sure if there is a thread for this, I couldnt see any from my glancing around. If there is, feel free to move this post ^_^ - but I'd like to try and help you with your skills, a bit.
Level 2
Key: * = Trait can also be chosen by second skill (eg. Stamina can be chosen with Agility, as well as toughness)
Body
-Toughness
Elemental Resistance: Resistance to the elements. Gives bonus to unfavourable environments such as hot/cold places. Also helps against hostile, elemental spells.
Natural Resistance: Resistance to poisons, sickness, sleep/tiredness and disease.
*Stamina: Ability to perform physical actions for longer without tiredness.
Tough skin: Natural ability, giving toughened, more calloused skin making weapons SLIGHTLY less effective.
-Agility
Dodging: 'nuff said
Aiming: Increases chance to hit someone with melee and ranged weapons.
Critical strike: Increases chance to give more damage, or perhaps a chance to do double damage on successful strike.
Senses: Makes one more aware of surroundings. Works well with dodging, as one must know something is there, before one can dodge.
Mind
-Intelligence
Read/write: Self explainatory. Higher levels give ability to read and write in other languages.
Language: Self explainatory. Higher level give ability to speak and understand other languages.
*Mythology: Increases chance to do a check to see if the enemy can be identified. Identified enemies give knowledge of weaknesses, about how strong they are, and whether its a suicidal to throw your party against them or not ^_^
*Reputation: Makes one more favourable to the general population. Reputable people get more pleasant responses from people.
-Wisdom
Terrain: Makes one more stable on unknown ground (Walking quicker through snow etc) This is not intelligence because one needs to EXPERIENCE it before they can truly know their terrain.
Pathfinding: Allows one to know their bearings. People with high pathfinding will usually pick the right fork in the road/the right way to go in a forest etc...
Personalities: Allows one to judge a personality more accurately. good in for determining the chance someone is telling the truth, etc...
Magic
-Arcane
Spell power: Raw damage/strength of a spell cast.
Spell Finesse: reduces the chance of spell failure.
Spell speed: Decreases the time it takes to cast a spell
*Spell Stamina: Increases the amount of times one can cast a spell before getting tired.
-Spiritual
((I dont know what 'gods' system you have in this world, Agar, so if any of this is wrong, please feel free to correct ;)))
Faith: Base spiritual skill. Faith in ones self increases concentration and determination. Spellcasters with faith will not be interrupted as easily. Same with fighters etc... increases chance of succesful attack etc...
Holiness: Increases effectiveness of all healing spells or skills (Heal wounds spell, bandage wounds skill, splinting skill etc...). Promotes wound healing.
Devotion: Similar to reputation. The masses like people who are devoted to their god.