Re: System: D?

[Quest Lord]

Yep, hide would be an ability. Whereas camouflage might be a trait.

[BrokenMuse]

And Hide would be augmented by traits like Camouflage right?

[Quest Lord]

And Hide would be augmented by traits like Camouflage right?

Right.

[Roll Fizzlebeef]

So, Traits work like Feats/Intrinsics, right? You can always handwave gaining new feats as "mutating furtrher", or something.

[BrokenMuse]

So, Traits work like Feats/Intrinsics, right? You can always handwave gaining new feats as "mutating furtrher", or something.

Or coming out of a molt bigger and stronger.

[Quest Lord]

So, Traits work like Feats/Intrinsics, right? You can always handwave gaining new feats as "mutating furtrher", or something.

Or coming out of a molt bigger and stronger.

This.

Insects have a nice justification for levelling up all at once.

[Alpharius]

So, Traits work like Feats/Intrinsics, right? You can always handwave gaining new feats as "mutating furtrher", or something.

Or coming out of a molt bigger and stronger.

This.

Insects have a nice justification for levelling up all at once.

Interesting... Perhaps, after gaining the EXP required to level up, an insect has to spend a day or so in a safe place so it can molt (level up)?

[jesusofthemonkeys]

I recently fell in love with Dogs in the Vineyard for roleplaying and think it would fit well here, since it would deal well with the various abilities and sizes that a lot of bugs have. You would definately have to fine tune the backgrounds and the stats, but I think it would end up working really well.

Each character gets a certain number of traits and stat dice base on their background to divy up. The players make up their own traits (as in their isn't a set list, just what's important to the player) and give as many dice as they want to each trait. You can write you traits however you want: "poison glands 2d6", "my spider can weave giant webs 1d10", "I'm a hive insect 3d4"

Whenever the trait come into play you role the dice. Instead of trying to hit a DC or number of successes you kinda play poker with the dice, its kinda hard to explain, but would be willing to try if people are interested. It would work really well with the relative scale of the bugs. It seems like it would make combat easier. Thoughts?

[Quest Lord]

I'm not sure I grok this pokerdice thing. So if I have 1d10 webspinning, how do I poker that? Highdie?

I think a set of pre-set abilities should work for this setting, since most abilities will be used by many different species, across a few different orders.

[Quest Lord]

Would building a system from the ground up be that hard? We'd need character generation, combat mechanics, leveling up stuff and. . . that's more/less it. Maybe some social roll stuff, but crafting, etc. wouldn't need rules. We can patch onto the rules as we go if we need rules for more then that.

[Sasha]

Using a "molt" mechanic for leveling up sounds great - and it's a good reason to not allow levelling-up mid-quest (unless you feel like losing all of your exoskeleton bonuses halfway through).

I haven't used Dogs in the Vineyard - is it anything like the Ironclaw/Jadeclaw systems? (high die wins, levelling up skills gives you bigger/more dice to roll)

[Quest Lord]

It's looking like d10 or d% are the most popular options, with d% in a lead. Can anyone explain to me why d% is so popular?

[Alpharius]

Would building a system from the ground up be that hard? We'd need character generation, combat mechanics, leveling up stuff and. . . that's more/less it. Maybe some social roll stuff, but crafting, etc. wouldn't need rules. We can patch onto the rules as we go if we need rules for more then that.

Well, it's going to depend on how high in level we want the characters to go. Are there going to be epic-level campaigns, for instance?

[Alpharius]

It's looking like d10 or d% are the most popular options, with d% in a lead. Can anyone explain to me why d% is so popular?

D% is the Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader system, so it's familiar to a lot of the inhabitants of /tg/, as well as being diverse enough to allow a great deal of character customization.

[Quest Lord]

I'm not sure there *is* an epic level. Anything we can throw at them from real life can be handled by a sufficient number army ants/ticks, etc.

Oh, I see. I get it now. So we're looking at using d%. If character customisation is a pro of that system, I can see why it fits well with this idea then.

[Sasha]

It's looking like d10 or d% are the most popular options, with d% in a lead. Can anyone explain to me why d% is so popular?

D% is the Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader system, so it's familiar to a lot of the inhabitants of /tg/, as well as being diverse enough to allow a great deal of character customization.

Does anyone know where I'd be able to find a quick primer on that system? I've never used it.

[Alpharius]

It's looking like d10 or d% are the most popular options, with d% in a lead. Can anyone explain to me why d% is so popular?

D% is the Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader system, so it's familiar to a lot of the inhabitants of /tg/, as well as being diverse enough to allow a great deal of character customization.

Does anyone know where I'd be able to find a quick primer on that system? I've never used it.

You could check /rs/ for the Dark Heresy BRB, but essentially, the way it works is that the characters have stats on a scale of 1 to 100. The goal is to roll equal to or below your stat, and you can purchase stat upgrades in 5-point chunks for varying EXP costs.

[Quest Lord]

You can get pretty much everything off of /r/, I have it, yet to use it though. If we're running with this, it's probably best someone who's used it a bit gives us the slow and thirty on how it works.

[Alpharius]

You can get pretty much everything off of /r/, I have it, yet to use it though. If we're running with this, it's probably best someone who's used it a bit gives us the slow and thirty on how it works.

What do you want to know?

[jesusofthemonkeys]

This is how conflict and that dice mechanic work in Dogs in the Vineyard. Remember that it's a game about paladin cowboys, so it's definately going to have to be worked out, especially since there's weapons, items etc. in it. It's a little long since I just copied it off the pdf, but I think worth the read. If we all want this game to get off the ground with your standard leveling/point buying mechanic there's going to be a lot of work ahead in terms of balance, figuring out prestige classes and so forth; it seems like this dice mechanic solves a lot of that.

If people read this and thing I should just shut up about the crunch I'll leave it all to you guys and try and help out with the fluff. In these type of collaborations it seems like the crunch is the stuff that really needs help working out, so I figured I'd give my two cents.





The Simple Case
1. Establish what’s at stake. Any player can make suggestions, and everybody should feel free to toss it around until you arrive at the right thing.
What’s at stake is: does your character’s brother shoot the woman?
2. Set the stage. Say where the conflict’s taking place, what’s around, maybe mention where the conflict might range or what features of the environment might come into play. Also have someone say how the conflict will start.
Your character meets his brother on the twin-rut road between his farm and town. The nearest building is his tool shed, a hundred feet behind; otherwise it’s all around swaying gold wheat. The sky is insane summer blue and it’s before noon. Your character’s brother has his old smoothbore carbine and his jaw is clenched. You’ll start with just talking, you say.
3. Who’s participating?
Just me and you, for now. You’re taking your own character’s side, of course, and I’m taking your character’s brother’s.
4. Take up dice. You’ll take dice from your character’s sheet, as appropriate to this conflict as it opens. I’ll take dice from your character’s brother’s sheet. Here’s how it works:
Stats: Which Stats you roll depends on what arena the conflict is currently playing out in. Just talking: roll Acuity + Heart. Physical, but not fighting: roll Body + Heart. Fighting hand-to-hand: roll Body + Will. Fighting with guns: roll Acuity + Will.
Since we start out with our characters just talking, you roll d6s equal to your character’s Acuity plus d6s equal to your character’s Heart: let’s say 6d6 together. I roll d6s equal to your character’s brother’s Acuity plus his Heart: let’s say 7d6.
Relationships: You roll the dice listed for your character’s Relationships under pretty limited circumstances: when your Relation is your character’s opponent or when your Relation is what’s at stake.
Since your character’s brother is your opponent, you get whatever dice you have listed for him on your character’s sheet. Recall that for blood relations, if you don’t specify any dice you get a d6. Let’s say that for this particular relationship you have 1d8 listed and I have nothing. You roll your 1d8 and I roll the default 1d6.
Traits: You roll the dice listed for your character’s Traits when you bring them into play as part of a Raise or See. You roll a Trait’s dice only once per conflict, the first time you use it; you can use it subsequently, but you don’t get its dice again.
Dogs in the Vineyard: a role-playing game Conflict & Resolution 35
Things: You roll the dice listed for your character’s Belongings, as for Traits, when you bring them into play in a See or a Raise. You get each thing’s dice only once in a conflict. If you bring something into play in a See or a Raise and it’s not on your character sheet, you get its normal dice if you’re using it as it oughta be used, and a d6 or a d4 otherwise.
Since neither of us has Raised or Seen yet, neither of us get dice from our characters’ Traits or Belongings.
All told, you take up 6d6 plus 1d8, and I take up 8d6.
5. We roll all our dice. Leave ’em out on the table where everybody can see. You can push them around into order if you want.
You roll: 1 2 2 3 4 4 7. I roll: 1 1 1 3 4 5 6 6.
6. Now we take turns Raising and Seeing. Here are the ground rules:
Your Best Roll is the sum of your two highest dice.
Your Best Roll is 11, mine is 12.
To Raise, say what your character does and put forward two of your dice.
You Raise always with two dice. When you Raise, have your character do something that his opponent can’t ignore. We’ll call it an “attack” for now, but of course it doesn’t have to be violent.
(You can Raise with one die under two particular circumstances: when you’ve Helped someone else, and when it’s your Raise and you have only one die left.)
Your Raise is both what your character does and the dice you’re using to back it up. Don’t put dice forward to Raise without describing your character’s action.
To See, say how your character responds and put forward one or more of your dice.
You See by putting forward dice to equal or exceed the standing Raise. You See with as many dice as you need.
Your See is both your character’s response and the dice you’re using to get it. Don’t put dice forward to See without describing how your character deals with the Raise:
If you See with one die, that’s Reversing The Blow. Say how your character turns the attack back onto the attacker, and don’t discard the die you used to See, hold on to it for a minute. When it’s your turn to Raise, use that die as one of your two dice to Raise. It counts twice, in other words: you See with it and then immediately use it again to Raise before you discard it.
If you See with two dice, that’s a Block Or Dodge. Say how your character defends against the attack.
If you See with three or more dice, that’s Taking The Blow. Say how the attack lands and how your character reacts.
36 Conflict & Resolution Dogs in the Vineyard: a role-playing game When you Take The Blow, you always get Fallout Dice. Take a number of dice equal to the number you used to See— so if you Saw with three, take three, if you Saw with four take four, and so on up— and set them aside until the conflict ends. The size of the Fallout Dice you take depends on the nature of the blow: d4s if it’s not physical, d6s if it’s physical but not a hit with a weapon, d8s if it’s a hit with a weapon but not a bullet, and d10s if it’s a bullet.
And finally, if you don’t want to play through to the end of a conflict, you can Give instead. It’s just the same as losing, but without all the Fallout you might’ve gotten if you’d stayed in.
And here’s the procedure:
a. Whichever character’s opening the conflict, that player makes the first Raise. Say what your character does and put forward two of your dice to back it up.
You’re opening the conflict, so you start: “Hey, ’Zeke, you don’t just go shoot people,” you have your character say. “Let’s talk about this.” You Raise with a 4 and a 3, for 7.
When it’s not clear who’s opening the conflict, it’s the player with the highest best roll.
b. Everybody whose character is affected by your Raise has to See. Remember that you Raise with two dice and See with as many as it takes.
I put forward my own 4 and 3 to See. “Get out of my way, boy,” I have my character say.
c. Now whoever’s next gets to Raise. In this case, me.
“In fact, if you had any conscience of your own, you’d be with me.” That’s my Raise, so I put forward a 5 and a 6, for 11.
d. Again, everybody whose character is affected by my Raise has to See. Notice that with only two opponents, we simply trade back and forth: you Raise, I See then Raise, you See then Raise, I See then Raise ... and on until one of us is out of dice and the conflict ends.
You have my 11 to See, so you slide forward your 7 and your second 4. “Don’t try to tell me about my conscience,” you have your character say; that’s your See. Here’s your Raise: “you go home and see to your son.” Raising with your best dice left: two 2s.
I see with my last 6, Reversing The Blow. “Ha! I remember how he used to look up to you! Maybe if you’d been in his life he wouldn’t have gone this way.” Because I Reversed The Blow, I get to keep the 6 for my Raise. I add one of my 1s to it.
So now you only have the one 1 left. You can’t See my Raise, so I win the stakes. Your character stands there with the wind out of his sails and I have my character push past and on into town, where he murders the shopkeeper’s supposed wife.

[Quest Lord]

Combat and Char Gen would be the important things I guess.

RT would have rules for playing as non-humans right? So there should be examples of characters of species that will always be stronger, just by dint of what they are, right?

[Alpharius]

Combat and Char Gen would be the important things I guess.

RT would have rules for playing as non-humans right? So there should be examples of characters of species that will always be stronger, just by dint of what they are, right?

Actually, RT's chargen process is pretty much human-only. That said, I have experience with d% chargen processes that involve different species, sizes, etc.

[Quest Lord]

No rules for non human players? Hmmm, h'ok.

Dogs in the vineyard looks like it might be a touch complicated for what we're after to be honest. . .

[jesusofthemonkeys]

Lol. Ironically its a lot simpler than DH or D&D. The whole manual is only a 100 pages long and most of that is fluff stuff. But I suppose i just explained it horribly. It really is a great system and I'd recommend it to you all. I'll drop it now and try to add other things elsewhere

[BrokenMuse]

There's also Eclipse Phase, which is d% and free. Its a transhumanist RPG so a lot if it isn't useful, but the core mechanics might be for inspiration.

Character creation is choosing a background and faction, assigning attributes and skills, then picking a morph (custom body, kind of like a template). Each morph has different bonuses to attributes and special abilities. Replace 'morph' with 'species' (which they pretty much are already. There's some crazy ones).

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