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Okay, folks. Here we go.
Some basic rules - enough to understand what the characters you create in the Gameplay thread can actually do, once we get a look at them.
Read on, then check out the gameplay thread.
Adventurers come and go, but the guild is forever. The players will draft and maintain a stable of adventurers, sign questing contracts and undertake dangerous assignments for wealthy clients, and build upon and upgrade the guildhall to improve profits and keep adventuring members safe.
Your guild also maintains a quest log – tasks put forth by wealthy clients. Each completed quest yields Prestige and Resources for the guild, and surviving adventurers are entitled to any spoils looted from the field by right of conquest. Back at the guildhall, adventurers can spend their hard-earned gold on training to improve their skills.
Players can upgrade the guildhall between adventures, and expand the quest log by soliciting business (if they find themselves running out of things to do). Each action that the guild takes requires the expenditure of Prestige and Resources.
The actions that a guild can take – and their respective costs – are as follows:
> Recruit an Adventurer: 2 PRESTIGE
> Resupply All Adventurers: 1 RESOURCE
> Solicit Business: 1 RESOURCE
For the purposes of this beta play-through, the upgrades available for a guild to purchase are:
> Construct and Dedicate a Shrine (allows more variety in divine classes): 1 PRESTIGE, 5 RESOURCES
> Construct or Expand a Vault (20 item slots): 8 RESOURCES
> Construct a Training Hall (adventurers begin with extra skills): 18 RESOURCES
> Construct a Workshop (adventurers can resupply for free): 12 RESOURCES
> Construct an Armory (adventurers can repair damage gear more efficiently): 15 RESOURCES
> Construct an Outfitter’s Office (for packmules and wagons): 15 RESOURCES
> Construct a Great Hall (reduces the PRESTIGE cost to recruit adventurers to 1): 20 RESOURCES
> Construct a Tavern (adventurers recover morale more quickly): 8 RESOURCES
> Construct an Infirmary (adventurers recover from injuries more quickly): 18 RESOURCES
> Construct a Secret Lair (allows conflicting shrines in the same guildhall): 10 RESOURCES
Once the Prestige cost to do so has been paid, recruiting adventurers is as simple as choosing a race, a class, and a small handful of skill ranks. Optionally, characters may choose a faith as well, although this choice matters little if the character is not pious. Piety is a skill that any character may invest in, and allows a character to invest skill ranks in other skills relevant to the deity that the character worships.
Divine character classes are the exception to the rule: a member of a divine character class (like paladin or priest) must choose a faith, and always begins with 1 free rank in the Piety skill. A divine character’s faith has an effect on how many of his or her skills work.
beta-ready Classes include:
the Archer
the Assassin
the Berserker
the Druid
the Gunslinger
the Paladin
the Phantasmist
the Priest
the Rogue
the Sorcerer
the Warrior
the Witchdoctor
beta-ready Races include:
the Human
the Avian
the Earth Gnome
the Ghoul
the Goblin
the Grippit
the High Elf
the Hill Dwarf
the Hobbit
the Lizardfolk
the Ork
the Sahuagin
Detailed information on any given race and class will be made available as such information becomes relevant.
Characters move, attack, cast spells, and perform other actions by expending Action Points (AP) from a pool which is refreshed at the start of each round. Some skills and abilities require a character to invest AP rather than expend them. Invested AP are not refunded at the start of each round; instead, they remain invested in the relevant skill or ability until such a time as they can be divested (un-invested from the skill). Generally, a skill that requires the expenditure of AP produces an instantaneous effect, while the effects of an invested skill persist so long as the requisite number of AP are invested in it.
The size of an adventurer’s AP pool is a factor of both his or her race and class. Faster, more nimble races generally gain more AP than do members of slower species. Similarly, action-oriented classes like the warrior or rogue receive more AP than do priests or sorcerers. These variances are fairly minor, however; AP pools will vary in size from only 8 to 12 points.
As with AP, Health is a factor of race and class. Injuries reduce Health – and when Health hits 0, the injured character is killed. Morale operates on a similar mechanic, but Morale is a static value. Each character begins with a Morale value of 10, regardless of race or class. When Morale reaches 0, the demoralized character has become so crazed or fearful that it becomes an NPC, and typically refuses to take further actions.
Each character possesses a rank in each of five attributes: Strength, Agility, Endurance, Mobility, and Wisdom. In addition, each character may possess any number of skills. Attributes are fundamentally static; they generally do not increase after character creation. While attributes are largely a factor of race, a character’s class may also play a role in determining their rank.
Apart from rank, attributes have two characteristics: checks and values. An attribute check is rolled when a character actively attempts some relevant action or feat, while an attribute value is often the “target” number or measuring stick against which actions are attempted when an outside force (like a creature or a spell) interacts with the character.
When an attribute check is called for, a character rolls a number of dice equal to its attribute rank plus two. An attribute value is equal to a character’s attribute rank plus ten.
Some “benchmark” attribute ranks are described below:
Strength
0 – Negligible – equivalent to a beetle or a spider
1 – Feeble – equivalent to a cat, a pixie, or a rat
2 – Poor – equivalent to a gnome, a hobbit, or a human child
3 – Average – equivalent to a dwarf, a human adult, or a wolf
4 – Good – equivalent to a horse, a lion, or an ork
5 – Great – equivalent to a gorilla, an ogre, or a werewolf
6 – Excellent – equivalent to a bull elephant or a great white shark
7 – Extraordinary – equivalent to a tyrannosaurus or a wyvern
8 – Awesome – equivalent to a brontosaurus or a dragon
9 – Impossible – equivalent to a kraken
10 – Cosmic – equivalent to the Great Old Ones
Agility
0 – Negligible – equivalent to a slug or a snail
1 – Feeble – equivalent to a slime, a stone golem, or a zombie
2 – Poor – equivalent to a crab, a dwarf, or an earth elemental
3 – Average – equivalent to a boar, a human, or an ork
4 – Good – equivalent to a cat, a hobbit, or a horse
5 – Great – equivalent to an elf, a fox, or a wolf
6 – Excellent – equivalent to a falcon or a gazelle
7 – Extraordinary – equivalent to a housefly or a will-o’-the-wisp
8 – Awesome – equivalent to a fire elemental or a hummingbird
9 – Impossible – equivalent to an air elemental
10 – Cosmic – equivalent to an entity of pure energy
Endurance
0 – Negligible – equivalent to a butterfly or a mouse
1 – Feeble – equivalent to a bat, a cat, or a pixie
2 – Poor – equivalent to a gnome, a hobbit, or a human child
3 – Average – equivalent to a human adult, a pig, or a wolf
4 – Good – equivalent to a dwarf, an ork, or a zombie
5 – Great – equivalent to a horse, an ogre, or a lizardman
6 – Excellent – equivalent to a bull elephant or a wyvern
7 – Extraordinary – equivalent to an earth elemental or a stone golem
8 – Awesome – equivalent to an iron golem or a slime
9 – Impossible – equivalent to a stone fortress
10 – Cosmic – equivalent to an adamantine fortress
Mobility
0 – Negligible – equivalent to a slug or a snail
1 – Feeble – equivalent to a slime, a tortoise, or a zombie
2 – Poor – equivalent to a dwarf, a gnome, or a treant
3 – Average – equivalent to a boar, a hobbit, or a human
4 – Good – equivalent to a cat, an elf, or a snake
5 – Great – equivalent to a coyote, a fox, or a songbird
6 – Excellent – equivalent to a gazelle or a tiger
7 – Extraordinary – equivalent to an ostrich or a racehorse
8 – Awesome – equivalent to a cheetah or a swift falcon
9 – Impossible – equivalent to an arrow in flight
10 – Cosmic – equivalent to an asteroid hurtling through space
Wisdom
0 – Negligible – equivalent to a slime or a zombie
1 – Feeble – equivalent to a cat, a cockatrice, or a fox
2 – Poor – equivalent to a chimpanzee, an ork, or a human child
3 – Average – equivalent to a dwarf, a goblin, or a human adult
4 – Good – equivalent to an elf, a gnome, or a nymph
5 – Great – equivalent to a hag, a sidhe, or a sphinx
6 – Excellent – equivalent to an efreeti or an oni
7 – Extraordinary – equivalent to an adult dragon or an ancient vampire
8 – Awesome – equivalent to an eternal entity such as an angel or a demon
9 – Impossible – equivalent to an eternal entity such as a demigod
10 – Cosmic – equivalent to an immortal deity
As with any action, moving costs AP. The number of AP required to take a move action depends on a character’s race, and the type of armor that the character wears. An unarmored character spends 2 AP to move, although members of some slower races, like dwarves, might pay slightly higher AP costs when moving.
Movement in AdventureCrawl is abstract; there’s no map or “grid” to keep track of. Instead, each area of a dungeon or adventure site is divided into zones, and characters spend AP to move between those zones. For example, a small graveyard might be divided by the northern and southern zones of the yard itself, with a third zone representing a gated courtyard between the two.
Characters may also move within a zone, engaging in (and withdrawing from) melee with one another, or moving to interact with the features of that zone; features like doors, traps, shrines, chests, and so on.
Engaging an opponent in melee means attempting a Mobility check against that character’s Mobility Value. If your check succeeds, you’ve chased your opponent down and engaged it. A character already engaged in melee with one or more opponents may not oppose your attempt to engage – no check is required in that case (although you are still required to spend AP to move, as usual).
Withdrawing from melee is just as simple – a successful Mobility check against the Mobility Value of each opponent in melee with you enables you to withdraw from the scuffle. If your check fails to exceed the Mobility Value of any opponent engaged with you, however, your attempt fails.
Additionally, many creatures may choose not to oppose certain kinds of movement. Ogres want you to engage them in melee – a Mobility check is required only to withdraw from melee with them. Similarly, fragile opponents may prefer to fight with spells or ranged weapons, opposing only checks made to engage them, but not to withdraw. This sort of “preference” varies from creature to creature.
Opposed or unopposed, succeed or fail, a character must always expend the appropriate amount of AP to attempt a move action.
Attacking requires the expenditure of AP, and the AP cost of a weapon attack is a factor of the weapon itself. Lighter weapons require less AP to use, while heavier weapons require more. In addition to AP costs, weapons possess three other major properties: type, Hit Value, and Attack Dice. A weapon’s type describes the number of hands required to wield it, and the sort of damage it deals (crushing, piercing, or slashing).
A weapon’s Attack Dice value indicates the number of dice rolled when attacking, while the Hit Value indicates the number that each die will need to roll during an attack check in order to contribute to the success of the attack. Each die scoring at least this value is a “hit.” Once an attack check is rolled, the value of each hit is totaled, and compared to the target’s Endurance Value. If the hit total equals or exceed the target’s Endurance Value, it receives an injury for each hit-scoring die rolled. If it does not, the target receives a “bruise” for each hit-scoring die, instead.
The success of an attack roll is governed by one additional factor. Any attack check that results in at least one result of “1” on any die is in danger of missing the target altogether. The hit total for any such attack roll is first compared to the target’s Agility Value. If the hit total does not equal or exceed the target’s Agility value, the attack simply misses, regardless of how many hits were rolled. Similarly, any attack that does not score at least one hit simply fails to connect.
Switching handed items requires an expenditure of AP equal to the AP cost of the character’s move action, accounting for armor.
Each injury reduces a character’s Health by 1, while each bruise simply lowers the character’s Endurance Value by 1, diminishing further resistance to injury.
Armor determines the Hit Values for the wearer’s movement rolls, provides a flat bonus to the wearer’s Endurance Value, and protects the wearer entirely from attacks whose hits total less than the bonus provided. For example, armor that provides an Endurance Value bonus of +8 protects the wearer from attacks whose hits total 7 or less.
Shields are more similar to weapons than to armors. Like weapons, shield have AP Costs and Hit Values, and must be activated with AP before they can be of use in any given round. When a shield is activated, the player rolls a number of dice equal to the shield’s AP Cost, and invests one of those AP into the shield for every hit scored on the roll. While the shield is active, injuries and bruises are discarded from the shielded character’s shield-invested AP instead of from his or her Health or Endurance values, as usual. In order to block the damage from an attack, there must be enough AP invested in the shield to block all of the injuries. Injuries too severe to be absorbed by the shield entirely may not be partially absorbed, instead.
Armor, weapons, and magical objects are equipped to appropriate “body slots,” just like they are in traditional tabletop games and RPGs of all stripes. Inventory management, however, is handled a little differently. Carried items need to go somewhere – a backpack, a belt loop, or even a pocket. Characters possess “inventory slots” of various sizes: Small, Medium, and Large. A backpack might offer four Large slots, while a pocket offers only one Small slot. When a character runs out of space – he or she will have to carry what he can in his or her hands. After that – it’s time to drop some stuff.
“Expendable” items have their own unique mechanics, too. Some of the most mundane expendables – like arrows – actually aren’t tracked at all. Others, like potions, magical ammunition, and the like, use a unique “quantity” mechanic. Such items have a Quantity Value and a Die Pool. Whenever a character uses such an item, all dice in the item’s Die Pool are rolled. If the total of the roll is equal to or greater than the items’ Quantity Value, then the item has lost quantity – reduce the number of dice in the Die Pool by 1. When an item’s Die Pool reaches 0 dice – it’s gone. It’ll have to be replaced (restored to its original Die Pool) back at the guildhall.
Dungeons are laid out like flow-charts, not maps. Moving from one area to another is as simple as following the “arrows” on a flowchart. When the Health and resources run low, it’s time to make camp until the next day – but the dungeon gains strength and may unmake some of your progress while you’re snoozing. For this reason, it’s a good idea to get as much done in any given day as you can.
@ Eragar: thanks for your interest! So, skills are pretty class-specific (and the majority of the most class-specific ones are still very much in development). I didn't want to overwhelm new readers with an incomplete list of skills to mull over. Rather, I'll go over the skills available to each character as they're recruited in the main game thread.
Mind you, skills in AdventureCrawl range from attacks, spells, special moves, passive abilities, and proficiencies like climbing, swimming, and so on. Pretty much anything that isn't an attribute is a skill.
Because they're simple-to-use, hopefully the "how and why" of each skill will become apparent as they see use in play. Similarly, the usefulness of each skill should be easy to summarize as we get into character recruitment.
I had an idea.. kick it around see what you think Abandoned Arts...
Equipment -
= Triple Price, -1AP to use {quick}, -1 hit value {keen}. Have the same stats as regular weapons of any type but are faster to use, and are easy to damage foes.. very sharp.
= Double Price, +1AP to use {slow}, +1 Attack dice {increased damage 'sharp/heavy/wickedly fashioned'}. Have the same stats as regular weapons of any type but are slower to ready, but hit VERY hard on successful strikes!
Just thought this might add some color without making anything over-powering.
Given that the whole project is still in early beta, players are very, very welcome to posit not just feedback or proposed rules-changes - but new ideas and new mechanics, like these.
HolyValkyrie, I'd considered - not racial weapons - but "special materials" as a possibility for future mechanics. Something like mithril for a lighter, faster weapon, and adamantine for a heavier, etc. I'll revisit this thought when I get around to posting full weapon stats, etc.
A note about adding damage dice to a weapon... it's sometimes bad! The more dice you roll, the greater the chance that you'll roll a 1 (which means that you might miss). Also not addressed in the basic rules is the fact that some creatures have abilities that treat other types of rolls as "possible misses" as well.
Of course, it still fits with theme that dwarven (or heavy metal) weapons would be slower, and miss more often, but deal more damage when they land.
Side note: What would you think about "racial" weapons (elven, dwarven, etc.) that simply conferred a small bonus when wielded BY an elf, or dwarf, and so on? Otherwise, they'd function as (expensive versions of) ordinary weapons. It might be nice to play a game where elves use elven weapons because they're elven... instead of warriors and rogues (even dwarven warriors and rogues) using them because they're faster / mechanically better.
Hmm.. that makes sense... racial weapons for races provide a small but unique bonus.. so as not to be over powering.
By the same vein.. what would a 'Masterwork' version of a weapon look like in stats? Perhaps a Masterwork weapon allows a attack roll to ignore 1 rolled '1'?
I'm just stabbing in the dark here... as I certainly have no 'wisdom' in the game mechanics of this system. Just trying to "think outside the box"...as it were.
That would be fair I think and keep people from always trying to get weapons not of their race... just for the bonuses. They'd have to play a member of that race for the bonuses.
Hey, just wanted to check in and see if we've got our guild solidified yet. Guess now, when can we expect that?
Getting ready to post the first couple of recruits. I'd like SOME kind of actual consensus on the third. We've got two votes each for the ghoul assassin and goblin witchdoctor, though. Stand by.
Ok... for my proposed character looking at the benchmarks on the charts above...
High Elves [ +2STR, +4AGL, +1END, +3MOB, +2WIS ]
I'd like to propose...
Paladin [ +1STR, +1END, +1WIS ]
Totals...
STR 4, AGL 5, END 2, MOB 4, WIS 4
Health Total {STR+AGL+END ?} = 11
Weapons -
"Elven" Longsword = Ty: 1hd/ S & P [+1 hit value 'hard to stab with'], Hit Value: 3{2 elven}, Attack Dice: 3; AP: 3{2 elven}
Long Spear = Ty: 2hd/ P, Hit Value: 3, Attack Dice: 3; AP: 3{2 vs non-reach weapons}
"Elven" = Ty: 1hd/ S & P, Hit Value: 1, Attack Dice: 2; AP: 1
"Elven" Longbow = Ty: 2hd/ P, Hit Value: 3{2 elven}, Attack Dice: 4; AP: 3{2 elven}, MOB Range 3
Armor & Shields -
Bronze Plate Mail = Hit Value: 5{Hvy Armor}, +5 END
Large Shield = AP: 4
Combat {?}
Melee Attack = STR + Weapon Attack Dice = Attack Dice pool
Ranged Attack = AGL + Weapon Attack Dice = Ranged Attack Dice pool
Weapon damages I made statically equivalent to Pathfinder dice ranks...
weapon damage - d4, Attack dice {1}
weapon damage - d6, Attack dice {2}
weapon damage - d8, Attack dice {3}
weapon damage - 2d4, d10, Attack dice {4}
weapon damage - d12, Attack dice {5}
weapon damage - 2d6, Attack dice {6}
Armor statistic I based off light, medium, heavy armor...
Unarmored = Hit Value 2
Light Armor = Hit Value 3, +3END
Medium Armor = Hit Value 4, +4END
Heavy Armor = Hit Value 5, +5END
...Anything accurate? Thoughts, rebuttals, additional ideas?
EDIT: Oh! Just saw the posted characters in the gameplay thread... nevermind my ramblings here. Obviously has a game system already fleshed out.
EDIT: Oh! Just saw the posted characters in the gameplay thread... nevermind my ramblings here. Obviously has a game system already fleshed out.
I do, but it's so VERY much in the early beta stage that I don't have anything close to full race or class write-ups to present you with.
All the same, your high elven paladin suggestion is on the menu.
Actually, if people ARE curious about class / race mechanics, I'm happy to answer general questions about what this-or-that class is like, mechanically.
SIDEBAR: Regarding the ghoul and goblin characters you've recruited; you'll notice that I didn't offer any options to the player pool in terms of class or racial skill selections. That's because class and race mechanics are still more inDev than anything else. Racial and class-based attributes are down and so forth, but I don't have full write-ups of skills to present you with; what I have instead are pages of notes on what classes should possess what kinds of skills, plus notes on what those skills should do (and how well, etc.) General development notes, in other words.
Your recruits, therefore, are "prefabricated" PCs crafted from my development notes.
Still, the core mechanics are solid enough for a test drive - which is why we're all here. : )
Once the game is out of beta, a "real" game of AdventureCrawl (a working title, remember) will absolutely include the players in the skill-selection process, during recruitment.
I'm hearing crickets here.. surely someone has a post of 'suggested' actions for the party?
This is why I think this may be a somewhat difficult concept to get inot for players... lack of personal investment in a 'character' that is not really yours.
{Shrugg} I could be wrong and people just busy... but it seems to me players would be more interested in characters that they had a personal stake in AS their character's. Well see how this goes... hope your play test works out... I'm curious myself.. so I'
ll at least not be going anywhere.
I've ALWAYS been the last player to give up a PbP Game... only because the Game shuts down due to lack of other player input of GM lack of interest. I personally have never walked away from a PbP game I was in. I realize that a PbP Game is a commitment and that continuity of the story is disrupted if players come in and out of the game. Which is why I am VERY picky about the Games I join. I've been in no less than 6 PbOP games here at the Paizo site and of them only 2 are still running.. because the others shut down very shortly after starting... a shame to.. there was some top-notch writing and story-telling going on.. that is now for nought... wasted.
So you can count on me to stay.
I can't help but feel like I'm running this game for just one player, here.
Anyone still here? Roll call...
:) I'm here {smooch!}...ready to sate a lust for battle and the consummation of the vaquished ..afterward!
Anyone going to post to this?
So... I'm guessing this IS really a DEAD Game... ptty..