I was reading something about the "forgotten rules of rpgs today", the ones that are usually handwaved or something. It listed three: item weight, crafting rules and XP. I'm not going to tell if this is true or not, but it made me wonder "could a ruleset be made using ONLY those, as the mechanical parts?"
Here is an attempt for the skeleton. There is no setting or context, only rules; but maybe the latter might suggest the former.
You can carry (4+level) weight, or +2 weight and be encumbered; with items having set weights in a list. Characters fill one weight slot from their inventory when they suffer a wound. Leveling makes your character either stronger (and thus being able to carry and withstand more) or experienced with packing stuff so they are easier to transport. For now it remains abstract.
Armor (if exists) has no weight and absorbs 1 - 3 wounds (greater armors encumber you)
Certain actions cannot be taken while encumbered, as climbing a rope. Certain monsters are fast enough to catch you encumbered, but not when you're not.
Certain items can be crafted from mixing 2-3 other items during downtime (as always, the full list of items and permutations is the heavy part of the game, but yeah it can be done). Certain mixtures are trickier than others and might require a roll with a probability fixed on the formula (X in 6 is sufficient). Mixtures can also have level requirements as part of their recipe.
You also have a chance to get mixtures "done" during an adventure, by rolling 1/2 your level on a d6. If you achieve it, it represents that your character had the intuition to prepare the item during the last downtime (so, every level represents your character getting more and more wise and foreseer)
Your party gets 1 XP whenever you recover 1 treasure, but you can only split it between party members if you have enough XP for everyone to receive equal share. (If you have 5 XP in the pool, and you're three party members, during downtime you can give 1 XP to every member and leave 2 XP in the pool)
level 1: 0 XP - level 2: 1 XP- level 3: 2 XP - level 4: 4 XP - level 5: 8 XP, etc
Combat having no rules at all means that fights have predetermined outcomes: they are either automatically won if the players fight (though it might have unwanted effects, like atracting more enemies, etc) or automatically lost if engaged, unless certain items are used (like flaming oil vs a troll, silver vs a vampire or using a smoke bomb for the party to flee). Now I think about it, it sort of feels like a LucasArts graphic adventure resolution: find the right combination and maybe it works; but with added level advancement.
Even as I feel that this could work (It even makes the game diceless if we push it) I also think that it requires much work from the GM to decide ad-hoc (or for me, the author to decide preventivelly) if a single item is either worthless in a determined situation or, for the contrary, if its as powerful to obliterate the encounter. In the end, it can be interesting if you have a "dungeon" in which you can control many of the possibilities the players might try (like, for example, in a LucasArts game), but harder to implement in a larger environment with lots of different types of encounters and items.
So there is another approach, starting from the simplest combat system I could devise: When two people get into a fight, they both roll 1d6 and the highest roller deals 1 wound to the opponent. Based on that, there are some sub-rules:
- Certain items can deal more damage, add a bonus to the roll or bypass combat entirelly. That's the only way to get some kind of combat bonuses, and that's what they're for; all the focus on inventory has to pay somehow.
- Certain items can be used when there is a tie: they can from offset the tie, to win the combat straight (like, maybe, a tie in combat can represent the perfect moment to show a mirror to the medusa)
- Certain monsters can also have abilities that trigger on a tie. Unless the ability says so, the if the PC has a relevant item, the item's ability is the one that triggers instead.
- Even if there are many monsters, they count as one. Monsters only roll once per turn, but get a bonus on their roll (+0 to +5) depending on their strenght, size or numbers. This also influences the wounds that the enemy can take. Certain monsters deal more than one wound.
- If many PCs confront the same enemy, only one of their rolls is taken into account, they choose which one (the highest one normally, or maybe a roll that ties to use an effect). When a monster deals damage, the party can divide it amongst them as they decide. A character that is downed is still alive, but must be tended to walk by their partners, and counts as 3 weight.
What kind of setting and adventures does this inspire? no attributes, no classes, no characters being stronger than others... Sort of a situation where all the PCs are mostly equal in capacities but with a crafting ("skill"?). If I think of items as magical compounds, I picture the titular Alchemists of this blog name. If I think of items as common items, I can see it being a game of gang kids getting in any kind of trouble armed with whatever they find available. Treasure can be anything that is relevant to the genre: from different pieces of Jewelry to the control of a neighbourhood block. And you, when you read them, what kind of game did you see in this rules?
I like to skim through obscure manuals a lot, and I though on making some reviews in order to remember what I like of each thing, and because it might help this people to visibilize their work. This is a review for Dagger, allegedly an OSR game for kids, and I was curious on how it was adapted from common retroclones. And I found a game with the nice simplicity I love in gaming rulesets (Curiously, I feel that kids are conversely capable of learning any kind of complex rules when they want to, if its by their own initiative. It is us, grown ups, who love simple things because we lack the patience and the sense of endless time we had as kids, but what the hell, this is not an entry for deep thoughts!)
The game is free at drivethru, and the link gives you the revised and the original version.
The game has no attributes, but uses just classes. Fighters get 2 attacks: that's their combat advantage (all characters start with the 15 hp, which seems like A LOT even for a kid-aimed game. I would stick to class based hp myself) and it makes them get double advantage for +1 swords (which add to damage instead of to hit)
All rolls are done with 2d6, magic and combat, and something I love is that all spells are resumed into four:
Blast (choose the way it deals damage),
Heal (all forms of healing, curses, etc)
Protection (armor, but probably could work to protect against evil, etc)
and Charm (charm, sleep and somehow manages to include Web).
I find very curious that 1 of the 6 pages is dedicated to combat fumbles, magic fumbles and fumbles in general (It tells a lot about the author's objective with the game XD)
The most stealable thing I found was the nice way it handles monster Treasure Type: d6+monster HD VS this table:
1-3 no treasure
4-5 coin purse
6-7 sack of treasure
8-9 treasure chest
10+ treasure horde
With each treasure having a specific GP, Gems, Magic Items, etc. honestly I find this system much more attractive at first sight than the classic B/X one.
The monster list is very concise (one line description) and one thing that is inspiring is that surprise is never rolled: it happens if the GM sees it fit. And by this rules, bugbears ALWAYS surprise unless you do something about it.
Advancement increases HP only, all the rest happens diegetically (through items found, etc)
Saving Throws are fixed at 8 but dwarves, elves, etc have bonuses for certain situations. Interestingly enough every monster has their own saving throw rate listed, not based on anything. It is very simple but I like its adjusted with love by the author, not just calculated by their HD size.
This is all about the revised version, but, as the download also gives you the original version, I also read it, and found something cool too: the spell list.
The book states that it is a sample list and that you can use the TSR original, but I like to imagine that this was the "official, complete list" (which ties nicely into the game being that the top level is five). Four spells for level, and having Charm and Hold Monster and no Charm of Hold Person, which means that you have to be really high level to use that game-breaking charm spell. I would try to tie protection from evil into Cure Light Wounds and bless into an optional variation for Light.
This early game version uses d20, evolutionary Saving Throws and Monster to hit matrixes (which I think that were wisely removed in the final cut)
Finally, as a catch all, attempting uncovered risky situations as sneaking, jumping, etc is covered by 1d6 vs a TN fixed in the moment (hell yeah!) fast and fair, and very appropiate seeing that there are no attributes to use for that. That puts the weight on using inventory or alternate approaches to avoid doing that risky roll, or to increase the chances somehow.
It is a little odd, but what I find most lacking in this game is a reaction table (which is trivial to add, anyways), and double being a game for kids wich would benefit a lot in my opinion from monsters being talkative or neutral.
They are tables that compare the average damage of a strike VS ascending ACs, assuming d6 damage, d6+1 or d8 damage and d6+2 or d10 damage.
Below is the same table if we assume a 2d6 to hit roll, with the roll excess over AC being the damage done. This rends that the most accurate ACs to convert would be base 5 to plate 8; or using instead 2 types of armor (light and heavy) and make it base 6, light armor 7, heavy armor 8. Shields would either be straight up better than in d20 or can be used as "shields shall be splintered" only (though I really dislike that approach)
Same table, but using ACs from 0 to 6, with attack rolls being made with d6, d8, d10 and d4. Again, excess over AC is the damage dealt.
I'm uncertain on this one. The most obvious port would be to use d6 as common weapon damage, then 1 as base ac, light armor as 2 and heavy as 3, with 4 being the additional shield. Then using increments in damage die size as the equivalent of character bonuses-to-hit on level ups. According to this sophisticated charts, just using a d8 would increment as much average damage as a +6 to hit in d20 (which is a level 10 fighter in S&W). D10 and d12 would be reserved for monsters.
There is also option 2, to use d8 as the common martial weapon damage, and then make it so Base AC is 2, +1 leather. +2 plate, +1 shield.
This method, however, only deals with averages, but the theory says that this will make combats have less "miss" results, but hits will normally deal less damage than with separate rolls for hit and damage (even if in the end the monster takes the same amount of turns to drop).
First and foremost, I've retooled the 2d6 morale roll to a 1d6 roll (roll equal or lower to stay in the fight). The real reason is that all the other mechanics I'm writing use 1d6 too, so it makes the rules prettier overall, but its hard to admit this vain part of me. The reason I tell myself is that it allows me to change the 2-12 range of morale in monsters to one with less granularity and that makes it easier for me to adscribe a rating to a monster based on their description.
morale 11-12 becomes 6 (mindless undead, never flees)
morale 9-10 become 5 (really brave or mad warriors, dire animals, uruk hai or dragons)
morale 7 becomes 3 (annoyed peoples, common predators when not overhungry, 50% chance to flee)
morale 5-6 becomes 2 (if a monster is sort of coward-ish, herbivore animals, etc)
morale 4 becomes 1 (mostly not combatants, rust monsters, etc)
Then we get to the next part: This rules I'm writing in this rule series have no attribute scores for characters, so I don't have charisma to determine number or loyalty for hirelings.
For the number, I don't yet know what to do. Maybe base the cap on gold alone: if you can pay them, you can buy them. There is something I like about independizing charisma from hirelings, which is that I can treat hirelings as belonging/following to the whole party instead of a single PC individual, which makes more sense to me. This and reaction rolls I feel that could work better if adressed by the group as a whole.
The downside is that being "communal" and independent from charisma, PCs might lose some agency over the behavior of their henchmen. The upside is that when you die and must roll a new character, you can pick any of your common hirelings instead of your personal ones. Is like a common pool for second characeters.
For the loyalty: Whenever you find a tavern/inn/town in which 1dX hirelings are available, you roll for their morales secretly: 3d6 keep lowest. Sum the other 2 dice: that's the price he reclaims per month/adventure/whatever. The idea is that it gives you an idea of his morale without really telling you.
Morale 1 or 2 for torchbearers or sages, 3 and 4 for bandits or men at arms. Morale 5 is for this mysterious strangers smoking on the dark table by the bottom room. Maybe I could make a table of hirelings or something, with one special trait for each, like "+2 morale when tainted with jewels" "will steal from you" "morale drops to 1 in presence of spiders" etc.
When confronted with danger, they roll morale, not loyalty or anything. Their morale increases overtime somehow, with 5 being the maximum.
When you give them an order that is not obviously dangerous they probably accept, mostly if it falls within their expected job.
Loyalty takes two shapes: +1 to any morale roll derived from your orders if they have survived an adventure with you and +1 if you have some relevant special feat that allows you to be more charismatic than common people.
This rules can apply to Searchers of the Unknown or Here is some Fucking D&D, which I tried to scourge for hireling rules being both of them attribute-less. Just to find they hadn't any.
Alternativelly, there is another approach:to ditch all this post entirelly and to have monsters roll for reaction again at 50% hp left.
On the next chapter I'll probably steal something to abstract distances and get rid of counting feet altogether for this game.
I'm running a game for friends who want to play D&D because they saw it on Stranger Things. They are in for the minis and they want to play with them because they use them on the show, no negociations. At first I tried to tell them that miniatures are optional, that I never used them. But they passed it on me in the end: I thought "what the fuck why not" and now I'm searching for cheap second hand warhammer Rohan warriors.
Though I started playing rpgs with grids by drawing little combats in a squared notebook, I've trained myself to use abstract combat afterwards. But now that I'm bound to use it, I'm trying to devise ways in which to use it to its greater potential. I don't want to change things that are not broken (not re-defining combat or anything). But there are nebulous things that could be improved.
As in Basic D&D all weapons do d6 damage, the distinction between weapons could be how do they behave on a grid (ranged weapons already work that way with the "short-medium-long" ranges)
Spears, for example, could use their long shaft to strike in all directions, including diagonals (red and yellow arrows) while shortswords can only strike in the cardinal directions (yellow arrows). This makes swords and spears equally functional on 1 square wide corridors (which makes a lot of sense). You can make spears so they can also attack things 1 square away in the cardinal directions. Maybe is too unrealistic but if it follows game logic its OK for me.
Two handed swords and greataxes can affect all guys on an L shaped area around the wielder (because an L looks to me shaped like a slash), like in this picture, highlighted in green. This can work with systems with variable weapon damage by having the sword doing d8 damage to one target OR d6 to all in that area. Or maybe straight d8 in area.
Certain magic swords can also strike on cone or square area (a sword capable of summoning whirlwinds or sending flame waves, maybe) and certain magic items could improve your movement rate by some squares per turn (all the humanoid monsters/pcs have similar movement rates: 2 or 4 feet in combat, though I abstract it in 2 or 4 squares because I'm european and I dont want to learn what a feet or a yard are). Having a +1 square per turn is the edge to outrun that monster that moves just at your same rate.
Every other problem that arises with the game, I'll try to solve it or balance it by making up shit with the grid. Let's see what happens.
Reaction and Surprise rolls, when apply, are made once for the whole party involved. Certain monsters have bonuses or penalties to this rolls integrated on them.
Reaction rolls:
1, 2, 3- Monster is immediately hostile 4, 5 - Monster is neutral for now. Maybe its studying you or maybe just minding its own business. Dont disturb it! You might also try to befriend it. 6 - Monster is friendly. Some monsters might make offers when this happens.
Possible mods: disadvantage if you've hurt similar monsters recently, if it hates the light of your torch, if you're armed, etc. Advantage if you give a sign of respect or share an alignment, etc. (like in 5e: roll an extra die and choose the most advantageous/disadvantageous)
Each monster entry in the guide might have specifics guidelines on their behaviors for each reaction type. An hostile bandit might try to rob the players by force, a neutral one might try to lure them by feigning partnership, but a friendly one might honestly try to sell them loot, or honestly propose the party to join him in a dishonest job.
Note for myself: It can also be done by not having a reaction table at all, but having each monster to have a random list of dispositions on their descriptions.
Surprise:
1 - Monsters get the drop on you: Only monsters act the first round 2 - Monsters get the first turn 3 - Monsters get the first turn 4 - You get the first turn 5 - You get the first tutn 6 - You get to surprise the monsters: Only PCs act in this round
This roll can be made w.ith advantage or disadvantage on certain situations: for example, hobgoblins always force a disadvantage, while sneaking on distracted guards gives you advantage.
After one side plays a turn, the other side plays one, until all characters have acted their turns. Each side decides who goes from among their members
Treasure
Instead of having treasure types, having each monster have a treasure rate that represents the overall richness/status of the monster. Then you roll for treasure once or more times, depending on the time the monster has spent looting.
For example, having a crew of patrolling goblins have 1d6-2 treasure hidden somewhere. A dragon rolls 2d6, and you roll three to five times depending on its age.
Then there should be a table like this:
1 - No treasure/personal items. 2 - Personal tools 3 - 10 GP 4 - 50 GP 5 - 100 GP 6 - Magic item 7 - 500 GP 8 - 500 GP (in jewelry) 9 - 500 GP (in masterwork) 10 - Scroll or Magical consumable 11 - Special (prisoner, secrets, notes, information) 12 - 1000 GP
Part of a series building a game without levels, hit dice, ability scores or classes. The main resolution is 1d6 for everything.
As a quick recap, numerically and chemically speaking, characters have:
#Hit Points, and some power ups derivated from their amount (+ac and +attacks per round)
#Spell Points per day, and some power ups derivated from their amount (+magic resistance and power) and a list of spells known
#Specials (like being strong, an animal companion, or whatever that is a significative trait but is not a spell)
So, without any level-related characteristic to increment the saving throws, how can we deal with such things when they arise? I'll run over the most common "Save Or" states to see what can be done.
"Partake of the fruit!!"
Poison:
* "You drank poison... you died". This can actually work if the poison was telegraphed well enough. I think its even on an actual Raggi's module. Still, you can give the poison 2d6 turns to take effect, in which healing actions can be attempted. Sucking out the venom in the case of snakes, or applying an antidote, for example. Shifting more agency to the equipment is another of my goals, so, in that line, buying antidotes for different venoms can be something interesting for adventurers to invest in.
* The person who poisoned you might know or even carry the antidote.
* If it's deadly over time, roll 1d6 and keep that number. For every night or every strenous action you take, decrease the number by 1. Getting rests or treatment lets you re-roll, and maybe heal on a 6.
* For creatures that can poison you, make it so they need to hit you. Maybe even apply a certain amount of damage (for example, if they score exactly 1 damage) and skip the save altogether. In the end the randomization is the same. If it seems unfair, its because the monster makes the roll, not the victim. But in the end it's the same.
* Poison doesn't have to be deadly: it can be paralizating or narcotic. For example, make it so the effect lasts (1d6-1) turns/hours/whatever.
* Let's not forget the magical solutions: Neutralize Poison is a cleric spell.
Dragon breath:
* This is just a dragon attacking, it just covers a big area, but its the same nonetheless. Just take the damage from the hit points, which are already a measure of how likely you are to survive an attack. I happen to have had a good idea for dragon breath and I leave it here for posterity (keep in mind that damage is scaled to an hypotetic game):
"Everyone in range of attack gets 1d6 damage, rolled separately. Then the smallest dice rolled deals damage again to ALL victims"
This way, the more people is attacked, the smallest the extra die will be. Using the same attack, the dragon will do statistically more damage to a single target (average 7, good chance of 12 hp) than to a group of targets (average drops towards 4'5, chances of more than 7+ hp decrease drastically with every new target). This models nicely the concentration of fire of the dragon and can be played around using decoys or even hirelings. But you will never do that, would you?
* The use of shields or any other blockage can shelter you from a little damage versus dragon breath. Of course, magical shields vs dragonbreath are even better, and should be one of the most ubiquitous magic items on any fantasy game that behaves realistically.
Petrification:
* If players are savvy enough, they will activelly look away from the gaze of the basilisk. If they accept the (-1) penalty to attack rolls, they wont be turned into stone. Unless, you know, they roll a 1 or under. I'm against botch rolls in games, but they can be used in special situations like that. If they botch a roll attacking or running from the basilisk, they are turned to stone.
* You can make it less deadly: you don't turn into rock in a snap: instead you are paralyzed and you have 1d6-1 turns until you become solid rock. Anyone breaking line of sight between the basilisk and you will have you released in 1 turn (be it by covering you with a blanket, shooting an arrow into the basilisk eye, turning off the light, etc). Same for gorgons.
* On the "inventory" side, you can find:
- amulets against petrification (they break when you would otherwise be petrified)
- antidotes against petrification (like a "soft" from FFVII). You can make them cheap (and only works on those that are half-petrified), expensive af (can undo a recent petrification) or mythic (will turn any stone statue to flesh)
- a flash grenade that impedes vision. Same with a darkness spell or provoking a great smoke into the room,
- buying or asking an artificer for sunglasses made of mirrors.
- installing mirrors at the medusa's halls, then making her follow you so she run into herself at the turn of a corner
* Make it so the gaze must be sustained for a turn (so it will only work on immobilized or tricked PCs)
* Hit points are abstracted enough so they can represent avoiding harms different from physical damage. You can make it so the basilisk gaze deals 1d6 doom damage that ignores armor. Once you are at 0 hp, you are turned into stone.
* The Stone to flesh spell is a thing. There is no reason that you can even make up more spells that ward against more ailings if in need.
* If nothing convinces you, just deal with a death save (see below)
Spells:
* Make the spells require a mistake from the players to be committed in order to take effect. For example, eating strange fruits from weird silent ladies in the middle of a dungeon. Or make them require intimacy, or touch range. If you approach a weeping, encroached figure in a ghastly place, you can first weigh your chances and then take an action.
* As in poison, giving the spell a chance to work instead of working automatically accomplishes the same stastical function, though shifting the roll from the affected to the caster.
* Polymorph spells are not totally unfair if the target retains the agency in its new shape. Maybe you can play as a frog for a while, maybe even retain your hp and abilities. If you do polymorph, consider giving the players shapes that can still be played.
* Again, certain inventory can be found or bought to protect from spells. This, paired with giving the spells a time to act (1d6 turns or 1d6 days) will also give players the chance to revert or minimize the damage. If you feel you've been hit by a sleep spell, you can try to eat coffee grains. If you are hearing a charming song, you can try to cover your ears (this makes you unable to hold or use weapons). Put on a walkman if you have one. Invent your share of magical antidotes, but also allow creative approaches. If some vines are coming out of the earth to grab you, dont bother with paralyzation rolls: you can try to cut them in time: give them an AC and start slashing. You can even try to scare or attack the wizard away in that 1d6 time. Who knows!
* Spells that do damage, work as damage. Or even as dragon breath. Spells would otherwise paralyze can just hinder you slightly (penalties to rolls: you're feeling too cold to properly move, -1 to anything that requires finesse) or hard (penalties that are cumulative each turn: each turn, roll 1d6: on a 1, the chill gets worse: additional -1 and you will freeze completely when you get -3)
Death:
* When you suffer a grievous death, roll 1d6. On a 6, you get better. Fate favours you, something happens, whatever, but you are still OK. This roll can be modified by special things in game, such as having received the blessing of a princess before you had parted to your last quest (roll a second die, keep highest!) or by a healing spell by one of your comrades. EDIT: This also pairs nicely with another rule I made for monks and mummies: Get 1 free success for answering a question.
* Depending on the tone you want for your game, you can make it so this roll is only enabled after that certain things have happened, instead of being enhanced. Anyways, GM will describe something as absurd as the Naruto's resurrections if he must, but you won't die.
This is something I have lying around for some time. Is not that I plan to really do anything with this for now, but man, this practically writes itself.
Though I really like Lovecraft, I've always felt that Chtulhu games are very limited in scope. As a player, you're there to find out about a mystery, but the usefulness of Agatha Christie style deductions is always confronted by the genre knowledge that there is a whole lot of supernatural causes and effects in motion; but that your character is supposed to be oblivious to. This causes some bad sync between PC and Player (unless the players do not know about the genre, which is also kind of cool)
But given that this blog is for now a collection of D&D rewrites, I ask myself: what if the PCs we're already initiated into the mythos and the players just have to worry about leveling up?
All characters start as new members of a "good" cult, settled maybe in 1930's Miskatonic. The cult is dedicated to the preservation of the mythos knowledge, to prevent that it falls in the wrong hands and to combat those who might be using it for evil. Some kind of special agency against eldritch crime with minor rapport with the government.
The only class is Drudgeon, 1d6 per HD. You get a skill to represent your background profession (Roll under INT to perform it, maybe) and you get spells as a cleric, from level 2 onwards. This represents the hidden knowledge your cult grants you, once you get more and more involved on the work for them. You might never get to advance combat, as in this world its mainly done through guns. Instead, you get buffs to HP and better Saves.
Instead of dungeons depleting your resources, you delve in towns, neighbourhoods, societies, etc which are suspected of mythos misuse activity, and the main resource you lose is time.
When its a matter of hours, days are divided into six parts: Morning, noon, afternoon, evening, midnight and pre-dawn. When a mission is a matter of months or requires significant travel between two points, you only get morning, afternoon, evening.
Attempting one action (interrogating a store owner, cracking into an abandoned house, going shopping, investigating a crime scene, etc) takes 1 day part, and might require a check: If the roll fails, no progress is done but you can try again.
Losing enough time triggers events like:
1. Your enemies getting stronger: city gangster is to busy studying the practical uses for the Vermis Misteriis and has called some armed allies to patrol the streets searching for the missing idol.
2. Somebody attacks you or your team to sabotage your investigation
3. Valuable resources leave the area (a book, an idol) which would have granted you XP
4. Possible clues wither or witnesses leave the area, or are eaten by a stellar vampire.
5. Eldritch spawns attack the area, ghoul awakening. Chances are that the happening makes mythos a public affair (it will be on the papers for some weeks until it starts to sound like somebody made it up)
6. The stars are right / Enemy Cult forces confrontation, so you must stand with anything you've got
This is what this game "wandering monster checks" look like. Of course, sometimes a wandering monster is just a monster: there is a bestiary, in which mostly anything is too tough to be shot down nicely (ghouls, cultists, fishmen... maybe. Byakhees? Non-Euclideans? hardly). Once we get to that, the only thing to defeat them is to use magic or ancient technology (The first game I ever ran was Pokethulu, and I love the concept of catching shoggots into shining dodecahedrons)
inspiration: The Last Door
I guess that the main thematic antagonistic forces of the time would be: evil cults, criminal gangs, private collectors, lone madmen, communist factions or maybe even nazis. The main reason for which I would probably never write this is because I'm not very learned on North America, much less early XXs century North America. But its the kind of game that would be cool to mix with actual events that happened around that era. I picture the mythos themselves being treated by the populace much like UFOs were later: most anybody has heard about them vaguely, but few really have dedicated time or resources to really investigate them. But of course there are independent individuals who are fascinated by it, and keep a scrapbook with all the weird reports they read on the printed press.
I want to resist to give this project a plain XP for mission. Following the milestone approach I made on there, I'd try to make it so there is always incentives for players to go forward on their own whims, if they see that the reward is good enough. Basically you level up once you cross out one of this:
[_] [_] Recovered an ancient book or relic
[_] [_] Sealed or repelled a powerful entity
[_] [_] Thwarted the plans of an mythos misuser without it trascending to public knowledge
[_] [_] Reported back information about a rival group (your GM will tell you when you have gathered enough information to earn this, but by then the problem is probably getting out of there alive)
[_] Deal with something pending from your past, that somehow is involved on an investigation (is your call to say how the current situation has to do with that, let your GM work the details)
Expanding from the last entry, and opposed to all the other previous entries, in this one I devise a system without levels, classes, hit dice, etc. But the weight falls over the ability scores, and uses 2d6 for resolutions. But there are no +mods involved, only the scores themselves.
A good curve seems to be to roll 2d4 at the start to generate the scores. 6s are meant to be greater than average; and anything over 7 carries implicit superheroic feats. Saves are rolled with 2d6 under relevant stats, with only super-heroic characters able to stastically save more often than not.
The basic combat rules are that you roll 2d6 to attack, everything that exceeds the monster's AC is damage dealt. Longer weapons attack first. Over this premise, I explain some uses of each attribute:
STRENGHT:
-When you attack with a heavy weapon, and roll your strenght or less, you can re-roll the smaller die.
-When you have strenght 7 or higher, you get a save vs death when at 0 hp
-The score is also the amount of big things you can carry
DEXTERITY
-Spend a turn aiming with a bow and roll 2d6: If under this score, you add +2 when shooting after.
-If you use a light weapon and roll less than your dexterity, you can diss your roll but get +1 AC this turn.
-You roll a save to catch or flee from a monster with higher dexterity. It doesn't have to roll anything, only the one with lowest score does.
-Over 7 you can perform acrobacy feats.
WISDOM (the magical stat)
-At 6, roll under it to use magical tools, detect magic and other minor magical skills
-At 7 you can cast level 1 spells, at 8 you can cast level 2 and so on.
INTELLIGENCE (the mundane knowledge)
-At 6, you can use one set of specialist tools (Specialized kits detailed in the inventory: doctor bag, thief's tools, artificer, etc) or know an extra language.
-At 7 you can attempt to produce something you've been working on (state what it is at the moment) related to the tools you carry (poison, chemicals, a small gadget), and maybe more times per day at 8+
CONSTITUTION (which really just says how well a fighter you are, or a measure of you will to live):
-The score is your HP. Armor adds to your AC, but some armors also add some HP.
-At 6 you always act before your opponent in combat providing there are no other substantial differences in leverage.
-At 7 you get +1 attack per round with any favored weapon
-At 8 you get +1 AC for free
-At 9 you get an extra attack regardless of weapon
CHARISMA
-I like to conceive it as a save vs manipulation, fear or some measurement of "self-integrity"
-Also the classic hireling numbers and their morale checks.
-If you use animal companions, you also use this for complex rapport with them.
-On monsters (because with this system, numeric values from monsters are also rolled like this as there is no other math) this can represent how many allies they have in an area. For example an undine with 7+ charisma might use this to command friendly animals or entangling vines in the encounter area. This is the score that a Disney Princess would max out.
Advancement rules:
When you level up using whatever method you prefer (as there is no need for numeric levels, I'd try to avoid using them for advancement and probably use sandbox milestones) you roll 1d6 against one ability score you want to increase.
If you roll less than it, raise it by 1, to a maximum of 9 or maybe 10
If you roll equal or over than it, raise it by 1 and raise any other stat by 1
In this way, people who rolls bad stats at creation can increase them slightly faster than the others, and there is some risk/reward between raising "dump stats" and maybe not getting what you wanted, or raising your main ability score straight.
An opposite approach from what I did in here is to ditch classes, level and skills and choose the other abstraction to build the system around: The ability scores.
Wisdom decides how well a cleric you are. Dexterity does that for thieves. Strenght doesn't really work for fighters, however, as there are other factors that might decide in how good a fighter you are than your bulk body power, so I'm using CON instead
The most obvious advantage on using ability scores is that it keeps the thrill of rolling a character (instead of just rolling the HP), and also allows checks by rolling under the given ability score. For a game with both clerics and wizards WIS and INT can be separated. I prefer to merge both concepts into an attribute called MAG.
When you create a character, roll 2d8 in order (yeah, that will produce below average guys) Mods, however, can't go below -1. Positive mods ALLOW you to perform certain tasks, and you still roll under score to see how well you perform (having +2 STR is better to force doors than just +1 even if you can attempt it with just +1)
STR: Mods adds to melee damage. +1 allows for force doors, +2 allows to bend bars
DEX: Adds to missile. +1 allows for easy thieving skills like pickpockets, +2 allows for advanced thief skills like climb sheer walls. Used as a reflex save.
CHA: Your common hireling/reaction mods. Also used to save VS any soul or mind controlling effect (willpower save).
CON: This amount is literally your Hit Points, and also says how well you are as a fighter. At +1 you get an extra attack with your favored weapon, or maybe some armor. At +2 or +3 you get extra attacks regardless of weapons. Read the last articles to know more about my stubborness of claiming that Fighting Prowess is indisoluble from Having more HP. Can be used as a Fortitude save but I'd rather make that kind of things just drain HP
MAG: How much magical shit you know. Roll under this to detect magic or to get a glimpse of the otherwordly side of your surroundings.
At +1 you get a 1st level spell
At +2 you get a 2nd level spell and two 1st level spells
At +3 you get a 3rd level spell, two 2nd level spells and three 1st level spells.
Rearrange spells to fit in three level categories OR allow higher level spells to be cast using magical trinkets, magical places or other aids.
Provisional score to mod conversion:
2-8: -1
9-12: 0
13-15: +1
16-17: +2
18:+3
Evidently, in a game deprived of levels or other mechanical parts, when you "level up" you raise your ability scores (thats why I had them start low at 2d8). Maybe raising 2 points at will per level, always capped at 18.
And that is how you become a better figher/wizard/thief, not by picking it as a class.
Rolling certain distributions at the start might give you the chance of playing an ELF, DWARF or any other, like a class requirement. Then you get the darkvision or knowledge about caves; thats the only way to pick them.
At character creation, you roll 1 or 2 d6 (to be decided later). Then you get hp as per this table:
Roll of 1-3: Add that amount of HP and get a special (strenght, parry, unarmed fighing, etc) or a spell.
Roll of 4-6: You get either 4 HP OR 2 SP (Spell Points) and a known spell.
From this rolls, the divergence between martials having lots of HP and Wizards having little HP is created.
Each SP allows you to cast 1 spell from the list you know.
At 6 hp you become a Warrior (+1 AC, you deal d6 damage regardless of weapon until you reach this rank) at 10 hp a Champion (+1 Attack/round) and at 14 hp a Hero (+ 1 Attack/round).
Converselly, if you want to climb the Wizard's ladder, it is measured in the SP amount:
2 SP: Initiate, you roll a d4 for casting magics.
4 SP: Enchanter or Priest. You get your mandatory staff that lets you roll d6 for magic and can cast the Light spell. +1 Magic Resistance
6 SP: Wizard or High Priest/ess, you roll d8 for magic. +2 Magic Resistance
Magic Resistance is substracted from psychical or magical attacks and can be increased by wearing certain amulets and magic related gear. Some other crystals or robes might grant extra SP per day, but do not count for rank purposes.
These are the available starting spells. Others will appear during the game (so I can make up things on the way). You roll your magic die to cast them: it serves as the amount of damage/heal they do if they do any.
1. Heal: Heal allies or damage undead by the same amount. Can also dispel one curse or mind altering spell.
2. Cold: Cold based damage. Enemy movement = Slow by the same amount of turns
3. Scry: Ask a question, you get a 1-word answer. The answer is notated in your sheet until you have words = to your Magic Die maximized. From then, the spell will only answer choosing the most appropiate of those words (You develop a limited divination language). Use runes or cards to ask 2 questions instead.
4. Wink: Prevent your die in damage suffered this turn, you also dissapear from melee and can appear on ranged distance or go hidden.
5. Bird: Crow, swan, owl, falcon... every wizard school has its own bird they use as alter-egos. Choose yours. You can fly or flee at 1d10 speed; your maximum hp is 6.
6. Tame: Roll over 2 + Magic Resistance to get the next best result on the reaction roll; friendly monsters act to your suggestions. Giant monsters have +1 Magic Resistance
COMBAT
1. All combat rolls are 1d6 vs Armor as Damage Reduction, with the difference being dealt in damage. Armor goes up to +3 in PCs as going further would make them almost damage-proof
2. Armor is part what you wear and part what you are. This is done because it feels good to me that an expert barbarian warrior gets the equivalent in armor as a man using a shield, and almost the same as a man in full plate.
You get +1 armor for achieving the warrior rank
You get +1 armor for carrying a shield.
Light armor grants you +2 hp but no AC bonus
Heavy armor is +2 Hp, +1 AC, but slows movement
When it comes to the point in which armor is higher than that, it just gives extra HP or counts as wearing a shield.
Certain situations can bring you to higher AC, like riding a horse against an unmounted opponent or just being giant in size. Shields that provide resistance to fire might add an extra +1 vs fire, or just be able to work against fire while others won't. Both approaches are valid.
3. As all weapons deal d6 damage, the differences are more tactical than about firepower:
Swinging a dagger vs a guy with a sword allows the sword guy to attack you first. Same with a sword vs a spear. Combatants with the rank of Warrior count as having higher range when fighting non-warriors.
Heavy weapons can re-roll damage if you get results below a certain Strenght value.
Light weapons can parry if you learn the right feat (counts as shield for 1 turn) by changing your attack roll to a 1 (useful if you didnt score damage anyways). You strike at +1 in the next turn
Improvised weapons attack at -1, unarmed at -2
You can deal more damage per turn by getting extra attacks (which is tied to your Max HP totals instead of levels, see previous entries)
This is the map I gave the players on my last session. The game never went past the first session but I wanted to share it here. The whole zone west of the bridge is an old battlefield filled with restless dead. The rumors talk about a bandit lair hidden on one of the buttes, which's leader has a bounty over his head, payable on the town at 3B (the shit at 2A is a factory). The southern road is practicable (only 1/20 encounter rate, thats where the caravans come through) but any square north of it has it at 1/2.
The old battle destroyed the town at 1E and there are rumors of a temple dedicated to a snake god (door at 1G) which is actually guarded by giant snakes.
The treasure at H3 is actually already stolen by the bandit to whom this map belonged, and taken to his lair.
The random encounter is arranged so the first time you roll a number you get the first thing listed, and all the other times you get the second thing.
1 - Ghost fire, will guide you to another encounter if followed / Wraith (will posess and turn you into a zombie if he defeats you, with lots of HP)
2 - Recent corpse with bite marks, you find this map on him / possessed giant wolf (zombiefied by wights, very tough, covered in arrows). Going over the stairs north will automatically lead you to him.
3 - Foreign thieves looting corpses / Possessed thief with ancient sword, bathed on the other thief's blood
4 - Local thieves performing ritual burials of the ancient dead to appease their wraiths / Local thieves heading to their lairs
5 - Local goth kids. They want to record evidence of wraiths in a cassette tape recorder. / 1d4 zombies
6 - Creepy musical mutterings. If investigated, will attract the pcs to a small radio receptor playing this music, in the roots of a tree (the bandit king is actually broadcasting the session live, as he does every night). The device it's covered with poisonous snakes as the music seems to attract them (It works on giant snakes too) / Old corpse with treasure, a wraith lurks nearby.
Inspired by this blog entry, This is a full disclosure of what I have in mind these days. D&D is full of abstractions, and I (think I) understand the idea behind all of them, but I think that some of them are redundant with some others:
- Levels provide both a sense of goal and progression, and a way to size up characters and monsters for spell/effect purposes
- Fighters get extra attacks with levels, or sometimes better chance to hit.
- Classes give you niche protection and diversity, with attributes giving you a better picture of your character.
- HP are a mixture of toughness, luck and kung fu
- Spells are given to the wizards in exchange of having poor HP and other pointless restrictions
- Skills are an add-on to make thieves have something of their own
I've devised a way to simplify this by making all things dependant straight into the Hit Points / Mana Points: Let me explain.
You get 2d4 HP at the start, or 1d4 HP and 1d4 MP (the average person has 1-4 Hit Points, so if you get more you can consider yourself a kind of experienced fighter in-world)
Classes/Attributes/Spells/Skills are all subsumed into something called Specials (because sounds better than feats). Some of them provide passive bonuses and some are active and require MP. There is a maximum of 4 which can be learned (taking this straight from the pokemon moves), though 1 or 2 more can be stored in magic items.
In the beggining, you must choose/roll one in a table of basic specials. The rest of them must be unlocked through play (once you've come in contact with the special through a source of inspiration/book/master you can pick them at level ups).
1. Monk (1d6 damage with fists or small melee weapons, +2 hp)
2. Strong (You can attempt feats of strenght; and can carry 2 extra items. Re-roll all 1s in melee damage. +2 Hp)
3. Agility (+1 AC when unencumbered, you can attempt agility feats )
4. Marksman (spend a turn aiming to add 1d4 damage to the next bow/sling attack)
5. Fend (with staves and swords, you can ditch a failed/low damage attack for a +1 AC bonus, just as if you wore a shield)
6. Healer (1 MP. Heal 1d6 hp; spend 3 MP instead to roll 2d6, one for HP and other for # of targets)
7. Divination: ( MP: 2 per Y/N question; requires quiet time)
8. Charm: 1 MP per d6 rolled. On every 6, improve by 1 the reaction roll.
(this list is veeeeeery provisional, but the idea is to have each Special embody a "type" of character)
Once all this is set, your starting character should be something like: 3 HP, 2 MP, Healer, 1d6 staff + Inventory + Name. You should not have to worry about more until you level up a bit.
You start as an Adventurer. Having HP 6 qualifies you as a Warrior, which may entail certain weapon uses. At 10 (Champion/Warlord) and 14 HP (Hero/Heroine), you get +1 extra attack or action per round
Having any MP at all makes you an Initiate. At 4 MP (Seer/Priest), at 8 (Enchanter/Enchantress) and 12 MP (Wizard), you get +1 Magic Rank (Adds to magical attacks AND magical AC against psychic damage; you can get some by buying amulets though. At Seer/Priest level, this power up is symbolized by a magical staff or symbol)
It will be all OK because the booklet will be written in this font:
This is for a game I want to put together little by little. Basically is OSR D&D but slightly based on martial arts animes and JRPGs.
One thing that didn't worked for me about the PCs being wandering fighters is that those kind of people don't seem too much interested in gold; so making XP for Gold Retrieved seemed a little dissonant about character goals / player goals. Yeah, sometimes a master can require a treasure for paying their training but is hard to justify that monks are delving in dungeons all the time and no training.
XP per monster killed, though more fitting at first, is also not perfect as it incentivizes players to fight whatever shit they're thrown. And the trope of the fighter asking another fighter to battle just to "test their styles" is cool, but is not something you can base a game upon (Also, straight sweeping hordes of monsters works in JRPGs due to the videogame mindset, but grinding during hours with no lateral approaches doesn't traslate well to pen and paper)
What I've done is to write a check list of milestones in order to guide the players through the sandbox. Every box ticked is 1 level, but doing each must involve a serious quest so as a GM you have to make it challenging
[_] Help an NPC to solve his first world problem [_] Defeat 1 monster with your same HP*, alone [_] Defeat 1 monster with higher HP*, alone [_] Defeat 1 monster with double HP*, in group. [_] Build a Dojo or other similar Settlement; and mantain it for a time (basically put a trouble on the way and make the PC overcome it) [_] Join a sect or swear fealty to a kingdom; and upheld its honor in a quarrel or defeat a rival sect [_] Train under the supervision of a master and complete his quest (the quest might be the lesson itself or just a test to be judged worthy) [_] Set up a personal quest and achieve it (decide it at anytime, GM put a trouble on the way) [_] close a wound about your character's past (a revenge, a lost love, a promise, etc. Decide it at anytime what it was, no need to do it at creation. GM put a trouble on the way, if you achieve the atonement, tick this. If you dont, a new chance will appear on another quest) [_] retrieve 800 GP [_] retrieve 2000 GP [_] retrieve 5000 GP [_] retrieve 10000 GP
There are more than 10 so you don't have to undertake all of them to reach level 10 if playing by classic standards (If you're an evil person, I'll spare you from helping that NPC, man) and some GP related points so I can still run a dungeon/heist or two if needed
I'm thinking on adding one about "[_] having your character wounded with consequences". As in losing an eye, an arm, etc; or just changing the way you play your character dramatically; but it must have mechanical (- to a stat) and narrative consequences for it to be fairly executed; and also a mechanic to make this happen in combat organically.
Other alternatives that still use XP is giving XP per victory after a battle encounter (to prevent unnecessary carnage, getting an enemy surrendering, admiting defeat or fleeing counts as victory) or XP given by Masters (Master is a "monster" on the random wilderness encounter. His special powers is giving a trial or a quest. On fulfillment, his treasure is just XP without the GP that usually accompanies it)
*Change it for HD (Hit Dice) instead of Hit Points for classic conversion, but I use it like this for some reasons I'll explain on further entries.
If I ever learnt to use RPGmaker, or found a group who did (In which I'd do the art and don't care about the rest lol), I'd love to make a Lo-Fi demake (Which is what you call a Remake when you're going into older technology) of FF8. Though the seventh is the one who I enjoyed the most at its time, the eighth is the one that comes up to my mind along the years, and sometimes I felt that it was the one that had more raw, untapped magic on it.
Can it be the story of the characters? The (larger than life and at the same time relatable to all) epic teenage love story about Squall, the guy who is too tough to show feelings; and Rinoa, the sorceress who loves him despite him being a SeeD, whose only task is to hunt her kin. How she would do anything to stay in his arms just a little more, before landing on earth in the Ragnarok; because she knows that once they land she'll be imprisoned, and never see each other again.
If you, like me, believe on the R=U theory and add time compression to the mix, you got a tale that could rival the fucking Ring of the Nibelungs. And then you get the recurring theme about the Knight of the Witch. Seldom can you find so great mythic vibes on anything set on a "modern" world.
And the whole thing about Irvine infiltrating into the church for shooting down Edea? that point in which unexpected to us all, fantasy blends with those WW2 or Cold War vibes so organically that it almost feels like taken from the real world history?
Then you have those designs: They haunt me as real places I've been in: the golden threads on the walls of the Balamb Garden, that Korean looking uniforms, the Arc-of-triumph in Deling; the art-deco trains in Timber; the massive military arcologies in which common fishermen spend their evenings. A T-Rex in the Garden. The way Seifer shows his crazy fanatism with a saber-forward stance, while Squall shows his emotionally defensive nature in his stance with the very same weapon.
So many clever, subtle things on this one, guys.
But of course, If everything was perfect about the game I would not had thought of re-making it. There were bad things on it. We just put them aside because maybe we were too much on the plot, but those factors sentence it as a hard-to-replay game.
So, this is the funny part: what is new? What goes out? what would I put on this masterpiece?
1. The interface. If I remade this, I'd like to make it look like an older, top view game. That's the main change. FFVIII visuals were top tier for its age, but now they're not spectacular for ours, neither they have the "Immortal" aesthetics that older jrpgs do. The highest aim I'd love to reach would be to copy Chronotrigger's gameplay:
-Locations are a big scrolling map, with enemies appearing in scenery instead of opening pop-up combats
-It remains turn based
-Attacks take into account the distribution of enemies: certain strikes affect all enemies on a line, while others strike all on an area)
But maybe trying to "mature" a little the aesthetics by making the characters taller and a slightly tainted palette like in Persona 1
what a party they've got there
2. The "Draw" command! yeah, the greatly hated one. There are no magics to extract here, so no more hours of endless fishing Fire+ from a random Bom. Magic is instead done through GFs (Guardian Forces, which is the name of this game's summons; not Girlfriends):
Ifrit lets you cast Fire and Berserk Shiva: Ice and Slow; Stop if character has high Mag stat. Quetzalcoatl: Thunder and Haste Siren: Sleep and Aqua Diablo: Demi and Blind Brothers: Quake and Protect (the physical attack barrier) Ruby: Heal and Reflect (let's ditch Shell, the magical barrier, right away: Reflect is funnier) Leviathan:Aqua and Silence Eolo: Aero and Float Tomberi: Venom, Dispel Cerberus: Death and Dispel Phoenix: Fire and Revive. (Note: you still find him using Shards, that was very cool) Alexander: Holy and Heal Bahamut: Artema, Regen Eden: Flare and Shell
Odin / Gilgamesh appears as a helper, is not junctionable as in the original.
All the rest of GFs (chocobofiller, mooglepeasant, uglycactuar, helltrain...) go to the fucking trash
Some magics are redundant (berserk and confuse effects go together now. Dispel removes positive AND negative status effects, as Esuna)
For more tactical implementations of magics, elemental magics have distinct treatments on how they act; they're not just Damage-that-deals-more-damage-to-monsters-who-are-vulnerable-to-this-element.
For example:
Fire is shot in a line, affecting all enemies on it.
Ice does more damage, but only a single enemy is affected.
Aero only affects flying enemies more than ground ones.
Quake only affects non-flying, but A LOT.
Aqua is a wave, affecting all enemies.
There are no distinct levels of magic (fire1, fire2, fire3 etc.) Magic damage is only increased by the MAG stat of the caster. Magics can be casted a number of times depending on the mag stat. So Rinoa, Selphie, etc are naturally best casters.
Small GF animations are shown on screen when the magics are cast. GFS ARE NEVER SUMMONED IN THE CLASSIC WAY. Instead, the whole body of the Guardian Forces, in all their glory, are only shown when you battle them (And you have to battle them to use them, more on this below)
3. Followup on magic's nature:
The story in this game makes a very clear distinction on the sorceresses being a rare thing, very dangerous and different from normal people. The fact that they can cast magic freaks out everybody, so having our PCs casting shit around is kinda anti-ambient and not even too powerful in the original game (a HEAL spell is just a POTION applied with another command). Thats why I think its very important to make magic more obviously reliant on GFs, unless you happen to have a SORCERESSS in your party (Rinoa, Edea)
4. On how the Characters command list would look:
Our guys, like in the most rooted FF1 tradition, have each 4 commands when in battle, but with little changes for everyone:
Squall
ATTACK: everything on a line, % chance of shooting the gunblade when striking a single enemy
SPECIAL: Samurai: 2 strikes of lower damage than normal attacks, distributed at random. But consumes the next turn for everyone (useful when Squall is alone or a member has fallen). Number of strikes increases with level.
MAGIC: normal
ITEM: normal
Quistis:
ATTACK: small area with the whip
SPECIAL: Scan enemies (as a blue mage, she knows about monsters abilities and HP)
MAGIC: normal
ITEM: As a blue mage, Quistis may use collected monster parts for making attacks (Malboro tentacles for emvenom, Spider Webs for SLOW, etc.)
Zell:
ATTACK: small area if available, has a chance to counterattack when he's hit that grows each level.
SPECIAL: Gathering Ki (random boons on himself: haste, regen, barrier, dispel. multiple boons at high levels)
MAGIC: normal (probably he's got the lowest mag score)
ITEM: normal
Irvine:
ATTACK: decent damage, single guy
SPECIAL: 3-5 shots, distributed at random, with lots of chance to miss unless the pertinent stats are raised and weapons upgraded (from his official scan description: "An expert marksman, but doesn't perform very well under pressure").
MAGIC: normal ITEM: normal
Selphie:
ATTACK: small damage on area (nunchucks!)
SPECIAL: ANNOYING. Put status ailments on enemies at random (silence, blindness or berserk, maybe greater weirdness, even though her THE END is probably too much for this project)
MAGIC: normal, but good mag score
ITEM: normal
Rinoa
ATTACK: single shot, shit damage
SPECIAL: Angelo, will at random heal an ally or hit an enemy.
MAGIC: Once she gets the sorceress powers, she gets Artema and Heal. BAAMMM
ITEM: normal
SUPER SPECIAL:After she inherits the sorceress powers, Rinoa will automatically get into the ANGEL WINGS mode when hitting low HP. (The only limit break needed, everyone else is fine without them)
Laguna, Kiros and Ward will have their own specials, and instead of using your team's GFs will use No magic and just have their part nerfed so they dont have to use it (makes sense that they don't have them in their timelines. However, to hint the Laguna - Squall link, Laguna will have equipped the same item as Squall does at the moment of the dream)
I'll cover Seifer and Edea if this rambling ever gets any relevance.
5. JUNCTION SYSTEM
Hated and Loved equally. Personally I was from the second group, and once we got rid of the DRAW command and the collection of 100 magic each, we can make it minimalistic, which is something I carry in my nature:
-GFS carry each one a number (1-3) of STAT JUNCTIONS (str, vit, mag, spirit, speed, evasion, hit and luck are the original ones in FFVIII). We keep this as it is, though stats might vary.
-Instead of linking magics, you can link SPECIAL ITEMS and MONSTER PARTS to each (that it: A Molbol Tentacle again might be shit for raising vit, but cool for raising magic)
This items are won in battles or found exploring the game, like finding that savings box of that family at Fisherman's Horizon, and may have another uses as consumables or as Quistis "special" items. This makes grinding and exploring more fun and rewarding.
-It would be cool to not have an explicit, shown rating of how much does this or that item increase the stat, but make the player have to guess it by watching the numbers in combat (increasing mystery, player skill and communication between players community)
Thats all of the Junction System.
6. MORE DUNGEONS
The story of of the game is almost perfect as it is, but there are several things that I feel that could be improved in the overall progress. Here I go:
- By ditching the DRAW command, many of the GFs of the game have to be obtained in other way. The best way to put some of them along the way (you battle them, you get them) is making some of them optional and spreading them through the world map. This adds a great "middle game oasis" in which you can decide to relax, explore the world a bit, grind levels, power yourself up. FF7 had a great deal of its greatness here, having whole areas dedicated to sidequests (Sunken Gelnika, whole Wutai, Lucrecia's cave, Nibelheim's manor) and even 2 optional characters, by god!
- So, every optional GF has a place on the map in which it can be found, some additional items and some monsters that keep it (you get Levels, items AND GF!). Leviathan near a coast, Shiva near a snowpeak, etc. Ifrit is still on the intro mission, and Diablo and Phoenix feel nice by appearing using their special objects. This expands the game in a natural and fun way. Also, any kind of Easter Eggs are better applied on this areas than in the canon-plot parts of the game, that are to remain as unchanged as possible.
This fanart looks so awesome man. This but real is just perfect.
-Original sidequests that originally gave you something as shitty as a "Spd UP" (big bad rascal in Balamb Town) can instead give you the chance to fight a Guardian Force. No more shitty filler quests. Time is golden, quality is better than quantity. Characters without a proper arc (I mean everyone but Rinoa and Squall) can show some background by giving hints in the proper places in order to find the hidden secrets of them (Zell is supposed to be very interested in world history, and Irvine looks like a deep, philosophical guy. Maybe he can trigger NPCs giving you interesting hints and that)
7. GF abilities:
The passive abilities such as Diablo's Steal are instead achieved through worn items (such as the famous Ribbon). I loved how oldest RPGS had more emphasis on this objects: from early game "ring of anti-silence" to "ring of cover allies"(that traditionally combos with the counterattack), "ring of steal", "bandana of increased GIL" and "Necklace of Protection against Ice"
8. Floating Balamb Garden is recursive with the other airship. There is no need for it. Any plot-oriented flight up to the recovery of the ship can be solvented by DUNGEON TUNNELS with a GF on it, or any other quick plot device.
9. I'm playing FFII right now and, though I love the genre, its really astonishing how prevalent is to present challenges as a trillion combats every for every ten steps, and then making those combats totally filler that can be overcome by clicking attack a few times. I think that every single of these could be improved by droping the enemy rate down to a quarter, and then making this fight four times as hard.
Also, as in old Dragon Warrior / FF1: A lowest dependancy on magic and a higher one on ITEMS for healing oneself, makes money and equipment more important than it was. Items have not been too important in late FFs, but maybe with a little effort we can crunch the numbers (MAX HP, Monsters HP, Earned Gil) until the curve of risk is a little higher, but not up to grindfest that is Dragon Warrior or similar.
10. TRIPLE TRIAD
Is fun and all, and I loved it, but it has no place on this project. I don't want that level of micromanagement, and I feel is not necessary to have it just because it was there on the original. If its for the sake of playing it, I'd even print it and play it with friends. As I said above, FF8 lacked a proper Middle Game Exploration Phase; and Triple Triad was a patch for that. But it becomes unnecesary because we can explore the world and gather up resources with our RAGNAROKKKK.
(Quistis needs a new quirk to make up for her not having her alter-ego as KING OF CARDS. Suggestions are open)
11. Cutscenes are kept as faithfully as one can, even though the technology we are using is pixel-art based and the animation has limits. Probably Edea's presentation at the parade ends up into something more static, but that is not a synonim of lame. I could go down to THIS RETRO, if I could still capture her perfection essence
The Intro and the Outro should be transcribed as literally as possible, as they are weird and ripe of symbolism and I'd love to keep all our fan theories intact.
12. A l l m u s i c i s v a p o r w a v e d n o w
13. This is just a dream written by a 35 year old Kid during the quarantine. You're free to join me and dream with me, but I love to do pixel art, and maybe, if I set myself to practise programming or find anybody who helps me... who knows?
And if somebody else reads this and wants to steal "my" idea, well, you'll make me so happy! Let me know when I can play it!
(all art on this entry is taken from a google images search of "FFVIII pixel art")
