Homemade Systems
E. Chris Garrison
> What were the best homemade systems every produced by your, (current
>reader of this message), group? I have been thinking of ways to get around
>my cash flow difficulties with regard to RPG's. Anything from system bits,
>though I have my own system which I am thoroughly satisfied with (), to
>campaign or action blurbs are welcomed.
> Thanks in advance,
> -jsalter@silver
>
> "I feign no hypothesis." - Sir Isaac Newton
Right here at Indiana University at the Fantasy Role Playing Society
(meets in the IMU Friday, Saturday and Sunday), we have had a number
of homebrew rules systems. I'll outline them below...
The Un-System RPG - Conceived by Kenn Crook, this system uses one set
of percentile dice, and no rule books. It is very simple. Players
write up descriptions of their characters, including such things
as what skills/abilities the character has, what disadvantages they
have, and what the character's personality is like. From there,
the GM decides how well an ability works within his or her framework,
and decides an arbitrary percentage for a given action. Say the
character is a fighter-type and he is reading a magic incantation
from a book. The GM just makes up a percentage chance for him to
do it right, say 4% to get it right, 15% for near miss, and if
the player rolls as high as 95%, something Bad happens. It is
interactive story-telling with some random elements to it. Combat
is not easy, as there are no 'hit points' or even ability scores
to draw on. Fun for raw roleplaying games, bad for combat-fests.
Elder Realm II - Also by Ken Crook, this is a monster combination
of many many FRP games (all the spells, classes, races, etc from
AD&D, Arcanum, Rolemaster, Palladium, etc). It is mostly Arcanum
based.
Star Hero - This one is mine. It is a mix of Traveller background
(I hate Traveller's character generation system) and Hero System
characters, etc. This is not budget-oriented, though it can
be cheaper to mix games you already have than go out and buy
new ones.
We have many variants of Hero System, several types of Fantasy
Hero, Cyber Hero... A generic system like Hero or GURPS is
budget oriented, since it is not really hard to modify them
for your own purposes without buying the supplements. Though
the supplements can be helpful if you have the cash. There is
usually a time of hammering out what rules need to be added to
make a modification work after you get started in a new setting,
but after that things go pretty well.
I also tried making up my own game. The goal was to make it a generic
based system that could be put on no more than one 8.5x11" sheet
of paper, front and back. It would be like the Un-System above
in that it would be simple and a lot would be left to arbitration
and on-the-fly rules being made, but would actually have character
stats and skills and abilities. I'm still mulling it over, and
may get back to it soon. I'll post it here if/when I complete it.
Budget ideas usually involve making stuff up yourself rather than
buying other peoples' ideas off the shelf. So whether you add
onto or modify an existing system, or make it up out of your own
head, it s going to take more time, but save money and perhaps
add a new dimension to your gaming. Also, it cuts down on "rules
lawyering" somewhat, since that usually involves appealing to the
"higher authority" of the game reference. In this case, you can
pull rank by merely telling the rules lawyer, "no way. I wrote
the damn rules, and that is not how I meant this system to work".
Just some thoughts...
Eric
--
------
E. Chris Garrison
Technical Support
er...@ucs.indiana.edu
joshua salter
Andrew Ross
> What were the best homemade systems every produced by your, (current
>reader of this message), group? I have been thinking of ways to get around
>my cash flow difficulties with regard to RPG's. Anything from system bits,
>though I have my own system which I am thoroughly satisfied with (), to
>campaign or action blurbs are welcomed.
I have been gaming for ten years or more, and I have tried to
create my own system many times, sometimes alone and sometimes as a
collaborative effort. I failed to create a worthwhile game more often than
not, probably because I am a perfectionist and I was never quite ready to
put the system into playtest. In retrospect, enough of the ideas I came up
with in these projects resurfaced in my current game that I could say that
it is a product of idea evolution.
While I have played most genres at least once, I am especially
attracted to fantasy. My favorite store-bought games are Rolemaster and
Harnmaster (perhaps I have an unconcious preference for games with
"master" somewhere in the title?) which are both considered very rules-
and detail-intensive. My own game reflects this preference- the rules are
simpler than either game in most respects, but the detail level is still
higher than most players prefer. The advantage to a home-grown system, for
me at least, is that it is precisely fitted to the GM and playing group...
no matter how unusual their tastes.
I would not try to market my system. I really don't see the
advantage to marketed systems, except if compatibility between campaigns
is an issue, possibly at conventions (which I never attend) or within an
association of gaming groups. Most gamers seem to develop their own
campaigns; I think that the sales of campaign products reflects an
interest in reading them, rather than using them as intended. Most gamers
have 'pet peeve' areas in the rules of whatever system they use, and often
work much harder to conform the rules to their game than seems worthwhile
to me. Considering the amount of effort spent in creating a campaign,
rules creation is hardly a considerable addition to the load. Long-term
play requires a large investment of time, money being a poor substitution.
This is not to say that each game ought to be developed in a
vaccum; obviously, some contact between gamers will enrich the game. The
net seems an ideal forum for exposing new ideas and debating issues. I see
a great deal of system-specific posting which is of no use to me (as I
don't use any system which would be discussed here) and I, too, would like
to see what other people come up with on their own.
I've pretty much stated the design philosophy of my game: detail,
detail, detail. I've tried to take into account as many factors as I
could. It's not realistic (it is a heroic-fantasy game) but it does have a
very 'vivid' mechanical structure. What do other people want in their
systems, and how do they achieve it?
Edward P. Ross
ajr...@husc.harvard.edu
David Mar
>I also tried making up my own game. The goal was to make it a generic
>based system that could be put on no more than one 8.5x11" sheet
>of paper, front and back. It would be like the Un-System above
>in that it would be simple and a lot would be left to arbitration
>and on-the-fly rules being made, but would actually have character
>stats and skills and abilities. I'm still mulling it over, and
>may get back to it soon. I'll post it here if/when I complete it.
I have done this - about four years ago. I called the system OPiGS (One
Page Gaming System). You are right about the 'on-the'fly' bit. But this
system is slightly different from anything I've ever seen, in that it
requires no game-master.
I have actually played the system several times, and had a lot of fun
doing so. It is not really a system for serious campaigning - it tends
to encourage a TOON sort of style of play, although I could imagine it
being used (semi-)seriously by folks with really good imaginations.
If anyone is interested, I'll dig it out and post it.
David Mar. m...@astrop.physics.su.OZ.AU
Astrophysics Department, University of Sydney NSW 2006, Australia.
E. Chris Garrison
>In article <blob> er...@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu (E. Chris Garrison) writes:
>>I also tried making up my own game. The goal was to make it a generic
>>based system that could be put on no more than one 8.5x11" sheet
>>of paper, front and back.
>> I'll post it here if/when I complete it.
>
>I have done this - about four years ago. I called the system OPiGS (One
>Page Gaming System). You are right about the 'on-the'fly' bit. But this
>system is slightly different from anything I've ever seen, in that it
>requires no game-master.
No game master??? How does that work?
>If anyone is interested, I'll dig it out and post it.
>David Mar. m...@astrop.physics.su.OZ.AU
I'd be very interested to see it. I did some work on my one pager
this weekend, and it is just about complete. The mechanics are
finished, though I have to put in instructions on how to use them,
and how to make a character using them, and an explanation of
skill vs skill, combat (a subset of that) and using Abilities
(another subset of skills, with an added Power Level to simulate
magic, tech, super abilities, etc). The specifics are non-existant,
that will be up to GMs to rule on, though I am going to make
genre-specific one-page supplements later to fill in a little bit
of the holes.
I'm not sure what to call it, my original idea was to call it GAME,
so I could have supplements called "Fantasy GAME", "Super GAME",
"Space GAME", etc. But I could not think of what to make GAME
an acronym for (Greatly Abbreviated Mechanics by Eric)?
The beta version should be ready to post later this week.
David Mar
>No game master??? How does that work?
Ah well, that will explain itself...
>I'd be very interested to see it. I did some work on my one pager
>this weekend, and it is just about complete. [...]
>The beta version should be ready to post later this week.
Excellent, I'd like to see it.
And, in response to your request, and some in e-mail, I am now posting my
version of a gaming system which has rules printable on a single sheet of
paper. I should repeat my previous warning: this game is very TOON-like, in
that it encourages silly style role-playing. You need to be in the right
frame of mind for it. I wrote this five years ago, and present it here
verbatim, without further ado.
***************************************************************************
One Page GamIng System - OPIGS Copyright David Mar 1987
Character Generation:
Roll d20+d8 for each of the five attributes - Beef, Brains, Hammer, Coruba
and Luck. Refer to table below for penalties and bonuses due to low and
high scores.
| BEEF | BRAINS | HAMMER | CORUBA | LUCK
| Damage | Languages | Use Roll | To Hit | Bonus Hit | Chance to
Score | Bonus | Usable | Bonus | Bonus | Points per Die | Be Lucky
2 | -4 | 1 | -4 | -4 | -4 | 10%
3,4 | -3 | 2 | -3 | -3 | -3 | 20%
5-7 | -2 | 3 | -2 | -2 | -2 | 30%
8-12 | -1 | 4 | -1 | -1 | -1 | 40%
13-17 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50%
18-22 | +1 | 6 | +1 | +1 | +1 | 60%
23-25 | +2 | 7 | +2 | +2 | +2 | 70%
26,27 | +3 | 8 | +3 | +3 | +3 | 80%
28 | +4 | 9 | +4 | +4 | +4 | 90%
Hit Points:
Roll a d6 and refer to the table to determine d6 | Hit Dice
starting hit points. Extra hit points are gained 1 | 1d20
in the same way for each experience level 2 | 2d12
gained. If reduced to 0 hit points a character 3 | 3d10
is dead, unless a Luck roll is successfully 4 | 4d8
made. Damage can be healed by resting; a full 5 | 5d6
night's sleep restoring up to Coruba hit points. 6 | 6d4
Be sure to add the Coruba hit point per hit die
bonus to each die rolled for hit points.
Equipment:
Character starting money is $100. Weapons are available as follows:
Weapon | Cost | Example | Damage Bonus
Wimpy | $50 | Knife | +1
Normal | $150 | Sword | +2
Beefy | $500 | Gun | +3
Mega | $1500 | Attack Chopper | +4
Miscellaneous equipment is available at $10 each. This includes all
non-weapons. If wielded as a weapon, miscellaneous equipment gives no
damage bonus.
Experience:
1 experience point (XP) is gained for each thing killed, puzzle solved or
$1000 gained. Only the person inflicting the killing blow on a thing gets
the XP. Each square number of XP gained (ie 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, ...) is an
experience level and gives extra hit points.
Combat:
The enemy will have a number of hit points either chosen by its creator
or rolled randomly as above for characters, and will be unarmed or equipped
with some type of weapon. Anyone can attack first, depending on the
circumstances, and attacks then go in a cyclic order until combat is over.
To attack, roll a d12 To Hit and add the Hammer To Hit Bonus. Refer to
this number to see the attack result. The damage listed as dice is rolled
for unarmed combat, modified by Beef Damage Bonus - and also weapon
damage bonus if a weapon is used.
Combat Table:
Adjusted d12 | Result | Damage
12+ | Instant Kill | Kill
11 | Critical Hit | 2d10
10 | Excellent Hit | 2d8
9 | Good Hit | 2d6
8 | Hit | 2d4
7 | Scratch | d4
6 | Near Miss | Opponent -1 next To Hit roll
5 | Miss | Nil
4 | Bad Miss | Opponent +1 next To Hit roll
3 | Self Hit | 2d4 to self
2 | Critical Jam | Weapon useless
1- | Critical Backfire | Kill self
Equipment Use:
To use a piece of equipment or do anything tricky, like climb a wall or
pick a lock, a d12 Use Roll is made, modified by Brains Use Bonus and
referred to on the Use Table. This applies to spells and psionics.
Use Table:
Adjusted d12 | Result | Effect
12+ | Critical Success | Patent idea, get $1000
11 | Amazing Success | Double effect
10 | Excellent Success | +2 next Use roll
9 | Good Success | +1 next Use roll
8 | Success |
7 | Borderline Success| May roll again for better result
6 | Borderline Failure| May roll again for better result
5 | Failure |
4 | Bad Failure | -1 next Use roll
3 | Severe Failure | 2d4 damage to self
2 | Massive Failure | Equipment destroyed
1- | Critical Failure | Kill self
Game Play:
No gamesmaster is required. Each player creates a character after agreeing
on a game setting (eg fantasy, space, espionage, etc). Choose equipment
and languages, ensuring at least one common language between the characters.
Take turns, starting with whoever wants to go first, of five to ten minutes
of adventure creating. Throw in anything you want: encounters, fights,
puzzles, tricks, traps, treasures, explorations, etc. If something you
don't like happens - especially your own death - roll on your Luck chance
to see if you are lucky enough for something else to happen instead. Only
one such Luck roll per thing happening is allowed, though everyone can roll
one after the other.
Look for OPIGS modules - out soon.
Any questions on this game will gladly be answered if sent to me.
Also look for game accessories, novels and game world and universe settings.
Jonathan Dale
I love it! But: why Hammer and Coruba? I feel like I'm missing something
here...
I gotta try this out.... no more players complaining "I don't know the rules
[whine snivel]"!
Mad Chris
I've got five minutes to write this so I'll keep it short and sweet.
I've been writing RPG systems for almost ten years. I have only two systems
I'm pleased with, plus two different "One pager" ( one of which I use for
freeforming with ). One of them has been revised four times, and I ussually
either create or revise a new system every year ( and a board game every
other year ). Recently, I so impressed my local game shop that the owner
is prepared to finance some of my ideas, provided he is convinced they are
profitable. It's like a dream come true.
Best advice: Most home made systems never see print.
Reason: There is no room in the market for them.
To counter this I've considered setting up a "Shareware" RPG house. I'd
edit/publish games and create a library of available games for people
to choose from. Admitedly, there would be little profit but almost every
game that is home-grown has at least one redeemable feature it it. It
would serve the hobby in general if we could access to any semi/wholely
original RPG's, as good rules can usually be added into whatever system
you like.
Anyone have opinions? Please email me. One possibility (which I suggested
at GMI when I worked there) would be a magazine ( or regular article in a
magazine ) which published 'rules modules' ( by which I INCLUDE anything
without mechanics, but full of ideas ). D&D already has this kind of thing,
but all games could do with that kind of input.
All Hail Discordia!
Mad Chris.
PS: My only regret in life... I didn't write 'Illuminati'.
E. Chris Garrison
>And, in response to your request, and some in e-mail, I am now posting my
>version of a gaming system which has rules printable on a single sheet of
>paper. I should repeat my previous warning: this game is very TOON-like, in
>that it encourages silly style role-playing. You need to be in the right
>frame of mind for it. I wrote this five years ago, and present it here
>verbatim, without further ado.
>***************************************************************************
>
>One Page GamIng System - OPIGS Copyright David Mar 1987
Actually, I like silly gaming. It is a secret vice. We ran "Fuzzy
Animal World", a Champions game in which all the heroes were
anthropomorphic animals, like on Disney's TaleSpin. It was pretty
goofy.
My One Pager, GAME (coming to a newsgroup near you soon!), is meant
to be usable for non-silly, but it does not preclude silliness!
>Character Generation:
>Roll d20+d8 for each of the five attributes - Beef, Brains, Hammer, Coruba
>and Luck. Refer to table below for penalties and bonuses due to low and
>high scores.
Pretty silly. Certainly can tell it is meant to be, anyway...
My big trouble was handling things like magic, psi powers, alien
ablities, basically anything that was not a skill-like thing.
How is this handled here? Or is that for future installments?
>Equipment:
>...
>Miscellaneous equipment is available at $10 each. This includes all
>non-weapons. If wielded as a weapon, miscellaneous equipment gives no
>damage bonus.
Interesting. Simple.
>Equipment Use:
>To use a piece of equipment or do anything tricky, like climb a wall or
>pick a lock, a d12 Use Roll is made, modified by Brains Use Bonus and
>referred to on the Use Table. This applies to spells and psionics.
I thought about a table like this for mine...
>Game Play:
>No gamesmaster is required.
>...
>Take turns, starting with whoever wants to go first, of five to ten minutes
>of adventure creating. Throw in anything you want: encounters, fights,
>puzzles, tricks, traps, treasures, explorations, etc. If something you
>...
Definately only works in a silly sort of system. I've done this
round-robin sort of GMing in AD&D before, and it was pretty silly.
I think that was especially true since it was all being made up
as we went along. Or maybe it was because we were at Gen Con,
dead tired, hungry, waiting for the next "real" event...
>don't like happens - especially your own death - roll on your Luck chance
>to see if you are lucky enough for something else to happen instead. Only
What a concept! Would that real life (tm) were this easy. :-)
>Look for OPIGS modules - out soon.
>Any questions on this game will gladly be answered if sent to me.
>Also look for game accessories, novels and game world and universe settings.
Should be interesting. I'll look for 'em.
>David Mar. m...@astrop.physics.su.OZ.AU
>Astrophysics Department, University of Sydney NSW 2006, Australia.
Eric
David Mar
>here...
Indeed you probably are. Those names were basically taken from in-jokes
shared by my brother and myself way back in 87. I can't exactly recall
the Hammer one, but the Coruba comes from the brand name of Coruba Rum
(I'm not sure if you have that in the States or not). It's not an
indication of our alcoholic tendencies (which are very small) but an obtuse
reference to the West Indian cricket team, who toured Australia that year
and who were sponsored by this rum company.
Err... yes, I guess you really had to be there...
Kyle Wohlmut
er...@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu (E. Chris "Bronzetooth" Garrison) writes:
>Actually, I like silly gaming. It is a secret vice. We ran "Fuzzy
>Animal World", a Champions game in which all the heroes were
>anthropomorphic animals, like on Disney's TaleSpin. It was pretty
>goofy.
Sooner or later we ARE going to run "Streetfighter World," where
everyone plays a Ninja-HOHO version of one of the characters from
Street Fighter II (Championship Edition). The entire campaign
consists of nothing but the players getting on jets to go to some
remote part of the world to kick the shit out of some other badass
dude for no adequately explored reason.
-/-/-/-/-/-/
Kyle
'My strength is much greater than yours.'
/-/-/-/-/-/-
David Mar
>Pretty silly. Certainly can tell it is meant to be, anyway...
>My big trouble was handling things like magic, psi powers, alien
>ablities, basically anything that was not a skill-like thing.
>How is this handled here? Or is that for future installments?
It looks as though you've already worked that out, from reading the rest
of your post. But just in case:
All such abilities are handled with the Use roll mechanic. Want to cast
a spell? Make a Use roll to see if you can do it properly! Of course, this
gives absolutely no restrictions as to who may do what (except that people
with low Brains scores won't want to try too many things!). Proper
restriction is really up to the sensibilities of the players.
>>don't like happens - especially your own death - roll on your Luck chance
>>to see if you are lucky enough for something else to happen instead. Only
>What a concept! Would that real life (tm) were this easy. :-)
Yes, and you need this Luck roll in this game! Otherwise you end up killing
yourself a lot when you try to do anything. :-)
>>Look for OPIGS modules - out soon.
>>Any questions on this game will gladly be answered if sent to me.
>>Also look for game accessories, novels and game world and universe settings.
>Should be interesting. I'll look for 'em.
Well, actually....
That part was written, like the rest of it, back in 1987. I haven't
produced any of that promised material yet... and I doubt if I ever will.
Of course, I might be persuaded if someone offers some inducement... :-)
Loyd? You guys looking for another staff writer? :-)
Christian Wagner
>Sooner or later we ARE going to run "Streetfighter World," where
>everyone plays a Ninja-HOHO version of one of the characters from
>Street Fighter II (Championship Edition). The entire campaign
>consists of nothing but the players getting on jets to go to some
>remote part of the world to kick the shit out of some other badass
>dude for no adequately explored reason.
Ah, so you're going to base it on Marvel's X-Force, eh?
<dives for cover>
BTW, what the hell is "Ninja-HOHO"?
--
It is better to be | Christian Wagner | I may make you feel,
quotable than honest. | UT - Austin, CS Dept. (UG) | but I can't make you
- Tom Stoppard | cwa...@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu | think. - JT, "Taab"