In my recent deep dive into storage I revisited an old game I designed in the mid-90s. It's called ROC RPG, which stands for Random Order Creations Roleplaying Game. I didn't get too creative with the title as it was just a simple system for me to use - not to publish.
I ran this system on numerous occasions between 1995 and 1999. I can't recall how many times, nor all the contexts. It was not robust in the technical sense. It was just a skeleton of a game, but it was enough for me to use in pursuit of the fine art of "wing that mother".
The game was this:
You get 20 points. You write down whatever skills, abilities, and special things you want and distribute your points between them. These are called traits. When you take action, you roll 1d20 + the points for your relevant trait. The GM would have a target number in mind or written down that you had to beat. At the end of an adventure you would earn maybe 1-3 points that you could use for more skills or to improve old ones.
That was the entirety of the game. I think the way I handled combat, wounds, and death was wing-that-mother. If it felt like you should be killed, you'd roll 1d20 + trait to avoid death.
Over time I added some crunch. Not much. I added Path (class) and Ability Level (level). So I think the way this worked was if you did a thing related to your Path you'd add your Ability Level to d20 rolls. Otherwise you would just use your traits. Still no hit point or death system to speak of.
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| This character sheet is for a slightly more robust version of the game. |
Looks good to me! Seems like it would play as easily as Risus with the bonus of being able to use D&D/d20-type adventures almost as written.
ReplyDeleteIt played well. The version I used in play didn't have the stuff about paths and weaknesses and the like. It was really just that core bit about 20 points for Traits, d20 rolls, etc. I used it many times. It doesn't have enough teeth to be "robust" but if you're a GM that loves to wing it, this is really a no-brainer.
DeleteCool. I'm messing around with something similar.
ReplyDeleteChoose a core attribute you are good at, from the normal 6, slightly modified.
Choose 2 things you are good at on level 1. These are narrow actions, abilities, skills, whatever. Gain 1 more each time you level. There will be a cap to keep things manageable.
Roll with advantage when you use those traits or attributes. Can have double advantage.
Can use a variety of dicing systems, but a d20 with 10+ DC works fine.