One of my biggest challenges was the mechanics to be used - without knowing how things are done, it's difficult to make characters.
My basic mechanics choices have all been done before, which is Ok as I'm not trying to be radically different, and could be summed as :-
- xDy + modifiers or less - roll a limited number of dice to get a number less than attribute or skill
- xDy + modifiers v z - roll a limited number of dice to get a number more than the difficulty
- skill/attributeD6 v z - roll a number of dice equal to attribute/skill to get a number more than the difficulty
- D% + modifiers or less - roll D% to get a number less than skill or attribute
- D% + modifiers v z - roll D% to get a number more than difficulty
- xDy + skill + attribute + modifier v z - roll a limited number of dice, adding a skill number and an attribute number to get more than the difficulty
Phew, that's just some of the choices.
Looking at the choices, helps sort skill and attribute values.
For instance, if I want to keep things simple and use 3d6 to do things, my range is 3-18 and characters should have a value of approx 10-12 to be able to succeed roughly 1/2 the time.
That means either attributes and skills have to be in the range of 3-18 [probably 1-20 would be easier], so doing something can be done by rolling less than the attribute or skill on a 3d6 roll, or adding a skill number and an attribute number together would produce such a number.
In a similar way, if attributes and skills are to be rated on a scale of 1-6 [with 1 being the lowest, 3 being average and 6 being the highest], then an average charter would have 3+3 = 6 as his average have to do things.
Not so good for rolling 3d6 and trying to roll less than the accumulated number [6 or less on a roll of 3d6 is tough], but could be done by using a roll of 1d10 [6 or less on a roll of 1d10 is not too hard].
Rolling 3+3 = 6 d6 dice is another option to do things, where the results of each d6 are added to end with a total more than the difficulty.
Looking through the options above, I think I'd like to use 2d10 or 3d6 for characters to do things - it keeps the number of dice low, keeps the number used for doing things low and that should make it fast to get things done.
Welcome back...
When I started to put a system and setting together, I drew inspiration from the things I enjoyed in films, tv, books, existing RPGs.
There were games I'd enjoyed, but something was lacking and I set about making something I wanted to play.
I wanted something where actions were easy to resolve, characters didn't take hours to build, things were flexible enough to throw in, the rules didn't break easily, there wasn't a lot of maths involved.
I wanted to emulate some of the books and films I enjoyed - Indiana Jones, Akira, Blade Runner, Robocop, James Bond, Takeshi Kovacs, Neuromancer, Call of Cthulhu, Doctor Who, Ghost in the Shell, Shadowrun, Cyberpunk 2020, Space 1889, Traveller, GURPS, D&D, and many more.
A tough order !!
I'm more of a scifi buff than a fantasy enjoyer, so I knew I'd want something set in the near future or similar.
While I enjoyed cyberpunk, I felt it was too cliched and meaningless when almost all of its qualities existed in the real world or became cliches in the stories and games that existed - and only the attitude seperated it from other science fiction.
I didn't want to venture into the far future, because that didn't feel right.
Urban fantasy has become popular, and is something I've always enjoyed - so that was something to think about.
I wanted a setting set in the near future, that allowed me the freedom for player characters to be involved in several different types of game and allow people to take the game in their own directions.
For this to work, the rules need to be flexible enough to handle almost anything, robust enough to not break easily and quick enough to resolve things that the game didn't get slowed down.
Well, this is it...
...Updating Nexus Tales and writing about it.
Introductions !!
I've been into RPGs for about 30 years, and have played many games and met many people.
About 20 years ago, I started tweaking games I played and adding elements from other places - so much so that little of the original games remained.
So I started putting what I was playing onto paper and making something new out of it.
I tried several rulesets, from d% to die pools to xdy, and several levels of complexity.
Finally, I settled on a 2d10 mechanic that wouldn't look out of place in many existing RPGs.
That was ok for years.
Then I lost touch with my players and started doing things on the internet...
...So I dusted off my rules, took a look at what I had and started putting the on the internet.
And realised that although they were usable, I could do things better.
I'm not going to dwell on what I've done in the past, only the development of the current rules.
So let's go...
