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RPG Creation Diary 1 (Patreon)

Published:
2020-04-26 15:36:07
Imported:
2026-06
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Videos

Content

So I'm making my own RPG.  In this stream-of-consciousness video I talk about attribute scores and how to generate them. 

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Game Creation DIary 1

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Comments

Chad

This is great, I’m excited to hear you’ve been writing your own system. You videos where you talk about your take on the rules to D&D is what really got me into your content. And also inspired me to start my working on a system of my own. My take on classes is that all the classes are completely front loaded with their exclusive skills and abilities and as a character levels up they get to branch out and pick up other abilities or skills. So I like class packages but I still want players to have legos to place on their character to make it unique to them

Jason Frazier

Very nice!!!! Here's an idea for your mental attributes... combine INT & WIS, and make a combo of CHA & APP (appearance).

Jay

My thoughts after some reconsideration. 1 ~ STATS – I think many designers have tried to consolidate the 6 stats to only a few and met with failure. Much like your players cannot break from the D20, I believe many people will not accept anything less than the 6 defining stats and still call it D&D or a game they want to play due to aesthetic reasons. I believe this is the reason 5 Torches Deep and Index Card RPG (Runehammer) kept these 6 stats. However, getting ride of the 3-18 derivative stats are a great idea. Perhaps a chart with D4 options as in your video showing how to make characters in 10 minutes would be good. The one showing a net positive of +7 and range from -1 to +3 for the 6 stats. 2 ~ SKILLS – As you stated, “Stop Rolling So Much!”. D20 rolls for Social Skills do not feel right if your leaning toward roleplaying. If required Target Numbers should be assigned based on roleplaying and any mitigating circumstances such as how much was offered in the bribe. Would the Princess be attracted to the heavily scared character? Physical Skills should sometimes not require a roll. Example a Level 5 Thief or character trained to level 5 with lock-picking should be able to pick a level 3 lock (or simple lock) without rolling. Perhaps if a roll is required it would be to see how quickly they pick the lock.

Jay

My 2 Cents ~ THE HACK - Producing your hacked version of D&D that you are currently playing with using Dungeon World and XDM would likely give you more content to produce. This will also give the Patreons something in PDF they can use right NOW and likely give you some further insight into the game you are attempting to produce.

MSN2012

For me, rolling for social interactions feels weird, but makes a certain sense. However, I would definitely apply modifiers / advantage or disadvantage based on what the player came up with. That’s where, I think, the role playing comes in. Hit on the princess you just saved? Positive mod. Hit on the princess you tried to smooth talk but your pitch was ridiculous? Negative mod.

Michael Butcher

As someone getting their PhD in Sanskrit, I appreciate the shout out. And yes, it does take years. I started in 2010 and I still feel like a beginner.

Daniel Defazio
>>35887106

Cool! I really hope you make a lot of money with that. People with the oddest majors tend to make the most money.

Martin

I propose that in Act 1 of your session social interactions are avenues for character development by the players and exposition by the dm, so no rolls needed. In the climax where the story is at a crossroads, treat it like a combat roll.

Jesse Davenport

For my homebrew rules, I hate adding two things to the d20 roll, I just want to add the ability only. I also like skills and want them to matter. A conundrum! My solution was to allow someone a single reroll on a failed ability check if they have an applicable skill. Its basically like Advantage, but without slowing the game down by having someone roll 2d20's every time and checking their skill list before every roll. Instead, you only roll again when the DM says you fail. For me at least, the mental flow "at the table" has been much smoother, and they only check their skills when they fail a roll to see if something applies. A thought on the Charisma issue. If you went down to three stats (if that's your preference) then skills like thief/rogue/deception/persuasion or ranger/insight/perception (or whatever your skills might be) can cover those missing stats since that's almost all those stats tend to be used for other than niche casting mechanics. Reducing complexity in one area probably allows for the addition of complexity in another. Thanks for the cool video!

Terry Street

Great! Seems we all try to make our own system at one point in our tabletop lives. Have you looked at Lamentations of the Flame Princess, OS&R (Oubliettes, Sorcerers and Reavers), and Zweihander? Each of these are quite different but have some really good ideas that might add inspiration. I constantly wrestle with what players really want in a system and usually find myself trying to find a balance between ease of play, game flow, simplicity and character options, character uniqueness, depth ... I think how players love agency they also love their character to be different, set apart from all the other fighters etc etc. It’s a difficult task to strike that balance while trying not to be too derivative. Looking forward to watching your progress and maybe adding some tidbit of inspiration as you progress!

Jay
>>35879006

Would be cool to see you can the Professor collaborate on a project. Also, I will be signing up for your Patreon in addition to this one. Big fan of your Youtube channel and ICRPG.

Daniel Defazio
>>35942215

I'm familiar with Lamentations and a little familiar with Zweihander. This game will be rules light but offer lots of class variations, like Warhammer FRP & Zweihander. Thanks for taking the time to write!

Jason Martisek

Symbaroum has a neat attribute system that I'm sort of thinking about adding the the system I've been working on. It's a neat system and feel overall, and the artwork is amazing.

October Foundry

Hello! Thank you very much for sharing some of your design process with us. If I may offer some amateur thoughts: 1. I really like reducing the game’s attributes to 4. This is easier for the GM to adjudicate, particularly if the attributes are clearly defined and freed of overlap as much as possible. 2. What does a game’s attributes mean for a character? For me, I prefer the attributes translate to the character’s ability to affect the world. No more, no less. 3. How can each attribute apply to gameplay? To use D&D 5e as an example, most of the ability scores are applicable in the combat pillar of gameplay (strength, dexterity for the martial classes; intelligence, wisdom, charisma for the magical classes), but for the social pillar, we only have charisma. This means that only PC’s with high charisma have access to the social pillar, mechanically speaking. If each attribute can clearly inform an approach to each pillar of gameplay, this can help encourage players to participate in each pillar. 4. I like the idea of 2 physical attributes and 2 mental attributes, but I hate Intelligence as a PC attribute. We need an attribute for magic users that gain power from study and applying complex formulae and rituals. We could use that attribute for a character trying to succeed at situations through applied logic, reasoning, debate, lying, sweet-talking, etc. How does ‘Wits’ or ‘Acuity’ sound to you for such an attribute, instead of Intelligence? 5. Skills If I have to come up with the set of verbs my character is good at, I feel less inspired and more anxious. I like the idea that my PC’s background and profession/class provides the skills they get a character creation. Something I have found success in play in D&D 5e is to remove the skill list. The GM has the master list of learnable skills in the game, and the character sheet has a blank where the player only lists the skills/proficiencies they actually have. Then adjudicate from the attributes and if a skill applies, grant some sort of bonus. Perhaps it grants advantage instead of a numerical bonus? To me, skills that take longer being available on level up hasn’t really bothered me, because time is often meaningless in D&D. But I could see certain skills only being available to certain professions/classes, and others being more widely available. Thank you very much for your time!

Daniel Defazio
>>36077383

Thanks for YOUR time, October. I've decided to create a list of skills. Getting to working right now....

Grendel

As always, thanks for your great content! Inspired by your ideas of a gritty world, I designed and played through for a short campaign, my own system. If I do say so myself it was pretty good; a classless, level-less, skill based system. I’m sure there were ways to smooth it out better, but the big problem I found with it, is that a big draw and reward for players is the idea of advancement. In my system, although more experienced characters improved, the growth was quite limited. It was cool in one respect because I didn’t have any “fighters” walking around with xxx HPs feeling they were impervious, but at the same time, a goblin that they fought in their first adventure was essentially just as deadly as in their 20th adventure. I also had like no way to scale larger monsters. Perhaps I was just missing the next step, but in the end, though fun, it lacked the growth that I was used to experiencing in 1st and 2ed DnD.

Eric Mason

I'm new and just going through your back posts, but wanted to comment while it was fresh in my head. 1. I also made a presence stat for my rules, LOL. 2. the Ultima games just had Str, Dex, and Int from game 4 on. Just give the cleric's their own school/spell list and call it a day. They can study too. Universities were religious institutions back in the day.