Cool ideas you have for systems in RPGs

[luj1]

For example i've been thinking about this


- every 5 levels your character gains +1 WIS as to reflect aging
- every time a party member dies and you resurrect him, he loses -1 CON permanently
- skills you dont use degrade every in-game month (or something like that)

 

[std::namespace]

^ HOLY FUCKING LOL
3 of the most retarded fucking ideas you could implement
fucking
am at a loss for words

and this guy has been posting moronic larper garbage on this ar pee gee site here for 7+ years :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:

 

[Butter]

- every time a party member dies and you resurrect him, he loses -1 CON permanently

This is a thing in Wizardry.

- skills you dont use degrade every in-game month (or something like that)

I remember reading about a game that does this. It might be some indie thing that's still in development. If someone is committed to a learn-by-doing system, this sort of thing is a natural inclusion. There would need to be a certain sophistication to it. A master is never going to lose his entire skillset even if he stops working for 20 years, so you could simulate this by not letting the skill drop more than 40 points below its highest value.

 

[luj1]

^ HOLY FUCKING LOL
3 of the most retarded fucking ideas you could implement
fucking
am at a loss for words

and this guy has been posting moronic larper garbage on this ar pee gee site here for 7+ years :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:

Go back to fucking your anime pillow, sodomite.

 

[Covenant]

- every time a party member dies and you resurrect him, he loses -1 CON permanently

This is a thing in Wizardry.

- skills you dont use degrade every in-game month (or something like that)

I remember reading about a game that does this. It might be some indie thing that's still in development. If someone is committed to a learn-by-doing system, this sort of thing is a natural inclusion. There would need to be a certain sophistication to it. A master is never going to lose his entire skillset even if he stops working for 20 years, so you could simulate this by not letting the skill drop more than 40 points below its highest value.

Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead has this - they called it 'skill rust'. At some points in its development, it was absurdly fast, particularly at higher skill levels; by the time afternoon rolled around, your skill had degraded and you'd forgotten how to do the thing you were doing that morning.

Anyway, not a fan, even if it is 'immersive'; it just promotes degenerate playstyles.

 

[Alex]

For example i've been thinking about this - every 5 levels your character gains +1 WIS as to reflect aging - every time a party member dies and you resurrect him, he loses -1 CON permanently - skills you dont use degrade every in-game month (or something like that)

Luj, if you are being serious, these ideas exist in some form for a while.

The first idea is a bit weird to implement like this. Levelling is not aging (unless you are a dragon or something). Having mental stats increase with age was present in AD&D 2e. Probably earlier as well.

The second idea is also how AD&D did resurrection. Many other games trying to copy it (both computer and tabletop) have included this as a rule.

The third idea is present in some more realistic tabletop games, like GURPS. Usually as an optional rule because it makes having more skills a big pain in the ass. I am usually all for realism over "fun"... but for this one case, I would make an exception.

 

[agris]

a chardev idea i've shamelessly stolen from hackmaster 4e that I haven't seen implemented in a cRPG

• during character creation, you have the opportunity to give your character positive traits (think perks) but they cost building points (BPs). you start with 0 BPs, and gain them by selecting (or having randomly selected for you) mental quirks and physical flaws, of types minor and major. a trait could be ambidextrous (think dual wielding), a minor mental quirk arachnophobia, and a major physical flaw amputated leg. the possible amount of traits, quirks and flaws is significant, and would allow for a more varied gameplay experience beyond stats and classes

 

[AdolfSatan]

Already done in Vogel games (iirc, I might be misremembering tho).

 

[buffalo bill]

a chardev idea i've shamelessly stolen from hackmaster 4e that I haven't seen implemented in a cRPG

• during character creation, you have the opportunity to give your character positive traits (think perks) but they cost building points (BPs). you start with 0 BPs, and gain them by selecting (or having randomly selected for you) mental quirks and physical flaws, of types minor and major. a trait could be ambidextrous (think dual wielding), a minor mental quirk arachnophobia, and a major physical flaw amputated leg. the possible amount of traits, quirks and flaws is significant, and would allow for a more varied gameplay experience beyond stats and classes

caves of qud does this

 

[Vic]

- every time a party member dies and you resurrect him, he loses -1 CON permanently

This is a thing in Wizardry.

Also in M&M 4+5 IIRC. One of my characters kept dying over and over and ended up with like 1 maximum HP and became worthless pretty much, cripple for life, retarded mechanic.

 

[luj1]

a chardev idea i've shamelessly stolen from hackmaster 4e that I haven't seen implemented in a cRPG

• during character creation, you have the opportunity to give your character positive traits (think perks) but they cost building points (BPs). you start with 0 BPs, and gain them by selecting (or having randomly selected for you) mental quirks and physical flaws, of types minor and major. a trait could be ambidextrous (think dual wielding), a minor mental quirk arachnophobia, and a major physical flaw amputated leg. the possible amount of traits, quirks and flaws is significant, and would allow for a more varied gameplay experience beyond stats and classes

Doesn't Neo Scavenger have this?

 

[luj1]

- every time a party member dies and you resurrect him, he loses -1 CON permanently

This is a thing in Wizardry.

Also in M&M 4+5 IIRC. One of my characters kept dying over and over and ended up with like 1 maximum HP and became worthless pretty much, cripple for life, retarded mechanic.

But it's a fun memory... spontaneity is key to fun in RPGs

 

[Deimos]

- every time a party member dies and you resurrect him, he loses -1 CON permanently

This is a thing in Wizardry.

Also in M&M 4+5 IIRC. One of my characters kept dying over and over and ended up with like 1 maximum HP and became worthless pretty much, cripple for life, retarded mechanic.

Can you imagine the crippling hell that poor character went through. He was probably more disfigured than Ricky Berwick and you kept forcing him to come back and fight again.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

OP's suggestions are in AD&D. Technically the -1 Con is for Raise Dead, not Resurrection. Also, if I recall correctly, Raise Dead cannot be used on elves. AD&D also had aging rules. You got +WIS/INT/CHA, but lost STR/DEX/CON.

In my homebrew RPG, any character who survives the Dying condition has to make what I call a "debilitation roll". All their stats get rolled (all stats are dice), and the outcome is their temporary maximum until rest or curative measures restores them. Here is a simplistic example: Mr. Red Shirt was reduced to 0 HP in combat, but survived. Being a blank slate of a man, all of his stats are d8. He has 2 points in Athletics (used to approximate health), so he rolls 2d8 for each of his stats, and takes the highest. He rolls 6, 6, 6, 5, 7, and 8. His temporary stats are now d6, d6, d6, d5, d7, and d8 until rest and healing have restored them. This happens every time someone incurs the dying condition, and the effects are cumulative.

I find it to be a good balance between lethality and preserving the game.

 

[just]

if your character dies, he dies

 

[Vic]

if your character dies, he dies

if your character dies, you die irl

 

[luj1]

AD&D also had aging rules. You got +WIS/INT/CHA, but lost STR/DEX/CON.

That's pretty cool

 

[Gargaune]

- every 5 levels your character gains +1 WIS as to reflect aging

Up to a maximum of +4 at level 20. At level 15, your +3 Wisdom is offset by a -1 to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution, which increases to -2 at level 20 plus an automatic income of 5 gold a month and a Codex account.

 

[Serus]

a chardev idea i've shamelessly stolen from hackmaster 4e that I haven't seen implemented in a cRPG

• during character creation, you have the opportunity to give your character positive traits (think perks) but they cost building points (BPs). you start with 0 BPs, and gain them by selecting (or having randomly selected for you) mental quirks and physical flaws, of types minor and major. a trait could be ambidextrous (think dual wielding), a minor mental quirk arachnophobia, and a major physical flaw amputated leg. the possible amount of traits, quirks and flaws is significant, and would allow for a more varied gameplay experience beyond stats and classes

caves of qud does this

The general idea of positive traits being balanced by negative at character creation is used in at least a couple of games. Cataclysm for once*. CoQ you mentioned. I'm sure there are a couple more.

*You can be, as exemple: a Clumsy, Quick, Cannibal, Bookworm, Gourmand Insomniac Pacifist. BTW, Cannibal is a positive trait and Pacifist a negative one.

 

[Serus]

if your character dies, he dies

if your character dies, you die irl

I'm pretty sure that idea was already used in many movies. Not real computer games. Unfortunately because such games could thin the numbers of idiots. You know the type who can't even make it through the starting area of Arcanum.

 

[luj1]

- skill hunting


Never saw this in any games except Guild Wars.

You capture skills by defeating bosses, which leads to a deckbuilding system not unlike Magic The Gathering, with 1000s of skills to choose from

 

[Bester]

Your character stats are rolled with a certain degree of random, but the seed is YOUR HARDWARE UUID.

You can't hit "reroll" a thousand times. You play with what life dealt you. After you finish the game, you get a second roll.

 

[Covenant]

OP's suggestions are in AD&D. Technically the -1 Con is for Raise Dead, not Resurrection. Also, if I recall correctly, Raise Dead cannot be used on elves. AD&D also had aging rules. You got +WIS/INT/CHA, but lost STR/DEX/CON.

CHA goes up as you age!?

So if you took an 18 year-old human female bard, she'd hypothetically have a higher chance of seducing someone if she waited until she was 70 years old?

 

[Bester]

Cha should be divorced from Beauty like in Arcanum. That's not what the Greeks meant by Charisma.

 

[Gangrelrumbler]

So my idea is mental inventory. It's like a regular inventory but instead of listing items, it lists things you've learned so far. Whenever you find out something significant (piece of obscure lore, geographic location of something important, personal information about certain characters etc.) you get an unique item symbolizing what you've just learned.

These can be used in several ways. First of all they can be sold to information brokers for money or other information. Information sold that way won't disappear from your inventory but it's value will drop down, after all the more people know about a secret the less valuable it is. The other use would be to affect dialogue choices. Some choices can only be accessed if you have a specific piece of information, like knowing about the mutant's infertility in Fallout one. Other times knowing a certain "value of secrets" will be enough. Having enough items tagged "political intrigue" which symbolize secrets you know about local nobility would be used to impress a local lord. Knowing enough "arcane secrets" would impress a wizard etc. Other times it could be used to make certain check easier. A guard will let you into a city if you bribe him or show him proper papers. But exchanging knowledge about far-off lands will lower his price.

The obvious question is: "why bother with all that crap instead of tracking everything in your journal like in a normal RPG". It makes playing a diplomat more fun, because instead of putting points into your speech skill you now need to actually think about what you're doing and play it a bit like an adventure game. You only run into a wall as a diplomat when you encounter a speech check that is too difficult for you at a given moment, the only way out of this situation is to reload and return to the conversation after you've put some more points in the relevant skill. If some additional information is needed you just need to finnish relevant subquests on your way. Now when you run into a wall you need to think about whom you're talking to and what information could this guy be interested in. Then you need to think where could you find this kind of information and hunt down relevant NPC. This would make playing a talker feel more like an actual game than a CYOA.