Guns of Icarus: A Diesel Punk tale ( Rpg proposed rule system)

[Lord Dick Tim]

So this is the opening to attempt at creating a d10 based gaming system for individual character use in the GOI lore space.
The proposed system utilizes a three step combination for determining dice rolls in most situations that are considered a challenge for a character to overcome, or as an opposed dice roll between a character and an npc.
The three steps are Ability, Skill, Tool.
Each step would be accompanied by a dice pool which are generated by a score in the corresponding step.
For example.  Strength(ability)+athletics(skill)+climbing gear(tool) might look like 3+3+3, equaling out to 9 d10 dice which would form a players dice pool.  This dice pool is rolled, with the numbers 8,9,0 resulting in a pass, 1 resulting in a negative pass and all other numbers being failure.  0 would also count as a success, and be re-rolled for the chance of an additional success.
If three dice are cast and come up a 2, 4, 8, the roll is a success.  A 1,8,5 however is a failure as the 1 negates the success of the 8.  A 0,1,2 is also a failure, but with the chance that the 0 can be re-rolled into a success. ( some people may recognize this system from world of darkness, with a few small changes to make dice staking more difficult)

We can go into more depth later, or tear this system down and try a different one such as a d6 or d12.  My desire however is to use a success/failure system rather than a dice challenge system like the d20.

My next post will have a proposal of the primary attributes, the charesterics of a character, and the proposed skills that would refine their use.  It will need to be expanded on and refined some, but also keep in mind it suppose to represent a generalization of skill assets, we can come up with some kind of profession system or feats that represent talents that take considerable time and effort to learn or be proficient in.

Update 24 June 2013

Links to the google docs with some of the Work In Progress systems

Ammo, Armor, Weapons and Tools
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1c-vf60az0xr8F3IvrWZeQH05KUUMS0Ux2Ogy1Rs4NwA/edit?usp=sharing

Character Sheet
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_zrU7oS9KvDI2S6WlgwtxZCsEEmZd70K-xzjtDMn-No/edit?usp=sharing

Rules and Systems (Perks are not implemented as of yet)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rTQ31O6UnFlgVfIa8L6R1ESVDrHOH4xnySGmCkBPMVc/edit?usp=sharing

[Lord Dick Tim]

Guns of Icarus:  A diesel punk tale

Attributes:

Physical;
Strength- a representation of your characters physicality, how much weight they can lift, how powerful they are in their limbs and body.
Dexterity- the nimbleness and flexibility of the body and hands.
Constitution- soundness and health of the body, a measure of robust health and good stamina.

Mental;
Intelligence- A raw measure of a persons problem solving ability and analytical
 thinking capacity.  Hard facts and empirical process.  
Wisdom- the depth of a persons knowledge, the breadth of their experiences that inform decisions. 
Awareness- Spatial identity, to know your location and the placement of things around you, to identify objects you cannot readily sense.

Social;
Physical appeal- your raw sex appeal, facial construction and bodily proportions.
Poise- physical presence and presentation.  Good grooming, calmness and outwards projection.
Eloquence- communicative skills and tact, the ability to express emotion and intent effectively.

Skills:

Physical;
Athletics- acts that require a test of your body, swimming, running, jumping and climbing.
Acrobatics- physical acts that require extreme balance and coordination.
Weapon fighting- your ability with a melee weapon.
Thrown weapon- your accuracy and lethality with thrown weapons
Firearms- accuracy with firearms
Driving- your reflexes at the wheel in extreme circumstances.
Survival- your physical ability to survive harsh terrain and conditions and torture.
Stealth- how quiet you can move without being noticed.

Mental;
Mechanical Engineering- knowledge of how complex machines function, how to fabricate and repair them.
Flight operation- basic knowledge of how to steer an airship.
Research- How good you are at discovering information through study.
Ancient technology- how familiar you are with old technology since before the age of dust.
Chemistry- knowledge of the physical properties of natural elements, and how to make them perform useful tasks like lighting, dissolving, or exploding.
Bushmen- your knowledge of surviving in the rough.
Emergency care- how skilled you are at first responder care to injury.

Social;
Carousing- drinking and partying in a loud joyful way, your ability to be the light of a party.
Empathic- how able you are to identify the emotions of others, so you can exploit them.
Animal ken- the natural disposition of animals towards you that are domesticated.
Subterfuge- how good you are at concealing the truth, or out right lying.
Socializing- how well you blend into a group or conversation, how easily you make people open up or like you.

[Lord Dick Tim]

I'm also going to be the first critic, I'm not entirely comfortable with firearms placement in the physical space, I believe that proper firearms use is, yes, a physical act, but requires more mental discipline and might want to move it down to a mental skill to bring its base attribute closer to awareness.

[Gabranth]

I like the Idea but how are you gonna do the whole thing over the Forum ? With dice rolling and everything.
And hows the Character creation gonna work ? Like , do you have a limited amount of "character points " or something ?

[Honeybadger]

You should totally set this up on roll20. I would be AALLL over this

[Johny Cyanide]

sounds entertaining I might be up for this if it ever got rolling. get it, rolling.

[Lord Dick Tim]

I like the Idea but how are you gonna do the whole thing over the Forum ? With dice rolling and everything.
And hows the Character creation gonna work ? Like , do you have a limited amount of "character points " or something ?

Character points and allocations will come later down the road, and will impact the core skill spread and attributes depending on how the balance of powers plays out to make the game entertaining without overpowering one specific set of skills over another.

Mental skills will likely make up the bulk of the skills section, as this is more about professional development and learned ability rather than natural talent.
I'm also proposing a system of "specializations" that can be added to a skill as a situational bonus.
IE- Skill Firearms-3, Specialization Rifles-1, this would have the effect of increasing a skills dice pool total in a specific area rather than making a person good at all Firearms based rolls.
The concept would have to allow that a Specialization, when customising the point spread of the game, would be cheaper to upgrade than a base skill.

I'm getting ahead of myself a bit here, I was hoping people would have more problems with the initial proposal but guess I'll push on.

Professions
Profession systems will be a template a player can add to their character sheet after the point spread has been laid out.  The profession would be an optional addition that would allow the player to find a role for themselves in a character sheet format that allows a great amount of freedom.
Professions would come with added developement space that increases rolls in close association to that profession.  For example...

Profession Doctor:  +3 to Emergency Care, +1 Dexterity, +1 Intelligence, +1 Poise (these aren't hard numbers, just an example)

Profession Scrapper:  +1 Firearms, +1 Survival, +1 Bushman, +1 Strength, +1 Constitution, +1 Awareness

Traits
These would be a characters unique perks, something that can be taken at character creation or rarely upgraded during play.  It further diversifies the characters with abilities and powers that others would not likely have.
An example of what a trait could look like.

Gearhead:  You have a knack for understanding machines, any machine, and when trying to puzzle out what is wrong with one or how it works you can take 1 automatic success rather than rolling.

Horse Whisperer:  Over the years you've developed the special kind of bond with most animal life, wild or domestic.  You can make an animal ken roll with wild animals to calm them or hostile domestic animals like guard dogs, or take an automatic success when dealing with friendly domestic animals.

Silver Tongue:  When discovered lying you can make another roll to smooth talk your way out of trouble or danger, you also can make a second roll on failed social rolls or encounters that require diplomacy.

[Honeybadger]

I like the Idea but how are you gonna do the whole thing over the Forum ? With dice rolling and everything.
And hows the Character creation gonna work ? Like , do you have a limited amount of "character points " or something ?

Character points and allocations will come later down the road, and will impact the core skill spread and attributes depending on how the balance of powers plays out to make the game entertaining without overpowering one specific set of skills over another.

Mental skills will likely make up the bulk of the skills section, as this is more about professional development and learned ability rather than natural talent.
I'm also proposing a system of "specializations" that can be added to a skill as a situational bonus.
IE- Skill Firearms-3, Specialization Rifles-1, this would have the effect of increasing a skills dice pool total in a specific area rather than making a person good at all Firearms based rolls.
The concept would have to allow that a Specialization, when customising the point spread of the game, would be cheaper to upgrade than a base skill.

I'm getting ahead of myself a bit here, I was hoping people would have more problems with the initial proposal but guess I'll push on.

Professions
Profession systems will be a template a player can add to their character sheet after the point spread has been laid out.  The profession would be an optional addition that would allow the player to find a role for themselves in a character sheet format that allows a great amount of freedom.
Professions would come with added developement space that increases rolls in close association to that profession.  For example...

Profession Doctor:  +3 to Emergency Care, +1 Dexterity, +1 Intelligence, +1 Poise (these aren't hard numbers, just an example)

Profession Scrapper:  +1 Firearms, +1 Survival, +1 Bushman, +1 Strength, +1 Constitution, +1 Awareness

Traits
These would be a characters unique perks, something that can be taken at character creation or rarely upgraded during play.  It further diversifies the characters with abilities and powers that others would not likely have.
An example of what a trait could look like.

Gearhead:  You have a knack for understanding machines, any machine, and when trying to puzzle out what is wrong with one or how it works you can take 1 automatic success rather than rolling.

Horse Whisperer:  Over the years you've developed the special kind of bond with most animal life, wild or domestic.  You can make an animal ken roll with wild animals to calm them or hostile domestic animals like guard dogs, or take an automatic success when dealing with friendly domestic animals.

Silver Tongue:  When discovered lying you can make another roll to smooth talk your way out of trouble or danger, you also can make a second roll on failed social rolls or encounters that require diplomacy.

You should really do this on http://roll20.net/

[Mill Wilkinson]

Say I wanted to roll a gunner, would artillery be a firearms specialization, or should it have its own skill, like the Driving for pilot and Mechanical Engineering for the engineer?

And I agree on the opinion that firing a weapon is a mental discipline, but the way I see the skill it refers mostly to the situation where you really have to fling those rounds as fast as possible, which leads to having more emphasis on your agility than your brain. Quick shooting should and would be trained to come from the spine. It is an entirely another matter when you actually have to have the round hit something further away, which is not often a situation common PC encounters.

[Johny Cyanide]

It looks like artillery would be a specialty inside of firearms

[Mill Wilkinson]

It looks like artillery would be a specialty inside of firearms

Shot both, isn't exactly one-to-one.
I think Intelligence would be an important factor for a gunner-type of character, since he has to consider the trajectories, sights and shells independently and fast, if we are applying GoIO logics to air combat. Hence, artillery should probably be a mental skill. I am, of course, just an opinionated man.

[Lord Dick Tim]

Airship Heavy Weapons:
This might be a good description of an airships heavy weapon as a Skill.  As this takes specialized training to operate and hit accurately with it might fit in better with a professional skill, something that has to be bought separately like a specialization.

Additionally we can have perks that alter the Base step of a dice pool.  For example...

Perk- Hip Shot:  Use dex instead of Awareness as the base shot for a 1 handed firearm.

The idea of most actions that can be taken is a player needs to justify the 3 steps of their dice pool.
If a player can find a reason to use Dexterity instead of Awareness for shooting a weapon it might be in a quick draw situation, relying more on their reflexes to get the shot off and their general familiarization of firearms than their perception of area.

[Honeybadger]

http://roll20.net/

do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it

[Keon]

http://roll20.net/

do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it

That site looks awesome I may have to do something with it.

[Lord Dick Tim]

Omgurd badger stop badgering me.  Use honey, I like honey. 

Cranberry honey specifically.  Besides a lot more work still needs to be put into this to get it up and running with some semblance of balance.