Advanced Rule Example: Skill Channels

An example of the Advanced Rules is the concept of Skill Channels.

As I've said before, most tasks are resolved by using the combined value of a Stat and a Skill. Depending upon the particular task being performed, the actual Stat used might change.

Skill Channels are a way for characters to "focus" their training in a particular Skill so that it's more effective using one or other of the three Stats. Skills that can be Channeled will have 2 or 3 Skill Channels, and there are some that will have none. Skill Channeling allows you to improve certain Skill Channels to the detriment of others -- it's all about balancing out a Skill. In most cases, characters learning a skill are going to learn each aspect of it equally (theory, application, special rules). Skill Channels allow you to skew this so that you focus on learning one aspect of it more than another.

Each Skill Channel is represented by the name of a Stat. Going back to the MARTIAL ARTS Skill, it has 3 Skill Channels: Body, Mind, Spirit. Each of these can be incremented or decremented by +/- 1 point at a time, but they must balance out to 0. Therefore, if you had +3 in the BODY Skill Channel, you'd have to balance it out by splitting -3 points into the other two remaining Skill Channels. You could place -3 into either of these Skill Channels, or place -1 in one and -2 in another.

This affects gameplay by modifying the combined total of the Stat+Skill value. When using the particular Stat to perform a task with with the Skill, the Skill Channel modifier is added to the total. Let's say for instance that we had the following Stats and Skill ratings:

BODY 8 MIND 6 SPIRIT 4
Skill: MARTIAL ARTS 5

The combined total for Task checks would then be:

BODY 8+5 = 13
MIND 6+5 = 11
SPIRIT 4+5 = 9

If we modify the Skill Channels for Martial Arts with a +3 to the BODY Channel, and -2 to MIND Channel, and -1 to SPIRIT Channel, we'd end up with the following:

BODY 8 MIND 6 SPIRIT 4
Skill: MARTIAL ARTS 5 (B+3 M-2 S-1)

This would then make the modified Task Checks become:

BODY 8+5+3 = 14
MIND 6+5-2 = 9
SPIRIT 4+5-1 = 8

As you can see, this can change the potency of particular Stat and Skill combinations.

The actual rules for determining when and how much you can modify Skill Channels are still being worked out, but I hope you can see how the Advanced Rules can add to the Basic system.

Basic & Advanced

One thing I really want from this system is super-flexibility. I want it to be playable with a small subset of rules, and to have other rules that can be added by individual GMs/players that make it a little bit more advanced.

Because of this, I've decided that the system will have two sets of rules: Basic and Advanced. Basic rules are the main rules that are required to run the system at a very simple level. Advanced Rules are optional rules that can be mixed and matched to allow GMs/players flexibility to make the system a little more functional for them. If a particular GM doesn't like one of the "official" Advanced Rules he can ignore it. He can also create his own Advanced Rules.

Basic Rules will most likely come in a single document Handbook, with the Advanced Rules being available as a separate document. I think keeping both sets of Rules separate is a good idea, as it allows people to become familiar with the system before they start modifying it.

One thing I need to think about is how to handle development of the system when others get involved. I'm going to give that some thought today while I'm driving in on the way to work.

System Basics - Stats & Skills

After much hand- and brain-wringing, I've decided to go with just 3 primary Stats: Body, Mind, Spirit with ranges of 1-18 for starting player characters. These numbers can be modified depending on the genre and setting being played, but for most purposes, they give an adequate range. Average is around 8-10, but starting "Standard" characters will have about 18 points to spread between those three Stats. Each Stat is used depending on whether the character is doing something physical (Body), mental (Mind) or mystical (Spirit -- psionics etc are included in this category).

Task resolution is based on the difficulty of the action, which determine the number of six-sided dice rolled (up to 6). Success occurs when the cumulative result rolled is less than the Stat amount. For an average character, this means that it gets progressively more difficult to pass any of the harder difficulty levels. For an "Average" task (3 dice), the range of results is 3-18, meaning that an Average for a Stat falls in at around the Average for this.

That's where Skills come in. Skills enhance the chances of a character doing anything, and the Skill Rating for a Skill is added directly to the Stat being used. For example, if a character had a BODY of 8 and MARTIAL ARTS Skill of 5, that would give a total of 13 to be used for task resolution. The Stat being used may change depending upon what's being done. For example, with the Martial Art skill:

BODY: Performing the actual move.
MIND: Analysing and understanding the move.
SPIRIT: Used for "special" moves, such as death strikes, qi attacks, focus attack etc.

A variation of Skills are Powers, that act just like Skills in the system, where they require a successful resolution to be activated. Powers usually use a particular Stat as their base, rather than being using one depending upon what's being done. These Powers are used to handle spells, psionics and special abilities.

Document Format

Okay, so now that I've decided to work on EveryGame again, I need to think about how I'm going to release it. I'm considering HTML, PDF and RTF formats. I'm writing the raw text in OpenOffice, so any of those options are viable in the future. I'd much prefer that if I'm going to do PDF then I'll use Pagemaker (which I have) or InDesign (on the purchase list) to lay out the content (text and tables) and images. Perhaps I'll just wait and see how the system evolves before deciding on this. Of course, if I do decide to do layout in a DTP package, that'll just add to the work involved in releasing it, and keeping it updated. If I design the publication structure just right though, any changes made to the system should be easy enough to update.

First Post!

Here's the ubiquitous first post for the blog!

After finding notes on the third revision of the EveryGame System, I decided to spend some time reviewing it, and after reading what I had previously written I decided to rewrite it and release it for free.

I know there's a ton of other free game systems out there, and by releasing my own one I'm simply going to be adding to the inertial mass of the existing ones, but I've always wanted to complete this project, and so, I'm going to stick with it. It'll all depend on how much time I have to work on. Over the next couple of weeks I don't have any schoolwork, so I'll be able to make some headway I hope.