Sara Sidereal
a bat
This system is very rules light, and focuses on dungeon crawling and resource management. You don't even need to know the system to play, and everything will be explained as it becomes relevant.
This game will be run a little differently than the usual group roleplay. Rather than creating a character from scratch, each person will pick two randomly generated characters from lots of three at a time. Anyone can pick from any list, so long as the character has not yet been claimed. Claimed characters will be bolded. You may also choose to request new lots if none of the characters available interest you.
Characters will be generated with random personality and appearance traits, but these are just roleplaying aids. You are free to flavor your characters however you wish. Any race is acceptable. Races will not have mechanical effects.
In this system, character death is expected. Resurrection is possible, though rare. Players are also free to drop in and out at any time. I only ask that you notify me if you intend to drop out. If you do, your characters will become available to be claimed by anyone who drops in.
There is no post order, and players are not to wait on each other. I will not punish enthusiastic players by making them wait on ghosts. Anyone who does not post for 72 hours is considered to have dropped out. Like any drop out, if you return and your characters are claimed, you are free to request new characters.
Fighting works a little differently. During combat, I will declare the beginning of each round. From the time of that post, everyone who is involved in the fight has 24 hours to declare actions. When time is up, the monsters take their actions and the next round begins, whether you have posted or not. If everyone involved declares actions before 24 hours has passed, the next round starts early.
To start, just post in this thread. As soon as you do, I will generate your first lot of characters.
How characters work:
There are three stats: strength, dexterity, will. Each has a saving throw associated with it. To make a saving throw, roll a d20. If the number is equal to or less than the associated stat, you succeed.
Strength determines your toughness. When you run out of hit points, you take damage to strength. When you do, you make a strength save. If you fail, you fall unconscious. You will die in one hour unless stabilized by an ally. If your strength reaches zero, you die.
Dexterity has no game effect outside of making dexterity saves, like avoiding traps or keeping your footing on cliff ledges. If your dexterity reaches zero, you are paralyzed until you can take a full rest.
Will is like dexterity, it's mainly for making saves. However, whenever you cast a spell, you must make a will save or take will damage. If your will reaches zero, you are comatose until you can take a full rest. If your will reaches zero because of a spell cast, you also develop a permanent affliction.
You also have hit points, which are determined by advancements, those are explained later. As mentioned, they absorb damage, when you run out you start making strength saves to stay conscious. In this system, there are no rolls to hit, attacks are always successful, and hit points are abstract. So when an attack damages hit points, that can be a miss, deflection, absorbed by armor, parried, dodged, or whatever. You're not actually hurt until your hit points reach zero.
Each character starts with one advancement, and can gain more by earning experience. Advancements grant hit dice. Each time you gain an advancement, you roll all of your hit dice. If the total is greater than your current total, it becomes your new maximum hit points. Otherwise, ignore the result, roll the hit die for the advancement you just took, and add that number to your maximum hit points. Some can advancements can only be taken once, others can be taken as many times as you want.
Danger Dice! At the end of each player's turn (each post), I will roll a d6, and bad (sometimes good!) things will happen depending on the result. Thus, the more people that play, the more "exciting" the adventures will be! You don't need to wait for me to roll the danger dice before taking your turn.
There are three ways to rest.
A short rest is a quick breather, equivalent to one round. You recover all hit points. Shorts rests are usually pretty safe.
A partial rest is about an hour or two - eat something, maintain equipment, gossip, gamble. You need bedrolls, tents, or some other way to get comfy if you want a partial rest away from civilization, and it counts as ten rounds, so fairly risky. You recover all hit points and restore 1 point to each damaged stat, if any. Consumes a ration and some water when resting in the field.
A full rest is a full night's sleep, and you must sleep in a real bed, either at an inn or in your home if you have one. You recover all hit points and restore d6 points to each damaged stat, if any.
Inventory
All characters begin with a tinderbox, torch, full waterskin, 3 rations, 50 ft of rope, some randomly generated gear, two random weapons, and a few silver coins. You are free to sell unwanted stuff, or stash it at your base for later.
Each character has a backpack for storing miscellaneous stuff, four dedicated slots for torches or quivers, a pouch for coins and jewels, and a lunchbox for rations. Your first waterskin gets its own slot, additional ones go in your backpack. Anything that has a dedicated slot can also be stored in the backpack. All of this will be tracked for you, with pretty pictures even, and will be more clear once i get the example up.
You can buy a wide range of adventuring gear in town, even get pack animals and hirelings. Those will be explained as necessary.
Advancements
The dX indicates the hit die you receive when taking that advancement. Advancements that can be taken more than once are noted.
Assassin, d6
When you attack an enemy who is not aware of you, your attack ignores their hit points and damages their strength instead.
Berserker, d8
Any time you would have to make a strength save due to damage, you can choose to automatically succeed by taking d6 will damage.
Cave Runner, d6
You never lose your balance or grip on natural surfaces.
Fingersmith, d6
You can unlock any door or bypass any device given enough time and the right tools.
Infiltrator, d6
You always move silently.
Ironclad, d8
Armor you wear reduces damage you take by 2 instead of 1.
Lurker, d6
You are invisible while hiding in shadow to anyone not adjacent to you.
Magician, d4
You know two spells the first time you take this advancement, and learn one more each additional time you take it. Spells always work, but casting them causes a will save each time. If you fail, you take will damage equal to the spell's circle, which may be from one to five. When you take a full rest, you may choose to trade out one or more of your known spells for new ones. Spells are always generated randomly.
Swashbuckler, d8
When you slay an enemy with a melee attack, you can immediately make another melee attack if there is a valid target.
Veteran, d8
You can add a special effect to each of your attacks, such as blind, shove, trip, disarm, throw, and so on. The target may be able to make a save against the effect.
Weapon Master, d8
Each time you take this advancement, pick a weapon type (spear, axe, bow, club, halberd, sword, etc.). When you attack with your chosen weapon, you roll damage twice and use the greater result.
Spells and Spell Items
The magician advancement allows you to cast spells. Spell items are wands, staffs and scrolls are limited use items which can be used by anyone to cast spells. Spells are randomly generated. Spell items will be explained in more detail as you encounter them.
This is enough of an info dump for now. I'll explain the plot and setting once a few people have posted. Don't hesitate to ask questions.
One last thing: keep your posts short. One to two sentences is ideal. Roleplay is encouraged, but keep the focus on what you do and what you say.
This thread is for generating characters and running the game. Ask all questions in the OOC thread. All information posted there will be added to this post.
This game will be run a little differently than the usual group roleplay. Rather than creating a character from scratch, each person will pick two randomly generated characters from lots of three at a time. Anyone can pick from any list, so long as the character has not yet been claimed. Claimed characters will be bolded. You may also choose to request new lots if none of the characters available interest you.
Characters will be generated with random personality and appearance traits, but these are just roleplaying aids. You are free to flavor your characters however you wish. Any race is acceptable. Races will not have mechanical effects.
In this system, character death is expected. Resurrection is possible, though rare. Players are also free to drop in and out at any time. I only ask that you notify me if you intend to drop out. If you do, your characters will become available to be claimed by anyone who drops in.
There is no post order, and players are not to wait on each other. I will not punish enthusiastic players by making them wait on ghosts. Anyone who does not post for 72 hours is considered to have dropped out. Like any drop out, if you return and your characters are claimed, you are free to request new characters.
Fighting works a little differently. During combat, I will declare the beginning of each round. From the time of that post, everyone who is involved in the fight has 24 hours to declare actions. When time is up, the monsters take their actions and the next round begins, whether you have posted or not. If everyone involved declares actions before 24 hours has passed, the next round starts early.
To start, just post in this thread. As soon as you do, I will generate your first lot of characters.
How characters work:
There are three stats: strength, dexterity, will. Each has a saving throw associated with it. To make a saving throw, roll a d20. If the number is equal to or less than the associated stat, you succeed.
Strength determines your toughness. When you run out of hit points, you take damage to strength. When you do, you make a strength save. If you fail, you fall unconscious. You will die in one hour unless stabilized by an ally. If your strength reaches zero, you die.
Dexterity has no game effect outside of making dexterity saves, like avoiding traps or keeping your footing on cliff ledges. If your dexterity reaches zero, you are paralyzed until you can take a full rest.
Will is like dexterity, it's mainly for making saves. However, whenever you cast a spell, you must make a will save or take will damage. If your will reaches zero, you are comatose until you can take a full rest. If your will reaches zero because of a spell cast, you also develop a permanent affliction.
You also have hit points, which are determined by advancements, those are explained later. As mentioned, they absorb damage, when you run out you start making strength saves to stay conscious. In this system, there are no rolls to hit, attacks are always successful, and hit points are abstract. So when an attack damages hit points, that can be a miss, deflection, absorbed by armor, parried, dodged, or whatever. You're not actually hurt until your hit points reach zero.
Each character starts with one advancement, and can gain more by earning experience. Advancements grant hit dice. Each time you gain an advancement, you roll all of your hit dice. If the total is greater than your current total, it becomes your new maximum hit points. Otherwise, ignore the result, roll the hit die for the advancement you just took, and add that number to your maximum hit points. Some can advancements can only be taken once, others can be taken as many times as you want.
Danger Dice! At the end of each player's turn (each post), I will roll a d6, and bad (sometimes good!) things will happen depending on the result. Thus, the more people that play, the more "exciting" the adventures will be! You don't need to wait for me to roll the danger dice before taking your turn.
There are three ways to rest.
A short rest is a quick breather, equivalent to one round. You recover all hit points. Shorts rests are usually pretty safe.
A partial rest is about an hour or two - eat something, maintain equipment, gossip, gamble. You need bedrolls, tents, or some other way to get comfy if you want a partial rest away from civilization, and it counts as ten rounds, so fairly risky. You recover all hit points and restore 1 point to each damaged stat, if any. Consumes a ration and some water when resting in the field.
A full rest is a full night's sleep, and you must sleep in a real bed, either at an inn or in your home if you have one. You recover all hit points and restore d6 points to each damaged stat, if any.
Inventory
All characters begin with a tinderbox, torch, full waterskin, 3 rations, 50 ft of rope, some randomly generated gear, two random weapons, and a few silver coins. You are free to sell unwanted stuff, or stash it at your base for later.
Each character has a backpack for storing miscellaneous stuff, four dedicated slots for torches or quivers, a pouch for coins and jewels, and a lunchbox for rations. Your first waterskin gets its own slot, additional ones go in your backpack. Anything that has a dedicated slot can also be stored in the backpack. All of this will be tracked for you, with pretty pictures even, and will be more clear once i get the example up.
You can buy a wide range of adventuring gear in town, even get pack animals and hirelings. Those will be explained as necessary.
Advancements
The dX indicates the hit die you receive when taking that advancement. Advancements that can be taken more than once are noted.
Assassin, d6
When you attack an enemy who is not aware of you, your attack ignores their hit points and damages their strength instead.
Berserker, d8
Any time you would have to make a strength save due to damage, you can choose to automatically succeed by taking d6 will damage.
Cave Runner, d6
You never lose your balance or grip on natural surfaces.
Fingersmith, d6
You can unlock any door or bypass any device given enough time and the right tools.
Infiltrator, d6
You always move silently.
Ironclad, d8
Armor you wear reduces damage you take by 2 instead of 1.
Lurker, d6
You are invisible while hiding in shadow to anyone not adjacent to you.
Magician, d4
You know two spells the first time you take this advancement, and learn one more each additional time you take it. Spells always work, but casting them causes a will save each time. If you fail, you take will damage equal to the spell's circle, which may be from one to five. When you take a full rest, you may choose to trade out one or more of your known spells for new ones. Spells are always generated randomly.
Swashbuckler, d8
When you slay an enemy with a melee attack, you can immediately make another melee attack if there is a valid target.
Veteran, d8
You can add a special effect to each of your attacks, such as blind, shove, trip, disarm, throw, and so on. The target may be able to make a save against the effect.
Weapon Master, d8
Each time you take this advancement, pick a weapon type (spear, axe, bow, club, halberd, sword, etc.). When you attack with your chosen weapon, you roll damage twice and use the greater result.
Spells and Spell Items
The magician advancement allows you to cast spells. Spell items are wands, staffs and scrolls are limited use items which can be used by anyone to cast spells. Spells are randomly generated. Spell items will be explained in more detail as you encounter them.
This is enough of an info dump for now. I'll explain the plot and setting once a few people have posted. Don't hesitate to ask questions.
One last thing: keep your posts short. One to two sentences is ideal. Roleplay is encouraged, but keep the focus on what you do and what you say.
This thread is for generating characters and running the game. Ask all questions in the OOC thread. All information posted there will be added to this post.
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