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What Attributes/Stats are desirable for a fantasy style game?
PsyXypher:
And as a different but intrinsically related question, should an OSR style fantasy game strive to focus on a specific fantasy genres or a wide variety of them? I'll get to how that's related in a moment.
The base idea of this system is to give more depth to character choices by making it so their race has more significant effects on their character track. Each race, in addition to having normal modifiers to statistics, would have a racial Hit Dice. Humans would have a d8, sturdier races like Dwarves and Orcs would have a d10, and Elves, being all wiry and frail, would have a d4. This was inspired mainly by ADOM (and a bit by Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup, which had similar mechanics, though I've never played) where races would have their own advancements and modifiers to things like spell learning, hit point advancement, natural Hit Points/Power Points and hit point/power point regeneration. Some races had their own special abilities too; Mist Elves had a modifier that cut their total Hit Points in half, but also an ability that halved all physical damage they took.
The idea here is that your Elf could have a bonus to their Constitution, but this was offset by a low natural Hit Point growth for their race. Of course, they'd get a class Hit Die, which could help offset this inherent weakness if they chose something like a Fighter. However, they could also choose to be a Wizard, which would come with a low Hit Die as well. This gives a huge variety; it also allows for a bigger difference in character statistics. For example, you could give the Elf more bonuses and have it offset by their Hit Dice. So your Elves could have a bonus to Constitution, Dexterity and Intelligence (and a minus to Strength, which I think is fitting). You could also have different bonuses for some races (maybe Orcs automatically grow bigger and stronger every few levels, for example).
Anyway, since I've got the primary idea behind the system out of the way, I'm onto the first sticking point; Attributes. I've found this is a little challenging to come to a final agreement too for a fantasy game, since Fantasy style Tabletop RPGs could cover a huge swathe of different genres, as well as the general fit some stats would have for a system. D&D has the classic six, while the game ADOM has nine: Strength, Toughness, Dexterity, Perception, Learning, Willpower, Charisma, Appearance and Mana. I probably won't add Appearance as a stat as it's a tad arbitrary and also very niche, but most of the other stats are fair game.
I guess I could divide this into "Stats I will add" and "Stats I'm unsure of".
What will be added:
1. Strength: Naturally. How many fantastical creatures and heroes are known for their great strength? If I had to list them I'd be here all day.
2. Dexterity: Another mainstay.
3. Endurance/Toughness: Instead of linking hit points directly to strength, I'll have this be the main influencing factor in Hit Points and overall health, stamina and resistance to physical hazards.
4. Intelligence: Something for skill growth and learning spells. This is where the uncertainty starts. Maybe spell power? I don't know.
All the different sub attributes I'd need to fit into the system would include: Spell power, magical energy reserves, sensory ability, resistance to mental/magical attacks and social interaction rolls. The problem is here is trying not to make a certain stat too powerful or too weak. I plan to let players train their stats over time, so you won't have static stats for your whole adventuring life. The "training" aspect is meant to be like in ADOM or Nethack, where it will occur over time, semi independent of level.
Some ideas:
-Perception: If its functions aren't mixed into Intellect or some Wisdom equivalent, I'll probably have it as a stat. Granted, there's not many different functions for it, which is a problem.
-Willpower: Mental defense as well as how powerful your spells are, if that function isn't molded into intelligence. This one is a big problem, but really I just need to decide how to divide up this potential.
-Charisma: A similar boat to Perception. An overly important function but not really that much versatility. I've seen it folded into Willpower.
-Mana: Not sure if I'll add this or not. It fits in some genres and not so well in others (like Dark Sun, where the stat would be quite strange to have). If I do add it, it would determine magical energy reserves as well as resistance to magic to some degree (and maybe an influence on magical strength, but I want that to be Intelligence or Willpower primarily). I find that it helps for differentiating races based on magical power, but that can just as easily be done with say, a modifier to their Power Point growth. Though a temporary Mana penalty seems to work for creating magic items.
-Wisdom: If I don't add one of the other stats, it might be folded into Wisdom. Though I want to avoid doing that, personally; I'd need to get rid of most stats to justify having Wisdom.
Anyway, I made this post because I needed some outside input. If it seems a little disjointed, that's because it took me many distracted hours to properly type this out, and I only published it in the state it's in now because if I spent any longer I might never get it done. I'm a mess. :P
If you have any questions about what else I had planned for this system (such as derived statistics, classes, etc) if you feel you need more explanation. Or are interested.
Hopefully your input drives me in the right direction.
Zalman:
--- Quote from: PsyXypher on November 04, 2021, 11:22:53 PM ---All the different sub attributes game widgets I'd need to fit into the system would include: Spell power, magical energy reserves, sensory ability, resistance to mental/magical attacks and social interaction rolls.
--- End quote ---
This is the key place to start for me -- fixed for emphasis. What elements do want to have in your game at the table, during play. My advice would be to begin there and work backwards, keeping a few things in mind:
Not every game mechanic needs to necessarily be tied to an "Attribute".
Game attribute threads tend to digress into a discussions about how to provide an accurate attribute-map for modeling real humans, but that's a different goal than designing attributes for a game. Focusing on the needs of the game over creating a realistic human gestalt is a great way to avoid those vestigial stats that have no meaningful role at the table.
And then, do that: include only the attributes that directly contribute to in-game actions and decisions.
Also include only the attributes that contribute significantly. If there is only one game widget that leverages "Intelligence," that widget is likely better served by a unique mechanic than by shoehorning it into an "attributes for everything" system.
Whether a game is "fantasy" or some other genre may not be a relevant question. Attributes (along with every other mechanic) work best when they match the style of play you're looking for, more so than the genre.
PsyXypher:
Holy shit a response! Finally! ;D
Yeah, something I've been wondering about is if I should make this as a more generic fantasy system that is setting adaptable, or make it for a specific setting. Like, if I want to adapt this system to play Forgotten Realms or Dark Sun.
I have a decent idea of the sub attributes (or widgets, as you called them) that would go into this system. I'm guessing by your comment that the answer to my question would be to focus on a specific setting to play my system in, no?
Maybe you'll say otherwise. Still, I have a pretty good idea of what I'm looking for, just not how to implement it.
Wrath of God:
For my Warhammer variant I used:
Strength
Toughness
Vigor
Dexterity
Agility
Intelligence
Perception
Intuition
Wits
Charisma
Fellowship
Willpower
Resolve
PsyXypher:
--- Quote from: Wrath of God on November 13, 2021, 05:31:50 PM ---For my Warhammer variant I used:
Strength
Toughness
Vigor
Dexterity
Agility
Intelligence
Perception
Intuition
Wits
Charisma
Fellowship
Willpower
Resolve
--- End quote ---
Lot of redundancies there, it seems. Did you format that correctly?
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