Non-"Adventure" settings [Archive] - Wizards Community

Non-"Adventure" settings [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Fgarber
03-15-07, 03:42 PM Hello: I'm new to posting here, and don't want to beat any dead horses, so if this has been discussed to death, then could someone point me at old threads?

Much of the D20 system I've found seems wrapped around a core gameplay model of the PCs as Adventurers: leave town, whack the "bad guys," take the gold, rinse and repeat.

But what if I wanted to use the D20 /OGL system to model a Court Politics, or a Regency Romance, or something where the PCs are stationary, and they would gain experience for avoiding embarassment, or removing an obstacle to marraige, etc.

I think I'd need to rewrite a great deal of the SRD (classify insults as blunt, slashing, or piercing ? What contributes to AC?), but the Basic System:
1. roll a D20, higher = better,
2. level based powers,
3. class based special abilites.

Could remain the same, allowing my system to be adopted by someone who is familiar with d20 games, without learning a whole new set of rules?
Ranger REG
03-15-07, 09:03 PM I know there is a question up in there. I just can't find it.

If you want to publish new add-on rules to cover situations that are not already in the known d20 products (mainly D&D 3.5e), by all means go ahead.
Fgarber
03-16-07, 02:46 PM The question would be, distilled:

Hey, has someone already posted on this topic? If so, what's the thread name?
InkBlot
03-17-07, 10:50 AM I've never seen another thread on "non-adventure" (or perhaps more accurately, "non-combat") D20 systems, but my friends and I have mused on creating one - Discussions&Discourse.

We would use a system similar to that of Tome Of Battle. The PC's opinion on a matter would be like a martial stance; rebuttals would be like counters; postulates would be like strikes; and "facts" would be like boosts. For humor's sake we were thinking of keeping things like Armor Class and Hit Points, but it would be simple enough to create a seperate "Argument Class" et cetera.

Of coures Tome Of Battle isn't OGC, so we could never sell such a system.
Fgarber
03-21-07, 03:20 PM OK. Cool News. I'll delurk with a link when some documents are finished.
It seems like someone else SHOULD have looked at it.

And bonuses / penalties for friendships/Alliances, etc Those especially could explain why a party stays together: The bonuses of being "Friend of Sir Knighty McPaladin" could allow Waffles the Scoundrel entrance into parties where he otherwise would be ejected, and being a "Friend of Waffles" helps Sir Knighty McPaladin deal with the common blacksmith without being overcharged like the rest of those condescending aristocrats. Even though Waffles and Knighty can't stop arguing about whether or not Waffles is allowed to backstab foes while Knighty is fighting them.

The trick will be making it a balanced overlay: coming up with Social Perks with bonuses and penalties that a DM could add to his existing classes, rather than having everybody GNC to play with the Social Combat Rules:

Off the Cuff example:
Guild Member:
This class is a member of a recognized Guild, Church, Order, etc. PCs with Ranks in this Class gain +1 Social Rank for every 5 levels they hold in this class, as long as they have paid their dues (100 gp / level per year of game time; starting PCs are considered paid up at start of play)
All numbers subject to playtest : Does a +2 to Social Rank equal 833 gp a game month payment for a 10th level Cleric? Hard to say...
Thangor
03-23-07, 02:16 PM Hi,

Rich Burlew has a great reworking of the diplomacy skill at Giant in the Playground:

http://www.giantitp.com/articles/jFppYwv7OUkegKhONNF.html

This has been really helpful for me, It might fall short of what your needs are, but it's a good start and a great way add some depth, drama and strategy to your "talky" encounters— without having to rewrite the whole game.
BrotherKane
04-14-07, 04:44 AM Hey a thought is that you could try opening up more possibilities for int, wis and cha based effects. So you could use intellect in certain situations where you could try to outsart or confuse an opponent, wisdom to unnerve (through the silent presence of a monk) or inspire devotion to a cause (through a pious cleric), charisma could be used to intimidate or charm.

Add appropriate racial modifiers and skill bonuses and do challenge checks.

You could check it against the dc table for levels of favours granted by the other person (5 for a small favour, 10 for an average and so on).

You could add other modifiers like 'reputation' which could be based on your level (against the level of the opponent. Of course their level would be more in terms of professions, but you could write it as levels).

You could grant xp for solving faction wars in your guild (or increase reputation points, whatever)

You could make it so your level determined how well known you are regionally. For example a level 1 char would only be known in their town (or may not even be known) and at level 6 they could perhaps do some sort of 'quest' to gain racognition of a champion of the province. So they're known in their province but not necessarily in others, etc.

Instead of sleeping last night, an idea was toying in my head (so if this makes no sense, you know why).

I was expanding upon that other idea i had to make 'defining moments' to advance levels instead of skill points. Obviously defining moments could be fitted to whatever campaign is appropriate.
I was also toying with having 4 "realms" of world ranking (might be something like community, province, nation, known world for a politician or merchant, or forest hive, great forest, landscape, gaia for a druid or barbarian, you get the idea).

Every play gets a home region (or have the same home region). when they get to 6th level, they can complete a quest, a favour asked of them by the next 'realm' (province for 6th). If they complete this they gain provincial status, and the game style and plot line changes, and the choices the character makes has bigger concequences, and whatever else you want to pop in here.

A player can excercise Influence over the realm below them in their home region only. So a 6th fighter turned champion of the province can go to his home town and ask favours (as i wrote above) (but can't go to another home town). To do this the npc makes a d20 + their charlevel vs the players charlevel. If it's equal or below, they are influenced by the character just through sheer weight of their influence. At 11th level they can do the same, but in their whole home province. at 16th they can start influencing the king or regent of their own nation (and start hanging out in the royal court with skilled diplomats with scaringly high skill modifiers etc).

What I haven't figured out is a tight favours and influence system. But my brain is NOT working now at all so i'll just leave that for you to ponder over.

Ciao!
CadeShadow
04-15-07, 08:15 AM When you brought up the whole alliance/friendship thing, it made me think of the Affiliations in the Player's Handbook II. You might want to check that out.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Fgarber 03-15-07, 03:42 PM	Hello: I'm new to posting here, and don't want to beat any dead horses, so if this has been discussed to death, then could someone point me at old threads? Much of the D20 system I've found seems wrapped around a core gameplay model of the PCs as Adventurers: leave town, whack the "bad guys," take the gold, rinse and repeat. But what if I wanted to use the D20 /OGL system to model a Court Politics, or a Regency Romance, or something where the PCs are stationary, and they would gain experience for avoiding embarassment, or removing an obstacle to marraige, etc. I think I'd need to rewrite a great deal of the SRD (classify insults as blunt, slashing, or piercing ? What contributes to AC?), but the Basic System: 1. roll a D20, higher = better, 2. level based powers, 3. class based special abilites. Could remain the same, allowing my system to be adopted by someone who is familiar with d20 games, without learning a whole new set of rules?
Ranger REG 03-15-07, 09:03 PM	I know there is a question up in there. I just can't find it. If you want to publish new add-on rules to cover situations that are not already in the known d20 products (mainly D&D 3.5e), by all means go ahead.
Fgarber 03-16-07, 02:46 PM	The question would be, distilled: Hey, has someone already posted on this topic? If so, what's the thread name?
InkBlot 03-17-07, 10:50 AM	I've never seen another thread on "non-adventure" (or perhaps more accurately, "non-combat") D20 systems, but my friends and I have mused on creating one - Discussions&Discourse. We would use a system similar to that of Tome Of Battle. The PC's opinion on a matter would be like a martial stance; rebuttals would be like counters; postulates would be like strikes; and "facts" would be like boosts. For humor's sake we were thinking of keeping things like Armor Class and Hit Points, but it would be simple enough to create a seperate "Argument Class" et cetera. Of coures Tome Of Battle isn't OGC, so we could never sell such a system.
Fgarber 03-21-07, 03:20 PM	OK. Cool News. I'll delurk with a link when some documents are finished. It seems like someone else SHOULD have looked at it. And bonuses / penalties for friendships/Alliances, etc Those especially could explain why a party stays together: The bonuses of being "Friend of Sir Knighty McPaladin" could allow Waffles the Scoundrel entrance into parties where he otherwise would be ejected, and being a "Friend of Waffles" helps Sir Knighty McPaladin deal with the common blacksmith without being overcharged like the rest of those condescending aristocrats. Even though Waffles and Knighty can't stop arguing about whether or not Waffles is allowed to backstab foes while Knighty is fighting them. The trick will be making it a balanced overlay: coming up with Social Perks with bonuses and penalties that a DM could add to his existing classes, rather than having everybody GNC to play with the Social Combat Rules: Off the Cuff example: Guild Member: This class is a member of a recognized Guild, Church, Order, etc. PCs with Ranks in this Class gain +1 Social Rank for every 5 levels they hold in this class, as long as they have paid their dues (100 gp / level per year of game time; starting PCs are considered paid up at start of play) All numbers subject to playtest : Does a +2 to Social Rank equal 833 gp a game month payment for a 10th level Cleric? Hard to say...
Thangor 03-23-07, 02:16 PM	Hi, Rich Burlew has a great reworking of the diplomacy skill at Giant in the Playground: http://www.giantitp.com/articles/jFppYwv7OUkegKhONNF.html This has been really helpful for me, It might fall short of what your needs are, but it's a good start and a great way add some depth, drama and strategy to your "talky" encounters— without having to rewrite the whole game.
BrotherKane 04-14-07, 04:44 AM	Hey a thought is that you could try opening up more possibilities for int, wis and cha based effects. So you could use intellect in certain situations where you could try to outsart or confuse an opponent, wisdom to unnerve (through the silent presence of a monk) or inspire devotion to a cause (through a pious cleric), charisma could be used to intimidate or charm. Add appropriate racial modifiers and skill bonuses and do challenge checks. You could check it against the dc table for levels of favours granted by the other person (5 for a small favour, 10 for an average and so on). You could add other modifiers like 'reputation' which could be based on your level (against the level of the opponent. Of course their level would be more in terms of professions, but you could write it as levels). You could grant xp for solving faction wars in your guild (or increase reputation points, whatever) You could make it so your level determined how well known you are regionally. For example a level 1 char would only be known in their town (or may not even be known) and at level 6 they could perhaps do some sort of 'quest' to gain racognition of a champion of the province. So they're known in their province but not necessarily in others, etc. Instead of sleeping last night, an idea was toying in my head (so if this makes no sense, you know why). I was expanding upon that other idea i had to make 'defining moments' to advance levels instead of skill points. Obviously defining moments could be fitted to whatever campaign is appropriate. I was also toying with having 4 "realms" of world ranking (might be something like community, province, nation, known world for a politician or merchant, or forest hive, great forest, landscape, gaia for a druid or barbarian, you get the idea). Every play gets a home region (or have the same home region). when they get to 6th level, they can complete a quest, a favour asked of them by the next 'realm' (province for 6th). If they complete this they gain provincial status, and the game style and plot line changes, and the choices the character makes has bigger concequences, and whatever else you want to pop in here. A player can excercise Influence over the realm below them in their home region only. So a 6th fighter turned champion of the province can go to his home town and ask favours (as i wrote above) (but can't go to another home town). To do this the npc makes a d20 + their charlevel vs the players charlevel. If it's equal or below, they are influenced by the character just through sheer weight of their influence. At 11th level they can do the same, but in their whole home province. at 16th they can start influencing the king or regent of their own nation (and start hanging out in the royal court with skilled diplomats with scaringly high skill modifiers etc). What I haven't figured out is a tight favours and influence system. But my brain is NOT working now at all so i'll just leave that for you to ponder over. Ciao!
CadeShadow 04-15-07, 08:15 AM	When you brought up the whole alliance/friendship thing, it made me think of the Affiliations in the Player's Handbook II. You might want to check that out.