Health and Armor - Making a TTRPG From Scratch [Episode 48]

[@m4thewrezidy611]

Both This and the Time Pool are very Interesting. They're are Both Very Elegant solutions. 10/10 would Steal Again. Can't wait for the next Episode.

[@simplywyvern]

Thank you 😁 steal as much as you want!

[@mitchelbrannan3665]

Loving the idea of using the two dice together 👍👌

[@simplywyvern]

Thanks!

[@DeathCatInHat]

I loVe seeing new ways of using dice and this one is very nice. Having all those things work in the same way is good for the rules as well. Step dice usually make up my favorite dice systems and is implamented into my own but in a much more crunchy way than yours.

[@simplywyvern]

That's cool 😎 step dice are my favorite too, and I'm to hear more people feel that way 😁

[@ForTheGoldenOak]

Just found your channel! This is amazing, thank you for your work

[@simplywyvern]

Thank you! I appreciate it 😊

[@junglejoe40]

Glad to see you return to your core resolution mechanic. I am interested to see the Health & Wound system played out in a gameplay example. How would armor be used? unarmored 1d4, light armor 1d6, medium armor 1d8, heavy 1d10? How would magic armor work?

[@simplywyvern]

I have a very basic concept written down on the Explorer's RPG project at itch.io and it would require a major rework. But the concept is the same: Armor takes up space in the inventory and has different traits which you can use (like heavy armor granting more armor, but gives a disadvantage). Anyways, a basic armor item takes up one slot in your inventory and grants 1 step of armor die. So 1 piece of armor grants d4, 2 pieces grant d6, 5 pieces grant d12. You are then very heavily armored, but have little to no space for other equipment. That's also where the positive/negative traits come in (heavy armor grants 2 steps, but gives disadvantage on X rolls, shields does something else etc.) I haven't thought about magic armor yet, but in my mind it would be that you cast a spell that grants you say d10 armor for 8 hours, regardless of the armor in your inventory. Or maybe a different spell which let's you use your magic die instead of your armor die, which could also be an interesting twist. Then you could also have magical artifacts that also either give you a fixed armor die regardless of inventory or something like mithril armor which grants 3 or 4 steps on the armor die, but only take up one inventory slot.

[@junglejoe40]

​@@simplywyvern I really like that idea of using the magic die to replace the armor die when you use magic armor spell or similar. For one of my games (the one based on your main resolution mechanic), I use Gear Burn, where you burn up a resource slot for an item in order to gain +1d4 on your resistance or damage roll (effects dice roll). So say you have a light blade, and you burn 1 slot for +1d4 damage, or light armor and burn 1 slot for +1d4 protection. This damages the items, but they can be repaired with smithing/crafting (use armor repair kits etc.). When an item has "0" resource slots (or durability) then it becomes "tarnished" and the effects die code is downgraded. so a tarnished light blade could go from 1d6 to 1d4 until it's repaired...maybe an item can only become tarnished once or equal to its total resource/durability slots (so light blade can become tarnished and repaired 3 times before broken beyond repair). Still playing around with this as I fear having too much tedious bookkeeping. For magic relics and items, I use a version of Gear Burn where resource slots represent a magical charge. categories of magic items are: Minor, Major, legendary. minor +1d4, major +1d6, legendary +1d10???... to use a magic item you have to activate it's Gear Burn (Mana Burn?) thus burn a resource slot, to gain the beneficial effect, such as armor protection or damage or enhanced magic. magic items don't need to be repaired (but you can use a repair test to do so if you have the ingredient that aligns with the magic item..) as magic items will automatically recharge any spent resource/mana slot over several hours (to reduce book keeping, maybe after any action scene the items automatically recharge?). Magic items have "elemental affinities" and will recharge faster in the present of this element. I used chatgpt to create a list of magical items with different affinities and effects and descriptions. pretty useful software.

[@junglejoe40]

also, would you distinguish worn armor and weapons from carried? concerning carrying load

[@simplywyvern]

That sounds like a really cool system. I really like the "burn" mechanic, since it gives you a new dimension of decisions. But I do see the problem of tracking durability a you said. One idea you could try (depending on how many repairs etc you want) is that every "burn" increases a "tarnish level(?)", And that when you roll your light blade du damage, if it is equal to or lower than the tarnish level it goes to a d4. And you can repair the blade to a d6, but not reduce the tarnish level. If the tarnish level goes beyond 6, it's broken beyond repair. Idk. It's just a thought. One thing that makes tracking easier is to use "chance", so that you only track things when that chance occurs. So instead of tracking 20 arrows, you roll a d20 and you're empty on a roll of 1. Sure, it isn't completely realistic and you might shoot one or 50 arrows. But if you track each arrow, you have to tick off on your character sheet every time you fire an arrow. But if you roll, you only track once, which is when you're empty. Also try to only count up. You could count down, but going back and forth is not good for your character sheet. Just look at tracking HP in DnD. You have to track it separately because writing and erasing every battle makes a hole in your sheet.

[@simplywyvern]

I don't actually. Because you only have 6 slots, it's just the things you have on you and which you can immediately use. If you have a sack on your back, it's not something you can use immediately. And it's something that would probably just weigh you down when you're adventuring. I'm thinking of adding a "party sheet" where you have bedrolls, food, tents, etc. And that it's organized with pack mules or something. It would be fun to see if I manage to make sheets for different game modes, where you carry light and efficiently when adventuring, and heavier and focused on logistics when traveling

[@Twobees3]

wow, this notebook is amazing! you should make your notebook public in full as a pdf or something (if you havent already)

[@simplywyvern]

Thanks! Maybe I should. I don't have a good photocopier, but maybe I could try😅

[@dukereg]

Cool idea.

[@simplywyvern]

Thank you 😁

[@GegoXaren]

So this is like Open Legend and Year Zero combined..?

[@simplywyvern]

Maybe? I'm not very familiar with Year Zero, but glancing at a review I can see the resemblance 😁

[@AeciusthePhilosopher]

Clearly charm saves are against reputation damage.

[@simplywyvern]

I've been thinking that too, but I also want to be cautious about making reputation feel like a combat system. But I have to think more about it😅