Crecki

For the character’s stats, I take heavy inspiration from Fabula Ultima RPG, where you assign dice of particular size to the character's stats, and when the times come to put them in action, you roll then against a set difficulty to see whether you succeeded or not.

The stats themselves are:

• Physical: Which governs any physical activity. This stat could honestly be split in two: - Prowess: the “strength” aspect of the stat; - Deftness: the “dexterity” part of it.
• Mental: Should be used for mental tasks, such as analyses, information gathering (as in piecing together clues), etc.
• Social: Used for any interaction with others.
• Spiritual: Basically force of will. I can see this being part of the Social or Mental stats, but I can also see it used alongside Physical stats: how long can the character endure an arduous task. Considering that I take the Fabula Ultima’s approach to challenge test rather than Ironsworn’s (more when I talk about difficulty), I will keep it separated.

The values for the stats, like in Fabula Ultima, are that of dice size used. Ranging from d4 to d12, though d12 is presently unavailable at character creation.

The stat distribution would work on a point buy system, with a total of 8 points to expend:

• d4: 1 point
• d6: 2 points
• d8: 3 points
• d10: 5 points
• d12: 8 points

This would give the arrays: balanced: d8, d6, d6, d4; specialised: d8, d8, d4, d4; crippling: d10, d4, d4, d4.

To have a d12 in either stat, the others would need to be zero. It could work for some specific scenarios.

I have not fully settled down on this yet, as there is some interactions when it comes to the difficulty challenges (will be explored in a future post).

An alternative system would be to shift the costs, giving the characters a higher range.

• d4: no longer available
• d6: 1 point
• d8: 2 points
• d10: 3 points
• d12: 5 points

Possible arrays being: [d10, d18, d8, d6], [d10, d10, d6, d6], and [d12, d6, d6, d6]

This could also be used as a difference between player characters and random NPCs. As the player character is meant to be a Hero and cut above the rest.

The opposite could also be true, with the lower range used for PC and NPCs alike, while particular NPC, such as villains, would have the higher range.

The possibilities are there, and I have not settle down on any.

The stats themselves would be further improved by Quirks – to be explored in the next post, which is a point for the lower range for PCs.

But there is still the matter of difficulty, which is a point in favour for the higher range.

#RPG #SoloRPG #CharacterStats #PlayerCharacter

As mentioned in a previous post, the Oracle is heavily inspired by Firepit RPG, in the particular sense that its start point of using a six sided die to represent each of the six outcomes of a yes/no question:

• 1: No, and … Not only you failed the task, you failed so misarably that things got worst.
• 2: No. The plain and simple no. You don’t get what you asked for.
• 3: No, but … Okay, you failed, but it wasn’t a complete loss.
• 4: Yes, but … Yes, you succeeded, but at what cost?
• 5: Yes. The plain and simple yes. You do get what you asked for.
• 6: Yes, and … The best outcome, not only you suceeded in getting what you wanted, but you also got some extra rewards.

It is a simple idea and it fits well with the most common die.

So taking a step further, by going back a die size, we can use a d4 (four sided die), and only have the middle yes/no answers.

• 1: No.
• 2: No, but…
• 3: Yes, but…
• 4: Yes.

It is basically removing the extremes.

Going further still by increasing the die size to eight (d8), we no longer have a one-to-one relationship between die number and answer.

In this die, I imagine a bigger focus in the middle No-but and Yes-but:

• 1: No, and…
• 2: No.
• 3 or 4: No, but…
• 5 or 6: Yes, but…
• 7: Yes.
• 8: Yes, and…

Another step further lead us into d10:

• 1: No, and…
• 2 or 3: No.
• 4 or 5: No, but…
• 6 or 7: Yes, but…
• 8 or 9: Yes.
• 10: Yes, and…

It is kind like the d4, a focus in the middle answers but with the possibility of extremes.

And finally, the d12 would give us:

• 1: No, and…
• 2 or 3: No.
• 4, 5, or 6: No, but…
• 7, 8, or 9: Yes, but…
• 10 or 11: Yes.
• 12: Yes, and…

A bell curve. A much greater focus in the middle answers.

In all honesty, only the first three options – d4, d6, and d8 – are likely to see any use. d10 and d12 I made just because, well, just because.

One last alternative is using a d6, but removing the extremes:

• 1: No.
• 2 or 3: No, but…
• 4 or 5: Yes, but…
• 6: Yes.

#SoloRPG #RPG #Oracle

Why, when there are so many, did I decided to make my own ruleset?

Exactly because there is so many. All of the good, some gooder than others but still.

The one I know best is Ironsworn, but the influency from Fabula Ultima and watching a recent video on someone’s ruleset, Firepit (youtube video) it was called, kind make it feel Ironsworn is not really what I want.

To be honest, I was trying too hard with it.

Is it balanced and I plan to do anything with it?

Absolutelty not.

As my Final Fantasy XIV character says in its search comment: “I’m in for the fun, efficiency be damned.”

Same spirit for balancing stuff out.

As for doing something with it. Not quite.

I started a Writing Challange (https://writingmonth.org/~cavanholi/) 1000 words per day during the days of Lent.

I won’t be rellying on the ruleset for much, my objective is to write. But I may use it if I feel suitable. That’s what about trying too hard. I think I focus too much on the setting, the mechanics of it, when using some ruleset or another, when what I want is to write with some element of chaos.

So no fault to any of the Solo RPG rulesets out there, it is just me being me.

How deep is it?

You know the tip of the iceber that is just above the water. Yeah, that, but just the surface. If you poke it, you will find void inside. That is to say, not deep at all.

They are not rules to build a world, nor there are tables for names and etc. I have Fabula Ultima dn Ironsworn, amongst others, for that if I need it.

It is really an Oracle, built upon that of Firepit; some character stats, akin to Fabula Ultima but not exactly the same; a difficult table, stats modifiers and very basic rules.

I plan to introduce them as in future posts. Unless I forget about this blog for the next dozen years or so.

#RPG #SoloRPG #WritingChallange

With NaNoWriMo coming to an end, I can honestly say I’ve done little to no writing.

This time however, it wasn’t because I was just procrastinating, but because I had most of my attention turned towards Godot and game development – working on a silly idea for about 6 months now, something unheard of me.

I did do some writing about a week ago, and wrote quite a lot, 15000+ in three days. But that rush passed and my mind returned to that game I was working on.

Because of it, I often debated with myself creating a new mastodom account to post GameDev stuff. So I turned to my old domain and decided to reorgnize things a bit.

What was once journal.cavanholi.com, my primary blog at write.as, has now been moved to top-level domain: cavanholi.com.

While the unused secondary blog Azaria being repurposed for GameDev stuff and directed to soul.cavanholi.com.

#Update #Blog #Website #Godot #Writing

The world was dark beneath the Cloudsea.

Behind me, cannon fire trailed the sky missing their mark; ahead, a curtain of rain, the wind dragging us towards it.

Of Red, only his bright eyes could be seen on the dark under the deck.

I dropped the sail and closed the canvas, what little light there was, it was now gone, and darkness surrounded me.

Slowly my eyes adjusted and the faint green from the instruments became visible.

Soon we reached rain, the air suddenly becoming cold.

Red now moved from his hiding place, curling on my lap, breathing softly, sharing what little warm he could.

There was nothing else to do. Tonight, I will let the winds guide us.

#TheCloudsea