! Design Goals !

Rules Light Design Goals:

I want this system to be a generic, rules light fantasy system that will be a mesh somewhere between D&D and fabula ultima. I want your choices of how you build your character to matter but also because of the low amount of stats (4) to limit how far you can take a character (so a single character cant be good at everything).

• their can be many mechanics in the game, but all the mechanics should be very simple, intuitive and straightforward

• I possibly want to have pc bonding system for bonus to checks to things they do together.

• I want a gridless game oriented towards theatre of the mind.

• I don't want the game to have classes as this will bog down play with characters having 300 abilities but we need an alternative in order to make sure each character is not just 4 Attributes. Perhaps a copy of Gurps powers?

• I want the advancement of a character to not be making existing abilities stronger, or about getting better abilities, but father getting more powers with small improvements to your core Attributes

• Fabula ultimas simplicity+video game feel with skills boosting+breaking rules,combined with d&d hilarity from item and spell effects and their choice of words/ability for the spells/items to be creativly used. Exe. heat water, being used inside a person with gurps costomizability

• one of the effects of spells in 5e taking a more problem solving approach + combat approach is that fabula in comparison feels almost strictly combat oriented. Spells in 5e can be used for problem solving just like physical abilities can.

• Pushing rolls in place of luck

• A centerpiece of the game-play should revolve around keeping you Life Attributes up and avoiding lowering them by too much

• we don't want durability or degrading rules for items. That is very un-video-gamey. If we have them they should be very all-encompassing. No durability ratings for individual items but a general mantaince cost for your gear.

• Hungry, dirty, cold, tired, intoxicated, worn gear, could be fun sorts of negative modifiers for enviromental effect

it might be good to consider

• I have wished for group checks in d&d so we should have them

• Decide how group checks work

• Need to decide if theirs any rules for cover. Cover could be a combat action or skill as an alternative

• Need to decide if combat has front and back sections

• Need to decide how initiative works in game and if their is a seperate initiative score [yes], their are a couple options. A plus to having and initiative score is skills or buffs that give a bonus to initiative.

• d&d- everyone rolls plus their own initiative score, order by highest number.

• Fabula- group check to see who goes first then alternating between friendlies then enemies.

• winner takes all- group check or highest roll (maybe same thing), winning group acts first followed by loosing group.

• this system will be a d12 system. a d12 is rolled for all attack rolls and skill rolls to determine the success of any given task. Characters have

• decide if crisis rules from fabula are needed/a thing

• decide on the validity of class ultimate skills from fabula/ how to limit powerful spells by type

General Observations:

A choice I tend to see a lot of RPG designers making is wanting a certian game mechanic to work so they just input the math that will Make their desired game mechanic work, even if it ends up looking like*
stat + (skill÷2) - int mod + REF
In fact this Its too complicated and designers should step back and see

Fabula Ultima as a whole is a combat oriented system. spells do not have uses outside of combat and spells are always about damage, buffing, debuffs, healing and the like, never about, opening locked doors, teleporting, finding things and the like. I want this system to have fabulas simplicity and "video gamey" feel while still having many social abilities and non combat oriented spells. the ability to use, spells, skills and abilities while

balancing Video-gamey rigidity but clarity vs TTRPG's abstractness but freedom of creativity will be the largest trouble of this game. might need to think of guidelines as we flesh out Skills

their will be no positioning in the game or speed or a map so abilities, powers and the individual ways characters break the normal rules matter all the more.

characters should be able to utilize all powers, not be restricted by their "class"

the only types of things in the game should be things that affect numerical values. players having a comb in their inventory or not is useless when it come to numbers for things. now a magic comb giving a boost to aura checks that involve seducing someone is worth noting and counting towards your inventory specifically

Classes Translated

Classical dnd classes