Using Attributes
The simple way is to roll a D20 and add the Attribute bonus (or subtract) plus ½ your level. Every 4 levels you get to improve one attribute by 1. The higher the roll the better the result. Some tasks have a difficulty number. The game master may require the Player to write a good character history to determine background skills.
DIFFICULTY NUMBER or DN
Easy 5
Average 10
Moderate 15
Hard 20
Impossible 25+
Backgrounds as Skills
Instead of a huge complicated skill list you just make up a background and from there you get your skills. For instance if you say your character was raised on a farm he would have the knowledges that a rural farm boy would have such as tending to crops and animals, barn building, and a few wood wise skills as well. A city dwelling character would have different knowledges as well. The game master will be the final decider on what a character can have as there will always be the player that tries to great at everything. Give anyone wanting a background as such many troubles that such an adventurous background would give.
Hope to soon have a file hosting site to use.
I have been thinking along similar lines. After reading Spirit of the Century I find the idea of Aspects very interesting. Basically they are short phrases that describe something about the character's backround. They can provide bonuses, sometimes penalties, if the player can justify the relevance to the action they are attempting.
ReplyDelete3D6 + attribute mod = success on 11+
ReplyDelete+/-4 for Very Easy to Very Hard (personally, I use +/-2) to alter the Target of 11+
"Careers" from Barbarians of Lemuria -- choose 1-3 careers in addition to your class depending on how experienced the GM wants a starting player to be
I actually wrote a whole post on using Risus cliche backgrounds for games like swords and wizardry or B/X style DnD. I think it could work really nice. I would make the PC's write up a short 20-50 word paragraph about their background and give it a title.
ReplyDeleteSo Nemo Great minds think alike!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous I might try that. The D20 seems to be faster but the Target 11 is a very intriguing idea.
Cool Rich! You got a link?