Hi,
I want to implement my first small 2D RPG. I am not a trained game designer, so I thought taking an already done rule set. Here are a lot of Pen & Paper RPG rules, however I dont think they form a good basis for a computer RPG.
I am looking for something turn-based, like the Fallout-games, maybe with some special skills for the characters or without the talking stuff.
So what can you recommend?
I am not sure if I am allowed to buy any rule set book and move that to the computer? Seems like I would get into trouble doing that...
Looking for a RPG rule set
As long as you don't release the game and only do it as a training exercise, I don't think it would be an issue.
Do you just want system rules, or do you want to add in a list of possible abilities as well?
Do you just want system rules, or do you want to add in a list of possible abilities as well?
Author
I would like to release that game, of course. Preferably as Open Source 
For the beginning I need system rules and (very) later some abilities.
For the beginning I need system rules and (very) later some abilities.
You cannot use a rule set for a pen and paper in a commercially released game without being explicitly authorized to do so. Game systems in pen and paper games are copyrighted, and a company is not likely to give a random person permission to use it-- particularly not for free.
Computer RPGs are often pretty faithful to pen and paper game systems in a lot of ways, although the computer versions offer less flexibility out of necessity. You can look to an existing rule set for inspiration, and a lot of things are very common to all rule sets (like basic stats of strength, agility, etc.).
In your position, I might come up with a very simple set of rules on my own and build on it as my vision for the design takes shape.
Computer RPGs are often pretty faithful to pen and paper game systems in a lot of ways, although the computer versions offer less flexibility out of necessity. You can look to an existing rule set for inspiration, and a lot of things are very common to all rule sets (like basic stats of strength, agility, etc.).
In your position, I might come up with a very simple set of rules on my own and build on it as my vision for the design takes shape.
Author
You cannot use a rule set for a pen and paper in a commercially released game without being explicitly authorized to do so. Game systems in pen and paper games are copyrighted, and a company is not likely to give a random person permission to use it-- particularly not for free.
Yeah, I expected that. But there must be some free rules sets available, I think... but where?
In your position, I might come up with a very simple set of rules on my own and build on it as my vision for the design takes shape.[/quote]
I am already stuck at "Who is next is this round?" based von Agility ...
I have a basic RPG system that I made that I don't really care if anyone uses (I consider it as public domain).
I call it Heroix.
The basic system composes of 3 stat types:
- Abilities
- Powers
- Skills
The Abilities are:
Muscle
Body
Agility
Mind
Each ability has a value from 1 to 5 (1 being the worst and 5 being the best). All Abilities start at 3, but during character creation, players can move points from 1 Ability to an other on a 1 for 1 basis (the number of changes are up to you, but I had 3 changes to start with and then the player can move 1 point each level).
Powers are like Abilities, however their is no set powers (other than what you as the designer wants), and powers tend to suffer damage and receive healing much more than abilities. Like Abilities, Powers range from 1 to 5 (a power at 0 essentially does not exist for the character). Powers are usually treated like an Ability, but they cna be used as a reserve of points for certain actions a character might want to occasionally do.
Skills are not set (the original PnP design just had the players create their own skill names). They range from 1 to 5 (a skill at 0 does not effect anything about the character and so can be though of as not existing for the character although technically it could just as easily). All skills start at 0.
When a character does something, they make a check. This is done by rolling an Ability or Power and adding the most appropriate Skill value. The die rolled for an Ability is dependent on the value of the Ability or Power. Every action that had a chance of failure entailed a check, either against a set amount (Rating) or as a contested check rolled against another character's (or enemy's) check value.
A value of
1 = 1D4
2 = 1D6
3 = 1D8
4 = 1D10
5 = 1D12
So the die value is essentially (2 * value) + 2.
The main variety of the system comes from the Powers and the Skills. Typically Powers are treated like Abilities, but because they are not required for normal actions, they are optional. However, because Powers can act in other ways too, it gives them more flexibility than just Abilities have.
As an example: Your character might have a Power called "Manna". Each time the character cases a spell, it take a point of manna to do so (actually, because the numbers are so low, I used a system where the player could attempt to resist this damage to their manna so that each spell did not necessarily drain a point, but there was instead a chance that it could happen). When they rest, they can recover their manna.
In terms of game mechanics, Manna is "Damaged" each time it is used, and resting heals it.
Skills are the other way to make the system flexible. Essentially, any action the character can do can be represented as a skill. If the skill is at 0, the character can still attempt the action, but they might not be very good at it.
Equipment acted much the same as skills do, with the equipment adding a value to the die roll of an action, however, items could give both bonuses and penalties which means the value you add varied from -5 to +5.
Experience was handled with the player getting 1 point each session. They could spend points to level up an Ability, Power or Skill, but to do so would cost a number of XP equal to the current level +1 of the Ability, Power or Skill was at. So to raise a level 3 Ability to level 4 would cost 4 experience points. To raise it to level 5 would cost another 5 points (Which means to raise a skill from level 0 to level 5 would take 15 points (which would be 15 sessions of play). Each time they did this it would be considered levelling up (and so they could move an Ability point from one Ability to another at the same time if they wanted).
Because Each skill constituted an action that could be taken, players were free to make up the skills they wanted to as action (although there were some default actions that could be done).
The idea was to make a general role-play system that can be easily customised to fit any genera that I wanted. However, as a computer game, you would probably have a set of actions and powers to suit your own world, and not let the players make up their own. You could also have certain actions only available if a player has at least 1 point in the Skill for it. This would allow you to have Magic Spells that the character can learn as these "actions" would be essentially hidden from the player and character until they learnt them (and if they don't know about them they can't just put a point into them -so to learn them they might need to seek out a teacher to learn the spell when they have an experience point ready to spend).
The system also allows character to either become a Jack of All trades or a Specialist, or somewhere in between. It is class less, but you will likely get players developing build that they consider effective for certain roles.
The other idea you could use with it is to increase the numbers (as players like big numbers
). If you multiplied every number by 1000 and allowed the player to have stats and such at any number (So an Ability of 2545 would be allowed), then the system still works as is with little change. This way player can tweak their characters in a more fine grained way.
It is not a complete system, but it is the skeleton of a flexible system that can be easily changed to suit any genera you need and can be adapted with out much of a problem into a computer game.
I call it Heroix.
The basic system composes of 3 stat types:
- Abilities
- Powers
- Skills
The Abilities are:
Muscle
Body
Agility
Mind
Each ability has a value from 1 to 5 (1 being the worst and 5 being the best). All Abilities start at 3, but during character creation, players can move points from 1 Ability to an other on a 1 for 1 basis (the number of changes are up to you, but I had 3 changes to start with and then the player can move 1 point each level).
Powers are like Abilities, however their is no set powers (other than what you as the designer wants), and powers tend to suffer damage and receive healing much more than abilities. Like Abilities, Powers range from 1 to 5 (a power at 0 essentially does not exist for the character). Powers are usually treated like an Ability, but they cna be used as a reserve of points for certain actions a character might want to occasionally do.
Skills are not set (the original PnP design just had the players create their own skill names). They range from 1 to 5 (a skill at 0 does not effect anything about the character and so can be though of as not existing for the character although technically it could just as easily). All skills start at 0.
When a character does something, they make a check. This is done by rolling an Ability or Power and adding the most appropriate Skill value. The die rolled for an Ability is dependent on the value of the Ability or Power. Every action that had a chance of failure entailed a check, either against a set amount (Rating) or as a contested check rolled against another character's (or enemy's) check value.
A value of
1 = 1D4
2 = 1D6
3 = 1D8
4 = 1D10
5 = 1D12
So the die value is essentially (2 * value) + 2.
The main variety of the system comes from the Powers and the Skills. Typically Powers are treated like Abilities, but because they are not required for normal actions, they are optional. However, because Powers can act in other ways too, it gives them more flexibility than just Abilities have.
As an example: Your character might have a Power called "Manna". Each time the character cases a spell, it take a point of manna to do so (actually, because the numbers are so low, I used a system where the player could attempt to resist this damage to their manna so that each spell did not necessarily drain a point, but there was instead a chance that it could happen). When they rest, they can recover their manna.
In terms of game mechanics, Manna is "Damaged" each time it is used, and resting heals it.
Skills are the other way to make the system flexible. Essentially, any action the character can do can be represented as a skill. If the skill is at 0, the character can still attempt the action, but they might not be very good at it.
Equipment acted much the same as skills do, with the equipment adding a value to the die roll of an action, however, items could give both bonuses and penalties which means the value you add varied from -5 to +5.
Experience was handled with the player getting 1 point each session. They could spend points to level up an Ability, Power or Skill, but to do so would cost a number of XP equal to the current level +1 of the Ability, Power or Skill was at. So to raise a level 3 Ability to level 4 would cost 4 experience points. To raise it to level 5 would cost another 5 points (Which means to raise a skill from level 0 to level 5 would take 15 points (which would be 15 sessions of play). Each time they did this it would be considered levelling up (and so they could move an Ability point from one Ability to another at the same time if they wanted).
Because Each skill constituted an action that could be taken, players were free to make up the skills they wanted to as action (although there were some default actions that could be done).
The idea was to make a general role-play system that can be easily customised to fit any genera that I wanted. However, as a computer game, you would probably have a set of actions and powers to suit your own world, and not let the players make up their own. You could also have certain actions only available if a player has at least 1 point in the Skill for it. This would allow you to have Magic Spells that the character can learn as these "actions" would be essentially hidden from the player and character until they learnt them (and if they don't know about them they can't just put a point into them -so to learn them they might need to seek out a teacher to learn the spell when they have an experience point ready to spend).
The system also allows character to either become a Jack of All trades or a Specialist, or somewhere in between. It is class less, but you will likely get players developing build that they consider effective for certain roles.
The other idea you could use with it is to increase the numbers (as players like big numbers
). If you multiplied every number by 1000 and allowed the player to have stats and such at any number (So an Ability of 2545 would be allowed), then the system still works as is with little change. This way player can tweak their characters in a more fine grained way.It is not a complete system, but it is the skeleton of a flexible system that can be easily changed to suit any genera you need and can be adapted with out much of a problem into a computer game.
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