Magical Ripples

My heartbreaker magic system is currently a corruption of the GLOG dice pool. All characters have a Magic Chance Die size ranging from d4 to d12. The die size represents the level of control a character has over the figurative magical streams running through the world. However, characters can only cast spells if they have an arcane focus of some kind (wands, gems, etc) which grants them a number of Magic Chance Dice to play around with. Casting a spell at level 3 requires rolling 3 MCd.

Unless otherwise noted, the spell always goes off.

Every time a 1-3 is rolled, the magic die is downgraded to the next smallest die size. If the same number comes up on multiple dice, consult the table below. [Level] refers to the level at which the spell was cast. [You] refers to a 50% chance that the spell affects a random party member instead.

Magical Ripple / Splash
MCd	Doubles	Trebles	Quadruples	Quintuples
1	You cast a random spell at the target instead of the original spell.	The spell is twice as effective but you forget the spell. You must learn it again to be able to cast it.	You have lit a magical beacon - the number of unnatural creatures in this world will now increase substantially.	You explode.
2	A level [Level] monster pops into existence 10 x [Level] ft away.	Every Full Rest, [You] must make an INT test with difficulty = [Level]. On a failure, [you] transform into a domestic animal appropriate to [your] character for a day.	All trace of [you] is removed from the annals of history. Your party members must each pass an INT test - only those who pass have any memory of [you].	You and one other member of the party explode.
3	[You] and one random NPC take [Level]d6 magical damage.	[Your] attributes are mirrored. Swap STR with CHA, DEX with WIS and CON with INT.	[You] are immediately transported into the Gardens of Ynn or the Stygian Library. You must escape alone, or the party must rescue you.	You and all bar one of the party explode.
4	[Your] eyes turns a random colour.	[Level] NPCs from your past are instantly turned to stone.	An identical (but morally opposite) copy of [you] appears.	Everyone in the room explodes.
5	[Your] sweat corrodes metal.	[You] can regenerate lost limbs within a day, and have advantage on rolls to recover from injury. You take double damage from fire.	[Your] physical appearance switches with that of a random NPC.	Everyone in five miles explodes.
6	[You] age 5 x [Level] years.	[You] learn a new random spell.	All plant life within 10 x [Level] miles of you withers and dies.	Anyone the PCs have met explodes.
7	[You] get 5 x [Level] years younger.	Heavy snow falls in a two-mile radius for [Level] weeks.	The party finds themselves in a tiny pocket dimension.	The nation explodes.
8	[You] change gender.	All the metal [you] are carrying merges together to form a golem of level [Level]. This mindless construct is bound to [your] service. its size is dependent on the quantity of metal.	All ageing in a 10 mile radius around you halts for a year.	The continent explodes.
9	[Your] feet become hands.	[Your] hand vanishes. You can still feel and control it, but cannot see it.	Magic disappears from the world for a week.	The world explodes.
10  11  12	A character from the nearest book or picture comes to life.	You are suddenly aware of the location of a long-forgotten castle, and know the secret to getting in.	The earth in a 10 mile radius around you sinks 10 miles.	The universe explodes. A new one forms in the aftermath.

Chance would be a fine thing

To allow for a bit of differentiation between classless characters in my heartbreaker rpg, I'm including a separate mechanic in addition to attribute tests - chance dice.

(N.B. possibly helpful to note at this stage that attribute tests - for task resolution - are now being treated similarly to The White Hack mechanic: Difficulty Rating ≤ d20 roll ≥ Attribute Value.)

Respectfully ripped off from The Black Hack's usage die (TBH) and Macchiato Monsters' risk die (MM), with a nod also to Pulp Alley's gameplay, the chance die represent the uncertain diminishing of a resource. Roll the die: on a 4+ you keep the die, but on a 1 to 3 the die is 'downgraded' to the next smallest die (e.g. d8 to d6). If a d4 is downgraded, the resource has run out.

(I've gone with MM's choice to change the failure of TBH's usage die from 1-2 to 1-3 because a) I'm used to to Pulp Alley's 4+ system and b) I like the fact that when the die is reduced to a d4 you know that the next use of the resource will probably be the last - a character should have an inkling that something is about to run out.)

It removes intricate bookkeeping but still allows for a resource management-focused game. TBH also used it for working out the duration of drugs & diseases, and MM pushed the use to pretty much every aspect of adventuring. I'm somewhere between the two. In addition to tracking consumable items like torches and rations, I want to use it to cover the three elements of fantasy rpgs that classes usually cover: combat, skill and magic.

Armour

In an effort to keep combat a player-facing experience, all NPCs will deal their average damage on if a character unsuccessfully defends (usually their Level/HD +1). The Armour Chance Die roll (ACd) adds the random element - whatever it rolls is subtracted from the average damage to a minimum of 1. If it rolls 1-3, that represents wear and tear. Armour can be repaired one step every rest.

The ACd depends on the armour being worn.

Luck

After rolling an attribute test of any kind (though I'm tempted to open this up to any roll), the play can also roll their Luck Chance Die (LCd) and modify the original roll by up to that amount. Rolling a 1-3 represents quite simply a character's luck running out.

A character starts with LCd6, and may upgrade this with enough experience to a maximum of LCd10.

Magic

Pretty much an adaptation of the GLOG casting system, a character casting a spell rolls a number of MCd equal to the level of spell they want to cast. Any doubles result in a magical mishap, any triples in a much, much worse mishap. Some spells use the total of the dice rolled. The MCd is downgraded for every 1-3 rolled, showing the caster's increasing mental exhaustion.

A character starts with 1MCd6, and may upgrade and increase the number with enough experience to a maximum of 5MCd10. Most won't start with any spells.

This will invariably make magic rather powerful (as it should be), but players not being able to choose their spells from a list should mitigate this, and if things go wrong they do so spectacularly (as it should be).

I like presenting players with options, and as players advance their characters they will have to be weighing up between going for greater power (more MCd for casting higher levels) and greater control (higher MCd for reducing risk of doubles and triples).

In that vein, I want to add an extra use for ACd and LCd so that players don't automatically reach for them if they want to resist damage or improve their roll. Hence:

Injuries

If reduced to 0 Stamina, the character must roll in the Injuries Table. For physical injuries, roll both your LCd and ACd and take the highest, then subtract any Stamina lost caused beyond 0. For mental or magical injuries, roll both your LCd and MCd and take the highest.

When an injury is rolled, the mechanical effects should be interpreted with a descriptive wound.

Injuries each take up a Slot and have an Injury Chance Die (ICd). At each night's rest roll the ICd. On a 1-3 the die is downgraded to show that the injury is getting better. The injury continues to take up a Slot until it is downgraded from an ICd4. At this point any ongoing mechanical effects are also removed, though narrative injuries (such as a missing limb) remain.

 The character remains at 0 Stamina until a rest allows then to regain some.

Injury Table
Total	ICd	Injury
0 and under	n/a	Dead Roll up a new character!
1	ICd12	Dying Dead in d6 rounds unless an ally helps them with a WIS test. (difficulty rating = how much damage the character took)
2	ICd10	Lose d4 from a random attribute.
3	ICd8	Lose d4 stamina every test for a random attribute.
4	ICd6	Disadvantage on all tests for a random attribute.
5	ICd4	Your stamina may only increase up to half your CON.
6	ICd4	You always go after NPCs in the turn order.
7 and above	ICd4	No further ill effect.

Look at that, a bona fide HTML table right out from the 90s!

Now the player has to ponder whether they ought to save their ACd or LCd for the injury table, though doing so only enhances their chances of not dying. Getting injured is still pretty brutal, if nothing else but for the loss of item slots.

As an aside these injuries also allow a character to continue to take part in a scene rather than a player having to sit out a couple of rounds, at the greater risk of more injury / death. Always give players the option.

Giving mechanics a fighting chance

TL;DR - the rules I'm thinking of running with are at the end of the post. The guff in between is my convoluted thought process.


Early in my GMing career, the player characters had captured an interrogated an orc warrior. Satisfied that they wouldn't get anything further out of him, one player declared that he would slit the orc's throat. There was an expectant silence - would I ask for an attack roll? An initiative roll? I hesitated, because I knew the orc's HP was way above what the character could cause, even with a critical hit? And there was a risk of him missing a bound, prone target. But, mechanically, was this not combat?

I like combat. I came to RPGs with a tabletop wargaming background, and still enjoy reading and playing out scenarios and battles. I have not, however, really been comfortable with the way that many tabletop RPGs play out in pretty much the way old computer turn-based RPGs used to: walking along normally, everyone together,  until a foe is spotted, whereupon suddenly we are in 'combat mode', and everyone does everything on their turn and then waits for everyone else to do their things on their respective turns.

'Combat Mode' then completely changes how we think about things. Play D&D 5e and you find yourself pondering the most effective use of your actions, bonus actions and reactions, all the while wondering what you might get away with as a free action. I like many aspects of 5e, and combat at lower levels is great! But it can quickly become too similar to the Fallout 1 & 2 fights whereby you change your style to squeeze as much use out of those action points as possible. It works for a single-player computer game, but in a tabletop RPG you've got other players getting bored.

Forget actions, sub-actions and whatnot. I want my homebrew to encourage players on their turn to just do the thing!

I like the combat systems in Knave and The Black Hack: roll a Strength check if you're in melee, roll a Wisdom / Dexterity check if you're making or dodging a ranged attack. The same mechanics as if you were trying to do or respond to something out of combat, the only difference being a turn order.

This also may help rectify another side effect of the 'combat mode' - the 'I make a weapon attack' playstyle. In many games, whatever you narrate yourself as doing with the dagger - be it slitting a throat, slicing a hamstring or stabbing a crotch - the effect is still a roll on the damage die and that's it. Therefore, a player has little incentive to invest more effort into becoming their character since it will all amount to the same mechanical result. If anything, they may disadvantage themselves since they might be asked to make a roll without their attack bonus!

There are some rulesets out there which give combat-orientated characters some options. I like the ones I first saw in the No Class Hack, whereby characters could pick abilities whereby they rolled particularly well on an attack roll they could disarm the opponent or throw them off balance with a feint, but hiding these behind an ability means that otherwise perfectly capable characters in a melee can't disarm or feint.

One way to deal with an invulnerable skeleton jelly

I want players to think creatively, and not be hamstrung by too rigid a system.

I like the Gambits mechanic, which I believe I saw in one of the Goblin Laws of Gaming offshoots (* in between writing and reviewing this, I've seen it in Spwack's Die Trying ruleset), whereby a player asks for a bonus on a hit at the risk of an increased penalty if they miss. A character might try to stab an enemy in the leg to slow them down so on a hit, in addition to a damage roll, the opponent's movement might be halved. Miss, however, and the character has left an opening - maybe they get an immediate attack against them, or they are defending the next attack at disadvantage. It's a very simple addition to a standard task roll, gets players thinking creatively and generally takes advantage of the fact that we're not playing a computer game with pretty limited options.

The example above alludes to another design choice: player-facing rolls. I really like the idea of the players doing as much of the rolling as possible, and for this I'm taking much inspiration from The Black Hack. An NPC's Armour Class is derived from their Hit Die, and more specifically the difference between their Hit Die and the Character's level. My version differs slightly in that I want to simplify things so that the NPC's AC and attacks are one and the same: 10 + the NPC's Level (i.e. HD). That's the target number a character needs to beat on an Attribute roll whether they are making an attack or defending against one.

Each Character has a Damage Die, and this is modified depending on their weapon (using the dice chain d4 < d6 < d8 < d10 < d12). So if a Character's expected combat attack involves them rolling an Attribute test and possibly a damage roll.

Rather than get players rolling an enemy's damage inflicted upon their characters (because I ideally want to avoid any situation whereby a player has to subconsciously hope for a low die roll), I want most NPCs to have a flat damage output. The Black Hack has a table basically showing how Damage Die linked to an NPC's HD averages out to HD + 1. So that's my rule.

The characters have a chance to reduce this damage by rolling their Armour Chance Die (ACd), which is another bastardised blend of a mechanic, this time from The Black Hack and Macchiato Monsters. Armour gives a Character an ACd (again using the dice chain) to roll - whatever they roll is damage resisted, and is taken away from the enemy attack which can be reduced to a minimum of 1. If the roll is a 1, 2 or 3, however, the ACd is downgraded one step, and can be destroyed entirely.

This means that a character defending also involves two rolls: an Attribute test and possibly an armour roll.

All of which might suggest that character's might not be getting all that much damage in initial combat. This should be remedied by the relatively limited health characters will be getting, and the fact that a player may want to save their ACd for their Injury roll if reduced to 0 Stamina, rather than risk it being rendered useless beforehand.

Good golly, these rules read like they're getting out of hand. I will have to sit back and reflect, and then streamline at a later date...

-

-

So, some of the combat-related rules I'm considering are as follows (in minimal, probably unclear form):

Attribute Roll: proactive or reactive actions relating to the environment.

d20 + Attribute > Target Difficulty (usually between 15 and 20, any lower and they shouldn't be rolling)

Contested Attribute Roll: proactive or reactive actions relating to NPCs (such as attacking and defending against attacks)

d20 + Attribute > 10 + Opponent's Level

Attribute for melee attack / defence - Might
Attribute for ranged attack / defence - Finesse

Gambit: Negotiate with the GM before an attack or defence roll, suggesting a bonus on a success at the risk of suffering a worse penalty upon failure. Not for inflicting more damage on an enemy.

Critical Success: an unmodified roll of a 20 on a d20. The Player can narrate an extra benefit. An attack causes maximum damage on the Damage Die. If defending in melee, automatically inflict one normal hit upon your attacker.

Critical Failure: an unmodified roll of a 1 on a d20. The Character faces an extra penalty. Receive twice as much damage from an attacker or, if attacking in melee, the defender inflicts one automatic hit upon you.

Inflicting Damage: roll the appropriate Damage Die.

Unarmed - use a d4 for a Damage Die.
Light Melee Weapon - downgrade character's Damage Die. Roll twice and take the higher if armed with one in each hand, but may not use a shield.
One-Handed Melee Weapon - roll character's Damage Die.
Two-Handed Melee Weapon - upgrade character's Damage Die. May not use a shield.
Ranged Weapon - roll character's Damage Die.
Heavy Ranged Weapon - upgrade character's Damage Die. May not move and attack in the same turn.

Receiving Damage: a standard enemy attack inflicts their Level + 1 damage. A Character may try to resist the damage with their Armour Chance Die.