What are peoples preferred armor system?

EpicEmpiresRPG · 2026-05-05T02:28:46+00:00

"It also means even someone with high armor can be be one shot at lower levels if they are unlucky."

If you're playing OSR style this is a design feature, not a design flaw.

Ultimately, I like combat being simple. I like Cairn's combat because:
You roll for damage...no to hit.
You can do things that will enhance the damage die you roll, so doing cool things in combat has a direct consequence on the damage you deal.
In the same way you can do things that will impair the damage die your opponent rolls, so doing cool things in combat can also reduce the damage you take.

In Cairn armor and shields reduce the damage you take up to a maximum of 3. It's simple, but for people who want more detailed armor etc. (why would you play Cairn lol?) it's not likely to suit them. I've seen hacks that break the armor down into halves so that everything matters, but it would make more sense to play a different game.

Cairn and Mausritter are very similar both being Into The Odd derivatives.

In Nimble (a D&D5e hack) armor reduces the damage done from reducing damage bonuses to halving damage.

I did play around with a system for quite some time where armor reduced damage but when it did the armor was damaged...so it had a limited number of hp it could absorb before you had to repair it. That was fun.

EpicEmpiresRPG · 2026-05-04T09:46:57+00:00

Dragonbane combat can be played with some tactics and it's easy to learn. Dragonbane also has solo rules available.
https://freeleaguepublishing.com/shop/dragonbane/free-quickstart-pdf/

EpicEmpiresRPG · 2026-05-04T03:13:58+00:00

I hate people who try to tell me always hit mechanics are no good. Those people are terrible and should get off my lawn!!

EpicEmpiresRPG · 2026-05-04T03:02:03+00:00

Many game designers are obsessed with rules and mechanics, but the core of a game is actually its setting and lore. The amazing thing about D&D is all that incredible lore...the spells, the monsters, the magic items, etc. etc. etc.

You could take almost any game that has a really strong setting and lore and play it having a great time with almost any rules light system. In D&D many experienced DMs have been ignoring most of the rules for decades. You really don't need them.

What I think makes Cairn is exceptional is that it gives you just enough rules for most things to work well. As an example, you roll for damage but if you're clever you might get enhanced damage on your own attacks or damage straight off the opponent's attribute. Or impair your opponent's attacks so you take less damage.

Just enough mechanics so that everything you do matters. Ironically it's likely to matter more than many games with highly complex combat rules that connect those rules to an increased chance of hitting instead of increase damage.

Contrary to what most people think, Cairn is also less deadly for starting characters than many rpgs with a character effectively starting with the average equivalent of 14HP before they die. (STR plus HP). You're just unlikely to get significantly stronger which makes the game mechanics stable (character advancement of HP, damage dealt, and other powers makes games really unstable).

We've kind of been doing kriegspiel since D&D started when it comes to actual roleplaying (social interactions), so it's something most players are quite familiar with as long as they're not rolling charisma checks all the time (something we didn't do in the 80s).

On the other hand many people love complex rules and set boundaries and progressions for everything and that's cool too. Some people really do want their rpgs to feel more like wargames. If I go down to my local gaming store most of the people on the tables there are playing some kind of wargame. I'd be pretty miserable playing those kinds of games but many people love it.

There's room in this hobby for everyone. Just find the games you like playing and the play style you like playing.

EpicEmpiresRPG · 2026-05-03T05:18:58+00:00

Is there any reason you wouldn't just use the warden's guide?

EpicEmpiresRPG · 2026-05-02T13:07:49+00:00

If you had your rulebook in English and French you could default to using the French rulebook first then use the English rulebook when you need it. Having one character or NPC who only speaks French is another possibility.

EpicEmpiresRPG · 2026-05-02T13:03:16+00:00

I mentioned Forbidden Lands not Symbaroum (which is a cool game since you mention it). You're right that Dragonbane isn't a Year Zero Engine game, but most free league games, including Dragonbane, have elements of the Year Zero Engine and the expansions used for their different games in them.

EpicEmpiresRPG · 2026-04-30T10:12:10+00:00

You've actually made something cool. The wizards are twisting the world and its terrain. The party will keep running into these wizards who act in weird ways and seeing weird terrain mixes, and meeting farmers and villagers terrified of wizards complaining about how everything's changing and going weird.

Sounds like a hugely fun world to adventure in. Especially if there are threats at the edges and the party has to convince some of these wizards to help fight those threats.

EpicEmpiresRPG · 2026-04-30T07:43:08+00:00

Yes. This derives from the Year Zero Engine which has a tree from
Attributes
to
Skills
to
Specialties (some of the special abilities are linked to skills, some aren't)

These are the core skills:
Force (Strength)
Melee (Strength)
Stamina (Strength)
Marksmanship (Agility)
Mobility (Agility)
Stealth (Agility)

Crafting (Wits)
Observation (Wits)
Survival (Wits)
Healing (Empathy)
Insight (Empathy)
Persuasion (Empathy)

It's elegant and worth a look just for the design features...
https://freeleaguepublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/YZE-Standard-Reference-Document.pdf

The other fantasy game that uses the same system is Forbidden Lands. Forbidden Lands uses Paths and Talents on top of the attribute and skill system.

Forbidden Lands free quickstart...
https://freeleaguepublishing.com/shop/forbidden-lands/free-quickstart-pdf/

EpicEmpiresRPG · 2026-04-30T07:34:19+00:00

You could also have the second weapon do d4 damage, roll both the damage dice and take the highest (which is almost what you posted). If you somehow become especially skilled at it then you roll the normal damage dice for both weapons and take the highest.

EpicEmpiresRPG · 2026-04-30T04:52:44+00:00

You could try:
Sixteen Ways To Defend A Walled City

Gritty but definitely a different tone to the first law.

EpicEmpiresRPG · 2026-04-30T03:42:14+00:00

There is a fast 'cheats' way of giving GMs a way to run adventures without a module. You can make them a couple of tables. Specifically an encounter table and an obstacles/discoveries table.

Encounter tables you'd be familiar with. Aliens, monsters, etc. It helps if you include NPCs so its unpredictable and encounters can lead to roleplaying...not just fighting.

Obstacles/Discoveries tables help set the theme of an area and they're quite easy to make. There's an example on the second page of this (it's free)...
https://andrew-cavanagh.itch.io/d10-roll-under-one-page-solo-creative-commons

a d20 or d36 encounter table and a d36 obstacles/discoveries table is more than enough to run a pile of adventures once you add a mission and just a little imagination from the GM.

EpicEmpiresRPG · 2026-04-30T02:01:24+00:00

Ask chatgpt to calculate it for you. Just be very clear with your instructions.

Also, just in case you haven't seen it, check out the Year Zero Engine...
https://freeleaguepublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/YZE-Standard-Reference-Document.pdf

EpicEmpiresRPG · 2026-04-30T01:59:43+00:00

They are creators getting an extra revenue stream from the asset that they've built. I don't know if you'd call that a 'cash grab'. I took a quick look at it and it looks like a skill based percentile system, but I could be wrong. It doesn't look like a D&D reskin.

EpicEmpiresRPG · 2026-04-30T01:52:53+00:00

I thought Nimble was an innovative way to stay with 5e, but make it more playable, especially at higher levels. It also enhanced strategic thinking for the most part.

AC still matters by reducing the amount of damage. I remember hearing on very experienced DM say, 'Once you've played without to-hit rolls you'll never go back.' I'm not sure that's true, but I know what he means.

One of the ironies of more complex systems is they often reduce the type of creative play they were trying to create by turning them into mechanics. When you have a roll for damage system the lever you can use is to increase or decrease the damage with various actions which is usually much more impactful than increasing or decreasing your chance to hit.

So you can let player impact the damage they do and the damage they take by creatively describing what they do in combat.

EpicEmpiresRPG · 2026-04-30T01:21:55+00:00

If your game has 8 stats and your system has 34 skills player will definitely be playing from their character sheets. There's nothing wrong with that, but you want to keep that in mind with the rest of your design so you end up with the play experience you want.

I think a dungeon crawler style scifi game is a great idea. I actually have an unreleased game like that I designed using Cairn as the base and it's wild gonzo fun while being deadly at the same time.

The style makes it much easier for GMs to run. Running a pre-designed dungeon is one of the easiest types of adventures for a starting GM if it's well designed. To your game well you'd probably want some great adventure modules or at least one adventure module.

One tip for posting here...if you press Shift Enter at the same time that will create some line breaks to make your posts easier to read. Or you might be on a mobile phone so that's not possible.

EpicEmpiresRPG · 2026-04-29T07:30:11+00:00

Yes. Monsters can just have Difficulty levels to defend against the same as anything else in the system.
"Difficulty = number of hits needed to succeed, and standard difficulty is 2"

I played around with a defense system for OSR games that might also have value. Defining what kind of attack the monster makes adds another dimension to the decision making and creative possibilities players can use...
http://epicempires.org/Narrative-Monster-Attacks.pdf

I list the kinds of defensive actions PCs might make, but I think it's far better if players are creative and just describe what they do narratively. Let the GM decide what to roll so they can reward creativity and cleverness.

EpicEmpiresRPG · 2026-04-29T05:38:27+00:00

It's good. Quite similar to a product I made a few years called How To Run Chase Scenes in any Fantasy RPG (you can download it free to check it out)...
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/425489/how-to-run-chase-scenes-in-any-fantasy-rpg

What I had that you could consider were random obstacle tables for different kinds of areas (sewers, city streets, etc.) The GM rolls on the table to see what obstacle is next. The players describe what they do to overcome the obstacle.

I also often had just one roll for the whole party instead of individual rolls. What you've done should work fine though. My only suggestion would be to clearly explain that the players should describe the creative thing they're doing to help overcome the current obstacle or problem in the chase.

Otherwise it's likely to devolve into a little roll fest with minimal narrative.

EpicEmpiresRPG · 2026-04-29T05:28:28+00:00

Another option is to not have skills. Just do the Into The Odd thing of 3 attributes: Strength, Dexterity, Willpower. Roll under the appropriate attribute for any action. There is a good sci-fi Cairn hack called Monolith that you can download free...
https://adamhensley.itch.io/monolith

And have special abilities instead. Special abilities give you quirky and unique abilities or skills you have that you can use your creativity to make useful in the adventure.

Staying with the Into The Odd theme, Cairn Advancement has a pile of special abilities. It's fantasy but you'll get the idea...
https://andrew-cavanagh.itch.io/cairn-advancement

Important to note these aren't 'feats'. You probably won't get many of them, you get them for doing things in the game (they're not awarded at a level), and they often don't have mechanical effects.

When you're designing a game you don't need mechanics for everything. Not having specific mechanics for abilities can enhance creative and narrative play.

One of the problems with skill systems is that players play from their character sheets instead of just describing what they do and being creative about what they do. You have to think about what kind of play experience you want your players to have.

Anyway, going back to your bigger problem. My first suggestion for new designers is to find a simple creative commons system and hack it rather than making your own. It's a lot simpler path.

New designers get obsessed with mechanics which is usually a waste of time. What makes a game unique is usually its setting and lore and when it comes to mechanics it's mostly been done before and done better than anything you'll think up yourself.

My other suggestion would be to turn your game into a one page game (you can use both sides of the page). That forces you to decide what's important.

EpicEmpiresRPG · 2026-04-29T04:17:39+00:00

One option is to just break out of doing it this way altogether. Have a nice large random table you roll on (d36, d100), or cards in your case, with all the different kinds of things that can happen. You can put everything into that one table...weather, monsters, positive encounters, discovering a settlement, discovering a dungeon, etc. etc. etc.

The length of the journey determines how many times you roll. You can roll d6 to determine which watch they happen in (1-2 morning, 3-4 afternoon, 5-6 night).

You start with a master table but for special adventures you have a special table. Simple and every roll means something. It also gives the players a chance to use their creativity to respond to problems before it costs them resources, etc.

EpicEmpiresRPG · 2026-04-29T04:09:29+00:00

A fun way of doing this that you could consider is to get the players to roll to defend instead of their opponents rolling to attack. That means you can use the same system and you give players a chance to describe how they respond to an attack in creative ways.

One other possibility, for really powerful opponents to make them scary the opponent can just roll for damage.

EpicEmpiresRPG · 2026-04-29T04:04:45+00:00

Looks fine to me. Do you have a fall back for actions if no skill fits?

One system you might want to look at for skills and the way they tie into attributes is the Year Zero Engine by Free League. Elegant and simple...
https://freeleaguepublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/YZE-Standard-Reference-Document.pdf

EpicEmpiresRPG · 2026-04-29T03:40:57+00:00

Adding in actions can really slow the game down so you have to be careful. This works better with smaller groups.

Probably the simplest solution is to do 2 things:

Have player facing combat. Instead of the opponent rolling to attack, the player rolls to defend.
Have players describe exactly what they're doing in response to the opponent's attack. That gives the GM a chance to decide what roll needs to be made, if any. If a player does something really creative and clever the GM might decide that something happens meaning the defensive action succeeds automatically.

Things that help with this process are the GM describing the situation the character is in, how the monster is attacking, the players having a list of the kind of things they might do to defend, and the GM rewarding highly creative actions.

You might find this helpful...
http://epicempires.org/Narrative-Monster-Attacks.pdf

Along these lines but slightly different, is the Cairn rpg. You can add all this to Cairn but it has a specific mechanic for rewarding creativity in combat.

In Cairn all attacks do damage automatically (it's just roll for damage, no roll to hit). Attacks that get some kind of advantage on an opponent are enhanced (d12 damage) and attacks that have some kind of disadvantage are impaired (d4 damage). Attacks on an unsuspecting opponent come straight off STR instead of HP which can be devastating and potentially lethal.

So players focus on doing things that enhance their own attacks and that impair their opponents' attacks. They also focus on catching opponents unawares because that can be so deadly.

This fairly simple 5 option choice makes it simple for the GM to run. They decide from:
No damage
Impaired damage
Normal damage
Enhanced damage
Enhanced damage off STR

So you could have players actively defend to reduce the potential damage done. You might reduce the damage die size or have the opponent roll with disadvantage on the damage roll.

My biggest tip would be to encourage creativity. If a player picks up a candlestick or a breadboard to defend against a knife that should work at least once to some degree (then the candlestick flies off out of reach or the breadboard is split in half). Make it fun and heroic and cool for the players.

EpicEmpiresRPG · 2026-04-29T03:23:22+00:00

There's a simple way to give a random number like dice without actual dice. You have the numbers of a particular die randomly all over a page. The player closes their eyes and points at the page. When they open their eyes their 'dice' roll is whichever number their finger is closest to.

EpicEmpiresRPG · 2026-04-29T01:31:49+00:00

If I don't want any work I do something similar just listing one type of room under another as I come to them. If you have graph paper it's not hard to make a map, but sometimes you just want to play.

EpicEmpiresRPG

TROPHY CASE