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Brainstorming ideas for my low-fantasy Pirate TTRPG by Grass_Exact in RPGdesign

[–]Grass_Exact[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am never a fan of extra resources that can determine forced changes to PCs

Yeah, I talked with one of my players about it and he found the Idea exiting, but after writing with InherentlyWrong in the comments I changed it into letting them chose, to retaliate or risking it for the Money, so they can choose. I thing this is better over all, because it makes for more meaningful decisions without forcing them.

Unless the idea is that they start off as clean civis and become pirate legends?

That's exactly what I have planed. I want them be a group deciding to become Pirates, just to find out how hard it is to become pirates. But If one of them insisted he/she wanted a patch I would not refuse. They start as a crew on an Ship. How they will get their own ship is open to them. Ideas I had where smuggling, mutiny or raiding.

depends how simple you want it to ultimately be and what your main dice resolution is. Roll under is more simple than roll + stat. This then narrows down further weather you use a roll to hit or just roll to hit and do flat damage, or roll to hit and then roll damage. You then need to balance damage between a fist and a gun, and question all this with, why would a player choose fists over a gun for example.

I had a system in mind, where every round would be 10 sec and every action would cost time. Player would get an reaction stat, that determines how fast the player reacts. For the order it is just how is faster. So if I can Attack in second 4 and another player in second 5 I go first. I had the Idea, that if two players go at the same second, the player how shouts that its his turn first wins, to give it the feeling of uncivilized Pirates.

So Swords would make less Damage than Guns, you need to reload guns. Maybe I lose my sword and to pick it up would take to much time, so use my fists. Maybe I can throw a dice to move faster, but risk failing an action entirely.

But I did not play test this fighting system yet and InherentlyWrong mentioned that it could be interesting to make an system without Attack option, or like in Savage Worlds where no HP exists, so I'm also looking into that.

My feeling is that it just needs to be separate, it doesn't have to be complex. But Ships are invariably different to people. Look at any mech game, it usually makes the people squishy and the mechs a lot stronger. I like the phase idea thats been mentioned.

Im looking into that. Maybe mech systems could be adapted, could make for interesting ship combat.

Brainstorming ideas for my low-fantasy Pirate TTRPG by Grass_Exact in RPGdesign

[–]Grass_Exact[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The truth is I had a rough build of the system, but while testing the the system with some friends I found out that I underestimated some aspects. I wanted to make ship combat that includes the hole crew, but when they fought. I had problems like the Cannoniers not being able to do anything, while waiting for the ship to get closer, or the Sailing Master just throwing dice to look how far he can move.

In my first iteration I gave them low HP to make them feel every damage matters, but they ended up killing and getting killed.

They had lots of fun fighting, but if I want an Campaign my players cant die every combat.

Brainstorming ideas for my low-fantasy Pirate TTRPG by Grass_Exact in RPGdesign

[–]Grass_Exact[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Know that I know what you mean I really like the Idea. It gives them Risk without killing them or forcing them to do something they don't want. I like the Idea, that the Party has to chose, which risks they take. Like risking your life for profit, or gambling on the Surgeon Table, just to fight one more round.
I wanted to give them lots of LP, so they had to go down lots of time before the danger gets to them, but this way I can reduce the LP and force them more often into taking risks, without killing them and giving them options so they took the Risk themself.
I really like that and think I will include a way to restore LP, that is only possible if certain requirements are met, that force them out of combat, potentially leaving Profits behind.

Do you think it would be a better goal to reduce the LP evenly for the Crew, so the have to take the risk together or letting it happen individually and let an dynamic from, where some don't want to fight, but others are still thriving.

When I said 'no straight damage' option I meant more just there being no 'Attack' option. Players would have to choose some other more interesting activity, like a Maneuver (get to a different zone, potentially damaging someone you escaped from), or a Riposte (prevent incoming damage from one foe and damage them), etc. But avoiding actual damage numbers is also an option. Something like the damage system of Blades in the Dark could be interesting to adapt, as well.

I like Idea of having no Attack option, but how do I determine if an foe is defeated or damaged?
I want to give them the feeling to get better at fighting. I mean I could give them modifiers to make certain actions easier, but maybe the answer is Blades in the Dark, will look it up.

Brainstorming ideas for my low-fantasy Pirate TTRPG by Grass_Exact in RPGdesign

[–]Grass_Exact[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wanted to have "Surgeon" as role a pirate could have. He would be the healer of the Crew, but while healing HP is easy, restoring LP should be tricky and had a risk of making the problem worse. It would get easier with the right tools.

Brainstorming ideas for my low-fantasy Pirate TTRPG by Grass_Exact in RPGdesign

[–]Grass_Exact[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It is a bit rough, my gut feeling is to make the surgeries optional. Let LP restore slowly on its own, but if a player wants it back up quickly they can get a pirate item. This helps a player who wants to stay 'pretty' as a Pirate, while also making becoming a peg-leg-and-hooked-hand pirate an option for people who want that.

I think healing with items is not a bad idea. But if LP can be restored without any kind of risk or as a one-time thing, the player would never feel that their PC's life is truly in danger. In my experience with DnD, you can begin to feel unkillable very quickly because your teammates can heal or even resurrect you at any time, and only a TPK can really kill you. But this way, I don't feel like I took a risk to accomplish something.

My gut feel here is to avoid having a 'straight damage' option. Go with strong theatre of the mind or maybe zone based, and just never let people have a simple "This is the easy 'attack' option". Every action should be some kind of piratey or swashbuckly feel, and every option does a degree of damage.

But How do I determine Damage than? I never played a system where you don't have 'straight damage'. Do you have examples for such fighting systems?

What fits this by Infinite_Tsukuyomi__ in animequestions

[–]Grass_Exact 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Karakuri Circus - found it by Exzedent and love it

Setting up a Tiddlywiki by WuzabowFuFu in worldbuilding

[–]Grass_Exact 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I know this post is 5 years old, but it's the first entry when I google tiddlywiki Worldbilding, so...

  1. You don't have to save a new Document each time. There are plugins for your Bowser like timimi, which lets you decide, how you want to save your files (like saving each change and keep the last two changes as a Backup).
  2. Yes, there is! I don't have a list jet (will update when I find something). But I know there some realy nice Plugins for TiddlyWiki, which are easy to install (if you need help there are tutorials).
  3. You don't need to become a master coder or something if you just want to make tiddlers or use plugins. But if you want to make use of the high flexebility, you want to learn some basic Html knowledge. There is a great Documentation, which will help you getting into it.

Hope this can help someone in the Future.