The
Lost Realm of Anoria
A
(work in progress) rule set for computer fantasy role-playing games
Copyright
© Gerhard Skronn 2002
Last
update: 8-Jul-2002 gsk
Character Attributes and Advancement System
The LROA system defines characters through eight attributes, divided into two groups. Within the groups, the attributes are paired. The consequences of this pairing are detailed further below. Attribute values are not fixed within the system. Players can modify them during the course of a characters life.
Body:
Strength - Stamina
Dexterity - Agility
Mind:
Intelligence - Wisdom
Charisma - Focus
The attributes are set up to form complementary pairs in two groups in order to allow a system of self-limiting character development. Players can, as they advance through the game, modify the basic attributes of their characters. This is meant to represent an increase in abilities and power gained through exercising a character’s abilities in the game world.
Attribute values can range from 0 to 254. Attribute values
can be changed through use of magic (both, in the form of attribute value
modifying spells and magically imbued items). For that reason an attribute
value has two components: the base component and the modifier
component. The maximum base value for
any attribute is 127. The sum of base values for any pair of attributes though
is limited to 127 too, as a consequence it is only possible to reach the
theoretic maximum for a single attribute by leaving it’s complement at 0. The same principle applies to the modifier
component.
Also, the two groups of attributes follow the complementary
pair scheme too. With 127 (base) points per Attribute pair the resulting theoretical
maximum value is 254 (base) points per group and thus 508 total. Since we
implement the complementary pair principle on the group level too (Body
<-> Mind) we again limit the total for the pair to the maximum of one
member, i.e. 254 points total.
As an example this, would mean that if a player wanted to
build a character with the absolute maximal achievable Strength and Dexterity
(127 base points each) he would be forced to leave all other attributes
at 0. This is as intended! Extreme
specialisation does carry a hefty price under this system. The intention is to
allow the player a high degree of freedom and also ample opportunity to
experiment in an effort to try and find an optimum distribution of attribute
values for his playing style. At the same time we want to introduce a certain
degree of realism by attaching a price tag to extreme specialisation. Under
this system the players will have to try and find the right balance
instead of just blindly “maxing out” all attributes.
The dominant idea behind the LROA attributes system is
balance. On the higher level Body and Mind attributes balance each other and,
within those, the attributes that we deem to complement each other do the same.
Think about it like this: A perfectly average character
would have an equal distribution of points into Body and Mind attributes. In
order to elevate one of those to above the average, the character will need to
lower the other in order for them to remain in balance. The LROA system
enforces this intrinsically.
A rationalization of this, in role playing terms, can be
found by examining what the attribute values are supposed to mean: they
represent a characters abilities. Those with which the character was “born”,
and those which he “learned” through experience and hard work. For the LROA
game universe we will assume that the “natural” distribution of abilities at
the moment of a character’s “birth” will always be in balance. And all
increases in any area afterwards will be a result of the character working on
himself. Since he will not be able to focus more on one area without neglecting
its complement, balance will always stay intact. And the system enforces
exactly this.
Undoubtedly it is not possible to fully rationalize some of
the pairings (Intelligence <-> Wisdom would be troublesome indeed) most
of them can be to a satisfying degree.
Strength: The characters direct physical strength. Influences
things like the maximum weight that can be carried or combat damage
Stamina: The physical constitution and endurance. Affects
regeneration rates, length of time some activities can be performed over,
fatigue rates and ability to endure physical pain
Dexterity: This describes hand to eye
coordination related abilities. Affects precision in combat actions, archery or
trade skills that require precision.
Agility: A character’s physical agility affects things like
the ability to dodge hits, jump over obstacles, sneak or hide from view
Intelligence: The characters mental capability
and intellect. Affects learning rates and many activities related to magic
Wisdom: Generalised knowledge about the world and how it
works. Also knowledge related to characters special proficiencies. Affects
success rates for trade skills and mental regeneration rates
Charisma: Charismatic characters have advantages when dealing
with NPC characters. They are less likely to be a target of aggression, achieve
better prices with trades folk and are more able to influence others or even
directly manipulate their minds
Focus: Describes a characters ability to focus his mind on
certain activities. Focus greatly influences success rates in many fields
ranging from spell casting over archery to trade skills
When creating a character, players have absolute freedom how
they distribute the initially available attribute points. Initial point
allocation is 128 points per character.
Distributing them evenly on all eight basic attributes would mean a
start value of 16 for each attribute.
Character development in the LROA game system is facilitated
in several ways. Players can
Since a character is, in terms of the game world, completely
described through his attribute values and skill set, the ability to advance
both those is entirely sufficient; there is no need for an artificial concept
of “levels”.
Each in game action available to players is based on one of
the attributes. This is the action’s primary dependency. For some actions there
can be secondary dependencies too, these link an action to a skill. By
performing actions a character accumulates experience points in at least one of
the two pools linked to Mind and Body, according to which of the attribute
groups the primary dependency attribute of the action is in. Another pool
(actually a set of pools) is used to accumulate experience related to secondary
dependencies, i.e. skills. This way, the system links any character advancement
directly to the characters action’s underlying attributes.
Skills
On top of the basic character attributes players can use the
skills system to further customize and shape their characters. The skill system
will include a broad range of skills from combat related to magic skills, trade
skills and more. As with the attributes system, we want to provide the player
with a maximum in freedom of choice and yet have to make sure that characters’
abilities stay within reasonable limits.
A Skill Tree Example: basic combat skills and combat
specialisation
Note: numbers in brackets are point cost per rank and number
of ranks available. So (2, 5) means that two skill points are needed to either
initially “buy” the skill or in order to advance it to the next rank and that
there a 5 ranks available. Names in square brackets are used to denote the base
skills for any specialisation skill. The specialisation skill will only become
available when a character has fully mastered its respective base skill.
Combat (1,5)
Offence Skill (2, 8)
Defence Skill (2, 8)
Weapons (2,8)
Hand to hand combat (2, 8)
(Sidebar: An interesting design question here is how to
determine the maximum allowable number of points a player can spend in such a
group?
This has got to be a question of starting with an estimate
and further evaluation through play testing. A useful estimate might be
determined by adding up all the skill points that would be needed to max all
skills in the group and than using half or one third of that as the limit. )
Combat specialisation (3,5) [combat]
Offensive manoeuvres (3,5)
[offence]
Riposte
(4,8)
Defensive manoeuvres (3,5)
[defence]
Dodge (4,8)
Dodge
slash attack (5,15)
Dodge
pierce attack (5,15)
Dodge
blunt attack (5,15)
Parry
(4,8)
Shield
parry (5,15)
Sword
parry (5,15)
Martial
Arts (3, 5) [hand to hand]
Kicks
(4,8)
Hand (4,
8)
Grappling
(4, 8)
Swordplay (2,8) [Weapons]
Long sword
(4, 8)
Two handed
sword (4, 8)
Blunt weapons (2,8) [Weapons]
Maces (4,
8)
Hammers (4, 8)
Axes (4, 8)
Piercing weapons (2,8) [Weapons]
Daggers (4, 8)
Short sword (4, 8)
Ranged Weapons (2,8) [Weapons]
Javelin
(4, 8)
Short
bow (4, 8)
Long
Bow (4, 8)
(to be continued …)
General Notes and
Ideas
Some factors/motivations that are know to keep
people "in game". How well any game system implements these basic
building blocks largely determines long time success.
Within the “standard” classification
(achiever/explorer/socializer/killer, see http://www.mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm)
of multi-user online games (formerly
MUD) players, the achiever component is (together with the explorer component)
one of the more dominant factors in the majority of player profiles. (If you
want to take the “bartle test” to see what type you are, go here: http://www.andreasen.org/bartle/test.cgi
)
Initially the game world, as well as its mechanics, will
(and should) be largely unknown to the player base. This gives everyone a shiny
new toy to play with and explore. The majority of players will, depending on
the world’s size and the mechanics’ complexity, after some time period, know
all there is to know. Thus the ability to explore will vanish. This is as
devastating to the “explorer” player type as the non-availability of
achievement opportunities is to the “achiever” type.
A multi-user online game lets people (represented by some
form of avatar) meet and interact with other actual people. It usually offers
means of interaction in the form of text-based chat (with the growth of
bandwidth available to most players, soon to be real audio communication) and
through emotes played out by the online avatar.
This possibility to
socialize is what makes online multi user games so drastically different from
standalone computer games. Being able to interact with real human beings
instead (or in addition to) of “dumb”
computer AI driven NPC objects is the distinguishing factor. It transports all
the challenges/opportunities and problems normally related to real life into
the virtual game world. This is the major benefit of an online multi-user game
system and it can be a nightmare at the same time.
(to be continued …)
(eof)