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Saturday 26 June 2010

Skein of Destiny RPG - part 2

Our simple quickplay RPG system continues. Third and final part on Monday. (You see, told you it was simple.)

ATTRIBUTE ROLLS

Sometimes you will need to roll against an attribute directly. This works exactly like using a talent, ie optional modifiers cannot be applied. Some common uses of attributes are:

Match Mind against another person's Charm to see if you have the good sense to resist them (assuming you want to). The higher degree of success wins out.

Match Emotion against another person's Authority roll if you want to resist giving in to them.

Match Honor against a criminal suggestion to see if you have the nobility to refuse to go along with it. (The referee will assign an arbitrary value measuring how dishonorable the suggestion is.)

Some examples of competitive use of attributes are:

Body vs Body in a contest of strength.
Mind vs Mind to outwit someone in a game of skill.
Emotion vs Emotion to intimidate a foe.
Imagination vs Imagination to win a game of chance.
Honor vs Honor when vying for respect or promotion.

LOSS OF ATTRIBUTE POINTS

Attribute losses can be brought about by various means. In most cases losses will only be temporary.

Body is reduced by wounds, poison and disease.
Mind can be reduced by stress or terror.
Emotion is reduced by harrowing experiences and by casting spells.
Imagination is reduced by supernatural encounters or sleeplessness.
Honor is reduced by disgrace or failure.

Reduction of an attribute to 0 has the following effect:

Body: death
Mind: insanity
Emotion: apathy
Imagination: loss of all magical aptitude
Honor: exile or suicide

Ability scores are affected by the loss or gain of points in the primary attribute, but not the second (modifying) attribute. If you lose Body during a fight, for instance, you also lose the same number off your Weapon Parry score but not your Weapon Attack.

RECOVERING ATTRIBUTE POINTS

Attributes recover at different rates:

Body: roll Mind or less each day to recover a point; a Medicine roll at least equal to your current lost points adds 1 extra point a day.
Mind: roll Honor or less each week to recover a point.
Emotion: recover all lost points in one night on a successful Imagination roll.
Imagination: roll Imagination or less each week to recover a point.
Honor: noble action will restore lost points at the referee's discretion.

IMPROVING ABILITY SCORES

Both skills and talents can be increased by experience. You are eligible for an ability increase in any month in which you got a degree of success of 10 or more with the ability. Keep track of how often you achieve that each month with a tick next to the ability. At the end of the month, make an Imagination roll to increase the ability. To the degree of success of this roll, add the number of uses of the ability for which you are eligible. You need a final total higher than half your current score to increase the ability by 1.

Example: Murillo got a degree of success of 10+ twice when using his Priest skill this month. At the end of the month he makes an Imagination roll and gets a degree of success of 7. Adding 2 to this gives a result of 9. This is higher than half his current Priest score, so it goes up by 1.

Training can also be used to increase skills. Typically the referee will first require an Honor roll to see if the teacher is impressed enough to take you on as a pupil. (Money can't buy everything.) At the end of each month, the teacher makes a skill roll and you make a Mind roll. Assuming both are successful, add the degrees of success. If the total exceeds half your current score in the skill, increase it by 1. You can only train in two skills at a time.

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