FFRPG Update.

Well today I had a number of things left over from the previous night’s to-do list. I thought I had to go to work, but I was mistaken. It took me a while to get into the groove though, there was a very dear distraction, but I managed to crack the list. This was my list:

1- Refine Sta + Con idea.
2- Determine chainable ability mechanic.
3- Determine and refine encumber rules/mechanic.
4- Define armor effects both positive and negative.
5- Create a template for a ‘GM character maintenance’ sheet.

The first, there are/were 2 character attributes that seemed not to be getting as much attention as the rest of the attributes. These were Stamina and Concentration, one physical and one mental. Stamina was so far only used in rolls for the endurance skill, which is used for things like prolonged running, swimming or climbing. Concentration was used in a few more skills as well as a commonly used raw concentration roll to avoid things like distractions. Originally when I was plotting out the character attributes I would need for this RPG, and there are 17, it was my intention that these two attributes would determine how long into a battle a characters actions would stay at full power, both physical and magical (respectively). I have now implemented an idea that would do this. It is required that the GM keeps track of all the characters actions and enforce these rules as they are needed, but that’s where #5 comes in.

The third, I’ve never played an RPG with any specific rules involving carrying capacity, or at least never played with a GM that enforced those rules, it always seemed kinda common sense to me. But I do realize the need for it, a player who picks up and keeps every stray weapon he comes across in hopes that a warlock will tell him it’s enchanted needs to suffer some sort of penalty for carrying around all that junk. So I have come up with a semi-race-based/Str-based method of determining a characters carrying capacity as well as a costing system that places ‘E’ values on all items. It is optimal to include some reference to a characters strength as a limiter for carrying capacity firstly, because it makes perfect sense and secondly, because it provides a natural buffer against out-classing equipment. To clarify, I don’t want all characters running around in the best heavy armor they can find without in-game repercussions, especially the magical types, but I also didn’t want some hokey rule that prevents some classes from using whatever items they see fit to use. This RPG has a free equip system that allows anybody to use anything (to a certain degree) and I didn’t want to wreck that. Sure some characters would become gimps, but this is P&P, not online, nobody is going to yell at a player for playing a gimp, at least not while I’m the GM.

The fourth, this has really been a large task, but I am starting to finish it up, the encumber rules help me out a lot with this, because now I don’t have to build a lot of negative effects directly into the armor, that will come from being encumbered.

The fifth, this is a huge thing, it will require a lot of time and dedication from the GM but I feel that it will present the players with a more dynamic character development process. With proper tracking the GM will be able to easily increase a characters resistance to status effects based on their recovery from those effects, or keep track of a characters elemental compatibility based on the spells they cast, or keep track of their increase in skill with whatever weapons they happen to use. This is something a computer really would have a much easier time handling than a regular human, but it must be done. I’ve only actually really seen something like this in FFII and that was just with spell levels and weapon proficiency.

I still have to work out the kinks in the chainable abilities category. As it stands a well played warrior (the class with the most chainable abilities) would currently be able to kill anything in one turn with a bit of planning and some luck. It is a bit broken, and I must revamp the system rather than toning down the abilities. Wish me luck!