Consolidating the SRD

[RosenMcStern]

And here we go. As promised, here comes a new version of the SRD. This time it is a "release candidate" version, that is it is a version that might become the official SRD if it passes the scrutiny of the community. With "the community" being YOU, the backers.

You will find the link to the SRD on ulule.com. Please do not distribute this SRD, it is not OGL until it becomes the final version.

This release contains everything except rules for vehicles and mass combat, and the space opera bestiary. Vehicle and mass combat rules have begun their playtest process, but it is not sure that they will be in the SRD. They will certainly be in the final published book, in one way or another. The package includes a slightly revised version of the "El Dorado" adventure, adapted to the changes in powers and combat rules, a slightly modified character sheet in XLS and PDF format, and the spreadsheet I have used to design the standard armours included in the equipment chapter.

This SRD has thus all the necessary elements to play, revised as a consequence of several playtest rounds. It is truly multi-genre, suitable for high fantasy, historical fantasy, pulp planetary romance and so on. I have already received some feedback about the generic conflict rules being used in someone's campaigns, and they were favourable. Now you have a complete package you can use - either alone or by hybridizing it with other D100s - and the inserts in grey will give you several ideas about how RD100 relates to other rulesets, thus facilitating your work if you want to mish-mash.

At this point, we are mainly waiting for user feedback. There will not be any more major changes without a clear request from the backers. Also, those of you who wanted to give a feedback about style and clarity of the text can now do it. The text is stable from a mechanical point of view, but all parts that the backers remark having trouble understanding will be revised, intensively if necessary. We value clarity of explanation and will change any point that poses any difficulty to understanding.

For the ones willing to commit to a dedicated playtest: please contact me for additional materials and playtest report forms. I will run some sessions online in the next weeks, but some tabletop testing reports would be useful.

For all the others: comment at will. All comments are welcome.

Edited May 2, 2016 by RosenMcStern

[Zit]

I don't find the Chapter 1. Is it missing ?

[RosenMcStern]

Fixed.

[Baulderstone]

I've tried downloading this repeatedly both last night and today. Every time the download has failed. Is anyone else experiencing this, or is the issue on my end?

[Baulderstone]

Never mind. I just tried again, and it downloaded in less than a second. 

[Arasmo]

Hello,

Thank you for this great set of rules.

One small detail :

"Resolution Points" are mentioned once in chapter 0 ("Paper clips to keep track of Resolution Points, Strike Rank and Life Points during conflicts and combat."), and they feature heavily in chapter 3, but I don't see any passage where they are actually defined.

Maybe a short section before "sequence set-up" would be useful to give a quick overview of resolutions points (what they are and their use), since they are a core component of Conflicts. I also think a quick mention in chapter 0 of their role in conflicts would be handy, maybe in this paragraph : "In a Conflict, the players use one or more of their Characteristics as the measure of the resources they can spend or wage to overcome the Opposition.[...]

Edited May 12, 2016 by Arasmo

[RosenMcStern]

Yep. A good point, Arasmo. We will include a small paragraph with a formal definition of Resolution Points and Resolution Point Pool in the final version.

[Zit]

Is there any way to conceal the true result of a conflict ? For example, characters are trying to convince a NPC to help them: If the NPC is a master in deceiving, how can I hide his true intentions to the players if we play it as a conflict ?

[RosenMcStern]

The point is whether there is a reason to hide the results of a conflict. Having influenced the NPC into helping them is something that should be clear to the player characters, at least if they won a full victory. A quick exit could lead them to not knowing exactly what advantage they have gained, on the other hand.

The most important rule in a conflict is that when the PCs roll, it is to accomplish something, not just to be told "He is so devious that you cannot assess whether you persuaded him". If the PC is so hard to persuade and so good at deceiving, then you should rather fake an automatic success for the persuasion attempt, and in fact have him secretly do the exact opposite of what he told the PCs he would do.

Do not forget that the conflict rules specifically prevent the GM from assigning an auto-failure to the PCs when the dice start rolling, but they do not prevent him/her from deciding the outcome of an attempt without rolling, if it is in contrast with how things are supposed to work in the setting. Trying to persuade a Yakuza leader to surrender to the law is a no-roll, automatic failure.

[Zit]

A reason to hide a conflict may be for example if the NPC uses the Deceit Trait, but without an automatic success. That is, the PCs still have a chance to win the conflict. In my exemple, if the PCs do not manage to convince the NPC, how can I either give him a chance to lie to the PCs, or at least have the PCs being unsure of the result ? Can we imagine a kind of conflict with hidden results, until someone makes a perception roll ? Or better not use the conflict at all but an opposing roll instead, which result is hidden by the GM ?

I know, this is a special case, but deceiving during a social conflict is not so exceptional.

After many thoughts: the PCs are actually the players and you cannot deceit players with a die roll. So the Deceit Trait (or skill or whatever you rules propose) against the PCs cannot be used as a conflict, but merely for the GM to decide if he tries to deceive the players.

Edited May 30, 2016 by Zit
I think I understood now what you mean.

[Zit]

When using a power as bonus during a conflict or a basic combat:

1- how do you diferenciate high powered spells (ex. divine or high Might arcane) from low powered spells (ex. cantrips) ? As long as they are not used for rolling for effect, do you consider that they are only helps with no significaant difference ?

2- How do you diferenciate the short lasting powers from the long lasting one ? Do you consider powers triggered before a conflict -ex. during a ritual- with a long duration encompassing the whole conflict as a situational modifier ? That is, changing the basic chances of success (or damage or whatever) for the whole duration, and not as a bonus for a single roll ?

[RosenMcStern]

2 hours ago, Zit said:

When using a power as bonus during a conflict or a basic combat:

1- how do you diferenciate high powered spells (ex. divine or high Might arcane) from low powered spells (ex. cantrips) ? As long as they are not used for rolling for effect, do you consider that they are only helps with no significant difference ?

Yes. The difference may be the fact that one-use gadgets and prayed-for divine blessings are expended. But there is no difference between a cantrip and a "superior" spell in effect: Protection is Protection, that's it. The big difference is that some effects are not available as cantrips.

Quote

2- How do you diferenciate the short lasting powers from the long lasting one ? Do you consider powers triggered before a conflict -ex. during a ritual- with a long duration encompassing the whole conflict as a situational modifier ? That is, changing the basic chances of success (or damage or whatever) for the whole duration, and not as a bonus for a single roll ?

Some powers are explicitly mentioned as influencing Conflicts, for instance Enhance Characteristic will boost your Resolution Points if activated before the conflict. The effects of Haste can influence a chase heavily. Some spells might have an important influence even when activated before the Conflict. Speedart can influence a ranged weapon fired during an Adventure Time conflict. And so on.

Other powers will be useful only as a situational Bonus, like Confusion in your social Conflict example, or Second Sight when exploring a place that might contain magical traps.