DESIGNER NOTES
Introduction
Fantasy is the most overdone genre in the world of RPGs.
I designed Hursagmu because my system and setting tastes are unusual. I want a fantasy game that is in the middle of the great RPG debates.
Goals for the system:
In my eyes, combining the above makes a fun game.
The mechanics are unoriginal. Hursagmu takes elements from the Hero System, West End Games's classic d6 system, Dungeons & Dragons, GURPS, Fudge, and many others.
Character Generation
The costs of traits increase with level to prevent munchkins from placing all their points into a single ability. Such characters are gods at one thing and useless at all else. The system is designed to discourage this.
The exponential increases also allow traits to be open-ended without fear that someone will have an Intellect of 700.
This cost scheme also means that it is painless for a character to gain a small amount of any trait. Mastery, on the other hand, requires dedication.
Traits are broad for the sake of simplicity. I have tried to group different abilities together under single traits in ways that make sense. Characters are less customizable than in games with hundreds of skills, but I think the ease of character building is worth the trade. Chargen is simpler with a small number of broad traits than with a large number of narrow ones.
The division of traits into Talents and Professions is purely aesthetic. Talents describe what you are. Professions describe what you do.
The trait list focuses on adventuring abilities; trade skills are abstracted. I did this so that talented craftsmen and scholars can compete in the adventuring arena. All craft skills, from blacksmithing to shoemaking, are considered part of a single trait: Artisan. All academic skills are considered part of Scholar. This is unrealistic, but I think it's fun.
This is meant primarily for player characters - most NPCs will be specialists with professions like Farmer or Carpenter.
Traits can be added. If a player wants their character to have Singer or Sailor as a profession, let it be done.
The decision to leave out traits related to social dynamics was deliberate. I prefer for such situations to be resolved through roleplaying rather than dice. If you want to be beautiful and dashing, fine. If you would rather be ugly and scary, good. There are advantages and disadvantages to both.
Gifts exist to add arbitrary rules and abilities to the game. One could add a gift called Bondage that allows one to control minds with a Command roll or a gift called Illusion that lets one do damage with a Perception roll. Taken to the extreme, one could even use gifts to emulate magic systems like those found in other games, where every spell is a rule unto itself.
Gifts are required for the use of sorcery to prevent every character from having the ability.
Some may be confused by the damage metrics. Some players might think it unrealistic that a scrawny scholar can take as many stuns as their big brawny warrior. Those who think this should look at the metrics from the opposite direction to see what actually happens when characters get hit.
It's easiest to illustrate by example. Take two characters, Bob and Fred. Bob has a Constitution of 0 - completely average. Fred has a mighty Constitution of 6. What happens when either character is hit by an attack that does 8 damage? After one hit, Bob will have 8 stuns. After two hits, he will have 16 stuns and 6 wounds: he will be unconscious and fairly hurt. Fred, on the other hand, will have to be hit five times by the same attack before he will fall and will be less injured when he does.
So, though damage metrics are the same for every character in absolute numbers, tough characters are still able to take more punishment based on their Constitution, Willpower, and equipment.
System Mechanics
The mechanics are meant to be easy to learn and simple to execute, yet powerful in possibility.
Goals:
Hursagmu uses rolls of 2d6 + Trait as the core mechanic. The probability distribution looks like this:
| x | p(roll = x) | p(roll >= x) |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 0.028 | 1.000 |
| 3 | 0.056 | 0.972 |
| 4 | 0.083 | 0.917 |
| 5 | 0.111 | 0.833 |
| 6 | 0.139 | 0.722 |
| 7 | 0.167 | 0.583 |
| 8 | 0.139 | 0.417 |
| 9 | 0.111 | 0.278 |
| 10 | 0.083 | 0.167 |
| 11 | 0.056 | 0.083 |
| 12 | 0.028 | 0.028 |
On average, players should roll a 7 about 17 percent of the time. 45 percent of rolls should fall between 6 and 8; 67 percent of rolls should fall between 5 and 9; 83 percent of rolls should fall between 4 and 10.
The degree-of-success mechanic takes care of several things at once - there is no need for damage rolls, hit locations, or techniques to allow a knife fighter to get through heavy armor. It's all there in the dx. It also means that trait checks are not just pass/fail; you get information on the quality of the success or failure.
The system is unconcerned with the detailed differences between types of weapons and armor. Players don't need to choose swords for tactical reasons if what they really want is axe-wielding barbarians. At the same time, a dagger shouldn't do the damage of a longsword; daggers have other advantages (small, lightweight, easily concealed, useful in grappling). Therefore, the size of a weapon determines its benefits; Players choose the characteristics and cosmetics.
It's common in fantasy literature for sorcerers to use wands and staves. It's also common for them to be more powerful in their towers and temples than outside them. To this end, the system treats these foci as the sorcerous equivalent of weapons and armor. Sorcery can be done without them, but they make one more powerful.
Random initiative adds some variety to the types of tactics possible in the game. Players can create a samurai-like warrior by putting emphasis on aggressive initiative and striking or a fencer who concentrates on fending off an opponent while seeking an opening.
I have tried to avoid lists of combat maneuvers, opting instead for rules that allow players to create their own.
There are a mix of damage metrics to simulate the different ways characters can be harmed. It should be possible to defeat a character without killing him - this is what Stuns are for. Wounds exist to represent real damage - the kind that threatens one's life. Shocks are there to represent damage to the psyche.
Sorcerers ought to have options when casting a spell so that supernatural duels are as exciting as physical ones. Spell intensity, duration, area, and casting time should be flexible. The rules are designed so that sorcerers may trade one for another in various ways. This will hopefully lead to interesting tactics.
Powerful sorcerers need not be strong or quick - those in stories are often old and feeble. Thus, all of a sorcerer's abilities are based on his mind. The ability to defy or deflect spells without physically moving is part of this.
The types of sorcery were chosen to fit the setting - wild, unsubtle powers granted to mortals by gods for their own purposes. The rules for group rituals and sacrificing physical or mental health exist to add flavor.
Setting Notes
Though my vision is a low fantasy world focused on humans and their gods, I don't want to strictly limit other elements of classic fantasy. Amelatu sorcery (the ability to open gateways to other worlds) allows game masters to introduce non-human elements into a campaign. The fact that sorcery is required for such elements means that they can be as much or as little a part of a campaign as the game master wishes.
The otherworldly cosmology described in the appendix is a grab-bag of various fantasy realms. It states that there are "other worlds than these" so that game masters can bring in whatever manner of weirdness they desire.
The mundane setting of the old kingdoms versus the frontier is left open by design. The brief descriptions of various places exist so that game masters have a framework on which to hang plots. There is no overarching metaplot. The details are up to you.