Writing a game, part 2

 Writing a game, part 2

I'm only using what I need, so this is what the rules document looks like at the moment.
If you only want the new stuff, skip to below the random image I picked for this post.

Also can anyone recommend a better blogger than blogger? It sucks, it messes formatting, I just wanna write stuuuuff

I. CHARACTERS & COMBAT

Stats: d6 for each (in order, or assign if you have a concept in mind) - Str, Dex, Wil, Cha.

Danger Roll: d6=5+, +/-1 if relevant stat is 6 (+) or 1 (-). +1 with significant advantage.

Hit Points: 6 + (STR+WIL)/2. Recover 1hp every second day of rest.

Surprise: d6 vs d6, beat by 3+ to ambush/avoid.

Attacks: d6 vs AC.  Modifiers at Ref's discretion.

Armor / Target

None / 3+

Light / 4+

Heavy 5+

Optional Hit Location: 1-2 legs, 3-4 arms, 5 torso, 6 head (for limbs, odd is left, even is right)

Damage: all damage dice explode (re-roll and add) whenever they show 6.

Unarmed or hindered attacks deal 2d6 drop highest - on a double 6, keep the worst total.

Attacks with melee weapons deal 1d6.

Attacks with firearms deal 2d6 drop lowest - on a double 6, keep the best total.

Death & Dismemberment: at 0 HP, look at the damage die that brought you down:

On a 1-2, you are out of action, but your life is not in immediate danger. This does not mean you're fine, but that there should not be permanent consequences beyond some scars.

On a 3-4, you are in critical condition and require immediate medical attention. IF someone gets you to a hospital within the hour, you may survive but will be permanently changed. This is the realm of lost senses or limbs and other life-altering injuries.

If it's 5 or 6, you are dead. Nothing short of supernatural intervention will help you at this point.

Stress Mechanics

Stress: Set a stress die to 1. The Referee will ask you to roll each time a situation, encounter or realization strains your grip on your sense of reality, sense of self, physical integrity, or ability to relate to others. Alternatively, you may push yourself and re-roll a failed danger roll.

Everytime the stress die shows a number over your current stress, increase it by 1.
Roleplay the increasing strain of stress on your characters as you see fit.

Stress Recovery: During play, reduce stress by destroying the source of horror or evidence thereof (including witnesses, including yourself). During downtime, healthy coping mechanisms allow you to roll your stress die, lowering it by 1 if you roll lower or equal to your stress. Alternatively, engage in unhealthy coping mechanisms - project the strain onto bonds or engage in self-harming behavior to lower it by 1 without a roll.

Break: When stress hits 6, your character loses their shit in spectacular fashion, falls into a catatonic state, runs away screaming, etc. Either way temporarily change your agenda from "survive" to "make things more difficult for everyone". Characters recover from breaks after spending significant downtime away from any danger or horror.

Session #1 Pregenerated Characters

d12	Name	Occupation	Age	Str	Dex	Wil	Cha	HP
1	Opal Keller	Newspaper Editor-in-Chief	30s	1	1	4	1	9
2	Matt Merrisson	Carpet Layer	50s	1	5	5	6	9
3	Terje Meling	Insurance Adjuster	40s	3	2	3	1	8
4	Patsy Lumley	Community Organizer	60s	1	2	2	5	8
5	Jennifer Gatlin		Kid	2	3	2	2	6
6	Alendra Mick	Medical Technician	50s	1	1	5	6	9
7	Esmerald Mejas		Kid	2	4	6	5	8
8	Tim Gallen	Golf Course Attendant	40s	2	5	4	5	9
9	Sam Jones	Sign Maker	50s	5	4	2	1	10
10	Lt. Arthur Fisher	Army Veteran	60s	2	6	3	2	9
11	James Young	Racetrack Manager	20s	2	3	4	3	9
12	Courtney Webb	Personal Assistant	60s	4	2	4	3	10

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So, I added three things: the surprise/initiative comes from classic traveller as do most good things. The danger rolls are saving throws, not much to say there except there's a clear-cut implication of "avoiding dice rolls via clever play is optimal".

The stress die is from Cthulhu Dark, with a few minor changes. Most obvious is the name, I'm calling it stress because I'm not tying it to some abstract understanding of the universe. Rather, it's a pressure gauge. On a 6, you break, although it neither removes you from play nor changes you permanently (although you might do things that change your character permanently during that shifting of agendas). It assumes we're normally playing OSR style, going for better choices for one's goals rather than trying to build a certain style of story the way CD advises it be ran (although you can certainly run it more trad with no issues whatsoever). Also stress recovery is more reliable either through continuous effort in downtime (therapy, support networks, care) but takes longer, with quicker options being right there for the players to be tempted with, and generally involving making your life worse one way or another. The idea being "terrible circumstances sometimes make you do terrible things". Also, a very common, if not the most common AFAIK, house rule for Cthulhu Dark: when you add your insight dice to a roll and it's the highest, instead of making that another roll, it just increases insight by 1 if it's higher, skipping one roll. In this case I'm not using dice pools, but the re-roll from Pushing the Roll (thanks Call of Cthulhu actual play podcast Y'all of Cthulhu!) doubles as a Stress Roll.

Also pregens, because I'm starting things in medias res with a survival horror themed modern day adventure. Underlined and Bold is because these are the ones my players picked to start play with.


Ok, Cosmic, Jack, stop reading.

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Ok, moving on to spoilers:

So I'm trying for an emergent setting thing - I know it's modern-themed and horror, possibly with some witchy vibes but I don't want to write a big mythos or cosmogony. Instead, I'm starting with a slasher movie scenario. PCs wake up in the basement of some sicko. Except it's not just a basement, somehow, it's a whole little dungeon. It's a Kelipot from Silent Legions, some sort of evil pocket dimension, think Silent Hill or, I guess the Upside Down even though it always seemed dreadfully bland to me in comparison to the rust and dread and sexual icky-ness of Silent Hill's Otherworld.

And I'm lazy, so I'm using Lair of the Lamb for map and room stocking. I have yet to write my slasher monster-dude, but so far here's what I know:

We're above a suburban white residence (stole the map from Fairfax Residence in SWAT 4). Mrs Gilda Fairfax and her fucked up son live there, her heart is weak, her mind is in shambles and she's happy to ignore the coming and goings of occsional nightly guests through the backdoor. Her son is a white supremacist type serial killer, and the enforcer for the local White Lodge, a neo-nazi group doubling as wannabe magicians, whose new leader is an actual Cthulhu-style sorcerer trying to bring about the birth of God. Down the basement is one such failed experiments, still worshipped and regularly fed by the cult (well, mostly it's Lawrence Fairfax handling the kidnappings and feeding).

The dungeon itself is a small junction of an underground structure of unknown purpose, although it is dressed as and looks like some 20th century factory basement or disused waste disposal system. It's the Living, Mythic Underground, shaping itself to modern eyes. In lieu of torches, you'll find batteries for flashlights that run dry suspiciously fast. Ghosts, graffitis, mutated victims. In this case the only physical monsters are the Lamb, and the killer (who is pretty tough but otherwise a normal man).

Also, PCs begin dehydrated, so danger rolls only succeed on a 6 (instead of 5+) until they drink some water.

I'm not 100% sure how the Debt aspect will come into play in later sessions, but I'm feeling some Unkonwn Armies vibes, with possibly some sort of Occult Underground.

Some may notice that by "game", I initially seemed to mean rulebook, and now I'm taking you through the process of preparing an adventure. To which I say: Yes (chad.jpg).