New Settings

[Steveman]

I dig it. I would work mostly off of the hella awesome starter kit, and may contemplate doing that for this Fantasy Japan setting I am writing.

[MedievalMan]

I had an idea of dropping levels and classes altogether, seeing as its a horror/mystery adventure fighting your enemies is not so important as solving puzzles and outsmarting whatever is trying to rip you to pieces. I might post a few ideas if anyone cares to look.

[Joe the Rat]

If there is something that needs to be mechanised in a setting or genre, you should build a rule for it. Honor system, Horror mechanic, Uplift Potential Energy... er, spells... But you should also make sure that you keep the basics covered.

Classes are about archetypes - a ballpark of a concept. Putting something classless together means you need to have a menu to get players the abilities and talents they think they need.

Levels are a representation of power and experience, a measure of growth, and a short(ish) term goal. Unless you're aiming for a one-shot (or plan a survivability ratio somewhere between Call of Cthulhu and Paranoia), some sort of earn-up or buy-up for abilities and talents is needed.

There's a BasicQuest/Chaosium-inspired ruleset floating around here somewhere that might fit the bill for your idea, MM. Either way, if you're going for horror, some sort of mind-breaking mechanic wouldn't be amiss.

[SmootRK]

I had an idea of dropping levels and classes altogether, seeing as its a horror/mystery adventure fighting your enemies is not so important as solving puzzles and outsmarting whatever is trying to rip you to pieces. I might post a few ideas if anyone cares to look.

For an alternate game style, where there is no real advancement mechanic, then perhaps you might simply choose a level that characters begin with, but allow them to choose any particulars gained from that level. Nobody really advances in this sort of game.

A Scooby-doo 'style' game might have everyone configured at 5th level with a basic array of ability points (Healthy (STR/CON/DEX), Smart(INT/WIS), Looks(CHA), Luck), and using a simple ability score mechanic of Good (+2), Average (no mod), Poor (-2), using Ability Checks (in Core Rules) at 5th level. Everyone is Knocked Out or Incapacitate in Combat instead of dying (or stuck in a barrel, or slips on a banana, or whatever). Nobody really wears armor, but sometime a couple points of armor protection might be available (football helmet/pads), trashcan lid, etc. but each only protects against one hit before becoming useless.

An Athlete/Tough-Guy/Gal who fights reasonably well, good with a bat, hammer (improvised weapons), feats of Athleticism (ability check mechanic with generally above average stats at 5th level). 5d8 HP
This sort of archetype might be broken into 2 types: Tough and Agile, Tough Guys are like your Football Players, Agile might be Track Stars or Cheerleaders.

A WizKid who fights poorly, but can figure out puzzles/clues easily (ability check with above average INT/WIS at 5th level). 5d4 HP (AC Penalty too). Often gets gadgets to use as well, Smart check to see if the appropriate gadget is in the backpack, or perhaps the equivalent of some spells but produced via various gadgets.

Cute Girl/Guy again fights average (no mod), but good at talking to people (CHA check +2). 5d6 HP but nobody really wants to hurt them (AC Bonus), these are often Rich Kids too.

Nerd/Dork/Weirdo fights average, 5d6 HP but has a Lucky ability (+2 ability check, able to be used instead of other abilities as necessary, but with crazy methods. For instance, lucky check - slips while fighting a foe, causing foe to stumble forward and hit head, or Lucky check finds the clue that everyone else missed by backing up into bookshelf causing the 'secret door/bookshelf' to rotate around to the secret villain chamber.

Game is played with 4 or 5 characters, usually one of each, and perhaps an extra GM run sidekick to do wacky stuff.

[MedievalMan]

Right then so I assume their is some interest in what I have then? I will post something here when I get the time.

Ok, here is a rough outline of the rules I would be using in game. Note that the document is currently missing the equipment section (including rules for firearms and grenades), and the outline on the steps to make a character. Shout out once again to Akratic Wizardry for a bunch of his house rules I stole and repurposed.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2OIiZb ... QybWs/edit

Any comments or constructive feedback would be cool.

EDIT:

Ok I am going to scrap some of what I have above and work in some other stuff. So whats presented above should be seen as more of a rough outline of ideas rather than a near finished work.

[MedievalMan]

Doing some quick thinking, I might just want to include some sort of basic class. Nothing fancy, just something for Ability Rolls to key off of and that sort of thing. Hmm.

EDIT

I am pretty sure I do not have the time to try and run this one shot so for now I am going to shelf it and just try to keep running the games i already have and finish my campaign setting. Was a fun thought experiment though.