Bay 12 Games Forum

I decided to try my hand at making an RPG. The setting is based on a DF world someone genned and posted about in one of the Discords I'm in, with some obvious embellishments. The main idea (zombie apocalypse) happened in a kind-of-similar manner, though.

Most actions that rely on some sort of skill to perform require a d10 roll + bonuses if applicable. The difficulty of the action is subtracted from the roll.

1 or less: Extreme failure. Whatever you did backfired horribly, and you might have got yourself injured or killed (if it's a dangerous action). Example: Trying to cut down a tree and having it fall on you.

2-3: Failure. You failed to do whatever you tried to do, possibly backfiring slightly or offering a slight compensation. Example: You try to climb something and fall, but you don't fall hard enough to injure yourself.

4-5: Partial success. You succeeded in your action, but there is some sort of significant drawback. Example: You try to mine for iron and you find it, but you breach a cave with dangerous creatures in the process.

6-9: Varying degrees of success. Self-explanatory, the lower the roll, the "weaker" the success is. Example: Shooting a crossbow at someone and hitting.

10: Extreme success. You succeed at your action and perform it much better than expected. Example: Looting a bandit's corpse and finding gold and diamonds in his backpack.

Strength: Physical strength, obviously. All actions that require raw strength are checked for this stat.

Agility: The ability to perform actions quickly, stealthily, and without fumbling. Actions that require fine manipulation, like firing bows, are checked for this stat.

Intelligence: The ability to think clearly and effectively. Actions that require thinking a lot, or casting magic spells, are checked for this stat.

Toughness: The ability to resist injuries. This makes you less likely to be severely injured in combat or accidents.

Awareness: The ability to notice things and make observations. This stat can give you more information about people you are talking to, reduce the chance of being sneaked up on, and notice traps before activating them.

Charisma: Manners, physical appearance, and the ability to talk smoothly. This affects relations with NPCs and is used in religious rituals.

All stats start at 5, you may spend 3 points on increasing stats. Decreasing a stat adds a point. You may not decrease a stat below 1. After that, apply racial bonuses.

Human: Plain, relatively boring humans. No innate stat bonuses, slightly taller than dwarves and goblins. Their equipment, as a whole, is better than the other races' (read: I will be more lenient with that I consider OP equipment for human characters).

Elf: Humanoids who look like humans with longer ears. They may not eat meat and most of their civilizations forbid killing plants. They always start with wooden weapons and armor. +1 bonus to agility, intelligence, and charisma.

Dwarf: Short, bearded humanoids with a love of booze. Most of them don't like elves. +2 bonus to strength and toughness. They must drink alcohol to stay focused.

Goblin: Green-skinned humanoids who love fighting. Most of them hate dwarves. +3 bonus to strength, -2 malus to charisma.

Kobold: Small humanoids who look like dogs. They are adept thieves and have a reputation as such. +3 bonus to dexterity and awareness, -1 malus to charisma. Can't wield/wear large weapons/armor.

Animal-person: Humanoid animals. They have varying innate personality and stats. Pick a species and I'll think up stats.

Each character has an "origin" (where they started or lived most of their life before). Some are available only for certain species.

Village: A small village with farms and a mead hall. Most of them were doomed by zombies, so there are many refugees. Available for: Humans, Elves.

Town: A large town with shops and a castle. All of them are currently deserted with the shops abandoned. Available for: Humans, Goblins.

Hillocks: A mountain village with the houses made out of hollowed-out hills with farms on and around them. Some of them are mostly-intact due to their isolation. Available for: Humans, Dwarves, Goblins.

Dwarf Fortress: A large underground settlement with expansive mines and workshops. Intactness varies. Available for: Dwarves.

Forest Retreat: A section of the forest with the tree branches shaped to act like floors and roofs. All were deserted. Available for: Elves, Animal-People.

Dark Fortress: A large spire of stone inhabited by goblins and demons. The world's only one was destroyed. Available for: Goblins, Humans, Elves, Animal-People, Dwarves (the latter four as former slaves).

Dark Pits: A few towers surrounded by trenches. Most are relatively intact and most of the world's goblin population lives in them. Available for: Goblins, Humans, Elves, Animal-People, Dwarves (the latter four as former slaves).

Above-ground fort: A freestanding castle made of wood or stone. Most are still standing and house potentially hundreds of people due to them being very easy to defend. Available for: All.

Tribe: A small community living in the wilderness. Very little equipment, but they are safe from zombies due to their remoteness. Available for: Humans, Elves, Animal-People, Kobolds.

Kobold Cave: A deep cave with rooms dug out, full of various stolen trinkets and valuable metals. Available for: Kobolds.

The players must also vote on a location where the entire party should start.

Food: 85%
Hydration: 85%
Time: You're not sure, but it looks to be late morning.

Inventory (the stuff that matters, anyways):
- Set of clothing (Integrity: 95%)
- Backpack (Integrity: 95%)
- Water Bottle (Integrity: 50%)

Inspecting things might reveal additional terrain features or possible uses.

You may spend CP (creation points) on either:

• Modifying an existing rule (expense depends on the level of difference from the original rule and how much will it upset the current balance)
• Creating a rule (expense depends on complexity and how much will it upset the current balance)
• Deleting a rule (expense depends on complexity/fundamentality of deleted rule and how much will it upset the current balance)
• Creating a new object. Objects can be anything from creatures to terrain to machinery, but they must follow rules that only apply to the object or things it interacts with (that are specified when the object is created, at a discount from normal rule creation). Expense depends on complexity and how much will it upset the current balance.

You may also protect a rule you have created, or an object you have created (applies to the rules of the entire object), either during creation or at any time after.

• Light protection: Costs 2 CP, cost of modifying the rule/object is multiplied by 1.1.
• Medium protection: Costs 4 CP, cost of modifying the rule/object is multiplied by 1.5.
• Severe protection: Costs 6 CP, cost of modifying the rule/object is multiplied by 2.
• Extreme protection: Costs 12 CP, cost of modifying the rule/object is multiplied by 3.

When creating an object, you can "seed" it into the world, creating as many instances of it as needed for its functioning.

Note that rules of objects might be retroactively changed, so, for example, lasers will reflect off anything shiny even if it wasn't specified in the shiny object's rules. There might also be GM-triggered rule changes.

With an action, you may ask me on how much it will cost and I will answer as soon as possible, even before the turn.

You gain CP based on how well your creations and the world are doing.

Border: An impenetrable wall (solid gray square). Nothing can cross or destroy it, and beyond it lies a void. Cannot be created by other objects either. Extreme protection.

Water: A fairly deep pool of water (solid blue square). Non-aquatic or amphibious objects will be destroyed if they fall into it, and it might evaporate if faces with high temperatures. Severe protection.

Plant: A simple, land-based plant (dark green square with a lime green line). If the turn count is odd, it spreads to adjacent squares that are next to water (Moore neighborhood). Destroyed if faced with severe heat or cold, and can be eaten. Light protection.

Premise
Each player takes control of one city. Each city is identical at the start, but they might diverge technologically as the game goes on.

Buildings
Buildings are the things you see on the map. Only listed are those available and buildable at the start. New buildings created through research will be posted in a spoiler with the updates. The starting ones are:
Housing
Appears like a fairly wide and tall tower with alternating wide and thin windows. It houses 200 people at the start, which may be increased with technologies. Cost to build: 10 Iron, no tech required.
Research Lab
Appears like a thin tower with purple, thin windows. It produces 3 research points per turn, which may be increased with technologies. 70 people work there. Cost to build: 10 Iron, 10 Coal, no tech required.
Miner
Appears like a mining rig with a tube extending into the planet's crust. It mines 5 units of the resource of the player's choosing, which may be increased with technologies. 100 people work there. Cost to build: 10 Oil, 10 Iron, no tech required.
Farm
Appears like a dome with green plants in it. It produces 20 Food per turn, which may be increased with technologies. 30 people work there. Cost to build: 10 Coal, 10 Oil, 3 Iron, no tech required.
Airport
Appears as a platform with a hangar. It allows construction of Cargo Planes and Biplane Fighters. 50 people work there. Cost to build: 10 Oil, 12 Iron, requires Flight.

Resources
Oil
Used for units and some buildings and appears like a very dark brown ellipse. Can be found in the ground.
Coal
Used for some units and many buildings, including as maintenance for certain researched ones and appears like dark gray specks. Can be found in the ground.
Iron
Used for many buildings and any vehicle unit and appears like beige specks. Can be found in the ground.
Aluminum
Used for some buildings, tier 2 and 3 planes, and spaceships and appears as light gray lines in the ground. Can be found in the ground. Requires Aluminum Extraction to appear.
Food
Used for maintaining population, each person consumes 0.1 food per turn, rounded down. Produced in Farms.
People aka population
Used to operate buildings, when insufficient people work at a building, bad things may happen. Grows by 50 every turn when there's spare living room.
There may be more resources. Technologies need to be researched to find and mine them and new ones will appear in spoilers in updates. Note that resources are not infinite and you need a specific technology to know how many units of each are left. You start with 10 Coal, 10 Oil, and 10 Iron.

Units
None available at the start of the game. They have to be researched and new ones will appear in spoilers in updates.

At the very start, choose a city: North, East, South, or West and select actions. Should be formatted like this:

City name here:
Resource(s) to mine with miner(s):
Technology to research (can be anything, but if you research something without adequate prerequisite technologies, bad things may happen):
Units to move (if any):
Buildings to build:
Anything else: