HoNK Rules! A General Outline

Last post I talked about problems of tone, and intimated that my ruleset-in-progress would have some mechanics to evoke some aspects of tone. But as noted, to satisfactorily explain that I need to lay out some of the basics.

 

So my initial thinking has undergone some hefty evolution since the early posts I put up with regard to a rule set. I've settled - hopefully for good - on skill mechanic that uses a "nd6" model (where n equals the difficulty of a task). When testing for success on a task, the PC must roll equal to or under the appropriate Attribute, using however many six-sided dice indicated by the Degree of Difficulty. Generally, Attributes range from 5-19, averaging 10 at first level and most tasks have DD of 3, so that should give some idea as to the broad outline of the skill mechanic. I'll elaborate further on each element of the rules in upcoming posts.

Attributes, in this final incarnation are what many games call 'Abilities' or 'Stats' or whatnot. because attributes provide the base target number for success or failure, I've settled for 13 of them to guarantee a certain amount of flexibility. I won't explain them here, but they are as follows, generated using a 3 + 2d6 procedure: Strength-ST, Dexterity-DX, Presence-PR, Fellowship-FE, Piety-PY, Receptivity-RC, Knowledge-KN, Perception-PE, Appearance-AP, Health-HH, Concentration-CN, Intuition-IN plus LUCK (which is always 3d6 neat). Some attributes are expressed during combat as a combat modifier, equivalent to the attribute -10.

Combat is treated differently: the attacker rolls 2d6, adds (and subtracts) appropriate modifiers, and, if achieving a positive number, gets to roll Vitality damage as per their mode of attack (there's more to it, but that's the gist), and has a chance of causing a wound. I want combat to be reasonably quick, but also quite nasty - not to be taken lightly.

I'm still sticking with the Aptitudes (these were mentioned in a couple of older posts, but in the context of Labyrinth Lord, and that information has been superseded, and I deleted). The Aptitudes are one of the keys to hitting the tone I spoke of last time. Others are Temperament (an expansion of the four humours) and Alignment. I know plenty of people don't like Alignments very much, but I'm rather fond of them, and judiciously used, they provide a sort of metonymic shorthand for a character's relationship with the cosmos - and by extension with the doomed world of Verkhun, so they stay in, in more or less the form you find in most 'Advanced'-style OSR games (and, of course, modern iterations).

Another item in the roleplaying toolbox is that of Allegiance: this is for the player to define (within some limits: Clerics must have an Allegiance to their Deity as one of their primary motivators, but how that Allegiance is manifested in thought, word and deed is fairly open, as long as they follow doctrine. Different deities have different standards for this sort of thing, of course).

I'll go into detail about these 'tone' - or 'feel' aspects in an upcoming post.

Other elements of the game are much like the general ruck of OSR-type games: Classes and Lineages are a thing, and magic, though not Vancian, functions in more or less the same way (although success is never guaranteed, as a Spell Roll is required). Pushing the bounds of reality in such an unstable environment is dangerous: magic is morally, mentally and biologically corrosive, unless the energies manipulated are confined by expensive, time-consuming procedures (that remain risky, nonetheless). Clerics and their ilk are protected from this risk however: they act through prayers - which are not spells, although formally they resemble them. Clerical prayers are heavily limited by deity 'portfolio', and do not, for the most part, have the reach and range of Magic.

Anyway, that's the basic outline of the rules as they stand right now. Next post on all of this will give more detail on what I call the Roleplaying Triad (which is silly, as it really has more than three factors, but I handwave that by smooshing some of them together).