What, you don't think my "it's the bestest ever" slogan is good enough?
Well, okay, I guess there are two main things:
- knacks - my replacement for the skill/feat system, and
- the experience progression system
Knacks
In the typical d20 system, you pick a class, some feats, and a bunch of skills. Then, for each one of those skills, you decide how many points to add. As you advance in levels, you get more points to spread around and more skills, and maybe an extra class or two. Not a big deal if you're progressing from 1st level and adding things in as you go, but it gets to be more and more of a headache when you start making higher level characters from scratch (a DM making NPC's or even new monsters, for example).
The other extreme is a game like 1st Edition AD&D. These games nail you down to the archetype you chose at the start. Any additional tricks your character learns are pre-determined class abilities or acquired from magic items. It's a lot less paperwork, but it can also be pretty stifling sometimes.
So I wanted something that acknowledges individual differences and growth but doesn't keep you quite as busy as most skill systems. A lot of systems use basic ability checks in place of skills. Several of those allow you to add your level (or some other attribute that goes up with experience) to the roll so that you essentially get better at everything as you go along. My system starts with a similar method, giving everybody a standard bonus of +1 per three levels to ability checks.
If, during play, you succeed at an ability check in a crisis, the GM makes a note of it. When you gain an even-numbered level, you can choose one of the checks from the resulting list to become a knack. If you have a knack for something, you add your level, instead of level/3, to the roll.
You don't have to give your NPC's any knacks unless you've got something you want them to be particularly good at. You've still got the basic ability check system to fall back on. If they do have knacks, all you've got to do is make the list. The character level tells you the maximum number and what bonus to apply.
I think I'll explain item #2 later.
Another thing is that it's all in one paperback book, less than 200 pages, monsters an' all. Obviously we can't make any promises about price yet, but it should be pretty cheap as RPG's go.
As for keeping it simple... I'm tryin'. Should be easier than most OGL games, anyway.
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Current Products: Peryton Fantasy RPG
