Character attribute model
scionaltera opened this issue · comments
The game needs a model for character attributes to follow. I'm pretty sure I don't want the standard D&D attributes (STR, INT, WIS, DEX, CON, CHA) but I don't know specifically which ones I will end up with. I plan to add them in as I go, as the game demands ways to check the player's successes and failures, or compare entities against one another. I am pretty sure I'm going to throw in some kind of "luck" stat that will be hidden from the player though.
What I need from this feature is a standardized model for how stats work in this game.
- How are starting stats chosen? (Point buy, random, etc.)
- What range is allowed? (3d6? 1d8? 1d100?)
- How do you do a test of the player against the environment? (Pull yourself up a ledge, survive a poison, open a lock, etc.)
- How do you do a test of the player against another player? (Arm wrestle, detect a sneak, convince someone of something, etc.)
I'm not worried about advancement yet. I just need a framework I can slot stats into later.
Considering using the FUDGE SRD as a basis. Need to spend some time re-reading the Open Game Licence. My basic understanding is that it's OK to use the FUDGE rules in a derivative work as long as EmergentMUD displays a prominent notice that it uses Open Game Content and includes the OGL to cover the portions that would need to be covered by that license. The place where it gets fuzzy to me is how the OGL interacts with the Affero GPL that already covers EmergentMUD. I don't immediately see any reason they would be incompatible; essentially one covers the code and the other covers the game mechanics. I suspect I should ask an actual lawyer to read through the two licenses for me and advise, though.
Initial ideas for character attributes:
- Strength
- Toughness
- Agility
- Speed
- Education
- Wit
- Charm
- Beauty
- Perception
- Intuition
- Luck (hidden)
- Fate (hidden)
They break out naturally into pairs. For instance, Perception would tell how well you notice things around you while Intuition is more about your subconscious: it's the hairs standing up on the back of your neck because you sense something, not that you've consciously noticed it yet. Charm is your ability to make smalltalk or to convince someone while Beauty is your physical attractiveness. Education is book learning and wit is street smarts.
Luck and Fate are hidden from the player and to keep things fair I think they might always start out as "neutral" values with no bonus or penalty unless you choose some kind of "extra lucky" or "ill-fated" option during character creation. They would be able to be affected by spells, charms or other magic items. A cursed sword might make you especially unlucky - you find less loot, you miss in combat more often, etc. Fate would control things like saving throws (or whatever analogous system) or NPC reactions, and encounters, while Luck could make you find a few extra coins, let you haggle a price down a little, or score a critical hit a little more often. The breakdown between the two is a little hard to define at this point but it will become clearer as we start to build in places where the abilities are checked.
Some things in the game should be able to give you a hint about what your Fate and Luck are but you probably won't ever know precisely what their values are.
The FATE and FAE systems have a permissive creative commons license that is far less problematic than the OGL, plus they're nice systems. Seems like the more modern descendant of FUDGE.