Post by Admin on Nov 18, 2007 14:36:11 GMT -5
We'll be using these rules to run guild RPGs over guildchat. If you want to take part in them, you'll need to make rules for a character and post them in the Guild Members board.
The SPAM system
All characters in are defined by two sets of numbers: Attributes and Skills. An Attribute represents your generic capacity for a particular type of endeavour; a Skill represents a particular quality, expertise, or characteristic. Each Skill or Attribute is given a numeric rating to show level of proficiency. A lower value is less capable; a higher value is more capable.
There are four Attributes. These are Spirit, Physique, Agility, and Mind. They have been cunningly named and arranged to form an amusing and memorable acronym. Each Attribute is rated at '3'. However, you may choose to reduce any one Attribute to a '2' to raise another to a '4'. You can only do this once.
Example: Bob is deciding on the Attributes for his Gnome. He decides that his gnome, being very small, has only got a Physique of 2. However, as gnomes are renowned for being excessively smart, he gives his gnome a Mind Attribute of 4. Spirit and Agility remain unchanged at 3.
There is no list of Skills. Each Skill is determined by the player upon creation of the character, to better define their character. Nozzlethorp the Gnome might find a skill of "Hydraulic Battle Pants Operation" to be essential for his character, while Aliarysta Gladestar may not ever wish to learn this skill, and may be more interested in a "Tree Sap Knowledge" skill. Each Skill relates to an Attribute. Brawling is clearly a Physical skill, while Communing With Animals is a Spiritual one. If you're not sure what Skill goes with what Attribute, think about what makes the most sense for your character's concept.
Each Skill begins with a rating equal to the Attribute it is associated to. Add any points you put into the Skill to the Attribute's rating to determine the Skill's rating. For instance, Mog'Rash the Orc has a Hardiness skill, to represent his ability to take wounds and keep going under the toughest conditions. Mog'Rash decides this is a Physical skill. Mog'Rash has a Physique of 3 and puts two points into Hardiness. His Hardiness skill therefore has a rating of 5. The rating of Attributes will not change, unless by magic, whereas Skills are constantly improving.
There are two types of actions in general in the SPAM system. Either you are trying to do something on your own, or you are trying to do something opposed to someone else. For instance, if you are lifting a rock, all that matters is how strong you are. On the other hand, if the rock turns into an Earth Elemental and starts trying to lift YOU, then you have an opposed roll.
For an unopposed action, declare the Skill you want to use (or Attribute if you have no relevant Skil), and what you want the result of your action to be. Thali the Dwarf wishes to drink a particularly noxious orc beer without passing out. He has a Quaffing skill of 6, and declares his goal is not to suffer any side effects of the hideous brew. The GM decides on a difficulty number for the roll: in this case, the GM decides the difficulty is 4. The GM then rolls a number of six-sided dice equal to the skill and looks at the results to see how many Successes are scored, as per this table:
Result of Dice - Success
6 - Two successes
5 - One success
4 - One success
3 - No success
2 - No success
1 - Subtract one success
The GM then counts the total number of successes rolled and compares the Successes to the difficulty to determine the result
Number of successes - Result
Twice the difficulty or more - Critical success!
Equal to the difficulty or more - Success!
Less than the difficulty - Failure!
No successes or less - Critical failure!
The GM then determines what the result means. In some cases, a critical success or critical failure might not be appropriate. As it is, Thali rolls 1,1,2,3,4,5. The four and the five give him two successes, but the two ones each remove a success, for a grand total of zero. Thali takes a sip and instantly passes out.
If the roll is opposed, then both characters declare the skill they want to use, the result they want, and then roll. The GM interprets the results as if the lower result is the difficulty and the higher result is the roll. If the result is equal, however, the GM should reflect that the contest has been in some way a draw.
Example: Bold Fridarion the paladin sees a vile Skeleton and readies his sword to smite the fiend, while the skeleton attempts to strangle him with cold, bony fingers. Fridarion has a Swords skill of 5, while the Skeleton has a Brawling skill of 4. Both declare that their goal is to inflict lethal damage upon the other. Fridarion rolls 2,3,4,5,5, for a total of 3 successes. The Skeleton rolls 2,6,6 for a total of 4 successes. The Skeleton has more successes than Fridarion, so it checks the table. It has more successes, but not double, so it does not instantly rip his head off. Instead, it succeeds in hurting him, and the GM rules that Fridarion will roll -1 dice to all his actions due to his injuries until he finds healing... or death...
Sometimes, a task will involve more than one person on each side. A rock may be too big for one person to lift, or a demon too fierce for one person to fight, or a regiment of Stormwind footmen might clash with a force of Orcish Grunts. This is treated in exactly the same way as normal, with the following exception. A group performing an action nominates a leader to perform the action: the character with the highest skill rating. Every other character rolls as normal. The amount of successes they score is added (or subtracted, if they rolled poorly!) from the skill rating of the leader, who then rolls for the action as normal.
Example: Thrak'zor the Slavener is a demon of great and terrible power. Spaz'togs the troll and Fuzhou the pandaren have joined forces to fight this troll. Fuzhou has a Panda-Fu skill of 8, and Spaz'togs has an Axes skill of 7, while the mighty Thrak'zor rolls 12 dice for his Slaughter skill. Fuzhou is declared to be the leader of the team effort, as he has the higher skill. Spaz'togs rolls 7 dice, scoring 6,6,4,1,6,6,4 for an impressive total of 9 successes. For this action, Fuzhou now has an effective Panda-Fu skill of 17 to the demon's 12. He rolls 1,5,5,4,1,6,4,3,1,4,2,4,3,4,6,6,5, a total of 11 successes, and Thrak'zor rolls 4,1,2,2,3,3,3,4,1,5,1,2, for a spectacular total of 0 successes. Fuzhou and Spaz'togs score a critical success and vanquish the demon in short order.
To create a character, you must determine the rating of the attributes and skills. Attributes have already been discussed: these start at a rating of 3, unless they are chosen to be raised or lowered. Each player then receives ten points which they can put into skills for their character, with no more than two points in each skill.
For instance: I want to make a character, Thyeisa the Magniloquent, a Draenei she-mage. First, I calculate Thyeisa's Attributes. Her default attributes are as follows:
SPIRIT 3
PHYSIQUE 3
AGILITY 3
MENTAL 3
The Draenei are far more attuned to the Light, but their larger frames makes them bulky and slow. Thyseia, in particular, I decide, is somewhat clumsy due to her absent-minded nature. So I modify Thyseia's attributes to fit:
SPIRIT 4
PHYSIQUE 3
AGILITY 2
MIND 3
I now have ten points to put into skills for Thyeisa. As a mage, Thyseia has specialised in ice magic. She also has a good knowledge of spellcasting's general theory. She has been given some training in use of a mace. Thyseia is skilled at enchanting, but her enchantments are used to help the architects of the Draenei, rather than enhance weapons, so she chooses Arcane Architecture to represent this. Thyseia sings and dances in her spare time, and is a voracious reader of trashy romance novels. Finally, Thyseia has a unique connection to the Light, due to her use of magic, and has a sort of 'sixth sense'. I allocate the points into these as follows:
Ice Magic 2
Arcane Knowledge 2
Maces 1
Arcane Architecture 1
Dancing 1
Singing 1
Romance Novels Knowledge 1
Sixth Sense 1
I then choose which Attribute each of these skills will relate to, and write up the character sheet.
SPIRIT 4
- Singing 5
- Sixth Sense 5
PHYSIQUE 3
- Maces 4
AGILITY 2
- Dancing 3
MIND 3
- Arcane Architecture 4
- Arcane Knowledge 5
- Ice Magic 5
- Romance Novels 4
Thyeis is now complete.
As characters undergo more and more hardship, they achieve more and more experience at their Skills, and learn new Skills. For every level your character achieves in WoW, you gain 2 Experience Points. To increase a Skill by one, pay Experience Points equal to the current rating of the skill. To gain a new skill, pay Experience Points equal to the Attribute the skill will be related to. Spare Experience can be saved to increase a skill later on.
For example, Thyeis has become a Level 5 character online. Coming to update her SPAM character, I see that she has 10 Experience to add. (I haven't updated her until now, because I got up to level 5 in one sitting). I decide to increase Thyeis' Dancing by 1. Her current rating is 3, so I spend 3 experience to increase it to 4. I then decide that Thyeis has been talking to Ularitharion a lot about druidism, and has invented spells to let her turn into a rabbit, in an attempt to be more like a druid. Thyeis decides Rabbitform is a Spirit skill, so pays 4 experience, the same amount as her Spirit Attribute, and gains the Rabbitform skill at a rating of 5. Thais now has 3 experience left. She could gain another new skill, but she decides she needs to increase her Rabbitform, so she saves her last three experience. When she becomes Level 6 online, she will have two more experience, and will be able to afford the increase to Rabbitform 6.
It is a good idea, when making stats for your character, to make a note of what level the stats represent and how much experience you have left to spend.
The SPAM system
All characters in are defined by two sets of numbers: Attributes and Skills. An Attribute represents your generic capacity for a particular type of endeavour; a Skill represents a particular quality, expertise, or characteristic. Each Skill or Attribute is given a numeric rating to show level of proficiency. A lower value is less capable; a higher value is more capable.
There are four Attributes. These are Spirit, Physique, Agility, and Mind. They have been cunningly named and arranged to form an amusing and memorable acronym. Each Attribute is rated at '3'. However, you may choose to reduce any one Attribute to a '2' to raise another to a '4'. You can only do this once.
Example: Bob is deciding on the Attributes for his Gnome. He decides that his gnome, being very small, has only got a Physique of 2. However, as gnomes are renowned for being excessively smart, he gives his gnome a Mind Attribute of 4. Spirit and Agility remain unchanged at 3.
There is no list of Skills. Each Skill is determined by the player upon creation of the character, to better define their character. Nozzlethorp the Gnome might find a skill of "Hydraulic Battle Pants Operation" to be essential for his character, while Aliarysta Gladestar may not ever wish to learn this skill, and may be more interested in a "Tree Sap Knowledge" skill. Each Skill relates to an Attribute. Brawling is clearly a Physical skill, while Communing With Animals is a Spiritual one. If you're not sure what Skill goes with what Attribute, think about what makes the most sense for your character's concept.
Each Skill begins with a rating equal to the Attribute it is associated to. Add any points you put into the Skill to the Attribute's rating to determine the Skill's rating. For instance, Mog'Rash the Orc has a Hardiness skill, to represent his ability to take wounds and keep going under the toughest conditions. Mog'Rash decides this is a Physical skill. Mog'Rash has a Physique of 3 and puts two points into Hardiness. His Hardiness skill therefore has a rating of 5. The rating of Attributes will not change, unless by magic, whereas Skills are constantly improving.
There are two types of actions in general in the SPAM system. Either you are trying to do something on your own, or you are trying to do something opposed to someone else. For instance, if you are lifting a rock, all that matters is how strong you are. On the other hand, if the rock turns into an Earth Elemental and starts trying to lift YOU, then you have an opposed roll.
For an unopposed action, declare the Skill you want to use (or Attribute if you have no relevant Skil), and what you want the result of your action to be. Thali the Dwarf wishes to drink a particularly noxious orc beer without passing out. He has a Quaffing skill of 6, and declares his goal is not to suffer any side effects of the hideous brew. The GM decides on a difficulty number for the roll: in this case, the GM decides the difficulty is 4. The GM then rolls a number of six-sided dice equal to the skill and looks at the results to see how many Successes are scored, as per this table:
Result of Dice - Success
6 - Two successes
5 - One success
4 - One success
3 - No success
2 - No success
1 - Subtract one success
The GM then counts the total number of successes rolled and compares the Successes to the difficulty to determine the result
Number of successes - Result
Twice the difficulty or more - Critical success!
Equal to the difficulty or more - Success!
Less than the difficulty - Failure!
No successes or less - Critical failure!
The GM then determines what the result means. In some cases, a critical success or critical failure might not be appropriate. As it is, Thali rolls 1,1,2,3,4,5. The four and the five give him two successes, but the two ones each remove a success, for a grand total of zero. Thali takes a sip and instantly passes out.
If the roll is opposed, then both characters declare the skill they want to use, the result they want, and then roll. The GM interprets the results as if the lower result is the difficulty and the higher result is the roll. If the result is equal, however, the GM should reflect that the contest has been in some way a draw.
Example: Bold Fridarion the paladin sees a vile Skeleton and readies his sword to smite the fiend, while the skeleton attempts to strangle him with cold, bony fingers. Fridarion has a Swords skill of 5, while the Skeleton has a Brawling skill of 4. Both declare that their goal is to inflict lethal damage upon the other. Fridarion rolls 2,3,4,5,5, for a total of 3 successes. The Skeleton rolls 2,6,6 for a total of 4 successes. The Skeleton has more successes than Fridarion, so it checks the table. It has more successes, but not double, so it does not instantly rip his head off. Instead, it succeeds in hurting him, and the GM rules that Fridarion will roll -1 dice to all his actions due to his injuries until he finds healing... or death...
Sometimes, a task will involve more than one person on each side. A rock may be too big for one person to lift, or a demon too fierce for one person to fight, or a regiment of Stormwind footmen might clash with a force of Orcish Grunts. This is treated in exactly the same way as normal, with the following exception. A group performing an action nominates a leader to perform the action: the character with the highest skill rating. Every other character rolls as normal. The amount of successes they score is added (or subtracted, if they rolled poorly!) from the skill rating of the leader, who then rolls for the action as normal.
Example: Thrak'zor the Slavener is a demon of great and terrible power. Spaz'togs the troll and Fuzhou the pandaren have joined forces to fight this troll. Fuzhou has a Panda-Fu skill of 8, and Spaz'togs has an Axes skill of 7, while the mighty Thrak'zor rolls 12 dice for his Slaughter skill. Fuzhou is declared to be the leader of the team effort, as he has the higher skill. Spaz'togs rolls 7 dice, scoring 6,6,4,1,6,6,4 for an impressive total of 9 successes. For this action, Fuzhou now has an effective Panda-Fu skill of 17 to the demon's 12. He rolls 1,5,5,4,1,6,4,3,1,4,2,4,3,4,6,6,5, a total of 11 successes, and Thrak'zor rolls 4,1,2,2,3,3,3,4,1,5,1,2, for a spectacular total of 0 successes. Fuzhou and Spaz'togs score a critical success and vanquish the demon in short order.
To create a character, you must determine the rating of the attributes and skills. Attributes have already been discussed: these start at a rating of 3, unless they are chosen to be raised or lowered. Each player then receives ten points which they can put into skills for their character, with no more than two points in each skill.
For instance: I want to make a character, Thyeisa the Magniloquent, a Draenei she-mage. First, I calculate Thyeisa's Attributes. Her default attributes are as follows:
SPIRIT 3
PHYSIQUE 3
AGILITY 3
MENTAL 3
The Draenei are far more attuned to the Light, but their larger frames makes them bulky and slow. Thyseia, in particular, I decide, is somewhat clumsy due to her absent-minded nature. So I modify Thyseia's attributes to fit:
SPIRIT 4
PHYSIQUE 3
AGILITY 2
MIND 3
I now have ten points to put into skills for Thyeisa. As a mage, Thyseia has specialised in ice magic. She also has a good knowledge of spellcasting's general theory. She has been given some training in use of a mace. Thyseia is skilled at enchanting, but her enchantments are used to help the architects of the Draenei, rather than enhance weapons, so she chooses Arcane Architecture to represent this. Thyseia sings and dances in her spare time, and is a voracious reader of trashy romance novels. Finally, Thyseia has a unique connection to the Light, due to her use of magic, and has a sort of 'sixth sense'. I allocate the points into these as follows:
Ice Magic 2
Arcane Knowledge 2
Maces 1
Arcane Architecture 1
Dancing 1
Singing 1
Romance Novels Knowledge 1
Sixth Sense 1
I then choose which Attribute each of these skills will relate to, and write up the character sheet.
SPIRIT 4
- Singing 5
- Sixth Sense 5
PHYSIQUE 3
- Maces 4
AGILITY 2
- Dancing 3
MIND 3
- Arcane Architecture 4
- Arcane Knowledge 5
- Ice Magic 5
- Romance Novels 4
Thyeis is now complete.
As characters undergo more and more hardship, they achieve more and more experience at their Skills, and learn new Skills. For every level your character achieves in WoW, you gain 2 Experience Points. To increase a Skill by one, pay Experience Points equal to the current rating of the skill. To gain a new skill, pay Experience Points equal to the Attribute the skill will be related to. Spare Experience can be saved to increase a skill later on.
For example, Thyeis has become a Level 5 character online. Coming to update her SPAM character, I see that she has 10 Experience to add. (I haven't updated her until now, because I got up to level 5 in one sitting). I decide to increase Thyeis' Dancing by 1. Her current rating is 3, so I spend 3 experience to increase it to 4. I then decide that Thyeis has been talking to Ularitharion a lot about druidism, and has invented spells to let her turn into a rabbit, in an attempt to be more like a druid. Thyeis decides Rabbitform is a Spirit skill, so pays 4 experience, the same amount as her Spirit Attribute, and gains the Rabbitform skill at a rating of 5. Thais now has 3 experience left. She could gain another new skill, but she decides she needs to increase her Rabbitform, so she saves her last three experience. When she becomes Level 6 online, she will have two more experience, and will be able to afford the increase to Rabbitform 6.
It is a good idea, when making stats for your character, to make a note of what level the stats represent and how much experience you have left to spend.