Ruttigers Rules Primer

We've been releasing bits and bobs over the past few days, to give you a decent idea of how the system works, and why we think it's fun. I hope we've sparked some interest, and if so...

Well strap in, because I'm going to do a big ol' overview of the rules, to give you an even better idea of how things work, and it's gonna be a long one!

We'll start with the Character Sheet again, because I see it as our game's interface:

Good to see that lovable lunk Brog again huh?

If you are an astute follower of our blog, you'll notice our three Defenses have been replaced by one Save target number. We did this for a few reasons, which came out during our play tests.

The main reason was simplicity. We tried having a Defense act like a Armor Class, then you could roll under the Defense to Save, which sounded simple, but in play it was a bit confusing. So, we decided to do something that happens a LOT in game design, we went for the simpler and clearer option.

We also changed our two Action Types from, Action & Move, to Major & Minor. This was done just to help with writing the rules more clearly. It's awkward to state "use a Move Action, and then an... Action Action... I guess?"

So, with simplicity in mind again, we went with Major Action, and Minor Action, which we can shorten to Major and Minor in rules text.

Anyway, that was what we tweaked, but the vast majority of the system is exactly the same, so let's start from the top and walk through the core mechanics:

Actions per Turn

We tried a few different iterations of the "action economy," but so far this one works best:

Characters get One Major Action, and One Minor Action per turn:

• Major Action: One Attack roll, One Major Talent, or trade your Major for a Minor Action
• Minor Action: One Movement, One Minor Talent, or One Maneuver Attempt
  

I'll go into the ideas behind the Maneuvers in a later blog post, but for now, you can likely glean how they work by reading the Actions per Turn sidebar on the left hand side of the character sheet.

Boons & Banes

I wanted to cover these up front, because they are simple mechanics, but we use them is several places:

• Boon: Roll Two Die, Keep the Highest Result
• Bane: Roll Two Die, Keep the Lowest Result

This mechanic may be applied to attack rolls, damage rolls, casting rolls, skill checks, saving throws, they get used in many different places, since they are very simple and easy to apply.

Attributes

We're using the well know six Attributes, used by many systems, and here's a brief overview:

Now, our rules document is well underway, and this section lacks a bit of context that we cover earlier in that document, so I'll go over some of the basics:

Callings: Ruttigers has six Callings (Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Mage, Rogue, Warlock), and what makes them different from typical Classes, is that they are "buckets" of options you can choose from, allowing you to build and develop a character as they grow in experience. I'll cover Callings in more detail down below, but the big difference between a Calling and a Class is, you can Build your Own Classes using combinations of Talents from a Calling, or by mixing Talents from several Callings.

We're really excited to see what Classes people build using Callings, and cross Callings. We've played with stuff like, the Berserk Necromancer, which mixes Talents from the Fighter and Warlock Callings, but there are so many combos, we'll leave to your own creativity.

Attributes: The six attributes range between 3 and 18, with some adjustments on top from Ancestries, that we'll cover in another blog post very soon. The two big things to note here are:

• First, your Attribute Scores (3-18) serve as now Defenses of a sort, and some Spells are Cast versus an Attribute Score. Such as Wytchbolt (see the Warlock Calling below), which you utilizes an Occult Casting roll (D20+Occult Casting modifier) versus the target's Dexterity Attribute. So, keep in mind that Attribute Scores are also de-facto Defenses in some cases.
  

• Second, you get +1 to One Attribute for each Level a character gains, up to 10th Level. This seems like a big bonus at first, but you'll need it, some spells are nasty! Also, we like how a character can evolve over time using this method, so we want to give it a good play test.

Modifiers: Each Attribute gives you a base Modifier between -5 to +5, as seen of the charts above, that is applied to Skill Checks, and Saving Throws. I'll explain below, but we think it's pretty straightforward:

• Skill Checks: Roll a D20+Modifier versus a Difficulty defined by the Game Master. You can roll a Skill Check for just about anything from juggling (DEX), to bashing doors (STR), pretty easy
  

• Saving Throws: Roll a D20+Modifier versus your Save number, Saves start at 15, and decrease by 1 every Two Levels, as you can see on the character sheet above, on the tail end of Attributes

Attack & Casting Modifiers: Next in line for each attribute are the Attack & Casting Modifiers, which are also D20 rolls, and I'll give you some details below:

• Martial Attack: Roll D20+Martial Attack versus Armor Class, this applies to heavier weapon use, such as longswords, longbows, polearms, etc, so it is Strength based
  

• Rouge Attack: Roll D20+Rogue Attack versus Armor Class,  this applies to lighter weapon use, such as daggers, shortbows, shortspears, etc, so it is Dexterity based 
  

• Casting Rolls: Roll D20+Casting Modifier versus an Attribute, this applies to four Spell Casting types, Arcane (Mage), Divine (Cleric), Occult (Warlock), Sylvan (Druid)

As noted in the Attributes page above, some spells are Cast vs. Attribute, other require the Target to Save, and some just work, like magic, so to speak.

Now, not all characters will be spell casters, and most won't use all of the spell casting types, but there will be scrolls and items of various types that any character may attempt a spell casting roll to use.

You'll also notice that we say Attack & Casting, but we don't mention Damage Modifiers, that's because we have what we think is a fun mechanic called Overrun Damage to deal with that:

• Overrun Damage: If your D20 Attack Roll plus Modifier exceeds 20, add the excess to Damage
  

We've all made an attack roll, added a modifier, and came up with a result like 13, 17, or even 23. Well our Overrun Damage comes into play in the latter instance (23), since the Total Attack Roll Result is Over 20, you add the extra 3 Points to Damage. We tried this out in the play testing, and it was pretty fun.

Overrun Damage also cuts down on general damage output in the game, which means creatures can have less Hit Points, which is less math, less "bag of HP" creatures, and more fun we think.

Other Features: Each Attribute also has one other feature tagged on the end, let's take a look:

• Deadlift: Defines how much weight a character can lift while flat footed
  

• Hit Points: Defines a character's modifier to Hit Die rolls, used for Hit Points and Recovery
  

• Base AC: Defines a character's base Unarmored Armor Class
  

• View Range: Defines the Maximum Range (in Feet) for spells that require View, the first number is the max range with Clear View, the second is max range for Obscured View (darkness, fog, etc.)
  

• Lore & Languages: Defines the number of Lore and Languages a character knows, which we have a nice selection of (knowing a Lore gives you a Boon to Lore Check rolls related to that Lore)
  

• Contact Roll: When characters enter new village, town, or city, they all make aD20 Contact Roll, and apply this modifier, to determine if they have any Friends or Foes in the settlement. We added this in to bring some random NPCs into the story, it can be used at the Game Master's discretion.

Well, that covers Attributes, at a high level at least, so let's look at the Fighter & Warlock Callings next.

Fighter & Warlock Callings

Many of you have probably seen the original Fighter and Warlock Callings that I posted over the past few days, and they are pretty much the same, besides a few minor tweaks. We'll take another look, then I'll give you a few footnotes down below:

 

 

So, these remain pretty much the same as they were, but I'll do a complete overview of how Callings work for characters below, so we can cover the fundamentals:

 

Callings: As mentioned before, Callings are collections of Talents, which includes abilities, feats, and spells, that a character can gain as the advance in Level. The six core Callings are:

• Cleric: Acolytes of a deity, defenders, rebukers, healers, and avatars of their god's wrath
  
• Druid: Users of Fey magics, shapeshifters, summoners, kindred to the flora and fauna
  
• Fighter: Old soldiers, mercenaries, tough warriors, and heavy weapon combat veterans
  
• Mage: Arcane scholars with a wide variety of spells, versatile and intelligent wizards
  
• Rogue: Grifters, thieves, assassins, spies, who typically prefer more deft light weapons
  
• Warlock: Students of occult magics, demonology, necromancy, spirits, and the eldritch

There are also titles you gain for each if the 15 Dual Callings:

 

Each Calling has a variety of Talents, and we'll likely add more Talents based on the play tests feedback, but characters can gain access to up to Three Callings spending their Iron Points.

Iron Points: Characters get 3 Iron points per Level, which they can spend to acquire new Talents, and each Talent costs either 1 Iron, 2 Iron, or 3 Iron, depending on potency. This allows you to build your character in any direction you like, as you play through a campaign.

Talents Overview: As mentioned above, Talents are the various abilities, feats, and spells you can acquire for your character, and each has a Sub-talent which you can spend additional Iron Points on, in order to gain more depth in that particular talent.

Talent Types: There are four talent types, which define the Action required to use the talent:

• Ability: Requires No Action to use, but some may require a Check or Save to attempt
• Minor: Requires One Minor Action to use or cast
• Major: Requires One Major action to use or cast
• Ritual: Requires One Full Turn to cast
  

One note on our Talents. Many systems grant a characters Exponential Power as they gain Levels, but Ruttigers grants Incremental Power. What I mean by this is, characters in our system build their Talents bit by bit, each Level, they invest in their talents and improve gradually, they don't double their power from level to level. There are many reasons we went with this design style, but we'd like to know what you think, when we get into the full play test.

 

So is that all the rules? Nope, but that's just the meat and potatoes of the core rules.

We also have Creatures with Special Traits (much like Talents), Random Encounter Generators to give game masters some inspiration, a few fun Maps and Locations, some fun Magic Items, and items we call Pandora Artifacts, that should add a lot of fun to your game, and we'll be releasing previews of these, and more, as we put the full play test document together...

... but what we are really interested in, and what YOU can do with the system.

 

We wanted this system to give players, and game masters, the ability to customize characters, create their own classes, like orders of knights, or secret guilds. We want to see what creatures you build, what items you come up with. It's a game yes, but it's meant to be a hobby game, so it needs YOU, as Gary Gygax once stated in one of his forewords.

So, we're inviting you in on the last leg of creating this play test document. You can read along as we reveal more fun stuff, find all of my typos if you like (I'd appreciate it), and you can start thinking of fun stuff you might make with this hobby tool set.

That's the fun part for us, and we hope you come along for the ride.

Until tomorrow Ruttigers!

Richard