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roleplaying the wild west, Design thoughts

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This will have an update on me and shit at the end. the main part of this post is going to be about writing a ttrpg.

Background

I love ttrpgs, their fun to play, fun to read. Ive made a couple even thought they where far closes to art projects than actual games. (thats not new everything i make is)

I was working on a mech ttrpg, i will come back to it, but for reasons i don't want to get into i switched to a wild west ttrpg.

I plan on making the game at its base a wild west game, then make a supplement or two for adding in more paranormal and supernatural things, like werewolves, vampires, some magic etc.

Step One: Namin stuff.

I believe if your going to make a "traditional" skill based ttrpg, then naming things to get a flavor is step one honestly.For this its a d20 system.

The skills are

  • Grit: Physical Rolls
  • Guile: Dexterity type checks
  • Brains: Intelligence rolls
  • Heart: Social Checks

you also have

  • Luck: This is for everything else, i will come back to it
  • Vigor: think like health, but the mechanic right now is slightly different.

Step Two: Core Mechanic

The core Mechanic for this game is a "roll high, under" system, or called "blackjack". This system is popularized by the white hack, which the way they do it is by setting a lower threshold as well.

So to roll a check you want to roll under your ability score. However, to get a crit, you want to roll your stat exactly. Right now, until i play test it, im not having the lower threshold number. This might change, the more i think about it in my head the more i think it will so, if that's a clue lol.

The reason im going with a "roll high, under" is because i believe that having character roll low for their main checks, then for damage rolling high can be a little confusing. This isn't a bad system, I love cairn and many other osr/nsr games that use that system.

It will be interesting to see how player adapt to it.

Luck

Luck as of this moment, is a skill like Grit or Guile. The difference as of right now however is that I'm not allowing advantage and disadvantage on luck. As well luck will be a skill that can be used generally, but also can be used in place of other checks. So if you wanted to say push a boulder your grit low? wanna test your luck? you can!

Vigor

Vigor is the "hp" stat, the big difference though is that its more meant to be about how much drive you have in the fight still.

In combat you have a two main actions, and 1 reaction. These actions can be anything, including doing the same action twice.

So while an attack hits your vigor. So does doing the same action twice in one round.Doing the same action twice in one round will always take 1 vigor.

Step three: player options

Player options are things like weapons, classes, items.

Classes

there are a number of base game classes being made.

  • Gambler
  • Ex-Deputy
  • Preacher
  • Ranch Hand
  • Doctor
  • Drifter
  • Hunter

Classes take from a few different ideas in this game

They will have a blurb about the class

then tell you on creation what you get stat wise. Next is two tables. The first table is who you are/where. So for the gambler it asks "who you where at the table?" then gives "Charmin Fella", "Card Counter", and "Just Fuckin Lucky", based on these you get extra points on a skill and minus one on another skill.

After that table is another, that is an item from your past. These items are hooks for your character, but in some cases can be used for things. the "trusty bone saw" of the doctor can double as a weapon in a pinch.

Then will come a couple abilities. I plan on these to be passive abilities that just happen around the player or for the player.

Then coming from my beloved shadowdark. Talents

The Talents table is rolled on every couple times you level just to give a little more to the player.

Closing thoughts

I want the game to be only some what deadly, and to reflect that im trying to make it abit more of a grounded game. I know personally i like games that are both deadly, and not. A deadly game is fun as a game, while the other end is fun as a group roleplay session. Both are solid and i want this to fit more to the deadly side while still being able to rp a bunch and not lose your character in the first fight.

Life Update

God its been... a bit, like a few months. Ive been around. Ive got plenty of blog posts in the writing, but getting the want to write is hard now a days. I'm here though.

I want to start actually finishing and posting blog posts again, but that's easier said than done.

I have one mostly finished on retaliatory violence again, but then charlie kirk went and got shot and so its on the back burner for a little bit lmao. I know some right wing loser did it but just for a little cause it had/has nothing to do with that mfer.

Ive felt pretty burnt out in general recently. Just in general, and getting myself to do shit sometimes is a slog. But we ball. I hope to have a play test of this game ready soon for my friends first then ill upload the play test somewhere and see what others say.

Love Every Trans Woman You Meet Before It's Too Late.