After looking at the Microlite20 system, I came to realize that a lot of tabletop games are grievously over-complicated and counter-intuitive. With this in mind (and after watching a few other tabletop games played) I decided to customize my own tabletop gaming system. It’s a stripped down simplified system designed to help you get a character created in about 5-10 minutes and get the game going. The battle system is also simplified. Without further ado, this is my own custom-made tabletop system, optimized for both fantasy and science fiction games, inspired by Microlite20 and the Yogscast’s “Yogsquest” series.
The Big 4 Stats
There are 4 stats:
- Strength
- Dexterity
- Mind
- Charisma
These stats do not contain stat numbers, rather they contain “ranks”.
In order to pass stat checks, you must roll a D20 equal to or higher than your rank.
For example, if I need to roll a Charisma check because I’m trying to charm someone, and my rank is 9, then the result of my D20 roll must be 9 or higher to succeed.
Each stat starts at rank 12. You are allowed to assign 1 primary, and 1 secondary stat.
The primary stat will be brought to rank 6. The secondary stat will be brought to rank 9.
So, for example:
| Strength | Dexterity | Mind | Charisma |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
If I chose Strength as my primary, and Dexterity as my secondary, my stats would look like this:
| Strength | Dexterity | Mind | Charisma |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 9 | 12 | 12 |
Removed Superfluous Over-complication
Classes
There are no classes; you simply choose your stats, weapons, and armor, and play your character based off of that. Choose to use magic, or don’t.
Races
There are no racial benefits or drawbacks; you choose the race you want based on personal preference.
Health and Armor
Instead of HP, you’ll instead have a heart representation of your life.
Hearts are determined by your Strength stat.
| Strength | Number of hearts |
|---|---|
| 12 | 15 |
| 9 | 20 |
| 6 | 24 |
Your armor is represented by shields. When you’re hit in battle, the damage will be reduced by the number of shields you have. It is up to the GM to determine armor durability.
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| Strength | Armor Type | Shields |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | Light | 2 |
| 9 | Medium | 4 |
| 6 | Heavy | 6 |
Certain specialty armor can increase hp, mp, and shields, as determined by the GM and/or campaign.
The Buff and the Derp
Each character has one special ability, and one passive “derp”. The ability is something they can use only a certain number of times a day. The derp is both a boon and an impediment (for instance, a fighter type class might go berserk when struck hard enough. He’ll continue attacking his target until it is dead, with a +2 to damage rolls. This is both a boon and an impediment because if a player attacks him by mistake, he will then target the player, in addition to the fact that the fighter cannot act in any other way but attacking.) This is also open-ended; the players or the GM determines the specialty and the derp – either way it must be OK’d by the GM.
Weapons
Your character can have one primary weapon, and one secondary weapon. Primary weapons are generally bigger and do more damage, while the secondary weapon is smaller and does less damage. Allow for use of both the primary and secondary weapon within one turn. If the player opts for 2 secondary weapons, add +2 to all damage.
Weapons can be customized further later in the campaign to increase damage or range.
Players may also opt to not use weapons, instead going for melee attacks. Roll for each punch’s hit, and the damage roll for each punch is set as a base of 1d6.
The ability to hit with any weapon is based on Dexterity. Strength only determines what weapons you can equip.
Weapons: Fantasy
Primary weapons include 1-handed medium-sized weapons (maces, axes, longswords, wands, etc), or 2-handed weapons (greatswords, greataxes, greathammers/greatmaces, staves, bows, crossbows, etc.). Secondary weapons are smaller (daggers, shields, shortswords, etc.)
Shooting weapons like bows and crossbows can shoot 1 powerful shot, or 3 less-powerful shots.
Shooting weapons also are based on range. The power shot can hit up to 6 squares away, while the 3-shot can hit up to 4 squares away.
Staves and wands do very little damage. They are more designed to enhance spells, enhance the 4 main stats, or enhance hp/mp/armor.
Shields range in light, medium, and heavy (based on the rank in Strength).
| Strength | Shield Type | Additional Shields |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | Light | 1 |
| 9 | Medium | 2 |
| 6 | Heavy | 3 |
You may opt to shield bash an opponent, interrupting their turn and doing damage.
Daggers can strike twice in one hit.
There are other weapons such as bombs, throwing daggers, rocks, etc. They can hit up to 4 squares away, and their damage and targets vary. They exist outside of the primary/secondary classification, and are stored in the player’s inventory. You have a limited number of them to use. The player may also grab an improvised throwing object off the ground, if available (such as a rock, a stick, etc.)
This is all summed up in the table below:
| Primay/Secondary | Type | Range(Squares) | Targets | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary | Fists | 1 | 2 | 1d8 per punch |
| Primary | 1-handed melee | 1 | 1 | 1d8 |
| Primary | 2-handed melee | 2 | 1 | 1d12 |
| Primary | Bow | 6/4 | 1/3 | 1d8/1d4 per target |
| Primary | Crossbow | 6/4 | 1/3 | 1d10/1d6 per target |
| Primary | Staff | 1 | 1 | 1d6 |
| Primary | Wand | 1 | 1 | 1d4 |
| Secondary | Shield | 1 | 1 | 1d4 |
| Secondary | Dagger | 1 | 1 | 2d4 |
| Secondary | Shortsword | 1 | 1 | 1d6 |
| Other | Throwing Dagger | 4 | 1/3 | 1d6/1d4 per target |
| Other | Bomb | 4 | 4 | 1d4 per target within 2 squares |
| Other | Throwing Axe | 4 | 1 | 1d8 |
| Other | Javelin | 4 | 1 | 1d8 |
| Other | Improvised Throwing Object | 4 | 1 | 1d4 |
Weapons: Sci-fi
Primary weapons include rifles, shotguns, submachine guns, and melee weapons. Secondary weapons include pistols and smaller melee weapons
Rifles and submachine guns have 2 settings: power shot, or full auto. Power shot will hit one target up to 6 squares away. Full auto can hit up to 3 targets 4 squares away.
Shotguns have 2 settings: single shot, or spread shot. Single shot does damage up to 4 squares away. Spread shot can hit up to 3 targets 2 squares away.
Pistols hit up to 4 squares away. They can range from heavy pistol or light pistol. Heavy pistols do single-target damage. Light pistols are fired 3 times.
Secondary melee weapons in science fiction can either be a plain blunt or edged instrument, or it can be an electrical instrument (such as a taser).
As before, there are throwing weapons as well… In a science fiction fantasy world, there are many items one can throw with various effects. The summary table will attempt to list a few commonly-used items, but this part is open-ended and can be built on by the GM.
| Primay/Secondary | Type | Range(Squares) | Targets | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary | Fists | 1 | 2 | 1d8 per punch |
| Primary | 1-handed melee | 1 | 1 | 1d8 |
| Primary | 2-handed melee | 2 | 1 | 1d12 |
| Primary | Rifle | 6/4 | 1/3 | 1d10/1d6 per target |
| Primary | Submachine Gun | 6/4 | 1/3 | 1d8/1d4 per target |
| Primary | Shotgun | 4/2 | 1/3 | 1d10/1d4 per target |
| Secondary | Light Pistol | 4 | 3 | 1d4 per target |
| Secondary | Heavy Pistol | 4 | 1 | 1d8 |
| Secondary | (Normal) Melee | 1 | 1 | 2d4 |
| Secondary | (Powered) Melee | 1 | 1 | 1d6 |
| Other | Throwing Dagger | 4 | 1/3 | 1d6/1d4 per target |
| Other | Grenade | 4 | 4 | 1d4 per target within 2 squares |
| Other | Improvised Throwing Object | 4 | 1 | 1d4 |
Optional: Magic
Magic spells are open-ended… either create your own, or borrow from another system for ideas. All spells must be OK’d by the GM.
Mana is represented by blue bottles.
Each spell costs a certain number of bottles.
| Mind | Bottles |
|---|---|
| 12 | 8 |
| 9 | 12 |
| 6 | 16 |
Battles
There is no dodging, nor blocking, nor parrying, nor evading (is dodging the same as evading?). Instead, your success on hitting the target is determined by your Dexterity check (or in the case of using magic, your Mind stat). But, this door swings both ways; the target can successfully hit you if they are able to pass their own Dexterity (or Mind) check. The armor system is in place for both players and enemies. Your armor will take the hits of damage before your hearts do.
For example, if you have 4 shields, and an enemy hits you for 6 damage, you will only lose 2 hearts.
Again, durability of the shields/armor can be determined by the GM.
You get a +2 to your roll if you are attacking an enemy from behind. You get a -2 to your roll if you are trying to attack something behind you.
Every turn, you get a movement action, a secondary action, and an attack action on each of your weapons (both primary and secondary). A great example of a secondary action is using your dagger to cut into your arm to suck out the poison after being bitten by a spider. Secondary actions can also be used for throwing items, or using your special ability.
The best use of the turns I’ve seen is one executed by Yogscast member Duncan, when he jumped forward, blasting one enemy with his pistol, slicing another with his sword, and ending his movement action in front of his last enemy, which he kicked out into space. This system is designed to let you get creative with your attacks and have no boundaries to what you can do to achieve awesomeness.
Enemies
Enemies are exactly the same as players, but with a few things left off. They don’t get special abilities, nor derps (unless the campaign calls for it)
To create an enemy on the fly, roll 1d4 for each stat. Multiply that number by 4, and subtract that number from 21 to get that enemy’s rank in that stat. The GM can also opt to manually define each monster’s stats as well, but this is the quick way to give the players some things to kill.
For example, if I roll for an enemy’s Strength stat, and the result is a 3, I multiply it by 4, then subtract it from 21 to get its rank: 9.
3X4=12. 21-12=9.Realistically, you’ll probably only need to roll for battle stats (Strength and Dexterity, or Strength and Mind).
An enemy’s health and armor are determined by its strength stat, just like the player.
| Strength | Number of Hearts |
|---|---|
| 12 | 15 |
| 9 | 20 |
| 6 | 24 |
| Strength | Armor Type | Shields |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | Light | 2 |
| 9 | Medium | 4 |
| 6 | Heavy | 6 |