New Unofficial Armor and Weapon Rules Beta
Posted: Thu Feb 27, 2014 6:27 pm
I am creating a set of weapon and armor rules for my campaign with several goals in mind:
#1. Make mundane weapons special. In a lower magic type world where players do not find magic items everywhere, I feel it is better to give mundane items more character. In real life, weapons are tools for killing things and you need different tools for different jobs. The current rule set really does not give a reason to use one weapon over another except for damage.
#2. Make the weapons and armor slightly more historically accurate. I am a bit of a history buff so certain incorrect terms for weapons and armor that have become standard in most RPGs sort of bother me (like the longsword and studded leather armor). I avoided going crazy with it and tried to keep the historical terms at a minimum to be more accessible to the average gamer and not just history nuts and weapon experts.
#3. Keep the players engaged. With players playing multiple characters, their turn to play can come up slowly. With this system players will roll for defense rather than monsters rolling to attack them.
#4. Make the rules more accurately portray combat. In real life, you defend yourself with your weapons, shields, and skill. Armor prevents otherwise lethal attacks from doing as much or any damage. Armor as damage reduction is nothing new, but it is often difficult to implement in other systems. DCC has very simple rules and when adding this in, there are not as many rule changes.
#5. Track encumbrance simply. By assigning a check penalty to weapons you simplify encumbrance. In DCC it states "The check penalty applies to checks to climb, jump, balance, swim, move silently, and other such physical activities". I urge you to try to swim with a mace hanging off your belt and a longsword in your hand.
#6. Keep it simple. I like DCC's simple combat system and so I tried to keep it pretty simple. I could have added many crazy rules for different weapons doing different amounts of damages to different armors, but I chose not to.
Please download my rule set and give it a try or just read over it and I welcome any comments, suggestions and questions. Remember this is just a beta.
VERSION 1: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4EZX_ ... sp=sharing
VERSION 2: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4EZX_ ... sp=sharing
VERSION 3: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4EZX_ ... sp=sharing
VERSION 4: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4EZX_ ... sp=sharing
#1. Make mundane weapons special. In a lower magic type world where players do not find magic items everywhere, I feel it is better to give mundane items more character. In real life, weapons are tools for killing things and you need different tools for different jobs. The current rule set really does not give a reason to use one weapon over another except for damage.
#2. Make the weapons and armor slightly more historically accurate. I am a bit of a history buff so certain incorrect terms for weapons and armor that have become standard in most RPGs sort of bother me (like the longsword and studded leather armor). I avoided going crazy with it and tried to keep the historical terms at a minimum to be more accessible to the average gamer and not just history nuts and weapon experts.
#3. Keep the players engaged. With players playing multiple characters, their turn to play can come up slowly. With this system players will roll for defense rather than monsters rolling to attack them.
#4. Make the rules more accurately portray combat. In real life, you defend yourself with your weapons, shields, and skill. Armor prevents otherwise lethal attacks from doing as much or any damage. Armor as damage reduction is nothing new, but it is often difficult to implement in other systems. DCC has very simple rules and when adding this in, there are not as many rule changes.
#5. Track encumbrance simply. By assigning a check penalty to weapons you simplify encumbrance. In DCC it states "The check penalty applies to checks to climb, jump, balance, swim, move silently, and other such physical activities". I urge you to try to swim with a mace hanging off your belt and a longsword in your hand.
#6. Keep it simple. I like DCC's simple combat system and so I tried to keep it pretty simple. I could have added many crazy rules for different weapons doing different amounts of damages to different armors, but I chose not to.
Please download my rule set and give it a try or just read over it and I welcome any comments, suggestions and questions. Remember this is just a beta.
VERSION 1: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4EZX_ ... sp=sharing
VERSION 2: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4EZX_ ... sp=sharing
VERSION 3: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4EZX_ ... sp=sharing
VERSION 4: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4EZX_ ... sp=sharing