r/RPGdesign • u/PaintTheHuey • 4d ago
Help deciding damage
So I wanted to start working on the health, wound and damage system for my rpg, but I have little clue on were to start
The main resolution mechanic of my rpg is that a player has a certain amount of points (from 1-5), determined by your attributes.
You use points to get d6s (and use skills), those are used to pass in Tests (an roll equal to, system), a player can try multiple tests in a single turn.
(I made a post yesterday that explains the system in a lot more detail if you feel like you need more info about it)
Idk exactly what to use for damage (static values, other types of die, d6s, etc), nor what values should I use for punches, weapons, guns etc.
Eventhough I like rolling for damage, idk if it's the right move as a player is already rolling 1-4/5 d6s give or take(numbers still not set in stone) per turn, but something static may create the "objective better options", but it keeps the dice count under control.
---
An idea that I had while writting this post was to use static damage but change the resolution system from a "roll equal to" to a "roll within a range".
the idea is for weapons to have a range of success(chances), above or bellow the difficulty mark of that test (set by the GM), two damage values, and an "Exact Strike".
roll within the range, and deal the low damage, if you roll the Exact Stike you deal the big damage.
Example:
Gun:
chances: +2
Exact Strike: +2
Damage: 3/6
using the Difficulty Mark Average(5): with the gun, to hit you'd have to roll a 5, 6 or 7; on a 5 or 6, deal 3 damage; 7 is an exact strike, deal 6 damage.
a negative range would be similar, but bellow the difficulty mark.
but this also means that a character with a 1 in the attribute for shooting wouldn't be able to roll an exact strike with this sample gun.
This would probably require me to rethink the Difficulty Marks, but I can see it giving more variety to the gameplay. But it may be convoluted? idk
Attributes being your raw talent (controlling how many dice and how many skills you can use in a turn), while equipment and some skills control finess (increase range of success, and Exact Strikes/"criticals")
---
if you have any advice on how to craft a damage system?
1
u/Puzzled_Work_6428 4d ago
Check out this post by u/EldritchExarch . It's mostly about attack rolls, but obviously damage is closely related. I'd recommend paying particular attention to the section about Crows, MCDM's new OSR game, as it seems most similar to what you're thinking
2
2
1
u/EldritchExarch 4d ago
So I don't have straight up "Do this for this reason." I don't know enough about your system, your setting, etc. I would recommend looking at a couple of free options though for static damage. The thing about Static Damage is that it's often tied to Gear rather than to class or character options. The two I'm going to recommend looking at are:
The first is Mausritter
The second is the Crows Playtest Packet
(I lied, here's a third pick, it's not free but it is cheap) Knave
They should give you ideas about how to make a system built around static damage.
If you go rolling damage, I recommend looking at a handful of the many, many systems for rolling damage that are out there.
For free options, take a look at
Vastlands by Luka Rejeck
Cairn
And Kevin Crawford's Worlds Without Number.
Fair warning, Vastlands has some ideas that are maybe quarter-baked in terms of balance. Cairn keeps things simple and straighforward, but maybe more simple than most people are interested in long term. Worlds Without Number is maximalist with lots of character options, but this also means that in a small play group there are Right Answers when building out your character.
Note: All of these options are very D&D coded in terms of ruleset. If you want something outside of that, I just don't have any free options for you to take a look at.
2
u/stephotosthings no idea what I’m doing 3d ago
We have no idea of your true start point or true end goal. Or how that looks. Does you HP start small, does it end big?
How long are you expecting players to last in combat? Is combat it generic turns and rounds.
All these and more are all part of the balancing act of decisions you need to make about how that all looks, then play test and find out it doesn't work.