Idea for a tabletop/fanfic that I'm developing...

[1up]

Here's a character sheet that I made for the game, if you guys are interested.

Attachments:

[Le Mario Bro]

...Not being too familiar with Pencil-and-paper RPGs, this seems rather complicated, to tell you the truth.

[Vent]

Tabletop RPGs tend to be as far as stats go.

I like the new logo, with the Smash Bros. logo within the Nintendo logo. Ties the whole thing together pretty nicely.

[1up]

It's not new. Go look at the initial picture I posted. lol

And I can help you understand the system, if you'd like. It really is pretty simple, once you get the hang of it.

Let's have a Nintendo Legends d20 Q&A.

Just ask me questions about how to play, and I'll answer them. That way, I can cover specific areas in the greatest detail possible.

[Vent]

Woops again. >_>

OK, first explain in some amount of detail what everything on that stat sheet means, player's guide style.

[Sarisa]

What does the system focus on for characters? Skills? Good starting stats? Feats? Class powers?

How tied into a class/level system is it?

[1up]

Well, like I said before, the system I made for this game is just a simplified variant of the d20 system. There are no classes or feats. Perception, Knowledge/Academics, and Bluff/Diplomacy are the only skills you really possess. They can be increased by leveling up, of course.

I left it open-ended purposely, to allow players to choose their own play-style.

There are 2 key things in this game that make you unique: Your race and the items you carry and use.

Firstly, your Race allows you to execute At-Will, Encounter, and Daily Powers that are exclusive to only your species. No 2 Races have the same list of Powers. (Example: Hylians can learn the Song of Healing, a health-restoring spell that heals themselves and any allies adjacent to them. No other Race can acquire this power.)

Secondly, my system uses a Weapon-Leveling system, which I developed myself. Whenever you defeat an enemy, the weapon with which you felled them receives a Weapon Point (WP). Gain enough WP for a given weapon and it levels up. When a weapon levels up, it gives you even more At-Will and Encounter Attacks. These special weapon attacks aren't Race-exclusive, however. Anyone can learn them. (Example: One At-Will Attack for the Beam Sword is "Spin Attack", which is similar to Link's attack from the Zelda games. It allows you to attack all adjacent creatures to you, be it friend or foe.)

With this Weapon-Leveling System, if someone wishes to be a Gunslinger, they can choose to frequently use their Zapper, and unlock new attacks for that weapon. Or, if someone wishes to be more of a Swordsman, they can choose to use their Beam Sword more often.

Overall, I wanted my game to offer lots of simplicity and freedom.

[1up]

Vent
Okay, lemme take a crack at it. Here's the first part.

The area with Player Name, Character Name, Race, Age, etc. should be pretty self-explanatory, I would hope.

Your Ability Scores (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma) are the frame work of your character. They help define what your character can and can't do in the game world.

In the game world, whenever you perform an action in which your success isn't certain, you roll a special 20-sided die called a "d20" (hence how the system got its name). To succeed, you want to get as high a number as possible. Your Ability Scores affect your d20 dice rolls and each action you perform corresponds to one of the six scores. The scores produce a Modifier. These Modifiers are what affect your d20 rolls.

Let me give you an example. Your character wants to push a large stone block. This stone block has a target number attached to it, that the Game Master usually predetermines in advance. In order for your character to successfully push the stone block, you must roll a number with the d20 that's equal to or greater than the block's target number. Since pushing a heavy object is an act of strength, you must consult your Strength Ability Score.
Let's say your character has a Strength Score of 13. This gives him a +2 Strength Modifier. You roll the d20 and get a 16. Your Modifier is then added to your result to give you a total of 18. The stone block's target number was 17. So, your character successfully moved the block.

And that's pretty much what the Ability Scores are for. Do you understand?

[Sarisa]

So if there are neither classes nor feats, what do levels do?

Are characters absolutely dependent on their gear, aside from racial powers obtained at 1st level?

How much transfer is there between weapon-based abilities? If your Zapper is taken from you on capture and you pick up a Cornerian blaster during your escape, can you use some of your special powers with it?

[1up]

1) Leveling bolsters your stats and gives you more Racial Powers.

2) You start off with a single Racial Power and gain more as you level, as I just said in #1. But, yes, your Gear and your Race are primarily what define your character.

3) It really varies. Later on, when you get the Super Scope, you start off with only the rapid-fire capability. Once you level it up, you can get the Charged Shot, as seen in the Super Smash Bros. games. Abilities such as that can't be transferred over to another gun. But, abilities that increase your accuracy for a given attack can be transferred over, sure. It's really up to the GM, though.

[Sarisa]

Level-based racial powers make levels much more valuable; I'm used to d20 games only handing out racial powers at level 1.

Since most races are implicitly designed as variations from the human norm, what do humans get?

Mechanically, will one human Power Glove wielder be the same as another human Power Glove wielder?

I like the idea of abilities transferring over if it makes sense, and with the number of potential weapons that's probably the only sane way to do it. How are you differentiating between the Zapper and the Super Scope?

While you're designing this game for Nintendo franchises, is there likely to be any degree of intercompatibility with other franchises? In other words, could I send a group of characters with appropriate core-world gear to fight Dr. Wily? Big Boss? Kefka Palazzo?

[1up]

1) Well, the starting Power for Humans is an Encounter Power called "Fighting Spirit". Once per battle, if you make a roll and don't like the outcome, you can make a re-roll.

2) Not necessarily. When you level your weapon up, you're given a choice between 2 or 3 new powers that you can acquire. So, even like-races specializing in the same weapon have the opportunity to be different from one another.

3) The Zapper and Super Scope will be as different as a Pistol and Assault Rifle are in any other RPG with guns. Different dice will be rolled and each gun will be able to hold different amounts of "ammo".

4) I'm sticking strictly to Nintendo Worlds (though, I can see Megaman fitting in rather nicely). It gives the game's universe and premise more focus.

But, anyone who wants to create new campaigns and enemies corresponding to that campaign are free to do so.

[Sarisa]

I like how this game is designed so far. It seems you've thought out how to make this atypical d20 variant work. And I know it's meant to stick to Nintendo worlds; I was just wondering how far away a twisted GM could send the party before the game's mechanics would probably break down. Surprisingly much in some areas, I suspect (they could take down Dr. Eggman), and surprisingly little in others (it doesn't seem like a good system for racing).

I have an idea in my head that the system is designed around platformer play, so it will translate well to other platformer series wherever they may be but the farther away the genre mechanics the less well the game will translate. You should think about vehicle mechanics, since the characters could well end up in an Arwing or a go-kart or a mine cart or an F-Zero car; vehicles are pretty common in the base series. That should bring in the racing and shooter genres, and it might be better to leave other genres unexplored to keep focus.

[1up]

Doing a dogfight in some Arwings would be very easy to do. It's as simple as just making some stats for the Arwings and the enemy ships.

As far as racing goes, I've yet to conceive a way to make it fast-paced, engaging, and fun. I don't racing really translates well to something strategic, like a tabletop RPG.

[kingkoopa]

Roll the dice to see who gets the better item? And then that item gives you a dice boost. When you roll again, whoever's number is highest wins. Example: I roll a 4 which gives me say, a Red Shell. Now when I roll again the number 4 is added to my roll because I got the Red Shell. Or maybe something similar would work?

[1up]

Oh, randomizing items would be easy and work very similarly to what you just said.

It's the actual racing portion that concerns me. I don't think it'd be all that fun, especially if you were to go to the F-Zero world, which doesn't even involve items in its racing mechanics.

Roll Dice against each other until someone wins? It just seems so boring...

[kingkoopa]

Seems similar to any old battle really.

[Vent]

Theme the F-ZERO world around what the characters do when they aren't racing. Captain Falcon is a bounty hunter (at least in the Japanese sense, they don't believe taking bounties is moral over there), Samurai Goroh is a gang boss, Pico is a hired assassin, Jody Summer is a police officer, etc. etc.

It IS also the only other futuristic world Nintendo has besides Metroid and I guess Pokemon. The difference here is that instead of one person on hostile on alien planets or people training semi-mythical beasts, it's this gritty Blade Runner-style techno world populated by a versatile cast of people.

[thedude3445]

You should definitely add a Pokemon-esque monster-collector game. It's been done before in some official roleplaying games, just without Pokemon in the name. Also, Starmen.net has a fully-developed Earthbound RPG.

I would try and be as broad as possible in this; make as many worlds based on as many Nintendo franchises as possible, all the way to Kid Icarus, Mach Rider, even the non-racing f-Zero, like DINOSAUR said.

[Sarisa]

The Earthbound RPG looks like the exact opposite of what you want; it's meant to be a very literal conversion of Earthbound to a d20 system, and doesn't even have a mechanism for playing newly invented characters; I'd have to do some serious research to play a Mother 3 character, and you'd think an Earthbound RPG would be compatible with Earthbound's own sequel.

Thinking of that, how well could the game-so-far handle Earthbound? It is another Nintendo franchise, so it ought to be able to handle the series mechanically. (Whether your players can handle being attacked by road signs is a matter for the DM.) Also, are the PC humans from a specific series, or could they come from any of the several series with humans? Are there alternate racial powers depending on series of origin (e.g. an Earthbound human having psychic powers instead of extra guts)? The other races have just one series of origin, but humans could get out of hand.