One rule to rule them all... Or not?

Do I need any rules? That's the question I ask myself everytime i run the game. And now, when my gaming group is no more, I ask it when it comes to write down the ideas for something new, be it Perilous Frontiers, whY or something else. I ask myself even if I know the answer.

Please note that I speak for myself and everything depends on multitude of different aspects.

I do NOT need any rules. In fact, I ran game sessions for years (and we had them on a daily basis, back in the late 90s) without a single dice roll. Character sheets were used to track PCs belongings - and nothing else.

Did it worked? Yes. But you must remember one extremely important thing.

YOU MUST NOT BE AN ASSHOLE.

When there are no dice and no stats, you - the GM - are the only arbiter of any actions. And I guarantee you that it will work out for almost any GM/DM in 99% cases - except combat. During combat, things may get ugly really quickly. And they will get ugly if you are an asshole. And - most likely - no one would participate in your diceless / rules-less games anymore.

This is how I determined the results of combat:

• PCs are stronger than ordinary mortals. They are not ubermenschen but they are significantly stronger, faster, more agile and/or more skilled.
• Description of the actions means everything. It was the most important factor.
• Wounds were the most difficult part of the game, as descriptive nature of all damage caused many problems, such as bleeding, broken bones etc. It was extremely gritty but we liked it.
• As we were gaming in the more or less Sword & Sorcery setting, PCs were healing pretty fast - although there were portions of the game that were fast-forwarded (or railroaded, heh), when all the player characters were so fucked up that players decided to let it go for two or three weeks to let them heal their wounds. Also, even though there were little spellcasters, healing potions and/or healing items were relatively common.

These things caused my players to be pretty skilled in descriptive combat and the overall survivability of their characters was really good, maybe except the fact that we were teenagers and peeps tended to slaughter each other on a daily basis, over slightest argument :D

Now - if I will be lucky enough to assemble a new group of players - I plan to go back to similar method of running games, except some addidtional features:

• Most likely, Diamond Diceless will be my weapon of choice, too keep track of the stats and abilities...
• ...but I will use the dice. Solely for the random content - I love random tables! I always add some randomness to the story / module, so I need the dice.
• I'm also considering to give players something in the shape of Fate Points from WFRP/40K RPGs, to allow them to cheat death - or, in some cases, my decisions.

Of course, I'm not sure if it will work - it all depends on the players. Some people prefer this kind of "storytelling", some prefer dice chucking. We will see (or not!).

Diamond Diceless - explanation of the traits

Few posts ago I posted the one-page screenshot of the Diamond Diceless mechanics. At the bottom of the image, there was a list of traits which can be bought for the character creation points. Here is the explanation of all of them.

ALCHEMY can be used to craft potions, medicine and - if advanced laboratory is available - to transmute one substance to another. Even simple equipment is required to use this trait. Works well with: Herbalism, Medic, Natural Magic, Ritual Magic.

ARTISTRY - ability to create art: sculptures, paintings, drawings and even writing poems, singing and dancing. Works well with: Magical Talent.

CATACLYSM LORE is knowledge about the Cataclysm which devastated the world in the past. Also some stories, rumors and legends about the time before the catastrophe. Works well with: Spirit-bound.

HERBALISM is lore about plants and fungi that can be used as medicine and poisons. Works well with: Alchemy, Medic, Natural Magic, Survival.

HIGH MAGIC is ability to control the flow of magic for subtle and/or sustainable effects. Less devastating than Low Magic, still it requires years of training and almost superhuman focus skills to avoid catastrophic eruption of pure energy. Works well with: Magical Talent, Sense Magic.

LOW MAGIC - most raw and powerful method of channeling the magical energy. Manifestations of Low Magic are simple, almost instant and often very devastating. Very dangerous for anyone whose Power is not on very high levels. Works well with: Sense Magic.

MAGICAL TALENT makes using magic considerably easier. It doesn't necessarily mean that magical effects will be more powerful but preparations for creating and casting the spell will be shorter. Works well with: High Magic, Low Magic, Natural Magic, Ritual Magic.

MEDIC can be used to bind wounds, heal diseases and fix almost all problems with one's health. More complicated actions will require usage of special equipment. Works well with: Herbalism, Survival.

NATURAL MAGIC is form of magic involving contact with spirits of the ancestors, natural or supernatural beings and drawing the energy from the elements. Requires iron discipline and strong will to succeed. Also, remember that this form of magic often relies on some kind of pact between the shaman and the entity he summons. Works well with: Herbalism, Magical Talent, Spirit-bound.

REGENERATION. Some creatures are able to heal wounds much faster than others, some are even able to regrow lost limbs, although the regeneration process can last for months.

RITUAL MAGIC covers all kinds of magical effects that can be achieved by performing a ritual. Safest way to achieve powerful results but often requires lots of time and efforts. Some rituals allow to contain the spell in the magical wand, ring or scroll. However, creation of such spell containers can be complicated and expensive. Works well with: Artistry, Magical Talent.

SENSE MAGIC is the ability to feel the flow of magic and presence of the magical beings (or even entities not belonging to this world).

SENSE POWER - allows to determine the values of the Power stat. Note: GM should give the brief but somewhat accurate descriptions instead of exact numbers (eg. "this Korri is pretty inexperienced and weak" or "aura of near-omnipotence is emanating from the creature").

SPIRIT-BOUND is an mystical bond between the character and the spirits of nature - and of the dead. Allows to contact the spirits during the meditation, trance or - sometimes against one's will - during the sleep. Works well with: Artistry, Natural Magic, Sense Magic.

SURVIVAL is a set of skills allowing to survive (and live) in the wild. Allows to gather food, set simple traps, build shelter and set fire.

WARFARE - ability to plan and command large-scale battles, sieges and military operations. Works well with: Weapon Mastery (can be used to build siege weapons).

WEAPON MASTERY. Many weapons are too sophisticated to be used by untrained fighters. Characters with this trait have knowledge to use almost all kinds of weapons created by mankind (and sometimes even armament designed and used by other races). Works well with: Warfare (can be used to train others).

Diamond Diceless on one sheet!

Nothing really new since I mentioned this mechanics for the first (and only) time, except some additional traits. Still, I do believe it should work! I hope that I'll test it soon.

Most likely I'll add some additional information in the future but right now I'm not sure what else can be done. Traits are pretty obvious but the interpretation of exact functions of things such as Low Magic, High Magic or Spirit-bound is up to you. Of course I have my own vision of these things but I'll explain it a bit later ;)

Full-size preview is required :)

Introducing Diamond

I'm not sure if I mentioned it before but in 2013 I ran a few Perilous Path games, all of them with only one player (my girlfriend, Natalia). As we played only during some "wilderness" trips (actually not very wild, but...), we used one of my favorite set of rules, which is... no rules except GM's decisions! And it worked pretty well.

However, about four months ago I decided that some kind of rules actually may be helpful - just to keep track of character's progress. And due to the wandering nature of our game sessions, it had to be diceless.

Instantly I began to think about some kind of a clone of the game with name of the castle in its title. And castle's name is the same as the common name of the fossilized tree resin :) Unfortunately, I got stuck with its most basic component for over one-third of the year.

For over four months I was unable to simply create a decent set of... basic attributes. I didn't wanted to simply rip off the original four stats, as I avoid direct cloning of the ideas. Also, I thought that despite their work perfectly for demigod creatures, they will be somewhat incomplete for (more or less) ordinary mortals.

Yesterday the enlightenment came. Of course, during the shower (gushing water is my usual source of good ideas :D). Yesterday I finally managed to figure out the five main attributes. And here they are:

STRENGTH | DEXTERITY | ENDURANCE | MIND | POWER

Strength depicts raw physical power.
Dexterity combines both manual ability and more general agility and grace.
Endurance in most cases means the durability of one’s physical body, his/her ability to withstand pain, fatigue and other negative factors.
Mind combines intelligence, cunning and willpower.
Power is a bit tricky, as it contains both combat skills and magical / mystical abilities, as well as any kinds of extrasensory perception.

Most humans have their attributes between 10 and 50. Heroes from the ancient past (and experienced PCs) could have some of their attributes as high as 70-100. Most powerful mythical monsters may have some of their stats even at 250, while gods can attain even higher numbers.

How to use the Power stat?
It's simple, at least for me (but may be bit harder to explain) - in combat, Power attribute may be used combined with Dexterity or Strength, or even both of them.
For magic, Power should be used mostly with Mind, but in some cases Endurance is important as well.

Well, that's all for the moment. I think that players will get 100 character points to distribute amongst the attributes, plus of course some extra points to spent / gain on additional features (I'm currently thinking about them so expect some examples... soon).