here's my idea for a game. originally it was intended to be a cleaner version of TXWD that my friends created, but now it's such a different beast, i'm gonna go it on my own, or with you guys anyway. i'm thinking it's gonna be diceless. no more randmonization, but plenty of pool spending and a little number crunching to get the statistics going... maybe i'll add a dice back in eventually

this is the culmination of the 'ultimate game' for my rp-ing tastes. all the games i like, thrown into the neckercube matrix

?-VECTORS
PREMISE
there are 8 parts to the system. eventually i think they can tranlsate to almost any setting, given enough 'world building' so i'll start by describing them generally

First thing you have to decide is

?- What is the ? factor?
what is the thing that makes this setting/characters different? is it a supernatural ability like 'chi' in ancient china, or 'magic' in fantasy, or 'bionics' in a futuristic game, or 'engineering' in a steampunk game. if you want to allow more than one, go for it.

then you decide

V - What are the Virtues of the setting?
pick 5 moreys or moral bounderies expected in the world. they should be on a bipolar scale. for example,
mercy vs. cruelty. humility vs. arrogance. loyalty vs. selfishness. ceremony vs. rudeness. righteousness vs. corruption these are key virtues in the ancient chinese civilization based on confuciousses teachings.
this is the cultural component. this is what your are exploring in the setting. this is what the character's must attest to.

that is it with setting creation.
next begins character creation
you must ask ...

E - What are the Emotional Attributes of your character
this is the human component. what the character is driven by. this is what you are exploring as individual players. it involves answering 5 questions

• ''Who do you love?'' - a person or group of people
• ''Who do you hate?'' - a person or group of people
• ''What do you crave?'' - is it sex, death, drugs, recognition, power, money?
• ''What do you grieve?'' - what makes the character sad?
• ''What do you idealize?'' - what is the characters dream?

these are people/groups/concepts specific to each character. a major part of character creation. each emotional attribute gets a rating from 1-5. this rating changes over the course of play, based on dramatic exchanges.

C -Creeds
these are the words the characters live by. each character gets 3 creeds. examples, 'my word is my bond', 'my friends are my life,' 'death before dishonor' - a creed is something a person can say, a chant to get him through a hard decision

then we break down the more mechanical stuff,

T - Talent
this is the statistic for the inborn raw talent of the character
it includes Vigor, Coordination, Beauty, Reason, Awareness and Essenc
these are the basic stats for a sentient being, everything is derived off of the character's talent..

O - Origins
- this is where the character came from. in a medievil china setting, it's broken down into Royalty, Nobility, Landowner, Freeman, or Peasant/Slave. the character's origins denote the range of possibilities he has to start from

R - Rewards
- these are gifts the character has been given, be it for good karma from their past life or duties performed in this one.  they can be treasures, secret knowledges, supernatural traits, etc. they are the resources the character uses to survive

S - Skills
- this is what the character has worked for. the character spent his life learning these to make his way in the world

CHARACTER CREATION
Character Creation is based on assigning a priority from A-E to the 5 tangibles: Talent, Origin, Resource, Skills and X-factor. each priority allows for a certain statistical number assigned to each category.

1. you assign stats to your talents
2. you view your origin to determine what skill sets are open to you
3. you choose the rewards your character has
4. you choose skill sets and assign them effect values
5. you choose your 'martial arts' 'magic spells' 'bionic parts' or 'engineering techniques'

then, you go back and rate your intangibles

A. assign virtue ratings, from +4 to -4 for each bipolar axis.

B. choose your character's emotional attributes

C. write three creeds

and boom, you're ready to play

MECHANICS

the talents are the base effect for any skill, trained or untrained. the ratings, i'm thinking, are gonna be 1-5. 1 is below average, 2 is average. 3 is above average, 4 is superhuman, 5 is godly.

then there are derived stats.
the three i have so far are
Will (vigor + reason)
Initiative (coordination + awareness)
Persona (beauty + essence)

each kind of resolution is based on the effect rating
an effect rating for

task resolution = (skill+talent) - taking into account training and talent
social conflict = (skill+persona) - training and charisma
physical conflict = (skill+initiative) - training and hand-eye coordination

and then, if damage is needed
physical damage = (weapon+will) - representing desire to injure
pyschological damage = (persona+will) - representing sway over another

i want to work more on combat and debate. i like having mechanics for social conflict, and i want to play with the emotional attributes as psychological 'hit points' if you will. a debate is won when attacks are made to mitigate emotional attributes.

for instance, i'm trying to 'convince you i'm related to your lover'. i use my sincerity skill against your insight skill. if i exceed yours, you take damage to your love 'attribute.' once i bring it to 0, you are convinced i'm telling the truth. there can be an interplay of rounds and argument techniques, etc. back and forth, testing skills against each other, etc.

with physical combat, it would be based on a combat pool. will+ weapon skill or something. you spend points from the pool to activate specific maneuvers, etc. there will be exchanges, and if it's a martial arts game, a chi pool to spend, etc. i like the idea of parry/strike, strategy, but without rolling. each maneuver has an effect rating. the effect rating breaks down an enemies combat pool. if it hits 0 in any given round, they take damage.

obviously this needs more specifics and playtesting, but i want to mirror the old TXWD martial arts system, but make it diceless... you can spend combat pool for things like aimed shots and damage, etc. but if you run out in any given round, you take damage or something.