S.U.R.P.S. design document
Thanks to everybody who's posted their thoughts on the Lifepath Beta! ($1 Patrons will get access to it this weekend.) I'm thrilled that it's got so much positive feedback.
The Lifepath Beta introduces some new stats and skills for the main character. We're creating our own simple RPG rules system – called S.U.R.P.S. – for the game, and while it's still very much a work in progress we can share some of the rules so far for your interest and feedback.
Warning: this is a very nerdy document.
Comments (12)
Thanks, gonna check it out!
I like the way some stats are based on skills, but it would be nice if multiple skills helped in some way, maybe fractions of a point for aditional related skills.
You're using "trait" to describe 3 different things, which makes it a bit confusing when you say the success roll should use the most appropriate trait. I'm guessing what's intended is the most appropriate primary trait should be used, since miscellaneous traits are just modifiers and secondary traits are much higher than primary traits and would effectively double count skills but its not clear. Maybe you could rename them to something like Attributes, Perks and Traits or something?
Beat me to it, that really rubbed me the wrong way.
Am still reading it right now but, I have to say, I don't think the ''Female'' miscellaneous traits have it's place in a rpg, It's like being a women is a weakness, If you still want to have something like this you should at least also give a bonus to something for balance purpose.
Hahaha I knew this would be controversial! :-D My thinking is that females *are* smaller and weaker than males, so I want something to reflect that in the rules, especially as I can see lots of opportunities for the heroine to fight bigger, stronger opponents. My personal feeling is that part of the point of playing a physically weaker character is to force you to do things more creatively. The Lord of the Rings wouldn't be such an interesting story if Frodo were just as strong as Boromir and Aragorn. I'm definitely persuadable on this, though, so if I'm wrong I'm more than willing to change it.
I like it. It's well thought out and contains everything we need to flesh out the characters a lot more, without us having to spend hours and hours into creating a character (which may have happened to me during our RPG sessions). I only have some minor objections. Shouldn't "coördination" be spelled "coordination" unless you're using an exceptionally dated way of spelling? The only thing I would personally alter, rulewise, is the success rolls. I like when it's not strictly success and failure (which it very often isn't in real life), but more graded. Instead of success/failure (and fumble), I would use success/partial success/partial failure/failure (and fumble/perfection). Not sure I understood the fumble chance you described. Would that mean that we always have a 10% of fumbling? Because that seems quite high. And the more important question... Is "blowjob" a creative skill, knowledge skill, physical skill or a social skill?
I'm bringing back the umlaut, no matter how much shit you or Dissonant Soundtrack give me about it, so you guys had better learn to love my charming anachronisms. esclavage also likes graded success rolls – we will definitely look into this. There is indeed currently a 10% chance of fumbling. Personally I like the idea that nobody can really expect a greater than 90% success rate at anything tricky, but we could introduce a more detailed fumble system (maybe a roll of 1 means a re-roll, if you roll higher than your Skill you fumble) if there's appetite for it? BJ is currently a social skill. I didn't put it in this doc so I could post it on some serious RPG reddits for feedback and good ideas. But in Discord earlier the team were discussing how many BJs should be required to level up. :-D
Love the level of depth and creativity put into this, will surely help to make every play through unique.
It all certainly looks interesting and promising, just have to wait and see how all of it feels in the game.
That's a very good idea.My only fear is that the creation of this game can be very delayed.And so the idea is just cool.Can't wait to play:)))
Thanks, Dmitrii. I worry about that too! My hope is that, if we build the foundation right, the story can be laid on top of it quickly and easily. Our vision for Bangkok is for lots of content, with lots of player choice – so having one consistent rule set that lets us simulate everything from pole dancing, to prostitution, to parachuting will help us in the future.