Open Game License

I am tinkering with the thought of an OGL system and/or setting that I can use in place of DnD. Just thinking... we shall see.

Penso di la Dio / Thought of the Day

I have come back to playing D&D after about a 10 year break. I have been flirting with the idea of creating my own RP system but can't make up my mind as to what I want to do. So I was tinkering with the existing D&D mechanics to see what popped out. I was a little surprised by what I found:

1. D&D uses 3d6 to create ability scores for characters. This results in ... well results that fall between 3 and 18.

2. D&D further uses an equation to determine the effect this score has on the characters ability to do something that requires that ability. (e.g. A really weak character - let's say Strength = 5 - has a harder time picking up heavy objects.) This is expressed as a penalty. The equation is ([ability score]-10)/2 which is then rounded down. In the case mentioned above (5-10)/2 = -2.5 rounded down to -3. This means that the player would add -3 to any role involving strength of that charater.

3. The penalties range from -4 to +4 with 0 (representing average) included. I wondered if simply adding 5 would get something closer to a true range. It does. The range is now 1 (extrememly weak) to 9 (extremely strong) with 5 serving as the "average" score. This is close to 10 and if we allow for a score of 20 (not inconceivable given the character advancement rules) then we would have a 1 to 10 progression with 5 being "average" - granted, I know that technically, 5.5 would be "average", but hey, these are my thoughts.

4. Could then D&D be translated to another system such as WhiteWolf's Storyteller system?

5. Yes and no. D&D uses feats which have pre-requisites for adoption that rely on the extra space. For example, Dexterity 13 is required for an archery feat; however, both 12 and 13 would collapse to 6 in this scale.

I'll revisit some more tomorrow ... check that, more later today as it is after midnight.

Goodnight.