Hi there, As the subject says, the rules in old school RPG games, is there a site which explains all the rules, like Experiences points, Attack Points, etc etc
It would be useful to know, even from an indy developer point of view
Many thanks
Is there a site which explains the CRPG rules
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There are no blanket rules for the genre. Each RPG system has it's own set of rules, so there are differences, but also similarities.
Experience points being used to determine level advancement is pretty common, as are measures of character durability like hit points, and pretty much all systems use a range of statistics and ability scores which are there to guide a character's successes and failures, strengths and weaknesses, aptitudes and shortcomings.
Most RPG systems use some form of skill set to further define a character's role, and these skills are usually based on the aforementioned statistic spread.
Then each system will have it's own methods of resolving combat, weapon and armour rules, magical systems, survival measures and so on and so forth.
I find that the older the rulesets the more complex they are (or were). Anyone remember Rolemaster?
Rule systems these days seem to be simplified, likely as a result of computerization of the genre. People don't have the patience to deal with a lot of fiddly intricate rules.
Experience points being used to determine level advancement is pretty common, as are measures of character durability like hit points, and pretty much all systems use a range of statistics and ability scores which are there to guide a character's successes and failures, strengths and weaknesses, aptitudes and shortcomings.
Most RPG systems use some form of skill set to further define a character's role, and these skills are usually based on the aforementioned statistic spread.
Then each system will have it's own methods of resolving combat, weapon and armour rules, magical systems, survival measures and so on and so forth.
I find that the older the rulesets the more complex they are (or were). Anyone remember Rolemaster?
Rule systems these days seem to be simplified, likely as a result of computerization of the genre. People don't have the patience to deal with a lot of fiddly intricate rules.
There are worlds out there where the sky is burning. And the sea's asleep and the rivers dream … People made of smoke and cities made of song … Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, somewhere else the tea's getting cold!
Although it won't tell you absolutely everything about every possible permutation of RPG rules, you could do worse than learning D&D. d20srd.org is a good online resource for those rules but it doesn't exactly "read like a book." I would suggest picking up the D&D Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide--you can get them for earlier editions of the game ("Advanced," "Second Edition Advanced", or "Third Edition") for literally a few bucks each on a site like half.com. They will give you an idea for what concepts like "character class" and "experience points" and "levels" and "hit points" and whatnot are for and how they are used.
Yes... though this one was really over the top (don't recall much of it, but wasn't there around 20 pages of critical hit tables IIRC ?)Gallifrey wrote:
I find that the older the rulesets the more complex they are (or were). Anyone remember Rolemaster?
Obviously. The forthcoming D&D 4E will have rules inspired of CRPGs and MMOs...Rule systems these days seem to be simplified, likely as a result of computerization of the genre. People don't have the patience to deal with a lot of fiddly intricate rules.
Yes, good old Rolemaster and it's pages of combat modifiers. I've always been surprised that the Rolemaster system was never adapted to a cRPG, since all those calculations could be figured nearly instantaneously by a computer.
And yeah, D&D 4E looks like a sad, sad joke.
And yeah, D&D 4E looks like a sad, sad joke.
There are worlds out there where the sky is burning. And the sea's asleep and the rivers dream … People made of smoke and cities made of song … Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, somewhere else the tea's getting cold!
There was one shareware game in the early 90s based on a (simplified) Rolemaster system. Can't remember what it's called, Tales of Ae.. something. Aethyr? Book or Episode 1. There was a second episode made but supposedly never released. I think it's on the-underdogs.orgGallifrey wrote:Yes, good old Rolemaster and it's pages of combat modifiers. I've always been surprised that the Rolemaster system was never adapted to a cRPG, since all those calculations could be figured nearly instantaneously by a computer.
edit:
Chronicles of Aethyr maybe
Aethra Chronicles
http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=1516
http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=1516