Coming from AD&D

So after much work, I've put together yet another RPG system. Let's call it the Advanced Chainswords and Chickens system (for example). It was created as an attempt to take what was good and reasonable about AD&D, and change the elements of the game that got under my skin (in a bad way). Specifically, I wanted to maintain the heroic sword-and-sorcery feel of the game that leaned toward playability rather than realism. I wanted to maintain many of the mechanics, like having a class based system with a few major class types, having a very abstracted hit-point-based approach to fighting, and having a handful of randomly rolled, primary descriptive statistics on which to base the character's potential. Also, I wanted to make the changes in such a way that we could use campaigns, items, spells, monsters, etc. from AD&D without much effort to switching over.

Overall, I wanted to create a system that was balanced while being internally consistent. I wanted to have a system where characters would not be arbitrarily constrained simply for the sake of mechanics. I wanted to incorporate some character class types that I thought had been missing from AD&D, while lessening the power of a few that were too emphasized. I ended up stealing some ideas from Angband; Baldur's Gate, Final Fantasy, and other computer rpgs, especially on how to make statistics easier to use. I and my boyfriend have worked on this for about two years or so now with the invaluable help of several friends. Feedback is welcome (this means you!).

For the anally inquisitive, I've included a list below of the qualities for which we strived in creating this game.

• Even out the power in the classes so that they are as close as possible to equally powerful at all levels
• Minimize the cultural/ecosystem assumptions of character class and race skills
• Equalize the strengths of the various racial types
• Create racial types that are distinctly diferent from one another in strengths, weaknesses, and characterization
• Eliminate the game mechanical needs for character creation restrictions (e.g. restrictions on race/class combinations, tying a class type to a particular ethos, etc.)
• Simplify wherever possible (e.g. saving throws, non-weapon proficiency checks, experience/level tables, etc.)
• Reorganize the weapon/hit point distribution to provide more game mechanical variety between weapon types
• Reform the magic system to allow more flexibility and more frequent magic use early on for the mages without making them too powerful a class
• Eliminate the component aspect of the magic system
• Make religious connections equally likely for any class type
• Create greater differences in the way cleric types and mage types use their skills
• Make warriors excellent fighters and non-warriors all equally non-excellent
• Maintain flexibility in choosing class/race abilities, while still providing the structure to maintain a class-based system
• Minimize overlap between different class/race/non-weapon proficiencies and skills
• Reform the statistics so that no one statistic would be singularly vital (e.g. dexterity) or clearly unimportant (e.g. charisma) for all players
• All weapons cause the same amount of damage to creatures regardless of size.

Notable mechanical changes from AD&D:

• Saving throws are simplified (see saving throws)
• The Non-proficiency system is replaced by a system of secondary stat checks (see checks)
• The Magic system is entirely different, although many of the spells are familiar (see magic)
• The combat system has been tweaked. In particular weapon proficiencies have been tweaked and all levels are theoretically available to all classes, weapons are organize into groups and their stats have changed, hit points are greater, and firing into melee is different (see combat)
• Races are different, both in that there are new races and in that the old races that remain are described differently (see races)
• The Classes are largely different, especially since
  • We tweaked the damage that weapons did so that there is more of a spectrum in possible damage and increased the amount of hit points that creatures have to allow for that change. In general, creatures will have 1.5 times the amount of hit points. Small weapons will have little change in damage done, while large ones will do noticeably more damage. Note that we didn't change the power of magical spells so a given combat spell will be weaker in comparison to what it used to be. Since the new magic system is more flexible however, we think things balance out this way.
• AC and Thac0 have been altered to conform to AD&D 3rd edition rules. To make the adjustment, new AC is 20 - old AC (so humans still have AC 10, but better AC is a higher, not a lower number). Thac0 is replaced by the To Hit Bonus (THB). THB is 20 - old Thac0. In order to hit, you have to roll equal to or higher than (the target's AC - your THB). Conversely, (your THB + your to hit roll) needs to be equal to or higher than the target AC. In general, high numbers are good, low are bad.
• Combat has been basically unchanged in this system. In general you can use the traditional AD&D rules. There are a few major exceptions. (These would be equivalent to the powers in necromantic spells, charm spells, and some spells of alteration as described by AD&D.)
• Feel free to use the AD&D money/equipment system.
• With the new races, we had a few particular goals. First, we wanted to have each of the races to be clearly different. In particular we wanted them to have unique strengths, weaknesses and adaptations. Second, we wanted the different races to be equally powerful and equally interesting. This meant that they should all have about the same number of possible special abilities, and the special abilities should be different from those of other races. Third, we wanted to make sure the special abilities didn't overshadow or duplicate the class skills. We wanted the racial traits to be intrinsic and both different and less powerful than the class skills. Also, in this system we assume that crossbreeds can and do occur, but for simplicity we'll assume they tend to favor one parent over another; thus a trolloc-elf half-breed will have the traits of either the trolloc heritage or the elf heritage, but not both.
• For people who miss paladins, simply take a warrior, use the open points to purchase healing skills, straddle him with a strict code (perhaps trying to convince the GM that this imposition should be balanced by more special powers), and you basically have a paladin.