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System V

DEVELOPMENT TOPSHEET-EYES IN THE DARK

System V is a radical departure from my System-4. Many players have really enjoyed System-4 for its generality, but working full time I do not have time to spend the hours making characters and updating experience as I'm sure you've all noticed! The fact is, I came to realize after years of playtesting that the system I was using in my head to GM was far simpler and more straigthforward than the system I had on paper, and I said to myself "You're needlessly complicating things." Also, various comments over the years from astute and adult gamers who couldn't fully comprehend it told me I needed to simplify, so V is precisely that. V is built on all the rigorous mathematics of 4 but simple, smooth and easy to play and GM. It's an adult RPG system, adult in the sense of how much time adults have to game.

System V is far from finished, but I've put together a minimal subset to be able to test it out on I2D. It's premature, but I just can't cope with -4 anymore.

Basic Rules

System-V is based basically on a system of dice. I like dice, so although I cculd have gone diceless, I kept them in. In V, each attribute or skill is based on a rating of 1D to 5D. The dice V uses roll from 0-10, so if you have any old d20s, these will do nicely. Mark one 10 as 0, the other as 10 and you're all set.

Dice rolls are a simple addition. If you want to jump a fence, you make a roll for Agility. The GM says your rating is 2D, so you roll two dice and add them up. Basic challenges, difficulties and so on are based on the following tables.

RATING Roll

1D 0-10

2D 0-20

3D 0-30

4D 0-40

5D 0-50

Difficulty Task

0 routine

5 tricky

10 difficult

15 very hard

20+ impossible

Margin Success

0 barely

5 partial

10 adequate

15 complete

20 impressive

25+ phenomenal

Designing a Character

Characters in V amount to words, not numbers. Take your character-concept or what you have played so far and put your old 4 sheet aside. I'm gonna get irate if I see [4] terms spewed back at me, though not as irate as if I saw White Wolf terms. Print out the following sheet, and print on it your char-description.

The way to do it is to split it up. There are no right or wrong keywords to put on the sheet, though specific game terms from 4 are frowned upon. Just keywords as long as we know what they mean will do. Here are a couple of ways to organize your thoughts:

Write down a list of all the things you think of when you think of the character and pick and organize the most important ones until you have 5-7.
Write a short paragraph describing your character in 2-3 sentences. You should be able to pluck the main keywords out of that description. Most characters are exceedingly simple when you come right down to it.

Examples:

Loopy is a new-age werewolf who was born and therefore thinks like a wolf and is confused by human affairs. He is an empathic shape-shifter. Keywords: werewolf, wolf mind, empathic, shape-shifter.
Dexter is a boy genius with a secret lab, and an annoying sister. Keywords: Boy Genius, Impatient, Annoying Sister.
Buffy is the slayer, the chosen one put upon the Earth to slay monsters, but this time the chosen one is a valley girl. Keywords: Slays Monsters, Valley Talk.
Scully is an FBI Agent and a medical doctor, and an incorrigible skeptic. Keywords: FBI Agent, M.D.,Skeptic

Next, organize the keywords into categories. Talents, Powers, Other Stuff, and Depth.

Talents: Natural qualities that set this person apart from others, like "Brainy" or "Likeable" or "Cunning". Characters should have 1 or perhaps 2. They can be good and bad. Here are a list of some sample talents:

Seductive, Writer, Agile, Cunning, Expert

Martial Artist.

Powers: Special abilities most folks can't have, like the power to fly or change their shape. You needn't bother with the ability to appear human, or regenerate, or great strength. All monsters have these.

Shape Change, Camoflage, Venom, Storage, Illusion, Manifest, Dream Walk, Fly, Serpentine, Fire Breath, Were

, Flatten, Telepathic, Empathic, Density, Gravity Cannon, Necromancy, Source, Chill

Other Stuff: contacts, people, items, secret bases and other resources go under other stuff. A character should have no more than 5-7 Powers and Other Stuff.

Agent, Wealthy, Book of Spells, Magic Item.

Depth: Anything that potentially acts against a character down in play but makes them more interesting. Limit to 1 or perhaps 2.

Innocent, Hunger for ... ,Undead,Anachronism,Unknown Origin

I'm available to advise on how to qualify your character.. If you don't have a solid conception, I might.

Numbers

Alas, V has numbers! But not cp costs or skill levels. At the bottom of your sheet you will see four boxes, Player Rating, Concept Burn Max, Concept and Concept Max. Everybody starts with Concept 500 and concept Max 500. The exposition box leave blank, that fills in during play, To know these numbers each player has to be rated according to the following table:

Rating	Player-Type	Concept Burn Max	Our Players
1D	Novice, GM' Girlfriend "Can I play?"	25	Mikal,Toho
2D	Average gamer	20	Skan, Janlop, Apollo
3D	experienced gamer	15	Eg, Selene, Mordiken, Selenin, Janlop, Alex, Rak
4D	game designer, familiar with V	10
5D	pain in the ass powergamer, rules lawyer	5

You're better off being at a lower rating, cause you get to burn more concept. These are my guesses. Some of them may move around during play or as you progress.

I2D Changes

While I'm at it, I want to reorganize our monster-mythos. But I'll publish this page right away so you can get cracking, and finish up this section later.