System for Winter Special 2009

Ok, it seems that this game will start later then expected, but probably it's good to note down the game system & rules sooner then later so that I can do some more detailed prep work myself.

I haven't defined everything yet as the mental rules (eg. fear & horror) are something that will take some thought, but the stuff regards "doing stuff" has already been condensed by other games and can be considered worth using.

Basics
The character sheet as linked shows several sections: Attributes (Attribute), Skills (Fähigkeiten), Advantages (Vorteile) and Game Dynamics (Spiel Dynamik).

• When you check if you're capable of doing/knowing/performing something it's usually: Attributes & Skills that count.
• When you check if you can buy something, have the connections to the right people it's usually Advantages that counts.
• Whenever you get hurt or find yourself struggling against horrors or just your own personality & flaws it's Game Dynamics
• Note that if you're in pain or in a strange mental state that Health (Gesundheit) und Psyche (Psyche) will affect your capabilities both & both at the same time ...

Rolling dice
Basically you roll a number of D6 (standard 6 sided dice) equals the number of dots in the relevant trait(s). Count the dice that show a 5 or 6 as successes and put the others away. The number of successes determines how well you did.

1. You barely did it
2. You did it
   
3. You did well
4. You succeeded great
   
5. Stunning success
   

Note that many rolls use two traits, so the numbers of rolled dice falls into the range of 1 through 10 dice. On average one of three rolled dice is a success. Therefore rolling 3 successes is possible, but 4 or more successes are very uncommon even with 10 rolled dice.

To rate your own capabilities:
1 - 2 dice - poor
3 - 4 dice - normal (average 1 success)
5 - 7 dice - good (average 2 successes)
8 - 10 dice - great (average 3 successes)

Using Skills - What belongs together
Here are some examples:

• Finding a book in a library is related to Perception (Wahrnehmung) and Research (Nachforschungen), so count both ratings together to find the book to roll. The rules limitation on using research makes sense: You usually cannot find a book this way if you can barely read and without instruction you'll surely be lost in any mayor library.
• Regaining control of a wagon is related to Dexterity (Geschicklichkeit) and Ride (Reiten).

This list could go on, but you probably get the idea. It's intended that there is no complete list of pairs as this shall allow creativeness based on character concept (I hope I did not forget to mention that some creativity is needed to play such a game). A military man will probably rely more on his power to intimidate someone to get info while a pretty young lady might get the same info with a stunning smile.

Using Skills - Complex Checks
Note that there should be situations where a problem shall not be solved in a single roll for purposes of drama (such as chasing someone down an alley, stopping the ultimate device of doom). In that case the GM will limit the number of related rolls per player in that contest and also set a number of successes that someone has to reach.
In the case of a chase you'd use something a bit more openended and add "if the one you're chasing has 6 successes more then the best of your group, (s)he escapes because you all loose the trail".
In the case of stopping a doomsday device you're working against the time (time = number of rolls total), so you let your specialists do the job and hope that they are capable of scoring a certain amount of successes. If you have several people skilled suitable for the job, you should usually define a "chief engineer" (or whatever is situation-appropriate) and each helping team member grants as many dice extra as his/her skill rating (but not the ability score ... team work is not 100% efficient, you know).

Using Skills - Combat (Kampf)
Well there will be rules that differ from normal skill checks - they will be explained later.

Advantages
These are usually something that you don't roll with. Also this is the most player-defined section. And having traits that come from the cooperation of players & GM and that aren't set into stone requires talk. So talk about your character concept long before filling out the sheet.

• Gifts & Disadvantages (Gaben & Leiden) - feature special capabilities that don't fit well under skills normally such things as bad eyesight, bad temper or such would fall under Disadvantages and Gifts would be things you're lucky about. Normally that's ambidexterity or a knack for something special.
• Backgrounds (Hintergrund) - thats what you have and what you can use - often Money, Servants or Contacts & Fame. These are resources and if you roll for resources it's often bad cause you stressed one of them a bit too much and you may loose a particular one. Please note that there are Backgrounds that require you to have other backgrounds (eg. being a rich Industrial requires you usually to have money, servants, contacts. If you at least have a bit in each it's ok to dig into a suitable advanced background - let's call it Industrial Facilities.
  
• Contacts (Kontakte) - these are the result of your interaction with the gaming world and often deserve a page on their own in longer games. Note that the amount of initial contacts depends on your Contacts background. Note that most contacts will be not so important people when it comes to influencing the world. If you want Contacts to movers & shakers your backgrounds should reflect this (money, fame, status, contacts & an advanced background - say influential contacts).

Game Dynamics (Spieldynamik)
Well, half of this section is to mark how hurt you are (Health & Psyche). What kind of attack attacks what status should be instinctively clear. Then there are Willpower, Virtue and Quirks.

Willpower - defines how hard it is to convince you and how much you can push yourself in the face of danger & fear. That's why this trait has two rows. One with dots for your willpower rating and below some square boxes for your spent willpower from your willpower pool. Your willpower pool is of the same size as your willpower rating.
So it ultimately comes up as your "power to say no".

• You can spend a point from your willpower pool to make a check (considered as one success) because you as the player says that your character is cool and does this independent of what the dice said.
• If an NPC tries to convince your Character in a discussion (treat it as extended skill check with a limited amount of rolls per player/NPC as described above) and the NPC scores enough successes to beat your Willpower Rating your character is convinced unless you buy down the successes of that NPC on a one for one basis with points from your willpower pool as soon as you can (that's immediately after the dice are rolled)
  
• Note that if your willpower pool is completely consumed anything that might scare your character WILL scare your character - so be wise when to spend Willpower
• One point of willpower will be regained if you sleep a whole normal night (say 6 hours or more)
  
• Willpower may be regained by indulging a strong virtue (rating of at least 3) of your character when there is no need to do so.

Quirks - If you have one virtue with a rating of 3 or higher this leaves a mark in your behaviour that many might consider as remarkable or strange. Simply find something suitable and work it out with your GM.

Virtues - These Values represent your character moral stance. Most normal people have something like one or two dots in most virtues. There are six virtues in pairs of three: devotion (Hingabe) & Bravery (Mut), Curiosity (Neugier) & Conviction (Überzeugung) and Habgier (Greed) & Nobleness (Edelmut). Any player character will definitively have one of these rated at 3 or higher.
Virtues grant extra dice to rolls that fall under their category, but also penalizes acting against them.

• Devotion - Grants you the ability to resists, to continue & stand in for your friends & beloved ones. It reflects how well you're a team player - and unless you got a 5 in that trait it does not mean you're a stupid puppy doing everything his/her friends say.
  
• Bravery - Allows you to resist fear and great dangers, but it's often a reckless variant. So a high bravery will result in a "if it's dangerous we use this way" way of thinking.
  
• Curiosity - Reflects your demand to discover new things. You push the research forward. However there also can be too much of that some drug dealers say ...
  
• Conviction - In matters of faith & believe it defines how well your sanity lasts in the face of horror.
  
• Greed - Well, can you resist making money ?
  
• Nobleness - How much of a gentleman, so-called do-goder are you ?

So, what's left ?
Well Combat rules & Background listings. These will follow later.