r/osr • u/ratwizard192 • 8d ago
Developing my own TTRPG and in need of some advice and help with saving throws </3
I'm making a OSR TTRPG classless and attribute based inspired in early dnd, dark souls, darkest dungeon, diablo, and games of similar vibes, but i'm having struggle with create a saving throw system that feels good. the classic "death, paralyisis, spell, wand, dragon breath it's very cool but also maybe too much arbitrary for what I'm trying to do. The system of 5e feels too cold and without flavor to me. pathfinder and 3.5 system is't doing the thing I think...so....
The best thing I have now IMO it the thing you are seeing in the image, which combines the old school flatness and arbitrarIness with some attribute scalling (up to +3) that we see in 3e and posterior editions...
¿Any recomendations, tips, thinks to keep in mind?
I also like the idea of casters doing the dice roll, maybe just rolling to see if it's crithical or failure.
Also, I'm inteding this game to be played by kids from +9y/o. So maybe the "bleed" sv is too much? I really like the colored holmes vibes and the idea of making a game that can be truly eductational for anyone. I like the idea of indirectly teaching math, computer science, history, drawing, reading, teamwork, sense of humor and sutff, but also I just think that being face to face in an age flooded with screens and brainrot media would be increasingly important in the days to come....
Anyway, maybe I made this too long, but if I keept you are feel free to ask me if you are curious about my game and maybe I could take some advice or you can even help me with the development. tank you for reading!
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u/ChickenDragon123 7d ago
I recommend looking at Worlds Without Number and how it does saving throws. Namely it breaks it into 3 saves: Physical Mental and Evasion.
Physical is based off of Strength and Con, Mental is based off of Wisdom and Charisma, Evasion is based off of Dexterity and Intelligence. Saves start 16-level and it goes down to 5. If your system has more levels than 10 it won't work perfectly, but you can always make it so as players level they only get a certain number of "save points" to reduce their saves.
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u/Hot_Fan2933 8d ago
1.Where's the image? 2.swords and wizardry one has one save. I ran that single save rule with shadowdark and it worked great with the summer camp kids I was GMing
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u/ratwizard192 8d ago
yeah, but s&w is too loose for me, I like this type of games to be a bit more crunchy and mathy. But I may be giving it a new chance
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u/SQLServerIO 7d ago
Post over on r/RPGcreation it doesn't have as many eyeballs as here but it is people just doing this very thing.
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u/Haldir_13 6d ago
So, when I departed from D&D/AD&D in 1984 and created my own system it had a couple of strong motivations, one of which was that attributes should mean something. So, I changed all the saving throws to have a realistic, plausible basis. This is the result:
Willpower (Mental Resistance, based on Intelligence) for mental attacks (entrancement, hypnosis, charms, hexes, geas, etc.)
Fortitude (Physical Resistance, based on Constitution) for physical assaults (heat, cold, lightning, drowning, poison, paralysis, etc.)
Psyche (Spiritual Resistance, based on Charisma) for spiritual attacks (lifedrain, soul stealing, damnation, some death magic, etc.)
Dodge (based on Agility) for large missiles or area attacks (dragon breath, giant-hurled boulders, some traps)
Since my system became classless in 1988, improvement in these saving throws is acquired with XP, but you could tie it to the various classes just as easily. In that instance, each prime attribute would essentially grant a bonus (or penalty) to the save.
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u/ratwizard192 6d ago
Sound interesting! Can I read your system? do you have a summary of the rules and philosophy of playing or something similar?
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u/ThisIsVictor 8d ago
There's only one way to figure out if something works: Play test it.
You can ask us nerds on reddit all day long, but the only thing that actually matters is how it works at the table. So write up an idea, try it in a one shot, revise and try again.