Dark Ages

System completion: 12%

System Overview:

Dark Ages is a system currently being worked on. It draws heavily upon resources from White Wolf systems, Riddle of Steel, and GURPS. In order to use Dark Ages some materials from these systems may be required. However, upon completion, Dark Ages should be playable without any supplimental material.
The goal of Dark Ages is to provide a system that gives the feel of a dark and gritty place. Mortality and all of its reminders are dark. Realism in combat and attention to detail provides the gritt. Dark Ages is not intended for the faint of heart or for those unable to flesh out and nail down a character. It is meant for the yet unsatisfied imagination of gritty fantasy.

System Basics:

Computer Assistance:

Dark Ages is designed to be used in conjunction with at least one computer. Using only "pen and paper" now would mean ignoring a powerful resource. The materials for this system will be a mixture of texts and computer assistance scripts to allow the game to proceed more quickly.

Realism:

The mixing of fantasy and reality is in different proportions for each storyteller. The system used to describe how likely something is to happen will only do so much for realism. Most of the believability of the world the characters exist in rests on the storyteller. Other information for storytellers will be added later as base settings are created. That said, it is recommended that storytellers create their own settings.

Scale:

Meters, kilograms, and liters are used as the basic units of measurement for the system. This is done primarily since the metric system is the international standard. Additionally, some storytellers may choose to use a small (or large) amount of science to determine special outcomes. The motions of the world around us, like a falling apple or cannon ball, can be described using physics.

Ten Sided Dice:

Multiple ten sided dice are used for the random chance involved in role-playing. Ten sided dice are convinient for the game maker to determine probability and offer easily guaged probabilies for the storyteller.

Character Mechanics:

The perfect system would exhaustively (and quickly) inform the storyteller about a character. The mechanics used to describe a character are the heart of any system. The challenge is to attempt to classify and identify the idea of a character into an easily tested and used form. This form usually involves catagories and sub-catagories filled with numbers and percentages. This is the essential step with any system.
Dark Ages divides a character into five catagories: attributes, knowledge, talents, social/wealth, wildcard.

Character Attributes:

Physical

Strength	bodily or muscular power
Dexterity	adroitness in using the hands or body
Health	soundness of body
Mental
Mental Aptitude	ability to learn
Wits	mental acuity, composure, and resourcefulness
Social	tendancy to do and say the appropriate thing
Spiritual
Will Power	control of one's impulses and actions
Perception	awareness of the elements of environment
Charisma	personal magnetism or charm

Character Knowledges:

          Information Known
               Analytical
               Wrote Memorization
          Muscle Memory
               Fine
               Gross

Knowledges that are easy to learn/master:
-Knowledges that are easy require a few hours to weeks of training/practice to become comfortable with using them. This category also includes knowledges that all characters should have learned growing up.
most minimum wage jobs
cost:
{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8} +16/increase
Knowledges that are not easy to learn/master:
-Knowledges that are not easy require weeks to month of training/practice to become comfortable with using them.
Examples: Analytical: ; Wrote Memorization: ; Gross: most sports; Fine: ;General: most office jobs
cost:
{1, 3, 5, 8, 11, 15, 19, 23} +20/increase
Knowledges that are difficult to learn/master:
-Knowledges that are difficult require months to years of training/practice to become comfortable with using them.
Examples: Analytical: Calculus; Wrote Memorization: unrelated language (Japanese); Gross: balance, most combat; Fine: clock repair
cost:
{1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64} +23/increase
Knowledges that are extremely difficult to learn/master:
-Knowledges that are extremely difficult require many years of training/practice to become comfortable with using them.
Examples: Analytical: Quantum mechanics; Wrote Memorization: Alien/magical language; Fine: brain surgery
cost:
{1, 6, 14, 25, 39, 56, 76, 99} +25/increase

Skill ratings:
          1: you can perform the most basic actions related to the knowledge
          2: you can perform the most basic actions related to the knowledge comfortably and know all general information about it
          3: you can perform all basic actions related to the knowledge well and are getting better at more difficult areas
          4: you can perform most actions related to the knowledge well and have practiced some of the most difficult areas
          5: you can perform almost all actions related to the knowledge well and have practiced the most difficult areas
          6: you can perform all actions related to the knowledge , however, you know there are people with more knowledge
          7: you are a true master of the knowledge
          8: you can no longer improve your knowledge (this does not mean you know absolutely everything about this field, rather that you have reached the point where only a handfull of characters might ever surpass)

Adjusting knowledge focus:
          It is extremely rare for anyone to study an academic subject or train for a job and not develop a specialty within studies or training. Characters have the option of counting one field or specific action within a knowledge as one rating higher. However, if this option is used all other uses of the knowledge count as one rating lower than the rating the character has.

Character Talents:

          Information Based
               Analytical
               Wrote Memorization
          Muscle Memory
               Fine
               Gross

Character Wealth/Social:

The possessions of a character can be crutial parts of the original idea. Social status often goes along with wealth and vise versa.

Character Wildcard:

The wildcard priority is the most important for characters with something specifically spectacular about them. It may be some aspect that does not fit in a general catagory or simply something most people have, but not to this extreme. While such traits may be the clearest part of the character's concept, they are often the most difficult to define for a system. Some examples will be presented, however, it is important for the storyteller to adjust and most likely create the link between a character's concept and the system.

Character "Magic":

This priority is used by characters who are special in an unusual way. A character needs this priority if something they do or something about them could make another person exclaim, "Magic!" Alternatively, this priority can be used in much the same way as the luck wildcard. And aside from all the various possible magic and psionics systems a character might need to take this priority to be a cinematic martial artist.

System Details:

Derived Statistics:

               Movement
                    Walk
                    Constant
                    Quick
                    Fast
                    Sprint
                    Maximum
               Combat
                    Combat points
                    Move points
                    Skill points
                    Quick points

"Magic" Systems:

Character Creation:

     Dark Ages focuses on exhaustively and accurately describing a character. For that reason character creation can take more time than in other systems. It is recommended to use Dark Tool #1: Character Creator to create characters. While creating a character using a computer is recommended it is of course an option to do it all by hand. Blank character sheets are also listed here for those who choose to do so.

     Dark Tool #1: Character Creator
     Dark Ages: Character Sheet

     Character creation begins by choosing the character's priorities. The table below gives an abreviated entry for each priority.

Priority	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Attributes	47	42	37	33	29	26
Knowledge	200	150	100	50	25	10
Talents	200	150	100	50	25	5
Wealth/Social	Rich	High	Average	Low	Poor	Debt
Wildcard	100	50	25	0	-25	-75
"Magic"	200	150	100	50	25	None

Combat:

Fighting with swords, fists, or guns is often the kinds of conflicts emphasised in systems. In Dark Ages, a fight for life and death is played out using dice and a complicated use of techniques or moves.

Development Notes:

The following is a collection of notes on further development of Dark Ages. None of this information should be considered part of the system yet.

-base line for performing complex actions (skill checks): DC=9+ with die pool of applicable stat
-taking additional time to perform task increases die pool
-points in a skill lower the DC to a min of 6+, after that the points add to the die pool
-knowledge points must be distributed according to the characters background (character takes 200 knowledge points, they were a farmers son so that practiced swordplay with their father - they practiced two hours a day for years - at most 100 points can go to sword knowledges)
-talent points have no restrictions

Combat

situation: a duel

-when being attacked you can see it coming. It then becomes a question of what you can do and what you will do.
-? use hand or arm motions/signals
-Roll initiative: winner declares motion (motion can be holding still)
then, 2nd actor reacts to motion
then, ... continue
-needed: motion commitment stat/variable for each motion
-needed: readying time, calculated from char's str, skill, weapon, and prev. motion
-points are refilled once a character has regained all balance
-quick skillful combat defeats clumsy but very strong combat
-skillful strong combat may defeat quick skillful combat
-skills allow you to perform complicated motions with high motion comitment for entire manuever
-skill increases accuracy
-use points to do moves
-point divisions:
   combat points: can be used for offensive or defensive moves
      combat points = knowledge level + talent level of weapon
   skill points: usuable only on moves listed in skill
   move points: can be used for some defensive moves and for movement and for charges
      move points = constant speed
   quick points: can be used for fast motions with hands and feet for manipulating objects and       quick points = 0.6(wit)+0.5(dex)+0.25(hlt+str+perc)
surroundings

physics notes

-"damage" is figured by the amount of force upong the target and the area it is spread across
-system may need to use Force, Kenetic Energy, and it must use momentum

Character Mechanics
-character talents breakup is identical to knowledges beakup
-talent in all analytical and/or wrote memorization is listed under wildcard
-talent at working with your hands (all fine) and/or talent moving your body (all gross) are under wildcard

Physics
     F=ma
     KE=1/2mv^2
     p=mv

This system is not being created for profit and can be freely distributed. Any distribution of this material must include that this is a free system and should never be charged money for.