Changes to the System
Recently, I’ve had the delight of getting to play some World of Darkness©. This has encouraged me to make some drastic changes to A is for Apocalypse. While some of the system will remain the same, other huge parts will be removed, replaced, and revamped. Hopefully I’ll be able to implement these changes seamlessly.
The first, and perhaps largest change is the removal of the level system. While this system is convenient, it is fairly unrealistic. You don’t suddenly become stronger, smarter, and better looking in sudden intervals, and nor should RPG characters. Character advancement will still use experience points, but these points will be used to “purchase” improvements for the character rather than causing the character to level up. Unlike the (normal) World of Darkness© system, normal battles will still grant the characters experience at the end, as will accomplishments. These experience point rewards will still be high, although so will the prices for upgrading your character. This will probably require the largest change to the A is for Apocalypse system, so bear with me if it needs work on the first few runs.
The next change is how weapon feats work. Weapon feats still replace a normal combat attack, and can be used at will, although not more than once per round without the proper feat. However, you now no longer must wait an hour to next use them, but rather spend points. These points, which for now will be called Sense Points (SP), are based on current sanity, most likely current sanity divided by ten and rounded down. Each time a weapon feat is used, one SP is consumed. SP is restored by either taking certain actions, which may be based on alignment or sanity, or by incredibly powerful magic or alchemy. This makes weapon feats somewhat more of a commodity than an ability, but also allows them to be used more effectively to get out of a bind. Don’t worry about feats and advantages that let you use more than one weapon feat per hour - they’ll be changed to something which will allow weapon feats to become more powerful and/or be used more often.
And while I’m on the topic of weapon feats, I have an idea which I would like feedback on. This idea is to remove the basic weapon feats I have, and replace them with custom weapon feats that the players themselves make and customize throughout advancement. Normal NPCs would probably still use the weapon feats I’ve already got.
Next is feats and magic. While I want to remove the level system from the character, I want to add it to magic and feats. When the character gains sufficient experience points, they will have the option of “leveling up” some feats and most magic. This is denoted by simple roman numerals at the end of the feat or magic name, unless the feat or magic is the first level (for example: Fireball III, Cure IV, Sneak Attack II, Meditate.) This will help eliminate problems posed by the removal of the character level system, and will also mean I have to do less work with magic.
Finally, I wish to change the effectiveness of weapon material, and also reduce the amount of health characters have. Weapons that deal 3d12 damage are somewhat insane, and effectively make magic worthless (even after changes made in a previous update.) Now, weapon material will still affect a weapon, but by one or two damage per level of material rather than then by one entire die (antimatter may still add an extra die.) In the end, this pretty much needed to happen.
That’s all for now. Check back later, even though I never post anything...
A is for Apocalypse is (c) 2007 to Silencedhands productions
The first, and perhaps largest change is the removal of the level system. While this system is convenient, it is fairly unrealistic. You don’t suddenly become stronger, smarter, and better looking in sudden intervals, and nor should RPG characters. Character advancement will still use experience points, but these points will be used to “purchase” improvements for the character rather than causing the character to level up. Unlike the (normal) World of Darkness© system, normal battles will still grant the characters experience at the end, as will accomplishments. These experience point rewards will still be high, although so will the prices for upgrading your character. This will probably require the largest change to the A is for Apocalypse system, so bear with me if it needs work on the first few runs.
The next change is how weapon feats work. Weapon feats still replace a normal combat attack, and can be used at will, although not more than once per round without the proper feat. However, you now no longer must wait an hour to next use them, but rather spend points. These points, which for now will be called Sense Points (SP), are based on current sanity, most likely current sanity divided by ten and rounded down. Each time a weapon feat is used, one SP is consumed. SP is restored by either taking certain actions, which may be based on alignment or sanity, or by incredibly powerful magic or alchemy. This makes weapon feats somewhat more of a commodity than an ability, but also allows them to be used more effectively to get out of a bind. Don’t worry about feats and advantages that let you use more than one weapon feat per hour - they’ll be changed to something which will allow weapon feats to become more powerful and/or be used more often.
And while I’m on the topic of weapon feats, I have an idea which I would like feedback on. This idea is to remove the basic weapon feats I have, and replace them with custom weapon feats that the players themselves make and customize throughout advancement. Normal NPCs would probably still use the weapon feats I’ve already got.
Next is feats and magic. While I want to remove the level system from the character, I want to add it to magic and feats. When the character gains sufficient experience points, they will have the option of “leveling up” some feats and most magic. This is denoted by simple roman numerals at the end of the feat or magic name, unless the feat or magic is the first level (for example: Fireball III, Cure IV, Sneak Attack II, Meditate.) This will help eliminate problems posed by the removal of the character level system, and will also mean I have to do less work with magic.
Finally, I wish to change the effectiveness of weapon material, and also reduce the amount of health characters have. Weapons that deal 3d12 damage are somewhat insane, and effectively make magic worthless (even after changes made in a previous update.) Now, weapon material will still affect a weapon, but by one or two damage per level of material rather than then by one entire die (antimatter may still add an extra die.) In the end, this pretty much needed to happen.
That’s all for now. Check back later, even though I never post anything...
A is for Apocalypse is (c) 2007 to Silencedhands productions