Elements Game System

Introduction

This system is still under construction and, among other things, seriously needs playtesting. If you do playtest this system, please post your thoughts on the discussion page.

Goals

This system is being designed with the following goals in mind. Regardless of anything else, these goals should take top priority in design decisions.

• This system should be able to handle quick games easilly. Time spent on anything other than telling the story is wasted in a quick game and should be kept to a minimum.
  • The time required to make a playable character should be as short as possible. The ideal would be to start with a completely blank character sheet, but anything that can be covered within about 30 minutes or less is acceptable.
  • The game mechanincs should, as much as possible, keep from slowing the game down.
    • There should be as few seperate mechanics as possible so that there's less to remember and less to look up.
    • Tables are useful, as long as they can all be fit on one or two pages. Cross-referencing tables takes longer and longer with each reference and should be kept to a minimum.
    • All contested actions should be resolved through a single mechanic. This applies to combat and magic too, at least for the most part.
• This should not (necessarilly) be a universal game system. A more focused system can better satisfy the main goal than a more generic system, at least within its specified genres.

Limitations

Based on the goals above, there will be some limitations to this system.

• While it can be adapted to other genres, it is focussed on the fantasy genre.
• The system is also focussed on mainly humanoid PCs and NPCs. Other races can be represented, but they may not be balanced as PCs.
• It doesn't aim to represent anything more accurately than it needs to. Some tradeoffs have been made for speed and playability over accuracy.

The Elements

Much of this game is built around the idea that everything relates to one of a few elements. This system was built using a set of six elements, arranged in a circle: Light, Air, Water, Dark, Earth, Fire. Elements opposite each other on the circle are antagonistic to each other, and elements adjacent to each other on the circle are allied. Six elements is convenient in that each element can be placed on one face of a standard d6, but, if you want, choosing a different set of elements is easy. The mechanic that most heavily relies on the choice of elements is magic.

Any other system of elements needs to specify two things. First, and most obviously, is the set of elements. Second, is how the elements relate to each other. In general, all elements should be symmetrical. That is, if one element has one opposing element and two allied elements, so should all other elements. Also, if one element relates to another in a certain way, the other should relate to the first in the same way. This symmetry isn't always necessary, but it is one way to help ensure that things remain balanced. If you feel that you can balance the game with a non-symmetric set of elements, don't let this paragraph stop you.

Some examples of other sets of elements:

• The four classical elements arranged into two opposing pairs with no other relationships: Earth/Air and Fire/Water.
• A version of the five Chinese elements arranged in a circle: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water. Neighboring elements are allied while the remaining two are opposed.
• The three elements Creation, Equilibrium and Destruction, with no special relationships between the three.

The Dice

The dice mechanic used for this system is based on a d6-d6 roll. When a roll is called for, the player will roll a number of d6s and add the total to their skill, then roll the same number and subtract this from the previous total. (Or, if you have two colors of dice available, you can roll both at once.) Unlike most, if not all, other games, the player chooses how many dice they want to roll (before rolling, of course). This is basically choosing how much risk they're willing to take in their current action. Fewer dice mean the worst they can do is higher, but the best is lower. Under most circumstances, there will be a minimum number of dice they must roll. This represents a minimum amount of risk and uncertainty that the character has no control over. Depending on the group playing, there may also be a maximum number of dice that can be rolled, although this would have more to do with keeping the game moving than with any in-game reasons.

Though the game is designed around the d6-d6 roll, it's easy to adapt to other methods of randomization. There are two important properties any such method should have though. First, and most important, is that any number of rolls (or draws for cards) should have an average of 0. The reason for this is simple; if the average was above 0, players would always roll as many dice as possible, and if it were below 0, they'd roll as few as possible. (If you enforce a small enough maximum number of dice, an average of slightly more than 0 may be acceptable.)

The second property the dice mechanism should have is that the minimum and maximum result of a single roll should be close to one degree of success (5 by default). The minimum and maximum of a d6-d6 is -5 and +5. It's possible to circumvent this by changing the value of a degree of success to match the dice mechanism, but this would also require changing how skill points are assigned.

Some examples of other randomization mechanisms (each is for one roll or draw, and the player can choose how many rolls to make):

• 2d6-7 (This is the same as a d6-d6, but some people may find the math easier this way.)
• 2d8-8, 2d10-11, etc. (The range on these will be significantly different than a d6-d6, so these may require other changes.)
• A single die marked with the six elements. Your element would be +5; your allied elements +1; your opposed element -5; the remaining two would be -1. (This is fairly similar to a d6-d6 and would require no other major changes. It could, though, make the magic system easier.)
• A deck of playing cards. (The face cards may need to be removed or dealt with specially. Also, the minimum and maximum values are -10 and +10, so skill points and the range of a degree of success should be doubled.)
• A deck of tarot cards. (Again the face cards may need special treatment. The major arcana would definitely need special treatment, but may provide interesting results.)

The Character

Making a charater is very simple. Begin with a blank character sheet:

1. Briefly describe what the character had been doing with their life up to this point.
2. Choose an element appropriate to your character.
3. Fill in any appropriate traits, usually totalling 4 positive traits and 1 negative trait. The exact number is up to your GM.
4. Distribute some or all of your skill points, usually 20-30, on various professions. Again, the exact total and how many you are allowed to leave undecided is up to your GM.
5. Begin play.

The rest of this section describes how to use the sheet you now have to play the game.

Skills

Almost all dice rolls made in this game will be skill rolls. Skills are divided first into professions, then into individual skills, then into specialties. Professions should be considered a general term. Although they can often be actual professions, they could also be any other convenient label for a set of related skills. The important thing is for the player to think of a reason their character might have training or experience in that category of skills.

Generally, each profession should consist of at least 4 or 5 skills, and each skill should consist of at least 4 or 5 specialties. Don't worry too much though if you can't think of that many though and remember that, while most professions have one primary skill, there are often many other skills learned doing that job. A good example of this is a chef. At first it might seem like the only skill under chef would be cooking. Here are some example skills and specialties under chef.

Skill	Specialty	Notes
Cooking	French Foods	An example specialty
Cooking	Leftovers	An example of another specialty under cooking
Organization	Scheduling	For organizing when to begin cooking what so they all finish at once
Organization	Stocking	For organizing the pantries and refrigerators so that specific items can be found easily
Appraising	Seafood
Merchant	Auction
Merchant	Haggling
Driving	Volkswagen	Most modern jobs require some form of commute. See the section on difficulty levels to get an idea of how many points you'd have in such a skill.