Narrative System

An experimental simplistic system that serves to make RP gaming easy and chill. You combine a dicepool of D10, and 7 or above is considered a success.

Character Creation
Character creation with the Narrative system is fairly easy.

Attributes
Attributes rank from 1 - 10, but always start at 2, because a 1 in any attribute is considered an outright handicap. Ten is only a theoretical limit as no-one has ever lived with even a single attribute of 10 - 7 is probably the famous upper-limit that anyone has ever achieved, and 5 is the practical limit of what an ordinary human can hope to achieve.

The attributes are; Strength, Agility, Constitution, Charisma, Intelligence, Perception, Will and *Special* (often used for magic). Distribute 6 points between these, to raise them one level per point - assuming they all start at 2.

Skills
Skills rank from 1 - 6, six being a purely theoretical level of mastery not reasonably ever achieved by anyone. Skills always start at zero. Zero represents a character having no real knowledge of the given field and you do not make a note of skills that are rated below 1.

There's a few core skills in the narrative system, that can largely be used to describe your character and their abilities, and these cost more points per rank than others, because they have broader applications - generally speaking, the more specific the skill, the cheaper it is.

Spend 30 points across your skills.

Specific Skills
A specific skill has to be fairly specific - you could take "lock picking" or "running". When picking a Specific Skill, think of how you would word a Specialty in World of Darkness. Specific Skills are bought at half a point in cost, meaning you get two ranks

every time you buy one - and uniquely these can reach 6 points total.

Broad skills
Broad skills are categories of minor skills that fit together, described with a connecting moniker - this could be "stealth" or "survival training". They cost 1 point per rank.

Academic
Pick an academic subject you excel at - rename the skills appropriately. Assume that you have 1 dot less in regards to similar subjects, and 2 dots less in subjects within the same general branch of academia and 3 dots less in subjects classified as academia, but not within the same branch. Because of it's broad application, dots in academic cost twice as many points.

• Undergraduate
You have a fairly broad field of knowledge on a limited subject (Law, Linguistics, Architecture ect.), but still not enough to properly work with it. The ST will allow you to assist on rolls that others (with a higher rating in this) are making. Your knowledge might still allow you to notice things, or know things, that others wouldn't.

•• Bachelor
You're a professional now, at least in some parts of the world, but you still can't work independently and your work isn't specialized enough to actually be of much help. With the assistance of someone else, you can be the primary actor on a roll. You can also, of course, still assist others. You can also function as a part of a larger team. Two undergraduates can still not be allowed to roll within their field, but a bachelor and an undergraduate together can.

••• Master
You've specialized in a certain field of study. Buying this merit again at dot 1 allows you to take a second specialty within your field. Unless you've selected an already very limited field of academia, you must narrow your field down quite a bit. For instance, if you're a historian, you must now choose what kind of history you've specialized in, an example could be Ancient History. You can work independently with this one subject, but only with mundane or normal subjects or through normal and mundane methods.

•••• Doctor
You must specialize within your specialty. If you're a historian, and you choose ancient history as a specialty, now you must specialize even further. As you might get the impression of, at this level, it becomes rather boring and uninteresting, and maybe too specific to ever really use for a character in a role playing game, but the option exists. Because of your narrow field of study, when working specifically with this, you can work outside the norm, figure out new methods and so forth.

••••• Einstein
Einstein was actually a Scientist, and not an academic, but that only makes his name so much more relevant to use as an example - he is largely regarded as one of the most intelligent men to ever have lived, and many people don't even care what he actually did for the world, they use his name as a synonym for being "clever" in general. Sometimes, some academical nut comes up with an idea that lads to an entirely new subject (field of study) coming up within their chosen academia. You're one of these nuts. Your understanding of your chosen field of academia is so complete, you can consider yourself a "Master" of all aspects of it, and in turn you may make up your own field of study.

Scientist
Scientist perfectly mirrors Academic, but for science related subjects. Because of it's broad application, dots in Scientist cost twice as many points.

Artisan
You're a craftsman or an artisan. It mirrors academic closely in how it works. Because of it's broad application, dots in Artisan cost twice as many points.

Sportsman
You're a sportsman of some sort. It mirrors academic closely in how it works. Because of it's broad application, dots in Sportsman cost twice as many points.

Artist
What defines an artist is usually a generally speaking worthless talent that serves as nothing more than entertainment. Though entertainment is ultimately a very important part of our lives. It mirrors academic closely in how it works. Because of it's broad application, dots in Artist cost twice as many points.

Hobbyist
You have some sort of hobby that seems to grant you excellent real-world skills. I'm hard pressed to find examples for this, that don't already fit in some of the other categories, but if you find one, this is here for you! It mirrors academic closely in how it works. Because of it's broad application, dots in Hobbyist cost twice as many points.

Profession
Assume that you have the full dice-pool in anything that is extremely important for the profession, then reduce the dice pool for things that are related, but ultimately not as important. The profession very broad, and as such it costs three times as many points!

Traits
Traits are things that make your character stand out. Traits are generally described as Positive or Negative, but that isn't to say that a Negative Trait couldn't be turned into an advantage, or that a positive trait couldn't later turn out to be a detriment.

Traits are usually setting specific, but there will be a few general examples below.

You may select 1 free positive trait, but further traits must be balanced out - 1 positive trait and 1 negative trait always come together as a package. You may not take a negative trait and a positive trait that contradict each other.

Positive traits

 * Good looking: Even people outside your own ethnic group and culture consider you good looking.
 * Big: You're bigger than the average person - size comes with a degree of attached status and some direct advantages. It certainly also has its down-sides.
 * Sub-culture: You belong to a certain sub-culture. With these people, you fit in much better.
 * Reputable: You have a good reputation, and people tend to trust you. They also tend to lean a lot on you and rely on you and expect much of you, however, and keeping up a reputation is hard work.
 * Accomplished: You've done something that raises you above the norm in the setting. In some settings, military service, or obtaining a degree of some sort could be examples.

Negative traits

 * Ugly: Perhaps you were born this way, or maybe you did look good once, but then you didn't age well or you have been scarred. Not all people are attracted to good looks, but most prefer a clean pretty face to a scarred mug.
 * Small: You're very small - occasionally an advantage, but usually not.
 * Outcast: Even in your own culture, you do not fit in, so your social rolls are penalized for particular sub-cultures within your own culture - on the other hand, any time dealing with a culture other than your own, roll luck to see if you're compatible. A success grants you a bonus to rolls with this culture.
 * Infamy: You're probably hated or feared by quite a few people, and your name has been slandered due to possible alleged misdeeds in the past.
 * Convicted: You've been branded as a failure due to something that happened to you. It could be a prison sentence or something similar.

Background
Background points describe certain things in your character's past (that should be featured in the background story and the description/concept) that describes the character's situation. They are always thought of as advantageous, because the lack of these are generally thought of as detrimental, but they mainly serve as driving points for the character's motivations.

Spend 3 points here. Additional background points cost 3 Skill Points per rank, allowing you to realistically portray someone who isn't particularly talented, but somehow still has it all. We all know that one guy...

Fame 1-3

Your character is famous. The higher the rating, the more wide-spread the fame.

Social Status 1-3

Your character's position in society. 1 describes someone who is well established in society and 3 describes part of the upper elite. Note that the setting largely dictates whether this background is even relevant or how many points you can take in it.

Rank 1-3

Pick something that relates to your character. 1 is middle-management, 2 is administration and 3 is equivalent of board-membership.

Wealth 1-3

This background doesn't necessarily describe a character's personal wealth, but rather the size of their indirect assets. 1 could represent owning a small business - that certainly doesn't guarantee personal wealth, but a business cannot run without property, employees and equipment. Further points represent even bigger accumulated wealth.

Contacts 1-3

You have contacts within a certain specified field - they will share information with you, exchange favors and sell to you at favorable rates (or just at all - in some cases). The level describes how high-up in the field you've chosen, that your contact is - it's not always better to have a high level contact in all fields - some fields are so mundane that a low level contact is totally sufficient.

Allies 1-3

You have certain people you can count on for help - they also count on you, however. This reflects more of a partnership and could be a permanent business partner, or someone you've worked closely with. Maybe a very good friend or even a lover. The ranks describe how powerful your ally is - Remember that this kind of relationship is a two-way deal, so if your power level doesn't reflect the power level of your ally, you will be on the losing end of this relationship at any given time, having to constantly work to keep your ally happy with your level of commitment to your partnership.

Mentor 1-3

You have someone in your corner with a vested interest in you - This person will generally go out of their way to see you succeed - the catch is, they want you to succeed at certain things, and when you stray from these areas, they will be disappointed and forced to reconsider their investment in you. The ranks describe how powerful of a mentor you have. A mentor will not always play nice - So having a powerful mentor could seriously backfire.

Rules
There are several rules specific to the narrative

Combat
Melee is agility+strength and ranged is agility+perception.

A weapon always gives an advantage - an all weapons have certain traits - small weapons have the grappling trait, meaning that, if used in close quarter, they suffer no ill consequences, but against a weapon with reach, the bonus for the weapon can be negated almost all together, and like wise, a weapon with reach suffers in close quarters, but is much safer to use against smaller weapons.

Sometimes it is permitted to add a value from a skill to a combat roll - if it is to be assumed that the person has some sort of training that applies from their skill of choice. Profession: Soldier would very well afford the player's character with their ranks in Profession to shoot an assault rifle, in a modern game, but probably not duel someone with a saber - though it might if the setting wasn't modern!