Oh, boy, I haven't been posting anything in this thread (or on forums, for that matter) for... 3-4 months, I believe. Lots of changes. This is probably my last post here, unless someone has any questions - after that, I'm going back to codify all this shit into a functional .pdf, start up a blog, and try to publish everything I came up with. In general, the system/houserules/homebrew is as far from regular OSR stuff as you can get without going into storytelling or rules-lite territory.
a) classes: went back to basics, with 4 human classes (fighter, scoundrel, wizard, and cleric), with 3 race-as-class options (Harmakhi, a race of shapeshifting lizard-folk from Mars, Galileans, a race locked in a perpetual holy war between moons of Jupiter, and Innani, warrior-hunters from Venus). The general gist of things is as follows:
- not much changes when it comes to fighters and thieves scoundrels. Fighters can become these close-combat monstrosities they always were in my brain;
- clerics. Oh, boy. First off, I completely removed their spells per level progression. Depending on your chosen god, you now gain access to a couple (no more than 6) miracles you can perform at any point, using turn undead tables - roll 2d6+Resolve modifier, if the outcome is equal to or higher than required number, you can freely perform the miracle; roll less, you can't perform it again until you meditate for straight 8 hours. Target number starts at 13, and progressively caps at 5 (9th level), so there's still a chance you'll fail even as an experienced cleric;
- wizards. No spell levels, which is actually kinda huge - magic needed to be redesigned from scratch, since there's no more room for fireballs, mass charms, sleep, stuff like that. Your maximum number of spells is equal to your level + intelligence modifier;
- race-as-class options. These are, basically, hybrids of existing classes or some minor spins. Harmakhi share the same mechanics as clerics, but they gain more "miracles" and are focused on quasi-vicissitude: fleshcrafting, boneshaping, manipulation of metabolism. Probably the closest you'll get to a group's healer, although you can freely go for combat route and become a close-combat behemoth. Galileans are, no more, no less, fighter-wizards, with less spells but more combat options compared to wizards. Innani are closer to rangers, with their favored enemies, tracking, called shots, and ability to cannibalize parts of their enemies to gain temporary buffs.
b) general mechanics: everything finally narrowed down to d20 (attack rolls, saving throws) and d6 rolls (skills and cleric's/Harmakhi's abilities). Couple of things:
- stat modifiers needed to be adjusted from +3 to -3 to +2 to -2 in order to not fuck up cleric's abilities;
- single saving throw, modified by Resolve modifier. Each class gain a +2 bonus against a particular type of danger (e.g. Scoundrels against traps, Innani against poisons and radiation, Harmakhi against random mutations, and so on). Again, this is such an elegant solution, I'm honestly quite surprised almost no one uses it;
- I tried to make every stat useful in some way or another to every class (yeah, I know, this goes against general idea of OSR, but I don't really care if playing a 3 STR wizard is "fun"). Intelligence and Wisdom Resolve were the biggest pain in the butt. I've already mentioned what Resolve does, so here's Intelligence: maximum amount of languages known and starting skill points. On that note...
- skill points: one thing I absolutely hate about older systems is their esoteric way of explaining skills and I'm honestly not surprised folks getting into OSR are confused by this shit. In my homebrew, each class gains 3+Intelligence modifier (1 to 5) skill points they can distribute among various skills. Don't worry, there's no spot, diplomacy, or search skills, everything is related to either in-universe lore or stuff that can't be easily recreated at the table, like hacking, picking locks, or trying to pilot some old-ass anti-grav junk. Skills use LotFP mechanics, I really couldn't find something more fitting, outside of going with +3 to -3 stat mods and making them d10 based. Anyway, feel free to be a fighter than dabbles in hacking or can patch you up if you start bleeding on the ground.
c) setting: a numeneran-metabaronian game of space exploration and getting rich while doing it, all wrapped up in retrofuturistic aesthetic, with soundtrack by Vangelis, and focused on Earth, Moon, Venus, Mars, and Galilean moons of Jupiter. I ain't gonna say more.
), but it's really not the case - magic is closer to neural control, organ manipulation, psycho-reflective shields, that sort of thing (think OSA agent mixed with Castaka family, and you wouldn't be too far off). Naturally, different spellcasters focus on different things - Chanter, an in-universe equivalent of Bard is closer to warrior-poet archetype and deals with buffs, charms, and ways to amplify his damage, while Tracer deals mainly with AI and malicious software, making him an anti-electronics specialist;
