This year's entry into NaGaDeMon for 2013. I concede that I failed this year's challenge, in that I never got a chance to play test. And as made evident by the typos, I spent more time thinking about it than writing it, but overall I am happy with the final result. I don't pretend that its very original, but it's fast and simple and the players and the DM (DiceMaster, in this case) to play with the full range of dice in their bag.
It also allowed combine a number of elements that I've wanted to use for a while now:
Simple, open-ended character creation
-You choose to be a Wizard, a Thief or a Fighter to start, but beyond that designation the rest of the process is up to you.
Clear Rules
-If you have 8 in your Combat Skill, you roll a D8. If for example, the Opponent has a 6 in Combat, the DM would roll D6. High roll, wins. That example pretty much encapsulates the entire rule-set.
Eliminating Imitative
-There is no initiative. Once the melee starts, everyone is assumed to be acting at pretty much the same time.
Wounds
-No Hit Points! You roll your Body stat below the number of accumulated Wounds to avoid a TKO.
Magic is Internal
-Wizards role vs their own Magic skill to see if the spell worked, not against an arbitrary Saving Throw.
Weapons and Armor Ratings
-I solved another RPG peeve of mine here, the weapons and armor issue
. I've tried to develop a few different rpgs over the years and one part I always hated was determining what weapon did what damage (does a battle-axe do more damage than a giant sword? What about a blunderbuss?) and how much protection armor is suppose to do (is plate better than dragon scale?). My solution?
It doesn't matter! At the time of character creation, you get a certain amount of points to put into a Weapon and Armor. The more points, the better damage/protection, but as to what the weapon/armor actually is ... doesn't matter. Choose whatever suits the character, so it can be an exceptional knife that does D20 damage, or a rusty old greatsword that does only D6.
Tony DiTerlizzi has a nice article on the toys that inspired some of D&D's most iconic monsters.
"Natural bodily functions are always going to be difficult on a delve. The food is always bad, which gets nasty fast if you're stuck behind the barbarian in the marching order. Leaving spoor and your water behind gives enemies something to track and always ends up attracting the wrong sort of predator. I once took up with a slightly bent ranger who took to whizzing in old potion bottles then leaving them behind. The next poor shmuck who came along and thought he's discovered a bottle of enhanced strength was going to be in for a real nasty surprise, lemme tell ya."
But what's really tweeking my nostalgia bone lately are the Fisher Price Adventure People. I had a bunch of these sets as a kid, but at the time they were used mostly as utility vehicles for my GI:Joes and they all got passed on to cousins or sold for pittance at garage sales. If I had the energy and money to get back into collecting, I'd be ebaying the hell out of this.
Of Dice and Men brings up the concept of Gamers' Common. Originated by Frank Mentzer, it is an idea designed to get around the Edition Wars and bring all roleplayers together, regardless what game they happen to be playing. What it means is writing game supplements using terms that are common to most games, or at least understood by all gamers; things like Rounds, Hit Points, Experience etc. It then falls to the game-master (and players!) to choose what rules set they want to apply. This might seem like a bit of work, but isn't any different than trying to convert a really good adventure that might not exactly fit your current game, edition or preferred OSR. More importantly, it leaves things open-ended enough to allow for GM improvisation and adaptation. I don't believe that you should play anything straight out of the box.
The nice thing about the Variable Weapon Damage is that it becomes much easier to assign weapons and armour to enemies. You can give them whatever suits the situation best, then roll a d12 (round up) to determine the damage/protection. It would certainly keep the players on their toes. 
We're all tired of hearing it, but a writer must write everyday.
On a very overdue vacation! Which means I am clearing out some of the many bookmarks I've collected over the past few months. 
