The Basics of BASIC

Dang, that's basic.

I'm an English major. This means many things about me, one of which is that numbers terrify and confuse me. Another is that I'm prone to verbosity if left unchecked. BASIC is a roleplaying game system that is my current focus as a developer. I am nothing if not unchecked.

The Intent

• A system that is numerically small, with low numbers and smaller equations. Attributes and Skills don't go higher than 5 in BASIC, because some of us are self-conscious about our calculators.
• A system that features high character competence, using a Basic Action Check- a universal roll-under-target-value check that uses 3d6, keeping only the 2 lowest results -that trends towards more successes. Because we've all fumbled through the tedium and humiliation of being as capable of a 1st level anything, an existence best described as "black and white world 'HAS THIS EVER HAPPENED TO YOU' commercial person, but with daggers and large rats."
• A system that has the framework for strong tactical play that can get out of the way for a more rules-light roleplaying experience. In BASIC, the two are separated into the Tactical and Roleplay Spaces, where the more tighter, rule-heavy play of Tactical situations like combat and capers fades away, instead taking a backseat to and informing roleplay in its own ways.
• A system that is highly scaleable and largely modular. Scaleable in the sense that I'm figuring I can take this thing as small and self contained as single player roleplaying books, Fighting Fantasy-style. Modular, in the sense that a system that is not only easy to make content for, but can exist as a toolbox for gamemasters to pick and choose what they use and how is a nice thing to have. 

The Concepts

• BASIC Attributes and Skills: The system gets its namesake for its 5 Attributes: Body, your physical beefiness and hardiness, representing physical adroitness and durability; Agility, your quickness on your feet, your preciseness with your hands, your ability to move acrobatically, quietly, or acrobatically while being quiet about it; Senses, the sharpness of your perception, your ability to discern what it's telling you and your ability to coordinate yourself to react accordingly; Intellect, your ability to learn and apply knowledge, use your imagination and remember more complex things more clearly; and Charisma, your ability to influence others through force of personality, be it with charm, persuasion, colourful language, bargaining, and other, more shady methods. BASIC Attributes are rated on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being an area of deficiency and 5 being the upper limits of whatever sort of being your character is has the capability to achieve. Each Attribute also governs over a set of 3 Skills, which are used in tandem with their associated attribute whenever a check that could feasibly be performed with that skill comes up. Skills are rated on a scale of 0 to 5, with 0 being "I have no training whatsoever and may not even understand this as a concept" and 5 being effectively a grand master in that area.
• The Basic Action Check: Okay get this: you need to do a Thing, and that Thing is complex enough to warrant a check to see if you succeed. To do this, you add whichever combination of Attribute one of its Skills you can make a case for using, and roll 3d6 against it, dropping the highest result as you shoot to roll under the sum. Sometimes, the action is really difficult, so you subtract a difficult penalty from the sum. But that's pretty much as complex as it gets!
• The Load System: Inventories are out, loadouts are in, regardless of setting. BASIC doesn't even bother with hard mass values for items and gear. Instead, it assigns point values, based on either single objects or stacks of them, from 1 to 5. This effectively boils down what is on your character's person to something that's detailed without being overly detailed and full of screwy bits to look after and track, and rather just a checklist of things you think you need an have the capacity to take with you. Plus, it saves all of us from trying to figure out exactly what a given thing actually weighs.
• Emphasis on Simplicity: RPG Systems are a bunch of moving parts, working in unison and driven by players and gamemasters. The goal with BASIC is not only making a game that's accessible and fast to play, that requires less guide consulting than most games, but also to make a game where the additions and expansions build on each other and slide into place, rather than hitching and catching on each other.

Where Am I Going With This at the Moment?

My main focus right now for BASIC is the Otherlore setting, a co-creation between myself and my partner, Adrienne Travis. Otherlore is serving as my armature to build up this version of BASIC, give it core functionality, while also putting in elements that are specific to the setting itself.  Rules for things like combat, stealth, environmental conditions, travel over land, sea, air and more are going to ultimately become components of BASIC's core, while what Adrienne and I are planning for peoples and cultures, creatures, magic and more is going to be with Otherlore in mind.

I'm working to have Otherlore into the hands of patrons by the end of the year, at least in a testing capacity. Things as of late have been progressing smoothly! I figure that August will be the month where I'll be finishing up the character components for Otherlore, which is no small component. As time goes on and I have more to show you- which is not at all going to be a long wait, trust me -I'll be posting it under this header. Keep your eyes peeled, because I've got some exciting stuff to show you in the coming days!