Why did I create Truthworld?

My name is Max Amaden, and much like most of the people reading this, I am an avid tabletop player and game-master (the fellow that runs a tabletop game for a group of people, for those not 'in the know.')

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Like many others, I started by playing Dungeons & Dragons. Now, unlike most others, I stared at the 300+ pages of the player's guide with utter terror and said to myself: 'Hey, you know what? I'll just make my own simple version. That'll do.'

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Now, cue some awful balancing decisions and a heck of a lot of clueless fun, I learned a lot. Firstly: Tabletop RPGs are very fun. Secondly: probably don't make your own system if you haven't a clue what you're doing.

 

As several years pass, I've become an avid user of D&D 5e, finding myself in the GM's seat more often than not. This would then progress into homebrewed 5e, then 3.5e and Pathfinder, alongside a whole slew of other systems famed, obscure and utterly unique.

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...And finally we come to the day of Truthworld's conception. Inspired from sessions playing in an exceedingly well-made murder-mystery RP set in a certain popular 'Killing Game' setting, I came up with the idea for a story I would like to run myself.

 

That of a survival-mystery featuring twenty-odd relatively normal people at the end of the world, with no clue how they'd gotten there. ​Crazy, I know. The sessions would revolve mostly around the characters talking and interacting with each other, as they use their life-skills to survive as best they can in a hostile environment. Tension is a key element, and I expect characters to fight each-other one way or another; whether it be a simple brawl, or a cold-blooded ambush with traps and a bolt-action rifle.

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Now, there is certainly a number of systems that I could use to great benefit for such a story - but remembering the joy of my first tabletop experience, and inspired by my recent homebrewed sessions, I set off to create an RPG that would form-fit this particular scenario, whilst being flexible enough that I could adapt it for many sessions to come.

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Thus spawns Truthworld - a set of rules light enough to keep role-play moving consistently, yet with enough weight to place importance on character-creation, and allow for some improvement at a relatively realistic (and GM-discretioned) rate.

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What's more, I've finally been able to create the satisfying semi-realistic combat engine that I'd always wanted to play with. Call it a morbid fascination, but there's something interesting about knowing where you clobber someone when you swing a bat at them.

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All in all, I'm quite pleased with the fruits of my labours so far, having had an early (and incredibly janky) test-session called 'the best session they'd ever had' - which understandably left me equally stunned, overjoyed, and quite frankly, confused.

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How did I begin working on Truthworld?

The first thing I did when I began working on this system, was to take a look at attributes. A common feature in all sorts of RPGs and video-games, these would be the defining features of a character. Initally, I looked at D&D's Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma model, and decided that (while admittedly sufficient for a magical adventure-fantasy romp) it doesn't suit or apply to the typical human person in any way that I could relate to.

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I began to think of all of the actions a person could possibly do, and what that could be attributed to. I exhausted everything I could conjure up with one attribute or another, finally coming to the conclusion of: Cunning, Knowledge, Willpower, Strength, Agility and Dexterity (for a complete definition of what these attributes mean, see the full rulebook.) Try and think of an action (achievable by a human) that couldn't be attempted for using one of, or a combination of, these attributes!

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If you noticed my omitting of an entirely social attribute, you must bear in mind that I don't endorse the idea of rolling dice to 'solve' social situations - particularly since this system was designed with the intention that most interactions are social in nature. Instead of 'I roll to persuade the shopkeeper to lower his prices', isn't it more interesting to attempt it in character? That said, in certain situations such as lying, debating and reading a person, Cunning or Knowledge may be applicable - so social rolls are not entirely dead!

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From my experience with previous systems, I found that I enjoyed rolling a number of six-sided dice over the traditional 20-sided die familiar with all D&D players. I find something satisfying about rolling a handful of d6s and watching those blessed 6s roll in - or... Not. Anyone that plays Warhammer should know this feeling intimately.

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In addition to my personal preference for the d6 format, I also chose it because I personally feel it best represents the most realistic spread of luck when attribute to any one task. Mathematically, rolling more dice with a lower variety of results leads to greater consistency. There is still the potential for dumb luck and unfortunate mistakes - but with far less frequency than the utter madness that a roll of 1-20 can mean for an RPG.

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What's more, this system of several d6s allows me to avoid the irritating complication of knowing what number means what in relation to the average person. In D&D, for instance, a score of 8 is typical for a peasant, whilst 10 is for nobles and adventurers, and so on. In Truthworld, however, character attributes are sorted in the realistic manner of poor (below average), average, good (above average), and exceptional (top 5-10% of humans); each of these rolling 1d6, 2d6, 3d6 and 4d6 respectively. Other, greater, options are provided for enhanced or non-human characters - and the rare none score (0d6) represents a severe disability.

 

In addition to this, anyone that has played any variety of the D6 TTRPGs will know the concept of a 'wild' die. In short, one die (that is declared before a roll) is the wild die - and it is this die that determines if the roll is a critical success or a critical failure, depending on whether it lands on a 6 or a 1, respectively. In addition, this die is 'explosive', meaning if a 6 is rolled on that die, another die is rolled and added to the total, this one 'exploding' on a 6 as well, and so on.

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With both consistency and inconsistency factored into the stylisation of blind luck in Truthworld, I decided that I wanted to add a layer of complexity to the way in which checks are made in this game. Simply rolling attempts based on overall attributes does not seem realistic at all. Rather, a skilled individual should have bonuses to checks on actions that they have practised.

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For innumerable RPGs, such as D&D, Call of Cthulhu, D6 and FATE, it's just that - skills. Sometimes, a huge list of these skills that can be as needlessly in-depth as basketweaving, and often featuring several modifiers and a damn rulebook just to define. Whilst I often enjoy the complexity and customisation that comes with this amount of depth, I wanted to lighten the load in Truthworld, and do it in a unique and rewarding way.

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For this reason, I implemented the vocation system. It's incredibly simple, and down to a small amount of discretion by the GM. That is, players typically are given a major and a minor vocation. These are named by the character-creator, and can be anything as obscure as a fry-cook or a model railway enthusiast, to something as important as a mechanic or a chemistry professor. For checks that a character makes in relation to their vocations, they will receive an additional amount of d6s to roll - one for a minor check, and two for a major check. Simple, and effective.

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By and large, these rules surmise the role-play engine that is Truthworld. Interact with characters, interact with the environment and make checks based on your character's attributes and vocations - rolling a fistful of dice and waiting to see if the GM says you die horribly or not.

 

Of course, this answer omits the significantly more extensive combat rules. Know that I worked on those in much the same manner as I did a character's attributes. First, I chose the unique idea of making all combat turns simultaneous, to represent the tooth and claw 'if I burn, you burn with me' nature of humans wanting to mutually hurt each-other.

 

Next, I thought through exactly what actions I should and would desire to do in the midst of a battle - and attempted to put the numbers together as best as I could manage, to result in a realistic simulation of what does what when it goes where, and how hard. I also decided on a unique defence mechanic in which characters can choose different ways to stop themselves from dying, each with their own risks and rewards.

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Besides working through the unique weapon properties, and the injury and body-part tables, this briefly surmises how I attempted to piece together a gritty and semi-realistic combat system for Truthworld, entirely optional of course. I am aware that many settings won't ever have to go near the complexities of true combat; or a far simpler 'you hit the character' system will work, at GM discretion.

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What did I learn from creating Truthworld?

Firstly, and most importantly, that it is tough to make a cohesive and coherent ruleset. Far tougher than you might think.

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This is true for two massive reasons, primarily. The first, is that it is incredibly difficult to move the ideas from inside your head into legible sentences and remain readable. While you might understand your system perfectly before writing it, explaining how each mechanic works succinctly is incredibly difficult - especially whilst attempting to minimise word-count to prevent confusion and stress, and increase readability. Unfortunately, the nature of writing instructions means you may have to overexplain somewhat, but it is better than the alternative: underexplaining. That said, If I haven't done my job properly, feel free to contact me and ask away.

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The second reason that making a TTRPG is difficult is, perhaps, much more obvious - though just as important. Balancing; and its slightly less menacing, yet far more time-consuming little sibling: playtesting. You might feel proud and happy to get your brand-new system out in the world, strutting its stuff - but when it turns out that characters can never hit headshots, or that lacerating weapons are unbearably over-powered, well... Back to the drawing board.

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As it turns out, ruling for TTRPGs is an extremely mathematical business, and knowing that the average roll of an 'exploding' d6 is ~4.2 is only half of the matter. Whilst the game should be balanced accordingly for the average character, it is important to bear in mind the character extremes, and everything in-between: those that are substantially under and over-powered in terms of attributes. We're talking about that one player that makes 'John Satan': the muscle-house character that's also simultaneously a Navy SEAL and a professional wrestler.

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In Truthworld, of course, John Satan in a brawl could snap just about anyone's neck in an instant - though it's important to note that, just as in real-life, he would have his weaknesses. For instance, even John is somewhat liable to fall prey when he runs at Steve the office-worker, who has a shotgun pointed at his chest - just as in real life. These are the sorts of situations that need to be tested several times, and with several characters, before one could reasonably declare the game to be 'balanced'.

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In addition to traditional tabletop design, my work on Truthworld's extensive and rather complex API script presents my first foray into both Roll20's API system, and the wonderful world of Javascript.

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It's been an interesting experience learning both a new programming language and an obscure library of unique functions and quirks at the same time - of which it is actually an experience I would recommend to any burgeoning programmer. Not only has it been good practice, but it's also been a window back to the early days of writing code, where I, once again, had little to no idea what I was actually doing. Fortunately, these things have a way of working out in the end - and I deeply apologise to any experienced programmers delving into my mess of spaghetti-script.

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As I said, however, it has been a learning experience - and it shall continue to be. This script presents a rare opportunity, in that I can and will return to my previous work and move through it, optimising and cleaning up where necessary - and perhaps even expanding with new features and polishing functionality.

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Moving forward with tabletop role-playing games, it's hard to say what might come next for me. I've certainly learnt a lot from my experiences on this project, but I think that it's safe to say that I'll be taking a relatively similar approach: documenting and play-testing early, followed by automation via a Roll20 API, or perhaps even an official dice-rolling client - who can say?

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I will carry forwards the testing and balancing habits I've built from this project, and perhaps next time I will attempt to foot a larger and more complex system, with equally unique ideas and scope.

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In any case, it is my pleasure to say thank you for reading these passages. It has been interesting to put my thoughts down on this project into words, and I only hope that it has been just as interesting reading through them.

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Now please, go off and enjoy some RPGs.
 

Max Amaden    -  Author of Truthworld.