The Essentials

<< What is CCARPS - Character Creation >>

CCARPS is a set of tools and rules to define how the players can interact with the world. Below you will find the basic concepts that guide interactions with whatever world your Game master has dreamed up.

Players

Players are the main characters in a role-play adventure story. Players drive the story through actions and and interactions with the game story. Every player adds value and interest to the game and together they help write the story.

Game Master

The Game Master is the narrator, tour guide, and final word in all story related matters. The most important job of a game master is to guide and influence the character in ways that move the game story along. A good game master must be prepared, decisive and above all else flexible. No matter where the Game Master wants to go with the story the players, through no fault of their own, will derail the plans like a herd of stampeding bovine crossing the great trans-continental rail road.

Non-Player Characters

Non-Player Characters or NPCs are the creatures and people the players interact with in the game story. The Game Master handles all actions, contests, and relations for all of the NPCs the Players will encounter.

Dice

CCARPS exclusively uses six-sided dice. Dice rolls are indicated by appending a “d” after the number of dice; “4d” means “four six-sided dice.” Each player will utilize between two and five dice in an attempt to roll as low as possible. The number of dice a player rolls is determined by the character’s skill dice for an applicable skill.

Target Numbers

Any complex activity has an associated target number based on the difficulty of the task and the amount of time the character has to execute the task. Players use a number of dice to determine the outcome of these activities.

Modifiers

Attributes, Skills, and some Oddities have Modifiers, as will some situational details, and equipment. These Modifiers are used to alter a given Target Number. Situational modifiers are applied to the base Target Number by the Game Master before or as the Target Number is given to the player depending on the Game Master’s preference. The active character’s Modifiers increase the given Target Number. If it is a contested roll, the opposing character’s Modifiers reduce the Target Number. The larger the Target Number becomes, the more likely the active character will succeed.

Rolling for Success

There is only one dice-roll mechanic in CCARPS: a base Target Number is assigned, all modifiers are applied to the base Target Number, and dice are rolled in an attempt to roll lower than the Modified Target Number. This is achieved by using the two lowest dice in any dice roll set. This applies to all rolls made by a Player, or Game Master.

The Game Master makes rolls for game environment conditions, and all NPCs in an encounter. A Target Number is the base difficulty for performing an action under the current situational conditions. Modifiers do not affect dice rolls only target numbers. All modifiers from weapons, armor, and skills must be accounted for and the target number adjusted before the player rolls any dice for the given action.

 Example: 

'' Your character is sneaking around in a dark and unfamiliar place. Your character has a Novice “Stealth” skill and quiet shoes. A patrolman with a Novice "Detect" skill walks nearby. ''

'' The base Target Number to sneak undetected is 10 (a basic task), the Game Master adds situational modifiers -3 for the patrolman's Novice "Detect" skill, +3 for dark, -2 for unfamiliar territory, -3 for the patrolman's torch, -2 for the character's movement, and call out a Target Number of 3. ''

'' The player adds the character’s modifiers, Novice Stealth +3 and Quiet Shoes +1 to the GM's Target Number for Skilled Target Number of 7. ''

'' The player must roll under the Skilled target number to pass without being noticed. Your novice level for Stealth gives you 3 dice. you roll 3d6 and get a 4, 2, and 6. Adding up the two lowest dice, the result is 6. Your character is successfully stealthy and able to sneak past the Patrolman. ''

CCARPS has three types of Target Number modification:

• Simple Target Number = Base Target Number + situational modifiers.

• Opposed Target Number = Simple Target Number + opposition’s applicable Modifiers.

• Skilled Target Number = opposed Target Number + your character’s applicable Modifiers.

Degrees of Success

There are some situations where an Oddity or Skill’s action will depend on the Degree of Success. To find the Degree of Success, subtract the successful roll from the Target Number. The difference is the Degree of Success.

 Example: 

'' Coming across a stray dog, the character uses “Animal Empathy” skill to assess its hostility. ''

'' Following the action process, The Simple Target Number is 7, the dog has no opposition since the character is only observing, your character has 2 points in "animal empathy" which gives her a modifier of +1 and 2d, the Skilled Target Number is 8. ''

'' The player rolls a 6 and a 1 for a final roll of 7. Subtract the roll from the target number to find Your character’s Degree of Success: 7 - 8 = 1, which is enough for your character to know that the dog has most likely lost its owner. ''

'' A good rule of thumb for information based skill checks is to provide one detail for each degree of success as applicable. ''

Critical Success, Critical Failure

A Critical Success happens when all dice in a roll set are 1. The more dice you roll, the more often your character will succeed, but the harder it will be for your character to get a Critical Success. A Critical Success means the action succeeds and has a better than expected result. The more dice in a set, the more amazing a critical will be.

The Game Master has the honor of determining what “amazing” looks like, and what events will be triggered because of a critical success.

Conversely, a Critical Failure happens when all dice in a roll set are 6. When you roll more dice your character will fail less often; therefore, it will become less likely that your character will critically fail. A Critical Failure has worse than expected results. The more dice in a rolled set, the more dangerous the Critical Fail will be.

The Game Master has the misfortune of determining what “danger” will befall the player group, and what events will be triggered because of a critical fail.

Automatic Success

There are a lot of actions that characters will take that are trivial or common sense. These do not require a roll and are counted as automatically succeeding. The only time these will need a roll are when there are adverse conditions (weather, battle, impeding injury, etc.) or when the Game Master says.

 Example: 

'' Walking in a straight line on a summer day would have no roll. Attempting to walk in a straight line on sheet ice during a snow storm would require a roll to keep footing and a roll to maintain the correct direction of travel. ''

Disposition

The sum of a character’s Attributes, Health, Oddities, and Skills.

A character’s Disposition is their tendency to act in a specific way. Much like the real world, a character’s skill set, demeanor, and overall health oftentimes shines through in their personality. This can be said as generalizations for groups, communities, and nations as well.


 * Attributes are the core of a character. They greatly influence everything about the character. The base Attributes are averaged into secondary Attributes and converted into modifiers through a personal/skill modifier table to make Skill creation and use easier, as well as to more accurately reflect the nature of attributes as a complex system.
 * Health Meter is the sum of a character’s Mental, Physical, and Spiritual health. The healthiest characters have nothing checked or marked in these boxes.
 * Oddities are traits that are taken at character creation and provide a defining factor in a character’s strengths and weaknesses, while also providing fuel for creative roleplay. Oddities have a permanent passive effect on the character; they may boost skill sets, but may come at a cost of Health detriments (or the other way around).
 * Skills are learned abilities that a character possesses. These are what a character knows how to do.

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