From: dfn@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (David Nalle)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy,rec.games.design,rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Y/TCT Minirules
Date: 11 Oct 92 06:16:04 GMT
Followup-To: rec.games.frp.advocacy
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX


YSGARTH & TO CHALLENGE TOMORROW MINIRULES 
All Contents Copyright 1992, David F. Nalle

Dare to Live What Others Only Dream
        Ysgarth and To Challenge Tomorrow are innovative roleplaying games
from Ragnarok Enterprises.  Ysgarth is an advanced fantasy roleplaying
system.  To Challenge Tomorrow is a stripped down version of the same
basic rules for use in any setting.  The Sixth Edition of Ysgarth and the
Fourth Edition of TCT are the new standard for roleplaying rule design.
They feature simple, flexible, comprehensive mechanics.  They put creative
power in the hands of players, encouraging them to make full use of their
imaginations for in-depth roleplaying.

What Are the Minirules?
        These minirules are basically a free roleplaying game.  We want
you to read them, use them and pass them on to every roleplayer you know.
We think our mechanics are so powerful, so elegant and so playable that
once youUve tried them youUll want to use them to replace the mechanics in
your current campaign.
        While these arenUt the complete rules, they have all the basics.
You ought to actually be able to play the game from these guidelines.
Detail on racial and professional benefits, specific skill lists and the
like have been omitted.  All of these can be found in the basic rules of
Ysgarth  or To Challenge Tomorrow.  Some assumptions about starting power
level and choice of optional rules have been made for you following
standard recommendations.  This system is highly customizable and there
are variant, advanced and novice rules which have not been covered here.
We leave you to discover them on your own.

Basic Characteristics
        Characters start with 160 points.  These are divided between
twelve basic characteristics.  Extra points can be saved and used to
enhance some secondary characteristics.
        The 12 characteristics are divided into the Social (APPearance,
CHArisma, ZEAl & SOCial Standing), Mental (INTelligence, JUDgement, WILl &
TALent) and Physical (CONstitution, STRength, DEXterity & AGIlity) groups.
You must put at least 36 points in each group and may not put more than 72
points in each group.  No characteristic may be lower than 1 or higher
than 24  No more than 20 points out of the starting total may be reserved
for enhancement of secondary characteristics.

Secondary Characteristics
        Size: Physical size of the character.  Humans start at 12 for
females and 13 for males.  Other races may be higher or lower.  SIZ can be
increased or decreased at a cost of 3 per point added or 2 per point
subtracted.  SIZ may not be lowered to less than half normal or more than
one and a half times normal.
        Damage Class: Potential force of weapon blows.  Maximum Damage of
weapons is adjusted by multiplying DC by weapon damage and dividing by 10.
Average: 13.  DC = (2Size + 3STR)/5.
        Activity Points: How much a character can do in a six second
round.  All actions have a cost in AP.  For example, a Short Sword Attack
costs 20AP, Dodging a blow costs 24AP.  Average: 50.  AP = INT + JUD + 2
DEX + 2AGI - 2SIZ.
        Fatigue Points: How quickly a character gets tired.  Most actions
have a cost in FP.  For example, in combat you lose 1FP per 30AP spent.
Average: 50. FP = 3CON+WIL.
        Hit Points: Ability of character to withstand damage.  A  typical
attack will do around 5 points of damage.  Average: 30.  HP = Size + CON.
+ 5.
        Mana Points: Used to cast spells.  A typical spell costs 6 to 10
MP. Mage Average: 125  Priest Average: 30.  Mage MP = TAL x 10.  Priest MP
= ZEA x 3.  Mage regeneration is TAL per day.  Priest regeneration is
ZEA/3 per hour of prayer.
        Skill Points: Skill points are divided between Social, Mental and
Physical Skill Points.  In each area you start with SP equal to the total
of the number of points spent on the four characteristics in that group.
        Experience: Each 1 starting point spent can buy 10 additional
Experience Skill Points.  These are allocated to Social SP, Mental SP and
Physical SP.  The area to which you allocate the most points can never
have more than twice the number of the area to which you give the fewest.
Experience Skill Points are also gained during the course of play or from
training.

Learning Skills
        Each skill has a cost in Skill Points.  Each time this cost is
spent the character gains 1 Skill Level with that skill.  The higher the
SL the better the character is with the skill.  Skills are differentiated
as Physical, Social or Mental to indicate which type of Skill Points may
be spent on them.
        Skill Benefits: Each character gets to reduce the cost of some
skills based on his racial and professional background.  These reductions
are called Skill Benefits.  Each character gets 5 points worth of SBs for
his racial background, 5 more for his professional background and 5 to
distribute to skills of his choice.  SBs can be combined, but they can
never reduce a skillUs cost below half of its starting cost rounded up.
        Skill Contribution:  Related skills contribute to each other.
Skills are classified into groups by how similar they are.  For skills in
the same group each SL with one skill gives 1 Contributive Point to be
spent on all other skills in that group.  CP are used to purchase
Contributive Skill Levels which add into total Skill Level when
determining effectiveness with that skill.  You may never buy more SL with
CP than you have bought with real SP.
        The Skill List: Skills cover all the things a character might want
to do, from common crafts, to languages to arcane knowledge.  We can't
provide a complete skill list here, but we can provide some guidelines.
Skills have SP costs ranging from 3 to 8.  Most craft skills are in the 3
to 5 range, combat and magical skills in the 5 to 8 range.  Skills have
Facilities ranging from 1 to 8, with the typical skill having a FAC of 4.
Combat skills have a FAC of 2, languages have a FAC of 8 and all magical
skills have a FAC of 1.

Using Skills
        Each skill has a Facility and an Aptitude.  Facility indicates how
easy that skill is to perform.  Aptitude is a basic characteristic or
combination of characteristics which helps you with that particular skill.
Your chance of success with a skill is determined by your Skill Rating.
The higher it is, the better you are with the skill.  SR = Aptitude + (SL
x FAC).
        To determine success with a skill you roll 1D100 and add your SR.
You check this value against the following table of possible results:

SR+1D100        Result 151+    Critical Success 101-150 Success 51-100
Marginal Success 26-50   Failure 1-25    Critical Failure

        Critical Failure means that not only does the skill not work, but
the worst possible result is achieved, often opposite the intended result.
Failure means the skill just doesnUt work.  Marginal Success means minimum
adequate results are produced.  The skill works, but not well.  Success
means the skill does what it is supposed to do.  Critical Success
indicates a superlative result, the best possible.
        Skill rolls are adjusted for the Difficulty of the situation under
which the skills are used.  In most cases this Difficulty is a value
assigned by the GM, usually ranging from 0 to 100, averaging around 40.
It is subtracted from the Skill Rating before rolling.  In comparative
skill use when the skill of one player is competing against the skill of
another the lower SR is subtracted from the higher SR and the player with
the higher value rolls on the table and adds the difference to his roll.

Combat
        Combat uses the same basic skill system.  Characters purchase
attack and defense skills with specific weapons or techniques, and the SRs
with these skills are compared to determine the results of attacks.
        Activity Points in Combat:  Combat is broken down into Combat
Rounds. This is the period of time in which a character can spend all of
his Activity Points.  AP regenerate fully each round.  Each combat action
has a cost in AP. Each time that cost is spent the action may be repeated
until the character runs out of AP.  If extra AP are spent on a given
action the SR can be increased, or in the case of attack skills the damage
can be increased.  Up to 3 times the AP cost of an action may be spent.
The first increment spent allows the character to use his full SR and
Maximum Damage (if it is an attack) with that skill.  The second and third
add half that value each.  Additional increments can be spent to increase
either Damage or Skill Rating. AP spent on defensive skills subtract from
the total for a given round of combat.  AP for individual attacks subtract
when the attacks are made.
        Attacking: At the start of an attack the attacker declares which
part of the defenderUs body he is aiming at (Head, Chest, Abdomen, Arm,
Leg, Hand, Foot).  Just as with any other skill the SR of the attacker
with his weapon skill and the SR of the defender with his defensive skill
are compared (adjusted if necessary for any additional AP spent to
increase SR).  The attacker rolls 1D100, adds his Attack SR and subtracts
the defenders Defense SR.  If the target area is a small body area (hand,
head, foot) an additional 20 is subtracted from the roll.  The result is
looked up on the standard skill table.  A Critical Failure or Failure is a
Miss.  A Marginal Success hits in a body area other than the one aimed at
(the defender chooses any adjacent area).  A Success hits the area aimed
at.  A Critical Success allows the attacker to choose the target area or
to change his hit to any other body area of his choice.
        Damage:  Once a part of the body is hit damage is determined.
Each weapon has a Maximum Damage value.  This is modified for the
characterUs Damage Class.  The effective damage is (MD x DC)/10.  Damage
is rolled with 2D10.  The actual damage is (Roll x Adjusted MD)/10,
essentially taking a percentage of MD. If doubles are rolled the value
used is the value of the two dice added together.
        Armor:  Armor absorbs damage.  All armor has an Absorbtion Value
rated between 1 and 6.  The higher the AV, the better the armor.  This is
subtracted from damage.  Whatever is left over effects the target.
        Results of Damage:  Each area of the body is assigned a percentage
of the characterUs total Hit Points (Head 15%, Hands 10% each, Arms 20%
each, Chest 50%, Abdomen 35%, Legs 30% each, Feet 15% each), .  If a blow
does 1 times that value it is a Serious Wound.  If it does 2 times it is a
Critical Cound and if it does 3 times it is a Mortal Wound.  For the
specific effects of damage by body area see the chart in the complete
rules, but as a rule of thumb, Serious Wounds result in incapacitation of
limbs or unconsciousness in other body areas. Critical Wounds result in
permanent disability in limbs or slow death elsewhere. Mortal Wounds
result in severed limbs or immediate death elsewhere.  Damage is also
differentiated by type of weapon (Club, Edge, Point) and this may alter
effects.  Healing is at a rate of 1/10 of total HP value divided between
body areas on a percentage basis each day.

Spell Casting
        Magic is part of the world background in Ysgarth.  It is usually
not a feature in To Challenge Tomorrow, but it can be used in TCT
campaigns.
        Magical Power:  Spell casting is technically the same for
characters using traditional magic or priestly magic.  The main difference
is that priests get their Mana Points from their god and mages get their
MP from within themselves.  Each spell has a cost in MP and MP regenerate
at different rates for mages and priests.  For mages MP come back slowly
with time.   For priests they come back quickly when the priest prays to
his god.
        Magical Skills:  Each mage learns a Casting skill and an
Empowering skill.  They may learn more than one of each.  Casting skills
(Somatic, Symbolic, Ritual, etc) represent the methods by which spells are
cast.  They add to Activity Points and increase determine the spell
casting Skill Rating of the character.  The Facility of all Casting skills
is 1, but they are based on different Aptitude characteristics, add
varying numbers of AP, and not all work with all kinds of spells.
Empowering skills (Relative, Contagion, Sympathy, etc.) are the methods by
which Mana Points are directed into spells  They reduce Mana Point cost
and can provide valuable situational modifier if the right components or
conditions are present.
        Learning Spells:  Spells are learned like skills.  The more SL you
have with a spell the higher your Skill Rating will be and the more power
and effectiveness you can use.  Each SL of a spell adds 10 to the Skill
Rating determined from the Casting skill you are using.  You can have
Skill Benefits on spells and similar spells contribute to each other.
        Variable Spell Casting: When casting a spell you can increase the
power of the spell by casting it at additional Casting Levels.  Each CL
can increase one characteristic of a spell by one increment of
effectiveness (Range, Damage, Duration, etc).  Added CL reduce chance of
success by subtrading 10/Cl from Skill Rating with that spell.  Each
additional CL also increases Mana Point Cost by its original value.
        Casting the Spell:  When casting a spell you roll 1D100 and add
your Skill Rating with your Casting Skill., adjusted bya dding 10 times
any Skill Levels with the Spell and subtracting 10 times the total Casting
Level.  This adjusted SR value, including the die roll is compared to the
standard skill table.  Critical Failure can lead to horrible results on
the Spell Fumble Table. Failure wastes the MP invested, but produces no
results.  Marginal Success produces a spell which is lower than expected
in either Range, Duration, Damage or Effects at the discretion of the GM.
Success does what the spell is supposed to do.  Critical Success allows
the caster to add one increment of power to Range, Duration or Damage at
his choice.
        Spell Costs: When a spell is cast, even if it fails it uses
Activity Points and Mana Points.  Mana Point cost is set, but can be
adjusted by to your Empowering skill., or increased because of higher
Casting Levels  Activity Point cost is set, but you can gain AP depending
on your Casting skill.
        AP in Spell Casting: A spell caster may spend extra AP on casting
a spell just as he can with combat skills.  The results are the same.  The
first time the character spends the AP cost of the spell he does a
standard casting with his base SR.   The second and third times he spends
that AP cost add 50% each.  You must spend at least one times the AP cost
to cast a spell and can spend no more than 3 times its base AP to increase
your Skill Rating.  The AP cost can never be lowered below starting value.

Permission Granted to Reproduce for Non-Commericial Promotional and
Informational Purposes

To get a complete copy of Ysgarth or To Challenge Tomorrow, ask your local
game store or contact us directly.

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