Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age - Levels of Grit

Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age

With so much attention on the Wasted Lands Kickstarter it's been a minute since we've touched on a behind the curtain for the O.G.R.E.S. System. Fear not, though; we're not done with these behind-the-curtain peeks at how the game works and the design decisions herein. This time we're going to look at the ways you can customize the levels of grit in your game. 

Before we move forward, however, here are the prior blogs in the series: 

Levels of Grit in O.G.R.E.S.

The O.G.R.E.S. system has three different "levels of grit," that you can mix and match to build exactly the style of play you like. These three levels are "Realistic", the standard or normal assumption for play; Gritty, the deadliest version of the rules; and Cinematic, or the rules options for over-the-top heroics. 

Here is a complete breakdown of some of the most important rules options, taken from the reference panels on our forthcoming Game Master Screens. 



Realistic (Standard) Play Options

Check System: Standard check bonus, Class ability checks, combat options.
Opposed Checks: half the ability score in question serves as a penalty to the chance of success of the character. 
Save Checks: Base difficulty rating of a Save Check is determined by subtracting the Vitality Dice of the attacker from 10. 
Success Levels: Every 10% below base chance of success, rounded down, counts as one level of success, or every two above 20 on a d20 check.
Out of the Fight: At 0 hit points, Constitution save with penalty equal to score below zero. Success = stable. Failure = lose one hp. If hit points reach -10, death.
Healing: 1 hit point plus Constitution bonus per day of bed rest. With medical care in a hospital, healing is doubled. Without bed rest, healing halved for every day they are active. Non-lethal damage heals per hour, does not require bed rest. Regeneration heals at double the normal rate. 

Gritty Play Options

Check System: No Check Bonus, No Primary, Secondary, or Tertiary abilities. Add +1 to d20 rolls per 4 levels of play, starting at +0 at first level. They still add their ability bonus to checks.
Class Abilities: Advance every two levels instead of one. 
Opposed Checks use the opponent’s full ability score as a penalty to the check.
Save Checks: Difficulty Modifier for a given save check is based upon the difference in levels between the attacker and the defender. For every level/hit die higher the defender is than the attacker, they gain +1 to their save. For every level/hit die lower the defender is, they suffer -1 to their save. 
Success Levels use a 20% per success level margin 
Hit Bonus progressions increase by 1 level (to 4, 5, and 6 levels, respectively).
Out of the fight: characters reduced to 0 hit points are permitted a single saving throw to stabilize, and if they fail, they are dead. 
Healing: 1 hit point per day, and characters that do not engage in complete bed rest do not heal at all. 

Cinematic Play Options

Check System: Characters add their level to checks in addition to normal check bonuses.
Class Abilities: Begin 20% better than normal
Opposed Checks use the opponent’s standard check bonus as a penalty.
Save Checks: All Save Checks are treated as Easy (+10), but the save itself is also affected by the difference between the Vitality Dice of the character making the save, and the attacker whose attack requires the save. 
Success Levels use a 5% per success level margin 
Hit Bonus progressions: Add level in addition to hit bonus to attack rolls.
Out of the fight: Use realistic rules but you can go to negative Constitution before death. 
Healing: Double normal rate; no bed rest necessary; characters always begin a new episode at full health.

In your game, you could, for example, adopt Realistic Check System, Opposed, and Save Checks, with gritty Out of the Fight, and Cinematic Success Levels and Healing. Or any other way you wish to mix it up. 

With Wasted Lands and all Powered by O.G.R.E.S. games, it's Your Game, Your Way!

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