What Do Bethesda and Gygax Have In Common?

I have spent a lot of hours on the Elder Scrolls series. The latest entry in that series, Skyrim, is a great game and I have clocked in well over 500 hours. Still, after all of that play time, I enjoy the game and continue to return to it, choosing it over newer games in my collection. I think it is a testament to how compelling a game is when its 500th hour is more entertaining than the first hour of another game.

In short, I love Skyrim (and all of its predecessors). And yet, when you examine it closely, Skyrim is a pretty crappy game. Take its combat system, for instance. It is pretty much a click-fest with very few moves or tactical depth. Most fights can be won by click-spamming, or at higher difficulties, click-spamming with potions. The spell system doesn't scale with the game as you level up and lacks, of all things, interesting spells. The crafting system was obviously an afterthought that starts out mostly pointless and ends up absolutely game breaking.

Still, Skyrim is an awesome game that transcends any of its uninspiring subsystems. As an armchair designer, I find this phenomenon fascinating. I immediately wonder how this applies to tabletop games. What games out there are a mass of mediocre systems that somehow manage to become much greater than the sum of their parts?

And of course, the answer is staring at me from my shelf... and the annals of gaming history. Advanced Dungeons and Dragons is that game: a mash of systems, none of them particularly good, cobbled together to form a game that is brimming with awesome. I spent countless hours in countless basements playing sessions of AD&D. I have read those books 100 times or more. It is a great game, but taken one system at a time, the hit points, the Vancian magic, the god-awful weapon/armor class to hit matrix, descending armor class, the grappling and psionics rules... ugh.

Now, there are tons of reasons for both Skyrim and AD&D to have been so successful, even considering their flaws. But I wonder if the flaws haven't actually helped both games become even more successful than they might have otherwise. In the case of Skyrim, an extensive modding community exists where people have done everything from adding items and quests, to releasing unofficial patches to reworking almost all aspects of gameplay. My Skyrim is very different from the vanilla version, personalized to my taste and better in almost every way.

In the case of AD&D, the customization is more DIY. How many new classes, spells, monsters, alternative combat systems... and ultimately games have I created? More than I would like to admit, really. Heck, you could easily argue that the imperfections of D&D spawned an entire industry!!

So, what about your experiences? Do you have any examples of "great games with terrible systems?" If so, what do you love about these games?

Runebearer Character Creation (long)

For this post, I am going to walk through the mechanics of character creation in Runebearer. Together, we will create a stout fighter named Edwin.

Roll & Assign Stats

The first step in Runebearer's character creation is to roll 10 primary stats. Stats are generated with a roll of 4d6-4, providing a range between 0-20. I generated a few sets and ended up with a very nice one: 16, 15, 15, 14, 13, 13, 12, 9, 8, 8.

Knowing that I was going to create a warrior, I arrange the stats as follows:

• Strength: 15
• Agility: 15
• Dexterity: 14
• Speed: 13
• Toughness: 16
• Intelligence: 8
• Willpower: 13
• Spirit: 8
• Charisma: 9
• Perception: 12

My reasoning for assigning stats this way was pretty simple. I am creating a warrior, and don't want to think about how to arrange stats, so go physical. Anyone in my gaming groups is probably cringing right now at my horrible inefficiencies, but whatever.

Generate Secondary Statistics

There are five secondary statistics in Runebearer that impact his performance in combat situations. Each of these is derived from the primaries.

• Hit Points = Toughness + 1/2 Strength + 1/2 Willpower + 8

So in our case, 16 + (15/2) + (13/2) = 16 + 8 + 7 + 8 = 39. A commoner with average stats would have 28 hit points and so this is a fine amount, and later, we will get even more for being a warrior!

• Base Defense = a chart result based on the sum Agility + Speed + Perception.

Total	0-2	3-7	8-12	13-17	18-22	23-27	28-32	33-37	38-42	43-47	48-52	53-57	58-62	63-67	68-72
BD	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14

Base Defense is the lowest our defenses can ever be regardless of negative modifiers, or multiple attackers. In our case, 15 + 13 + 12 = 40, which from the chart gives us a Base Defense of 8. This is an above average defense, given that a normal person would have a 6 to start.

• Dodge = Base Defense + 1/5 Speed + 1

Dodge is our defense against arrows and some spells. Our speed is 13, divided by 5 is 2.6 which rounds to 3. So, our dodge is 8 + 3 + 1 = 12. An average character has a 9 dodge score.

• Initiative = a result based on the sum of Speed + Spirit + Perception.

Total	0-2	3-7	8-12	13-17	18-22	23-27	28-32	33-37	38-42	43-52	53-57	58-62	63-72
INI	-6	-5	-4	-3	-2	-1	0	+1	+2	+3	+4	+5	+6

Our initiative score is a straight modifier to any initiative rolls we have to do to determine turn order in a combat. Unlike d20 games, initiative is rolled every round in Runebearer, and so this modifier, though not critical, will come in handy. Our sum is 13 + 8 + 12 = 33 and so we end up with a +1 modifier.

• Base Move = a result based on Strength + Agility + Speed.

Total	0-2	3-7	8-17	18-27	28-37	38-42	43-47	48-52	53-57	58-62	63-67	68-72
BM	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13

Our base move tells us how many 2 meter hexes we can move in a combat round. Our score is 15 +15 + 13 = 43 which gives us a move of 8 hexes.

Choose a Template

Once stats are generated, Runebearer characters get 60 buy points to spend on skills. However, characters must choose a template which is a package of skills, abilities and bonuses that will spend close to half of those points.

There are a ton of different templates to choose from, but to keep things simple, we are going to pick the warrior template which is I think the simplest template. It looks like this:

+1 Base Defense Combat (choose) +2 Combat (choose) +1 Combat (choose) +5 Hit Points Tactics +24 Buy Points

The warrior gets a bonus to his base defense and his hit points. He also gets 3 combat skills and tactics. The (choose) means that there are several different combat skills to choose from and that the player will have to pick a specific skill for that slot. The +2 and +1 after the combat skills indicate that those skills are more developed and get extra levels.

I am going to pick sword, shield and bow for my combat skills. My sword skill will go in the +2 slot, and my shield in the +1 slot. Edwin is a better melee combatant than archer.

Each skill in Runebearer is based on 3 statistics. To determine your starting skill level, you add those three scores and then consult a chart, much like we did when we calculated base defense, initiative and base move previously. Here is the starting skill level chart:

Total	0-9	10-12	13-16	17-20	21-24	25-28	29-31	32-35	36-39	40-43	44-46	47-50	51-54	55-58	59-61	62+
Level	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17

Let's figure out how good I am with the sword. Here is the master list of skills.

Skill Name	Attributes	Default	Cost	Improvement
Acrobatics	AGI/STR/SPD	None	5+4	5
Acting	CHR/CHR/INT	Half	3+3	3
Administrate	INT/CHR/WIL	None	3+3	3
Alchemy	INT/INT/SPI	None	5+4	5
Ancient Knowledge	INT/INT/INT	None	5+4	5
Animal Handler	CHR/WIL/PER	None	3+3	3
Artifacts	INT/SPI/PER	None	5+4	5
Carouse	CHA/PER/INT	Half	3+3	3
Climb	STR/STR/AGI	Half	3+3	3
Combat: Axes	STR/AGI/DEX	Half	3+3	5
Combat: Bows	DEX/DEX/PER	Half	3+3	5
Combat: Flail	DEX/AGI/SPD	Half	3+3	5
Combat: Knives	SPD/PER/DEX	Half	3+3	5
Combat: Mace	STR/AGI/DEX	Half	3+3	5
Combat: Magic	DEX/PER/SPI	Special	3+3	5
Combat: Sling	DEX/DEX/DEX	None	3+3	5
Combat: Swords	DEX/AGI/PER	Half	3+3	5
Combat: Staff	DEX/AGI/SPD	Half	3+3	5
Combat: 2-Handed	STR/DEX/AGI	Half	3+3	5
Combat: Pole	DEX/SPD/AGI	Half	3+3	5
Combat: Thrown	DEX/PER/STR	Half	3+3	5
Combat: Shield	DEX/PER/SPD	Half	3+3	5
Combat: Unarmed	STR/DEX/SPD	Full	0+3	5
Conceal	PER/INT/SPI	Special	3+3	3
Converse	CHA/INT/PER	Half	3+3	3
Craft	Variable	None	1+1	2
Diplomat	INT/CHA/PER	None	3+3	3
Disarm Traps	DEX/PER/INT	None	5+3	3
Disguise	INT/PER/PER	Half	3+3	3
Engineer	INT/INT/PER	None	3+3	3
Escape	AGI/DEX/WIL	None	3+3	3
Etiquette	CHA/INT/PER	None	3+3	3
Fast Draw	SPD/SPD/DEX	Half	3+3	3
Fast Talk	INT/CHA/CHA	Half	3+3	3
Forgery	INT/INT/PER	None	3+3	3
Gamble	SPI/SPI/INT	Half	3+3	3
Herbalist	INT/INT/PER	None	5+4	5
Interrogate	WIL/INT/CHA	Half	3+3	3
Investigate	PER/PER/INT	None	3+3	3
Knowledge	INT/INT/INT	None	1+1	2
Language	(none)	None	3	-
Lockpick	DEX/PER/INT	None	3+3	3
Magic Skill	Variable	None	7+4	5
Medical	INT/INT/SPI	Half	3+3	3
Meditate	WIL/WIL/SPI	None	3+3	3
Navigate	PER/PER/INT	Half	3+3	3
Orate	INT/INT/CHA	Half	3+3	3
Persuade	CHA/CHA/INT	Half	3+3	3
Pickpocket	DEX/PER/SPI	Half	3+3	3
Physician	INT/INT/DEX	None	5+4	5
Repair	STR/DEX/INT	None	3+3	3
Riding	AGI/PER/SPI	None	3+3	3
Rune Knowledge	INT/INT/SPI	None	5+4	5
Seduce	CHA/CHA/INT	Half	3+3	3
Stealth	AGI/AGI/PER	Half	3+3	3
Streetwise	CHA/PER/INT	Half	3+3	3
Survival	INT/PER/SPI	Half	3+3	3
Swim	STR/AGI/TOU	Half	3+3	3
Tactics	INT/PER/SPI	None	3+3	3
Theology	INT/INT/SPI	Half	3+4	5
Track	PER/PER/INT	Half	3+3	3
Trade	CHA/PER/WIL	Half	3+3	3

Looking at the skill table, I see that Combat: Swords is based on Dexterity, Agility and Perception. Adding those stats, I get a total of 41, which gives me an 11 starting skill level. However, since my template gives me 2 bonus levels in swords, my starting value is actually 13. In most games, characters start with important skills in the 10-14 range. 8 would be a starting score for a non-heroic character.

Using a similar process, I can find my shield skill (which is based on Dexterity, Speed and Perception). My stat total is 39 which makes my starting level a 10. However, my shield skill is +1 from my template and thus my actual starting level for shield is 11.

So, I add the stat bonuses to my base defense and hit point, making them 9 and 44 respectively. (Also, because base defense increased, so does dodge.) Then I figure out my starting values in the 4 skills in my template:

• Combat: Swords -- 13
• Combat: Shield -- 11
• Combat: Bow -- 11
• Tactics -- 7

And I am left with 24 buy points with which to...

Purchase More Skills

The warrior template leaves me with 24 points and with those points, I can round out Edwin. I am going to focus on physical skills, but with the idea that Edwin was born of peasant farming stock and took to soldiering as a way to better his lot in life.

The cost of a skill is listed in the skill list under the cost column as a pair of numbers in the form 3+3. That means that buying the skill costs 3 points, and raising it a level costs an additional 3 points per level. At character creation time, skills can only be raised a total of 3 levels, though for the price it is often best to get as many different skills as possible. I decide on the following:

• Animal Handler
• Climb
• Craft: Farmer
• Fast Draw
• Repair
• Riding
• Swim
• Trade

That leaves me with 2 points with which to buy some extra knowledge or craft skills. Once I figure out my starting scores, Edwin looks like this... were I to actually be playing Edwin, I would have to spend the 2 remaining points, probably on 2 more background skills.

Edwin the Example Warrior

Strength	15		Animal Handler	9
Agility	15		Climb	12
Dexterity	14		Combat: Bow	11
Speed	13		Combat: Shield	11
Toughness	16		Combat: Sword	13
Intelligence	8		Craft: Farmer	10
Willpower	13		Fast Draw	11
Spirit	8		Repair	10
Charisma	9		Riding	9
Perception	12		Swim	12
Hits	44		Tactics	7
Base Def	9		Trade	9
Dodge	13
Initiative	+1
Base Move	8