Introduction This is the rulebook for a D10 Storyteller system based on the Sony Playstation video RPG “The Legend of Dragoon”. It primarily draws from systems like Mage: The Ascension and Werewolf: The Apocalypse, although there are also elements of other tabletop RPGs. The biggest difference is that there are no health levels- you have HP. The game itself takes place on the continent of Endiness from the original video game. It can take place at any point in history, allowing players to participate in the original Dragon Campaign, or deal with a new threat 100 years after the events of the original game. As said in the video game, The Dragoons appear whenever legend needs them. The game was designed to be ideally played with seven players, so that each element is represented (There is no rule set for the Divine Dragoon. If there is enough demand I will consider it.) Fewer players can participate of course, perhaps in an effort to rescue their fellow dragoons, or to take down evildoers that have taken control of dragon spirits. The possibilities are endless. For now, this rulebook assumes a certain amount of exposure to both Legend of Dragoon and the d10 Storyteller System. Now, on with the show! Character Creation Start with your character’s concept, what kind of person he is. He may be a Human farmer from Serdio, A Mininto merchant from Mille Seseau, or a Wingly scientist from the Death Frontier. Next, select your nationality. You can be from Serdio, Tiberoa, Mille Seseau, Imperial Gloriano, or the Death Frontier. Nationalities Serdio Residents of Serdio are used to the heat of battle, and are rarely surprised when their party is ambushed. Serdians gain one free success to initiative rolls. Tiberoa The inhabitants of Tiberoa love learning about other cultures, and believe that theirs is the best. They get a free point in their knowledge of cultures. Tiberoans are also familiar with the night sky. They gain one free success to navigate by the stars. Mille Seseau The people of this country spend much time stalking game in their forests, and as such they get a free point in stealth. They also have access to the National Library in Deningrad, the best source of knowledge in the world. Add one free point in one of your knowledges. Imperial Gloriano The nomadic people of Gloriano must be very hearty to survive the harsh environment they live in. They get one free point in stamina and survival. Death Frontier Only Winglies can be from the death frontier, although not all Winglies are neccesarily from the Death Frontier. Races Next select your race. You can be Human, Wingly, Giganto, or Mininto. Humans Humans are the most common race. They are also the most balanced, receiving no special bonuses beyond those granted by their nationality. Winglies Winglies are magical beings who are able to use abilities much like those of the dragoons. In their prime 11,000 years ago, they commanded powers that were unimaginable, but their powers have diminished over time. They are able to fly, although not as fast as a dragoon, and they can use magic for minor attacks and shields. Gigantos Gigantos are very large humanoids with great strength. While there are some smart Gigantos, there is no such thing as a Giganto that has more brain than brawn. When assigning initial points to attributes, Gigantos must choose physical for their 7 point spread. They also start with a free point in one of their physical attributes. Minintos Minintos are diminutive humanoids. They are much more maneuverable than the other races, and so get a free point in dexterity and dodge. However, since they cannot swing a sword as hard or punch and kick as hard, they do one point of damage less per attack, unless they are using a bow, in which case they do one point more due to their keen hand-eye coordination. Fighting Style The next step is choosing a fighting style. This determines your weapon set, elemental alignment, and Additions. Archery Archers use a bow and arrow to stay out of harms way in battle. You do not do as much damage, but you probably won’t take as much either. You can use any sort of bow for your weapon set. There are no Additions for archers. Archers have an elemental alignment with light, as a beam of light travels straight as an arrow. Bash This is the method for people who prefer the sight of bruises to blood, but still want to make sure their enemy goes down hard. Bashers use hammers and maces to attack. Use the Hammer Additions table for this style. Bashers have an elemental alignment with water, reflecting the way a wave bashes down upon the rocks. Cleave Why clash swords when you can split your opponent’s skull down the middle? Cleavers use axes to do massive amounts of damage with very few hits. Use the Axe Additions table for this style. Cleavers are aligned with earth, splitting bone along the fault lines of the body. Hack Anybody can pick up a sword and swing it at the bad guy. That being said, there is also a lot of different things you can do with a longsword. Hacking sounds like it lacks finesse, but it has its own elegance in a way. This fighting style uses longswords for its weapon set and Additions table. Hacking fighters are aligned with fire, and use their burning rage to attack many times for massive damage.
Piercing Combining defensive reach with up close precision and force, piercing can also be a sort of art form. You can break your enemy’s jaw with the but of your spear, then twirl it around to thrust it into his shoulder, making him drop his sword. Or you can just jab him in the gut. Use the spear Additions for a piercer. Piercers align themselves with wind, using flowing movements that change direction suddenly when they attack. Punch Don’t want to have to worry about dull blades or lost arrows? Make your own body a living weapon to strike down your foe. People with this fighting style are called students of the Rogue Art. They use no weapons except special fighting gloves. Use the Rogue Art Additions table. Rogue Art students are aligned with thunder, striking as fast as lightning, stunning opponents with the force of their impact. Slash Get in close, attack fast, and leave your opponent wondering where his guts went. Slashing with a shortsword is the fighting style of the daring fighter. You have to know where to hit to do the most damage. This style uses the shortswords Additions table. Slashers are darkness aligned, bringing death quickly with their fast and highly accurate attacks. Attributes All characters start with one point in each attribute. Prioritize the attribute categories for your character with 7, 5, and 3 points to put into Physical, Social, or Mental. Abilities Again prioritize the categories, this time with 13, 9, and 5 points to distribute. No ability can be higher than 3 at this point, not including bonuses for race and nationality. Advantages Determine the advantages your character has. Additions List the Additions for your fighting style, and place one dot in the first one to indicate that it is at first level. When an Addition is performed completely, place an x in one of the boxes. When all boxes are full, erase the x’s and fill in the next dot. Willpower Starting willpower is determined by your race. Human- 5 Wingly- 6 Giganto- 4 Mininto- 5 Rage Starting rage is also determined by race. Human- 5 Wingly- 4 Giganto- 6 Mininto- 4 Hit Points To determine your hit points, start with 20, then roll your stamina, adding the total. For example, a player with 3 stamina rolls 3 dice, which come up as a 5, 8, and 2. This player’s starting HP is 35 (20+5+8+2). At each new level you roll your stamina and add it to your max HP. When your character reaches 0 HP, they are dead, and their soul is trapped in Death City Mayfil. To release it, and bring back the character, give him an Angel’s Prayer. Backgrounds Chose your characters backgrounds and distribute 7 points among them. Equipment Select your starting equipment based on what the storyteller allows. Freebie Points The final step in creating your character is the distribution of freebie points. You get 15 points to spend on additional Traits, even improving beyond some of the limits described before (up to the normal Trait maximums). However, not every improvement costs the same amount of points. See the chart below.
Experience Points At the end of each session, the storyteller should award experience points. Every 10 points is a level for the character. Experience points can also be spent to increase traits. See the chart below.
Backgrounds Allies An ally can give your character access to information she wouldn’t normally have, access to products and services or even more direct aid. Your Storyteller may wish to create statistics for the ally and actually play the ally in the game as a character. Note that your allies have personalities and goals of their own, and from time to time they may cause problems, ask for favors in return or do things that further their own interests. X No allies -you don’t have any friends at all. o One ally of moderate power oo Two allies or one more powerful ally ooo Three allies or a combination of more powerful allies oooo Four allies or a combination of more powerful allies ooooo Five allies or a combination of more powerful allies Contacts Each dot in Contacts represents a major contact, a fully fleshed character who can help you out. The Storyteller should design such a contact. Your character also can call on minor contacts in other locations and for other purposes, but the difficulty of getting information out of such “casual contacts” is usually a little higher. X No contacts: You have to do all the legwork yourself. o One contact. oo Two contacts. ooo Three contacts. oooo Four contacts. ooooo Five contacts. Mentor Your character can use her mentor in many ways, though her mentor may also use her in return. The mentor-student relationship can be a complex thing, especially if the mentor requires favors in exchange for the wisdom he imparts. Furthermore, your character’s actions reflect on her mentor, just as her mentor’s reputation reflects on her. If your character does something to disgrace herself, her mentor may step in with a hard lesson in retribution for the stain to his own reputation. X No Mentor o Unimportant and/or distant mentor oo Helpful, but eccentric mentor ooo Good and notable mentor oooo Wise and respected mentor ooooo Powerful and/or influential mentor Resources How much money you have or can access. X Just enough Money to eat o You can afford a room at the inn for a few nights oo You can get the occasional bottle of good wine ooo You’ve got a rich Uncle oooo You’ve got a rich Father ooooo You are the rich Father Serdian Veteran (Serdian Nationality Only) You fought bravely for your kingdom in the civil war between Sandora and Basil, and you know a few ex soldiers that owe you a favor. You can call in some favors to get some extra bodies for battle or guard duty, but don’t expect them to help bring in the harvest. X You don’t have any favors to call in o You know a guy, who just happens to live near here, and he owes you oo A couple of your buddies said to call them if you ever need help ooo Some men you were in charge of still look up to you oooo A few fellow soldiers and you are the only survivors of a battle, and you’ve remained close friends. ooooo You saved your whole squad from a dragon attack, they owe you their lives Strong Spirit Through the strength of your spirit, you can, once per scene, channel some of your accumulated spirit points to replenish other forms of energy, such as HP, MP, Willpower, or Rage. You can lose 10 spirit points to recover 2 MP, 5 HP, 1 Willpower, or 1 Rage. You can spend up to your maximum 50 Spirit points, or fewer, but you must do it all at once. X You can’t channel your spirit energy o You can channel up to 10 SP oo You can channel up to 20 SP ooo You can channel up to 30 SP oooo You can channel up to 40 SP ooooo You can channel up to 50 SP The Race Card (Gigantos or Minintos Only) You are sick and tired of everyone making assumptions about your worth based on your race. You can spend a rage point to cause a scene and lower the difficulty that someone will give in to your demands, claiming that if you were the same race as them you would be treated better. X You feel that you are treated fairly and equally o You can get an automatic success oo You can lower the DC by 1 ooo You can lower the DC by 2 oooo You can lower the DC by 3 ooooo You can lower the DC by 4 Experienced Fighter You can draw upon your past combat experiences and determine what you could have done better by repeating the moves over and over in your mind. Essentially you are performing the Additions to level them up without actually doing the movements. Once per scene, you can roll (Perception + Experienced Fighter) to focus on an Addition you have performed at least once and practice it in your mind to perfection. Until the end of that scene, treat it as one level higher for the purposes of lowering difficulty. It does not do higher damage or gain higher SP. This must be done during a period of peace to allow you to focus properly. Brew Potions Why buy what you can make yourself? By studying a potion and finding the ingredients, you can brew your own potions to save some money. X You’re luck you can tell the difference between milk and water o You can make the occasional HP potion oo You can make MP potions ooo If you’ve seen it, you can make it oooo If you’ve made it, you can make it better ooooo God in a bottle anyone? Shrewd Negotiator You are very skilled at making sure you come out ahead in any deals you make. You can add your dice pool in this background to any negotiations you are making. So, for example, if you are trying to get more money for guarding a village by pointing out how many men you have, and implying that you might switch sides, you would roll Manipulation + Intimidation + Shrewd Negotiator. Combat rules First, roll to hit as determined by your fighting style. DC to hit is your opponents evade. Archers roll Dexterity + Archery to hit Rogue Art Students roll Dexterity + Brawl All others roll Dexterity + Melee Once it is determined that you have hit your opponent, roll your Addition. Additions are rolled by using a dice pool equal to the hits in that Addition. Additions start at DC 6. For every 10 times the addition is completed (each die is a success), it increases in level, and lowers the DC by 1. Each success does 1 point of damage. Also, each Addition has a damage bonus if all dice are successes. If at least half of the dice are successes, apply half of the damage bonus. The specific weapon you are using may also add a damage bonus or effect to the attack. Evade and Defense Evade is the term used to describe your DC to hit, and it starts at base 4. You have a Physical evade and a Magical evade. Items such as armor can increase your evade. Evade is different from defense in that evade makes you harder to hit; whereas defense lowers the damage you take once you are already hit. A 10 to hit will always hit a character, even if they have over 10 evade, but every point over 10 will go toward defense for that attack. Dragoon Additions When in dragoon form, additions are much simpler. Dragoon hits are automatic, so there is no rolling to hit, just determining damage. A dragoon gets 4 plus their dragoon level for their attack dice pool. Damage done is the number of successes x 2. DC is 7 minus dragoon level. Dragoon Level The first dragoon level is attained when the character finds their dragon spirit. They gain 1 point of dragon spirit, plus the abilities to transform, fly, and use magic. To increase dragoon level, you must acquire spirit points and transform 7 times. Transforming To transform, a dragoon must have at least 10 spirit points, and must roll Stamina + Dragon Spirit. You may use a willpower point to give an automatic success or a rage point if you are suitably enraged as determined by the storyteller. 10 spirit points are consumed each round you stay in dragoon form. To leave dragoon form early, roll Stamina + Dragon Spirit again. You also revert if you are knocked unconscious. If you lose your dragon spirit, you cannot transform. While in Dragoon form, you can Attack with a Dragoon Addition, or use magic, but you can’t use items or defend. This is because a person must give in to their inner insanity for war to transform. Dragoons cannot be affected by status changes, such as poison. Transforming into a dragoon removes all status changes. Elemental Damage All magical creatures are aligned with one of the seven elements in the world of Endiness. Most people have an elemental alignment that guides the way they live subtly. The easiest way to see someone’s guiding element is to watch them fight. The moves a person performs in combat reflect their alignment. All of the elements except for thunder have an opposing element. Fire and Water, Earth and Wind, and Light and Dark are all opposite pairs. When you do an attack that causes elemental damage, you do double damage if the target is aligned with the opposite element to the attack. If the target is of the same element as the attack, they only take half damage. Defending You may use a full round defending to take half damage dealt to you. Defending allows you to roll your stamina to attempt to regenerate some HP as well. Difficulty for healing depends on if you are the one being attacked and how injured you are.
Status Changes While fighting your enemies, you may fall victim to a temporary status change. There are two types of status changes, body and mind. Body status changes include: Arm Blocking- You cannot attack for three rounds, but can perform other actions. Petrification- You are unable to act at all. Does not wear off on its own. Poison- You lose 1 HP per round. Stunned- You are unable to act for three rounds. Body status changes are removed with body purifiers, or fade away after three rounds, except for petrification. Mind status changes include: Bewitched- You obey the commands of the creature that bewitches you. Confused- You attack enemy or ally randomly determined by storyteller’s die roll. Dispirited- You are unable to absorb spirit points with your attacks. Fear- You do half as much damage and take twice as much. Mind status changes can be removed with mind purifiers, or fade away after three rounds. Items The world of Endiness has many items that will aid you on your journey. There are powerful shields, enchanted footwear, Antidotes to poison, and weapons of immense magical power. Martel Some items are incredibly rare, and only people who spend their lives in search of them can get them for you. One person known in many of the cities of Endiness is Martel. She has been known to provide adventurers with what they need, but only if the price is right… And the price may be anything from gold, to a favor, to a life- whatever the Storyteller needs it to be to drive the story. |