Sellswords of Darkness: Vampire and the Gray Mouser

There are certain games I'd like to run or stories I'd like to tell, that at one time or another I felt I was not ready for and am still slightly intimidated by.

So, I decided I'd start talking about them and see if that will motivate me to do something with the ideas.

For well over a decade I've had this idea about running a Fritz Lieber inspired Sword & Sorcery game using the Storyteller System (oWoD).

Before and even after DnD 3.X came out, I'd always wanted a skill based fantasy RPG with simple classes.  Basically, the original thought was inspired by Cyberpunk 2020, a universal skill list and mechanic with very basic advantages from your "Class".

However, I really like dice pool based games and felt that the oWoD really got how to present character generation and made it simple yet enticing.  Those little dots made a big impact on me.

So, I figured I'd take most of say Vampire: the Dark Ages (minus Virtues, Blood Pool, Disciplines and probably Humanity) and go from there.

Standard Target Number (TN hereafter) of 6.  However, a Class could lower the TN for certain skills.

The Classes and their benefits are as follows:

Fighter:  Archery, Melee and Ride have TN 4.

Thief: Legerdemain, Subterfuge, Stealth and Dodge have TN 4.

Cleric: Theology and 2 Knowledge Skills have TN 4.  Can work Miracles.  Miracles are a Wits+Theology roll and are driven by the player creativity.  They are focused on defensive magic.

Mage:  Occult and 1 Knowledge have TN 4.  Can cast Spells.  Spells are a Int+Occult roll and are driven by player creativity.  They are focused on offensive magic.

Ranger: Archery, Hearth Wisdom, Survival and Stealth have TN 5.  Can cast 1 Hex per scene.

Paladin:  Leadership, Melee, Ride and Theology have TN 5.  Can work 1 Miracle per scene.

Barbarian:  Alertness, Athletics, Dodge and Melee have TN 5.

Bard:  All Knowledges have TN 5.  Can 1 work 1 Miracle and cast 1 Spell per scene.

Monk:  Athletics, Dodge and Brawl have TN 5.

Druid:  Hearth Wisdom, Animal Ken, Survival and 1 Knowledge have TN 5.  Can cast Hexes.  Hexes are Perception+Heath Wisdom and are drive by player creativity.  They are focused on elemental magic.

Races:

Elves would get +1 to any Social Attribute.

Dwarves would get +2 to Melee.

Halflings would get +2 to Dodge.

Gnomes would get +1 to any Mental Attribute.

Humans would get +1 to any Attribute.

More soon.