User:The Unexpected Shroom/sandbox

Hi, there!

If you've come across this page and are interested in helping with or testing this system, feel free to post here.

Project ERA (expanded reality augmentation) is a universal RPG system that uses productivity tasks rather than dice rolls to determine the outcome of a character's actions. It is designed to be played within the guild chat, with character sheets taking the form of challenges. Campaigns can be either single player or group, but most will require a dedicated GM to run.



Rogue: I check the pot for traps.

GM: Okay, declutter a minor area.

''Rogue: So... I watched TV instead.''

''GM: Alighty, then. The pot seems fine.''

''Rogue: Oh goody... I open the pot.''

GM: The pot is full of ANGRY BEES!

How to Play
Project ERA is an online tabletop RPG, in which you play as your own character though a storyline or a scenario, usually along with other players who each have their own characters. You interact with the game world by describing the actions that your character takes in the chat area.

The story and the settings that you explore are relayed to you by the Game Master. They describe the places and events you travel through, and when you declare the actions that your character takes, they tell you the outcomes. The GM does not have their own character.

For a more detailed explanation see the wikipedia page for Tabletop RPGs

In most games, whether you succeed or fail at the things you attempt is determined by dice roll. In this game, you characters actions are determined by your completion of particular tasks from your Habitica to-do list. How these tasks are selected is explained in the tasks checks section.





Attribute Checks
In this system, attributes such as STR and INT are not a numerical values assigned to your character, nor are they used or challenged via a dice roll. In-game task checks based on character attributes will be determined by how well the player does at completing the requisite to-do(s). By default, players have up to about a day to complete that task. This may be adjusted should the group desire a more relaxed or demanding game.

To complete a check, the player must complete or make progress on the appropriate task for the attribute. '' * The easiest way to select a random to-do is to use the Data Display Tool, click on "task overview", and scroll to the bottom of the page. The todo listed there is the task required. Not that difficulty modifiers still apply, so if the task is larger than the check, you need only do the required poms or set an appropriate goal. If the task is smaller than required, complete it, then repeat the selection process and spend the remainder of the check that way. Please note, unless it is literally and fundamentally impossible for you to make any progress at all on the selected task, refreshing the page to get a new selection counts as a "did not attempt" critical fail equivalent to rolling three 1s in a row on a d100. The GM's dice will know.''

Difficulty
An important factor to consider is the difficulty of an in-game action. It would make little sense to require as much effort to force a stuck door as to stop a rolling boulder, although both would be considered strength checks. In these cases, a difficulty modifier should be applied. In the above examples, the door would be considered a "minor strength check", while the boulder would be considered a "major" or "mighty" check, depending on the character (and the boulder).

Default Guidelines: IMPORTANT: When setting task goals appropriate for the difficulty of a check, the time estimate should be based on what you are realistically capable of under your current circumstances. While it is acceptable to set ambitious goals to push yourself, setting unreasonable goals based on what you feel you should be able to do is not.

Scale
Regardless of the scale of the task, the todo chosen should still adhere to the attribute's requirements. In other words, a strength check will always be your most difficult task, even if that task is larger or smaller than the check requires. If the task is smaller than the check requires, then after completing it, move on the the next most difficult for the remainder of the check. If the task is larger than the check requires, you need only make sufficient progress to fulfill the requirements of the check.

Character Modifiers
It is important to note that while the characters themselves may not have defined attribute values, the GM will scale the difficulty rating of the action according to a character's nature and [traits]. A dex check that would only be minor for a skilled artisan will be much more difficult for a clumsy barbarian.

Success or Failure
[SOME TEXT MISSING]   * If the player was prevented from attempting the task due to uncontrollable circumstances, such as computer or transportation failure or other unforeseen events, the action is either retrospectively cancelled, or simply has no effect.

Skill Checks
<p style="font-weight:normal;">When appropriate, these checks may resemble attribute checks. For example, if a player using the example skills wanted to hold back a rolling boulder with telekinesis, they might be asked to make a "magical strength check", that is, make some progress on their most difficult assignment. Alternatively, they may wish to decipher some arcane runes, and be asked to make a "magical wisdom check". That is, work on their most urgent assignment. Requirements for checks will often overlap. This is acceptable and expected.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">At other times, the GM may choose to assign some other kind of skill check, such as completing a certain number of words on an essay, or a set number of reps for one or more exercises. This is advised for when a skill check does not easily fall into one of the attribute categories.

Notice Checks
<p style="font-weight:normal;">These checks are used to decide whether a character perceives something that they may not be looking for. The GM may spontaneously request one or more notice checks at any time, of specific players or the entire group. Players may also ask to make one or more checks in order to notice details of their surroundings that may be either hidden, or subtle enough not to be seen without careful observation.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">A notice check requires 40 minutes of unbroken concentration on any single productive activity. Critical successes are possible should the player exceed the time requirement, and a partial completion may yield some information. Should the information be extremely well hidden or require an extensive search, multiple consecutive checks may be requested. Multiple notice checks consist of a discrete number of 40 minute blocks, with breaks between them, over the check period. Players are NOT required to maintain concentration for the sum time required in a single session.

Combat
<p style="font-weight:normal;">Combat does not differ much from other types of challenge. A player may choose to attack using an established skill, such at swordcraft or spellwork, or may opt for some other approach, such as brute strength or deft strikes. Improvisation and use of the environment is to be encouraged.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">Likewise, a character may defend in any way that they consider to be appropriate for their character. This may involve a speedy dodge, a strong stance with a shield, or simply withstanding an attack via a mighty constitution. Skills may also be used, such as a sword parry or magical barrier.

Pacing and Turn Order
<p style="font-weight:normal;">Due to the nature of the check system, games are expected to progress much more slowly than traditional RPGs. For the sake of fairness, it may be necessary to limit the amount of activity that players perfoming actions which do not require checks (such as conversations with NPCs) may undertake during the time when other players are completing task checks, or otherwise being productive.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">It will also be important to consider difference in time zones, which will likely be a deciding factor in turn order, should your game involve a fixed sequence.

<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm">

Conditions
<blockquote style="font-weight:normal;">“The dragon blasts you with its flame breath. Those of you who aren't waterlogged are now on fire and take 3 clicks of damage.”

<p style="font-weight:normal;">This is the main section that lets you know how your character is doing. Rather than have a number for your health and being fine until it runs out, Project Era uses a language based system. Conditions are simply words that describe the state of your character, and are gained and discarded as the game progresses. They can range from the fantastical (eg, levitating, incorporeal) to the mundane (eg, sprained ankle, sleepy), and can be positive, negative, or have aspects of each.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">There is no official or standard list of conditions, anything that makes sense in the setting can be used. How each one affects the mechanics and the direction of the story should be determined by common sense and the established rules of the setting. There is a theoretically unlimited number of ways that conditions may affect your gameplay, limited only by the imagination of the players and GM. A small number of examples are provided below.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">Some conditions would make it more or less difficult to carry out a task. This can be done by bumping the difficulty of the attribute or skill check up or down. For example:

<blockquote style="font-weight:normal;">Caffeinated: +1 to speed checks

<blockquote style="font-weight:normal;">Exhausted:  -2 to strength checks

<p style="font-weight:normal;">Some may allow or prohibit actions entirely:

<blockquote style="font-weight:normal;">Player 1: I sneak past the guards!

<blockquote style="font-weight:normal;">GM: I'm afraid you can't use your stealth skill right now, since you are still on fire at the moment. ...you may want to do something about that, actually.

<blockquote style="font-weight:normal;">Player 2: Since I'm still covered in pond slime, can I pretend to be one of the fish people?

<blockquote style="font-weight:normal;">GM: I suppose that could work, make a major acting check.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">Some conditions will be relatively trivial, acting mostly to add flavour to the game and make good continuity easier.

<blockquote style="font-weight:normal;">“You arrive at the inn after an hour's hard riding, You are dusty from the road, and thirsty from the heat.”

<p style="font-weight:normal;">At the other extreme, serious conditions can be deciding factors at the most important moments of the story.

<blockquote style="font-weight:normal;">“You are unable to stop the ritual in time. The force of the blast sends your party flying off the edge. You all have one chance to grab for something (or try any other ideas you have) except for Samplo, who is unconscious.”

<blockquote style="font-weight:normal;">

Creating Your Character
Note: In these rules, "character" refers to your Project Era character, and "avatar" refers to your Habitica character. Hopefully this will make things less ambiguous.

Traits
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm">Rather than using a handful of numerical stat values for your character, Project Era uses a list of descriptive terms that define your character. These are your character 's traits. They can refer to personality, abilities, preferences, appearance, or any other aspect of your character that you want to specify.

<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm">It is up to you to decide the traits of your character. There is no official or standard list to choose from, anything you can think of can be a valid trait. The later parts of this section will contain advice on choosing a selection that will help you to achieve your goals, and not disrupt the balance of your game or party, but the main thing is to create a character that you want to play as. Pick traits that you will enjoy role playing, or that you find interesting or engaging.

Traits and Attributes
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm">Because your traits can be anything under the sun, attributes act as a standardised way to compare and challenge player characters. For a more detailed explanation of how attributes are used in gameplay, please read the {attribute checks} section, but put simply, attributes are equivalent to the standard stats used in most RPGs, and are derived from your traits.

<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm">The strength of your attributes (and thus the difficulty of your checks) will be informed by the traits you choose, but more than that, these traits tell others what your character is like. As such, they are not limited to simply “high speed” or “low charisma” and such. A highly intelligent character might be street smart or academic or quick witted. A charismatic character could be personable or diplomatic or even a natural leader.

<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm"> You do not need to have one trait that addresses each attribute. One trait can contribute to more than one attribute (eg. athletic can cover strength, speed and/or agility, c lumsy can describe both dexterity and agility). On the other hand, one attribute can be influenced by multiple traits (eg. intelligence could be informed by both book-smart  and naive ).

<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;font-style:normal">Not all attributes need to be specified by traits, particularly if they're fairly average. Likewise, some traits may not inform task checks at all, and may simply describe how your character behaves, thinks, or responds to different situations. Some traits may be included purely to round out a more {balanced character}.

<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;font-style:normal">

Choosing Your Traits
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm">When choosing traits for your character, consider the kind of thing that you will need to focus on. In most cases, you will end up using the attributes that you are good at to solve and overcome obstacles, so it might be worth having your character specialise in areas that you might need a push. For example, if you tend to focus on what needs doing right now, and would like a reminder to spend time on things that benefit you in the long run, you might consider making a social, charismatic character.

<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm">Another good way to come up with traits is to write a short description of your character, then add any adjectives or phrases you used in it to your trait list. Think about their history, their goals, their secrets, and what they consider important.

<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm">One final thing to remember is that traits need not necessarily be good. Having neutral and negative traits help to create a more rounded character. They are important in maintaining game balance, but they also provide a more interesting experience to play. What flaws and weaknesses must your character overcome? What have they yet to learn? Remember that character growth is an important part of any story.

<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;font-weight:normal">Note: Traits don't all have to be decided at the beginning of the game. Any that you are unsure about can be established as they come up. They can also be gained, lost and changed over the course of the game as your character develops.

<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;font-weight:normal">

Skills
<p style="font-weight:normal;">Beyond attributes, most characters will have particular skills. These skills may be virtually anything, provided they fit with the character's nature and backstory. Each skill will be linked to a particular domain of the player's life, chosen at the beginning of the game. In order to use the skill, the player must complete tasks that relate to the appropriate life domain.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">Some Example Skills: <p style="font-weight:normal;">Note: Skills do not have to be thematically linked to their domains, but it may be helpful for motivation. <p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm">Selecting skills is meant to be an opportunity for you, as a player, to decide where you want to focus your time over the course of the game. Bear in mind that not every task you face will be based on you skills, but many will. The domain does not have to be openly specified, if it is something you would prefer to remain private, but if you do wish to share it, the GM can give you challenges designed to help you meet your goals.

<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm">You may also wish to include the degree of skill, or level of experience, for a more detailed picture of your character, but this is up to you.

<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm">

Note for GMs <p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm">Try to give your players plenty of opportunities to use their skills. They have selected the domains they have for a reason, and should have plenty of chances to make progress. If a skill is unlikely to come up, you should let the player know in advance, so that they can change it to something more suitable.

<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;font-style:normal">For example, “This campaign takes place in a landlocked desert, are you sure you want to take the skills seacraft and fishing?”

<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm">

Creating Balanced Characters
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm">[Explain why balance is important]

<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm">Your GM may ask you to dial your character up or down to match the rest of your party.

<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm">

<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm">In keeping with the philosophy of Habitica, there is no fixed system to ensure that your character is balanced. Much of this game is built upon an honour system, and this is no exception.

<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm">

<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm">[Some ways to ensure that your character is balanced]

<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm">

<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm">

<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm">Remember that once you have established the traits of your character, it will be up to you to role play them. If you include negative traits for balance, then have your character act against them, your GM will have to pull you up on it.

<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-left:24px;">“Your character sheet describes you as 'X', are you sure this is something your character would do?”

<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm">For example, if your character has a strong fear of something, and you voluntarily approach it. In this case you will either have to justify or revise your characters actions.

Advanced and Optional Rules
These are optional rules that some or all players may choose to incorperate into their game. Any combination of these rules may be used, and not all players must use the same combination. In many cases, these rules can be picked up and discarded as the game progresses. Please talk to your GM about any of these rules that you would like to use ahead of time.

For the most part, these rules center around incorperating the other mechanics of Habitica as well as the todo list.

Avatar Health
Some players may wish to incorporate their avatar's health into the story as additional motivation to keep up with their dailies. More details on how this will work will be added once this mechanic has been more thoroughly tested.

In the meantime, here are some ideas:
 * Begin each in game post with a quick note of avatar/character health (eg: "[HP 34] We head into the tunnel.")
 * Health potions must be earned
 * Thought needs to be put into how party healers will affect matters
 * One way it could be played is that when an avatar dies, the character gains a negative condition.

Advanced Negative Conditions
Please note that in group campaigns, conditions should not be added to the campaign challenge unless they affect the entire party.

Managed Over Time
These effects are those that must be managed over time, and take the form of dailies that represent in-game tasks that the player must perform, such as changing or washing the bandages on a wound, taking herbs to counter a poison or treat a sickness, or performing a ritual to hold back a curse. This daily will remain in effect until the  condition  is removed, at which time it can be deleted.

Triggerable
These  condition s come into effect when triggered by a particular actions, such as a wound that is aggravated by a specific movement, a poison that interacts with certain foods, or a curse that comes into effect under particular circumstances. These  condition s are represented by negative habits, which the player clicks when they perform the forbidden action.

''Optional: The GM may specify a maximum level of aggravation, exceeding which causes further, more dire consequences. This can be tracked via the colour of the habit.''

Campaign and Character Sheets
<p style="font-weight:normal;">Before starting a campaign, the GM creates a challenge like the one in the following image. All habits except "Treasure" and "Damage" have both the [+] and [-] unchecked. The description and introduction of the storyline should be written in the description. Players joining the campaign will then participate in the challenge. <p style="font-weight:normal;">

<p style="font-weight:normal;">[NEW CHALLENGE IMAGE]

<p style="font-weight:normal;">[CHARACTER IMAGE]

<p style="font-weight:normal;">In the notes of the "Character" habit, players write their character's name and summary, and any information that they consider important. This may include age, species, class, goals, important group mamberships or obligations, chosen deity, physical characteristics, or none of these at all. Players may wish to include some backstory as well, but bear in mind that longer note sections tend to go off the edge of the page in challenge view, so the GM may not be able to read all of it.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">[STATUS IMAGE]

<p style="font-weight:normal;">The notes of the "Status" habit are used to keep track of how your character is doing. General character health, conditions, and any other measures you may be using, such as sanity or mana, are listed here.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">[ABILITIES IMAGE]

<p style="font-weight:normal;">In this section, players list their character's [traits] and [skills].

<p style="font-weight:normal;">[INVENTORY IMAGE]

<p style="font-weight:normal;">Players use the notes of the "Inventory" habit to keep track of the things their character is holding. It is easy to forget that you picked something up early on that may be crucial later, so try to keep this section as accurate as possible.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">Using the core rules, this challenge should be all you need to set up. If you are using advanced rules however, you may need to set up individual challenges for each character. More information can be found in the advanced rules section. <p style="font-weight:normal;">

Relation to Habitica Avatar
<p style="font-weight:normal;">Your avatar's stats, class and equipment have no bearing on the story.

Health and Death

 * If you take damage in the storyline, click the negative "Damage" habit accordingly.
 * Damage will usually be accompanied by some kind of in-game consequence, such as a broken ankle or other appropriate hindrance.
 * If your avatar dies from damage taken in the storyline, please inform the GM, though depending on how forgiving your campaign is, this may or may not effect the storyline.

Exp and Rewards

 * If you gain treasure or experience in the storyline, click the positive "Treasure" habit accordingly.
 * Treasure will often be accompanied by useful in-game items.
 * Experience may be accompanied by new in-game abilities.

Mana and Class Skills
<p style="font-weight:normal;">By default, story characters do not rely on the Habitica avatar's mana. Individual players may choose to limit themselves to their available mana, but this is entirely optional. Magical characters need not be limited by mana at all. If a player does choose to limit themselves, it is up to them to decide the mana cost of their character's abilities. Habitican class skills do not transfer to characters, and have no bearing on the storyline.

Currency
<p style="font-weight:normal;">At the beginning of the game, it should be established whether the story will use Habitican gold or a separate, internal currency. All players must use the same currency form. Should Habitican currency be used, rewards may be added to the campaign challenge to represent in-game shops, or the edit value feature may be used.

Level
<p style="font-weight:normal;">Due to the massive variance in leveling speed between different play styles, it is highly recommended that character growth not be linked to avatar level, as this would unbalance the party tremendously. Players with avatars over level 100 may wish to link certain character abilities or milestones to avatar level, but this is not recommended for inexperienced players. Should players choose this option, it will be discussed further in the advanced ruleset.

Tips for Players
Things that need to be covered:
 * Specificity
 * Character knowledge

Player control
This can be difficult to get the hang of without previous experience.

What you can do:

What you can't do:
 * Fully control your character's actions. No other player may declare that your character does or doesn't do something. Under most circumstances, neither can the GM.
 * Ask for more information. At any time you can ask the GM for any information that your character has access to. Describing every detail of everything simply is not practical, so if the GM has omitted something, it isn't necessarily for a reason.
 * Declare that you succeed at something. You can attempt anything you like, but if it is at all possible that you could fail, it's probably a check. If it can be reasonably assumed that you cannot fail (like walking across a brightly lit room) it's probably fine. Probably.
 * Control the outcome of your character's actions. For example, "I pull the lever" is fine, "I pull the lever and the door swings open" is not.
 * Control the environment, chance, or external events. If it isn't something your character can influence, chances are you, as a player, can't declare it. For example, "Just then a storm came out of nowhere", "I find a chest full of beans in the room", and "Then an ogre showed up and attacks them" are all not okay.

Miscellaneous
Taking 10 is not a thing. Or any other number.

Privacy
It's up to each player how much they want to share about what real life tasks they plan to accomplish. Knowing what they want to do can allow you to set more specific goals, particularly with skill checks, but it is not and should never be a requirement. If the player doesn't want to disclose what their real world tasks are, or even what a skill's domain is, simply use the in-game terminology and allow the player to decide what best fits.

Splitting the Party
GMs experienced with traditional tabletop games may be familiar with the rule "never split the party", since it leads to awkward waiting periods for each group while the other is playing. In this system, however, the pacing is slow enough that GMing two or more groups simultaneously is quite doable, allowing players to act simultaneously in different game locations.

However, be cautious about letting one group get ahead of the other, as it can lead to continuity issues, and/or players getting left out while the others catch up.

Detail
One advantage of the less immediate style of the system is that detailed and vivid descriptions of places, people and objects don't break the flow of play (unless of course the GM spends an age working out the perfect way to phrase each message). In traditional tabletop games, if players wanted to know more about their setting, they could ask about any aspects they'd like to focus on until they have as clear a picture as they would like. Using this system, however, particularly in games across timezones, this can slow down a game considerably. Try to take advantage of the time you have when describing things to your players, and unless something is hidden or would be hard to spot, try not to make them ask. Don't be afraid to give them spontaneous notice checks either, if you want to determine how much detail to provide.

Useful Resources
RPG Tools - Random generators for... basically everything. Seriously. Everything.

Roll20 - For campaigns with complex maps or where clear positioning is important, this site allows you to host a virtual tabletop that can be accessed by all players. Also stores character sheets and other useful tools.

Purple Sorcerer - A useful basic character generator.

Build Schedule
<p style="font-weight:normal;">Scheduled - In Progress - Completed

Suggestions / Questions / Feedback
This system is still in development. If there are mechanics you'd like to see, sections that are unclear, or if you have any questions or feedback at all, please add it below.


 * 1) What if I don't have anything to do? Like if I've done everything that I'm able to do that day. Or if a skill is linked to study and I've done all my homework?
 * 2) *I honestly don't have an answer to this one. I don't think it'll come up often, but it could be pretty derailing. I'll think on it. Suggestions welcome.

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