RUTS, standing for Roleplayer's Ultimate Tool Set, is my attempt at designing a minimalistic, setting agnostic, tabletop rpg system.
For RUTS games, you need percentile dice, or some other method of generating 1-100 randomly. You will also need some means of recording things, be it pen and paper, or as computer notepad. The design philosophy for this is simple; The bare minimum needs to be able to fit in your pocket.
Now, a key concept is Tagging. Instead of skills or attributes, there are simply Tags. Tags do one of two things; they provide bonuses/debuffs to Checks, a spendable resource, or simply mark an actor with a change to their gameplay. Broadly, these are called Stat Tags, or Rule Tags.
Now, what uses these Tags? Well, In Ruts, anything that can Do Something is known as an Actor. In short, actors are characters, though they can also be ships, groups, a building, a guild, etcetera. If there are different types of actors that differ wildly, you might mark them with a rule tag, so you know that they operate differently.
An actor is generally considered to be entirely average for the given actor of its type. A sort of platonic ideal of a character; a blank slate that you then add or subtract from using Tags to color.
Now comes the Ringleader; the Gamemaster; the Storyteller. This is the person that runs the game, issues checks, and is the ultimate authority on how any given Tag works.
RUTS is ultimately a set of tools and ideas for the creation of campaign specific rules. Different games may have wildly different systems, but should play under a familiar framwork of ideas.
Checks are called by the storyteller whenever there is a chance of failure or success, usually when an actor tries something, or something might happen to an actor.
A check is 1d1001 to 100 random number + positive tags - negative tags.
| 1 - Easy | 20 |
| 2 - Medium | 40 |
| 3 - Advanced | 60 |
| 4 - Hard | 100 |
Typically, this is written as the Difficulty number, then any additional scores. Like so Check(1) = 20, or Check(2+10) = 50. Formula D = C + Max(P, 20);
Alternatively you could simply give the target number. The table above is simply an easy rule of thumb. So Check(+50).
Remember, tags stack!
Tags are how you distinguish one actor from another. Tags typically come in two main flavors.
| 1. Stat Tags - | Stat Tags are simple; you just add them to the appropriate checks. |
| 2. Rule Tags - | Rule tags change how the actor operates; Like introducing checks, or new abilities, or a spendable resource. |
Tags have levels. On Stat Tags, each level provides a +5 to a rollOr -5 in the case of negative tags.
There is a bit of a soft level cap though. Generally, increasing a tag requires a check with the difficulty of the check being equal to the difficulty table.
Thus, to gain a level 1 tag, that is a Check(1), and a level 4 tag is a Check(4). This creates an exponential difficulty curve that, even with tags helping, rapidly gets unmanagable.
This is to encourage diversification of tags. Rather than relying on a level 4 tag, it may be better to have 2 tags that apply to similar things.
There comes a time where you might need to make a check to see if a tag is reduced by a level. This is typically done on Rule Tags that represent a resource.
This is done by inverting the difficulty table. At level 4 you need a check(1) and so on. A level 5 is going to be a Check(+10), and a level 6 and up is going to be Check(+5). This is the minimum check allowed.
Purchasing Power is the quintessential example of a Rule Tag. It enables Actors to make purchasing power checks, and what I use instead of hard values for purchases.
In abstract, this represents your money, assets, and connections. When making a PP check, you are checking to lower your PP. If successful, your PP is not lowered.
If you fail, then you reduce your PP by one level, and you get nothing. You can generally try again.
For harder PP checks, then your Storyteller may simply add difficulty. This subtracts a given number from your roll, like a Negative Stat Tag.
You may also have more permanent tags, positive and negative, related to PP. Such as Poor, or Rich. Or you may gain benifits from other tags; having a sword skill may get you a better deal on upgrading your equipment.
Part of the Philosophy of RUTS, is the abstraction of anything that might be Crunchy. So, keeping track of Gold or Credits or the costs of specific items, are all abstracted into Purchasing Power checks.
The same could be said for equipment. Instead of having equipment, you simply have tags that relate to using these hypothetical equipment. If it cant be used for some reason, your Storyteller will let you know not to include those Tags in checks.
In RUTS, the game assumes that you have the appropriate tools to make use of your tags unless otherwise noted.
In short, an actor is any thing that can act. This is an abstraction, and doesn't implicitly mean characters. They can also be ships, adventuring guilds, companies, armies, swarms, etcetera.
What does this mean, practically? - An actor is assumed to be the base average of its given type. A human will be assumed to have arms/legs/basic life skills. Then you define from there how that Actor differs from the basics.
How do you show differences? - With Tags of course. Stat tags tell you if they are better or worse at certain things. Rule tags can add extra spice or abilities.
When you have a new Actor, you have a Blank Slate. You are granted 6 points to spend. These are used on purchasing tags.
Stat tags cost 1 point/level.
Rule tags cost 2 points.
By now you have run out of points. Now what?
Well, you may want more points to play with. You do this by getting negative tags. These are subtracted from checks, or are Rule Tags that are somehow Bad for your actor.
Negative Stat tags give 1 point/level.
Negative Rule tags give 2 points.
If you are using Purchasing Power you can determine your current relative wealth here. Simply make checks on increasing it as a resource until failure.