[Hajo]

I've been pondering what could be the minimal stats that still allow for an interesting CRPG.

Vitality
-> Hitpoints
-> Healing/Recovery

Strength
-> Damage in physical fighting
-> Carrying capacity

Intelligence
-> Success in spellcasting
-> Trap detection (?)

Agility/Dexterity
-> Defensive moves
-> Lockpicking and similar 'fine' tasks

It seems one cannot really leave one of these without crippling a RPG system seriously? What do you think, can these four be the basis for a simple, yet interesting RPG system?

[cowgod]

It really depends upon what you mean by "interesting".

In DragonballZ RPG, there was one "battle power" stat that was for both attack and defense. They also had HP and KI (the DBZ equivalent of MP). The only other "stats" were level and experience.

I bet you could get by with 3 stats if you really wanted to.

Physique
-> Hitpoints
-> Damage
-> Carrying Capacity
-> Healing/Recovery

Intelligence
-> Spellcasting
-> Trap detection, etc.

Dexterity
-> Defensive moves
-> Lockpicking, etc.
-> Chance to hit

It would make the most sense if either Carrying Capacity or Healing/Recovery were the same for everyone so that Physique wouldn't be the strongest stat.

Personally, I like to have alot of stats.

[Hajo]

[Terry]

Well, D&D has only six, and computer versions could probably do away with charisma. Plus while separating wisdom and intelligence makes sense, it's really not necessary. So that's four, basically equivalent to what you've got:

Vitality = Constitution
Strength = Strength
Intelligence = Intelligence/Wisdom
Agility/Dexterity = Dexterity

I think it's way more important to have a diverse set of skills than it is to have a lot of stats. The eight classes of magic from D&D being an example. How important stats are really depend on how much definition they count for in your game - if, for example, all that really sets your characters apart are class and stats, then they're quite important, and there should probably be quite a few of them. If, on the other hand, you've got a sophisticated class system, then they become less important in the bigger picture, and should probably be kept simple so that the user isn't overwealmed with things to tweak.

In summary: If you feel your game mechanics are generally too simple, and you want to give them more depth, putting more weight on your stats and the number of them isn't a bad idea. On the other hand, if you worry that your game is a little overly complicated, then it's probably worth keeping the fundamentals as simple as you can manage.

Just my two cents :)
_________________
http://www.distractionware.com

[cowgod]

GURPS does fine with four stats, which are basically the 4 you have (though they have different names).

Charisma can just be a skill (perhaps called persuasion) that's based on Intelligence.

When I said I wanted lots of stats, I really meant that I wanted relatively few (i.e. 4-5) main attributes with alot of derived attributes.

[Hajo]

Charisma I want to leave out since the game will be a multi-user game and if you interact with other players I see little ways to make a "charisma" stat work, it will depend on your real skills in charming and diplomacy ;)

I think I try the four stats then that we sketched here, and from those see what to add.

If somehow possible I'd like to make this a more peaceful RPG, still I feel clueless how to make that.

[Nodtveidt]

Once you actually understand the difference between intelligence and wisdom, you'll see how ridiculous it is to consider them the same.
_________________
If you play a Microsoft CD backwards you can hear demonic voices. The scary part is that if you play it forwards it installs Windows. - wallace

[Hajo]

As real world concepts, I think I understand the difference between intelligence and wisdom.

But now I'm curious why the distinction is needed for a simple RPG system :) What kind of actions or effects do you propose that will really benefit from the split?

Edit: I'm asking this, because my game just might have no actions that make the split useful. If it should be this way, I'll go with a unified stat. But if there are examples that might occur in my game, I'll split the stat. It's not just a question to challenge your words, I'm really interested in examples.

[Terry]

[cowgod]