Help me design ruleset/game mechanic for roguelike.

I am trying to design a roguelike. Problem is that only game mechanics / rule sets I know are pen and paper ones like D&D. And I want to go for more computerised system with much more complicated calculations.

For example - what stats determine if attack hits ?

Example of what i am trying is :

Dexterity modifier + Weapon modifier + Armor modifier + spell modifier + race modifier + weapon skill + D100

But i am not sure how much random percent should i allow versus fixed modifiers , in order to keep balance.

50% , 25% , 10 % ?

Also , should i go for random roll of D100 , or should i tone it down to D20 or less ?

I would welcome your opinions



I would also be glad to get any link to relevant reading materials

It must have action points.

(Please!)

If I was making a CRPG or a roguelike, I'd use a variant of the D20 rules under the OGL guidelines. (http://www.d20srd.org) I mean, you say you want something "more complicated" than that, but it probably won't be. It'll likely just be more confusing and you'll end up spending way more time building this ruleset than anything else.

But that's just my take on it all.

Read ADOM's Guidbook. The parts I read give a very detailed explanation into how everything works.

Mind you I haven't read the whole thing because I want to find out what the game has to offer on my own, but the parts on food and spell description went into great detail on how they worked. Definitely worth a read if you want to try making one yourself.

ADOM Guidebook

Also, I would believe a good way to get an idea on what you want to do would be to take a look at Nethack's source code.

Having never done that myself I can't know if that would help or not, but it seems like a good place to start

One last one. An article on The Eight Rules to a Roguelike from GameSetWatch. It's a good read on some of the more tedious aspects of a RL that should be avoided.

Bit late replays.

I didnt check the ADOM guide book.

But I went on to construct something based on D20, Diablo, Dungeon Crawl and GW2 influences.

I am in mid of writting it right now. And I can tell you one thing - creating ruleset is damn complicated thing.

But I am quite happy with results so far.

I even have a name for it

D100

Just invent your own, based on what you personally like and enjoy.

That's what I do, when I make systems.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
Just invent your own, based on what you personally like and enjoy.

That's what I do, when I make systems.

Yeah that's the point to never forget, but on start, be an expert, so first learn as much than possible from previous work, ie don't try reinvent the wheel, you'll end make crap if you do so.

That's why it's a very good idea to check the ADOM guidebook, and find more sources and play more similar games. But then try find back your own way.

That's for games, for system, I wonder, well I'd disagree in fact but not sure what you mean by system.

Design Patterns of Successful Role-Playing Games (located at the bottom of that link) is geared towards pen-and-paper, but is a very useful read.