World of the Fifth Sun: A Basic System 12 (ABS12)

A Basic System 12 (ABS12)

by Ken N Wickham

Copyright © 2016. All rights reserved
This game may not be reproduced or shared in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise for any other person—without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law.

v 1.09

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ABS12 Logo

Chapter 1 Characters
Chapter 2 Action Verbs
Chapter 3 Adjective Verb Noun based powers
Chapter 4 Fuzzy & Vague Gear, Relationships, and Wealth
Chapter 5 Weapon Charts
Chapter 6 Experience
Chapter 7 Solo Game Engine
Chapter 8 Bestiary, Monsters, Encounters

Overview
No other players are needed for this game. It is built with a solo game system where you ask a question, roll, add or subtract modifiers if needed, and check a chart for the answer. You can also use the game without the solo components.

This is a single die linear system, with one stat. Skill proficiency are defined by Descriptions.

Purpose of the game
The purpose of the game is to break away from the normal boredom, pains, and worries of life by having a character go through a story, explore stuff, do neat things, and to have an adventure. It does so by allowing you to play a character that receives answers obtained at least partially by a random number.

This is a single twelve sided die/dice game. It may use up to two 12 sided dice at a time for rolls that have advantages or disadvantages..
This is a roll-over system which means that the objective is to roll as high as possible or to roll over another value..
It has a solo game engine, fact generator, and story engine built in to the game for solo play.
Descriptions describe the inhabitants of the game, both the player's avatar and the fictional characters within the game.
There is one single main attribute that describes how powerful a character is - based on experience; it is called experience level.
The description level is a secondary statistic which represents the general learned ability of the character at this description level which is based on experience and experience level.
All species and characters share the same benefit of experience and general ability as they progress.
Two species or characters of the same power level will have identical experience level bases.
Individuals differ by their descriptions.
Two parts of descriptions are verbs and adverbs/adjectives.
Verbs describe actions including physical, mental and power/magical.
Adverbs describe actions, adjectives, and other adverbs.
Adjectives describe nouns. They normally are damage, effects, descriptive nouns, rankings, or other descriptive values.
Adverbs and adjectives are considered similar or near identical - they represent values.
Life represents one's life force.
Speed represents one's travel and reaction speed.
Defense represents one's natural or worn armor.
Powers can be described using manifestations of adjectives, verbs, and nouns.

Italicized text: Some paragraphs in italics will demonstrate the game.

Character Sheet v 1.03

ABS12 1d12 Random Table
1	4	8	9	7	4	5	11	8	10	8	10
6	11	10	3	8	1	3	2	5	6	12	7
9	5	2	4	7	6	7	4	8	7	1	3
5	12	1	9	11	12	11	12	9	2	10	8
9	3	8	6	10	3	4	10	3	7	10	3
5	1	10	7	2	9	11	1	4	9	6	2
12	9	6	12	5	6	12	7	11	8	1	11
7	2	11	3	8	2	1	10	12	5	9	8
3	12	5	10	1	6	3	5	11	10	3	0
4	8	2	9	5	8	5	12	3	2	6	10
1	3	7	11	3	9	2	10	9	10	1	7
9	10	6	8	10	1	8	7	11	5	4	9

Character Creation Summary

Set experience level (EL) to 1 unless you want to begin the game at a higher EL or 0 EL.
Pick a description out of the eight currently available: fighter, magic user, thief, healer, hunter, disciple, musician, elementalist, or druid.
Set your description level to 1. You may record your description as Amateur + description name.
This game considers all humanoid species equal in ability. Record one if you wish with your description. Humanoid species include humans, orcs, dwarves, elves, halflings, gnolls, goblins, hobgoblins, or kobolds. No benefit will be given for differing species selection.
Calculate your EL life. At EL 1, this should be 2 + description life bonus if applicable.
Record the EL1 defense which should be 2 + the defense for your description's armor.
Record your description's weapon damage.
Record your character's EL1 speed which should be 2 + any description speed bonus if applicable.
Record your character's action speed which should be 1.
Record your character's movement speed which should be 1. This is 30 ft./turn.
Record the starting power poll should be 6.
Record any additional talents from your description and if any build points remain you can use it on additional talents or powers that fit your character concept.

Chapter 1 Characters
With the knowledge of the overview of the game, create a character following the character creation summary. You may print out and record the information on the character sheet. Each of the part of a character created is discussed in further detail within this chapter.

A player is creating a character. Looking over a list of Aioskoru Elvish words, the player want to make an elven warrior named Batu which means 'Stone' or 'Rock'. The player prints off the first character sheet and second sheet. Although Batu will be a warrior, the player wants to use a little magic as well.

Experience Level
For simplistic purpose, in this version of a game I will only use one stat. This stat I will call the Experience Level (EL). This represents a total number of life, strength, ability, and difficulty for a creature or player. Because of this, EL is one of the adverbs or adjectives. It describes both how powerful the character or monster is and also how they perform actions or tasks.

Since this is a 1d12 system, the EL is appropriately 1 to 12.

A beginning character begins with a EL of 1 with 20 EP. They have received basic training and learned basic skills which they didn't know at EL0.

1. The player records an EL of 1 and 20EP for Batu on the character sheet.

Batu

EL: 1
EP: 20

A character gets an additional bonus for actions performed influence by their description which is called the Description Level (DL) bonus.

Descriptions
description a sort, kind, or class of people or things.
synonyms: sort, variety, kind, type, category, class, designation, specification, genus

Descriptions are nouns that limit what types of actions the character can perform with the DL bonus. Descriptions are definitions in that they define what a character can do (skills: verbs) and how a character does it (EL bonus: adverb or adjective). It represents overall skill and expertise. That bonus will apply to situations that fit in with the description definition.

2. The player looks over the list of descriptions. The player would like to play Batu as a fighter. The player records fighter as the description of Batu.

Batu

Description: fighter

EL: 1

EP: 20

Description Levels

Much like EL, a description will have levels called Description Levels (DL). The description level chart shows titles that may be assigned to the description. The DL is also the description bonus which modifies actions that fall under the descriptions.

The description itself is a group of skills defined by the gamemaster or in solo play, the player, for whatever appropriate for whatever world is being played. Anything that fits in this definition in a game will get a DL bonus.

For example. Thieves can do thief skills not mentioned in the special verb skill sections. They may get the basic DL bonus when picking locks - if that is something all thieves do in your game world. Maybe they are good at bar fights. Maybe they have underground connections.

3. The player records Batu's DL as 1 and the description is now amateur fighter.

Batu

Description: amateur fighter

EL: 1

DL: 1
EP: 20

4. The player wants Batu to be an Elf. The player records the species together with the description.

Batu

Description: amateur fighter elf

EL: 1

DL: 1

EP: 20

Life
Life represents one's life force.
Life = EL + DL + Life bonus if any

5. Batu's starting life is 2+ the fighter's bonus of 2. This equals 4. The player records the life on the character sheet.

Batu

Description: amateur fighter elf

EL: 1

DL: 1

EP: 20

Life: 4

Defense
Defense is the amount of protection that natural or worn armor provides to a character.
Defense = EL + DL + Description Armor

6. For being a fighter, Batu receives 2+ the fighter's bonus of 4 for having plate armor. The player records both the defense and armor.

Batu

Description: amateur fighter elf

EL: 1

DL: 1

EP: 20

Life: 4

Def: 6

Talents

Plate armor: 4

Damage
Damage is the character's amount of primary melee damage done if they hit the opponent during melee combat. There may also be other damage amounts listed in the action verbs.

7. The player records the primary damage from the longsword that the fighter includes.

Batu

Description: amateur fighter elf

EL: 1

DL: 1

EP: 20

Life: 4

Def: 6

Dam: 1d12/3 LS

Talents

Plate armor: 4

Longsword: 1d12/3 damage

Speed
Speed is the speed of a character used for initiative, action speed, and movement which if no bonus is shown then there is no bonus. Receiving a speed bonus from talents depends on the situation. If a character has fly 3, then the 3 speed for flying only applies if they are flying.

Speed = 1 + EL + speed bonus for description + speed bonus for special verb actions if the situation fits the bonus.

8. An elf is a humanoid, which receives a beginning bonus of 0. A fighter description however receives a +1 to speed. This means that for the speed formula of Speed = 1 + EL (1) + speed bonus (+1 for fighter) it will result in a 1+1+1 speed equaling 3. The player records this number as the speed.

Batu

Description: amateur fighter elf

EL: 1

DL: 1

EP: 20

Life: 4

Def: 6

Dam: 1d12/3 LS
Speed: 3

Talents

Plate armor: 4

Longsword: 1d12/3 damage

Action Speed

Action Speed is based on the characters speed for that EL. It represents how fast that they act and how many times. It is the number of actions the character can do

Action Speed = Speed/5 rounded up

9. Now that Batu's speed has been recorded, action speed is based on that number as well. Divide Speed by five and round up the number. Batu's action speed is 3 divided by 5 rounded up equals 1. This means that at the current EL, Batu will have one action per turn. At speed 6 which will come at 1+3 EL = EL 4, Batu will receive an additional action speed per turn. The player records that information.

Batu

Description: amateur fighter elf

EL: 1

DL: 1

EP: 20

Life: 4

Def: 6

Dam: 1d12/3 LS
Speed: 3
Act spd: 1

Talents

Plate armor: 4

Longsword: 1d12/3 damage

Humanoid Movement Speed.
Humanoid speed will set at 1. Only non-humanoids have a differing movement speed equal to their description bonus.

Looking at the chart below, that means that humanoids can move 30 ft per turn.

The current formula for standard movement will be.
20ft/turn + (10ft/turn x original description speed modifier).

Running or Sprinting
Running faster is up to x2 movement speed unless something else slowing the character.

Combine Movement Speed with Difficulty and Range Chart
Movement Speed - Difficulty - Target numbers - Range for spells & movement
-1 - Very Easy - 3 - 10 ft or 3 m
0 - Easy - 6 - 20 ft or 6 m
1 - Moderate - 9 - 30 ft or 9 m
2 - Hard - 12 - 40 ft or 12 m
3 - Very Hard - 15 - 50 ft or 15 m
4 - Impossible - 18 - 60 ft or 18 m

10. As a humanoid, Batu's movement speed is 1. He moves 30 ft per turn at normal pace. At a run or sprint the pace would be double that, or 60 ft per turn. The player records that information.

Batu

Description: amateur fighter elf

EL: 1

DL: 1

EP: 20

Life: 4

Def: 6

Dam: 1d12/3 LS
Speed: 3
Act spd: 1
Mvmt spd: 1 at 30 ft/turn

Talents

Plate armor: 4

Longsword: 1d12/3 damage

Power Pool
Power Pool (PP) is the measure of the amount of power that the character has flowing within them. A power will expend this pool in order to use their powers.After expending this power, rest is required to refill the expended power.
Power Pool = 4 + EL + DL

11. The player records Batu's starting power pool of 6.

Batu
Description: amateur fighter elf
EL: 1
DL: 1
EP: 20

Life: 4
Def: 6
Dam: 1d12/3 LS

Speed: 3
Act spd: 1
Mvmt spd: 1 at 30 ft/turn
PP: 6

Talents

Plate armor: 4

Longsword: 1d12/3 damage

Special verb - is a verb that represent a learned special ability, power, or stunt for a certain description.

12. The player records the other talents from the fighter description. This is rescue of 2 and 2 additional points. The player decides to give Batu a basic power attack of 1 destroy + 1 ice/cold. This will be an ice attack doing damage to those not immune. The player records the rescue, destroy, and ice/cold.

Batu
Description: amateur fighter elf
EL: 1
DL: 1
EP: 20
Life: 4
Def: 6
Dam: 1d12/3 LS

Speed: 3
Act spd: 1
Mvmt spd: 1 at 30 ft/turn
PP: 6

Talents

Plate armor: 4

Longsword: 1d12/3 damage

Rescue: 2

Powers

Destroy: 1

Ice/cold: 1

Description Level Chart
1 Amateur
2 Beginner
3 Intermediate
4 Advanced
5 Expert
6 Master

Humanoid Species Descriptions:
These are the basic eight humanoid species descriptions in many fantasy worlds.

Humanoid species include humans, orcs, dwarves, elves, halflings, gnolls, goblins, hobgoblins, kobolds

Depending on the game world players may also play using one of the many non-humanoid species found at the back of the game as well. Use those stats for such occasions.

Extra Build points
Magic Users get 3 build points to get new spells besides fireball. Fighters get 2 and thieves get 3 build points to buy action verbs appropriate for their description. For the power system, see the section for details to using an adjective verb noun power system.

Special Verb Skills
aware - because of increased senses and focus, the species has greater awareness of surroundings.
acid - a dissolving substance.
climb - this species has the ability to climb surfaces more easily.
corrupt stare or touch - an attack that damages the soul, life force, or spirit.
covert- the character uses skill to become hidden, hides behind objects, stays in the dark, is less noticed, pretends to be dead, or other techniques to gain an advantage over opponents. They can then do a covert attack with increased PL for attack and damage.
dig - this species can dig much faster than normal.
disease - attacks a specific organic system with symptoms without physical injury: illness, sickness, ailment, infection, plague, virus, blight, contagion.
drain touch - siphons life damaging the target and absorbing the increasing the attacker's life by the same amount.
fireball- the magic user summons a fireball that is thrown at opponents. The range difficulty is used to see if the magic user can target the opponent accurately. They must equal or exceed the difficulty target number.
firecone - a flaming spray that goes in one direction straight. Each EL increased extends the range one more increment as well as one more damage.
fear - if successful and the target loses the roll, they will turn and flee.
fly - this species can fly at an increased speed. When in flight, add the speed amount to the defense.
herborize - this is to both use and find herbs for healing, curing, and treatment of ailments for both humanoids and kindred creatures.

immunize - when the threat of being harmed by a substance or force, the character has greater resistance or immunity to such instances.

petrify - organic matter begins to harden and turn to a hard substance such as stone.
poison - a substance capable of causing illness or death to the target: venom & toxin.
rescue- the character gives the defense bonus to a friendly character. This is because they are helping to defend that other character.
smash/slam - using fists or other appendages to forcefully attack a target.
sing - this is a magical song which has some effect on another character.
splinter - ejecting several dozen razor sharp shards of wood.
trample - walking or running over another character.

Chapter 2 Action Verbs

Characters and opponents need to perform tasks or actions in a game. These skilled actions can either be something not covered by skills learned, covered by skills learned, combat action, or spell used.

Situations: Favorable and Unfavorable
There will be certain periods of times that because of environmental, tactical, strategical, setting, psychological, social, emotional, or other reasons actions will be done more easily or difficult. These reasons could be weather, lighting, slope of a hill, a distraction, slippery surface, being under a fearful state, fighting in water, fighting behind an object, or almost anything.

If more than one condition both favorable and unfavorable exists in a situation the total for favorable must be weighed against the total unfavorable. This comparison will determine whether or not the conditions cancel each other out or leaves the character with a more favorable or unfavorable total situation. Therefore, situations can be balanced having no modifier, favorable, or unfavorable. Balanced situations roll normal with 1d12 for the action.

If they are not balanced, the character will be in a favorable or unfavorable situation and will roll two dice.

Favorable: the higher of 2d12
If situations and influences are determined favorable, then to show that advantage the character rolls two dice instead of just one. The higher of the two rolls is picked for the result, and the lower roll is ignored.

Unfavorable: the lower of 2d12
If situations and influences are determined unfavorable, then to show that disadvantage the character rolls two dice instead of just one. The lower of the two rolls is picked for the result, and the higher roll is ignored.

Automatic Success/Failure/Fumble: An attacker/skill performer rolling a 1 is an automatic miss or fail. If the action uses movement then the performer fumbles possibly falling to the ground. I fumble or failure on a roll 1 must spend one whole turn righting myself. This may be taking a breather if they are performing a skill.

An attacker/skill performer rolling a 12 will hit or succeed unless the defender also rolls a 12, in which case the defender wins.

Spectacular Success
If a combat blow or skill succeeds 4 or more over the defense or target number, the blow or skill performance should be spectacularly cinematic. This can be elaborated by the person running the game or creating a story.

Verb Skill formula portions

1. Situation roll portion
The first roll 1d12, in every type of roll means the situation roll. Situations can vary from good to bad. The first random roll tells you how good current situation about the skill or combat.

Player should describe exactly how the character does something, not just what a character does.

If a character uses a description verb to look for clues, then the player should explain exactly how the player will search for clues. Will they look through all the drawers and cupboards? Having explained how the character will search, the roll can then be performed to describe how lucky fate is with the character in performing the task.

Interpreting the numbers
A 1 is so bad that it's a fumble. A 12 is so good that it's a automatic success.

Describing the situation depends upon what type of action is being performed. Once you have that action in mind, you can describe the situation surrounding the action using adverbs and adjectives in similar degree to the the result rolled. The situation may be environmental. It may include actions of opposing characters. It may include the conditions of the character performing the action.

Above six becomes more positive.
Below six becomes more negative.

Here is a general adjective scale denoting quality and degree for the situation surrounding the how the action is performed.

If as in the prior example, if the character is looking through all the drawers and cupboards looking for clues, and the player roll a three - what does that mean?. A three is very bad. What could a very bad situation mean or look like when searching through cupboards and drawers? It might mean that the character rushes through the search doing a poor job of searching. It might also mean that despite ones great skill, something happens to be covering the thing that the character is trying to find. The first explanation is a more method based or quality of performance rational. Whereas the second one is luck based or quality of the environment. Either way, they both explain and describe a the situation that is very bad.

2. Learned description level and power level experience portion
Both the EL and DL portions are fixed.

The EL represents experience as the character acquires more real world experience. Characters recognize patterns and appropriate methods just by watching life around them. The learn little tricks to help live even doing unskilled and untrained actions easier. They have life knowledge.

The DL represents learned skill. It represents actual study, practice, exploration, teachings, and education. They receive education formally or on the job.

The next portion of the formula appears in combat. It is a special kind of roll called the damage roll.

Offensive roll 1d12 + EL + DL + Damage roll

3. Why is the damage roll added to the offensive roll?

The damage roll represents how viscous and potentially damaging the attack, blow, or strike is. The damage roll is potential damage, rather than actual damage.It represents how deadly the strike could be - how much force and accurate the blow may be. Even with a little lesser luck, a very powerful attack my still do damage if the attack is powerful. Too much of a bad situation will make even a powerful attack miss. Yet a great situation might help a weak attack still hit and do damage depending on the defender's situation.

The lowest damage possible is 1. Even variable damage weapon will at least do 1 point of damage

In damages where even a roll of 1 is made out of 1d12/6, = is all one or the other. There is no fumble or automatic success from the damage roll. Your only trying to find the amount, in this case 1 or 2. It's either one or the

Damage roll is countered with the armor value portion of the defense. The defender offsets the damage roll with their fixed defense which is made up of skill (DL) and experience (EL) plus any armor.

Damage Table

Summary of the Action Verbs
Initiative - used to figure out who goes first
Unskilled verb - used for actions that are done unskilled
Skilled verb - used for actions done skillfully
Special verb - used for special actions indicated within one's description
Combat verb - used to attack or defend against another
Combat damage - used to figure out the reduction of life
Power action - used for actions that use powers

Initiative
1d12 + Speed
Who goes first? In situations where everyone must know when they act, initiative can be figure. Each character rolls and adds their EL and any Speed bonus. Ties mean simultaneous actions.

The 1d12 represents the random nature of events. The EL represents awareness gained by experience - the recognition of causes and effects. Speed represents a quicker skilled action or natural quickness.

Unskilled verb

1d12 + EL
For actions not covered by definitions, use the EL only to modify rolls. This means that your experience of living and advancing helps you with everything, but that you do not receive an expertise bonus.

Skilled verb

1d12 + EL + DL
For actions covered by descriptions, use the EL and the DL to modify rolls. This means that in addition to your experience of living and advancing you also receive expertise bonus for learning more about those types of actions. The description itself is a group of skills defined by the gamemaster or in solo play the player for whatever appropriate for whatever world is being played. Anything that fits in this description in a game will receive an additional DL bonus.

Special verb

1d12 + EL + Special verb

Special verb skills are skills that go beyond the normal DL bonus. They can be thought of as special feats, special abilities, stunts, or special moves. Use the bonus for the special verb on top of the DL for added bonus.

Combat verb - to hit

The attacker rolls twice. Once for the situation (the full amount) and once for the damage roll calculation.

Consult the situation roll chart for adjectives describing the situation.

The next portion of the formula appears in combat. It is a special kind of roll called the damage roll.

Check the appropriate weapon or spell damage for which damage amount column to use on the damage roll chart to calculate the EL damage roll amount.

Offensive roll 1d12 + EL + DL + Damage roll
Defensive roll 1d12 + Defense
Whichever total is highest, wins. Ties we will say goes to the defensive person.

I don't have any rules for correcting disadvantage or standing up. For now, I will just say that correcting a fumble takes one full turn of no attack - in which they can also defend using a regular roll.

If an attacker cannot exceed over the defense armor, the blow will miss automatically. The defender does not need to roll a defensive roll.

Special verb combat

Offensive roll 1d12 + EL + DL + Special verb damage

Special verb combat actions are skills that go beyond the normal DL bonus. They can be thought of as special feats, special abilities, stunts, or special moves. For combat, used the special verb damage instead of the standard melee damage for attacks using special verbs.

Combat verb: damage
Defender life - Weapon damage

If the attacker exceeds the defense of the defender, then the defender is damaged. Reduce the life temporarily by the weapon damage roll amount, which was rolled with the offensive roll. If the life is reduced to zero, the defender is dead.

Natural Healing Rate

How quickly a character recovers depends on the type of game being played.

Healing rates
Realistic = 1 Life per day
Standard = Restore all life with full sleep
Cinematic = Restore life after each scene

Power action

Power roll 1d12 + EL + DL
We will just say that the only requirement is to be able to see the target to launch a fireball or heal a player. Most spells will use x1 range. The difficulty for range of spells will be in 10 feet increments beginning with Very Easy (roll 3 or higher0 up to 10 feet from the caster. For a fireball, the defender may make a defensive roll.

Movement Speed - Difficulty - Target numbers - Range for spells

Ranged Target Number Multiplier
Use the chart above except multiply the ft or m distance by the modifier for the appropriate weapon.

net x 0.25

dagger x 1
handaxe
light hammer
shortspear
dart
trident
shuriken
bola

blowgun x 1.5

javelin x 2
sling
handcrossbow

light crossbow x 4
shortbow

longbow x 10

Location

I wanted to create something to help out with either combat or descriptions using a random 1d12. I figure that left or right side could be found by a second roll if needed.

This chart helps determine which body part is affected by damage or powers. It may also determine where a treasure or feature is located. Using the hit location is optional.

1st roll for part or section.

2nd roll for side

Odd = Left side body part or limb

Even = Right side body part or limb

Chapter 3 Adjective Verb Noun based powers

Powers can be described in terms of actions (verbs) and topics (nouns). This means that the power can do something to or with something. This uses the same type of system as the action verb skills except that powers go beyond the normal restrictions of reality. The powers can extend normal dimensions of reality - mainly by means of processes affecting the topic. If your character has learned to destroy things and also learned about fire, then your character should be able to destroy things with fire - a fireball, fire spray, or wall of fire.

The main dimensions of reality besides combining the action and topic are the dimensions of the affect which are described by adjectives (or adverbs). Damage describes how much damage to the target is affected (damage done or healed). Armor describes how much protection the power provides from damage and other effects. Duration describes how long the power remains in affect. Size describes how big of area the power affects. Range describes the distance that the power can reach.

Verb
heal/repair - causes damaged parts to become whole, functional, and damage free again.
injure/hinder - do physical harm or damage to something.
reveal - help bring to knowledge previously unknown, hidden, or secret information.
covert - to do things not in the open or displayed: hide, sneak, and spy on others.
move - to change position of an object: push, pull, or drag.
travel - movement through or across an element or surface.
summon - to call upon, order, or cause something to appear, gather, or come forth.
send - to cause, permit, force, direct, order, or enable something to move, go, propel, or deliver somewhere else - a destination.
destroy - to reduce, dissolve, eliminate, or extinguish to nothing, useless, or damage.
animate - to make as if alive, give motion, or stir to action.
charm/control - to dominate, command, act upon, and direct over something.
frighten/repel - to drive away, force back, scare, terrify, or cause panic.
shield - to protect, safeguard, secure, defend, guard, or insulate against
expose - to uncover, reveal, unveil, unmask, or make vulnerable.
transform - to change significantly in form, appearance, or manner.
preserve - to maintain, retain, or keep in an original or current state.
alter - adapt, modify, amend, revise, or adjust comparatively small but significantly.
drain/absorb - to deprive, use up, or transfers resources from the target to the caster.
trap/close - to stop, encase, shut, or imprison something.
open/release - to free, let loose, escape, or release something.

Noun
life - organic properties of growth, continual change, functional activity, and reproduction prior to death
death - organism is no longer alive.
undead - technically dead but still animated; ghoul, lich, vampire, mummy, skeleton, zombie, wight, ghost, banshee, wraith
poison - substance is capable of causing illness and/or death.
disease - this is a disordered function or organ in an organism that produces specific symptoms.
fire/heat - increasing temperature creating combustion, burning, melting, and smoking and heat, light, and smoke are produced.
ice/cold - decreasing temperature creating cold, freezing, ice, or a solid from a liquid or gas.
air/gas - when a solid or liquid is turned into a gas; wind, oxygen, tornado, atmosphere.
earth/rock - soil, earth, dirt, rock, sand substances.
water/liquid - the state of being a liquid from either a gas or solid.
flesh/exoskeleton - covering of internal body of an organism providing some protection from the external stuff.
bone - essential framework of hard tissue in vertebrates.
wood - hard fibrous material in trees and shrubs that provides framework.
metal - a solid material that is typically shiny, hard, and malleable; gold, silver, copper, aluminum, bronze, iron, steel.
organic substance - a specific chosen organic substance such as web, plant fibers, milk, feces, urine, mucus, or blood.
animal - a none humanoid organism that eats and functions responding to stimuli.
plant - a living organism that derives nutrition from roots and photosynthesis.
monster - and inhuman or not a standard animal.
spirit - non physical part of an organism that has the essence of their emotions, thoughts, personality, and behavior.

Fireball - Adjective Verb Noun - Power Level

Having 5 of the verb power Destroy and 5 of the noun power of Fire, combined to be called Greater Destroy Fire with the damage of 1d12/2 which goes at normal spell casting distance. Destroy and Fire would be two separate powers when combined create a manifested power. Because of this the power level would be 5.

Power Level (PL)
The Power Level of the power is the amount of the amount of verb action and noun that the character has. The PL of the power will be the greater amount in the manifested power. So if a character has unequal amounts of power, use the greater of the manifestation amounts. The PL is subtracted from the power pool (PP).

So a character with 3 in heal/repair, 1d12/4 and 2 in life, range of 20ft/6m would have a PL of the greater amount of 3 PL for the cost of the power. Subtract 3 from the PP.

Changing Verbs + Fire

Other verb power verb skills could then combine with fire. Covert Fire might be the ability to hide in flames, or blend into flames. Reveal Fire might let a character sense where fires are located within a certain range.Travel Fire might let a character walk through fire or move as a ball of fire through the air, if they also have air noun powers.

Two Manifestation Aspects

Also in that last chart I added stuff like armor, size, and duration. Maybe powers can manifest in two chosen ways. In the fireball's case, it is in range and damage.

Flexible Two Manifestations

Maybe the same power can manifest using two other aspects from the five: scale of damage/heal, range, duration, armor, size, and duration.

For example, the same verb level of 5 Destroy Fire might also be used at no range - encompassing one spot near the caster, yet last a longer duration in this case a Long time - maybe 5 rounds. Or maybe it can be used defensively surrounding the character in a ring of fire that does 1d12/2 damage to those that touch it. Or maybe instead of high damage, the character wants to do a 1damage fire spread out across a Large area of 5 units big - like grids or meters instead of one.

For now, picking two aspects of powers seems like a good rule of thumb.

Chapter 4 Fuzzy & Vague Gear, Relationships, and Wealth

Vague & Fuzzy Gear
The game is based on what is good or appropriate for the story. Descriptions should somewhat indicate what kind of wealth, status, friends, organizations, relationships, contacts, housing, vehicles/mounts, equipment, and tools that the character possesses.

By not focusing on gear and people, I'm hoping that players can focus more on the stories.

How to use vague gear to increase tension in the story
Bad situation rolls can mean something goes terribly wrong with the gear. Maybe the gear is faulty, inadequate, insufficient, or is accidentally dropped into a precarious location. Good situations rolls can sometimes mean that the equipment performs better than normal, more precise, and is more than adequate.

Special Items
Having said that many much of the standard gear and tools are contained in the description, I believe that special items are important in many stories.

For special items, record the details together with the other character special verb actions. In a sense, while they posses such item, that gear becomes a very important part of the character. Loosing such item can be traumatic for the character. A piece of equipment or item that acts like powers might be listed with the powers including a noun to indicate that that power is limited to that specific item.

How does one know the Properties of the Player's Character Description 'gear'?
What about normal vague gear and relationships that is included in the description of the character. And how do you determine when supplies are low or gone, broken, or insufficient? That is where the situation roll comes in. If you have arrows and are firing them, one interpretation of rolling up a 'No', 'No, however', or 'No, also' are that maybe the arrows are getting low or that several are broken. If rolling one of these 'No's rolls up about using a rope, maybe it's short or beginning to break. If you are looking for information and a 'No' is rolled, maybe the contact relationship is shaky or something is wrong.

The story and situation dictates what the roles might mean. A player can even use the fact generator to find clues into what a bad situation means.

Chapter 5 Weapon Charts

Scaling damage

1 damage = 1
1d12/6 = 1 or 2
1d12/4 = 1 to 3
1d12/3 = 1 to 4
1d12/2 = 1 to 6
(1d12*3) /4 = 1 to 8
1d12 = 1 to 12
1d12 + (1d12/2) = 2 to 18
2d12 = 2 to 24
3d12 = 3 to 36
4d12 = 4 to 48

Armor
Cloth - +1 defense
Leather - +2 defense
Chain - +3 defense
Plate - +4 defense

Chapter 6 Experience

Per Scene
EP per Scene Goal reached
Characters receive 1 experience point if the purpose of a scene is completed. Does the scene add anything to the plot of the story? If so, award 1EP. If not, next time try to create scenes that adds to the story. The scenes can be beginnings, middle, or end type scenes that introduce, present, or finish conflict or the plot.

Character true to it's concept
If the character stayed consistently within the concept of the character within the scene then award 1EP. The character should have it's own voice. Playing a character well means playing it according to it's own rules and logic. Know your character and do stuff that makes sense to that character.

Conflict with opposition
If the character faced opposition with some hindering force within the scene then award 1EP to the character, despite the resolution of the conflict - either success, draw, or fail. Conflict is important to the story. Failing and coming to a draw are just as important to the story as success - maybe even are more important.

New Awareness about something important
Did the character learn something new that is important for the story. If so, award 1EP. Even if the character doesn't face conflict, if they learn something important about them, someone else, or something important in the story then award 1EP. This helps to award character knowledge, rather than materials gained in the story.

Per Act
Act completion
If an entire act is completed then award 1 additional EP. Finishing an act means progression within the story.

Per Story
Story completion
Award 2EP if the story had come to a climax and been resolved. Completing a story is a significant event.

EL Progression
Every 20 EP award a Experience Level (PL). Every two EL, the DL will increase by one.

EL - Description Level
0 - no Description
1 - 1
2 -
3 - 2
4 -
5 - 3
6 -
7 - 4
8 -
9 - 5
10 -
11 - 6
12 -

Chapter 7 Solo Game System

ABS12 Solo Gaming with a Deck of Cards v1.0
Since the system is a 1d12, a standard deck of playing cards with the kings and jokers removed can simulate a solo gaming experience where a player doesn't have to roll against themself. Just roll against a shuffled deck of cards more like playing solitaire. In a game of solitaire, the shuffled deck of cards allows you to focus on figuring out patterns instead of generating random numbers and suite.

So, using a deck of cards:
Numbers 1 to 10 equal the stated values.
jack = 11
queen = 12

Maybe reshuffle the cards as needed or for each session or as needed.

ABS12 Solo Gaming Engine
This is meant to help emulate a gamemaster when playing alone using the system. A question is asked about the scene, situation, or facts about the current game. It's as if asking the storyteller about what is happening. A single 12 sided die is then rolled. The chart is consulted and then interpreted.

Ex. Does the character see anything around? Roll. Yes, your character sees something.

I wanted to try adding another layer of action into the engine. One particular area that I thought of is making the middle area more influential. And to somehow adding a Maybe-type section. One possibility is making the 'Yes, but' and 'No, but' into two distinct types of 'but's. One that is branching out - creating new options, and one that depends upon a condition. This is like a gamemaster saying, maybe yes, if and only if this other thing is done, occurs, or is satisfied. For conditionals, it's like saying, no, unless you happen to be able to do this thing. For branching it's like saying, yes you perform the task well, in addition you notice this other situation that may not be good. Or no, you failed, however you notice this other situation that may be good.

If trying to answer a description question, these answers might hinge on other possible descriptions.
Description examples.
Q. "Is that blue?" A. "Maybe it's blue, if your seeing it correctly. The light might be throwing off the color a bit. Try looking at it from another angle."
Q. "Is she my mother. A. "She might be, your not quite sure. She doesn't talk about your early childhood. You'll have to ask her further about your childhood."

v1.0

ABS12 Solo game engine (1d12) by Ken Wickham
11-12	Yes, also
9-10	Yes
8	Yes, however (branching)
7	Maybe, if and only if (conditional)
6	No, unless (conditional)
5	No, however (branching)
3-4	No
1-2	No, also

Modifiers
+6	Totally Possible
+4	Very Possible
+2	Somewhat Possible
0	Half and Half
-2	Somewhat Unlikely
-4	Very Unlikely
-6	Totally Unlikely

Branching - Splitting, New Factors
The howevers would indicate the presence of a new concerning factor that may present further opportunities. What the player does with those presented factors, is up to the them entirely. It can be a new fact, something noticed, or just 'something isn't right'. The howevers may not necessarily cause another action check - they create additional descriptions and facts that could be considered either neutral or slightly opposite in polarity. They can create branches - additional options. The character can continue to go the way, see, or realize something they intended, or they can consider this newly discovered factor. They can represent forks in a road. It is presenting facts for at least two or more options. You may want to stick with two, since there is a chance you can roll it again and need to add another branch.

Conditionals
The if and only if and 'unless' are meant to differ in that they are conditional elements. The answer is directly tied to some sort of conditional action or requirement. Some other issue must be satisfied. These are meant to cause another test or roll. These are sharp turns in a road. These are made to prolong the tension and result of the prior roll. It's basically a roll again, which must be explained in the story just why another roll must be made.

One good way to find a testable statement is to use "Perhaps ..., " and then fill in a statement or situation action.

"Perhaps your not seeing things correctly." And then test it.
"Perhaps you need to check to see if you somersault wisely to avoid that rolling boulder." And then roll.
"Perhaps your a little distracted to fight properly." And roll a focus roll.

It works similar to "Unless ... ."
"Unless your seeing things correctly."
"Unless you somersault wisely to avoid that rolling boulder."
"Unless your focused to fight properly."

Additionals
The and statements mean that the answer is doubled, either double good with an additional good result - a bonus. Or it's double negative. Not only is it now, it's also more negative because ... .

ABS12 Game Engine System Synonyms v1.1

maybe - perhaps, possibly, conceivably, it could be (that), it may be, it is possible (that), perchance, for all one knows, mayhap, there's a chance

if and only if - on (the) condition that, provided (that), presuming (that), supposing (that), assuming (that), expecting (that), as long as, given that, in the event that, believing (that), judging (that), speculating (that), thinking (that), surmising (that), guessing (that), imagining (that)

unless - except if, save, except on the condition that, except under the circumstance that

however - but, still, yet, though, although, even so, anyway, anyhow, nevertheless, nonetheless, despite that, that said, just the same, all the same, for all that, be that as it may, all the same, having said that, notwithstanding, still and all, regardless, in any case, at any rate, anyhoo

also - and, together with, along with, with, as well as, in addition to, besides, furthermore, plus, too, additionally, further, moreover, on top (of that), over and above that, what's more, to boot, equally, and all, likewise, by the same token

yes - surely, certainly, absolutely, indeed, okay, Ok, of course, naturally, affirmative, unquestionably, assuredly, definitely, obviously, beyond/without question, by all means, without doubt, indubitably, undeniably, irrefutably, indisputably, undeniably, evidently, plainly, clearly, unmistakably, for sure, positively, unequivocally, really do

no - absolutely not, (most) certainly not, of course not, under no circumstance, by no means, not at all, negative, never, not really, nope, uh-uh, nah, not on your life, no chance in hell, no way, no way Jose, nay, not for the moment, on no account, nevermore, not in a million years, when pigs fly, when hell freezes over, on the contrary, denied

Drama Escalation v1.0

Escalating answers.

For the GM emulator, once the inciting event has occurred start at -4 to all rolls for actions related to plot.
This will limit the maximum best possible answer as a 'Yes, however'.
Then each time that the character fails to achieve a plot goal add 1 to the initial and subsequent base # -4 slowly reducing it to zero and then it can become a positive number.
This slowly increases the chance to getting a 'Yes' answer.
Once a 'Yes' or 'Yes, also' has been achieved, the escalating number returns to -4 value.
If the scene is a climax scene, any negative value becomes zero and can become positive.

ABS12 Story Engine v 1.0

Roll two 12 sided dice (2d12) adding the results together.

#1 is hidden text. The blogger has numerical list which automatically starts at 1. I didn't feel like looking up how to remove it, so the list really starts at 2 since 2d12 lowest value is 1+1 = 2.

By Ken Wickham 2016
Descend - a character must descend to the very depths of despair to perform some great task.
Maddening - a mad person versus the victim of the insanity.
Tempted - a character must face their greatest weakness, distraction, or compulsion.
Disaster - a power falls defeated by an enemy or informed by a messenger.
Sacrifice - a character must struggle to maintain an ideal by sacrificing something great to satisfy a creditor or opponent.
Obtain - a character asked by another, must struggle to obtain something great in order to aid against an adversary.
Prey - a master or monster threatens or causes suffering to a victim or unfortunate character.
Rescue - a character must deliver a unfortunate or supplicant from a persecutor.
Pursue - a character must pursue a criminal and avenge the victim with the expected justice deserving.
Escape - a character must escape from imprisonment or punishment from some conflict.
Transform - a character goes through a dramatic change like a rebirth of power, form, or appearance.
Mature - a character comes of age or knowledge through a challenging experience to reveal something important.
Abducted - an abductor takes abducted from a guardian.
Enigma - an interrogator posses a problem to the seeker and gives the seeker better ability to reach the seeker's goal.
Rival - there is an object of rivalry and a preferred or superior side versus a rejected or inferior side.
Revolt - conspirators plot to overthrow a tyrannical power.
Metamorph - a character must go through a dramatic change into something by supernatural or severe natural means.
Daring - a bold leader sets out to obtain an object from or to fight against a powerful adversary.
Conspire - a hated character and a 2nd conspire against a character.
Lost - an important object is lost by negligence. There character must find the object or remedy any consequence.
Forbidden - a character must do something considered forbidden in opposition to sagely advice.
Betrayed - a desirer and desired have betrayed a character. The betrayal is discovered by some means..
Ascend - a character must climb some challenging task and raise above opposition to become one of the few to ascend to the top.

Based on a mixture of Polti's 36 plots, Tobias' 20 plots, and Booker's 7 plots.

I wanted to make a generic list of random objects and random participants to go with the story engine. Use a 1d12 to find a number if you are using it for a random result.

ABS12 Random Objects

important/sacred item
weapon
healing item
utility item (helps you do something eisier)
clothing (it may be a special clothing)
armor
key
clue to some mystery
cure
valuable item
power/technology item
food/drink

ABS12 Random Participants

For numbers 11 and 12 either use 1 or 2 of the 10 that are the most common for your world for increased odds, or pick two new ones not listed on the list.

PC
new NPC
monster/creature
animal
group/organization
relationship NPC
nemesis NPC (new/old)
friend NPC (new/old)
powerful opposing force (natural, supernatural)
race against time
-reuse or assign -
-reuse or assign -

ABS12 Fact Generator 1.0

In addition to the Solo Game Engine, here is my attempt at a fact generator which can be used with one 12 sided dice.

A writer might use the lists to help with inspiration.

Directions

First roll a 1d12 to find which row to consider: sensory, element of time and space, emotion/mood, or state of change.
Roll the 1d12 again to find a detail.
Repeat as many times as needed.
Discard or change as necessary.
Interpret the result using creativity and considering your story situation.

For example. A roll of 1d12 resulting in 4 means something about sound, indicated by the ear symbol. Another roll of 1d12 equaling an 8 would indicate Loud.

Something in the story was loud.

If you need further details you could roll more.

Lets say that you pile up loud, cold, and move. If in a modern house indicate something about a loud refrigerator vibrating. In space it might be indicate something about a scream from a cryogenic chamber. In a horror story or game it might indicate a chill running down a character's back pushing the character to flee as a loud rumble shakes the ground. In a fantasy story, it might indicate the launch of an ice ball from the trigger of a trap.

It's just meant to help creativity. So use, discard, and change the results as needed.

[Click the chart to enlarge]

All icons are made and attributed to either Lorc http://lorcblog.blogspot.com or Delapouite http://delapouite.com/ downloaded from http://game-icons.net/ licensed under the CC BY 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/. No changes were made to the icon images.

Chapter 8 Bestiary, Monsters, Encounters
All species use the same basic stats by EL. Descriptions are added on top of these basic stats. A species then can be any EL.

0 EL, 0DL represents an unlearned species. Only gives 1 to life, speed, and defense as well as the basic weapon, natural weapon, armor, and essential functional verbs not derived by training or development. Do not add any verbs derived from any kind of training. They do not receive such basic training until EL1.

Species Descriptions
This is a chart showing the current bonuses that species receive and points that they cost. This may be used to adjust the definitions in future versions of this game.

Humanoid species include humans, orcs, dwarves, elves, halflings, gnolls, goblins, hobgoblins, kobolds

Included is turning any species int a fighter, magic user, healer, and theif by stacking a few more points on top of the regular species stats. This is good for named or main boss type species. I plan on doing more in the future if it turns out okay.

Excuse the naming for alterations. I wasn't feeling creative: fightify, magicify, thiefify (whoops) even mispelled it), and healify. I'm just trying to make all alterations have an 'ify' suffix for now, to keep me from confusing it with the humanoid section.

Zombify works with any encounter. All description verbs are lost in the transformation except physical weapons. This is because they become mindless carnivorous undead.

Ghostify works with any creature. Non-physical attacks will be removed and one of the 4 special attacks, shown by most powerful to least powerful, will be added. low EL should begin with fear; low-mid drain touch, upper-mid corrupt touch, high corrupt stare. This is because they lack a physical body.

Skelify The claw (bone) damage is based on the size of the original species. They loose all skills, all swimming ability, and winged powers of flight, They cannot think because they are missing brains. Rather they are animated by magical means. They may have a weapon if the species has hands.

Updates
Here is the list of updates to the ABS12 System

v 1.00
D12 System Skeleton A Basic System 12 (ABS12) Part 1: Basic framework.

ABS12 Part 2: Basic rules: skills, unskilled, combat, and power actions

ABS12: Combat first test; Variable damage?; Initiative

ABS12: Latest additions: description levels, fireball, PL 0, 1 encounters

ABS12 Scaling damage

ABS12: Favorable, unfavorable, defense, damage, nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, definitions

ABS12: Weapons and Armor reevaluation and changes
v 1.01

ABS12: Thief updates, PL Life recovery, ABS12 Character Sheet v 1.0

ABS12: PL0 non-humanoid Creatures, list of humanoid species