4e ogl retroclone/srd

Feel free to borrow shamelessly. I sure do.

Anyway, here's a few encumbrance mechanics I'm playing around with in my notes:

Each character has two weapon slots, an armor slot, a mount slot, three accessory slots, and four inventory slots by default.
Each weapon and armor gets a number of modification slots that can be fitted with both mundane and magical modification items.

Each character has a:
Weight Equip Limit (STR +LVL)
Attune Equip Limit (INT +LVL)
Finesse Equip Limit (DEX +LVL)

Each item has a {Weight} value that determines how many inventory slots it takes up and how much it contributes towards Weight limit while equipped.
Each magical item has an {Attune} value that determines how much it contributes towards Attune limit while equipped.
Each exotic item has a {Finesse} value that determines how much it contributes towards Finesse limit while equipped.
You take penalties when you exceed your Weight, Attune, and Finesse limits.

In addition, characters also have:
Need limit (CON +CHA +LVL)
Sadness limit (WIS +CHA +LVL)

You accumulate Need and Sadness points as you adventure. This abstractly represents the fatigue and morale loss both of your hero and all the survivors following them (plus your mount). You take rather severe penalties when you exceed these limits. You can reduce your Need and Sadness scores by consuming rations and performing certain actions during rest scenes.

Accessory items, mounts, and certain weapon and armor modifications have effects that can increase limits or reduce weight/attune/finesse values.

Higher level heroes can build homes for improved resting and resource production. Homes can also attract additional survivors or allow survivors to produce children*.

*I've been playing Princess Maker 2 a lot lately so I am pondering the viability of adding some simple child-raising optional rules to Dragon Forest. Like, your PC gets to be some kind of armour-plated fairy-godparent.

Sounds neat, but it's a pretty big departure from 4e, no?

How compatible is it with say, a 4e MM?

How compatible is it with 4e classes?

I don't understand - why clone a game where the books are still freely available from Amazon? You can't really call it a retro-clone in any reasonable sense, unlike e.g. Labyrinth Lord, which clones a retro game.

Besides Strike there's also:

taxidermicowlbear.weebly.com/uploads/2/3/7/4/23742956/basic_4e_dd_sept_2013.pdf
wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Open4E:Main_Page
srgrvsalot.tripod.com/pumpkin.pdf
drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B3Y55nNkvUKddkZTQjN2TGFENEk

>why would you clone it?
A clone would likely be ogl, and it would provide an ogl ruleset that things could be made compatible with.

Gives you a not-dead game to publish content for. Also, you can fix the things that didn't work well in the system if so inclined.

Stop shilling Strike!

Why does Veeky Forums keep shilling Strike!?

I've seen some of those.

Strike is more "inspired by 4e".
Basic 4e is more a set of 4e houserules.
Open 4e is unfinished and looks less than playable.

Pumpkin i haven't seen, but looks at least more complete than the others.

Eldritch worlds like far more complete. Is it any good? Has anyone tried it?

Unchained heroes is another heavily 4e inspired one.

There is a lot that I have to obfuscate in order to keep Dragon Forest legally distinct from D&D 4E. I've put to much work into this for it to get shut down by a cease-and-desist letter.
However, I am going through a lot of effort to make sure DF's underlying math outputs similar-enough results to 4E even if the inputs aren't identical.
A Dragon Forest character will still deal an average of 9 damage at first level (and an extra +1 damage on average at each level after that) and have similar chances of hitting and a similar amount of hit points.
DF characters will still have something very much like healing surges, except that they will be called 'songs'.
DF characters will still have encounter and daily powers, but they will be called things like 'scene skills' and 'act skills'.
4E's influence will be most evident in DF's grid-based tactical combat. I can't carbon copy the experience, but I am trying to restrain myself and rear things back enough that you should be able to hack 4E materials in without too much trouble. The math may be derived differently but it should still arrive at the same endpoint so you can leave that part mostly as is. Most of your conversions will be cosmetic.

Most of the drastic changes you see me posting regard out-of-combat stuff; while I enjoy the combat in 4E, the non-combat portions of the game leave me feeling like there is something to be desired, so I want Dragon Forest to improve on that.

Gotcha.

Pretty sure if you don't use any 4e terminology and use ogl terms, and don't copy the layouts, artwork, or exact book text, they can't c&d you, because you can't copyright mechanics.

But i do agree that the out of combat stuff in 4e was lacking.

When dealing with corporations it's better to ere on the safe side. Even if the c&d order doesn't ultimately hold up in court, a large corporation like Hasbro can still bury me in legal fees for a long time if they had the mind to.

I am definitely going in my own direction with the layout and artwork, if you care to take a look at my pdf. The end product will end up being quite different from that, but you can start to see the direction I am moving in.

Dragon Forest's out-of-combat stuff is getting to the point where it's starting to feel a bit heavy on the fiddly side, and I am hoping to cut it down in future rewrites. But there is this core of resource management that I am really excited about, and that I would like to explore and refine further. I try to draw inspiration from a multitude of sources, taking what I need and adapting it to something that complements the rest of my game.

Is an interesting idea. Your xp system seems functionally equivalent to 4es, just with different flavor.

Im not sure i like the lack of prices on items though.

You have piqued my interest and gotten me interested in reading your pdf.

>A clone would likely be ogl, and it would provide an ogl ruleset that things could be made compatible with.

>Gives you a not-dead game to publish content for. Also, you can fix the things that didn't work well in the system if so inclined.

So what I'm getting is that instead of saying "Compatible with 4E" and getting sued, you can say "Compatible with Fourrie" which is a clone of 4E so everything compatible with Fourrie is compatible with 4E?

Plus, not-dead core rules you can use. Yes.

Like Pathfinder. Or Osric. Or Swords & Wizardry.

>So, you can make a game that's mechanically compatible with another game?
Yes user. You can't copyright mechanics.

And using the OGL gives you access to any OGL content for terms, names, descriptions, etc. If that stuff is useful to you , it's available if you use the OGL.

That's how it works. That's why clones of dead games exist. Because they've been discontinued. And if there's either enough of a market, or a single developer dedicated enough, they can resurrect the dead system under a new name and produce new content for it.

Or clone some portion of the rules and release them for free because they want them freely available.

>Plus, not-dead core rules you can use. Yes.

I don't understand what this means.

Like, my 4E PHB is not rotting before my eyes, it still works fine.

Insofar as it means "there's still erratta being written," that means the content is becoming more and more incompatible with 4E

Insofar as it means "there are still supplements being written," I don't understand why I don't just use the new supplements with the 4E PHB

>they can't c&d you

Not so.

You might have meant "they cannot prevail in a case against you if you have enough money for adequate representation" but that's a very different claim.

You might be able to use non-4e adventures with it.

You won't have the same luck with non4e monsters, or non4e character options.

But then it's not really a 4E clone any more, neh? More like a 4E-inspired homebrew.

No, user. The clone is the baseof the system. IE your PHB is cloned.

Then you can produce more content for the system, and the existing other content for the system is also compatible.

Basically, the Pathfinder situation.

Then what does not-dead core mean if the core is similar to 4E

>if the core is similar to the original, what does it mean for it not to be dead?

Two things:
1. Still "in-print"/accessible. (it could be pod or all digital, in which case it just needs to be available without having to hunt down a used copy.
4e is available in pdf on dtrpg. It meets this one.

2. New, out of the box compatible content is still being published for it.
It does not meet this one.

4e is still accessible, but also dead.

I fell like, even if your game tactics rpg has notably different core mechanics to 4e (such as being mp based or something, and being more based on, say, Final Fantasy Tactics) there is probably much to gain by making it compatible with materials published for another system with lots of content, even if you're only taking advantage of a large catalog of monsters and several adventures.

If you're looking to leverage the most adventures and monsters, partial compatibility with something 2 or 3.x related is your best bet.

I think one of the good things about 4e (that I hope people cloning it also keep in mind) is that monsters are not defined by their stat blocks. Sure, there are like 4-6 different configurations for stats, but the real important part is in the abilities. Because of this, any 4e inspired game can be compatible with the monster manuals easily, since you really only need to convert the abilities; the stats should be handled by your own game already.

Id argue if you need to convert the abilities and your system is "already handling the stats", it's not compatible with the 4e mms at all.

You're not wrong that the stats tend to stick pretty closely to the pattern, but you need to be able to pick up the monster manual and use it as is for compatibility. Any convesion should be optional or quick, like adding cmb/cmd, and everything else works as is, even if not perfectly.

By "even if not perfectly" i mean "uses old skill list /old feats&spells"

Well, it is a fantasy-post-apocalyptic setting.
If enough people demand it, I could include an appendix with information about the world before the fall including prices on equipment.
That's easy enough to implement since I already have all that information in my notes in the first place.

Please feel free to contact me with any criticisms or comments you may have. :)

True, but again it needs to be somewhat obfuscatory to avoid litigation.

One of the best things about 4E is the MM3 on a Business Card by blog of holding. If all you have is the monster's level, role, and some powers you want it to have, you can easily assemble a 4E monster on the fly. The old six ability scores are not needed.