The End of Tomorrow (Academic, Systems Design)

View: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/pTBJ1_d4kI2V

The End of Tomorrow is a TTRPG ruleset that I designed over the course of five weeks for a Roleplaying Design Course. I created this TTRPG to create a combat system that offers players more versatility and options compared to Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, and character customization that offers more agency and customization options. The core system of the TTRPG itself differs from D&D 5th Edition, using 4D10s instead of a singular D20 to represent gradients of success rather than a binary success or failure. This core system offers more representation of how close a character was to succeeding at an action. Though a player rolls 4D10, the average success occurs if two of the dice are over the target number.

The End of Tomorrow is set in a grimdark science fiction setting, and I replaced the magic system that exists in many other TTRPGs with an Augment system, where the mage equivalent class in my TTRPG actively augments their own body to be able to use abilities and spells. However, by introducing a localized damage system where character body parts can become independently injured, it modifies how mage characters are played, as not are Augment Charges (the equivalent of spell slots) a considered resource, but a mage may need to play more cautiously in exchange for the usage of their powerful augments (if a limb in which an augment is installed becomes injured, the augment becomes disabled).

I wrote a section of worldbuilding in the back of the ruleset to give GMs several starting hooks for their adventures. You can find a sample below or the link above (worldbuilding begins on page 20).

This project was playtested and looked over by my classmates, and I iterated upon the feedback that I received. I plan to expand this ruleset even further, as it is currently limited by the project page count of 20 pages of rules (excluding the appendix and flavor pages). The final for this course allows me to expand the ruleset to 30 pages.

All art used in this ruleset are accredited to their respective authors, I did not create any of the art pieces shown outside of the logo and map.