TG20 - Homebrew Rules

Welcome, one and all to TG20, an ever evolving homebrew lightruleset to play TTRPGs. These are the rules I use when playing my solo games and expanding the stories and characters within the world of Violem. I am constantly playtesting and adapting them so no doubt they will change at some point. Now go have a read and let me know what you think? What could be improved and how could they used to make more fun adventures? And most importantly, have fun :)

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Before we begin:

Rules provided below are an adaptation and an expansion on the ruleset Tunnels Goons V1.2 by Nate Treme. All credit goes to him for coming up with the original rules, I merely expanded upon it. Go check out them out on his Itch.Io page, its really cool Check Out Here

How it Works:

The game is simple. You create a character, plonk them inside an adventure. Then go back and forth with a game master to describing scenes and how your characters react in those scenes. There is a bit more than that of course, but this is how most TTRPG games go. From a testplay map to one shots to entire cmapaigns. But there is more details than this so lets go further down to have a look.

Action Roll:

When an action’s success is uncertain, a player can roll (1d20) and add the score from the relevant ability and a point for any relevant items. If the total is equal or greater than the action’s Difficulty Score (DS) it is successful.

• Easy: 5
• Moderate: 10
• Hard: 15
• Impossible: 20

Dangerous Actions:

If an action has a risk of danger, the players can roll (1d20) and add the score from the relevant ability to see if they hit. Then complete a damage roll (based on weapon used) to see how much damage they deal. The players and danger (either enemy or environment) take turns rolling against each other until the danger is resolved or the players reach 0HP.

Critical Hits:

If a 1 is rolled, the player has critically failed, either taking self damage or inflicting a condition upon themselves. If a 20 is rolled, the player has critically succeeded, either doubling the damage dealt or applying a condition to the target.

Using Magic:

Unlike D&D, magic is unlimited and does not require a long rest to recharge spell slots. Instead spells have a cooldown time that accumulates the more it is used in combat. E.g. If you successfully use a spell in round 1, then that spell has cooldown time of 1 round. If you successfully use the same spell again in round 3, then that spell will have a cooldown time of 2 rounds and so on.
If a spell is used outside of combat the spell can be cast a reasonable amount of times. E.g. Once per room in a dungeon or once during an encounter with an NPC.

Inventory:

Your Inventory Score is how many items you can carry comfortably. For each item that exceeds your inventory score subtract 1 from any Brute (B) or Skulk (S) rolls.

Healing:

Regain lost Health Points by spending the night in a safe spot, using healing spells/potions or eating rations during travel.

Death:

When a character’s HP reaches zero, they die.
Optional: When a character's HP reaches zero, they have a chance to return. Players roll 1d20, if they roll 11 or higher 3 times then the player comes back to life with half their total HP. The will of the character is strong even after death. Clinging onto life by possessing an object of choosing in the area.

Advancement:

Players level up every 3 game sessions. Each level, raise a class score by 1 and raise both HP and Inventory score by 1.

Abilities:

Every player character has 5 abilities which can be used to describe actions in game. When a player needs to take an action roll, they can use the appropiate ability score to give them an advantage on the roll.
Brute (B): Good at hitting things, feats of strength, breaking down doors
Skulk (S): Good at sneaking, aiming, balancing, dodging, climbing, jumping
Erudite (E): Good at reading, perception, speaking, remembering
Magic (M): Good at casting spells, enchanting items, detecting magic
Defence (D): Good at absorbing damage, resisting poison, resisting mind tricks

Conditions:

Conditions are affects given to the player, usually through combat, that affects the player during play.

• Bleed: -1HP for 3 rounds or until healed
• Blind: Disadvantage on sight based actions
• Burn: -2HP per round until healed
• Charm: Unable to attack the person/creature that charmed you
• Deafen: Disadvantage on all hearing based actions
• Freeze: -1HP & unable to move for 2 rounds or until healed
• Frigthen: Disadvantage on all actions & unable to attack the source of fear
• Good Luck/Bad Luck: Advantage or disadvantage on all actions
• Paralyse: Unable to take actions for 2 rounds or until healed
• Poison: -1HP & disadvantage on all actions until healed
• Sticky: Disadvantage on all movement based actions
• Stun: Unable to take action for 1 round

Character Creation

Name your character. Choose your race. Every character starts at level 1, with 10 Hit Points (HP), an Inventory Score of 10, 1 cantrip spell, 100g in your pocket and 2 ability points that can be used anywhere. Along with 5 items of choice. Suggestions include a weapon, a piece of equipment, a tool of some description and 2 healing items (rations +3HP) but the choice is upto the player.

Character Creation Race Table

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Race	Brute (B)	Skulk (S)	Erudite (E)	Magic (M)	Defence (D)
Sorcerer/Necromancer	0	0	0	1	0
Minauran	0	0	0	0	1
Alum (Elemental)	0	1	0	0	0
Djinn	-1	0	1	1	0
Gillan	0	1	1	0	-1
Kakorae	1	0	0	-1	1
Marubell	1	0	-1	0	1