In this the last of three retroactive designing the game dev logs I wanted to share the decision-making and process that led to this game having something resembling a traditional Character Sheet including the use of Stats, Experience as a Resource, and the development of the Power Words.

As mentioned in the first of these posts "The Original Draft" I had at one point considered not including a dice mechanic with a Framework for players to describe an action, leaving the GM and Players to decide for themselves how to establish the target difficulty and resolve the action. Similarly, I wasn't necessarily sure there would be character stats and abilities like a traditional RPG. Characters would be something closer to a profile that players use to determine what actions they can do better than others. Having later arrived at a dice system it made more and more sense to design rules that would incorporate elements such as Stats.

Wanting to keep the flavor of the game as generic as possible the core abilities needed to be something that can be relevant in any genre but be easily distinguished between each other based on our common assumptions. Mind, Body, and Spirit eventually fit the bill. I don't believe I came up with the specific bundle of three terms myself, but I've long forgotten any game I might have borrowed the terms from. For the additional fourth stat, Willpower, I was specifically influenced by the video game Banner Saga which was always intended to be a resource pool to use to increase your odds of success.

In addition to a player's Stats, in lieu of Classes and Archetypes came the idea of Power Words. Referring back to the concept that the character sheet would be more like a Profile of what they are good at players would choose descriptive words that if relevant to an action would increase their odds. Similarly, the idea of character flaws felt like an important inclusion and the Power Words was the perfect fit for including that kind of intrigue into the mechanic of action resolution.

In order to provide a means of Character Advancement, XP seemed like a solid choice, especially if there was a clear and explicit manner to gain XP. Simply giving a point of XP every time you roll for an action encourages players to engage with the rules. As a personal flourish, I really liked the idea that if you're getting XP often enough, it would be interesting to also allow players to spend XP in encounters to augment their rolls. If something they wanted to accomplish was important enough they could forego a small amount of their own character advancement to ensure their success. 

Below are the final original design notes regarding character creation, stats, and what a character sheet might look like. 

U.A.S. Building Characters

Stats AKA Wounds and Will

There are Three Basic Stats and Two Resource pools for each character

Mind, Body, Spirit, Willpower, Experience

Mind, Body, and Spirit are Character traits that also double as your health or well-being. When creating a character you assign each a number from whatever stat generation method is available and you track each individually like you would HP. For now, let’s say each is 3.

Willpower and Experience Are resources you can use to buff your actions and to Renew and Advance your character. Willpower has a stat number just like Mind Body and Spirit that can be spent and depleted without harming you and is restored after a rest, while Experience is a pool that you add to as you play the game and spend on advancing your character. 

  Taking Damage

Generally, attacks deal up to 3 wounds. Each wound of an attack goes into a specific Stat. If one of your stats is full then you are considered Wounded which adds difficulty to your actions. While one stat is full if you take more wounds they are applied to another stat. If a second stat is full then you are Maimed which results in a Permanent Injury. If all three stats are full, you die. 

Healing Damage

If you can reasonably describe an action that would heal you or another character such as casting a spell or drinking a potion you can heal wounds. Alternatively, you can spend 1 point of Willpower to restore 1 point in the stat of your choice. If you are Wounded and then healed, the additional difficulty to your action goes away. However, if you are Maimed, your permanent injury does not go away. 

Increasing Stats

At any time, You can spend an amount of Experience to increase a stat by 1. Experience can also be used to buy additional Signature Actions and Words of Power.

Straining to Succeed

When taking an action you are desperate to succeed, you may spend Willpower or Experience to buy additional success. Alternatively, you can Strain to take any number of wounds to a single stat (Given that you can reasonably describe why that stat) and gain a number of successes equal to the damage taken. [potential rule: You only take 1 point per success when you choose to Strain before rolling for your action, or, 2 points per success after you’ve rolled a failure to change the result].

Signature Actions

When creating your character, using the Universal Action System, predefine 3 Signature Actions approved by your GM that will have additional advantages when performed. Additional Signature Actions can be bought with Experience and are defined and discussed with the GM for their approval. 

These Actions could be interpreted as a wizard’s most practiced spells, a battle master’s muscle memory, a Bard’s set list, a diplomat’s debating theory, etc. 

Words of Power

A word cloud to describe your character and the kinds of actions you will take, in addition to Signature Actions, these Words make up the bulk of your character specialization. Let’s say you start with 5 Words. Whenever you attempt an action, if you can reasonably tie 1 or 2 words to your action you gain advantages or successes. 

Additionally, perhaps this word cloud could be split up into two groups of Positive and Negative words or narratively your character's Strengths and Faults where Faults can be referenced to add difficulty to your actions. Perhaps you would be required to name one Fault for every two Strengths you add to your character.

Potential Character Sheet Layout

Level-less Experience

Gaining XP Succeeding:

Get 2 XP per successful action roll Learning from failures: Get 1 XP per failed action roll Tally your XP as you go. Spend your XP to increase stats, expand your actions, and add advantage to rolls. Treat XP like a resource pool. Don’t keep a running total tally, once you spend XP it’s gone and is now reflected in your character.