Designing an adventure game system is a lot of fun for me. This is the design compass I'll be using for Osme:
1) Sword & Sorcery: carnal sweaty bronze age
2) Elegance: short and simple rules (think Into the Odd)
3) small Numbers: only four dice, the Rule of 5
4) incomplete: embrace of ambiguity, no rigid system (think OD&D)
The Name
Osme (ancient greek: ὀσμή) means smell, scent or stench. Fitting for my definition of Sword & Sorcery.
Does the Os stand for Old school, like in the OSR? Maybe.
OSME is also a representation of the four dice.
I want the attributes to refer to actual body parts, not just abstract concepts, since it is much more fitting for the Sword & Sorcery genre.
Strength/Constitution becomes Torso
Dexterity becomes Limbs
Intelligence/Wisdom becomes Brain
Charisma becomes Voice (to signify the social power of being heard)
How do I roll these? I don't have the classic 3d6. I do however have d4+d6+d8, which gives quite a nice spread. Try for yourself.
But 3-18? Those numbers are getting big. Let's just use d4+d8 for 2-12, average is 7. Much better.
It would be easy and more popular to use modifiers and build a roll over system. BUT I do not like to think of target numbers. So I rather let the PCs roll against their own body. A d12 roll under system it is!
If rolling equal to your organ is a success, I don't want to specify (embrace of ambiguity). The Dungeon Mistress should decide for herself to tweak the difficulty for her players. Maybe she will rule it's a success but with a consequence.
For now let us finish with Hit Points. They will become Blood. Blood gets spilled in a fight, it's a nice representation of taking damage. Since the PCs always die on me, I will grant them:
Blood = Torso + 3 (5-15, average is 10).
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