Core Mechanics
Our quest will function off a system using pools of d6s. Standard success on a die will be 5+ (some high end traits later on may adjust this for very specific cases) and the total number of successes rolled in that pool will be compared to the Difficulty of the test. Every test performed can have a result of Failure, Success, or Critical Success.
A Failure is any time your total successes do not meet the Difficulty of an action or test. Failing a test doesn't necessarily mean no progress, depending on how close you were I may lower the Difficulty for the next attempt!
A Success is any time your total successes meet or exceed the Difficulty of an action or test. Success means you complete the project as intended, succeed at whatever contest you're in, learn something new, etc. etc.
A Critical Success is any time your total successes are greater than the Difficulty x 2. Critical Successes will net you whatever you were trying to achieve and then something extra depending on the situation. In combat it could be extra wounds dealt to an enemy, for an action to say run a store it might be a large profit, etc. (Critical Successes for Inventing and Crafting will have special rules listed below.)
Contested tests will fairly similar with opposing dice pools rolled and the total successes compared to see who comes out on top.
Attributes and Skills
In this game there are three core Attributes that represent broad aspects of a character: Body, Mind, and Soul. Body is not just a measure of endurance or bodily durability but also dexterity, strength, coordination, and more. Mind is a measure of intelligence, knowledge, charisma, and insight into others and how to bring all of those together for the most benefit. Soul is a measure of willpower, belief, and resolve that quite literally in the world of Warhammer Fantasy represents the strength of your actual soul.
Skills are facets of each Attribute that have been refined beyond your base capabilities. Engineering for instance is a refined understanding of mathematics, alchemy, industry, smithing, carpentry, and a dozen more fields refined for the singular purpose of creating marvels of technology from the humble pulley crane to the awe inspiring Steam Tanks. Dice pools for tests are typically formed of the value of one of the three Attributes and the Skill (or skills) associated with that test.
Advancing your Attributes or learning new Skills are a long term process that involve earning experience towards the next step, each step up requiring two points more than the last.
Ex: Two experience to learn a skill, four to increase it from 1 to 2, six to increase it from 2 to 3, etc.
Engineering and You
Engineering, especially in the world of Warhammer Fantasy, covers a very broad range of topics from firearms to facility construction to infrastructure creation or even industrialization itself. It is the beating heart of this Quest and the over all focus, creating ever more advanced or bizarre wonders of technology in a fantasy world. While warfare and combat are near unavoidable in this setting it does not have to be the thing which you all choose to revolve around for you can be an engineer of the people creating tools to improve their lives, and your own.
What this means mechanically are three systems: Crafting, Inventing, and Technology Tiers.
Crafting is the act of creating known pieces of engineering and involves the systems outlined above with a few modifications. Success during the process of crafting is a bit more granular as the total successes don't simply determine success but the Quality of what you end up making. Higher Quality means a better, more effective end products such a more accurate flintlock or a more efficient steam boiler. Quality tiers can be seen below!
Quality Tiers
Terrible - Successes = Half the Difficulty
Normal - Successes = The Difficulty or greater
Uncommon - Successes = 2 x the Difficulty
Rare - Successes = 3 x the Difficulty
Epic - Successes = 5 x the Difficulty
Legendary - Successes = 10 x the Difficulty
Mythical - Successes = 15 x the Difficulty
In the process of crafting the various items you discover you will eventually acquire Expertise and eventually even Mastery with them. Each time you craft something you'll get one Experience with that item.
Expertise is gained by by gaining Experience with an item equal to its Difficulty times two and provides an bonus die when crafting it in the future. Mastery is gained by gaining that amount of Experience again after achieving Expertise and will lower the success threshold to 4+ when creating it as well as give two bonus dice.
Inventing is the act of bringing into existence a creatable or producible concept. It is the art of piecing together fragmented knowledge to figure out how to make a rifle better, to create a liquid that can burn on water, to turn a steam boiler to the task of driving a wagon, and a million other ideas. To invent is not to research a topic but to pin down a goal and to create a possible solution. Inventing is one of the few forms of actions that can and will pull from more than just an Attribute and one Skill.
Whenever you decide on an Invention you wish to create it will be given a hidden Technology Tier which will determine how difficult it is to create the simple idea of it. Afterwards you will then spend actions rolling to theorize, experiment, blueprint, and prototype an end product. Every degree of Success will provide 1 Progress to completing an invention. Once half the progress or more is achieved the total needed will be revealed!
Example: An invention has a Difficulty of 2 and you have a dice pool of 8 of which five roll successes. 5 Successes / Difficulty 2 = 2.5, round down and you end up with two progress towards the invention!
Completing the process of Invention not only brings it to life as a repeatable thing you can make via Crafting but grants you a Prototype of whatever you've invented, a unique variation of it that represents your process of making that item. Every success towards advancing an Invention will impart its final prototype with a boon and every failure, setback, or accident will impart it with a penalty resulting in something truly unique.
Finally, we'll discuss Technology Tiers which is a rough estimate of how advanced an invention or engineering work is. Each tier represents something harder to envision and build than the last as the needed knowledge as well as complexity grows. Below you'll find a list of the current Tiers, examples of what fit within them, and the progress required to create an invention of that tier.
Technology Tiers
Tier One: Invention Progress [0/5], Examples: Matchlocks, Pulley Elevators, Hand Pumps, Aeolipiles, Gliders, Basic Architecture, etc.
Tier Two: Invention Progress [0/10], Examples: Flintlocks, Gunpowder (Yes, remember in the WHFverse the secrets of Gunpowder were basically given to the Empire instead of self discovered), Flare Guns, Early Cannons, Water/Windmill powered infrastructure, Sewer Creation, etc.
Tier Three: Invention Progress [0/15], Examples: Repeater Firearms, Pigeon Bombs, Steam Boilers, Empire Fortress Creation, Hot Air Balloons, Clockwork, etc.
Tier Four: Invention Progress [0/25], Examples: Breach Loading Firearms, Empire Grenade Launching Blunderbusses, Empire Great Cannons, Canal Creation, the Printing Press, etc.
Tier Five: Invention Progress [0/40], Examples: Helblaster Volley Cannons, Steam Engines, Mechanized Textile Machinery, advanced sewage system creation, etc.
Tier Six: Invention Progress [0/60], Examples: Steam Tanks, Helstrom Rocket Batteries, Ferrara's Drilling Machines, the beginnings of Industrialization proper with Factory Creation, etc.
... Other Tiers Omitted for Now
Tier Ten: Invention Progress [???], Examples: The Elixir of Life, the Skaven Space Program, the formation of Dawi Runecraft, AKA the realm of the nigh impossible.
