Philsys manifesto

The Philsys Manifesto is a document that explains the goals, aims, and beliefs of Archmage regarding the Philsys system. It is at least partially intended to explain his decisions and opinions regarding the system, changes to the system, the function of the system and the purpose of the system.

The Manifesto

• Form and Function: The rules of Philsys are structured to create complex characters for storytelling purposes. Most character definition happens off-sheet and outside of the boundaries of the system, and a character's numerical skills and abilities are intended to represent their boundaries accurately with as few constraints as possible. Game balance is secondary to faithful reproductions of character concepts. The system encourages RP if the GM does.

• Theorem 1: Philsys is never finished.
  • Corollary 1.1: The current Philsys version is not Philsys 2.0. We are still playtesting Philsys. It just happens to be working.
  • Corollary 1.1.1: Adding multiple attacks to Philsys does not necessitate a new version number.
  • Corollary 1.1.2: The next revision made to Philsys will not make it Philsys 2.0, either.
• Theorem 2: Philsys is a cinematic simulationist system.
  • Explanation 2.1: According to GNS Theory, a simulationist player plays to explore and experience the game. He does not play to "win" (for the sake of the game itself). Players are rarely divisible into such clear-cut types, but systems do their best when they focus on making one type of player happy.
  • Explanation 2.2: Cinematic simulationist systems focus on modelling an environment, sometimes at the expense of ease of use and frequently at the expense of "game balance." The purpose of a cinematic simulationist system is not to perfectly model a realistic world; it eschews numerous small details in favor of dramatic flair. It is intended to be fairly realistic without eliminating the possibility for heroic roleplaying.
    • Explanation 2.2.1: Philsys is incredibly arbitrary, but for some reason, it works. As long as the premise is "create a system where people can do cool stuff," I believe it will continue to work.
  • Explanation 2.3: Being cinematic simulationist means being willing to make compromises. Taking ten minutes to resolve an attack is not worth the "advantage" of knowing exactly how deep the laceration on your enemy's left antebrachium is and whether or not that one more point of damage would have exposed his radial vein.
  • Explanation 2.4: Being cinematic simulationist means that the answer to the question, "what usually happens with people without guns go up against people with guns?" is not always easy.
  • Explanation 2.5: RPing is not concerned, generally speaking, with the lives of the commonfolk--it is concerned with the lives of adventurers.
  • Explanation 2.6: Philsys is designed to be incredibly stylish.
  • Explanation 2.7: Rules that make things overly complicated should be avoided.
• Theorem 3: Philsys characters are custom-tailored to their players desires. Players can create whatever they wish and have it described by some set of numbers. Anything reasonable can be a skill. Anything reasonable can be a spell or tech. The only limit is imagination.
  • Corollary 3.1: Philsys characters should never be confined to character classes.
  • Corollary 3.2: Philsys characters should have the opportunity be mechanically interesting, even at level 1. Consider how identical d20 characters of the same class are at first level, even with feats and skill selection.
• Theorem 4: Philsys should be useful for things that are not combat.
  • Corollary 4.1: Characters should get enough skill points that they can get all the combat skills they need and have points left over for skills that have no purpose other than to flesh out the character.
• Theorem 5: Combat in Philsys should be deadly, but still cinematic, and should require some strategic thinking.
  • Explanation 5.1: Damages from attacks in Philsys should be relatively high, especially for powerful spells. Characters should be focused on dodging attacks, not absorbing them with an incredible hit point reserve.
  • Explanation 5.2: Characters that are okay with getting hit should wear armor. Wearers of heavy armor should get hit much more frequently but for considerably less damage and quite possibly be able to shrug off attacks entirely despite taking the blow.
  • Corollary 5.1: Death should be relatively hard to reverse, but not impossible.
  • Corollary 5.2: Ganging up on targets to take them out should be encouraged. A single hero should not be able to kill an entire army of commoners that cannot penetrate his defenses unless they roll a natural 20.
    • Explanation 5.2.1: All bets are off for the commoners when magic is involved, as long as there's enough of it.
• Theorem 6: A Philsys character is not his fucking khakis.
  • Explanation 6.1: Philsys characters should not be 100% reliant on gear like some other systems force characters to be, such as d20. Magical items are still neat and shiny and GMs are encouraged to create and distribute them.
• Theorem 7: Philsys should be fun. If not, why use it?
  • Corollary 7.1: Rules that are not fun should be avoided. Who cares what the exact lifting capacity of your character is? Who enjoys keeping track of copper pieces? Why the hell would I ever roll to see if my character randomly contracted the flu on an adventure?