The Archetype System is the core ruleset for tabletop RPGs published by Rabid Haberdashery and operates on the philosophy that players are exploring character arcs rather than static characters. It isn't about what you built at the beginning of the game, but where you are going with the story. The challenges, villains, and allies you make along the way have a role to play in your tale, and you have a role to play in theirs. One of the core conflicts that can arise in such a model, however, is that the role you have defined for yourself may not align with the role others try to cast you in.
The Archetype System is built around this narrative tension. One player is cast in the role of Fate, tracking the threads of destiny and controlling elements of the environment in which the characters operate. The rest of the players define their characters by giving them a starting point, a goal, and a pathway to the kind of person they will need to be to reach their goals. While they define the role their character is seeking to define for themselves, Fate casts each character into an Archetype, a narrative role that will put pressure on the characters as their stories advance.
The Archetype System is built around this narrative tension. One player is cast in the role of Fate, tracking the threads of destiny and controlling elements of the environment in which the characters operate. The rest of the players define their characters by giving them a starting point, a goal, and a pathway to the kind of person they will need to be to reach their goals. While they define the role their character is seeking to define for themselves, Fate casts each character into an Archetype, a narrative role that will put pressure on the characters as their stories advance.
What types of story is this designed to tell?
Every tabletop RPG system has types of stories it handles well as designed, and types of stories it can only handle well with significant overhaul. House rules and formal improv training aside, games like Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder are built for semi-linear epic quests following a team of heroes, full of combat and dungeon-crawling, with a final boss fight; Mutants & Masterminds and the Marvel Universe Roleplaying Game are designed to emulate the feel of a comic book story, the Old World of Darkness system is built for social engagement and covertly undermining enemy factions (even if some individual lines press more into combat than others), and thousands of other games have their own inherent story forms. Generally speaking, a given system works best if the story is aligned with the roleplaying style it is best suited to handle.
The way that Natures and Alignments change gameplay gives the Archetype System a certain amount of flexibility in this regard, but these are mostly in terms of genre. The Archetype System is best at stories where characters have to deal with narrative inertia; when the weight of the story itself, or the will of powerful forces within the setting, is pushing in a specific direction that affects the characters but over which they have no direct control. This is a system built for stories that wrestle with destiny, or distant gods, or history unfolding in a current that threatens to carry the party away from their own desires and goals. The great enemies of these stories may be a powerful lich or a rising warlord, they may be a god that brings drought on a whim or a war that keeps calling away the local youth to their doom, but the party must contend with the fact that this threat is being actively helped by capitalism, or the divine right of kings, or fate itself. They are stories about impossible odds, faceless enemies, unknowable supernatural forces, pushing through trauma, and/or the dangers of a world spinning beyond your control.
As such, the system emphasizes the things that define the character and carve out a niche for them over their ability to overcome external threats. Combat is not the most efficient way to solve problems in this system, though it is a valid option and its effects can endure long after the fight ends. The character's theme defines the trajectory of that character, giving them an origin, a relationship to the setting, and a current step in their journey or a goal to achieve. Their skills define the means they will use to advance their story, and they are rewarded by making these methods as focused as possible. Their occupation allows them to grow and refine themselves, equipping them to push harder against the tides of destiny and force the story they have chosen for themselves.
The way that Natures and Alignments change gameplay gives the Archetype System a certain amount of flexibility in this regard, but these are mostly in terms of genre. The Archetype System is best at stories where characters have to deal with narrative inertia; when the weight of the story itself, or the will of powerful forces within the setting, is pushing in a specific direction that affects the characters but over which they have no direct control. This is a system built for stories that wrestle with destiny, or distant gods, or history unfolding in a current that threatens to carry the party away from their own desires and goals. The great enemies of these stories may be a powerful lich or a rising warlord, they may be a god that brings drought on a whim or a war that keeps calling away the local youth to their doom, but the party must contend with the fact that this threat is being actively helped by capitalism, or the divine right of kings, or fate itself. They are stories about impossible odds, faceless enemies, unknowable supernatural forces, pushing through trauma, and/or the dangers of a world spinning beyond your control.
As such, the system emphasizes the things that define the character and carve out a niche for them over their ability to overcome external threats. Combat is not the most efficient way to solve problems in this system, though it is a valid option and its effects can endure long after the fight ends. The character's theme defines the trajectory of that character, giving them an origin, a relationship to the setting, and a current step in their journey or a goal to achieve. Their skills define the means they will use to advance their story, and they are rewarded by making these methods as focused as possible. Their occupation allows them to grow and refine themselves, equipping them to push harder against the tides of destiny and force the story they have chosen for themselves.
Character Creation
Character creation is focused on the process of defining who the character is and what role they will play in the world and the story. This is broken into three major steps: theme, training, and occupation. A character's theme is concerned with their relationship to the setting and story, their training is concerned with their experiences before the beginning of the story, and their occupation is the type of role they will serve during the course of the story.
Skill Trees
Characters in the Archetype System are rewarded for investing in more detailed training by having potential to succeed at more difficult checks. Almost every rolled ability in the game involves a skill, and skill checks are always rolled as a dice pool. The number of dice involved in the roll is equal to the rank in the skill being rolled, and the relevant Trait is added to that roll as a bonus. Unskilled checks, in which the character has zero ranks in a relevant skill, are rolled using a single d4. The size of the dice used in the dice pool vary by how highly focused the skill is.
Skills are broken into skill trees. The base skill, which is the most generalized option, is the Primary Skill and rolled using d6s. These then branch into secondary, tertiary, and quarternary skills, which use d8s, d10s, and d12s, respectively. When a character does not have a specific skill, they can use a skill they have higher in the branch. For instance, if an action calls for Biochemistry check, the character can roll Biochemistry (d12 dice pool), Chemistry (d10 dice pool), Physical Sciences (d8 dice pool), Knowledge (d6 dice pool), or Unskilled (1d4), and would pick the best option they have available. Some actions will have a Difficulty Class (DC) so high that more generalized skills, or unskilled checks, will simply have no mathematical possibility of succeeding.
Some skills may not be suitable for specific settings and should be excluded when appropriate.
Skills are broken into skill trees. The base skill, which is the most generalized option, is the Primary Skill and rolled using d6s. These then branch into secondary, tertiary, and quarternary skills, which use d8s, d10s, and d12s, respectively. When a character does not have a specific skill, they can use a skill they have higher in the branch. For instance, if an action calls for Biochemistry check, the character can roll Biochemistry (d12 dice pool), Chemistry (d10 dice pool), Physical Sciences (d8 dice pool), Knowledge (d6 dice pool), or Unskilled (1d4), and would pick the best option they have available. Some actions will have a Difficulty Class (DC) so high that more generalized skills, or unskilled checks, will simply have no mathematical possibility of succeeding.
Some skills may not be suitable for specific settings and should be excluded when appropriate.
Equipment
Equipment is heavily setting-dependent, as some things are more common or possibly completely unavailable in different places and times. Each piece of equipment has a technology level attached to it, and games will rank the availability of different technologies based on the technology level of the setting. These rankings are Unavailable, Rare, Uncommon, Common, Universal, and Restricted. Equipment restricted by the setting list the criteria for access.
Combat
Sometimes, the characters are just going to have to fight someone. While the Archetype System does not emphasize combat as the primary means of advancement, it does utilize it when the story calls for it. Combat is primarily done through opposed skill checks, in which one party rolls an attack-based skill and the target rolls a defense-based skill, with success determining the base damage.
Magic
Magic in the Archetype System, when appropriate to the setting, is designed to be spontaneous with the possibility of formalizing rote spells. This means that spells are designed on the fly when they are cast, using a series of criteria to determine the chances of success and the energy spent to cast it. The details of the spell can be recorded so that it can be cast exactly the same way again, but characters are not inherently reliant on existing spell lists. This adds some complexity to spellcasting, but offers incredible flexibility and creativity.
Fate
The gamemaster in the Archetype System is called Fate. Fate's role, as in other games, is to set the trajectory of the story, manipulate the challenges and aids the characters face along the way, and flesh out the world around the characters. They also maintain character archetypes and enforce the details of those archetypes.
Settings
The Archetype System is a base ruleset that is meant to be applied to different settings. Parties are encouraged to adapt the rules to homebrewed settings as desired, but there are also pre-made settings available to pick up and dive into. This section has information on existing settings, as well as information on designing your own settings.
