Design Goals
First let's list the mission statement for this system in order to direct all energies in the same direction. First and foremost it's not RGS. RGS is RGS and we're not looking to clone a derivative of that system. This is a ground up approach with no sacred cows. Now that we know what it's not, let's list what it should be:
1) A system that uses the FOTN Futhark rune stones
2) Must work for all types of game worlds: cyberpunk, steampunk, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, etc...
3) Numbers light (stick to 0-5) or no numbers at all (better)
4) Character creation must be narrative and immagination based/driven. That means no need for huge table lookups or charts or power/spell lists
5) GM encounter setup must be lightning fast (grab some runes, jot down some strengths and let's go)
6) unified system that handles combat, skill checks and interactions with the world in a uniform manner
7) No need for play mat, hex mat or minis (rune bag ok to keep)
8) Should be able to handle concepts like "faults", "clues", "magic", "items/power armour", etc from different genres
9) FOTN:R Runes have symbols and colours, let's leverage both in URGS
10) Looks to minimize the amount of rune sets needed (nice to have)
11) World gen system? (nice to have)
12) No GM or rotating GM? (it's an option to explore maybe)
Prototype so Far
So the beta URGS looks something like this.
First step is to determine the setting and what the 1 to 3 Traits (and resulting cardinality) may be. For example, Fate of the Norns has a cardinality of 3, the physical world, mental spectrum and spiritual domain. These Traits are assigned to colours within the rune set and the Traits have a bearing on the world and game system. So how about a horror Cthulhu world? Let's see, there is the physical world (assign to red runes), there is a major academic/knowledge/magical side to the game (let's assign that to the blue runes) and then there is sanity (that'll be green)... cardinality 3. OK let's try one more, a mechwarrior type world. Well there is the driver/operator (let's assign red runes), then there's the mech (let's assign blue runes) and well nothing else, so we have a cardinality of 2. When we have a smaller set being used, we discard the other un-used colours. Heck maybe we can try to assign 2 colours to mechs, they are just so damn versatile (maybe ships vs. land based)... you get the point.
In a final version of the URGS, the Traits and cardinalities could be preset in the rules system so gaming groups wouldn't need to do this. However the steps taken to achieve this should be laid bare so if we don't cover a world's Traits in the pre-sets, play groups can extend the list.
CHARACTER CREATION
Assuming we don't have a world generation system (from the nice to have point above), we'll continue with the character generation.
STEP 1
The GM will set the player level, and that determines their character's Essence (runes they will own). A player should then have the option to write a nice paragraph describing their upcoming character, or start with an incomplete bullet list and build it out as they play (a good approach for someone not familiar with the game world). The GM should point out that for the paragraph approach, the player needs to list a minimum X personal details that will be bound to the runes. In the point form build-as-you-play approach list as many as you'd like, and then move onto the next step. Personal details could be anything from a prior part time job of being a cook to growing up in an orc village to being an assassin for hire.
STEP 2
The players should also be asked to include some challenges and phobias in order to make a well rounded character. There should be at least one listed.
STEP 3
Once the character background is written it's time to pick some runes and bind them to the personal details. Let's work through a level 4 sample. Here is my viking background:
"My name is Kjarn and I was born in a northern fishing village in Islandia. At an early age my parents taught me to swim, fish and sail a longboat. I had a childhood friend named Gerda. She has become my lifelong bloodsister as we're adults now, and we're closer than ever. Every solstice festival, I would seek out the games of strength and physical prowess. I have become very adept at throwing axes with great strength and accuracy. However my victories have caused my ego and arrogance to grow unchecked... perhaps this is why I only have one friend. Since the onset of Ragnarok I have wandered the land and have seen many wondrous places.
OK we're going to use the FOTN Essence/cardinality setup. So I need to assign 4 personal details to 4 appropriate runes. Remembering that red are physical, blue are mental, green are spiritual, I assign as follows:
1, blue = Skills of a fisherman by trade
2, green = A close bond with Gerda
3, red = Axe throwing master
4, blue = knowledge of wondrous places
The symbols don't matter for this example and the social challnge of "ego and arrogance" will come into play later.
GM SECTION
When a GM creates a NPC, the setup is also very similar, except it's done in point form. This system even extends to inanimate objects- read on!
PLAY
Every player starts out with all of their runes out in front of them face up.
CONFLICT RESOLUTION
The GM sets the scene, player interact and any actions that are trivial just work, no checks needed. Actions that are more specialized, you just need a requisite number in your Trait. Picking a lock may require 3 Mental (blue runes). My character above has 2, so I just need to ask another player if they have at least some mental capacy to help out. The value is met, move on! I could also morph 2 runes of the same type to grant me a blue rune (example 2 un-used red runes) however I only have an unmatched pair (green and red) so no luck.
Now if I had personal detail that was appropriate I have an easier chance, I even get an opportunity to shine. So let's modify my background to state that Gerda was a master thief. Well now, I can call upon her in this challenge- she doesn't need to actually be there, but I can rationalize "travelling with her has exposed me to her lock picking techniques. There was this one time...". This gives me another virtual blue mental rune- voila! 3!
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Designer Note: This mechanic is a grat way to coax out extra narrative from the players
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But what if I want to shine you ask? Well I can "burn" (shine, get it? Gah maybe we need a better game term here) that green rune that is my bond to Gerda. Burning a rune means I flip it over. The "shine" effect can be anything playsible to the situation. You can create an area effect, teach someone a new skill that they can add to their narrative (and bind it when they get a new level/rune), you can uncover some extra clues that you may have missed, receive an omen from the gods, disarm your opponent, etc... Every genre may have their shine sandbox defined and it may be left up to the player group to define the bounds of a "shine moment". So now you have this upsidedown rune you cannot use. How do you get it back? Well when your personal phobia or challenge affects you greatly in the story, causing you to fail (you need to voulunteer the failure and it must be a meaningful failure) then you get to restore one of your burnt runes (flip in face up again).
Now on the flipside of the coin, the GM can also burn runes. The GM placed 3 blue runes out in front of them to indicate the difficulty. But the person who owns the chest also has a Trait that they are an alchemist that dabbles in poison, and another Trait that they are a locksmith themselves. So the fact that they are a locksmith adds a hidden +1 blue rune to the difficulty of the challenge, and the GM may burn the blue rune bound to the "poison" story to add an effect that the character opening the chest gets poisoned (success or failure).
DAMAGE (we can consider a better word here)
OK let's continue the example with some damage from the poison. So I can still counter the poison by possibly burning the blue rune associated with my fisherman by relating "the reflexes needed to pull back a hook at the slightest movement of the rod helps me move my hands out of the way of the splashing poison". But I don't want to lose that rune, so I take the damage. Because only 1 rune was used for the poison (more shines could have been added by the GM possibly) I take 1 damage. It's a corrosive poison that causes skin necrosis, so I choose a red rune that is face up and I place it in the empty rune bag beside me.
Damage can come in any form. The word "Damage" is used to cover any situation where you Essence (who you are) is being sapped away. You can be punched, cowed nito submission by intimidation or even have your morale sapped away by magic. The type of conflict determines the "damage" and the appropriate colour rune is put into the bag.
If in this scenario I only have face down runes left, then every point of damage takes 2 runes at random and places them in the bag.
ITEMS
Items add to the damage value. If you have an item that relates to the type of damage you are dealing, then the number of runes increases by +1. Exceptional magic items or large proton particle cannons may grant a +2. Some cases are situational... if you wear a descrated holy symbol around your neck and wish to intimidate a follower of that faith you may gain a +2 (GM discretion).
HEALING (maybe "recovery"?)
Recovering runes from you damage bag really depends on the world. If the game world is midieval Viking age with low to no magic, you may need a week of bed rest to recover 1 red rune, but blue runes and green runes restore 1 per day. If you play Cthulhu, then sanity damage *never* heals, and magic can restore physical damage or memory loss more quickly.
TIES
Sometimes situations come to a tie. One solution is to allow stalemate, and another is to have a system in place to break the tie. One idea is that the person with the more specialized story to the event wins. For example two warriors square off against one another. One has a rune bound to "war" and another has a rune bound to "killer of men". The "killer of men" is a much less broad application so perhaps that would grant that person voctory.
CONCLUSION
For a primer, this is a quick fly-by of the URGS system. Please post your opinions, suggestions and feedback in the thread below. The system seems to be generic enough to handle all types of conflict resolution, from interpersonal to person vs. environment. Once a solid rules-base is established, then other add-on features such as inter-player stories can be added. The final goal is to not only create a universal system, but also create a complementary rules set that uses the runes so that narrative improv games can use URGS and a long haul campaign can use RGS.
I'm loving the fact you kept the real time feel of getting weakened.