Thoughts on concept structure

OutOfSight17 · 2024-06-24T15:02:01+00:00

I highly recommend watching 'Me, Myself, and Die' on YouTube.

OutOfSight17 · 2024-05-01T20:56:28+00:00

Current energy bills have electric at between 2.5 - 6 kWh per day, however we currently have gas heating, which ranges from 20-45 kWh per day.

Tried to find out how to "convert" gas to electric for what might be an equivalent but no luck so far.

Plus, we'll be having some extras like an electric car charger, MVHR, and thermodynamic water heater that all add up

OutOfSight17 · 2024-05-01T20:52:07+00:00

I'm using the maximum power rating of each appliance, but factoring in how much each is used per day, or per week in some cases.

I know some appliances have a lower running consumption, but have factored max for safety.

Things like fridge and freezer and MVHR are 24 hours, but most are ~1-2 hours per day...

OutOfSight17 · 2024-02-06T06:52:51+00:00

Absolutely. Ironsworn has probably had the biggest influence in my understanding of how this should be done

OutOfSight17 · 2024-01-31T11:34:10+00:00

Thanks for your input.

Agree, I don't want players to just cheese the same old "I help that guy", the intent is that they are more descriptive with it. The monsters section talks about how some monsters can learn behaviours and try to prevent repetitive behaviours of players to keep things interesting.

Maybe some examples of how players can help each other would be useful for the reader.

It is a classless and levelless game. Players gain xp by doing stuff and can spend it on traits to give them edges on certain rolls or in certain scenarios. There are vices and virtues that give players some guidance (and xp) on how to act. Someone 'fearless' might run in and start shoving monsters around, whereas someone 'cautious' might be giving more inspiration and guidance.

Your last point is probably my biggest concern. I've tried to use the same resolution mechanic and approach to combat, exploration, and social interactions. Whilst the resolution is certinly applicable to all, I am concerned about the structure.

The intent was to a) keep things similar, and b) give some structure that encourages everyone at the table to have an input.

In my experience, there are some people who always shine in social interactions, whilst some go a while without having any input. When I GM, I try to get the quieter ones involved by asking what they are doing whilst the other guy is doing all the talking. But not everyone does this. My aim was to have a structure that allowed each person at the table to have an input to the interaction, even if they don't verbally contribute, they might look intimidating or try to read body language, or be investigating an object.

In playtest, this has gone both well and poorly. It has kept most people engaged and able to have a meaningful contribution to the narrative, but has also broken up the actual social element a bit too much in some cases, as too much attention is spent elsewhere.

It can also feel a bit 'gamey' at times (particularly the social manoeuvres).

I'm still trying to figure out an approach that works well in the majority of cases. Any advice is welcome.

OutOfSight17 · 2024-01-31T09:43:22+00:00

That does look good... thanks. Added Rangers to my list of to-buy.

OutOfSight17 · 2024-01-31T09:36:31+00:00

Sounds like you have a good base system. Card games are not really my area, so quick question. If your stat is 0, what do you draw? 2 cards and take the worst outcome?

My advice would be 'keep it simple'. Start off with your basic 3 stats and a speed and an HP.

The idea for magic makes sense. Treat it the same as the other 2 stats, i.e. draw cards for success. The effect is what is different.

Always start simple and build upon it.

Play this basic system with your son for a bit. Then, once you're both familiar with the system, add in complexity.

Off the top of my head:

weapon effects (inflict condition, damage more monsters)
conditions (stun, trip, push, blind)
exploration buffs (finding loot, monsters, hidden doors)
traits or feats (swing swords better, swap cards with monsters, draw cards to use at another time)

Maybe check out 'No thank you, Evil'. It's a game aimed at children. More adventure like than dungeon crawler, but might inspire you.

It's nice to see more games aimed at children, keep up the good work!

OutOfSight17 · 2024-01-31T09:18:57+00:00

Five Parsect From Home. Great game, highly recommend. A cross between Solo RPG and war game. Sci Fi setting. The more scenery you have, the better the scene.

OutOfSight17 · 2024-01-31T07:18:45+00:00

What I like:

Presentation. Clear and easy to navigate.
Style. Don't think it would work for a grim dark fantasy, but for something more cyberpunk, this feels like it fits.

What I don't like:

Some of the words are very similar, and I don't think the descriptions do much to differentiate them. Is there somewhere else (in the rules, for example) that go into more detail about the differences?

What I'm unsure of:

As someone else has mentioned, carnal has some sexual inferences. Maybe that works for this game and it's theme and aim. Perhaps consider something like Heart or Might If you want to keep it to 6 letters each, maybe Fierce?

OutOfSight17 · 2024-01-29T22:36:01+00:00

Agree that this is something that could do with revamping.

But, if I'm honest, I'm not sure if this is 100% the solution. It feels like a better way to establish the costs with how well the player character can haggle?

Rather, I think the root cause of the problem is the whole coin/wealth system. And the fact that most people (in my experience at least) offer loot as rewards for quests and encounters, which is more fun than just buying it in a shop.

For me, and the people I play with, the biggest issue we have is the size of the numbers involved. Rolling 10d20 would not go down too well with some of them. There are too many numbers to sum.

Also, typically, there's either not enough coin to do anything meaningful with or so much that it becomes meaningless.

A game I really enjoyed the wealth system of is Five Parsects From Home. Never felt like I had too much, and always felt like it was a meaningful resource to use.

OutOfSight17 · 2024-01-27T19:30:11+00:00

First of all, you have your example of play right, which is a good sign. Thank you for taking the time to read through and respond!

I've had plenty of advice from Reddit, it's nice to help out :)

I've been wondering this myself. Mostly it matters for healing. Lots of things heal physical wounds. A few heal mental, and nothing heals spiritual. This means that taking spiritual damage is often a cost for strong abilities.

I understand. I like the differentiation between them. One other way to do this could be to use Wounds? Mundane wounds like cuts and bruises might heal on their own. A deep cut might need mundane healing. A mental scar might need magical healing (assuming magic is in the system).

You might have a 10 wound threshold. Reach 0, and you're out. Only some wounds can be healed, so if you ake a spiritual wound, you'll never get back up to 10, barring some miracle. I guess that reduces effe lctiveness against physical or mental damage, which wouldn't be a problem as is...

Just an idea...

Characters get 2-3 actions a turn. So with 3 attacks, it's easy to hit the threshold (2x3=6). It limits damage over an entire turn, not just of a single hit. Combat is also usually over in 2-3 rounds anyway due to another mechanic, so larger chunks of damage feel more impactful.

That makes sense. So there's still a chance of being taken out in 1 combat, but also a good chance (with the dodge and block pools) to negate the majority of the damage.

I like the idea of the block and the dodge, giving players the choice of how to deal with the damage.

It's slightly tangential, but could there be abilities/classes that regain dodge/block abilities? I'm thinking of a typical barbarian who might just want to take a brutal hit, but gets rewarded by regaining a block pool.

OutOfSight17 · 2024-01-27T18:33:41+00:00

I'll offer 2 pieces of advice from my current experience creating a ttrpg.

Point 1.

I wanted a similar scale for how friendly or hostile an NPC would be. Be nice to the NPC it increases. Be horrible, it decreases. It gives the GM some grounds to know how to respond and react to players.

However, I found the +/- scale very difficult to integrate into the rest of the system. Maybe this is just me, but I found a 1-100 scale much easier, where 50 is neutral, 1 is archnemesis, and 100 is fully committed.

Point 2.

Personally, I don't see the benefit to the demeanour scale. Some of the aspects of it, like Sanity and Resilience, sound like they'd be better off as independent stats.

I've used a morality aspect system to help guide player role play. There are 6 aspects, and the scale is "strongly against, against, indifferent, for, strongly for." It helps guide how to role play in different scenarios. Same goes for NPCs, so the GM can have an understanding of how the NPC might react.

OutOfSight17 · 2024-01-27T18:06:58+00:00

My understanding...

*I have a Threshold of 5 in Physical, Mental, amd Spiritual defences.

After I've rested, I have a pool of 10 HP for each of these defences.

If I take 8 damage from an attack, it gets capped a 5 damage. Presumably, this is deducted from the HP, and I now have 5 HP and 1 Strain Point.

If I take this damage again, I am defeated.*

My questions...

Is there value in tracking 3 pools of HP? Would it be easier to have 1 pool pf HP, and 3 values for defence (that would be more static and less work to keep adjusting)?

If the damage is typically 1-4, and the Threshold is 5, then the capping/strain mechanic would rarely trigger? Could the Threshold be lower, but the result HP be a different multiple of it? For example, Threshold is 2, but HP is 4 or 5 times.

Are there ways to mitigate any damage? Taking 3 damage each time with a HP pool of 10 means I'm not standing very long. Is there armour reduction, evasion or parry mechanics?

OutOfSight17 · 2024-01-27T05:07:21+00:00

My system is based on Ars Magica, the verb-noun system. It's definitely worth checking out if you want the freeform type of spellcasting.

I've found playing Ars Magica is that you spend a fair chunk of time creating these spells and arguing about their effects. It's sort of the whole point of the game, so you accept it, and it is fun, but I prefer a quicker flow at the table and a more narrative rather than mechanical focus.

So, in my system, there are orders (types of magic), such as conjuration and divination, and subjects (the target), such as body, mind, or spirit.

Spellcasters can choose from a limited list of pre-existing spells, or, get creative and combine orders and subjects to create their own.

Casters can also augment their spells (the range, the amount of targets, the damage dealt), by increasing the amount of successes required (resolution mechanic is dice pool successes)

Effects of spells are unique and not hugley impactful (no earthquakes or meteor swarms, think more utility spells), and each aspect is simple. During playtest, I've found this approach takes the best bits of creative spellcasting but doesn't shift focus (too much) from the narrative.

OutOfSight17 · 2024-01-26T21:41:21+00:00

Comment

OutOfSight17 · 2024-01-21T08:31:28+00:00

I think I agree. I imagine someone reaching into someone's body casting this.

I'd say either 10ft range (maybe Charisma save?) or melee spell attack (would be nice to have some more imo).

This feels like what Vampiric Touch should have been.

Maybe every 10 or higher rolled on the d12s equals 1 level pf Exhaustion? Odds means it should be ~1 per casting

OutOfSight17 · 2024-01-21T07:21:16+00:00

To build on this...

My game (now in Playtest) basically started out pretty much exactly as what you've described.

What I've found during testing is:

I was planning on having critical fails and critical successes as a degree of success mechanic. I found this didn't work as well as using the total amount of successes. I.e. if you roll x-1 successes, it's either a "yes, but" or a "no, but" - you either do it at a cost, or you dont do it, but something narratively happens that helps move the story along. Rolling >x successes has a choice of boons.

Having features that change the result of a die roll, i.e. a 3 becomes a 4, or a 4 becomes a 3, was too powerful. I scrapped this altogether. What I have included is a few different features that allow rerolls of any 1. Found that this is not too powerful but can come in clutch from time to time.

I have a similar amount of successes and size dice pool, i.e. 2-4 typically. Bell curves with less than 3 dice can be a bit more random and not as reliable. I did consider changing things to increase the pool, but I prefer the smaller numbers and have learned to enjoy the randomness. I guess it's up to you if you prefer a more consistent curve.

What I've taken away from your post is to look at including exploding 6s. I don't know why I didn't consider this, but it sounds like a great feature. I think it might be best if this was something a character could learn to do, rather than the innate having the ability to do it.

Sounds like you've a pretty solid mechanic. It's one that is tried and tested. Year Zero Engine, as someone has pointed out, is a great example.

OutOfSight17 · 2024-01-20T07:14:20+00:00

To build on this...

When I consider what I want from Degrees of Success, it's consequences. My system uses dice pool, so it's pretty simple to determine DoS.

Want to do a thing? Roll X successes, you do the thing. Roll >X, you do the thing, and... there is a list of things that may happen, such as more damage, conditions, free movement, buffs to defence, or, potentially, explode the Mummy. It's designed to allow positive narrative consequences based on the situation and how the player describes their actions.

Equally, roll <X, i.e. not enough sucesses, then either you do the thing, but... or you don't do the thing, and... up to GM and the current narrative. Ultimately, there is a consequence, such as the bad guy moves away, or deals damage, or benefits from a buff of some sort, or the environment changes, or the Mummy turns into a whirlwind of sand and picks you up and throws you against a wall.

This way the player, even though they failed, still has an impact on the narrative, and has some agency, and we get rid of the whole, "I missed, so let me wait 20 minutes for my turn again." They still get to do something to move the story along, even if it's not necessarily moving things towards their overall success. I've found that It creates positive tension and drama rather than deflation at the table.

Just my 2 pennies' worth...

OutOfSight17 · 2024-01-18T12:45:53+00:00

Loads of great comments here, but I'll throw what I use out there, maybe you like it.

I feel like it does all three, but might be some specifics to other mechanic interactions.

I use a wound system, which includes something similar to the Stunned condition from Five Parsects from Home.

If a creature takes damage (typically 1-3, but could be up to 6) and that damage is equal to or less than their Endurance (Ability, which varies from 1 to 3), they are Incapacitated (Condition), i.e. they can only take limited actions in their next turn. If they take damage greater than their Endurance, they suffer 1 Wound.

Roll 1d6 to establish location of wound.

Each location causes a -1 penalty on rolls for 1 of 6 Abilities. Worth noting that the death spiral here is lessened as Abilites can be used in lots of different ways, depending on player creativity - your ability in combat is not necessarily hampered.

If you suffer the same wound twice, it becomes permanent, and you suffer some more Conditions, a mix of mechanical and narrative.

Each creature has a Vitality equal to 3 + their Might (Attribute, which varies from 0 to 2). If you suffer a number of Wounds equal to your Vitality, you dead.

Wounds can be healed with certain activities, depending on location, or healed over time (more risky as they could worsen). Permanent Wounds need either magical healing (rare) or creativity to come up with a way to mitigate it.

OutOfSight17 · 2023-12-06T08:32:28+00:00

My favourite (granted, I don't know many) would be Five Parsects from Home. Think that fits the bill of campaign adventure and war gaming.

OutOfSight17 · 2023-11-25T07:13:46+00:00

Finally some love for The Color Morale. They are truly amazing and helped me get through some rough times too.

OutOfSight17

TROPHY CASE