Static Rolls VS Character Sheets?

[Tiergan]

Hey folks!

 

I have some plots I'm thinking of starting on the server, but parts of them do involve dice-roll combat. I know some folks have expressed some frustration over dice-rolling because, while it keeps things fair, it also is entirely random without any attributes to kind of sway things one way or another.

 

To counter this, I wanted to use an extremely awesome dice-roll/character sheet system Faolan Woodlock came up with for his events - though I've altered it to make more sense with what I'm going for and to be more compatible with player vs player combat.

 

Does this sound like something you'd use?

 

I might alter any aspect of this tweaked system to make it easier for folks to grasp and run with.

 

ATTRIBUTES

 

Each character will be assigned attributes according to their personality. Five attribute points are shared between the ten open slots that lie between two complimentary attributes. The attributes are as follows.

 

MUTABILITY

Mutability is the ability to adjust to change. Mutable personalities prefer to bend with that which they cannot control, rather than fight it. They are fast to learn the best way to adapt to the current situation. Those who identify with mutability are familiar with the currents of change, and more adept at manipulating them to their benefit. This is a dangerous game, as those who create too many waves risk being swallowed by the sea, and such manipulation can often have... Unexpected side effects.

 

and FORTITUDE

Fortitude is the ability to maintain identity in the face of change. Those with fortitude are not deterred by adversity, are capable of driving forward even against errant tides. No matter the situation, these individuals are granted heightened endurance in all regards. But brute force cannot force all locks, and those incapable of adjusting may just as soon hinder their comrades as they are to carry them.

 

EMPATHY

Empathy is the ability to identify with the emotions of others. Empathetic individuals are capable of sensing another’s true motives and feelings, and are thus better equipped to either support or manipulate them. How they decide to use this ability varies. But this influence comes at a cost, and those with high empathy are far more vulnerable to the psychological states of others or the influences of certain devices.

 

and INDEPENDENCE

Independence is the ability to operate without the support of others. The independent are less likely to be manipulated by others, and are resistant to the maddening effects of isolation. Though their own strength does not hinge on those around them, even the most self-reliant individuals will find that their potential is limited by their solitude.

 

INSTINCT

Instinct is the primal drive to act without thinking, strike without hesitation, move without fear -- the rush of tensing muscle and building emotion that guides one forward without chains. Those with high instinct are more perceptive to articles of importance, even before any such purpose has presented itself. Be wary, as not every choice made out of pure instinct alone is always the right one.

 

and WISDOM

Wisdom is the ability to sort knowledge within the grand scheme of things. The minds of the wise are quick to piece together fragmented ideas or clues. Through logic or retrospective analysis, patterns and meaning will reveal themselves. Stalwart tethers to reality may hold these individuals steady, but they will just as soon snare in the face of things their minds cannot grasp.

 

ATTRIBUTES

 

[align=center]

MUTABILITY----------- o o o o o | o o o o o ------------FORTITUDE

EMPATHY-------------- o o o o o | o o o o o ------INDEPENDENCE

INSTINCT--------------- o o o o o | o o o o o --------------- WISDOM

[/align]

 

EXAMPLE

 

[align=center]MUTABILITY----------- o o o o ● | ● ● ● ● o ------------FORTITUDE

EMPATHY-------------- o o o ● ● | ● ● ● o o ------INDEPENDENCE

INSTINCT--------------- o o ● ● ● | ● ● o o o --------------- WISDOM

[/align]

 

Be as true to your character as possible, but never forget that all things come at a cost. There are pros and cons to every attribute; An attribute that saves you in one roll may very well damn you in the next. Any configuration will come at consequence. I ask that you do not put all 5 points into one attribute without first discussing the matter with me. This ratio reflects a dangerously skewed psyche that will have unpredictable and likely detrimental effects on the campaign.

 

[align=center]____________________________________________________________________________________

 

Attributes also define your characters health, energy, and sanity.

DO NOT simply choose your stats to min-max. Choose them according to what fits your character best.

 

Determining your character's...

 

HEALTH

Your character's vitality. Health = 10 + (2 x FORTITUDE) When another character heals you, the amount you are healed for is determined by your MUTABILITY.

 

ENERGY

Spent in attempts to use an artifact or artifact fragment. Energy = (2 x INDEPENDENCE)

 

SANITY

Mental stability. This decreases with every successful use of an artifact. Sanity = (2 x WISDOM) When another character heals you, the amount of sanity restored is determined by your INSTINCT.

 

MANA

This attribute is strictly for healing as I know several healers like to have this option during events. The number of times you may heal others in battle is determined by your EMPATHY. You can either restore Health or Sanity, but not Energy. Mana points are not a factor in magical combat, you can use as many offensive spells as you like.

 

Please note: Hitting 0 in Health, Energy, or Sanity is not necessarily a total loss. In fact, you may unearth hidden aspects of the story you otherwise would not have been able to access. As Faolan often says in his campaigns: "Death is not always the end."

____________________________________________________________________________________[/align]

 

COMBAT

 

During combat, you select ONE attribute as the driver of your attacks. That attribute determines the number of rolls you use in your attack. As an example, if you have 4 FORTITUDE, and you use that as your attack stat, you roll 1d20 4 times. (Don't use 4d20 in rolz.org since it just adds them all together like a derp. :C )

 

When defending, you must use the stat opposing the one your adversary used against you to counter. So if you were attacked via FORTITUDE, you must counter with MUTABILITY. When defending, every roll that is higher than one of the rolls from your adversary nullifies one blow.

 

If your character takes a single hit, they lose 1 HP.

 

ALTERNATIVE VERSION

 

Mutability --- Fortitude is swapped out for Magic --- Physical. Slots 1-5 symbolizes your level of experience in addition to your level of defense magic or melee.

 

5 - You are a master of a particular art of magic or war / Highest level of defense against magic/melee

4 - You are highly skilled or extremely experienced

3 - You are competent

2 - You are learning to hone your craft.

1 - You are a novice. / Lowest level of defense against magic/melee.

 

Players are not required to spend all points and can spend UP TO 6 points in Magic or Physical. This means you can dump 5 in one attribute, but there will always be 1 in the other. (Just so that you're not totally incapable of defending yourself against a specific type of attack, unless you feel like it suits your character.)

 

Combat would be replaced by you using your Magic or Physical stat to determine rolls.

 

Rank 5 Physical means you get 5d20 (all rolls added together to one). You block Physical attacks with your Physical Defense and Magic attacks with Magic Defense. This means mages are naturally better at fending of magical attacks while warriors are more adept at warding off physical attacks.

 

 

[Roswyn]

I would be all for a system like this provided everyone involved agrees to it and knows exactly what the limits are and why they are agreeing to it.

 

I am a fan of free form combat but I've seen some people get...well. There is no other words except "godmodey". I really only try to do it with those I trust.

 

Dice can suck without modifiers. There is no reason whatsoever the barmaid with no combat experience should be able to evade a hit from a battle seasoned character or land a decent blow on them.

 

If a group of people work out a system like this that works for them then go for it.

[K'nahli]

This all looks very cool. Characters sheets or whatever are alien to me as far as I know but this seems very interesting. Perhaps in the future I will find myself preparing something similar. I'll definitely fill this out in a moment for my own characters just for the fun of it if its alright with you(I won't post it, of course... unless you'd like people to for any reason).

 

Thank you for the topic.

[Verad]

Here's what I've been using:

 

FF-14-Fate

 

Rules subject to revision at present but some people seem to like it okay.

[K'nahli]

Oh, actually... can you have alternating values in some cases? For instance, my character(s) would certainly show more empathy for certain people even if it is against their nature in general, or perhaps even certain circumstances...

 

I guess its not entirely flexible but that is to be expected of such things.

[Tiergan]

This all looks very cool. Characters sheets or whatever are alien to me as far as I know but this seems very interesting. Perhaps in the future I will find myself preparing something similar. I'll definitely fill this out in a moment for my own characters just for the fun of it if its alright with you(I won't post it, of course... unless you'd like people to for any reason).

 

Thank you for the topic.

 

Feel free to fill it out! I know I really enjoyed coming up with mine when joining in on one of Faolan's campaigns. I liked his system because it was really simple and your character personality is what determines your attributes, which was fun to me. You can post your stats as well if you'd like to and your thoughts behind them. I mostly am trying to test the waters to see if folks are interested.

 

Here's what I've been using:

 

FF-14-Fate

 

Rules subject to revision at present but some people seem to like it okay.

 

This is *really* neat because it takes into account all of the usual stuff people actually do in game. I am gonna have to pick your brain for more clarification on how this all works for future events.

 

Though, I will admit that my goal in borrowing and tweaking Faolan's system was to create something simple enough where people would be able to engage or attack one another without a GM/DM present 100% of the time. I feel like a larger, much more dense character sheet makes that harder, even if it does a much more satisfying job taking into account every aspect of our characters.

[Tiergan]

Oh, actually... can you have alternating values in some cases? For instance, my character(s) would certainly show more empathy for certain people even if it is against their nature in general, or perhaps even certain circumstances...

 

I guess its not entirely flexible but that is to be expected of such things.

 

It's best to think of the stats of how your character generally is on the whole as opposed to how they would behave towards certain people. Otherwise the stats would swing around very drastically depending on whether you're dealing with someone you love or someone you hate.

[K'nahli]

Oh, actually... can you have alternating values in some cases? For instance, my character(s) would certainly show more empathy for certain people even if it is against their nature in general, or perhaps even certain circumstances...

 

I guess its not entirely flexible but that is to be expected of such things.

 

It's best to think of the stats of how your character generally is on the whole as opposed to how they would behave towards certain people.  Otherwise the stats would swing around very drastically depending on whether you're dealing with someone you love or someone you hate.

 

 

Ahh, okay (^^)    Not that I think I'll get involved in such plots but I was imagining being told something like "Sorry, stick with what you've got" when things would change for my character(s)' behaviour.

 

 

[align=center]

K'nahli Yohko

 

MUTABILITY----------- o o o o ● | ● ● ● ● o ------------FORTITUDE

EMPATHY-------------- o o o o ● | ● ● ● ● o ------INDEPENDENCE

INSTINCT--------------- o o ● ● ● | ● ● o o o --------------- WISDOM

[/align]

 

 

That was a little funny since only the middle bar changed from the example. Its definitely a simple and minimalist way of treating personality traits but still very fun to do nonetheless. K'nahli, being a tribal miqo'te, was scaled on her personality within her own family setting and considering hostile encounters in the desert(A'malj'aa etc).

 

Her story will start seeing her having more interaction with the outside world from this point on however, so I'll make an adjusted version for the outside world since this is just for fun and I am curious!

 

 

 

[align=center]

Version 2 - Outside Setting

MUTABILITY----------- o o o o o | ● ● ● ● ● ------------FORTITUDE

EMPATHY-------------- o o o o ● | ● ● ● ● o ------INDEPENDENCE

INSTINCT--------------- o o o ● ● | ● ● ● o o --------------- WISDOM

 

 

 

...annnnd then finally my other character!

 

 

 

Andre Winter

 

MUTABILITY----------- o o o ● ● | ● ● ● o o ------------FORTITUDE

EMPATHY-------------- o ● ● ● ● | ● o o o o ------INDEPENDENCE

INSTINCT--------------- o o o ● ● | ● ● ● o o --------------- WISDOM

[/align]

 

 

 

 

Weeeee, that was fun. Thank you again!

[Tiergan]

It's okay. You don't have to get involved in any plots to play around with a character sheet. It's sort of a fun character exercise in some ways when puzzling out whether your character leans more one way or another.

[Zyrusticae]

Dice can suck without modifiers. There is no reason whatsoever the barmaid with no combat experience should be able to evade a hit from a battle seasoned character or land a decent blow on them.

Yeah, this is pretty much the whole point of using character sheets and, well, I don't really see the point of doing one when everyone has the same point total in the end. We end up right where we started, you know?

[Tiergan]

Dice can suck without modifiers. There is no reason whatsoever the barmaid with no combat experience should be able to evade a hit from a battle seasoned character or land a decent blow on them.

Yeah, this is pretty much the whole point of using character sheets and, well, I don't really see the point of doing one when everyone has the same point total in the end. We end up right where we started, you know?

 

Do you mean how everyone has 5 points to distribute across the paired attributes?

[Verad]

 

Here's what I've been using:

 

FF-14-Fate

 

Rules subject to revision at present but some people seem to like it okay.

 

This is *really* neat because it takes into account all of the usual stuff people actually do in game.   I am gonna have to pick your brain for more clarification on how this all works for future events.  

 

Though, I will admit that my goal in borrowing and tweaking Faolan's system was to create something simple enough where people would be able to engage or attack one another without a GM/DM present 100% of the time.  I feel like a larger, much more dense character sheet makes that harder, even if it does a much more satisfying job taking into account every aspect of our characters.

 

The character sheets tend to be fairly simple, as evidenced here. It definitely requires a GM/DM, however, in order to give players Fate Points and mess around with their Aspects. I'm sure with some digging it would be possible to go without and rely on player negotiation, but that's something for another revision.

 

Your RP system as it is reminds me of Greg Stolze's A Dirty World. It also relies on balanced, opposing stats in which the growth of one inhibits the other. This version, however, does not have alternative Health Points; rather, the stats themselves are the health points. Points in one stat can slide to another based on in-game actions, and the complete emptying of a stat could result in some kind of emotional or physical trauma.  I think it's a pretty awesome system, and I keep trying to remind myself to transcribe the One-Roll Crime system from it to this RPC, so you might want to give it a look for ideas.

[Tiergan]

Your RP system as it is reminds me of Greg Stolze's A Dirty World. It also relies on balanced, opposing stats in which the growth of one inhibits the other. This version, however, does not have alternative Health Points; rather, the stats themselves are the health points. Points in one stat can slide to another based on in-game actions, and the complete emptying of a stat could result in some kind of emotional or physical trauma.  I think it's a pretty awesome system, and I keep trying to remind myself to transcribe the One-Roll Crime system from it to this RPC, so you might want to give it a look for ideas.

 

That sounds awesome! I like the idea of stats being mutable depending on RP. I'll give it a peek.

 

I should add: This system is 99.999999% Faolan's. I literally just took exactly what he made and tweaked a few things around with his permission. I can't really take credit for anything. :V

[Zyrusticae]

Do you mean how everyone has 5 points to distribute across the paired attributes?

Pretty much.

 

I mean, this is fairly useful for a number of situations but doesn't take experience or relative strength into account whatsoever.

[Tiergan]

I mean, this is fairly useful for a number of situations but doesn't take experience or relative strength into account whatsoever.

 

What if I swapped out Mutability --- Fortitude for Magic --- Physical. Slots 1-5 symbolizes your level of experience in addition to your level of defense magic or melee.

 

5 - You are a master of a particular art of magic or war / Highest level of defense against magic/melee

4 - You are highly skilled or extremely experienced

3 - You are competent

2 - You are learning to hone your craft.

1 - You are a novice. / Lowest level of defense against magic/melee.

 

Players are not required to spend all points and can spend UP TO 6 points in Magic or Physical. This means you can dump 5 in one attribute, but there will always be 1 in the other. (Just so that you're not totally incapable of defending yourself against a specific type of attack, unless you feel like it suits your character.)

 

Combat would be replaced by you using your Magic or Phyiscal stat to determine rolls.

 

The one thing I'm torn about is whether having 5 in Magic would mean you get 5 separate 1d20 rolls that each have their own individual chance of success or failure or if 5d20 should just all get added together.

 

If the former, it means that someone with 5 Magic would essentially get 4 free hits against someone with 1 Magic.

 

If the latter, it means someone with 5 Magic could roll ABYSMALLY and have a '5', which would then get beaten by someone with 1 Magic rolling a 6. It would also mean I'd basically give everyone 3 health because I have seen how long Grindstone Tournaments fights run. <_<

[Aduu Avagnar]

the latter is actually a non-issue however, as even if you are a Master of Magick^tm your magic could fail you, a slight distraction could halt your cast, they could reach you before your cast goes off. there are any number of reasons as to why the other /could/ feasibly win, and i actually find it more beneficial when I lose a roll, as I can explore those options. and whilst the probability of someone with 5 rolling that many 1's and someone with 1 rolling a 6, so is the probability that they would pull it off, if that makes sense?

[Knight Kat]

I like the idea of character sheets, and this one looked nice simple until it got to the second and third part. It seems like I may be the only one confused by a few things.

 

Firstly, what are artifact fragments? That is not explained, so it makes the whole energy and Sanity part have no context that I can see.

 

Secondly, in combat when you choose one attribute for your attacks, is that the attribute you use for every attack during the whole plot? Or just that fight? Or just that attack in that one fight? In other words, can you use different attributes for different attacks during a single battle?

 

And when it comes to rolling; the example was if you use Fortitude as your attack attribute, and you have 4 points in Fortitude then you would roll 1d20 four times, but don't do 4d20 because that would add them all up. However, if you do not add up the numbers of the four rolls, how do you use the rolls? If you do add up the numbers of the four rolls, why does it say not to let rolls.org do it automatically with a 4d20?

 

I feel like I'm missing something, and it could be that I should just avoid trying to evaluate character sheet systems this early in the morning

[L'lani Tyata]

the latter is actually a non-issue however, as even if you are a Master of Magick^tm your magic could fail you, a slight distraction could halt your cast, they could reach you before your cast goes off. there are any number of reasons as to why the other /could/ feasibly win, and i actually find it more beneficial when I lose a roll, as I can explore those options. and whilst the probability of someone with 5 rolling that many 1's and someone with 1 rolling a 6, so is the probability that they would pull it off, if that makes sense?

 

Makes sense to me. Also happen to agree with it. =)

[Myxie Tryxle]

One system I found very useful for confronting these sorts of conflicts is Dogs in the Vineyard. In that system, you can make balanced characters with very different capabilities. All the attributes a character has must be very descriptive and have a unique flavor.

 

For example, let's consider the barmaid and warrior mentioned earlier. When it comes to combat, the barmaid may have the trait "Been in a few bar brawls 2d6." The warrior could have the trait "Battle-hardened 2d10."

 

If they came to blows in the bar, the barmaid may be able to hold her own. If the barmaid additionally had a relationship of "Ferdy's Bar 1d10," her knowledge of the location and some assistance from one of the regulars would give her a fighting chance.

 

If instead they met in a dark alley, on a battlefield, or somewhere else, the warrior's superior combat experience, plus his "Family Sword 2d6" would likely see him prevail.

 

To give you an idea what an entire character looks like, here's Myxie's character sheet:

 

Myxie Tryxle – Dogs in the Vineyard Character Sheet

 

Background: Strong History

 

Acuity: 3

Body: 3

Heart: 4

Will: 3

 

Traits:

Magically Talented: 2d8

Well Read: 2d8

Clever Improvisation: 2d10

Craftsmanship: 3d6

 

Relationships: (Reserve 1d4, 3d6)

Grendar Trikhel: 1d6

Grendar’a Trikhel: 1d6

Uncle Ori’to: 1d6

Farawynn: 1d8

Headstrong: 1d8

 

Belongings:

Arcanist’s Arm 2d6

Book Collection 1d6

 

Throw Myxie into such a combat against a warrior, and her only useful traits would likely be magically talented and arcanist's arm, unless some aspect of the scene allowed her to devise a clever trap or mechanism to make use of the environment for "Clever Improvisation." Her "Well Read" and "Craftsmanship" traits would likely never help her in a combat situation, but could be quite useful in a social conflict or knowledge based skill challenge.

 

In addition, there are four different severities of conflict, and each one makes use of different base stats, so if your character isn't winning the shouting match, you can raise the stakes to fisticuffs. If brawling still isn't doing it, you can draw your sword. The fallout system takes into account how dangerously you engaged in the conflict, and you may suffer more severe injury the more you escalate the situation in an effort to win the conflict. It covers everything from courtly rumors and gossip to shaking down a merchant to barroom brawls to deadly battlefield combat. If there's a conflict with stakes involved you can roll the dice and up the ante.

 

The primary problem of this system is it requires some third party arbitration, otherwise you may end up with arguments about whether or not a trait or relationship applies to a given situation. It also takes a little practice to get used to how the system flows, but it's totally worth it. This system's focus on conflict resolution is quite revolutionary in the RPG field, and it's possible to make balanced characters who can still have substantially different capabilities based on the nature of the conflict in question. Even if you don't care to use the system, I suggest checking it out and possibly incorporating some of the elements into your own system.

[Verad]

 Dogs in the Vineyard.  

 

Yes, good, provide more indie RPGs. We're used to things like D&D and Shadowrun, but I find that the small-press indie market, with its emphasis on simple mechanics and on narrative construction, offer a lot more to the MMO RPer who wants to include dice than is the case with traditional games.

 

Another option would be The Mountain Witch, whose only real statistic is Trust - how much do you trust the people around you? The more you do, the more they can help you by boosting your dice rolls, but the more opportunities they have to betray you. Great for lengthy storylines where a few people will be together for an extended period of time.

[Tiergan]

One system I found very useful for confronting these sorts of conflicts is Dogs in the Vineyard. In that system, you can make balanced characters with very different capabilities. All the attributes a character has must be very descriptive and have a unique flavor.

 

This kind of reminds me a little of Verad's neat system and I *really* like both because they are a lot more thorough in covering more unique aspects of everyone's character. I'm admittedly a little scared of tossing in too many modifiers, because it has the potential to make things more unwieldy for when a GM isn't standing by. I also know a few folks that don't have a lot of table-top experience and they glaze over the second making a character sheet gets too complex, so my goal was to use something simple enough for them to run with (Faolan's system was super successful with non-tabletop folks because of how easy it was to understand during his campaign.)

 

What I might do is borrow ideas from Verad's Fate System (if that's okay?) and let people select/create 3 character skills that they are Fair(+2), Good(+3), and Great(+4) at. Everyone is allowed to use skills only twice per event/day. (Like the Fate Points) If a GM/DM isn't present, you have to announce OOC what skill you're going to be using and what bonus it offers. It'll run on honour system that you're not using your skills more often than you should.

 

I'll have to grab a few of my non-tabletop friends and see if this makes them skittish or if I'm being paranoid.

 

I like the idea of character sheets, and this one looked nice simple until it got to the second and third part. It seems like I may be the only one confused by a few things.

 

Firstly, what are artifact fragments? That is not explained, so it makes the whole energy and Sanity part have no context that I can see.

 

Secondly, in combat when you choose one attribute for your attacks, is that the attribute you use for every attack during the whole plot? Or just that fight? Or just that attack in that one fight? In other words, can you use different attributes for different attacks during a single battle?

 

And when it comes to rolling; the example was if you use Fortitude as your attack attribute, and you have 4 points in Fortitude then you would roll 1d20 four times, but don't do 4d20 because that would add them all up. However, if you do not add up the numbers of the four rolls, how do you use the rolls? If you do add up the numbers of the four rolls, why does it say not to let rolls.org do it automatically with a 4d20?

 

I feel like I'm missing something, and it could be that I should just avoid trying to evaluate character sheet systems this early in the morning

 

Artifacts and their fragments are not explained for a reason. People will see what they are and what they're for during an event I have planned. The Energy and Sanity stats will make sense in context with what I have planned.

 

As for combat, I'm probably going to swap out what I originally had for the whole Magic --- Physical thing I described a little further down the thread. It gives people more options on how powerful they think their character is in relation to others. (Though I might tweak things a little so that the less points you input in Magic/Melee, the more of a benefit you get elsewhere.)

 

It makes combat a lot more simple and straight forward. Basically if your character is Physical 4, and you're facing off against someone Physical 1, you roll 4d20 (rolz.org adds it all together for you) and the opponent rolls 1d20. You have a greater chance of beating out the other person, obviously, but they still have a chance of winning if you roll badly. (Maybe it was just an off day for your character. :V)

 

Your Physical and Magic stat also dictate your Physical and Magic defense. So if someone with Magic 4 is attacking you and you have only Magic 1 -- they have a greater chance of hurting you.

[Tiergan]

 

Another option would be The Mountain Witch, whose only real statistic is Trust - how much do you trust the people around you? The more you do, the more they can help you by boosting your dice rolls, but the more opportunities they have to betray you. Great for lengthy storylines where a few people will be together for an extended period of time.

 

This sounds AWESOME. I'm really curious on how the Trust stat works and how it gives people more opportunities to betray. It sounds like it really pushes things to be a lot more narrative.

[Sounsyy]

I'm all around excited for all of this. (This wouldn't happen to be part of your Ala Mhigan/Garlean plot?)

 

I will add that as someone who never did a lot of tabletop RP, Faolan's system was really easy to understand and see playing out in an in-game setting. I'm also pretty big fan of Verad's point system (I tried making a character sheet earlier for Sounsyy) but admit I got a little lost the further down the instructions I went. But that could've just been a) too early in the morning b) me being a tabletop derp. =o

 

 

My only question about Faolan's system was about Sanity and artifacts. Like supposing this was your character setup (it is actually sounsyy's...):

 

[align=center]MUTABILITY----------- o o o ● ● | ● ● ● o o ------------FORTITUDE

EMPATHY-------------- o o o o ● | ● ● ● ● o ------INDEPENDENCE

INSTINCT--------------- o ● ● ● ● | ● o o o o --------------- WISDOM

[/align]

 

Sounsyy would only have 2 Sanity, but 8 Energy right? Meaning she could only successfully use two artifacts despite having the energy to try eight. So is there another use for Energy or is it more appropriate to think of this stat as a resource you can't restore and have to manage carefully throughout the RP?

[FreelanceWizard]

If we're tossing out different system ideas...

 

As a totally different approach, you can view these conflicts as a way for people to exert narrative control in a story. Characters that are more naturally suited to be dominant in a situation need their players to exert less influence on the narrative to succeed, while characters whose success would be unexpected need more narrative influence to succeed. To make that sentence more concrete, when the warrior fights the barmaid, it takes less narrative influence and justification for the warrior to win the fight -- but sometimes the barmaid wins because that's where the story needs to go. However, for the barmaid to win, there has to be a lot more narrative influence behind her.

 

To that end, one system I've been kicking around uses tokens, not dice, and has people describe their characters in one sentence...

 

...in terms of 3 assets and 2 optional faults. For instance, the barmaid might be a cheerful(asset 1) barmaid(2) with a heart of gold(3) who's naïve(fault 1) and gets in over her head(2). Every player then has 20 expendable "tokens" they can bid to achieve narrative effects. Whenever a conflict about what happens next in the story occurs, the players can bid for free any assets that might apply (the rule being that everyone other than the bidder has to veto an asset for it not apply) and can bid additional tokens along with narration to increase their narrative "value" to resolve the conflict. They can also bid their own flaws to reduce their total but steal tokens from the other player, to be added to their pool after resolution is complete. The players go back and forth, bidding tokens associated with narration until the party whose value is lower gives up, at which point they lose and emote defeat.

 

The trick is that the tokens you can spend are limited over a certain duration (a day, a scene, a story, or what have you), so people have a strong motivation to take a fall using their faults to build up tokens to use later when they don't have a lot of assets in play, to go along with others' narration when it makes sense to not unnecessarily burn tokens, and people who want their characters to do things they're not good at find themselves with less ability to control the narrative later on.

 

An example of play, given the warrior (a burly bruiser master of arms who's easily distracted with a hair-trigger) and the barmaid might be:

W: *flips the table over and charges towards the barmaid, trying to bring his giant fists down upon her head* (bid: burly, bruiser = 2)

B: *shrieks and runs towards the door, clearly out of her depth* (bid: gets in over her head = -1, +1 pool from W)

W: *intercepts the barmaid, standing over her* "Bad, bad move there, girl." (no bid)

B: *looks around, then grabs a heavy iron kettle filled with stew and flings it at the warrior* (bid: 4 tokens = 3)

W: *falls to ground howling, his face smeared with hot stew, and utters curses foul enough to make a Lominsan sailor blush* (concede defeat)

 

An extension to this system, if one wants to add the randomness of dice, is to add a fate die that can be invoked at the cost of one token by either party to the conflict. You roll 1d6 and subtract (if a 1, 2, or 3) or add (if a 4, 5, or 6, with 4 counting as +1, 5 as +2, and 6 and +3) the listed number from your value in that conflict. Either party can invoke the fate die, but it can only be invoked once per conflict.

 

Relative strength is accounted for in this system by giving more experienced parties more tokens or assets, so they have more narrative influence. The means by which that is determined is left as an exercise of the user of the system.

 

 

[Tiergan]

I'm all around excited for all of this. (This wouldn't happen to be part of your Ala Mhigan/Garlean plot?)

 

I will add that as someone who never did a lot of tabletop RP, Faolan's system was really easy to understand and see playing out in an in-game setting. I'm also pretty big fan of Verad's point system (I tried making a character sheet earlier for Sounsyy) but admit I got a little lost the further down the instructions I went. But that could've just been a) too early in the morning b) me being a tabletop derp. =o

 

 

My only question about Faolan's system was about Sanity and artifacts. Like supposing this was your character setup (it is actually sounsyy's...):

 

[align=center]MUTABILITY----------- o o o ● ● | ● ● ● o o ------------FORTITUDE

EMPATHY-------------- o o o o ● | ● ● ● ● o ------INDEPENDENCE

INSTINCT--------------- o ● ● ● ● | ● o o o o --------------- WISDOM

[/align]

 

Sounsyy would only have 2 Sanity, but 8 Energy right? Meaning she could only successfully use two artifacts despite having the energy to try eight. So is there another use for Energy or is it more appropriate to think of this stat as a resource you can't restore and have to manage carefully throughout the RP?

 

I was thinking I might have to retool Energy and Sanity a bit. They did different things in Faolan's original version, but he also had a very different (and TOTALLY AWESOME) setting/goal for everything. I'll have to think more on what I want the system to do and figure out how I can make Energy/Sanity reflect that better.

 

I don't mind that people can have super tiny numbers for their stats though. In Faolan's campaign, Tiergan only had 2 Sanity as well, and he was always on the brink of losing it all. BUT, I was always a little tempted to just let Tiergan lose his mind, because Faolan repeatedly told us that "Death is not the end." Someone eventually actually 'died' and we learned that it unlocked a whole other aspect of the story for that person. I kind of want to mirror the same thing so that people don't entirely have to fear hitting zero in a certain stat for a day.

 

Also, yes, this is definitely for the Garlean/Ala Mhigan/Eorzean event. I'm really glad everyone's giving their input because it lets me tweak everything. Once I finalize a system, I'm going to put a friend who's never made a character sheet before through it and see how much trouble they have,