The Forge Archives

Worlds of Honor is the working title for an RPG based off of the Honor Harrington universe.!

The Power 19

1. What is your game about?

The game is about naval officers and marines in the universe of Honor Harrington, with some support for other character types (diplomats, spies, commandoes), all living and acting out against the backdrop of the first Manticore/Havenite war.

2. What do the characters do?

The characters are military personnel or other "action-adventure" types.  Usually they have subordinates they're commanding and worried about as well as interacting with one another.


3. What do the players (including the GM if there is one) do?

The players try to further their personal goals for their characters while overcoming story obstacles/barriers and character traits/deficiencies that can hinder their goals, working with the GM to make a story from the elements of character and plot.


4. How does your setting (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about?

The setting is based on, for all intents and purposes, Horatio Hornblower in Space.  There are exciting things to do, and the characters are there to do them, while the tides of war wash over the Haven Sector.


5. How does the Character Creation of your game reinforce what your game is about?

Character creation is fast; most of the characters in the Honorverse are archetypal, and the system is modded from the old WEG D6 engine, making character creation rapid.


6. What types of behaviors/styles of play does your game reward (and punish if necessary)?

The game's primary play style is geared around setting personal and group goals and working/playing to achieve them, by use of Dramatic Hooks.

7. How are behaviors and styles of play rewarded or punished in your game?

The currency for both in game ability boosts and character growth are Dramatic Hooks, which are a variation on Spiritual Attributes from The Riddle of Steel.  The Mission Goal is a Dramatic Hook that's shared by all members of the party.  Powers cost Dramatic Hook dice to activate, Complications give Dramatic Hook dice when they come up.  The Group Action/Focal Point Character mechanic turns Mission Goal dice into the driver for the final conflict in a plot arc.


8. How are the responsibilities of narration and credibility divided in your game?

The GM sets a scene.  Players each get to ask for clarifications of the scene before the action begins; in essence, the GM gets to say "yes" or "no" to these clarifications, which give the players some input into the reality of the scene.  For conflicts run with dice, the person who fails describes the outcome.


9. What does your game do to command the players' attention, engagement, and participation? (i.e. What does the game do to make them care?)

The game allows people who love the setting to roleplay in it; the mechanisms in the game are meant to reward behaviors consistent with what's in the books.  The mechanics are meant to reward acting like the lead character in an action/adventure yarn.


10. What are the resolution mechanics of your game like?

Roll D6s equal to your rating in a skill, 5's and 6's are successes.  Dramatic Hooks, if applicable, add to the dice pool.  Pips (+1 or +2 on a skill) are added to the lowest die.

An evocative description gets an Upshiift on the skill dice (but not dice from Dramatic Hooks), making those dice succeed on 4's, 5's and 6's.


11. How do the resolution mechanics reinforce what your game is about?

If you want to succeed, work towards goals reflected by your Dramatic Hooks to get the bonus dice.  Your Powers are driven by them as well; thus, save the use of your powers for scenes where your Dramatic Hooks are firing, so you can recharge at the end of the scene.


12. Do characters in your game advance? If so, how?

Dramatic Hook dice can be converted into Skill Points to boost skills.
Mission Goal dice can be converted into Character Points to boost attributes, or buy Powers and Perqs.


13. How does the character advancement (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about?

Character advancement is driven by doing actions that are important to your character, and/or furthering the Mission Goal.

14. What sort of product or effect do you want your game to produce in or for the players?

I want the players to really feel that they are acting in ways appropriate to the mythos of the setting, and being rewarded for acting like characters do in this setting.

15. What areas of your game receive extra attention and color? Why?

The area that receives the most attention is the Dramatic Hook mechanism and the Opposed Action sequence - they're the keys to determining both what happens, and who gets to talk about it and define it.


16. Which part of your game are you most excited about or interested in? Why?

I'm most excited about the Acts of Sacrifice mechanic that's part of the Group Action/Grand Finale scene builder.  I think it does an excellent job of giving the players interesting decisions that will have amazing impacts on the characters they play, while reinforcing the kinds of actions and decisions characters in the novels make.


17. Where does your game take the players that other games can't, don't, or won't?

I believe my game balances licensed IP with enough of the more tried and true "Indie RPG" mechanisms to bring them to a wider audience, making it, in some ways, a gateway game for the rest of the products hammered on the Forge.


18. What are your publishing goals for your game?

My publishing goals are to use this game engine (with adaptations) to do a wide range of licensed properties, publishing them with our own in-house Print on Demand capabilities for sale direct to consumer and through distribution.

19. Who is your target audience?

Fans of the Honor Harrington universe, fans of the old WEG D6 system, and for people in the indie-RPG crowd, people who want a game with Spiritual Attribute/Muses type mechanics with a more overtly cinematic tone.

One of the major design constraints is to make the die codes compatable with the old D6 engine mechanics, so players can use their stashes of old Star Wars RPG material with this.  While the method of determining successes is different, the numbers of dice in skills don't change.  Taking your old D6 Star Wars character and bringing them over to the Honorverse is as simple as counting up their unused Fate and Character points and converting them to Dramatic Hook dice, and mapping die codes to appropriate skills.