[Divinity] A couple of design questions

[sean2099]

Hi all,

As I review my set of rules, a couple of questions came to me. 

1.  My system for solving disputes among opponents and deciding the effectiveness of non-opposed efforts, I have two different systems going on here.  The opposed system is power or skill + d10...higher score wins while the non-opposed is "look at the level of competency and decide if someone of that level of competency can do it or not."  Admittedly, my powers are lists that have guidelines as the PC grows more competent in whatever power groups they choose.  The skills/knowledges are self-determined, as in I lay out broad groups but the PC fills in the blanks.   Therefore, question 1 is how have some of you determine the outcome of opposing situitions without using some kind of randomizer?  I am kicking a couple of ideas but I wanted to hear from some of you first.

2.  A related question:  this situition may or may not come in my game very much but I would like to ask anyway:  Initative...two people (pc vs npc or pc vs pc) want to do something first...I know there is the classic "lets roll a dice." but as I look at my system, I think it could go diceless.  I have a power list label Temporal...I suppose initative could be determined by how well-versed they are in Temporal.  Would that be a fair way to determine the order of action if a situition depended on who went first...just say lets look at your temporal scores?

Thanks,

Sean

[Miedvied]

Hi all,

As I review my set of rules, a couple of questions came to me. 

1.  My system for solving disputes among opponents and deciding the effectiveness of non-opposed efforts, I have two different systems going on here.  The opposed system is power or skill + d10...higher score wins while the non-opposed is "look at the level of competency and decide if someone of that level of competency can do it or not."  Admittedly, my powers are lists that have guidelines as the PC grows more competent in whatever power groups they choose.  The skills/knowledges are self-determined, as in I lay out broad groups but the PC fills in the blanks.   Therefore, question 1 is how have some of you determine the outcome of opposing situitions without using some kind of randomizer?  I am kicking a couple of ideas but I wanted to hear from some of you first.

You can give them some sort of exhaustible resource (points or something.) This would allow them to bid for the given action ( I might add three points to my score of "10" in asskicking, while my opponent might bid against me two points to his score of "9" in surviving an asskicking. 13 vs. 11, I'd kick his ass). This would, then, entail resource management and other gaming goodies, as well as allowing people to face off according to their scores, more or less.

2.  A related question:  this situition may or may not come in my game very much but I would like to ask anyway:  Initative...two people (pc vs npc or pc vs pc) want to do something first...I know there is the classic "lets roll a dice." but as I look at my system, I think it could go diceless.  I have a power list label Temporal...I suppose initative could be determined by how well-versed they are in Temporal.  Would that be a fair way to determine the order of action if a situition depended on who went first...just say lets look at your temporal scores?

Do we expect all PCs to have temporal? If it's reasonable two PCs would /not/ have Temporal, then that's not really a good mechanic to go by. If you expect everyone to have it, all's well then. If not...
/If/ one goes with the above point-buying method, then you could use points to bid for initiative. (At least, if you're usign a general point pool - if you're using broken up pools to fuel, individually, each power...)

[jeremycoatney]

-Hello,

1.  My system for solving disputes among opponents and deciding the effectiveness of non-opposed efforts, I have two different systems going on here.  The opposed system is power or skill + d10...higher score wins while the non-opposed is "look at the level of competency and decide if someone of that level of competency can do it or not."  Admittedly, my powers are lists that have guidelines as the PC grows more competent in whatever power groups they choose.  The skills/knowledges are self-determined, as in I lay out broad groups but the PC fills in the blanks.   Therefore, question 1 is how have some of you determine the outcome of opposing situitions without using some kind of randomizer?  I am kicking a couple of ideas but I wanted to hear from some of you first.

     The most common method is to have the players involved role play through the situation. If this does not work out for you, I don't know what to say, you are trying to create your own system here right? There is always the "wheel of trumping" where if someone is using a certain power for a certain task and someone else is using a different power for the same task, one or the other automatically works better, or the Guy with the higher skill wins, followed by guy with the highest amount of power wins, or the ever popular guy who is most experienced wins, or the guy who is the most vital wins... It is really hard to say without more information, but I guess all I'm getting at is the number of ways to handle conflict resolution are abundant, the final descision is simply a matter of your own tastes.
     You would even just supply a bunch of charts and tables which tell you what will happen in a bunch of different match-ups,  but of course this could take up a lot of space.

2.  A related question:  this situition may or may not come in my game very much but I would like to ask anyway:  Initative...two people (pc vs npc or pc vs pc) want to do something first...I know there is the classic "lets roll a dice." but as I look at my system, I think it could go diceless.  I have a power list label Temporal...I suppose initative could be determined by how well-versed they are in Temporal.  Would that be a fair way to determine the order of action if a situition depended on who went first...just say lets look at your temporal scores?

     I wouldn't try to use that system. The person with the highest amount of temporally related power is not necessarily going to be the quickest one on their feet, after all, one really good reason to develope temporal power is to make the fact you're not really a quick thinker less of a problem. Of course, if two or more people try to take action at the same time because they came to a decision at the same moment, then I guess it might be fair.
     In other situations though it doesn't make sense to me to do it that way. This might be because I don't understand your system very well, or just because I am thinking of the idea wrong, but it is my opinion. Still as people often say in this forum: it's your system, you can make it however you want, to fit the way you see it being played. Of course it's good to get other people's opinions to get the creative juices flowing, or simply to help you mull over different options for play. :)
     If I may ask, why go diceless specifically? I'm kind of partial to dice, but that's just because I'm very lucky when rolling them.
-Jeremy

[sean2099]

Hi Jeremy,

Talk about timing.  I just posted a thread asking for people to look at my pdf.  I made the assumption that the roleplaying would go along with the method of conflict resolution but perhaps I am over-optimistic.  When I designed the Temporal power group, it was a list that included powers that added to reaction time and number of actions performed during X period of time.

I am pursuing diceless for different reasons.  One, the players are literally gods but they are not on the magnitude of Zeus for instance.  I see chance playing less of a role (no pun intended) in their lives.  I thought a karma system with point buy, as miedvied suggested, fit better.  Plus, I am not using target numbers or other ideas of that nature, which would lend themselves to a fortune-based system.   My skills and knowledges have a 1-10 rating that serve as a translation of skill/knowledge mastery in an adjective format.  The powers are listed 1-10 with description of what the player can do at each level.  A real simple example, I have a power group called sensory.  Sensory 1 gives the player one enhanced (non-magical) sense group (i.e. sight).  If a creature in the natural world has it, then the player has it (telescopic vision, low light vision, etc)  There are powers that counter each other, hence the need for a mechanic representing effort exerted.

Again, I have a pbwiki site now....http://agesgaming.pbwiki.com/Divinity.pdf

I appreciate any input you may have for me.

Thanks,

Sean

[jeremycoatney]

-Hi Sean,
     I'd love to give you some input, but the site seems to be missing the PDF that's supposed to be there, or at least it didn't show up when I looked.
     I can say, however, that generally I think you make a good point about dieties and chance. Typically, by definition, deities are above the normal influences of the world, and luck plays a much lesser role in their existence. Often they are the ones manipulating the luck and chance of other people's actions.
     Well, if you can let me know when the PDF is up I will take a look at it and give you some better feedback then.
-Jeremy