[The Isle] - First Thoughts

[Nev the Deranged]

So, I have some First Thoughts. Actually they are only First as far as this forum is concerned, this idea is actually the tail end of a looong history of reworking and playtesting and reworking. And more reworking. Unfortunately all of the playtesting and reworking was in/for a completely different medium.

Basically, I wrote this game as an arena combat game for an online multiplayer roleplaying/social community. The only part with mechanics was the combat, the rest was handled socially or by the client program (graphics and such). In thinking about translating it for tabletop play, my initial thought was that nobody wants to play a strategic miniatures game AND have to roleplay what their character is doing in the arena. In the online gameworld, narration came naturally because that's how everyone interacted, and the dice/mechanics were actually secondary (in fact many chose to eschew them altogether in favor of freeform/diceless/purely consent based play). I offered multiple levels of resolution, each crunchier than the last. And in fact this was the... oh, I dunno, eighth or so version of the game I'd written, and a complete rework from any of the prior versions.

But back to the point, the heart of it is basically miniatures based arena combat, pure 100% strategy, where players can narrate how cool their character is all they want without it affecting the mechanics. Which, frankly, is not something I'd personally find enjoyable for more than a few minutes, and I have no reason to think anyone else would.

BUT, then I started thinking about the Color and Setting I'd tacked on just to give the players something to work with narratively, and to attract new interest (and, I'll admit, because I enjoy that kind of thing). And I actually think that what was purely fluff could be developed into a parallel/interlinked System/Situation that could be workable. So I figured I'd throw down the basics and toss it into the forum to see if it comes up smiling.

All I'm really looking for now is a "is it viable?" thumbs up, thumbs down, initial reaction. Questions are welcome.

Quick breakdown by facets of Exploration (as per Ron's GNS Essay #1)

Setting:
The setting of the game is a mysterious island that actually exists in a pocket dimension loosely anchored in time and space. It drifts around bumping into other dimensions and appending itself to them for a time. "A time" being anything from a few moments to centuries. The characters won't know anything about that when they arrive, though they may or may not find out.

The island itself begins as a mostly blank map, so to speak. Aside from the "welcome area" beaches that adventurers arrive on, the Circle in the center of the Isle, and the small living areas nearby, everything else will be left up to the players to explore, and in large part, define, through play.

Situation:
The situation is that each of the characters has been drawn to the Isle by rumors that lead them to believe that something they desperately desire can be found there. The island's magic ensures that wherever it appears, it will become the subject of legend and lure adventurers and warriors from throughout the realm.

Characters arriving on the Isle find that most of it is inaccessible to them, aside from the areas mentioned above. It is believed by those already on the Isle that success in the Circle (arena) is the key to both unlocking the island's secrets (both geographical and situational), and to attaining the desires they came to the Isle seeking. And indeed, the higher one's ranking in the Circle, the more of the Isle becomes open to you.

Further, the magic of the island prevents combat anywhere besides the Circle at its center. Anyone attempting to harm anyone outside of it vanishes, and is never seen or heard from again. Only within the Circle is combat allowed, and any wounds (even death) sustained inside last only until the combatant exits or is pulled from the arena grounds.

The kicker about the Circle is this- First, all characters are balanced within its confines, no matter what their relative power levels in their own lands. Secondly, any Stakes declared by the warriors within the Circle are magically enforced by the Isle. When prospective combatants declare their Stakes, before or during a battle, they must either accept them or forfeit. A forfeit affects one's ranking, and any previously set Stakes are ceded. The only way to kill an opponent on the Isle is to get them to Stake their life. Only when warriors declare a battle is "to the death" will the Circle withhold its usual after-battle revivification.

Character:
Characters in this game are pretty much 100% open ended. Players are free to create any sort of character they desire, from any genre or milieu, with any sort of powers. The system and situation ensure that they will be equally viable and balanced in combat. Characters can have any abilities they wish, but the magic of the Isle (and the combat rules) compensate for any devastating variance between relative character power levels. Which is to say there are no mechanical variances between power levels, everyone is equal in the arena, regardless of what their character can do.

Color:
A lot of the color will be provided by the players through their character descriptions, and their narrations about the secrets of the Isle they uncover as they gain ranking in the Circle. Not sure yet if there will be a GM or how much influence they will have over color, etc. I'm kind of thinking that consolidated GM authority is not the way to go, there's really no need.

Players can give their characters, and their characters' actions, any color they desire, and are encouraged to be as cool as they always wanted to be- and also to respect the coolness of each others' characters. Not sure if mechanical (IE system) reinforcement of that is necessary or not.

System:
Bucking the trend of "all one resolution system" games that have come out lately, this game actually has a 100% tactical miniatures resolution system for Circle combat, and a linked but completely different resolution system for intrigue and negotiation outside the Circle. The combat part is more or less done, less some tweaking and porting to tabletop. The rest of it is pretty much just vague ideas needing development and integration.

The game was originally designed and played in a massively multiplayer online social environment, with a particular set of social and technological constraints peculiar to that environment. So it needs a thorough retread for the tabletop. Or perhaps it will turn out not to be suited at all. But I wouldn't bother posting here if I didn't think I was on to something that just might work.

[Nev the Deranged]

 
Did some reading of the links from the stickies, and figured I'd take a moment to ponder and answer some of the "big questions" posed in them.

Starting at the beginning:

1. What is your game about?
I covered this some, but to boil it down, the game is about mighty and clever heroes who follow their desires to the Isle, and once there, contend with each other for the right to search the Isle for the object of their desire. I'd love to say this is symbolic of something deep, but at the moment it's just an excuse for the players to beat the snot out of each other inside the Circle and plot and manipulate each other outside the Circle.

2. What do the characters do?
Characters divide their time between the Circle, the magical arena at the center of the island, where they battle singly or in groups for Rank and Stakes; and the shifting alliances of ideology and convenience between warriors and bands. As characters gain Rank in the Circle, the mysteries of the Isle begin to open up to them, with descriptive power over the environs being directly linked to Rank, and they can explore the island for whatever they came seeking.

3. What do the players do?
I have the combat mostly worked out, it just needs converting to tabletop from online, which should be simple enough. Basically everyone in the Circle has the same options available to them, which they are free to narrate as they choose. Attacks, defense, etc. use dice, with a standard set of modifiers- basically -1 Currency for each negative (range, obstacles, being off balance, etc) and +1 Currency for each positive (being Focused, cooperative actions, etc). The rules cover strategic turn order manipulation, cooperative actions, healing, ranged actions, all the standard miniatures type stuff.

As for the non-combat part, well, that's where I'll need some help. In the online version, it was all handled socially, with no rules. As I mentioned above, Rank in the arena affects how much of the setting is accessible, as well as how much narrative power (actually those overlap significantly). I know that I want to bring the characters' Desires into play, with alliances forming and breaking based on unity of purpose, trust, or simple convenience of the moment. Forge designers have shown themselves the badasses of social mechanics, so I'm hoping you guys can help me- I dig the social stuff a lot, but my mechanical background is all strategy based, so I'm coming into it a little tenuously.

Questions? Comments? I'll probably get to more from the lists at some point, but I'd rather respond to feedback.