[Orbit system] multiple GM simulationism (long)

[KingstonC]

This is the first draft of my RPG ruleset, the orbit system.
Rotating GM Simulationist RPG (orbit system)

Designer's notes: The purpose of sim play is to explore. Historically, sim play has suffered from an anti-democratic design flaw: the ability to create material to explore (which is where the fun is in this style of play) is in the hands of one person, the GM (in this game, called the narrator). This design democratizes play by letting every person at the group become the narrator. Players


Setup
To play the game you need
   1) one six sided dice for each player
   2) a way to keep track of story points, ether a paper log, or tokens.
   3) paper to keep track of established elements in the story.

Every person playing the game is a Player. A player who is in charge of making up story elements and creating conflict is the narrator. A player who's character is in the story is an actor.

Chargen
Every player creates one character, which the player portrays when they are actors. This character is defined by traits. A trait is any fact about the character that can influence the outcome of a conflict. Traits are rated Great, Good, and Average.

Each character has one great trait and two good traits, which describe ways in which your character is especially effective. Each character has one average trait which describes how your character is weak or disadvantaged. Traits should be very broad; solder is a trait, gun use is not. These traits are story elements, and should be written down.
Characters controlled by the narrator also have traits, but these traits are not determined before play, they are determined by play.

Who's the narrator?
Depending on the style of play, there are two ways to determine who is the narrator (GM).
   Scene by Scene
   In this method, the role of the narrator changes every scene. Each person writes their name on a slip of paper, which is put into a pot. People then draw names from the pot. You are the narrator for the person who's name you draw. If you draw your own name, put it back in the pot and draw again, or, if there is only one person with their own name, trade with another player. Play goes around in a circle. Each person narrates one scene, then passes narration power to the next person. You may change the person you narrate for every session, or keep them as long as the players see fit. At the beginning of each session, have each player roll a die. High die is the first to narrate.

   Session by Session
   In this method, the narrator changes every session. Each person puts their name on a slip of paper, which is put into a pot. Names are drawn out of the pot, creating the order in which players become the narrator. Once every person has narrated, the order repeats.

Player roles
The role of the narrator is to create an interesting environment for the characters to explore, and to create conflicts and problems for the characters to resolve. The narrator is in charge of describing and creating everything other than the character, although the narrator can take suggestions from actors.
The role of the actor is to explore the narrators environment, and to resolve the conflicts that the narrator creates. The actor is in charge of playing the role of the character and describing what they do. They cannot create things outside of their characters, but they can request things they think would be interesting to their narrator.

Story points
   Before play begin, each player starts with twenty story points. Story points let the player influence the stories outcome, both as a actor and as a narrator.

Conflict resolution
   A conflict is any time two players desire to see different things happen in the imagined world of the game. It is the core of the system Conflicts are resolved by spending story points to buy force (a measure of a player's advantage in a conflict) which is then added to the roll of a six sided die made by each side of the conflict. The side with the highest total wins the conflict, and their desired outcome occurs. Conflict resolution occurs in various stages.

1)intention: each player states what they want to see happen in the conflict, and what each character does to make that happen. During this part, players can change their mind about what different characters do.
2)initiation: Each player spends story points to create force. This happens differently for actors and narrators.

   Actors can spend a number of story points to buy force at a rate of 1:1 up to their total advantage allowance, which is determined by adding the adding up the allowances of each trait that gives an advantage in the conflict, minus each trait which gives a disadvantage in the conflict. Actors can spend story points above their advantage allowance to buy force at a rate of 2:1. If the total advantage allowance is negative, the actor can spend story points on a 1:1 basis to cancel the deficit. If the actor does not, the opposing side automatically gets an amount of force equal to the defict.
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|Trait Level| advantage allowance|
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|Great       |            4                 |
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|Good        |            2                 |
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|Average    |            1                 |
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Narrators get a amount of force equal to the number of actors in the scene for every story point they spend. But, the narrator must cite traits held by narrator controlled characters, or elements in the environment with a total advantage allowance equal to or greater than the amount of force they have in the conflict.

3) Execution: Each side rolls a six sided die, then adds their total force to the roll. The highest number wins the conflict. Subtract the lower roll from the higher roll. The result is the attacks damage.

4) Effect: The winning side of a conflict can force wounds, a disadvantage the character takes as a result of conflict, on an opponent by spending damage two times the advantage allowance. The losing side of the conflict can continue the conflict by spending a number of story points equal to the damage. The losing side can also buy off damage by taking wounds, disadvantages the character takes in the fight. A wound can buy a number of damage points equal to it's advantage allowance. If the damage is soaked, players go back to stating intention, and another round begins. If the losing side does not soak the damage, the winners intention occurs.

At the end of a conflict, all players get back half of the story points spent in the conflict. The rest of the story points are lost.

Reward: At the end of a session, all players vote for another player who deserves special recognition. Each vote gives 5 bonus points to the player who receives it. Bonus points are like story points except you to not get them back after they have been spent.