[Wagon Tracks] Power 19

[Kyle Schewe]

I am excited to be making my first post, and have been holding back until now because I know I would not have the time I would want to dedicate to answering questions and soliciting wanted feedback while in University. So I wrote my last exam today, and here I am.

I will let the Power 19 questions and answers speak mostly for themselves, but I want to add that I am looking for some specific feedback, especially since I have yet to playtest it, though I know I will also learn a lot from that (and change a lot).

-How much does the average gamer know about the Thirty Years' War? And the following question, how much content should I include about the Thirty Years' War? This is within in the context that it is more important to background than gameplay.

-What is the reasonable expectation of number and types of dice the average gamer posseses? Are the mechanics of the game excluding a large portion of gamers, or just a very minimal section?

-Would you play this game after reading this? Why or why not? What do you want to more about to convince you, or for you to make an informed decision?


1.) What is your game about?

You are a member of a baggage train following an army in the Thirty Years' War, recovering from the initial traumatic event that set you on this path. As each day goes by you try to re-establish your relationships in the past through Reflection as your memory comes back, and as they do they give you the Strength to move forwards and face Reality. As you move forwards, you must face the world, and accept it, allowing yourself to become more involved and Attached to the world, or fall to the prison of ones mind that so many others have as they drag their feet, no longer seeing or hearing, but only surviving with no hope and no life. This is within the context of present danger, as war rages on around you.

2.) What do the characters do?

They face both Opportunities and Threats at each turn that both strengthens their relationships or teaches them a lesson that builds their character (in the Personal Journal), and risks their Bonds with their relationships as they call on this Strength to face what challenges come before them, attempting to succeed for themselves, and for the whole of the baggage train (in the War Journal).

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

Players and GM, or Authors (Players) and Editor (GM), are creating a history of those in the baggage train, through individual triumphs and struggles of the characters. Through the T/O List (Threats and Opportunities List), everyone gets a chance to contribute, and chose off the list, a threat or opportunity that faces them and or the whole baggage train, and also add to this list, allowing creative input to the direction of the game through a structured way. The Authors chose which Bonds (specific relationships) to build up and make stronger, as well as chose which ones to risk. Each scene also involves a minimum of 3 characters to represent both the nature of the world and the lack of privacy of a peasant, and to allow for greater player involvement. The primary character in the scenes are played by the Author, and all other characters are played by the Editor and other Authors, who all become Co-authors (including the Editor, whose responsibility as an actor in the scene is the same as the other Co-authors) in these scenes because it is about the gain or risk of the Author's character's Bond.

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

The Thirty Years' War is the historical backdrop that a lot is known about, but which is used as a setting to reinforce the feeling, while the history and the roleplaying the Authors are invested in has little to no place in history books, and there is very little to no information on the people following these armies. Events will frame the session as a background for the Authors and Editor to work with. It allows a blank slate and way to explore the experience of fighting to survive the emotional and physical turmoil of this time period, and the relationships that people would have had with friends, family, and husband/wife/fiancee.

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

During character creation each character's relationship with 3 groups of people (friends, family, and husband/wife/fiancee OR friends, extended family, and immediate family) is ranked with different effects, and meaning to the way they are ranked and how that character is invested in that relationship (this is all background/history for the character). Each one of these groups can be a group of people, and can be faceless, especially if they are ranked 3rd, or they can be specific people. You also start off with 2 relationships you have a Bond with, with 2 people of your choice. There is a starting Strength of the Bond, and the Attachment to the Bond is set at a maximum based off that Strength (a d6 Bond could have a maximum Attachment of 6), as these 2 Bonds represent the rope you held on to tightly as you suffered, and now they are the anchor as you move forwards, holding on closely to the memory of those bonds.

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

Having well thought out Threats and Opportunities, and having a good Foreshadow, will make the game very fun and interesting. You can chose to attempt to find that happy place with your character, and try to use the system, and it would be lots of fun roleplaying as well. You can chose to try to hurt yourself, and you will still find that you advance, but much less so, and you will be left behind. Some people want to play the person who is left behind, and who doesn't make it, and that can happen.

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


Poorly thought out T&O will cause them to be ignored on the list, and a clear black mark against that idea, which should encourage more thought, and even soliciting for ideas, as I expect characters will be talking about ideas at the table, and what kind of T&O's they find exciting. No matter which way you turn, your character is in constant flux and change, and their is no way to change this, it is just a matter of the Authors choices for the character, and how they interpret events and results. Just accepting the results, and going on, would get boring though, and it is the Authors interpretation of the results that makes the game interesting, and makes it fun for everyone else. Which is why the resolution of a scene is always narrated by the Author of that scene.

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

At the beginning of each game the Authors and Editor come to a concensus on the Foreshadow, which is the event that occurs in the last War Journal of the Chapter (session). The creation of the T/O List is a shared story element which the Authors and Editor share responsibiltiy for. Narration for setting a scene is the Editors responsibility but always after the Author has put forth a Bond and chosen an element from the T/O List. In the Personal Journal, the narration of the resolution always lies with the Author (vs the Co-Authors or the Editor), and in the War Journal it is the Editor who is responsibible for narrating the resolution of the overall outcome, while the narrative responsiblitity is the same as in the Personal Journal for the majority of the War Journal.

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 T/O List is just fun, and everyone gets input into it, and the Authors can choose, and must choose, any element unused on the list when it is their scene. The Authors having to choose which Bond to grow or risk shapes the development of relationships of those Bonds, but the Authors get to choose or create those Bonds to grow or risk. Each scene requires at least 3 participants, and ensures that everyone has a chance to participate in each others scenes.

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

The dice mechanics are a bastardized version of O.R.E. (One-roll engine), which looks at matches of numbers as the successes, and the number of that match (on the dice). The Authors use d4's, d6's, d8's, and d10's (always a set of the same die size though), which represents the Strength of the bond. As the Strength of the Bond grows, it becomes better when used in the War Journal. The Editor uses d2's, d6's, d8's, and d20's (which is matched against the Authors, d2's vs d4's or d20's vs d10's) representing the growing threat to a Bond when you risk them, as you understand that you can rely on the Bond more. Attachment of a Bond can increase based on the number on the dice when rolling in the Personal Journal. Failure can result in the Strength of a Bond (die size) decreasing and/or the Attachement decreasing, while success can increase either/or.

Author vs. Editor
d4's vs d2's
d6's vs d6's
d8's vs d10's
d10's vs d20's

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

It represents the Strength of a Bond as mechanically better the larger the die size is, and the number that the match is can be used to replace the current Attachment (increasing the characters Attachment to the Bond). The dice the Bond challenges represents an increasing threat of the world, as you put forth a stronger Bond, the underlying assumption is a greater threat, and the magnitude of the situation can be represented this way. The mechanics are very closely tied to the concept both mechanically, conceptionally, and through terminology used to represent these elements.

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

While not really advancement, but still a progression/degression, your Strength and Attachment of a Bond are always fluctuating up or down, and reprsent the fluctuating nature of relationships in a time of turmoil (war), especially the Bonds you keep relying on or interacting with, though Authors can chose which Bonds to risk, and which ones to grow, though overall they should be growing overtime.
There are 2 ways to gain permanent advancement for a character, and both are gained through failure. The first is Personal History and can only be gained through a failure in the Personal Journal, while Deep Scars, which are first Scars, are gained in either the Personal Journal or the War Journal, and represents the pain not going away immediately and becoming a lesson to the character (character must choose for this to happen). Personal History advances the number of dice you have available in either Journal (your Reflection used in the Personal Journal, or your Reality used in the War Journal), and Deep Scars can permanently increase your Attachment or increase your Sentiment (the number of one use dice you have to add on to one roll).

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

The overall growth, or not, of Bonds overtime represents the health of the character, and their healing overtime from the trauma they suffered; re-establishing their past.
Failure is the only way that you can permanently increase something, because it is only these lessons which will stay with you forever. You Bonds are mutable in all ways, and can even be lost forever if you fail risking your Strongest Bond (d10).

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

Authors can take their characters in a direction of hope, or one of despair, but overall it should be about facing the world, and regardless of how horrible it is, that there are good things in it, and each character is trying to find it to move on with their life. And that the war can't last forever, that their will be a life after war.

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

All the challenges characters face are chosen from the T/O List. It is where the situation always comes from, and it is a collaborative effort by everyone, and their should often be a number of choices available to chose from, including the one you add before you choose, or choose one someone else put on. It is the biggest, simpliest, and most fun collaborative part of the game, and just the most fun part.

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

The fluctuating Bonds, and to see at what points characters risk them, and how they interact in the scenes with the Bonds, and how mehcanical resolution will impact their view on that Bond as either the memory of the Bond supports them or lets them down. Especially how their are 2 areas to a Bond, the Strength of the Bond, and the Attachment to a Bond, so you could be really Attached to a Bond but the Bond is only so Strong, or you can have a really Strong Bond with someone but not feel very Attached to them.

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

You cannot play any character who is a soldier, who is able to fight (because he would be in the army), any political/leader/noble/diplomat as they would not be part of the baggage train. You must play the other characters, the wife, the grandma, the child, the cripple, etc. and it is their relationships, their Bonds that give them Strength. This is the only 'skill' the character has, and it is the only one that matters.

18.) What are your publishing goals for your game?

I do intend to publish it with hope of a starting print run of a 50-100 copies. I am taking my time, and am in no rush, looking at having a final product maybe in a year or two. Possibly a colour cover, mabye a 4-6 pieces of black and white art work or images inside, and under a 100 pages (probably a lot less than a 100). I have already been thinking about the sister games to go along with it, since I know that playing this game with the particular slant I have put on it might be too dark to play too often. While the war aspect, while I intentionally designed away from that, can, and would, fit well with the idea of relationships. So I have already considered the same setting, and the same rules with some tweaks to the terminology for 2 other types of games that could played, which would be the Soldier and the Diplomat. Both with their own setting in relation to their roles in the Thirty Years' War.

19.) Who is your target audience?

Mature people who want to explore events behind the scenes of war torn time, where they are the ones who suffer the most from the war, and have to make the best they can out of the situation they are in. People who wan't to explore the shifting nature of relationships and the Bonds with those relationships and how it is that reliance on the past, on that one kind word, on that sagely advice, or just the memory of that person being happy, that gets them through the next challenge.

Other Info

The game does not use d20's at all, they are a representative number that means something, when versing a d20 in the War Journal, you always win because you are drawing on your strongest Bond, but there are consequences.

I am planning on starting playtest with my group in, hopefully, a couple of weeks. I will be looking for other groups in the future to also play test this once I have a basic rule set typed out, after the first playtest game (probably 5 sessions). That is of course if it still seems feasible at that time.

Funny story to end this off. I am walking along with my friend 2 days ago, he has just bought 'Monstrous and Other Childish Things', and I know it uses O.R.E.. He is reading a bit of it, and he reads that the child has a bond with his monster called a Bond. It slightly demoralized me, because that is the term I was using, and with a similar system to O.R.E., but then I realized that it is probably pretty common for things like that to happen. That terms are often used and reused many times in many systems, but are unique in each of their own applications. So I felt less demoralized.after thinking about it.

Thank you everybody in advance for giving me feedback.


-Kyle

[JoyWriter]

Wow, I think you've got a really interesting concept going here, which I didn't get from the title (I thought this was going to be a cowboy game or something).

A lost character finding a place in society is really interesting for me; I've been trying to put relationship/social identity mechanics into my games, but I think you've found a really got opportunity for making them a big focus!

Your dice system seems involved and interesting, but I wonder why you focused on different dice sizes; with a match system you can alter dice numbers much more easily and use "widths" as the main value instead. I think requiring a wide degree of dice might be a small issue, depending on how many you require. I wonder if you keep the number of dice fairly constant, this would make the smaller dice more likely to produce matches, I'm not sure if that's what you want, cause' I can't yet picture your mechanic. How does "strength of bond" differ from attachment? The first seems like some kind of "drama meter" that sets the stakes, whereas the second is one measure of success. Have I got that right? I find it interesting also how you associate healing with accepting wounds, which is an interesting and quite psychological perspective.

It seems very tightly integrated, to the point that I'm not sure I could alter it! One point that does seem a little arbitrary is the relationship between editor dice and author dice, it seems like if you wanted to shift the system in some way, that could be a point of access.

On the 30 years war front, I know extremely little, only that it goes after the 100 years war and involved Germany a lot! That and what I could get off wikipedia. I think adding in information on the time would be very useful, mainly focusing on the breakup of society and the whole emotional stuff, as well as the crucial differences between then and now which would colour portrayals. It would also be good if you could find some good sources of info that people can look up to get a feel of it, particularly from that ground level perspective.

[DanielM]

So, after a quick read through, I have a couple questions

1: Do you think you're arbitrarily limiting yourself by choosing solely the 30 years war? I feel that there are a lot of people who would not be interested in this game as is, but if you expanded it to include other similar wars, or even other similar circumstances, it could be really interesting. I guess what I'm saying is, there's no real mechanical reason this system couldn't be used for a baggage train following a civil-war army, or a wagon train moving west to Californee. Those settings would be a lot easier for me to understand and empathize with.

2: So the system doesn't use d20s. But you call them d20s on your chart. Why? Why not just put 'win with consequences' in that slot. It really confused me.

3: I don't understand how you're intending narration to work out. There are Personal Journals and War Journals, about the fate of individual characters and about the baggage train as a whole, but how do these get doled out? Play starts with one player and proceeds clockwise until everyone has a turn? How often do War Journals come up compared to Personal Journals? Once per rotation? After every personal journal?

4: Nomenclature: To me, for something to be called a journal it needs a physical counterpart. It's really cool if you're intending for these events to be journaled into physical artifacts by the Authors and the Editor, but if that's not the intent, then I feel that it would be better to get away from the entire idea of Journals/Authors/Editors and just going with Scene/Player/GM.

5: About the 30 year war I know absolutely nothing. Not a thing. In fact, when I first read your post I wasn't sure if you were talking about the actual war or a war in a fictional setting.

[Bossy]

This is completely OT but may be of interest if the 30 years war appeals to you.

You should check Wallentein. It is quite a complex board game with a nifty system for battles that emulates very well the hazard of the intensive use of mercenaries.

[Kyle Schewe]

Setting: 30 Years' War

Why did I chose the 30 Years' War? The setting does seem kind of arbitrary, until I think about it more. It represents a period of time where there is a lot of history regarding the wars and events, while at the same time there is very little to no literature on the people it most affected as individuals. What I mean by that, is you don't have accounts of the peasant, or the families who were affected, displaced, and who joined baggage trains as support of armies. What it means to the game, is you have a general sense of the world, yet can tailor it to how every dark you want it to be, and you are not restricted by the setting. You don't need to know very much to create an interesting and fun story. Also, since we know so much psychologically about war today, that is still applicable in the 30 Years' War, that the game is tailored to the psychological aspect of being affected by a major event like war (or at least that is the attempt).

What it comes down to is the daily struggles of the dispossessed, the shocked, and the hopeless, trying to find hope, with a setting to reinforce this feeling without interfering with scene and story creation, AND it not being too modern and real that it is unplayable. It would be much harder to play a game like this if it was set in today, or even the civil war. There is a separation of time, but still close and similar enough to now, that it is hopefully meaningful without being overwhelming. I think leaving the setting open, does disservice to the game system by removing it from its intention. And I think people can apply the system to the American civil war, or other wars like it. I am concerned about actual history getting in the way, that too much is known about the people surrounding that event, that people may and try to trump with their history knowledge, and take away the creativity that is possible. It is also not as dark and grim as what I am looking for. To live in the 17th century as a peasant was shitty, and the chances to play with all the horrible things that could happen to you is what I want. Plague, millions displaced, starvation, etc, these don't really factor in to the American civil war. If these factors are not included, then the system does not work, because it is about the psychological aspect of war, and how it affects you as a civilian caught in midst of it.

Also, thanks for the suggestion of finding and including sources, I think that is a great idea!

Dice & Match System

Let's see if I can clear up some concepts about the dice system.

Strength of a Bond is the die size, which is how reliable the Bond is, and the higher the Strength is, the more effective it is in the War Journal, and is an indicator of the "drama" in the scene. If I have a d4 Strength Bond, then the Editor has a d2 Strength Bond. Mechanically, this means the Editor has a better chance of getter a "wider" match (a greater success). What it is also represents is the level of Threat of Opportunity. A d2 is not very significant. While if you chose to use a higher Strength Bond, you are saying that this is an important event/scene, that the stakes are higher. So if I chose to risk using my d8 Bond, the Editor uses a d10, the Author has a better chance of succeeding, but this also tells the Editor and the other Authors, that there is more at risk. That is just for dramatic and scene framing purposes. This also means a d20 give you a good representative of the dramatic scene when you are risking a d10. A d10 Bond, when risked, is the scene where it is the absolute worst possible case. This is the scene where you barely make it out alive, where the Strength of the Bond is so tight, that it gives you the Strength to face anything. But afterwards it always drops down to a d8, as the dramatic tension is resolved, though it may still maintain a high Attachment. I believe it will be helpful to see the comparision of what dice is being risked, vs the Editors dice to get a sense of dramatic tension, and by saying d10 faces a d20 challenge does this (or any of the other possibilities).

Attachment of the Bond can increase in the Personal Journal, and is the "height" of the Bond. This is ultimately the measure of your success, what you are trying to achieve, at the end of a session. You total up all of your Attachment, and it there is a number that you have to beat at the end of a session, it is the number that represents the bar of healing you have achieved. If your Attachment is beneath it, the character feels Numb, but if you beat it, you feel more Liberated (terms may change). I am not sure if there will need to be a mechanical benefit or disadvantage, I have been waffling on it, because it might reinforce a cycle of being numb, which in some ways I want to make happen, so you have to try hard to break that cycle. It means you might have some characters on their way to becoming healthy, while others are left behind. Attachment also automatically drops to 1 if you risk a Bond in the War Journal, and you lose. Bond Strength size also drops a die size if you lose in the War Journal. So there is a lot of fluctuation when it comes to die sizes. And there will be between 3-6 dice rolled per time.

Author vs Player, Editor vs GM, and Journal vs Scene

I chose these terms fairly carefully. First because the Editor is there primarily as the point of challenge and scene framing, because the Authors choose what Bonds they want to grow or risk, and they are the ones who chose an Opportunity or Threat that faces them as a challenge for the growth of the bond or when the Bond is risked. Editor also implies the de-empowering of the position of the Editor, because he is there to make sure things run smoothly, add some flavour, and roll some dice. BUT at the same time, he does get an opportunity to add to the T/O List during the War Journal.

What I am also hoping with the terminology use, is to say that you are creating these events that have never been recorded in history, that your characters are the sum of the history of the 30 Years' War from this perspective. It also gives a sense of authorship within the game, that the Players, or Authors, have the authority, not the Editor, whose job is almost that of an Editor, to tweak and adjust as necessary, and give suggestion to help the story along.

Narration Rights

You have one round of Personal Journal, then one round of War Journal, and it will probably be something like a clockwise rotation. Everybody does a Personal Journal, and the every one does a War Journal. The Personal Journals are individual scenes, which can include other characters, but only if they are establishing, or growing, a Bond with them. While the War Journal, there is a collective effort in the present, to overcome a challenge together. The scenes progress almost the same in regards to Narration, but in War Journal, there is only one Threat or Opportunity chosen collectively by the Authors, and they will be setting an objective or goal they wish to achieve which the Threat or Opportunity is facilitating. The overall balance of who comes out on top, Authors or the Editor, determines the ultimate fate of the goal. You can be individually successful, but may lose overall. There is intended to be an average of 3 Personal Journal and 3 War Journals per game.

During the Personal Journal, the Editor sets the scene after the Author chooses a Bond and an element from the T/O List, but scene resolution is done by the Author. The same applies for the indivual Authors War Journal turns, but then there is a scene Narration of the overall outcome of the War Journal, and the scene Narration is done by the winner of the War Journal.


Hopefully I answered your questions. Thank you for the feed back, it is really helpful for me to think about the game. If I failed to answer all your questions, or was unclear about, just say so and I will try again!

As a note about the Thirty Years' War, it is from 1618-1648, and to quote wikipedia "was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. The war was fought primarily (though not exclusively) in Germany and at various points involved most of the countries of Europe. Naval warfare also reached overseas and shaped the colonial formation of future nations." It is a very important conflict in history, so I am not choosing a small event or incidence arbitrarily in that sense, which is why I hope enough people will have at least a vague impression of a horrible war torn medieval Europe.

If anybody wants to watch a movie about the Thirty Years' War, you should check out The Last Valley, it is a 1970's movie that depicts a safe valley that has yet been touched by war, whom a Mercenary group finds and makes there winter home. It has Michael Caine, and is directed by James Clavell (who wrote Shogun).

- Kyle