A time-based resolution mechanic? (WAS: "ChronStat"

[DevP]

The originial thread was here: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?p=77433. I'm trying to bring it here because there might be a spare idea or two in here.

For convenience, I'm going to call the hundredths of a second on a chronometer the chron. (Like "the roll", but different.)

NONCOMBAT CONSIDERATIONS:

Method 1: All players have various traits (scaled 0 - 25). Start the stopwatch when they describe their action, and stop it when they stop; the chron + their trait = their score; if the score is greater than a threshold (50 for average tasks?), then the task is successful.

Method 1.5: The GM may go with a 50 (or something) threshold for success, BUT: will give difficulty to the task equivalent to the number of seconds of exposition she deems necessary to the success of the task. (Probably between 2 and 8.) If the player is within a second of the ideal exposition time, the chron is doubled; if the player is more than three seconds longer or shorter than the ideal exposition time, the GM may just nullify the chron (excepting cases of very good exposition).

COMBAT CONSIDERATIONS:

[Summary: (a) Most actions do nothing but color and setup, (b) Challenges do stuff but are hard, and (c) Actions get progressively more effective and more dangerous.]

As soon as combat starts, start a stopwatch. From this point on, combat flows somewhat narratively; players go in a circle describing their actions and (assumed) outcome, with the GM interjecting with NPC actions and changing the order as she deems necessary.

However: any narrated actions on any of their parts must not break the status quo of the fight. They may change the tactical situation, but it will not take anybody out of the fight. Examples:

(1) "I run behind the desk."
(2) "I jump behind the corner."
(3) "He sweeps your legs from under you; you're tumbling to the floor."
(4) "I kick him back to the wall."

These change the situation of the actors: if a guy is up against the wall a few feet away from you, he's probably still on his feet but he can't hit you right away; where as someone on the floor can reasonably narrating countering with another floor sweep (or a biting of knees or something). IF we're obeying Cinematic Physics, then these don't really slow down your average hero or foe. There is both a color and a strategic element to what you do with this kind of action.

When necessary, the GM can followup a player action with a narration that maintains most of the status quo. Examples:

(5) "I fire a few shots at him" => "He falls prone to the floor; the bullets just barely graze his Armani."
(6) "I throw a few punches at him" => "He blocks them easily but is pushed back by the force of your blows."

When a player does certain Challenges, he thusly challenges the status quo, possibly taking a rival out of a fight. The challenges are:

Aggression: Just goes "RAH!" and puts much force behind a blow. May incur extra damage from the exertion.

"I yell out a cry and bring my blade to bear!"

Accuracy: The actor makes a strike land somewhere vital. May incur extra damage from the location struck.

"I aim for his shoulder."

Rhythm/Combo: The actor executes several moves in quick succession. Is in fact up to three successive stat checks.

"I deliver a swift fist to his face, elbow him upside the head, and then drive my palm into his ribcage."

Reflexes: The actor can pre-empt/preven a bad situation by enacting a fast dodge or such.

"I dodge his bullets!"

Vitality: Can be spent to execute a stunt (but no extra effects); also, keeps track of fatigue/health, so loss of all tokens would indicate being nearly passed out.

These can break down in to color-coded tokens, such that you pay one token to execute the appropriate challenge. The mechanic is then that you decide your character's appropriate mix of tokens before entering combat, and when used put them in the central "pool" of spent tokens. (A player can make their action simply "I recover", and take whichever token back from the pool.)

Individual skill may well be irrelevant in the flurry of combat; for this reason (and for the sake of simplicity), all stunts of a similar kind (range fire, melee, whatever) have the same success threshold, between 0-99. The chron will determine the success of the maneuver. (The expert's advantage is the number of Challenge tokens at their disposal.)

On top of this, the second reading + (10 x minute reading) will be added to the chron. Thusly, scores of more than 100 are possible, and such scores may well be critical (if the GM deems it dramatic). These extra bonus grows in a somewhat periodic manner: going from 0-59, then 10-69. then 20-79; combat should not go too much longer than two minutes. If there is any reasonable break in the heat of combat (with everyone hiding behind cover or circling each other), then the time should be reset and players may draw another token.

SIDE-EFFECTS

Notice that Combo moves are chron'd in quick succession (three quick sequential stops of the watch to get the three task checks). Resultingly, the effectiveness of moves are likely to have some progression of effectiveness, such as miss-graze-hit, graze-light hit-crit hit, hit-hit-miss, or so on.

STUFF I'D LIKE

I would love it if character had individual specialties, but that these could be summarized in a handful of (color-coded) tokens rather than a character sheet, taking into account vitality in additon to Challenges; preset success thresholds would result in a lack of numbers to look up. Thus, you could play with some premade tokens and a stopwatch, and some internalized character sheets.



So, if there's any potential at all her (or conversely, if I should jump the sinking ship), then let me know. I'll make up more examples, if that is instructive.

[Jack Spencer Jr]

Hrms

I have to say that, in spite of the odd way you get it, you're basically rolling d100.