[Fractured Destinies]

[Tobaselly]

Hi everyone, I figured I would introduce myself adn the game I'm working on before I start posting alot on the boards.

My name is Kevin Kime and my game is Fractured Destinies. :)

I'm currently in the process of securing artwork, layout, editing with some large touches here and there. Most/All of my game mechanics have been finished up ( I think/I hope) and i've been playtesting the game with a single group for about 3 years now.

A few things about the game.  The core rules are built around a set fantasy world. It has all the common elements of a typical fantasy world with a touch of technology mixed in. The style of gameplay the rules is a bit more gamist than anything, although there is enough narrative bits to make the games flavourful, and combat and world physics are realistic enough to make things dangerous and to allow the suspension of disbelief to happen easily.

Players create a single character which has attributes (physical and mental statistics), skills (how well the character can perform certain actions), and abilities( bonuses and other things the character just knows or can do). character's are not leveled in the D&D sense, there is no progression from level 1 through level 20. Instead characters can use Experience points (reward points that are gained from roleplaying/puzzles/quests/combat/etc) to increase skills directly, boost attributes, or buy additional abilities. Character archtyping is done with classifications of abilities (classes) but taking ablities from many classes is allowed and encouraged.

The game uses six-siders and a percentile dice. Rolls use an additive dice pool with the amount of dice that you roll depending on attributes, skills, modifiers and situation.

The gameplay is broken down into "scenes". There are three types of scenes: Monologue, Story, Combat. During a Monologue scene the game master just talks and describes things, this may include background, thoughts, story intros, etc. Monologues are considered outside of time. Story scenes are where the characters interact with the game master to help tell the story, die rolls and skill checks are reduced to what i call a compentancy check, which is just a quick glance as the total in the skill to see how well the character would perform the action. without any die rolls to be made. A Combat scene is any scene where the character's are striving against something and timing is important. Players roll an initiative for their character and each character gets a turn to perform actions.

:)

[knicknevin]

Hi Kevin, I'm quite new to these forums myself, so I though I'd jump in and say hello, then be the first to ask these three questions, since they always get asked and I'd like a turn at doing it :-)

1. What is your game about? The big picture, if you like, a quick precis of the genre, setting, tone, etc... imagine you were pitching your game concept as a film, how would you describe it?

2. What do the characters do? The actual types of stories and actions that may occur in the game, e.g. in a horror game you might put 'Find & destroy vampires & werewolves' here.

3. What do the players do? The actions which are taken in real life: do players compete against each other or cooperate? Do they tell the story or respond to the GM's narrative? Are there dice, cards, tokens, random results, auctioned results, etc?

[Tobaselly]

I was waiting for the big three. :)

The game is about a world called eth, that was shattered in order to win a war. The remaining landmasses float above the core of the world. Each of these landmasses is known as a Destiny, and after about 2000 years they each have their own cultures, languages and societies. Trade and Communication between the Destinies is limited to powerful organization. Story tone tends to run from the horrific to the epic.

Characters within the game are generally portrayed as Heroes with an encouragement to explore the unknown. PCs are generally a bit larger than life. Characters may be asked to perform quests, slay monsters, or participate in intrique. Character's can also be alligned with various factions and push their factions agenda.

Players control their characters completly through a combination of story, dice rolls and general stat checks. Players are actively encouraged to develop their own background and story for the character.Players can have their characters compete against each other or cooperate with each other.

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya

The game is about a world called eth, that was shattered in order to win a war. The remaining landmasses float above the core of the world. Each of these landmasses is known as a Destiny, and after about 2000 years they each have their own cultures, languages and societies. Trade and Communication between the Destinies is limited to powerful organization. Story tone tends to run from the horrific to the epic.

-This is a decent setting description, but doesn't tell me what the game is about.  Thing of the question instead asking, "What is the point of your game?"  Try to answer that one.

Characters within the game are generally portrayed as Heroes with an encouragement to explore the unknown. PCs are generally a bit larger than life. Characters may be asked to perform quests, slay monsters, or participate in intrique. Character's can also be alligned with various factions and push their factions agenda.

-This is a very general answer.  I suggest narrowing the focus of what a character can do in your game.  Give them a motivation or path to follow.  Give them reasons to act, not just opportunities.

Players control their characters completly through a combination of story, dice rolls and general stat checks. Players are actively encouraged to develop their own background and story for the character.Players can have their characters compete against each other or cooperate with each other.

-My knee-jerk reaction is "how?"  Like how do the cooperate and more importantly, how do they compete against each other?

Peace,

-Troy

[Josh Roby]

Players control their characters completly through a combination of story, dice rolls and general stat checks. Players are actively encouraged to develop their own background and story for the character.Players can have their characters compete against each other or cooperate with each other.

I'll add to Troy's follow-up by pointing out that the GM is a player, too.  What does she do?

[Tobaselly]

The game is ultimately about the characters and their story. It's about being something a bit greater, a bit more powerful, a bit more heroic than your everyday person. The point of the game is really the point of every game, to have fun. FD seeks to give the players the joy of full immersion in a world where they can make a difference, they can be a hero to someone, or some cause. Overall I want to say the game is about being someone else for few hours of your day, and see and explore a new and novel world through their eyes.

-This is a very general answer. I suggest narrowing the focus of what a character can do in your game. Give them a motivation or path to follow. Give them reasons to act, not just opportunities.

I have an allegiances system that allows the characters to have various motives for performing actions, It breaks down into what i call a basic allegiance, a loyalty and a hatred.

Basic allegiances are things that the character is associated with.  The character will seek to promote those causes or have a preference towards those.

Loyalties are things that the character has an extremely positive association with. The character should actively seek to promote and protect those things.

Hatreds are things that the character has an extremely negative opinion of. The character will attempt to weaken or harm these things.

A character can have an allegiance towards almost anything, he can have a loyalty towards his king and country, a god, his party. he can hate a person, a concept, etc.

While a character's actions are controlled by the player, the player should direct the actions within the guidelines of the particular allegiances that the character has.

[Tobaselly]

The game master directs the story of the players, he controls any person or creature that the players come in contact with.  The Game Master also is the arbitrator of the rules. While his role can sometimes be adversarial towards the players, it should be more of a guide than an opponent.

Players control their character in two different ways depending on the scene that they are in. If the players are within a story scene, it's mostly narrative control " I'm going to go over and open the door, what do i see beyond the door". In a Combat scene players control their characters through dice rolls and various actions available to him.

Player: ok I'm going to draw my sword then try to do a diving roll to the backside of that motan, and slash at the back of his knee, I'm aiming to hamstring him.
GM: alright, drawing your weapon will cost you a beat, as will the dive roll, and the attack will cost you 2, so 4 beats total. You're gona have to buy another beat and take -1 dice penalty penalty.
Player: ok
GM: alright, roll your acrobatics for that diving roll, then your attack


Characters cooperate and compete based on their allegiances and goals. If characters have similar goals they will more often than not cooperate. Characters will opposing allegiances may be forced against each other by their goals. There is nothing in the game mechanics to force cooperation or competition, the rules instead of being directed towards a party setting are directed towards more of the individual, though they are definately designed to allow for a party.

[Josh Roby]

I like your allegience/loyalty/hatred thing.  As I totally minor and niggly nitpick, I'd disallow "Loyalty to Party" because that ends up applying to every single thing the character does, and quickly becomes immaterial.  That's relatively unimportant, however.

Do the allegience/loyalty/hatred things have game effects?  As in, do they confer a bonus when executing them (dice bonus), or award a bonus after they've been addressed (XP, Hero Points, etc)?  Is there a systemic way to enforce them, or is it simply Color?

[Tobaselly]

I like your allegience/loyalty/hatred thing.  As I totally minor and niggly nitpick, I'd disallow "Loyalty to Party" because that ends up applying to every single thing the character does, and quickly becomes immaterial.  That's relatively unimportant, however.

Do the allegience/loyalty/hatred things have game effects?  As in, do they confer a bonus when executing them (dice bonus), or award a bonus after they've been addressed (XP, Hero Points, etc)?  Is there a systemic way to enforce them, or is it simply Color?

I tend to tell the players to set a loyalty towards the party leader, if they want to have any sort of group loyalties. 

loyalties and hatred both carry a few bonuses depending on how strong the loyalty or hatred is. if it's for whole scene the bonus is generally something small, if it's something for a single action it can be a bit more impressive ( I've always like the idea of someone jumping infront of someone to save them from an attack, I want the players to be able to do that). Hatreds can inspire a rage against the target of their hatred, increasing both strength and speed.

Characters can increase or decrease their allegiances and the GM can increase and decrease the allegiance if the character isn't behaving in regards to that allegiance.  There are also spells and effects that can manipulate the character's allegiances (this is how the charm spells work in the game). So players are encouraged to give their characters some flavor to protect them (partially) in addition to having more three dimensional characters.

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

The game is ultimately about the characters and their story. It's about being something a bit greater, a bit more powerful, a bit more heroic than your everyday person. The point of the game is really the point of every game, to have fun. FD seeks to give the players the joy of full immersion in a world where they can make a difference, they can be a hero to someone, or some cause. Overall I want to say the game is about being someone else for few hours of your day, and see and explore a new and novel world through their eyes.

The follow up question is "Well then, what makes your game different from all the others that already do that?" or "Where does your game take you that other games don't?"  The second questions specifically does NOT refer to your setting.  It refers to your system and what it's capable of.

I have an allegiances system that allows the characters to have various motives for performing actions, It breaks down into what i call a basic allegiance, a loyalty and a hatred.

That's cool.  How does your system mechanically reinforce these things during play?

Peace,

-Troy

[Tobaselly]

The follow up question is "Well then, what makes your game different from all the others that already do that?" or "Where does your game take you that other games don't?"  The second questions specifically does NOT refer to your setting.  It refers to your system and what it's capable of.

Character Creation/Advancement and Combat are really the defining differences outside of setting.

Characters are created with a point system that directly links to character advancement.  These points can be spent to increase character skills, improve their attribute, and gain new special abilities. In terms of abilities, no two character are alike,  for a high powered character there are literally thousands of combinations of abilities a character could have. The idea is that when a player creates a character, he creates a unique individual, not another warrior or spell caster who is similar to every other warrior or spell caster.

The other defining bit is combat. it's rough, it's dangerous and it's very very fast and violent. The model is based upon a mixture of real combat and traditional fantasy. It pulls the sense of speed, damage, and tactics from real life combat while keeping a basic turn based system and some damage abstraction from more of a traditional fantasy game.

Combat is fast, you can die within the first few seconds of a battle, characters have a speed associated, and they can use that speed to perform actions, the faster the character is the more things that he can do and the early that character can react. Unarmed and armed combat are mixed together, you can grab someone, sweep them, and then impale them with your sword once they are on the ground in one fluid motion. Weapons deal realistic damage to a character when compared to the character's health.  A good hit or two with a sword will kill most humans/playe races, Monsters are a bit more epic/heroic in nature and can take a few hits.  Damage is generally abstracted towards regions, so you can attack someone's head,arms, legs and torso (body) and deal generic damage to that region,  though you can also place called shots to particular targets (eyes, back of the legs, throat, groin, etc)  to deal specific damage, or attack past someone's armor.

It's for the character options and how combat and conflict flow that I can see people wanting to play.

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

I'm stuggling with a decision here, Kev.  I could go in several directions, but I'm not sure wich is the best.

In all honesty I do want to help you make your game.  In all honesty, I think you game has the potential to be fun.  However, I'm not sure your game would be all that *interesting*.  And here's where my struggle begins:

1. I could list a litany of games (including ones I've designed) that accomplish the very things you are wanting to accomplish.

2. I could link you the Fantasy Heartbreaker articles and unfairly use that as a club to hit you over the head.

3. I could advise you to go back to the drawingboard and tell you to start over from scratch.

I don't want to do any of those things, but that's what I'm faced here with what you've written.  I'll be brutally honest with you and say that nothing you have written here is completely origonal in the slightest.  It denotes a profound lack of diversity in the games you've played and the games you've read.  HOWEVER, I do not wish to discourage you from making your game.  I know you have potential as a designer and I want to help you tap it.  So here's what I'm going to do.

I highly, highly recomend reading (and re-reading if you already have) every article featured in the Article link at the top of this page.  I highly, highly recomend downloading all the winners of the Ronny awards mentioned in this thread: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=16959.0 at this website: http://www.1km1kt.net/24hourrpg/24_Hour_RPG_2005.php  The reason being that will give you some decent Alpha games (the stage you're at) for free.  You won't have spend any money.  Then I recomend that you read the standard rants here: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?action=search2

That's a lot of reading, I know.  And that might not be the best of advice, but it's what I have to offer right now.  I want you to succeed, but to be truthful there is still a lot for you to learn.

Peace,

-Troy

PS: Let me add that I too am still learning a great deal.  So even as you read these posts, games, and articles, I will be doing the same :)  Because we all are in a constant state of learning.

[Tobaselly]

2. I could link you the Fantasy Heartbreaker articles and unfairly use that as a club to hit you over the head.

3. I could advise you to go back to the drawingboard and tell you to start over from scratch.

I don't want to do any of those things, but that's what I'm faced here with what you've written. I'll be brutally honest with you and say that nothing you have written here is completely origonal in the slightest. It denotes a profound lack of diversity in the games you've played and the games you've read. HOWEVER, I do not wish to discourage you from making your game. I know you have potential as a designer and I want to help you tap it. So here's what I'm going to do.

I highly, highly recomend reading (and re-reading if you already have) every article featured in the Article link at the top of this page. I highly, highly recomend downloading all the winners of the Ronny awards mentioned in this thread: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=16959.0 at this website: http://www.1km1kt.net/24hourrpg/24_Hour_RPG_2005.php The reason being that will give you some decent Alpha games (the stage you're at) for free. You won't have spend any money. Then I recomend that you read the standard rants here: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?action=search2

The first thing I did after reading this post was checking out the fantasy hearbreaker.  I knew the genre was filled with lots of games, but i didn't realize it was so filled that there was a name for new games in the genre. Ouch

-Kevin

[Adam Dray]

Don't be discouraged. Many of us went through the same realization.

I recommend reading John Kirk's fabulous Design Patterns of Successful Role-Playing Games, linked and discussed in this thread. The book is full of game design patterns that you may or may not have seen before. In my opinion, it's the fastest way to scan the breadth of ideas available to designers and spawn some of your own. The patterns are great for ideas. The survey of games in the back will give you a feel for how different a role-playing game can be from mainstream games like D&D and Storyteller.

There's nothing wrong with starting as a D&D player and thinking, "Hey, some of this seems broken. I have some things here I'd do differently." But to produce a game that really differentiates itself, you need to throw away all your assumptions about what an RPG is, not just the handful that annoy you, or else you'll end up with a fantasy heartbreaker. If you only want to change a couple things, stick to D&D and add some house rules. If you want to create a new play experience, you need to change more. Figure out what you want the play experience to be then aim every bit of your design at producing that experience.

The design pattern book helps you realize that everything that comprises a game is just a tool, not an essential part of the game. For each component of your game ask, "what purpose does this serve? do I need this?" Every piece. Do I need a GM? Do I need attributes? Do I need skills? levels? XP? classes? Do I need characters at all? Do I need hit points? initiative? weapon damage? Do I need a separate combat system at all? You'd be surprised at how little of the systems in D&D have a counterpart in a game like Prime Time Adventures or a game like My Life with Master.

Don't give up! Read the design pattern book. Read the articles here. Read the Actual Play threads here. Write some of your own, using examples from your own experience with D&D and other games. Pick up some of the games you see mentioned there -- a lot of them are freely available! Play them and try to understand what works and what doesn't. Ask questions here on the forums.

Good luck!

[Josh Roby]

Don't give up! Read the design pattern book. Read the articles here. Read the Actual Play threads here. Write some of your own, using examples from your own experience with D&D and other games. Pick up some of the games you see mentioned there -- a lot of them are freely available! Play them and try to understand what works and what doesn't. Ask questions here on the forums.

I'd also add to that list: design some games.  All of the discussion here is great and all but the rubber meets the road when you start filling up a blank page.  All the sudden, everything that you've been casually talking about becomes immediate and relevant, and you start discovering all sorts of assumptions you didn't even thing you had.  A very useful tool that I've found is the microgame -- the little itty bitty games like Risus, Otherkind, and The Order that take up a couple pages.  Pretty much every 24-hour RPG ever written.  They're not your 'big project' but that's their advantage.  You can compose and write out one of these in a couple days.  You can playtest it by pitching it to your friends as an amusing one-off.  And by doing so you can get some real, empirical, dirty-hands experimental data to start working with.  If it crashes and burns, it's no big deal -- but now you know that the mechanic that you were testing out doesn't work, and you probably have some first hand knowledge of why and how it doesn't work.

Then, using the lessons that you learn with the little guys, start constructing your (first) masterpiece.