Cola Wars Online - Comments Requested

[Mike Holmes]

Speaking of the word-based abilities, one of the peculiarities of such systems is they have to deal with the fact that the fewer words, the more general the ability usually appears to be.

I actually tried to disuade him from this approach as well. There are just a lot of problems. You do have a good point though. That's sorta what I was getting at with our over focusing on combat. He needs much more to get the mutation system working right.

One more question: do I really have to drink the cola to play the game? I've been trying to stop drinking the stuff, doing pretty well, and I'm afraid one session of Cola Wars would get me re-addicted. :)

That's a good point. I swore off caffeine years ago when I got to the point that I was drinking a twelve-pack of Mountain Dew every day at a minimum (sometimes twice that or more). I was just going to cheat and use orange, assuming my group accepted the substitution. OTOH, if it's soda as a whole you're opposed to, you could try something else.

Beer-Wars comes to mind. That might get out of hand. The first RPG Drinking game.

Mike

[Matt Steflik]

I think one of the driving forces behind the general direction of Mike's suggestions is making your combat mechanics not overshadow the mutation mechanics during runtime. After all, what's more unusual about your setting, people fighting each other with weapons or people swigging cola and gaining Buzz? The mutation system is, at least in principle so far, simple and flexible (you've opted for powers based on numbers of words, IIRC) and the combat system should be the same way. So, I'll ask, why not also have combat skills whose scores are linked to the number of words used to describe them?

Hey, Walt!  Thanks for jumping in.  You raise an interesting an interesting question: "why not" indeed?  My current handling of mutations is very much outside of my realm of gaming experience (hence my pleadings for feedback), but I hadn't thought of extending it further.  Interesting!

Speaking of the word-based abilities, one of the peculiarities of such systems is they have to deal with the fact that the fewer words, the more general the ability usually appears to be. For example, "resistance" is more general than "cold reesistance" which is more general than "cold water resistance." So why would anyone make use of their higher control score to use more words in a power description? One possibility is to link the effectiveness to how specifically the use of the power matches the description. Someone with three dice of "cold water resistance" would be able to apply two dice of "cold resistance" not involving water, or one die of just plain "resistance" to something not cold and not water, or one die of something involving the use of "cold" that's not resisting it and doesn't involve water. Meanwhile, someone who only has the one-word "resistance" would only ever be able to apply the single die.

Hey, now...that's a slick way to deal with it!  So basically, I describe the "highest" level of my ability with a given number of words.  I can implement lesser aspects of my ability by using less words (less dice) for a lesser effect.  Very cool and definitely worth exploring!

One more question: do I really have to drink the cola to play the game? I've been trying to stop drinking the stuff, doing pretty well, and I'm afraid one session of Cola Wars would get me re-addicted. :)

Ah, and there you've accidently touched upon what I intended to be -the- key element  of the game (without having expressly stated it...duh, Matt...I kind of let myself get caught up in mechanics and got away from the soul of the thing): addiction.  In Cola Wars you play a mutant with superhero like powers.  Your powers were given to you by cola - which for all intents and purposes is a drug.  This drug not only lets you use these boffo powers effectively, but it lets you succeed at -anything- you wish to accomplish.  The problem is that this drug that gives you the ability is both illegal and hard to get, and its effect is fleeting.  This leaves the player with some interesting dilemmas.  To make my character succeed, what am I willing to have him do?  Does he resort to using cola and what it can let him do or not (this is where the cola vs. anti-cola stems from)?  If he does, what am I willing to do to obtain it?  What is getting it worth?  Will he compromise what he believes in? Betray his friends and family?

But (heh) that's not what you asked, is it?  Tell you what.  if you try the game, you can go with whatever carbonated beverage you choose.  Bottled water is just to easy to chug. :-)

Any-who...thanks for the input!

[Matt Steflik]

Beer-Wars comes to mind. That might get out of hand. The first RPG Drinking game.

Um, Mike...you've just effectively described my Sunday night gaming group's activities for the past several years. "Hitting the wall of reason" is when you accidently roll your dice into the stack of empties in front of you, casuing them to topple.  Not to give anyone a bad impression, of course. :-)