[Name in Progress] Power 19!

[opsneakie]

1.) What is your game about?

   This game is a fantasy adventure game, set in a world hanging the the balance of opposing forces: Fire and Water, Earth and Air, Order and Chaos, Life and Death, etc.


2.) What do the characters do?


   The characters are adventurers, they adventure to defeat evil/whatever, tell interesting stories about the world and characters struggling to maintain the good bits of the world.


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


   The players play characters and act out their adventures. The GM runs the world and all its monsters. The players try to keep their characters alive and avoid sliding into Chaos, while defending the parts of the world that are not corrupted by evil.   


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


   The setting is in a continuous state of opposition. The Dead are breaking into the living world, Chaos Magic attacks the lawful, ordered Arcana magic (high sorcery). The world, being on the brink of steam power and firearms, is in a state of conflict of technology vs magic.


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


   Characters are statted by how balanced they are on elemental scales - Fire vs Water and Earth vs Air. They also have a degeneration scale, for how far the character has slipped into Chaos Magic. As a character becomes unbalanced, they are less able to defend themselves against certain attacks, so there is a reason to stay at least somewhat balanced. On the other hand, having more points in what your character is good at is always helpful.


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


   This game rewards remaining uncorrupted and following their own goals (i.e. playing your character - a bloodthirsty character might be rewarded for leaping into combat without hesitation).


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


   Behaviors are rewarded with experience points, which enable the character to increase their stats/skills.


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


   The GM is responsible for the primary narration, although the players are expected to narrate when they have control of the scene. Players who are winning a conflict control the resolution of that scene.


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?)


   Each character will have things that they care about and goals that they try to accomplish - characters of higher power will often have a fate of some kind, usually an undesirable one. PLayers will want to protect the things/people/places they love, prevent the corruption of their characters, achieve their goals, and avoid a gruesome fate. As winning a conflict requires a balance of elemental powers, a player will want to prevent a heavy unbalance in their stats.


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

   
   The system will be primarily conflict resolution, although certain crucial moments will break into a task resolution, blow-by-blow system. The systems are success-based with Fudge dice. The characters can spend points from their elemental stats to provide bonuses or activate certain powers/spells, which swings the balance towards the other axis (i.e. Fire 6/Water 4 spends a Fire point and changes to Fire 5/Water 5).

   As the character takes damage (not necessarily physical damage), they lose access to the edges of their point pools (i.e. Fire 7 / Water 3 takes one damage level and becomes Fire 6 / Water 2).

   If a character resorts to using Wild Magic, they risk degenerating and gaining a point of Chaos, which makes them more susceptible to corruption and control by evil forces.

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


   Every point that is lost or gained changes the balance, changing the character's ability to protect themselves from one element while strengthening their resistance to another. In addition, the Chaos degeneration provides a slippery slope towards becoming a corrupt, evil creature that the characters must fight against.

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

   The characters advance by gaining experience, which they can use to improve their skills and maximum stat pools. This will, of course, make them better at doing stuff.


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


   While the characters can become more and more powerful, they can never escape the dangers of Chaos or imbalance. Even the strongest can be felled easily if they are unable to balance their abilities.


14.) What sort of product or effect do you want your game to produce in or for the players?
   
   I want this game to make the players a little more cautious with their characters, maybe creep them out a little, but above all, to be fun.

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


   The balance and magic receive extra attention because it is a primary focus of the game. Balancing the stats is intended to be strategic and careful. The Chaos degeneration also gets a lot of attention, because avoiding Chaos is a primary concern for the characters.


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


   I'm excited about watching players try to keep their balances right, and watching new players be overconfident and slip into Chaos control.


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


   As far as I know, this kind of duality/balance thing hasn't been done before, although degeneration is old news. This is a darker fantasy world, not so happy-cheery adventure-y as D&D.

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


   Psssh. Haven't even thought about it. If it plays really well, maybe I'd print a few copies for friends.

19.) Who is your target audience?

   Me, basically. People who think balance stuff is cool and like fantasy worlds, especially people who like Howl's Moving Castle (the book particularly, but the movie is fine too), Spirited Away, etc.


Uhrg. I feel bad posting this without a name, and a couple of the questions could use fleshing out I know. Thoughts/opinions/comments?

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya opsneakie!

I've been reading your thread about Affraid in the other forum too.  Which is a really good thread btw.  Let me ask you something.  How has what you learned from playing Affraid affected how you might approach this game in this thread?

Peace,

-Troy

[opsneakie]

Well, Afraid is a game I loved when I played it, it got me hooked on the idea of conflict resolution. Additionally, I liked the simplicity of Afraid as compared to D&D / White Wolf. Skills in this game are going to be free-form, which seems the better way to have the skill you want, instead of trying to pigeonhole your character into a preset thing. Similarly, there won't be classes or levels, because it feels too much like boxing your character, and you end up with having a concept of "I'm playing a Ranger/Barbarian" which isn't a character, it's a collection of stats. Afraid got me hooked on a more elegant, less rules-heavy style of game (although, to be fair, it was Dogs in the Vineyard and not Afraid, but they're basically the same system).

Basically, I'm trying to refine this system into something that can be as simple and elegant as Afraid/DitV and have some unique, cool mechanics.

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

Basically, I'm trying to refine this system into something that can be as simple and elegant as Afraid/DitV and have some unique, cool mechanics.

That's great.  Now that I'm more on the same page as you, I think I might be able to help you out

The characters are adventurers, they adventure to defeat evil/whatever, tell interesting stories about the world and characters struggling to maintain the good bits of the world.

My guess is that the players actually tell the stories, not the characters.  Unless storytelling is some sort of in-game mechanic that the characters do to achieve some goal.  Is it?  I'm going to opperate under the assumption it's not, but if I'm wrong I'll retract all this.  So, the characters adventure and defeat evil.  That's awesome and a very noble goal.  But why?  Why would the adventurers care if good wins or evil loses?  What motivates them to act against one force or another?  And I'm asking just about the characters here, not the players.  In my mind, they're two separate things

Peace,

-Troy

[opsneakie]

Players are doing the narration, not characters, you're right. Oops.


As characters, their motivation towards good is to resist evil/chaos and its corruptive power. Evil, unopposed, will corrupt and twist everything the characters know and love. Those things will become evil in themselves and bent on destruction, and if the characters do nothing, they will eventually find themselves locked in combat with their own loved ones. Essentially, resisting the forces of Wild Magic/Chaos have become really important as a motivator. If good wins, things are happy and generally good, but if evil wins, the world becomes a barren, twisted wasteland.

Does that make sense at all?

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

Good answer.

Evil, unopposed, will corrupt and twist everything the characters know and love.

Well then, in that case, I would suggest that this be represented tangibly and explicitly on the character sheet.  Part of the character creation would involve the players creating things that the characters will fight for.  It would seem like protect what the characters "know and love" is what the game is really about, and the GM's job is to put those things directly in peril.  Does that sound about right?

4.) ...The world, being on the brink of steam power and firearms, is in a state of conflict of technology vs magic.

How is this represented in the character creation of your game and in the play of your game?

Peace,

-Troy

[opsneakie]

I'm thinking there should be a spot on the character sheet for "these are the things I care about" or something similar, so they can keep in mind what they're fighting for. Yes, as a GM, it is your job to put those things in danger. Everything, everything is in danger when the baddies come out.

In answer to your second question, that's a thing that's more expressed during play, a setting thing primarily. Magic used to be the ruling force in this world, but now, as machines are beginning to show up, mages want to retain their state of power while things that used to be only possible with the aid of magic (killing with the power of a rifle, flight) are now possible with a sufficiently powerful machine. The two forces rarely work together, as if they were designed to not get along (magical machinery is prone to failure, and the like). This particular bit isn't as fleshed out as I'd like it to be, I've been kind of stalled with this game, because in my brain it needs to have a name, which is proving extremely elusive at the moment.

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

Everything, everything is in danger when...

One thing I don't really like about the word "everything" when it comes to RPG design is that it often turns into the word "overwhelming."  When EVERYTHING in the world is in danger, the players can get lost in deciding what they really care about saving- even if it's written on their sheets.  It can seem that either A) there's no point in trying because even if we do save what little we care about EVERYTHING else is going to go to hell, so what will it matter? or B) they run from thing to thing trying to save it without having any real focus or direction in their actions.  It's something to think about.  Personally, I'd prefer a game that focussed more on the player characters rather than everything around the player characters.  How do you feel about that?

In answer to your second question, that's a thing that's more expressed during play, a setting thing primarily. Magic used to be the ruling force in this world, but now, as machines are beginning to show up, mages want to retain their state of power

I think it's too bad this is just a setting thing.  It's extremely compelling, IMHO.  It would seem a natural situation for the characters to be dropped in the middle of this conflict- the old guard vs. the new.  A mechanical representation of that choice (perhaps something like factions, guilds, secret societies that the PCs are tied to somehow) would also help to guide the story.  Have you considered this?  Or is this going in a direction different from your vision of the game (which is far more important that what I think is interesting based on your post)?

Peace,

-Troy

[opsneakie]

I'd kind of like to flesh out the idea of the technology vs magic, maybe by having the use of one impede the other. This is important to my vision of the setting. In a sense, I want the evil to seem overwhelming, in some senses, although not so much that the players say "to hell with it." Maybe I overdid it a mite with "everything"

[Troy_Costisick]

I'd kind of like to flesh out the idea of the technology vs magic, maybe by having the use of one impede the other. This is important to my vision of the setting. In a sense, I want the evil to seem overwhelming, in some senses, although not so much that the players say "to hell with it." Maybe I overdid it a mite with "everything"

Quick question, is evil associated with Magic or Technology?  Or is it just a big free-for-all?

Peace,

-Troy

[opsneakie]

Magic and technology are both just tools, and while the two oppose each other, either of them can be used for good or evil.

[Troy_Costisick]

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


   Characters are statted by how balanced they are on elemental scales - Fire vs Water and Earth vs Air. They also have a degeneration scale, for how far the character has slipped into Chaos Magic. As a character becomes unbalanced, they are less able to defend themselves against certain attacks, so there is a reason to stay at least somewhat balanced. On the other hand, having more points in what your character is good at is always helpful.

This is really interesting.  Would the Character Sheet graphically represent this?  I can imagine it would look like a four point axis with nodes at each end to hold the character's dice pool values.  By the way, how does one slip into Chaos Magic?  What are the consiquences of that?

Peace,

-Troy

[opsneakie]

I'm still thinking about how the character sheet would be laid out visually. My most recent idea was that it would be two arcs, each one having an elemental scale on it, and however many points the pool is spread along that arc.

Any time your character resorts to using Chaos Magic, they run the risk of falling into Chaos. Essentially, Chaos Magic holds almost limitless power, but is difficult to control. The more powerful the magic, the greater the risk of degeneration. A character is never forced to use Chaos Magic, but once they choose to, they're at risk.

A character degenerates and gains Chaos points, more and more of their spells are twisted by Chaos, altered in uncontrolled ways. Eventually, Chaos infects the character more and more completely, until it consumes and controls them.

Mechanically, Chaos points give greater and greater chance for any spell a character uses to become a Chaos spell, which brings with it the risk of further degeneration, which leads to more twisted spells, etc. etc.

Thanks for all the replies, Troy, you're really helping me flesh out my system here!

John

[Troy_Costisick]

A character degenerates and gains Chaos points, more and more of their spells are twisted by Chaos, altered in uncontrolled ways. Eventually, Chaos infects the character more and more completely, until it consumes and controls them.

Mechanically, Chaos points give greater and greater chance for any spell a character uses to become a Chaos spell, which brings with it the risk of further degeneration, which leads to more twisted spells, etc. etc.

Alight.  This is really cool.  I like that using Chaos Magic is a choice, not a requirement.  That is very important.  It sounds for me that the GM will put the PCs into situations that are just barely beyond their means.  Have you thought about what kidns of tools you will give the GM to create encounters that put pressure on the dip into the Chaos Magics and not at the same time not overwhelm them so much that they feel railroaded into using it?  Also, what if the GM uses Chaos Magic?  Are there consiquences for him?  or his characters?

Peace,

-Troy

[opsneakie]

It sounds for me that the GM will put the PCs into situations that are just barely beyond their means.  Have you thought about what kidns of tools you will give the GM to create encounters that put pressure on the dip into the Chaos Magics and not at the same time not overwhelm them so much that they feel railroaded into using it?

This is spot-on, Troy. The GM's job will be to push the PCs into tight spots, where they feel a mounting pressure to just reach and use that Chaos Magic, but the GM doesn't want to start the campaign with "ok, you're surrounded on all sides by 50,000 demons" so the use of Chaos Magic is always a choice. Players will have to be creative an think quickly to around the 'easy way out' to avoid degeneration.

An important thing to note at this point is that one doesn't have to be a spellcaster to call on Chaos Magic. Chaos Magic tempts everyone, and is easy to call upon, since it wants to be used.

Side note, I'm considering the name "Sorcerer's Gambit" for this game, since the magic plays a big part, and a gambit is giving something up to gain an advantage, much like using chaos magic.

- John