Power 19 for Biohazard Dawn

[Amadeo]

1.) What is your game about?**
In Biohazard Dawn you play as a group of survivors trying to eke out an existence in a dystopian future where the dead walk the earth and supplies are hard to come by. In particular you are a group of survivors who fill the societal niche of "Seekers" men and women of incredible courage who travel the twisted cityscape in search of supplies, information and fellow survivors. You are the most important component in your settlement's survival and without you they are doomed to fall apart and join the ranks of the ever-growing zombie hordes.

2.) What do the characters do?**
The characters go on "quests" to travel the infected lands outside their settlement bringing supplies, resources, survivors, and information back to the settlement.

3.) What do the players (including the GM if there is one) do?**
The players design and maintain both their characters and the settlement they live in, dictate the actions of both character and settlement, and resolve said actions through either task or conflict resolution. The GM forms the opposition to the characters goals and handles elements of plot, setting, and is the referee of the game.

4.) How does your setting (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about?
My setting is an urban wasteland that reflects the failures of the past, and the dangers of a world without structure.

5.) How does the Character Creation of your game reinforce what your game is about?
By limiting the resources characters have and by making them choose what areas they want to specialize in I force them to constantly evaluate what is important to the survival of their character and how they can work together to shore up their individual weaknesses.

6.) What types of behaviors/styles of play does your game reward (and punish if necessary)?
It rewards rash decisions, resource management skills, and selfless actions. It punishes indecision.

7.) How are behaviors and styles of play rewarded or punished in your game?
Rash Decisions: Players are rewarded with a point of "Adrenaline" when they throw their character in harms way. Adrenaline can then be spent for an automatic success during task resolution.
Resource Management Skills: The resources characters don't use when away from the settlement are given to the settlement at the end of any "Quest" increases the statistics of their settlement and unlocking new character growth options.
Selfless Actions: I have a karma mechanic, when a player completes a selfless action (i.e. giving away personal resources to the settlement) it serves as a microcosm for the will of the human race. Thus in our example, people are inspired by his selfless actions and are more willing to share their supplies.

8.) How are the responsibilities of narration and credibility divided in your game?
Players are responsible for choosing the general direction of the story (for instance the players notice a lack of food in their settlement and decide to look for some next "Quest") whereas the GM is responsible for the overall arcs of the story and for narrating during task, conflict, and scene resolution.

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 setting (a dark and uncertain future centered in the remnants of an opulent past) and the major opposition (mindless zombies) have captured the human imagination countless times before, and our underlying fear of both I hope will capture the player's attention. The narrative and atmosphere of the gameplay I hope will engage them in the game's underlying themes. And a fluid, extensive character creation system, fast paced action gameplay, along with the aforementioned points I believe will keep them participating.

10.) What are the resolution mechanics of your game like?
Roll a d20, add modifiers, and compare against a target difficulty.

11.) How do the resolution mechanics reinforce what your game is about?
The d20 reinforces the uncertainty of survival, the modifiers symbolize the skill and effort used to achieve one's goals, and the target difficulty represents the opposition to one's goals.

12.) Do characters in your game advance? If so, how?
Characters do advance, both in narration and interaction with the setting and its populace as well as on the character sheet by using experience to purchase traits which enhance general aspects of your characters abilities, skills which give him more options to use during task and conflict resolution, and boons which help your character during unique situations.

13.) How does the character advancement (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about?
Your character starts the game with skills, and traits relating to his past when the world was not in the chaos it is today. The abilities he gains are the ways he changes and grows while grasping for his future.

14.) What sort of product or effect do you want your game to produce in or for the players?
I want the players to become invested in the survival of their characters and their settlement. Not to be preachy, but I wouldn't mind for some of the lessons their characters learn about resource management and selflessness to carry over into the player's life.

15.) What areas of your game receive extra attention and color? Why?
Character and Settlement creation and advancement, combat and setting. The first two symbolize the start of the character's journey into a new world and how they make that journey. The latter two need added attention due to the amount of time they will see during play.

16.) Which part of your game are you most excited about or interested in? Why?
I'm pretty excited about my time constraint rules on turns (You have 30 seconds to state what your character does on your action, or you lose a point of adrenaline, or if you have no adrenaline your turn is skipped), my rewards for rushing headlong into danger (you gain a point of adrenaline which can then be spent for an automatic success, or to lengthen your turn) and how those two work together to create action-packed play. I really want to capture the exhiliration and the fear of putting both feet forward into a dangerous situation when you are unsure of the outcome.

I also like the fact that the party serves as a microcosm of the settlement's success and how the settlement becomes almost a character on its own as it develops with the character's themselves. I also love zombies. I made the working title Biohazard Dawn so that I would know that everything had to either tie into how the characters were dealing with the destructive past (symbolized by the zombies, and therefore Biohazard) or how they were going to strive to achieve a new life (thus the word Dawn).

17.) Where does your game take the players that other games can't, don't, or won't?
My game allows the players to form their own civilization, not mirrored off the past or legend (ala Civilization) but a new world and form of their own conception.

18.) What are your publishing goals for your game?
I'd like to have a fun game. Someday when it is ready and not before I'd like to publish it so others can play. I've created deadlines and a schedule for the advancement of the game, but the deadline for the publication of this game is a goal, if it isn't ready, it isn't ready. I wouldn't make people waste their time with an unfinised product.

19.) Who is your target audience?
Traditional gamers who want a fast paced game of survival horror.

[mjbauer]

I really like the ideas you have. This is the type of game I'd actually like to play.

The one area that I can see that might be problematic is the idea of gaining instant success for brash action. I really like that you are trying to speed up action and resolution in combat, but I'm not sure that ensuring success is the way to accomplish that. In a game where resources are limited and life is so fragile it seems like you are encouraging recklessness. The setting and themes of the game seem to lend themselves more to careful, planned, strategic decisions.

I'm all for fast paced combat. One of my pet peeves is the lack of realism when it comes to the frenetic environment of actual combat, so I'm glad that you are trying to simulate that, but I'm just wondering if it's appropriate.

[Amadeo]

Currently I have done no playtesting (first session on next Thursday) and I'll admit I'm worrying about that as well. To be honest it is a relic from a past iteration of the game that I may have to trim off or do some retooling.

But you are right, I'm having trouble balancing the strategic elements in my game with the fast paced action I want. I think your Genesys and my game both want quicker combat resolution. I'm just struggling with mine a bit.

I'm just glad that I'm not the only person who felt the Adrenaline mechanic seemed outdated. I was cautious about pulling it since my playtesters seemed to like the mechanic and I was at the time the only person who didn't think it was working.

Postscript: I'm glad you like the rest, thank you. I was quite nervous about posting my "first thoughts" as it were.

[Abkajud]

Hi, Amadeo! Your game sounds awesome! I think you should reward rash PC decisions; it could really drive play.

If the characters in the setting lack access to much, if any, education or sophisticated supplies, then they've got about as many options as a war party of chimpanzees when it comes to tactical decisions. Consider even a medieval level of sophistication: basically, you're going to either flank or charge, and maybe have some guys in reserve. Not exactly Byzantine maneuvering

While the idea of realism can be a compelling motivation, why not go ahead and say "This is what I want for my game - I want rash behavior to be encouraged."

If you're concerned about this making sense, then consider the in's and out's of conflict resolution: a decision made on the fly that succeeds will mean that the player wins the stakes for which he was competing.
If, in a rush, I state, "I chop off one of the mutant's fingers. He knows where our food supply is, and he's going to tell me," well, he might very well know where our tribe's food supply is, but the GM could take this information and raise the stakes: you get the info out of him, perhaps only to find out that the mutant clan is running a free hospital in a neutral part of the local ruined city. By stealing your food back for your tribe, you're killing a lot of sick and injured people who could've also benefited from it.

What I'm saying is this: if you want to avoid slow, cautious play, but you like MJ's suggestion that life in this world is fragile, then, without subverting the spirit of players' actions, try and capture the basic consideration a player makes when he pops off a decision. If he's going for "tribe first", then push that, hard. If he's going for "victim first" or "Seekers first", push that as far as it'll go. But make actions have consequences, and I think it won't be such a big deal to throw successes around.

That's the beauty of conflict resolution: the intent is the thing, and the skill points and such are the way you go about it. Success means you got what you were intending to do, and the GM doesn't have the power to gerrymander and say "You get the mutie to talk, but he's lying", or Vincent's ubiquitous "You crack the safe, sure, but there's nothing incriminating in it". I could go on and on about how awesome CR is, but that might be off-topic

- Abby

[Amadeo]

Thanks for your advice and your enthusiasm, it is one thing to like a concept you've come up with, another to have close friends support it, but to have people you don't know take time out of their lives to lend a helping hand is quite another level. Thank you. I love your idea of raising the stakes, I've been doing that regardless of system for awhile now, there is just something more fun as things escalate out of control and twists take you in directions you didn't think possible.

I'm playtesting the game for the first time next Thursday, and so far I'm leaving the adrenaline mechanic out due to its intrinsic nature with the timing mechanic. I want to see how the rest of the game will work with that piece missing. But I will be taking a good and hard look at the way Adrenaline works with my system.

[Abkajud]

Good luck fleshing out the basic stuff and working Adrenaline in there; I think your game will really come into its own when the "special" mechanics get introduced.

Similarly, I'll be having an interesting time with Mask of the Emperor's "trademark" mechanic, that of Honor. I'm playtesting tonight, and I have two players, one Honorable and one Dishonorable. It should be interesting trying to figure out how that all fits into the game, given that one of the characters is only as honorable as is required to maintain an acceptable reputation. I haven't spent a lot of time working on "insincere" Honor point-gains, but that's what I expected to happen in the course of play, so it should be interesting.

- Abby

[mjbauer]

What I'm saying is this: if you want to avoid slow, cautious play, but you like MJ's suggestion that life in this world is fragile, then, without subverting the spirit of players' actions, try and capture the basic consideration a player makes when he pops off a decision. If he's going for "tribe first", then push that, hard. If he's going for "victim first" or "Seekers first", push that as far as it'll go. But make actions have consequences, and I think it won't be such a big deal to throw successes around.

I think my main concern is that players who know that they get an "automatic success" could abuse that rule. It could easily unbalance a game if it isn't kept in check. I'm not sure to what extent the automatic success applies, so it might not be an issue at all. I just wanted to bring that up, in case it was something that hadn't been considered.

[Amadeo]

As currently written, when your character is submitted to a reasonable level of threat (currently GM's discretion, but after a few playtests I hope to pin it down a little more concretely) you get an Adrenaline point. You have a bar that goes from 1 adrenaline to 5 adrenaline. You lose adrenaline by taking longer than the allotted time during your turn to decide what to do, spending it to empower certain abilities, or for an automatic success. Issue is, if you get too much adrenaline your character is strung out, and loses the ability to spend it and takes negatives on most rolls requiring concentration, agility, and cognitive abilities. If you let your adrenaline fall to 0 after you've gained your first point, you crash, taking negatives on rolls that require strength, endurance, and your resistance against infection drops dramatically.

I'm currently working on a way to compare the breadth of the task you want to try with the abilities your character has. Example: A woman's child is under a burning car, with adrenaline she can lift the car high enough to allow her son to get out, but if the boy was trapped beneath a tipped semi trailer filled with goods, this woman could be the female body-builder champion and have a hard time saving him then.

I'm also building a mechanic to limit the amount of times people can access adrenaline.

If that doesn't work I'm going to try and set a number of adrenaline needed equal to the difficulty of the task.

Hopefully one of those three will clip the problem at the bud, because frankly Adrenaline is one of the great features about the game.