[Chronoplex] A Brief Overview

[sockmonkey]

I meant to have this posted long before now, but real life keeps horning in. So before I lose my chance, here is a brief introduction to Chronoplex:

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Chronoplex is a fantasy time-travel RPG that explores the wonders, dangers, and responsibilities of treading through histories that are not your own. Players take on the roles of a spanners, people who have learned to navigate through time using the naturally occurring network of conduits known as the Chronoplex. Spanner society exists between ticks of the clock and the only way to get from one geotemporal location to the next is overland through linear time.

Characters are defined by four attributes (Physical, Spiritual, Mental, Social), each with two opposing traits (Strength and Agility, Endurance and Will, Aptitude and Savvy, Charm and Awareness). Traits define a character's base skills and the character's chosen background defines the level and allotment of training a character has received.

Conflicts are resolved through the use of coins. Each coin has a number on one side while the opposite side is blank. Four denominations of coins are required: 1, 2, 4 and 8. When pitched, the sum of the numbers facing up is the result. If all of the coins are face down it is considered twice the highest coin denomination. So for 1c8, an all-face-down result equals 16.
Any time you want to attempt an action that has a chance of failure:

• Pitch 1c8.
• Add in any related bonuses and/or penalties.
• Add in any prior training
• Compare the result to the predetermined level of difficulty.

If your result equals or exceeds the difficulty score for the action, your character succeeds.

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I suppose I'm looking for general impressions. Any comments or questions are welcome. Feedback = Good. 

[chronoplasm]

I guess I'd be most interested to find out how time travel is resolved.
If you make a mistake, can you immediately go back and fix it?
Can you affect the actions of other player characters through time travel?
Is there combat? If so, how does time travel work with combat in this game?

[Simon C]

I have a couple of questions about your mechanic.  In your game, you roll any time someone does something with a chance of failure.  Any time? Really? Making a cup of tea? Walking up some stairs? I don't think that's what you mean.  So what kinds of actions are resolved with dice (or coins), and what kinds are resolved just by talking? At the least you need some advice for identifying when to use the mechanic.

What I think you'll find is that you want to roll when there is a conflict between competing goals.  Whether that's the PCs trying to beat an NPC, or they're trying to achieve something that matters in the world.  The problem is that in a lot of cases, your system tells you if you've succeeded in a task, but it doesn't tell you if you've achieved your goal.

For example: The character's goal is to get inside the tower.  You say "my character is climbing the tower to the window".  You roll dice (or flip coins, or whatever), and then you say "yay! I win! I've succeeded at climbing!".  Is your character inside the tower? We don't know.  That's still up to the GM.  The GM might say "ok, you're at the window" or "ok, you're halfway up the tower" or even "yes! you climb up the tower and in through the window"

The issue then is that your resolution mechanic doesn't really resolve anything.  It gets you halfway through the problem.  Solving this can be as simple as declaring up front what you're trying to achieve, and the GM telling you the difficulties up front, and then rolling to see if you get what you want.  That's called "conflict resolution".  A lot of familiar systems already incorportate elements of this.  For example, rolling for damage in D&D is an example of this, but it only applies in combat.

On a more mechanical note, I wonder if specially marked coins aren't a bit of a barrier to playing your game.  I notice that you can get almost exactly the same effect by rolling dice with different numbers of sides, and then adding together the total number of sides for all dice that rolled even numbers.  For example, you might roll 1d4, 2d6, and 1d8, getting 2, 3, 5, and 2 respectively.  Since the d4 and the d8 rolled even, you add them together getting 12.  This appraoch doesn't let you have a 1 result, so the sums of the dice are always going to be even.  Also, the handling time will be slightly greater.  On the other hand, you have access to a whole lot more information, in the form of the actual numbers rolled on the dice.

[J. Scott Timmerman]

Hi there.

Just a quick comment on your mechanic.  Assuing that rolling "1c8" means flipping all four coins (you have given no other situation in which you would flip the lower-valued coins), all your coin-flipping gives the same result as rolling 1d16.

http://www.chessex.com/Dice/Specialty%20Dice/16_sided.htm

The only thing you'd lose is the feel of flipping four coins and the time it takes to add the coins together.

Peace.

[brianbloodaxe]

I was just about to say that 1c8 was exactly 1D16 but I see that I have been beaten to it.

[sockmonkey]

I guess I'd be most interested to find out how time travel is resolved.
If you make a mistake, can you immediately go back and fix it?
Can you affect the actions of other player characters through time travel?
Is there combat? If so, how does time travel work with combat in this game?

All good questions. I'll take each in turn.

If you make a mistake, can you immediately go back and fix it?
You mean can you go back to the same place in linear time and try something again? Yes. But getting back can take quite a while. Spanners have to catch the right tubes at the right times in order to get where they're going (sort of like a really complicated bus schedule). And tubes are normally miles and days apart. But once you get back to the same spot, yes, you can try again.

Can you affect the actions of other player characters through time travel?
That depends. If the other PCs happen to be linears (non-time-traveling folk), then yes. If the PCs are tempors (denizens of the plex) then no. Tempors exist in a different temporal state. They can affect events in linear time, but events in the plex move independently of linear time.

Is there combat? If so, how does time travel work with combat in this game?
There can be combat, yes. Combat is based on a subset of characters' skills (conveniently separated out as 'Combat Skills'). Combat rounds are measured out in eight second increments and follow three basic phases: Reaction, Commitment, and Execution. Reaction is just establishing initiative. In the commitment phase each combatant writes down the action they plan to take. In Execution actions are resolved in the order of reaction. If actions of other players interfere or negate the action you've planned then you have to succeed at a changing action check against the difficulty of the action you had planned to take. If you make that check then you can choose another action.

In your game, you roll any time someone does something with a chance of failure.  Any time? Really? Making a cup of tea? Walking up some stairs? I don't think that's what you mean.  So what kinds of actions are resolved with dice (or coins), and what kinds are resolved just by talking? At the least you need some advice for identifying when to use the mechanic.

You're right, of course. I suppose the caveat should be 'any time someone does something with a chance of failure that has a significant impact on the story.' I think it should be left somewhat subjective. The GM should decide what will or will not significantly impact the story.

Assuing that rolling "1c8" means flipping all four coins (you have given no other situation in which you would flip the lower-valued coins), all your coin-flipping gives the same result as rolling 1d16.

LOL  I suppose that's true. But I like the idea of using common coins for a game. That way if you can find four coins in the cushions of your couch and a Sharpie, you've got the equipment you need. The same can't be said of a d16. (And I am reserving the right to use the lower denominations if a situation calls for it. Heh.)

Besides, there's something that's just... viscerally pleasing about pitching a handful of coins. You should try it, it's fun!

[Simon C]

I'm not sure you've considered the wider implications of what I was asking in my post.  How do you resolve intent (the goal the character is trying to achieve) in your game?

[sockmonkey]

Okay, I re-read your post and I think I understand what you're after. It sounds like you're talking about a quality roll or degrees of success; something akin to the 'height' of a roll in the One Roll Engine. Am I understanding correctly?