[SSS] Starting point

[Preceding Easy]

I've gotten an idea bouncing around in my head for a while now, about a system based upon three stats - namely, Strength, Style, and Skill.  That might sound generic, but I've put thought into that too.

Strength, as a stat, would cover areas such as health, power, potential damage, and the like.  Essentially, to draw from DnD, STR and CON.

Skill, on the other hand, would deal with things like movement speed, reflexes, deftness (stealing, sleight of hand, etc.), and accuracy.  Kind of like DEX.

Style is about what gets done and how it looks.  It covers how others respond to you, how well you can speak or act, and the fine arts of persuasion.  It is like CHA and a little bit of WIS and INT.


I haven't gotten a firm idea of settings that could be used, but I was feeling a more "cinematic", or stylish, game style.  I'm thinking of players taking the time to make what they do sound epic as they describe it.  Combat could be a central point, but a bigger one is making it sound cool.

I'd appreciate any help with the mechanical side of things, or with writing out a setting.  Actually, any help is appreciated.  Even helping me write my ideas down is a good start.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi there,

Seems to me that if you want Style to matter at all, it'll have to be more effective than the other two in some specific way.

It also seems to me that your breakdown - much like the traditional six that you reference - suffers from the fact that a given action often requires more than one of those to be involved.

So I'll try to work with both of those ideas in suggesting ...

1. To do something, name one, two, or three of the scores. It depends on the action performed. (That gives a lot of combinations! Any one by itself makes three, then all three together is one, and then three possible twosies, for seven possible rolls of one, two, or three dice.)

2. Style can cause you trouble if you use it in dangerous situations. If you include Style, and it rolls worst of the dice being rolled, then you fail no matter what you rolled.

3. Style is awesome, though. If it rolls highest of the dice being rolled, you succeed no matter what you rolled, and whatever reward system mechanics are in your game, you get maximum or double or something like that.

4. Neither #2 nor #3 matter if only the Style die is rolled. But if you fail in such situations, you take Style damage and suffer some kind of penalty in terms of the immediate situation, or maybe can't use Style at all in later conflicts with those characters you failed against.

Those are my thoughts. I'm suggesting that instead of thinking of stuff to do in play being only Strength, only Skill, or only Style, try thinking of any or all of the three factoring into actions depending on what the player says the character is doing.

Best, Ron

[David Berg]

Hi P-Easy,

Your desire for a stylish game experience makes me wonder: would you be interested in a way to inspire color and detail for every resolution roll?  For example, there's a system where you roll 3 dice, and the total determines success/failure, but each individual die determines something to flavor the narration with.  The system designer claimed that players would look for any excuse to roll dice, just because narrating was so much fun.  (The GM gave them target #s pre-roll, so they didn't need to ask about outcomes; they just rolled the dice and then narrated.)  So maybe Strength, Skill, and Smarts could give you your dice and bonuses, but Style could determine the flavor categories.  This could even be customized per character.

Ps,
-David