Ghosts system ideas, first goal

[Matt Wilson]

I did a little thinking about what I wanted the system in Ghosts to accomplish - some of which I cut out and posted in the theory forum, for reference. See what you think of this.

Ghosts of the Empire is an adventurous game of exploration in a post-apocalypse space opera setting.

Goal 1: system doesn't interrup the story (much). If you want to accomplish some sort of task, the rules involve should feel like part of the story.

Solution: Well, I'm not so bold as to say I have one yet.  :)  But I'm thinking that it's a combination of quick search/handling with how the abilities in question are displayed. Say the basic mechanic is pools of d10s, where you want the highest die showing, and additional 6s add one to the total. But how you choose the pool of dice is in the storytelling. Say you're trying to get past a guard. You might choose "brawny" plus "rank (lieutenant)" plus "booming voice" for three dice.

Then, to make it a little more fun, there'd be a pool of Sheer Luck dice, where you can spend them to add unusual traits to the pool, like adding your "brawny" trait to a roll to repair something. But you have to come up with a storytelling reason why it applied (There was a real heavy part that I had to struggle to lift).

Then to resolve this task, you compare the total vs. some other number, and the difference translates to successes. 1 success = "something marginally cool happened." 2 successes = "something reasonably cool happened, or 2 marginal things." And so on. The game will provide some examples, like 1 success might mean a discount off the price, or the guard will let you by if you give her $20, or you got the wind knocked out of you, etc.

Got some other ideas coming, regarding scene resolution. Let me know how this looks.

[Mike Holmes]

Then, to make it a little more fun, there'd be a pool of Sheer Luck dice, where you can spend them to add unusual traits to the pool, like adding your "brawny" trait to a roll to repair something. But you have to come up with a storytelling reason why it applied (There was a real heavy part that I had to struggle to lift).

Hmmm. That's problematic. You already have players trying to insert abilities to build a die pool. When is an ability "unusual", and when is it not? The GM will have to decide. This sort of GM subjectivity that calls for 'Disallowing" uses is to be avoided if possible.

How about you just allow your players to add any three traits, and reward them with bonus dice for appropriateness or somthing to keep them "honest"? Still subjective, but this way it's a positive reinforcement for good use, instead of negative reinforcement for poor use. Or allow any use, and just force them to rotate so that players can't just continually use their best set.

Allow the Sheer Luck dice to add on top of that. Players can alter the situation such that the traits they used provide even more dice to the situation in question.

How's that sound?

Mike

[Matt Wilson]

Hmmm. That's problematic. You already have players trying to insert abilities to build a die pool. When is an ability "unusual", and when is it not? The GM will have to decide. This sort of GM subjectivity that calls for 'Disallowing" uses is to be avoided if possible.

I suppose it does have some vulnerability for that. The idea was mostly to encourage some clever thinking instead of just relying on the same skill+stat combo all the time. I suppose asking players to spend points might defeat that purpose.

How about you just allow your players to add any three traits, and reward them with bonus dice for appropriateness or somthing to keep them "honest"? Still subjective, but this way it's a positive reinforcement for good use, instead of negative reinforcement for poor use. Or allow any use, and just force them to rotate so that players can't just continually use their best set.

The idea I had to get a variety going was a kind of pyramid of specialization. At the top you have some general descriptors, like "beefy" or "quick thinker," and then there are general skills, like "driving." then instead of having multiple levels of driving, you'd get a "good at turning sharp corners" specialization.

It'd be kind of like the systems with all the fancy combat maneuvers, except it would apply to all resolution rolls. Kind of a cheat sheet for coming up with descriptive actions. And players can make up their own, assuming there are some guidelines.

Allow the Sheer Luck dice to add on top of that. Players can alter the situation such that the traits they used provide even more dice to the situation in question.

I like that idea. Becomes a bit more of a general "fate point" mechanic, but those sorts of things do their job.

I also have this idea in my head somewhere of a "fatigue dice" pool, where you can spend fatigue dice to push yourself a little harder and add to outcomes, but you'd start to get tired as you used up the pool. It's a little too combat oriented for the kind of game I want, but it'd be kind of fun in a kung-fu game or something like that.

[Marco]

Then, to make it a little more fun, there'd be a pool of Sheer Luck dice, where you can spend them to add unusual traits to the pool, like adding your "brawny" trait to a roll to repair something. But you have to come up with a storytelling reason why it applied (There was a real heavy part that I had to struggle to lift).

Hmmm. That's problematic. You already have players trying to insert abilities to build a die pool. When is an ability "unusual", and when is it not? The GM will have to decide. This sort of GM subjectivity that calls for 'Disallowing" uses is to be avoided if possible.

Mike

I think Mike's idea is, in essence, a good one--but I felt this was a bit weird. I'd expect the GM, if there's a GM at all, to make entirely this kind of judgment call. I'd say GM subjectivity is part of why you *have* a GM (i.e. a rule that calls for the GM to make a decision isn't a necessiarly a weakness, IMO).

-Marco

[ADGBoss]

Or allow any use, and just force them to rotate so that players can't just continually use their best set.

One other option might be to lessen the impact of a gien trait in a given time period...

ie ok you have used your brawn three times today, your sore and its not as effective, take -1 dice

or your brain is starting to pulse painfully after your fifth Quantum mechanics love making roll, you lose -2 dice

Like Mike said , reward them for good ideas.  However, you want to preent them from riding roughshod over any situation just because they have 1 awesome trait and a great imagination

SMH
ADGBoss

[Matt Wilson]

One other option might be to lessen the impact of a gien trait in a given time period...

ie ok you have used your brawn three times today, your sore and its not as effective, take -1 dice

or your brain is starting to pulse painfully after your fifth Quantum mechanics love making roll, you lose -2 dice

Like Mike said , reward them for good ideas.  However, you want to preent them from riding roughshod over any situation just because they have 1 awesome trait and a great imagination

My idea so far is to have vague traits and specific ones, and the vague ones will apply to all sorts of things (much like attributes in more common games). If you want to apply more than one trait from a category, you generate fatigue. This will come up in all sorts of situations, I think, like trying to repair the ship in a hurry, and so on.

But the real goal in all this is to encourage the players to tell a story. If the combo is a little off-the-wall, that's okay with me. Better than "okay, I roll my fix skill and fix it."

And players who would try to abuse the system aren't really the right players for the game anyway.