Halloween Horror, what Attributes would *you* want... ?

[Kester Pelagius]

Greetings All,

Am in the process of finalizing a FRP game called "Revenge of the Crypt  Fiend" (discussion about the mechanics idea which spawned it can be found here) and was wondering what sort of Attributes/Stats you would like to see in it.


So, Kester chummer, what is the game about?

Glad you asked.


In short the game is a Halloween Horror game.  Players will determine their characters by rolling on a Wandering Monsters chart.

Characters currently include the following:  Specter, Zombie, Witch, Night Hag, Vampire, Ghost, and the party monger Goblin; to name a few.

Presently I have a number of place holder Stats.  The main one at present being Skill.  (To be used in conjunction with Abilities.)

If you require more information about the system or CharGen let me know.


Kind Regards,

Kester Pelagius

[Zak Arntson]

Okay, I'm a little interested in this, if only because it's so vague. There's a wandering monster chart (hearkening back to D&D, right?) and you play monsters. There's some stat system. I don't know enough about it!

I'd like to know your goal with this game: How do you imagine it being played?

[ethan_greer]

So, I'm picturing a game where there are monsters running around, and based on that other thread, different people control different monsters at different times.

Based on the assumption that this game is supposed to be a light-hearted sort of thing, some attributes that might fit:

- Fear Factor: how scary the monster is.
- Big Nasty Pointy Bits: how many spikes, slavering fangs, claws, and horns the monster has.
- Size: pretty obvious
- Quantity: Might be a useful attribute if the monster is a hive-mind entity, i.e. a bunch of spiders running around in a carpet-like manner. (There was a carpet of tarantulas under my bed for years.  Creepy!)
- Call: reflects what kind of noise the monster makes, and how scary it is.  Possible noises would include roars, growls, hisses, murmuring voices, moans, wails, rattling chains, etc.
- Body: Is the monster corporeal or ethereal?  Can the monster effect outside objects?  Poltergiests (sp?) have no body but can throw things around, for example.

Just some ideas to throw at you.
-e.

[Kester Pelagius]

Okay, I'm a little interested in this, if only because it's so vague. There's a wandering monster chart (hearkening back to D&D, right?) and you play monsters. There's some stat system. I don't know enough about it!

I'd like to know your goal with this game: How do you imagine it being played?

Exactly.  A bit of a nod to old D&D days with the name.  Little else though.

My goal is actually simple.  If perhaps a bit strange.  I have designed the game, built it from the ground up as it were, strictly to test that mechanic idea I had.  (It is not quite the same sort of thing done in Universalis, though certain similarities have been pointed out to me.)  The idea here is for interactive table top play with a bit of room for story telling, in that it allows for some narrative control by players.  (Actually Narrative control is one of the main things players can "Trump the GM" for.)

Second to this is playability.  I want the game to be fun.  Interactive.  Something to allow ALL the players a chance to get involved with directing and shaping the game, if they want to, not just some bit of fluff created to test a game mechanic.

Yet this is also something of a strategy game, what with the "NPC Pool", "Trumping", and "Tricking" and all.

And the CharGen System?

Variable.

In order to understand how that is possible you may have to refer to the post in RPG Theory.

To sum up my design at present: the person who gets the all important Crypt Fiend character is GM (though that can be optional) and will be able to determine Stat generation based on "easy" or "hard" modes of play.  Alternatively the players may decide this prior to play.

Basically the easy method is roll 2D6, adding template modifiers from the Monster rolled.  The harder method is roll 2D6 and assign points between attributes, adding template modifiers.  That's it in a nutshell, more or less.

What do you think?

[Kester Pelagius]

So, I'm picturing a game where there are monsters running around, and based on that other thread, different people control different monsters at different times.

You got it!

Only every player will have a "main" PC and have up to x# of secondary underlings/sidekicks (I'm thinking of setting that at two at present, at least for the game as presented in the play test version) with the ability to literally "Discard" or "Purchase" other secondary characters from the "NPC Pool" or to "Trick" secondary characters from another players control.

Based on the assumption that this game is supposed to be a light-hearted sort of thing, some attributes that might fit:

- Fear Factor: how scary the monster is.
- Big Nasty Pointy Bits: how many spikes, slavering fangs, claws, and horns the monster has.
- Size: pretty obvious
- Quantity: Might be a useful attribute if the monster is a hive-mind entity, i.e. a bunch of spiders running around in a carpet-like manner. (There was a carpet of tarantulas under my bed for years.  Creepy!)
- Call: reflects what kind of noise the monster makes, and how scary it is.  Possible noises would include roars, growls, hisses, murmuring voices, moans, wails, rattling chains, etc.
- Body: Is the monster corporeal or ethereal?  Can the monster effect outside objects?  Poltergiests (sp?) have no body but can throw things around, for example.

Just some ideas to throw at you.
-e.

Those are some great suggestions, silkworm.

I was thinking about adding something just like a "Body" score.  For the exact same sort of reasons you outlined.  But to balance it out wouldn't I then have to add a trait like "power" or "force" to indicate when/how ghost characters can do something?

I like "Fear Factor".  Fits well with my "Presence" ability.  Something like that could be very complimentary in a pure Horror game.

"Call" I think could fall under "Abilities" (which also will need renaming to something more suitable) perhaps as a meta skill covering everything from Moans to Wails.

Would you want to play a game that had the attributes layed out in this way?

Or would you prefer something more simplified?

[ethan_greer]

with the ability to literally "Discard" or "Purchase" other secondary characters from the "NPC Pool" or to "Trick" secondary characters from another players control.

Sounds like it could be a blast, as long as it doesn't get too cutthroat.

But to balance it out wouldn't I then have to add a trait like "power" or "force" to indicate when/how ghost characters can do something?

I agree.  If you want to avoid that, you could just have one attribute, perhaps Power, and in the description of the monster you could detail how the creature applies its Power attribute to its environment.

Would you want to play a game that had the attributes layed out in this way?

Or would you prefer something more simplified?

Well, it depends.  It sounds like what you've got isn't overly complex, so I wouldn't worry about simplifying at this point without playtesting first.  Personally, given that this is a for-fun type of game, I would tend to go for as simple as possible provided that there is enough "crunch" for the mechanics to fill the roles in which you feel mechanics are needed.  Anyway, I'm waffling at this point, but I hope you're getting what I mean.

To restate: It sounds to me like what you have right now is a good level of complexity in character stats, based on what I know of them, which admittedly isn't much.

[Kester Pelagius]

But to balance it out wouldn't I then have to add a trait like "power" or "force" to indicate when/how ghost characters can do something?

I agree.  If you want to avoid that, you could just have one attribute, perhaps Power, and in the description of the monster you could detail how the creature applies its Power attribute to its environment.

What about making something like this a function of Skill?

Of course I'd have to expand what I have at present, probably write up a few charts... might work.

Would you want to play a game that had the attributes layed out in this way?

Or would you prefer something more simplified?

Well, it depends.  It sounds like what you've got isn't overly complex, so I wouldn't worry about simplifying at this point without playtesting first.  Personally, given that this is a for-fun type of game, I would tend to go for as simple as possible provided that there is enough "crunch" for the mechanics to fill the roles in which you feel mechanics are needed.  Anyway, I'm waffling at this point, but I hope you're getting what I mean.

To restate: It sounds to me like what you have right now is a good level of complexity in character stats, based on what I know of them, which admittedly isn't much.

You are quite right about that.  Most of the complexity (at present) centers on the NPC Pool, or rather strategy to use the NPC Pool, and Trumping and Tricking.

As for the charactersl, the "crunch" is not really so much in their Stats at present as their Abilities.  Some characters start with specific abilities while others have the option to purchase additional abilities during CC.  Of course Abilities cost points.  Points which also have other used in the game.   Thus the players might have to "budget" them, so to speak.