ReCoil: Mechanics, part 1

[Lance D. Allen]

In which the basic traits of player characters are discussed, as well as various effects and possibilities with the basic mechanic. Comments, suggestions and questions desired.
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Mechanics:

Agent traits:

Synchronicity - A trait which is used to determine how well the agent will synch with their host. It
is denoted with a color, based on a circle of 12 colors with the Sync Level being based on the
proximity of the agent’s color and the hosts.

Power - The stat which measures the agent’s command of their special abilities, as well as their
capability to push the limits of reality. Anytime the agent wants to activate a special ability, or
violate the laws of physics or other accepted boundaries of reality, this stat will be used.

Perception - The ability to sense things which are not of the Coil. This includes both passive
perceptivity and active perceiving.

Mortis - This trait is a pool trait, measuring the total energy that the agent has to use while
Recoiled. It requires at least one point in the pool to remain within the Coil, and it can be reduced
through expenditure to activate abilities or defy reality, and it can also be reduced by attacks
directly upon the agent, rather than the host.

Conviction - The reason that the agent fights. It might differ from the reason that the agent first
fought off Oblivion long enough to be rescued by Mortis, and it might even change over the
course of several missions. Regardless, it is a measure of how strong is the agent’s will to fight.
If it ever reaches 0, the agent will be vulnerable to annihilation.

Host traits:

Body - a measure of toughness, endurance, strength and macro-movement abilities. Used to
determine how well you move, feats of strength and endurance and athletic activities such as
running or swimming.

Senses - A measure of how keen the host’s senses are. A general rating, with descriptors, such
as nearsighted, eagle-eyes, deaf, or Sensitive (which is a Host Talent). Used to determine how
well someone can sense physical things, either passively or actively.

Precision - A measure of hand-eye coordination, as well as the facility for doing fine detail work.
Used by a conscious host to commit most physical actions not covered by body, such as
shooting, or artistic endeavors. Used by an agent-controlled host specifically for fine
manipulations, such as painting, picking locks, or sewing.

Synched traits: Synched traits are traits which are determined upon reentering the Coil. The most
important of these is the Sync Level, but also included are Passive Perception, and Masking.

Sync Level - The sync level directly affects how much use the agent has of their host’s body and
abilities. They range from Sync 5 to Sync X, which are respectively total synchronization to the
inability to even Recoil into that host.
Sync 5 - The host is conscious of the agent, understands their basic motivations, and is
well-disposed toward being helpful. Capable of sharing control of the host’s body with the
host, and has full access to the host’s knowledges, skills and abilities.
Sync 4 - The host is unconscious during the time that the agent is using their body. The
agent is fully aware of the host’s history, and has full access to the host’s knowledges, skills
and abilities.
Sync 3 - The host is unconscious during the time that the agent is using their body. The
agent has no knowledge of the host’s identity or history, but has full access to the host’s
knowledges and skills.
Sync 2 - The host is unconscious during the time that the agent is using their body. The
agent has no knowledge of the host’s identity or history, and partial access only to the host’s
skills, not knowledges or abilities.
Sync 1 - The host is unconscious during the time that the agent is using their body. The
agent has no knowledge of the host’s identity or history, and has highly erratic access to the
host’s abilities.
Sync 0 - The host is either unconscious during the time that the agent is using their body, or
conscious, but unaware of the agent. When the host is conscious, the agent has no control of
the body, and will be required to contest for control if they wish to take over. They have no
knowledge of the host whatsoever, and may not even use the host’s native language
naturally.
Sync X - Recoil into the host will be a failure, requiring the agent to Recoil again, hopefully
into a more compatible host.

Passive Perception - At the time of ReCoil, a roll is made using the agent’s Perception trait. The
highest result is taken and noted as the passive perception rating. Any entity with a Masking
rating equal to or less than the passive perception rating will automatically be perceived as if a
single success were rolled on an active Perception roll.

Masking - the TN for all Perception rolls and for Passive Perception. Masking has one of two
ratings; either P (the default rating, equal to the local Paradigm) or 10. An agent or Naughtwraith
may use a point of Power at any time to set it’s Masking to 10 for the duration of their time in the
Coil.

The basic die mechanic: You roll a number of dice equal to the applicable trait against a TN,
which is usually based upon the task and circumstances. For power rolls, this is based upon the
Paradigm. For attempts to do things with skill or natural ability, the GM sets a TN based on the
difficulty of the task at hand, and any modifying circumstances. TNs range from 2 (incredibly
easy, but still, possible to fail) to 10 (immensely difficult, but still possible to suceed). Any rolls
which equal or better the TN are counted as successes, with each used to describe a different
effect, or alternately improve a single basic effect.

Example: Love is fleeing pursuit, so the player rolls her host’s Body rating of 3. The GM
determines a TN of 6, average difficulty. Her roll comes up 6, 4, 8, two successes. Love the first
success is used to describe that she continues running fast enough to stay ahead of her
pursuers. She has the option of using the second success to throw some complication into her
pursuer’s way, such as overturning a trashcan, or dashing across a street just ahead of heavy
cross-traffic, or simply putting on a burst of speed to gain a greater lead on her pursuers.

   In combat, these successes can be used a bit differently. The basic combat effect is a
damage level, from wounded to dead. They are as follows:
Wounded - The target is wounded in some way. It hurts, it’s possibly bleeding, but there’s no
real effect in game terms. This sort of wound might be enough to back someone down, or
whatever, dependent upon the nature of the wound.
Incapacitated - This can be anything from a bonk on the head which knocks someone out to
a shattered kneecap which puts someone out of commission for a long time. The only
defining effect of this level of wound is that the target is unable to effectively hinder or assist
for a period of time.
Critical - Badly wounded, maybe dying. In most cases, the target will die if immediate care is
not rendered, though the exact specifics are up to the attacker. A target could be rendered
comatose, or holding their entrails from spilling out, while flopping around in a slowly
widening pool of their own blood. They’re not dead yet, but they’re not much better off.
Dead - Pretty self-explanatory. This is essentially instantaneous death, often something gory.
Beheaded, chest exploded, or perhaps the life-force simply left the body. The description
and means are up to the attacker, but this is the point of no return.
   Determining damaging effects is mostly up to the attacking character. Each level of
damage requires a success, so to instantly kill someone, you would need to put four successes
into it. Alternately, four successes could be used to wound the person four times, each probably
stinging like a bitch, but having no game effects, or any mix in between. Not all successes even
need to be expended in damaging a target. The below example will illustrate somewhat.

Example: Love is cornered, despite her earlier attempts to escape. Her pursuers are 3 police
officers who happened to have been at the wrong place at the wrong time, and as such, she has
no desire to hurt them. Her host is a scrawny kid who was often picked on in school, but she
herself is more than adept in martial arts, with a rating of 7 in MA. As the police officers close in
on her warily, she steps smoothly into action. The player rolls her 7 dice, against a TN of 5
resulting in 8, 8, 8, 7, 9, 7 and 4, for 6 successes. The player crows victoriously as Love leaps up
in a spin-kick to the side of the first cop’s head, allocating 2 successes for an incapacitating
wound, knocking him out. She drops to the ground, sweeping the second cop off of his feet with
a level one wound, then uses a second success to take his pistol. With her two remaining
successes she slugs the third cop in the belly, then runs back down the alleyway whence she’d
come.

Note that I did not give the police officers any rolls to defend. This was intentional, as I’m not
trying to give a full description of battle at this time. Normally the police officers would have a
chance to fight back, but in this case it was ignored, to demonstrate the range of options inherent
in a single roll. While it is possible, through use of power points, to preempt the actions of other
characters, most situations like this will involve opposition, as in the next example.

Example: Love miscalculated, and finds herself in another blind alley. Cursing herself (and the
city designers) she turns to find the cop whom she’d punched in the gut at the end of the
alleyway, shouting at her to put the weapon down and give herself up. Love has no intention of
doing so, but likewise still doesn’t want to hurt the policeman. As it is growing late, the policeman
has to use his flashlight to see her at all, so she gets the idea of shooting out his light, so she can
sneak away in the darkness. This is an exceedingly difficult shot, especially with the policeman
behind partial cover, and the GM assigns a difficulty rating of 9. Love isn’t quite so good with
guns as she is with her body, but she decides to risk the shot anyhow. The policeman sees her
aim the weapon in his direction, and opens fire on her before she can get off her shot. Love
decides to dodge rather than shoot, so rolls her host’s Body rating instead, against a TN of 5.
The cop rolls his firearms skill of 4 against a difficulty of 7 (because of the darkness). He rolls  a
5, 1, 9 and 1, Only one success. Before he can describe the results of his success, Love rolls 5,
8, 3, two successes. Because Love had more successes, she describes her first action before
the cop does. She decides that her first success allows her to avoid being shot. In turn, as the
cop only has one success to throw into it, he decides that he manages to shoot the weapon from
her hand instead. Love uses her second success to rapidly close the distance between her and
the cop, rather than trying to recover the weapon. Had the cop had 2 successes, and she three,
she might have had to have spent two successes to totally dodge the bullet. If she had only spent
one, then it might have ended up being a wound rather than incapacitating.

As demonstrated above, whoever has the most successes in a contest gets first choice on how to
allocate successes. Successes may be allocated either individually or in groups for improved
actions. As in the above example, if the policeman had scored two successes to love’s three, she
might have chosen to allocate two successes to an improved dodge, which would preclude him
from hitting her at all. If she had done so, he could have used a single success to shoot the
weapon from her hand, or two successes to shoot the weapon and damage it so that it could not
be used again. If he used only one success, he could use the second for another action after she
used her third success. Alternately, if she’d used only 1 success to dodge as her original action,
he could have used both to shoot her to wound, declaring that the impact was a thigh hit that
knocked her down, but doesn’t incapacitate her. She could then use her remaining two success
as she chose.

Use of powers, and character creation will be discussed in a later posting.

[C. Edwards]

Hey Lance,

Is there any particular reason for having Sync X? It seems to exude a high degree of the 'whiff factor'. What real purpose does it have in play? Why not drop it all together instead of requiring a reroll? There may be game factors that are involved that I'm not aware of so I thought I'd ask.

-Chris

[Lance D. Allen]

Honestly? Simply because it made sense to me.

Sync Level isn't determined by a random roll, well, not exactly. Basically, there are 12 colors, each with a certain level of synchronicity with the others. This is sort of an "aura pattern" sort of thing. The only one that is Sync X is the color directly opposing the color of the Agent's Synchronicity trait. For instance, if your synchronicity trait is Dark Red, then you'd have a Sync 5 with Dark Red or Bright Red, but you'd have Sync 0 with Dark Green, and Sync X with Bright Green.

It just makes sense to me that there will be certain people that you are highly incompatible with, and simply will not sync with. But I could be overanalyzing, as I'm wont to do. Do you think a 1 in 12 chance is enough to be a problem? Do you think it detracts from the game, whether or not it comes up often?

[Thomas Tamblyn]

I like the synch system, though I do think that each colour should mean something, probably a kind of mindset and the closer you are to your host's natural mindset, the better the synch.

I must admit, 12 colours seems rather a lot though, what are they out of interest?  I tried to come up with 12 significant colours but I could only make 9 (Blue Magenta Red Yellow Green Cyan White Grey Black).

[C. Edwards]

Hey Lance,

I wouldn't go so far as to say that it detracts from the game but it does seem like an odd little cul de sac. You have a spot that requires a reroll for what seems to be simply for the sake of uniformity.

Perhaps if rerolling cost a point of Mortis it would be seen as a form of Complication inherent in the risk of ReCoiling. One possibility would be to drop the Synch X category all together, either by condensing the color wheel or just putting the opposing color in with Synch 1. Giving the player the choice of rerolling at the cost of Mortis to improve the characters Synch category would be an interesting option also.

Of course, if you feel that Synch should remain as it is pay absolutely no attention to any of the above. :)  This is your game after all.

-Chris

[Lance D. Allen]

Thomas,

The twelve colors are dark and bright variants of the primary six(red, yellow blue, rather than the magenta, cyan, yellow set) colors. I've toyed with the idea of each having a mindset, but I've not really decided on it. I use a similar system with the Primary Sphere trait in Mage Blade, but I'm wondering if it might be restrictive to roleplay in a game which tries to define the characters very loosely. Perhaps I could replace the color wheel with a zodiac wheel? I think that my original intent was something close to that anyhow.

Chris,

The process of ReCoiling can be done one of two ways at GM or Player option. The default way basically creates the host from scratch at the time of ReCoil, in the sense that the person existed before the agent inhabited them, but they were one of thousands of possible hosts, rather than a distinct individual. The first thing determined is the host's Synchronicity trait. If it's a Sync 0 or above, the agent can enter, and other traits are then determined. The second option comes into play if the agent has Attuned with a host in that particular geographic region. If they have, they can choose to enter that host, rather than be randomly determined.

And as I write this, I realize that it is indeed meaningless. If you roll a Sync X, you simply roll again. With the fact that time is relatively meaningless Outside, the delay will be nil, and be nothing more than color, having no particular effect on the game. So yeah.. Looks like I'll drop Sync X, and simply make it another Sync 0 category.

Oh, and there is an ability which allows the characters to have an improved Sync Level. I've not determined exactly how it will work, but it will be one of the Talents which will be described during character creation, and the example character Love has it, that personable little minx.

[Thomas Tamblyn]

Ooh - I REALLY like the idea of the synch being a zodiac sign.  There are built-in personality descriptors, just about everyone can list them all off the top of their head and a lot of people will know what they mean - while they are still open enough that they won't be telling you that you've defined someone wrong.

My only caveat would be to include a 'cheat sheet' for people who know the signs but not what they signify.

[C. Edwards]

Ooh - I REALLY like the idea of the synch being a zodiac sign.

There's only one problem. Which zodiac? I would find it odd myself if a game that deals with such generic entities as Prime and Mortis had such an important part of its mechanics revolve around the Western Zodiac.
The oddness would be even more apparent if I was playing some dead Chinese guy. Maybe it's just me but the color wheel seems more appropriate for what Lance has described so far.

-Chris

[Lance D. Allen]

That's part of my hesitation, Chris, as well as not knowing right off the top of my head which zodiac signs are compatible with which, etc. Additionally, though I've not really made it clear, but I'm wanting to make the "setting" somewhat ambiguous. Plainly, it doesn't even have to be earth. Or if it is, it doesn't have to be modern earth. You can have the characters originate from some totally alien world, as non-human as you desire, if you desire. The examples will take place in a modern earth setting, simply because it allows me to focus on the example, without confusing people with some bizarre setting. A western styled zodiac would be even less appropriate to a more esoteric setting than your dead Chinese guy. My consideration of using the western zodiac is based on the fact that any players I have are likely to be familiar with it, so it would be an easy reference point.

For now, I'll keep the color wheel, and consider adding personality components. It's simpler, and will allow me to focus on the other mechanics of the game right now, which are still less than final.

So, any comments on anything besides Sync?

[C. Edwards]

So, any comments on anything besides Sync?

Everything else looks fine to me. I do have a question though.

As demonstrated above, whoever has the most successes in a contest gets first choice on how to allocate successes. Successes may be allocated either individually or in groups for improved actions.

What guage is used to determine what a certain number of Successes may accomplish? I understand from the examples that spending one more Success than your opponent can cancel out his original action and that damage is determined by the number of Successes used, but beyond that how is the range of their application determined? GM and player consensus? The original TN of the roll?

If she had done so, he could have used a single success to shoot the weapon from her hand, or two successes to shoot the weapon and damage it so that it could not be used again.

That example in particular made me wonder if there was any particular rule for how such things are determined.

-Chris

[Mike Holmes]

I kind liked Synch X. But I assumed that assignment wasn't random, or it was time sensitive.

If, for instance, a character had some choice in who to Re Coil to, then the roll would be crucial. Maybe the player wants to be in some big bruiser. The Synch X roll means that he can't. I mean, I assume that there's some force acting to Re Coil the character to near the place where he needs to be for the mission? Which means that at least locality is selectable by someone. Why not particular hosts as well?

What would really be cool is to have the GM come up with a set of "suitable" hosts (maybe the powers that be have decided that certain individuals are "right" for the job, or require it as a form of penitance, whatever). Then each player selects one to hop into. If that turns up Synch X, then the player can try another. Also, you could have an "entry phase" where the character would sense the Synch of the character, and then could decide to try to ReCoil to someone else instead.

You could just have the Synch rating of pregens known before hand. But I think the whole charging in and then bouncing out idea is pretty cool. Even in the original rules, I like the idea of rolling because it gives the notion that there are incompatible people out there, and that the character does bounce around before landing in a "fit" occasionally. I mean it's the key color element of the game, ReCoiling.

Anyhow, another factor is time. We know that the missions are time sensitive. If it takes ten minutes on each ReCoil attempt, then it's important to get into someone quick. This makes that skill you mentioned, Lance, where you can improve the Synch really important, then. You might also allow a perception roll to tell the color of a particular target so that the player could predetermine if the host was suitable. Or, perhaps the roll would determine how long it took the character to determine the color (and Synch).

On the subject of time, you could track this mechanically. When anything takes time, you can increase the opposing pool (maybe fracionally depending).

This is all a bit loose as I've missed some of the setting material. But hopefully you can get some ideas out of it.

Anyhow, I like the idea of knowing what the hosta are like for when it's important. Even when unconscious, a popular person serving as a host might get recognized a lot or whatnot. Just adds a whole 'nother dimension to the game.

Mike

[Lance D. Allen]

What guage is used to determine what a certain number of Successes may accomplish? I understand from the examples that spending one more Success than your opponent can cancel out his original action and that damage is determined by the number of Successes used, but beyond that how is the range of their application determined? GM and player consensus? The original TN of the roll?

Each success is usable for a single action or effect based on the original intent of the roll. What exactly constitutes a single action is pretty much up to a consensus of what the group considers a single action. It's kind of like the Pool's Monologues of Victory; The group has to determine it's own level of effect for a given Monologue.

As for your understanding of the example, I guess I was not clear. Love's expenditure of two successes to dodge preempted either one of his successes being used to damage her. She basically nixed a certain option that was available to him. If she had spent one die to dodge, and another die to move the weapon so that he could not shoot it (which she couldn't do as a single action, but..) that would mean that he could spend two dice to shoot her, with one being usable for effect, or two dice to shoot the weapon out of her hand, with one success usable to knock the weapon from her hand. But in neither case would using one die have any effect.

The idea for doing it this way is that all successes are still usable as successes. You succeed at something, even if your original intent was flummoxed by a greater amount of successes.

Is this more clear?

Mike,

It'd figure you'd come back with good reasons for keeping the Sync X mechanic. As it stands now, I've not fully decided how host characters are going to be created. The base idea is that they're randomly rolled up on the spot for each ReCoiling agent. Stats are randomly determined, as well as a basic idea of who or what they are. The intent here is to allow the GM to simply kick the story off with a situation, a location, a time-frame, and a power level, and leave much of the rest to the agent players, and give the GM the means to bounce off them.  

Hm. How about something like this.. At the point of ReCoil, each player states a type of host they wish to have, such as your example "bruiser" or perhaps "doctor" or even "detective". Stats are determined, either randomly or with player input, and then the Sync attribute of the host is determined. If the player is able to, and chooses, to enter that host, then they're in. If not, the host becomes free, and the agents can swap, if they choose, or create a new host. Or, hmm. Maybe this idea could be expanded, somewhat like the relationship maps used in other games.

As for the setting information you might have missed, relating to how they get into the local... Mortis is able to sense deaths. Life doesn't get his attention, but deaths do. When someone dies, he knows where, when, how and how many. But due the vagaries of time, some of this is a bit fuzzy, so he gets a region, rather than a pinpoint location. Once the agents are there, he can pinpoint new agents as necessary, so a ReCoil in mid-mission (say one of the agents host died, or they were attacked and severed by one of the Naughtwraiths) can be into someone immediately near one of the other agents, as they choose.

Ooh. I'm liking the idea of a relationship map more and more. Rather than one character, perhaps each player can come up with multiple characters, as can the GM. These characters will act as potential hosts for the agents, AND the Naughtwraiths, though for the sake of suspense, not all of the hosts need to come out of that pool. The hosts created in this relationship map are all related in some major or minor way to the incident, though they may not be all of the people involved.

[Mike Holmes]

Now yer talkin. That sounds like a lot of fun. Look at Alyria for the Storymap presentation. It would be like that, except that players would come in and attempt to land in one of the characters. Instead of all the players just agreeing on who gets who.

Anyway, this lends a lot of instant weight to the mission, as the players may learn to care a lot about their hosts and what's going on with them. After all it may be that the mission revolves around them. Very cool.

BTW, and the wraiths are already presumably on the scene, I'd assume that the GM would get first selection of characters? Would this tip off the players as to who the wraiths were?

Mike

[Lance D. Allen]

The wraiths may or may not be on the scene. Mortis is sending the agents back a variable time prior to the incident, so there's no knowing..

I'm also attempting to approach the idea of "No Myth" sort of roleplaying. Nothing, or at least very little is "real" prior to the agent's involvement. Only the incident has any reality, and as it hasn't happened yet, it's instantly malleable once the agents arrive in the Coil.

Mind you, I'm not actually going to phrase it this way in the game, considering that the game is about what is "real" it could lead to some rather confusing explanations.

[Mike Holmes]

That's cool. Anyhow, the GM can, at his option create characters that are "unavailable" due to wraiths inhabiting them. These just don't end up presented to the players. And wraiths may arrive at any time to inhabit the non-selected characters.

All very cool. I like that upon arrival the PCs will probably look around to see if they can find any wraiths, and then watch the remaining people on the Storymap for signs of possession. Neat.

I'm starting to get a real feel for what this could look like.

Mike