Hero's Journey: a game of heroes and the supernatural

[Spooky Fanboy]

This is my first attempt at making a roleplaying game. Be only as harsh as you need to be.

What it's about: The power to change the world--and the responsibility that comes with it. When is the price too high? How far can you go before you lose everything you hold dear? Is working miracles a good way to change the world, or does it ultimately become a Sword of Damocles?

Yes, characters can do magic in this game. Magic, however, is not a repeatable science, and is not completely predictable. No spell lists. There will be limits on what the characters can do with magic, but those limits will be both resource-based and risk-based.

Basic Mechanics: Six-sided dice pool, base (physical, mental, social)+ skill. If any of those dice come up "1s", you have succeeded in your immediate goal. If you have any "6s", then either the success has some complications with it, or if no "1s" are rolled, the action has failed, with an additional complication the player narrates. If the player doesn't narrate an appropriate setback, the GM narrates.

Contested rolls between PCs and other PCs or NPCs work a little differently. Roll and see who has the most "1s." That character is winner, but if a "1" is rolled by the loser, it counts as a "6" to the winner's roll;  the winner gets a setback that, while not negating the victory, doesn't make it without cost. If such a setback occurs, the winner (GM in the case of NPCs) narrates what that setback is.

PCs and NPCs can combine rolls, selecting the person with the highest pool of "1s" and adding an additional "1"  to the total per extra person who rolled a "1." "6s" rolled apply only to the individual who rolled them, unless the roller was the main guy, in which case everyone involved is likely to be affected.

Important note: only roll when it's important to roll. Don't roll for stuff that will bog play down, is relatively unimportant in the scheme of play, or is better handled through roleplaying. If there's a chance for failure, and it's dramatic, then roll.

(Does this seem solid, or is there something wonky with these mechanics? Is it clear what style of play I'm going for? Does it seem smooth and intuitive? How many dice in the base scores best represents human average, or above average? Anyone have the math for rolling groups of six-sided dice?)

More info as I get the time. I'm taking a break for lunch. Be right back.

[Spooky Fanboy]

Now onto working the mojo.

Each player starts out with a pre-determined number of chips at the beginning of each session. (I'm not sure how many to start. I'm thinking either 1 or 3.) A player who wants to interject a miracle, on his phase of combat, spends a number of chips equal to the scale of miracle the character wishes to perform. The handy-dandy miracle scale is (for now) as follows:

1 chip: Minor miracle. A small flashy display of power to intimidate/ impress someone, or at least make damn sure they're paying attention. Very small audience (two other people at most.)

Or allows the character to have a (vague) premonition of the future. (Don't bother spending more chips for a clearer prediction; they're always vague.)

Or allows the spender to either add a "1" to a roll or remove all "6s", whether generated from the spender's roll or from a Contested roll where the opponent also got a "1." (A bit of luck for emergencies.)  

2 chips: Solid miracle; seems possible but stretches the bounds of belief damn thin. All evidence of your crimes that could tie you to them disappears or becomes unusable. An inconvenient person gets tied up in some sort of trouble (from annoying to near-lethal) when you need him out of the way. Your attack cleanly cold-cocks somebody without unduly injuring them. You move like Jackie Chan/Jet Li until combat ends. Etc.

Or allows the spender to add a "1" to his rolls for that scene and removes all "6s" from those rolls, whether the spender rolled them or otherwise. (Because sometimes just saying "F--- you!" isn't enough. . .)

3 chips: Cinematic miracle; anyone who hasn't learned all about life from action/sci-fi/comedy films would know something was up. Your punch sends your target flying or even makes his head explode. You can punch through a brick wall, or snap the tumblers off a bank vault door. You can catch up to someone running from you at top speed, even while you're walking at a leisurely pace. You could talk someone into doing nearly anything or out of doing nearly anything. You pop out of places you weren't a second ago. You mow through up to a dozen people at once without suffering more than breaking a sweat. You hide from your enemies by hiding behind a lamppost.

Or your actions automatically succeed until the scene is over; don't bother rolling.

4 chips: Superhero comic miracle; no one questions that something really strange just happened. You fly with no means of visible support. You plow through a group of people by snapping your fingers. You control minds, making up to a dozen people into your zombies, whose eyes you can see through. You cure incurable diseases, or cause them. You can pull off that "fishes and loaves" trick. You could run through a battlefield, with you as the sole target, and dodge all of the nastiness coming your way. Your enemies don't even notice you as you stroll by and wave at them. Hell, your enemies are now your best buddies!

5 chips+: Miracles only found in sacred texts. Raise dead people, either fully alive or as your army of undead. Make mountains erupt, and cause world-wide storms. Biblical plagues. Decimating whole cities and armies in one fell swoop. Make people elect you Ruler of the World. Raise a new continent, or create a colony on another planet for the faithful. Release a horde of demons, or rally an army of angels to combat the horde. You walk through a battlefield and all the bullets, explosions, and nastiness avoid you. Hell, stop the battle with the snap of your fingers! Make all nukes disappear!

There are some other things you need to know about magic besides this chart.

Ways and Means: A short description of what Mage would call your "paradigm," or how you invoke your miracles. Every character has their own way of getting in touch with their power; what makes your character stand out? Religious beliefs play a big part in this.

Cooperate or Control? Do you invoke your abilities by asking for assistance, or do you demand a miracle right now, and bring me a beer while you're at it? You need to state your angle of invocation before you make your miracle and roleplay it accordingly. It will help explain what happens next.

When you invoke your miracle, roll 1d6. If it comes up a "1", you get half-again as many chips as you spent for your miracle. (Round down, but you always get at least one.) You can add them to the miracle to get a larger effect, you can simply "pad" the miracle so that it's more difficult to counter (see further on), or you can keep these temporary miracle chips on you until the end of the session (when they vanish.)

If you roll a "6", you go into Debt. You basically owe the Powers That Be a big favor, and one way or another, they will collect. You don't want that to happen.
How they collect depends on how you invoked your miracle. Did you ask for their permission, use a lengthy ritual, and conduct said ritual in accordance with your Ways and Means? Did you exhaust all other reasonable options before resorting to using miracles? If you answered both questions "yes", you are considered to have cooperated with the Powers That Be, and all they'll ask of you in return is a favor of similar scale. (Hee hee hee!) This is where the GM has fun with the player who made his nice world a big mess.

It's worse if you went into Debt by Commanding the miracle to occur. Did you make your miracle occur with the snap of your fingers? Was it a vulgar and gratuitous display of power? Did it violate your religious or philosophical beliefs in any way? Then you Commanded your miracle, and now reap the whirlwind. The universe lashes out at you; friends, relatives, and lovers die or turn on you, your crimes come back to haunt you (even ones you never committed, but they have evidence!), you suffer deformities, disease, you get trapped in a private hell, whatever seems appropriate in porportion to your affrontery. You might be barred from invoking any more miracles of any sort for the rest of that session. It gets worse with repeat offenders. And the same thing happens to those who cooperate with the Powers That Be, but renege on the favor.

More to come on magic, and some words about Goals.

[Shreyas Sampat]

My instant reaction to this is that you're evoking a very particular type of heroism and a very specific theology.  That being said, I'm very intrigued by the Ways and Means and the Debt mechanic; can you elaborate on those?

[Spooky Fanboy]

Ah, Shreyas, one of the many people in particular I was hoping would respond to this post! And good points, by the way. I'll address your "specific theology" concern a bit more when I talk about Goals. But for now:

I do have a specific definition of a hero for this game: a hero is a slightly larger-than-life person who is upset with the status quo (for whatever reason), and actively seeks to change it in specific and measurable ways, wreaking havoc with the status quo in the process. Doing so is usually a costly, Pyrrhic victory for the hero, but not always. Note that the changes being made depend on the hero in question. This is important.

Ways and Means should not only include how the character believes she should invoke her miracles (prayer, ritual, meditation, sacrifice, tapping into her "psychic powers" or "higher self," etc.), but also how she's most likely to use those powers. Is she likely to use them responsibly and sparingly, to help others, occasionally indulging herself with a miracle as long as she doesn't hurt anyone else in the process, or at worst, neutralize dangerous elements around her in as non-violent and gentle a manner as possible, so that they don't harm others? Then she's a Hero. Or is she using her miracles to indulge her desires without giving a damn what happens to those around her, or deliberately harming others for the sake of her Goals, no matter how worthy those Goals might be? Is she engaging in vulgar displays of power to intimidate her opposition? Then she's either a Villain, or well on her way to becoming one. It should also include what thoughts, if any, the character has on the source of her miracles.

(And yes, I'm calling the PCs and NPCs in this game who can do miracles Heroes or Villains. In this game, *anyone* who has both enough ambition and a deep sense that there is something beyond the world we acknowledge with our five senses can become a Hero or a Villain.)

This does not mean Heroes are a unified group; far from it! A deep ecologist Hero is going to butt heads with a Hero from the nearby town whose whole economy is based on logging. A Christian Fundamentalist Hero will not play well with a Militant Feminist Hero. Most Heroes will temporarily call a cease-fire to deal with a Dark Hero, or a Hero the majority of them agree has gone off the deep end, but that's not a guarantee. There is no "Hero conspiracy" (on a large-scale, anyway); there isn't even a "Heroes Anonymous" to help new Heroes adjust to the ramifications of their newfound powers and responsibilities. As for Villains: forget cooperation, except maybe with their "Dark Masters." They're too self-centered and/or fanatical about their Goals to trust each other, even in the face of overwhelming opposition. Usually.

Now, onto Debt:

Debt is what you incur when you roll a "6" after spending Miracle chips to change reality a little more to your view of how it should be. You could be doing this either when you are Cooperating with the Powers that Be (as explained in my previous post) or Commanding a miracle to happen (again, my previous post). Villains usually Command, and Heroes usually Cooperate, but that's not a hard-and-fast rule.

If you incur Debt while Cooperating with the Powers That Be, you are required to do them a favor or favors of a similar scale to the favor they just did for you. These favors are mostly in line with the characters basic orientation (Hero or Villain), only more so, as the Powers That Be strive to encourage their champion on to bigger and better things. Very rarely, a Hero will inadvertantly Cooperate with evil forces, or a Villain will cooperate with the good side, usually when they're using a miracle in an atypical manner (a Villain healing the sick, or a non-violence Hero using her miracles to smite some deserving bastard into wet, messy pieces). The Powers That Be will then attempt to sway or tempt the character to the opposite side, by making them do favors contrary to their Goals or proclivities. In game terms, you gain an amount of Debt equal to the amount of Miracle chips you spend. To work off that Debt, you have to go on a mission for the Powers That Be, the difficulty of which should be equivalent to at least half (round up) the scale of the miracle. (Chips spent to "pad" the miracle don't count.) Cruel, ahem, clever GMs may choose not to spring this on the character immediately, but may decide to wait for an opportune moment.

If the Hero/Villain reneges on the favor, or Commanded the miracle in the first place and a "6" was rolled, he proceeds to get stomped by the Powers That Be. This is a bit more encompassing than Paradox is in Mage; the collection of debt may well include bad things happening to friends, relatives, and loved ones, making sure that the Hero/Villain knows she's responsible for it. Then, if there's any Debt left over, it goes to work on the miracle-abuser: past misdeeds come to light (even ones the character didn't do!), the character becomes deformed, diseases and bizarre accidents occur, weird things happen to the character (she keeps coughing up spiders, stigmata, machines malfunction almost fatally around her, etc.) If the Debt gets too high, the character might well end up dead (or praying for that state to come!) The moral is: pay your Debt off early and often. Or, don't get caught bossing the universe around.

Oh, did you know that switching alliegences if you're tempted by the Other Side is a great, almost-pain-free way to reduce your Debt by half? That's right; if you succumb to temptation, rewrite your Goals to better reflect your new alliegence and stab in the back everyone you ever called an ally, you can lose half (round up!) of your Debt in one shot without suffering the consequences! Repenting your past never felt so good! (Once in a lifetime offer, can't do it again, if you change your mind later, tough shit. Void where prohibited.)

By the way, what or who are the Powers That Be? That's up to your group to decide. Is it like the Force, where you mold it to your best judgement  and suffer the consequences? Is it a Zoroastrian-style good vs. evil battle in the higher realms cascading down to Earth? Make them whatever you want, and play accordingly.

Next up, Zeitgeists and Excrementals.

[Spooky Fanboy]

Let me provide an example of the Debt mechanic in action.

In the movie Unbreakable, the Bruce Willis character is standing in a subway station, and suddenly gets an impression from a man who has broken into someone's house and terrorized the family living there. He follows the man back to the house, survives being beaten by a man much tougher and more psychopathic than himself, triumphs over that man, and frees the children.

If this was a Hero's Journey game, then some small miracles were spent here and there for Bruce's character to win. Most likely this was a Cooperation effort. However, the twist ending of the movie shows the Debt coming due: he has to turn his back on a mentor and a friend.

Both miracles and Debt in this story can be subtle enough to give the player and the GM scene-editing capabilities, similar to how it's done in Adventure!

Another good movie to reference would be Phenomenon. In the movie George Bailey (John Travolta) wishes he was smarter and had done more with his life. He gets his wish granted. In abundance. He starts doing little bits of Telekinesis and minor psychic stuff, going into "partnership" mode. However, these little stunts are not without a price: his Debt manifests as sometimes inopportune manifestations of power and blacking out, not to mention his increasing alienation from his friends. Still in the end, he did what he set out to do, and woke a few up to the potential inside themselves. At a cost.

And that is the theory behind Debt. It is subtle, more likely to trigger complications in you Hero's life than go all Jacob's Ladder on him. (Until you start having to blow four or more Debt points at once, that is.) Debt will very rarely kill the Hero/Villain outright, but it will do everything in it's power to seperate him from pursuing his Goals. This is done to get him to focus on the greater events around him.

Also, countering a miracle is easy: just spend the same amount of chips and say, "No!" This is treated as a miracle, with the appropriate roll and everything. This is why some Heroes/Villains spend extra chips to pad: "padding" chips don't add to your Debt total, and they make the miracle harder to counter.

Also, when using Level One miracle effects or boosting rolls for luck, don't bother rolling the die. It's too trivial. Only roll for Level 3-5 miracles, summoning Zeitgeists/Excrementals, and Level 2 miracles that do anything besides boosting your roll.

Is anyone paying attention to this thread besides myself and Shreyas? If so, does anyone know about the math behind the base mechanics, and could suggest an appropriate range for Physical, Mental, and Social bases, and what's reasonable for starting skills? I want the characters to be good at some things, middling at others, and poor in a few respects.

Also, recommendations about a damage system would be nice.

Any comments on the magic system?

HELP[/color]

[John Harper]

I like where you're going with this. I have a few questions about Miracles. Who narrates what happens when miracle chips are spent? Does the player state what they want to happen, spend the chips, and then the GM narrates the outcome? Or does the player simply state what happens (how the miracle is accomplished and its effects) and then pay an appropriate number of chips? Can the GM veto miracle use, or is it a total "player power" mechanic? Is there a way to get more miracle chips other than rolling a 1? Do you always start each session with 1-3 miracle chips, or do unspent chips from the previous session carry over?

Finally, why do the characters throw this mojo around? What makes them want to mess with the Powers That Be and risk their wrath? Is there a built-in premise in the game (like Nobilis), or does the play group come up with their own reasons for using the Power (like Sorcerer)?

Good stuff so far, Spooky. I look forward to seeing more.

[Spooky Fanboy]

Feng--

Miracles are completely in the player's control, save for the die result.

Any unspent chips are lost. They always start with the same amount, but can advance.

Advancement (and play) is aided and abetted by following their Goals. Characters are unreasonable people; they want to change the world in a very definite way. Clearly, they will butt heads and backing down is not a likely option.

I plan on Goals being like SA's from TROS. They will be the primary advancement mechanic. However, what they don't use, they will lose. Also, if they burn up their Goal pools withing a session, there comes a big, life-changing choice they have to make. It is in furtherance of these Goals that they will spend miracle chips. (Of course, look at what happened to the last guy who tried to change the world and flashed around a bunch of miracles. . .)

[Shreyas Sampat]

So, Spooks, before we can really discuss this any further, I think I'd appreciate a primer on non-Miracle mechanics, specifically character differentiation.
Are characters mechanically different from one another, or is this accomplished via Miracle SFX, Ways & Means, and Goals?  Are some of these global, like the Order's laws in vanilla Paladin, or are they more individuated?

Concerning mathematics and mechanics:
I think you could look to Daniel Bayn's Wushu for some basis here; he also has a d6 system.  I think there are also some discussions on d6 probability in the Random Order Creations forum.
As for a damage mechanic, I could see you doing something like this:
You divide your dice between goal-completion and damage; successes on damage dice can reduce an opponent's stats.  These work regardless of whether your goal gets completed or not, so there may be times where you have to narrate environmental hazards.  I strongly recommend looking at The Shadow of Yesterday for its damage coming from absolutely anything.

[Spooky Fanboy]

Thank you Shreyas for responding to my idea for the game.

However, your question on mechanics threw me. To be honest, I wasn't all that happy with what I had to begin with, except for the setting. So, I'm going to drop back ten and punt, and I'll work toward putting up Hero's Journey with a new system soon.