NOVEL RPG System playtest

[Eldrad]

After doing a playtest letting another GM use the system it worked very well.

The players were quite inexperienced to very experienced. All flowed with the concept though apprehensive at first.

I got questions what do you mean we just "make up" the characters? No stats and hit points?

Those apprehensive thoughts went away as the game just flowed.

I have yet to run the system myself.

The problem for me is explaining the concept of a structured freeform RPG on paper.

It may have to be in an essay form with examples.

[Ron Edwards]

The above post was split from the First Thoughts thread NOVEL RPG system. Now that it has been playtested, all posting about the game should go into this forum.

I'd like to learn more about exactly what happened at the playtest, both for the fictional characters and for the people playing.

Best, Ron

[Eldrad]

Okay first of all the characters were made really quick!

They just wrote out sentences.

For example.

A disgruntled war veteran that now is a sell sword.

An Elf mixed with wood elf and ice elf which would be a forbidden type in the elves of this world. I say elves to not have to translate the many different types of elves and explain.

AND my character a disgruntled former wizard gang member now a spiritual adviser who is now getting middle aged, still lives off his parents whom are always on business travels, Skilled in the magics of the eight elements but mostly Spirit, Flame, and Storm.

The magic BTW is also free form depending on the element used. For instance you can't cast a firebolt with ice magic.

The Setting is the Imperial city of over five million people called Kerlynn. Very high fantasy swordpunk but very much in control by the Emperor. Nothing gets too out of control in "his" city. He especially hates the Bane.


My character was invited to a spa by an old woman which was the stepmother of the elvish woman. She was wanting me to see what her family curse was and my character who was only of a somewhat skilled Spirit Mage decided to not only look but to remove the curse. I screwed up and rolled a 1... A great amount of booms and crackles were heard.

The Sellsword's bath and sauna was disturbed by a band of small demons entering his room. He fought them off and began to make his way down stairs.

The elf maiden noticed a demonic thing trying to move onto a servant girl in the next room. She began to run upstairs to get her weapons which she did not think she would need in a spa.

I the wizard heard the servant girl screaming and began to cast bolts of flame on to it. It just looked at me as the servant girl got away.

There then was a rumble...

A Voice came into my head "Why didst thou open a gate to Haadon(Hell) in my city?" I guessed who it was right away the Emperor of Kerlynn the Imperial City. Rumored to be half demon and half man. He has been around as long as any man can remember. He has many wives and children. He is also a great wizard of great power. I am dead.

Part II later.

[Eldrad]

We were called to visit the Emperor as we left the spa collapsed in a fiery heap and demons ran free i the area.

The Emperor asked us what we had done and how did we do it. We did not know and now were beholden unto the Demon Emperor. He let us know that now we work for him.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi there,

It's going to be really hard to help you if your posts merely reproduce the fiction. I'm not really interested in which scenes happened when, or whether a character did this or did that. I'm interested in how the game system played. What was it like? Were there times when it wasn't clear how to handle a particular event, by the rules? Were there times when the rules really worked perfectly for that particular sequence in play?

Best, Ron

[Emily Care]

Hi Eldrad,

I'd be interested to hear more of what you mean by freeform. What are the rules and guidelines you are using (for example: can't cast fire spell with ice magic), what are the cues you keep track of (eg traits for characters, skills etc).  Give us more details on the how, as Ron said.

best,
Emily

[Eldrad]

How are things done in the NOVEL RPG system?

The Universal Chart.

Simply roll a D20.

THE NOVEL RPG UNIVERSAL CHART

20   Perfection
18-19   Extremely Good
16-17   Very Good
13-15   Good
9-12   Neutral
6-8   Bad
4-5   Very Bad
2-3   Extremely Bad
1   Disastrous

Okay I will explain

Other than this chart above the game is very simply a freeform game. All actions are judged by the gamemaster depending on the described skill level of the character. See the post in the First Thoughts section.


I the wizard heard the servant girl screaming and began to cast bolts of flame on to it. It just looked at me as the servant girl got away.

Very simply in my character's description I wrote that my character is a skilled Fire Mage. When I want to cast a spell the gamemaster just says I do it or I roll on the chart and depending on the situation and my skill level  the effect is judged by the roll.

One of my signature spells is a volley of small firebolts. Quite fearsome against other upper class mage gangs but only a bit against a demon.

For instance if I roll a Very Good the gamemaster judges that the bolts definitely get the attention of the demon and give him a bit of damage but he is still up and now angry. At least the servant girl got away!


My character was invited to a spa by an old woman which was the stepmother of the elvish woman. She was wanting me to see what her family curse was and my character who was only of a somewhat skilled Spirit Mage decided to not only look but to remove the curse. I screwed up and rolled a 1... A great amount of booms and crackles were heard.

With my Spirit powers I can look freely at spiritual energy. I can also try to manipulate it. I wanted to try to mees with and remove the curse which appears to be a dark shape on the back of the woman.  I rolled a 1 which means a Disaster. I accidentally open a gate to hell.

I am sorry my answers are so short but I am working 7 days a week.

[Eldrad]

Here is a large scale battle that I did using NOVEL. It went pretty quick.

There are two squads of 18 men each coming down a mountain pass. I made them Napoleonic type soldiers for this exercise. AN enemy squad sneaked through the mountain pass above them with quite a bit of success. The rolled a Very Good result for the sneaking. They then went above the enemy force double their number and fired upon them a 20 which is a Perfect result thus killing and routing all the enemy forces.

[Robert Bohl]

Eldrad,

I find this very interesting but I'm not longer totally sure what the system is like. Could you give us a current layout of what the rules are?

My current concerns are:

* What difference does having a given trait make?
* 1d20--I think you'd be better suited with 3d6, it makes more "real" numbers, and makes a success very exciting. The math here says that you'll get an extremely good result or an extremely bad one about half as often as any other result but Average. Even with average, it's still only likely to occur 3 times as much as one of the extreme results.
* Interpreting the different categories.

Assuming I understand the current system, it seems like you could use a 3d6 system and allow traits to bump you up or down by one category.

I think you could interpret the different categories as variations on "I get what I want." So you might have:

* I get everything I want and more - 18
* I get whatever I want - 16-17
* I get most of what I want - 13-15
* I get about half what I want and half what I don't want - 9-12
* I get very little of what I want - 6-8
* I get nothing I want - 4-5
* I get nothing I want and something worse happens - 3

You then only need one chart. You could also collapse some of those categories, or play with where the numbers distribute to make things more or less difficult (not during the game, but as a designer--or make that something the GM and players decide upon start of the story).

This way, winning big feels rare and cool, the traits mean something, and the GM doesn't have strict control over what happens. What would happen would be, before the role, the GM would ask "what do you want to do here?"

[Eldrad]

Cool I like that table there. It does basically the same thing.

My current concerns are:

* What difference does having a given trait make?
* 1d20--I think you'd be better suited with 3d6, it makes more "real" numbers, and makes a success very exciting. The math here says that you'll get an extremely good result or an extremely bad one about half as often as any other result but Average. Even with average, it's still only likely to occur 3 times as much as one of the extreme results.
* Interpreting the different categories.

There are no traits, attributes, hit points, etc. etc. None of the trappings of a normal RPG. you simply write out a character.

A description helps the game master read the result. For instance if you get shot in the face with a rubber band or shot in the face with a shotgun on a Very Good Result, would be interpreted in different ways.

No going with that a person described as an Extremely Good Swordsman who possess a magical sword that can slice through armor. He would read a result of Very Good differently than a person that would described as the a Very Good Scribe in heated combat against foul humanoids.

Assuming I understand the current system, it seems like you could use a 3d6 system and allow traits to bump you up or down by one category.   

There is no need to track traits in the sense of having points or numbers to add or subtract on the chart. There is no need for that because the result is read from the skill level of the person and is relative to that person trying to do the action. I am trying to avoid all the trappings of a normal RPG that bogs down play. I have been thinking about the 3d6 as an option. The 1-20 range was picked out on purpose as almost all gamers know what a 20 is and a 1 means. It is kinda a tossup on the dice I will have to try the 3-18 range and see how it goes.

[Eldrad]

Another Playtest in the STARCLADS universe. STARCLADS is a gigantic open ended space opera. It went so completely well

Cast: Reginald the Punk.
Race:Human.
Equipment: Leather Clothing, Tattoos, Knife, 50 credits.
Physically and Mentally Well

Reginald is on the planet Vantris V. He is bored so decides to go out for a drink. All his friends have left the planet to go be colonist.

Colonist are the targets for slavers and pirates as well as the people who get ripped off by the corporations sponsoring many of these colonies.   

Reginald finds a strip club and sees three dancers. Only one is young and fine so he eyes here as she eyes him. A patron in his forties with a maroon suit and punked out hair has been spending his dough on her.

She finished out her dance and goes offstage. She comes out ignoring her patron and goes to sweet talk Reginald. She is very interested in Reginald as many women are in the punky bad boy.

Her former patron who has sunk allot of credits into the dancer expects an after show performance. He gos up to the dancer and says "Hey bitch I have been paying you all night and I expect some "attention" SO you better leave this little poor punk and go with me to my room."

Reginald goes to pick up a stool and hit the guy. He rolls a 1 on the NOVEL universal chart denoting the plot going into a disaster!  The stool is attached to the ground and the guy leaps up kicking him in the face knocking him out. Moments later he is wakes up in a trunk of a hover car.

He feels the vehicle stop and he gets ready to kick the first person who opens the trunk. The trunk opens and he rolls another 1. The plot is yet again another disaster! He missed terribly and gets dragged out by his feet. His asscrack is torn on the latch, his back is scratched up, and the back of his head is cut open by the trunk latch. On top of that his head hit the cement when he clears the trunk. Standing there are two splicers. Huge genetically altered human shemales at least seven foot tall. Multiple arms and legs all spliced together in giant diameters. They were paying the patron for him. He then realizes he is going to be harvested as spare parts by the Splicers!

OPPS gotta go! Wait for part II

[apeiron]

There's free form and there's jello.  This requires quite a bit of trust between player and GM.  The example of Buffy and Ol Man Jenkins trying to do a triple flip is missing any sort of objective/external standard for what each should be able to do.  It relies heavily on agreeing what the two should be able to do.  i think people will find this easier if there was something beyond "what ever you feel should happen".  i don't want GM fiat to prevent Buffy from doing <AWESOME THING> because it would mess up his plan, i want to be able to say "she should be able to do this because of traits X and Y.  Rules can be protective as well as limiting.  If you're assuming that level of trust, great.  i'm not against that.  Many folk who grew up referring to Chart 16-b on page 419 of the revised edition, will be.  Personally, i'm somewhere in between.

This reminds me of Fudge.  Is that a coincidence?

As for d20 vs. 3d6 - It depends on what sort of feel you want.  The 3d6 causes a classic curve that many games use.  Great for making a game feel realistic, where terrible and great results are rare.  d20 is better for an epic feel where crazier things can happen.  2d10 might give a nice middle ground.

2 Coins would work as well.  Heads = Better than you expected, Tails = Worse.  2 Heads = Woo hoo!, 2 Tails = Doh!, Heads + Tails = Meh.  No curve, but very very simple.  No chart either.  For a more epic feel, flip one coin, then have the results "explode" in one direction or another. As long as you keep getting Heads, your result keeps getting better.

Have i gone an committed thread necromancy again?

[Eldrad]

He gets escorted into a Splicer Lab far up in a mega skyscraper. Huge open room with screaming people in various states of mutilation.

He escapes by getting one arm free and killing one Splicer with a surgery saw. He then lets the other people go that are also being harvested. He foolishly goes back and robs the place. He gets caught by two huge splicers but one of the items that he found was a blaster and he dispatches two more splicers.

He then makes his way back to the streets. He goes and buys himself some duds and goes to the nearest mega mall. He tries to rob the place but it goes badly and he is shot in the buttocks and back. He escapes in a clown shop and emerges in a clown suit making his way down the street.

Just  then the planet seems to be under attack by the race called the Silenions. They are a race of seven foot tall red skinned, horned and hoofed. Reg steals a ship but doesn't quite know how to fly it.

Silenieons are closing in!

To make a long story short he dies in space after rolling alot of ones.

The game was incredibly fun! It went completely smooth. Try it using any setting that you can think of.

[Eldrad]

There's free form and there's jello.  This requires quite a bit of trust between player and GM.  The example of Buffy and Ol Man Jenkins trying to do a triple flip is missing any sort of objective/external standard for what each should be able to do.  It relies heavily on agreeing what the two should be able to do.  i think people will find this easier if there was something beyond "what ever you feel should happen".  i don't want GM fiat to prevent Buffy from doing <AWESOME THING> because it would mess up his plan, i want to be able to say "she should be able to do this because of traits X and Y.  Rules can be protective as well as limiting.  If you're assuming that level of trust, great.  i'm not against that.  Many folk who grew up referring to Chart 16-b on page 419 of the revised edition, will be.  Personally, i'm somewhere in between.

This reminds me of Fudge.  Is that a coincidence?

As for d20 vs. 3d6 - It depends on what sort of feel you want.  The 3d6 causes a classic curve that many games use.  Great for making a game feel realistic, where terrible and great results are rare.  d20 is better for an epic feel where crazier things can happen.  2d10 might give a nice middle ground.

2 Coins would work as well.  Heads = Better than you expected, Tails = Worse.  2 Heads = Woo hoo!, 2 Tails = Doh!, Heads + Tails = Meh.  No curve, but very very simple.  No chart either.  For a more epic feel, flip one coin, then have the results "explode" in one direction or another. As long as you keep getting Heads, your result keeps getting better.

Have i gone an committed thread necromancy again?

[Eldrad]

OPPS I reposted by mistake!

About just doing anything you want. Well you can't in NOVEL (or any other RPG for that matter) because although there is not a group of states there is a character sheet that describes the skills, strengths and weaknesses. The process has been described in other NOVEL post. Common sense dictates what your characters can and cannot do.

The character is also built during play as well and noted on the character sheet for future reference depending on the plot/dice roll. After a bit of playing the characters are quite figured out.

I tried the 3D6 and the curve as you stated really makes for completely average boring games. Almost every roll came out average and I quickly went back to the 1D20.

Have never played FUDGE. Will take a second look at it.

The coins could be a good idea but I just love my D20!

I have another NOVEL playtest set in the Olde Realm that I will post later.