Greets all,

My next rpg to be released in PDF is Barbarians Versus, a fun lil' game about barbarians fighting alien reptilian evil from outer space. In essence though, it is sort of a Barbarians vs. Whoever game, where you could play it with Barbarians against rampaging livestock, mind-eating alien gods, angry townsfolk, or whatever. It's fun.

Here is the gist. I would love feedback on the sequence of resolving scenes as below, and I would love to hear some ideas on modifiers or ways to simply streamline the process. It is fairly simple -- but does it work and make sense?

The gist:
Barbarians have a name, clan, goal, and 5 attributes. The goal is an amount in coins that the barbarian hopes to achieve. For example, the goal of "marrying the chieftain's daughter" is worth like 35 coins for instance. That means, to achieve that goal, the barbarian needs to loot and smash to earn 35 coins to return home to do that. The attributes are Smash, Throw, Feet, Craftiness, and Think.

The Narrator describes the scene for the intro:
"You five barbarians have loped out of the high mountains down toward the wintery plains of Laedwyn. As you approach your first village, you notice that it is eerily silent. The huts of the lazy Laedwynians are quiet, and there are no children waiting to be terrified by your presence. But wait -- suddenly two gleaming metal chariots shoot from behind the huts, and strangely giant reptilian creatures with blazing fiery whips shoot toward you... What shall you do?"

Each scene is also worth a number of coins. The one above is probably worth 2 coins (for 2 enemies).

Each barbarian then may do nothing, or they may attempt to resolve the scene. Each takes a turn and describes how they resolve the scene. For instance:

"Gruggak leaps forward, taking his hatchet from his side. He immediately hurls his weapon at the reptile on the right, removing the creature's head in a magnificent bloody shower. That reptile's chariot collides with the other, and Gruggak leaps and crushes the neck of the remaining reptile as the chariots explode in flame and dust." (essentially)

For each major action, the player would roll to see if he succeeds. Roll 2d10, add in the attribute, add in any modifiers, and if it beats the Action Difficulty, success. So for example, the AD for both actions are 15. Gruggak's player rolls a 17 and a 28. Total. Success. The scene is resolved. However, other players can go now and attempt to do better, resolving the scene in a better way or with more flash.

Essentially, any barbarian that attempts any action gets 1 coin. The barbarian that resolves the scene gets a number of coins equal to the scenes challenge.

Resolving the difference between the scenes is easy. If two barbarians do heroic bad ass things to solve the scene, the one with the highest Outcome (difference between their roll and the AD) wins. Also, an outcome of 10 or more on any action grants a bonus coin. Sweet.

Then, the Narrator chimes in with a narration to the next challenging scene and on and on. The scenes can follow a storyline or they can just be random fun puzzles, traps, and alien encounters.

And modifiers work in descriptions. So if Thuggak says, I pray to the God Ragnarok for blessing (+2 bonus), as I leap toward the alien reptile with my father Guggak's hatchet (+2 bonus), I bellow my warcry - SMASH (+2 bonus)... and so on....

What do you think? Does it make sense? Does it have any obvious holes? Anyone have any good ideas for fun modifiers?

Thanks,
Nathan

The biggest problem I forsee is that you encourage players to come up with these cool and elaborate descriptions only to have their accomplishment undone by another player. I imagine that could be very frustrating, especially if one player is a much better story-teller than the rest. I also think it'd be difficult for players to get involved in the game's larger, overarching story, as each individual scene is rewritten so many times. There's sure to be at least some fuzziness over the sequence of events.

That's not to say I don't think the game can be fun. I just think it sounds more like a "competitive story-telling" game than an RPG. Maybe if it were described as such, prospective players wouldn't get the wrong idea about what the play experience is going to be like.

The scene is resolved. However, other players can go now and attempt to do better, resolving the scene in a better way or with more flash. (...) Resolving the difference between the scenes is easy. If two barbarians do heroic bad ass things to solve the scene, the one with the highest Outcome (difference between their roll and the AD) wins.

Quick question, will this in any way be a companion for EAK?

Mike