Tempestas is a fantasy rpg I have worked on with a friend for many years. The first incarnation of this game was very much in the category of traditional fantasy rpgs, but now we have decided to redo the most of the system to make it work better with the kind of stories we want it to support. In this process I am, of cause, applying a lot of the stuff I have leaned here at the Forge and "stealing" some stuff from indie-games; especially Burning Wheel/Empire.

Of late, we are beginning to discuss some of the base mechanics of the game. The basic resolution mechanic is a standard task resolution (roll under skill/stat with d100 to succeed), and it is our intention to keep it this way. To fix the shortcomings of task resolution we have build some mechanics on top of the base mechanic that the players can use to better express what they want in the game.

We are right now working on four distinct mechanics. When the player want to achieve something in the game, he can then choose the one of the mechanics that will enable him to achieve his intention.

The four mechanics

Role-playing:

Well, this is not really a mechanic. This is just here to let the players know that they can request a scene where they can have some conflictless character to character interaction. This is just some loose role-playing, but has the specific purpose, to give the players an opportunity to express their characters's behaviour, feelings and relations in the game.

An example of this could be that the characters want to spend a night at an inn to drink and have fun, or a player want his character to get to know a NPC better, so he want a 'just talking' scene with this NPC.

A role-playing scene can of course easily lead to other things.

Building/Creating:

This mechanic is used when the player want to build something that have a specific purpose in the story. This does not necessary have to be something physical - in fact, i think in most cases it will not. Here are some example of what can be build, and to what purpose:

* Spreading propaganda that will start a rebellion against a tyranny.
* Put together a strategic plan that will enable an small army to defend a town.
* Building a ship that can navigate through a dangerous sea.
* Preparing and writing material for a musical performance, that will give the character extra social impact in the area.
* Working as a smith, to earn money to a cure for the character's sick mother.

Some ideas for the mechanic: When engaging in the "building or creating" the player write down on the character sheet what the purpose of the creation is. There should also be a form of indicator of how complete the construction is. To build toward the completeness, the player have to make a number of skill and stats roll over a certain period of time. The time between rolls depend on how long time it take for the character to get hold of the needed resources for the next stage, and on how long time the construction logical will take to finis.

Investigation/exploring:

This mechanic is used when you want to find some information or clues about a mystery or something unknown. This can be:

* Investigating a murder scene.
* Searching through a library to find information about an ancient kingdom.
* Excavating a ruined city to find the course of its downfall.

Some ideas for the mechanic: The basic of this mechanic is to find clues or pieces of information. The player can use a number of skills (or stats) to do this. The important thing is that the character will get some information no matter how the rolls turns out, so he will never be left without a lead and can therefor always continue the investigation; there will be consequences of a failed roll, though. A failed roll can lead to misdirections, unexpected twist of the plot, conflict with people that don't like that you dig forth this information or it can have some consequences for the final resolution of the investigation. The important thing here is that the game do not stop if a character fail a roll when he tries to find some important clue.

Conflict:

I properly don't need to explain this one. This is "just" the mechanic for social and physical conflict.

Questions

1) Considering that the game is a traditional fantasy game, but with a focus on investigations, mysteries and political intrigues, do you think that these mechanics covers the important activities that a player want to do in a game?

2) Do the mechanic ideas for "Building/Creating" and "Investigation/exploring" make any sense, or could they be done in some more interesting ways?

Any other comments and ideas are of course welcome.

- Anders

Anders wrote:
The four mechanics

Role-playing:

Building/Creating:

Investigation/exploring:

Conflict:

Questions

1) Considering that the game is a traditional fantasy game, but with a focus on investigations, mysteries and political intrigues, do you think that these mechanics covers the important activities that a player want to do in a game?

2) Do the mechanic ideas for "Building/Creating" and "Investigation/exploring" make any sense, or could they be done in some more interesting ways?

Any other comments and ideas are of course welcome.

Well, this is not really a mechanic. This is just here to let the players know that they can request a scene where they can have some conflictless character to character interaction. This is just some loose role-playing, but has the specific purpose, to give the players an opportunity to express their characters's behaviour, feelings and relations in the game.

Some ideas for the mechanic: When engaging in the "building or creating" the player write down on the character sheet what the purpose of the creation is. There should also be a form of indicator of how complete the construction is. To build toward the completeness, the player have to make a number of skill and stats roll over a certain period of time.

Some ideas for the mechanic: The basic of this mechanic is to find clues or pieces of information. The player can use a number of skills (or stats) to do this. The important thing is that the character will get some information no matter how the rolls turns out, so he will never be left without a lead and can therefor always continue the investigation; there will be consequences of a failed roll, though. A failed roll can lead to misdirections, unexpected twist of the plot, conflict with people that don't like that you dig forth this information or it can have some consequences for the final resolution of the investigation.

Hi

mothlos,
You has some interesting thoughts here; I like you descriptions of passive vs. active world interaction. And I agree that "Role-playing" is not a good name for the mechanic. We actually chose another name for it, I just didn't remember correctly.

I can see there are something that I haven't explained properly. These mechanics can run in parallel, and some of them can be embedded in each other. Let me give a small example. A character want to "build" some propaganda. To do this he have to make different actions like, go around and persuade people, write and distribute rebellious papers, make public speeches and so on. In between these action, and in doing these actions, the character properly has to engage in conflict, general role-playing and investigations. So, for instance, if he want to turn a group of people to his cause in a debate, he have to use the social conflict mechanic to do this. With each of these actions he will get closer to the goal (start a rebellion).

Creations and investigations can take days (an for creations properly even longer). In many cases there will be no mechanical effect, the effect will be more something that happen in the game world. In the above example, where the character tries to create a rebellion, the effect of a success will be that he starts the rebellion. Of course you will sometimes create an actual object, that can have stats in the game.

The scope of these mechanics should be able to vary from narrow to broad, but they should not be too broad. "I want to conquerer the neighbouring kingdom" is to broad, and "I want to expose the king's spy network" may also be to broad, where "I want to build an army to besiege the capital of the neighbouring kingdom" and "I want to find who the kings local spy is" are more fitting. But this part of the mechanic is something we really haven't thought too much about yet.

I hope this answer you questions, if not, then just ask again.

Troy,

-What kind of character interaction might be conflictless? 

-How does a player know/decide when to make rolls that advance this goal?  Are there trigger events that force rolls like this?

-Who gets to narrate the success or failure?