So I’m thinking about a new game, and I thought I’d float some mechanics out here to see what people think. Note that this is completely untried and unplaytested, so please bear that in mind and don’t be too cruel!

My previous game was pretty much a straight RPG with some strong indie elements and a funky background (least I thought so). In this game I’m hoping for something different. I’m trying to make a game that (a) you can play to completion in a few hours, as that’s how long I have to game, and (b) has a strong board game vibe – all of my players play a lot more board games than RPGs, and we don’t have to the time to give trad. RPGing a good go these days (campaigns? – forget about it!). In other words, it is competitive and balanced so that anyone can win. Oh, and there’s no GM.

The idea of this game is that it has a competitive board game-esque mechanic but layered with a narrative element. This post is mainly about the mechanics, so I’ll not go into the narrative side too much. The other idea is that it can be played in any genre and any world. I have a big problem with RPGs in that I buy them, my players don’t – so if the game world is complex and interesting, I have a hell of a time explaining it all. In this game we sit down and say something like ‘ok, this in middle-earth from the films’ and everyone knows what we’re talking about.

The premise: The game is based on the adventures of a hero or a party of heroes, such as the fellowship or the Knights of the Round Table. No one actually ‘owns’ these folks as a PC; instead everyone takes the chance to play them. We, as a group, sit down and discuss the group and set a quest or an adventure (destroy the ring of power, find the grail etc). We then discuss the themes of the quest.

The setup: Once we are happy with this, we select the Keys. These are paired themes that describe the game world and the quest. So for the grail quest we could have ‘hope/despair’ or ‘Courage/cowardice’ for example. We have the same number of Key pairs as there are players (best for between 3 and 5 I think). We then think of some Abilities that describe the group – again one per player. For the grail quest these could be ‘Martial’, ‘Courtly’ or ‘Chivalry’.

So now we start!

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Objective: Before the game begins, each player draws a piece of paper marked with a Key pairing from a cup. They select one key from the pair and make a note of it in secret. This is their objective – to get that Key to a value of 20 before anyone else can. Once a key reaches 20, assuming a player has it as their objective, the game ends and they are the winner. They can then relate a suitable interesting end scene of their choosing.

Keys: these all have values between 0 and 20. Idea is to manoeuvre to get one value up to 20. All are paired and together add to 20, and when one goes up, the other in the pair comes down. Each player’s action, called a manoeuvre, changes the balance between a pairing. Also, each manoeuvre affects a secondary pairing - the choice of secondary pairing is up to the player coming second in the bid for the scene (see later). For example, physical conflict affects 'Resilient/broken' and may as a secondary pairing affect 'Courage/cowardice'. At the start of the game, each Key pair has a value of 10/10.

Example keys: Hope/despair, Love/hate, Compassion/Cruelty, Friendship/isolation, Courage/cowardice and Resilient/broken

Dice scale: The dice scale up and down. D2/D3/D4/D6/D8/D10/D12/D20. All of these dice are used in the game (I like sliding dice mechanics!).

Abilities: These reflect the hero's abilities that may be called into play in the quest. They are all rated on the dice scale between D2 and D20. These dice are rolled against the dice played for each manoeuvre to determine the outcome of a scene.

Example abilities: Body, Mind, Spirit, Martial, Stewardship and Survival

Each rated as a die score on the sliding scale. Half (rounded up) start at D6, the rest start at D8.

Fate points: Each player begins the game with 10 fate points. Fate points do not have to be kept on view during the game – players must try to remember how many points others have.

Bidding for scenes: At the start of each turn, players perform a blind bid with their Fate points. The two highest bidders then blind bid again, deciding whether to add more fate points. If there is a draw in the blind bid, all drawing players may make the second blind bid. If this is also a draw, the process continues until there is one winner and one runner-up. The winner spends the points he bid on his manoeuvre and gets to control the next scene; the Player coming second spends up to half the points they bid (round down) on the secondary part of the manoeuvre, discarding the rest that they bid. Everyone else who bid keeps his or her Fate points. The winner then plays a manoeuvre (see below) while narrating the scene, choosing another player to take the part of the hero. The player who came second in the bidding chooses the secondary key for the scene and rolls to attack it. Note: the same manoeuvre (i.e. attacking the same key) cannot be carried out on sequential turns, nor can a single Key be attacked as the primary and secondary focus of a manoeuvre.

Manoeuvres: These are actions played by players to affect the Keys of the hero/heroes. They are defined by which Keys they affect. Manoeuvres can be performed against any Key pairing – attacking one of the pair, but affecting both as the balance shifts. They can also be good or bad – it’s equally valid to attack ‘hope’ and it is ‘despair’.

Paying for manoeuvres: The cost to play each manoeuvre is 1 fate point per dice on the dice scale (one for D2, two for D3 etc). The successful bidder must pay for the manoeuvre from the fate points they bid, no more. So for example if they bid 4 Fate points and won the bid, they have a D8 manoeuvre to play. The player coming second must pay for the secondary dice using half the number of fate points they spent. Dice always cost the same amount – 1 fate point for each dice along on the dice scale.

Playing manoeuvres: The Player controlling the scene describes the events and challenge that is taking place. All the players then decide on the most appropriate hero Ability, either agreeing or voting on the most suitable choice. Obviously, the player in control of the scene is going to attack the weakest Ability, so he must narrate a suitable reason for that attack. Another player is selected by the scene-owning player to roll the dice for the hero using their selected ability (one who isn’t otherwise involved). Both roll. If the player using the manoeuvre gets higher than the hero, then the Key being attacked is lowered. If they lose, the Key is raised. In each case the paired Key is also raised or lowered to compensate. The value of the increase or decrease depends on the die rolls.

If the attacking die value is less than half the hero’s die value, the Key is raised by 2.

If the attacking die value is greater than half but less that the other die value, the Key is raised by 1.

If the attacking die value is equal to the hero’s die value, then there is no change in the Key value.

If the attacking die value is greater than but less that 2x the hero’s die value, the Key is lower by 1.

If the attacking die value is greater than 2x the hero’s value, the Key is lower by 2.

Gaining experience: Every time the hero beats a manoeuvre that is at least the same level as his ability, then the Ability the hero used is shifted to the next die up. However, every time this happens the hero’s die type in his currently highest ability must drop by one level to compensate (as he hones one skill, he becomes rusty in another). If the tested ability is also the current highest ability, then there is no change.

Refreshing fate points: Every time a hero rolls against a manoeuvre, if the manoeuvring player rolls higher than the hero, then that player receives two fate points back into their hand. If the hero rolls higher, everyone else gets one fate point back into his or her hand. The secondary component of the manoeuvre does not refresh fate points.

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So that’s the rules. The idea is that, when I play a manoeuvre, I narrate it as part of the story. ‘Brave King Arthur and his knights are assailed by brigands under the influence of Mordred’ might be a manoeuvre against the King’s ‘Martial’ Ability to attack his ‘Resilient’ Key, raising his ‘Broken’ Key in the process. So together we tell a story. We can bring in new elements to the fiction, re-introduce old enemies, whatever we like. At the end when someone reaches 20, we conclude. Maybe Arthur finds the Grail, maybe he falls into despair.

So there you go. What do people think? A good concept? Note that the numbers (i.e. starting fate points etc) are all open to a lot of debate once I try playing this. But comments and thoughts gratefully appreciated.