Topic: PUNK - System v. 0.5 feedback request
Started by: gobi
Started on: 8/7/2003
Board: Indie Game Design
On 8/7/2003 at 12:34am, gobi wrote:
PUNK - System v. 0.5 feedback request
Soooo... I've spent the better part of the last two days finally straightening out the system for PUNK. I ditched the gritty stat-names since they were becoming more of a hassle than an avenue for evoking a punk attitude. I'm also considering ditching the current trait categorization scheme as well. Just straight "this is stuff about my character." I'll wait to see what people say here first.
So yeah, the design goal:
A system that suitably meets the needs of -punk settings from biopunk to lycanthropunk to psipunk. The system is meant to be quick n' dirty but with a touch of elegant smoothness. There should be an explicit breakdown of "social classes" as analagous to "campaign-levels." Upper class characters may have certain advantages, but the lower-classes ultimately have a catch-all underdog's chance of winning in the end. Combat should be deadly but cinematic, preferably with a brief moment's combat coolness then a "let's get the hell out of here!" escape.
Here's the link, please pick it apart. It's still just a tad too clunky.
On 8/7/2003 at 1:35pm, gobi wrote:
RE: PUNK - System v. 0.5 feedback request
I mentioned a couple things about the system in another thread which may be of some importance when evaluating it:
I always thought that traits are traits are traits. My initial plan for the PUNK system, and one which I may return to by the time it's complete, is to have players just choose their character's traits without worrying if they have too many "knowledges" or too few "skills." All the traits have the same mechanical importance so long as they're relevant to the situation. Part of the gamist aspect of the system is convincing the GM, like in the case of Musashi, that your character's carpentry experience is relevant in a swordfight.
EDIT: As an addendum, I did try to reward players with super-specific traits considering the rarity of the situation in which they would be explicitly relevant. This was also to discourage players from just taking "Good at stuff" twenty times.