tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63901211447269904452024-03-05T21:05:30.881-08:00Of Dice and Pena foray into the world of role playing game design and publishing attemptsRobert Miillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576452613236507828noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6390121144726990445.post-33876733959962730752010-01-02T11:00:00.000-08:002010-01-02T12:08:03.979-08:00Images for CN: Ascend<span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre;">There is a second component to the 2010 Design Competition. One thus far neglected. But no more! I stumbled a hook, that has caught me line and sinker. The path yet to be traveled is unknown to me, but it is bubbling up!</span><br />
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<a name='more'></a>Two Images from the Competition:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRwVZsv-X6kEdX6w120qz7tSY3rssFPhxS2hT8rF4k1npLPO1Asfn32KWq3bun_ziNZ-FgXaEF9ATpydcNagVeMKAXF3UVMs9Yzg7bbICGycJS5MkqRDtsAyDY1YARo-D3aKPxk0Zd3okR/s1600-h/Image+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRwVZsv-X6kEdX6w120qz7tSY3rssFPhxS2hT8rF4k1npLPO1Asfn32KWq3bun_ziNZ-FgXaEF9ATpydcNagVeMKAXF3UVMs9Yzg7bbICGycJS5MkqRDtsAyDY1YARo-D3aKPxk0Zd3okR/s320/Image+3.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPfjKdr8EUk9H75xc9lsONdGeziAB_Y5MPU5at351aZ6OPE5oxB7tEnc9h8CGGrdtsWRUOcyBXQvbs1WFlNpd2g6fHZBrC-5s2WTZ7HeEeNXaqKWgG0olwyxOiuIIXwRtSxvlSYMvqN9Ho/s1600-h/Image+6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPfjKdr8EUk9H75xc9lsONdGeziAB_Y5MPU5at351aZ6OPE5oxB7tEnc9h8CGGrdtsWRUOcyBXQvbs1WFlNpd2g6fHZBrC-5s2WTZ7HeEeNXaqKWgG0olwyxOiuIIXwRtSxvlSYMvqN9Ho/s320/Image+6.jpg" /></a><br />
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<span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre;">The image, and accompanying <a href="http://rpgathenaeum.wordpress.com/2009/12/21/medieval-professions-iii-more-npcs-you-wont-find-in-published-adventures/">Post</a> that has me all in a tizzy</span><br />
<span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; white-space: normal;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxH1gdDqp9pz_J2XSO69_NV7CVhSZ2TEWCfxy6mq_lerTdAxvcUtAgi-vkENyvKdSpPNlutsMPUxWu5MEKlRilsDPu0886CPeTLh_CYpNn5EYCRcqx5Y0hLgs8GT9j7JOcJm7MeQVg3Mgi/s1600-h/plague-doctor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxH1gdDqp9pz_J2XSO69_NV7CVhSZ2TEWCfxy6mq_lerTdAxvcUtAgi-vkENyvKdSpPNlutsMPUxWu5MEKlRilsDPu0886CPeTLh_CYpNn5EYCRcqx5Y0hLgs8GT9j7JOcJm7MeQVg3Mgi/s320/plague-doctor.jpg" /></a></span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre;">The pieces start to fall into place....</span>Robert Miillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576452613236507828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6390121144726990445.post-86463591087054458462010-01-02T10:38:00.000-08:002010-01-02T10:53:52.269-08:00Meaningful PlayWhat do you think the game mechanics in an RPG are really for?<br />
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A <a href="http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=491418">recent thread</a> started by CodexArcanum asked this question. <br />
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It started with an example by David J Prokopetz, of, in my opinion, some pretty bad play:<br />
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<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“This may be going against the grain a bit: GMs whose preferred style boils down to "total up the modifiers, roll the dice, then ignore the results and make something up". On the rare occasions I've made an issue of it, the usual response I get is something along the lines of "well, everything is really down to the GM's discretion anyway" - or snarky accusations of being a "rules lawyer", as outlined up-thread. To my mind, you shouldn't have a rule unless you're actually going to use it*; however, I've run into many GMs for whom the only function of the game mechanics is to serve as a time sink for the players, affording the GM time to decide what happens next, without reference to mechanical resolution. Really irritating. “<br />
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CodexArcanum proposes an answer to his own question in list form:<br />
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1)Provide some means of pacing<br />
2)Eat up a certain amount of time, which helps pacing and provides some thinking room.<br />
3)Be a fun game in their own right. (Combat is entertaining, even if it usually is kind of a distraction from the story.)<br />
4)Guide the story in unexpected but interesting directions.<br />
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His answer is best describes his description of what he uses Game Mechanics for. The answer misses the mark by a wide margin, in my opinion.<br />
<a name='more'></a>Taking one at a time.<br />
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Provide some means of pacing. I think story pacing is being conflated with pacing within mechanics. The former is not, in my experience, something Game Mechanics are well equipped to handle, and is often left in the realm of “good GMing.” One of the few pacing mechanics that springs to mind is The Shadow of Yesterday's “Bring the Pain”. Every conflict is resolved with one roll, unless the player wants to make something more of it. Play zooms into a detailed conflict resolution, and then zooms back out to broader play once the conflict is resolved. Most GM's handle this sort of pace control without a defined mechanic telling them when the action is broad and when it is highly, action by action, detailed. “Bring down the Pain” is a mechanic for Pace control specifically because it transfers this normally GM controlled activity to the Player.<br />
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Pacing within Mechanics is not what they are for, per se, but a tool they use to improve and enhance Game Play. Some examples of Mechanical pacing: Seasons in Mouse Guard and Pendragon, Short and Extended rests in D&D 4E, and land drops in Magic:The Gathering.<br />
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Eat up a certain amount of time. I'm going to have “Bring down the Pain” on this one. In other words, address it a little latter, in more detail.<br />
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Be a fun game in their own right. This one's tough to discuss without getting underwear all in a twist. I'll go for succinct. The mechanics of a system were designed for a purpose, and if the design is good, they are there to enable a certain kind of play. If the Mechanics are an entertaining side game for the “real” Play, then either the Mechanics are not well designed or the Mechanics are not being used for what they were intended. I can steal d6's from Monoploly and play Hero Clix with them, but that's not why they were included in the box. That's not what they are there for. <br />
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Not that there is anything wrong with stealing Mechanics and using them to play whatever is being Played. I am all for it. But we are discussing what they are for. Saying a knife makes great paperweight is not discussing what a knife is for.<br />
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Guide the story in unexpected but interesting directions. This one is misleading. So misleading I would call it an Argument Heart Breaker. It is seductive and so, so well meaning. Of course we want our Mechanics to move the story in unexpected and interesting ways. Except we don't, not really.<br />
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It is difficult to explain why, without first explaining when we do want the unexpected. Randomization. That's when designers use the unexpected. And when is randomization used? When designing Mechanics. In other words, it is a tool within Mechanics, not the actual reason for Mechanics.<br />
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To really nail this point, I need to quote from Rules of Play by Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman. <br />
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“Playing a game means making choices and taking actions. All of this activity occurs within a game-system designed to support meaningful kinds of choice-making. Every action taken results in a change affecting the overall system of the game. Another way of stating this point is that an action a player takes in a game results in the creation of new meanings within the system. For example, after you move a piece in Chess, the newly established relationships between pieces gives rise to a new set of meanings-meanings created by the player's action.”<br />
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What Mechanics are for is to create Meaningful Play. Play where a Player's actions affect the game state in ways that are discernible. My character swings an axe, that choice is meaningful. It either succeeds, and the monster's health is less, or it fails, and another turn passes with the possibility of my character losing more life. That choice is significant. <br />
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Randomization in this context is an ends to a means. In most instances we don't want the outcome of a meeting with orcs to be unexpected. What we want is for this meeting with orcs to be different and allow for different choices then the last meeting with orcs.<br />
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We don't want the outcome of the story to be random, we want it to be purposeful, the result of our choices to the unexpected within the story. Randomness is a tool to enable Meaningful Play, not the purpose. Gygax's table of potion interactions provides levity and the unexpected. What is interesting about it though is the choice it offers. Take two potions and potentially suffer these consequences. Is the character desperate enough to tempt fate? Are they mischievous enough? What does this say about the character or their situation? That is what Mechanics are for, to provide a meaningful choice with effects that are significant and discernible.<br />
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Which is why I must bring down the pain on number 2 above, as well as David's original description of (bad) Play. Using Mechanics to stall inherently means they are not being used for their intention. Stalling = lack of meaningful action. (Good) Mechanics enable meaningful action. A style of Play that “boils down to total up the modifiers, roll the dice, then ignore the results and make something up" is once again stripping away a player choice, and without choice there cannot be Meaningful Play. Once the dice hit the table, there has to be an effect that is both discernible and significant. Ignoring an outcome makes the choice to roll irrelevant.<br />
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</div>Robert Miillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576452613236507828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6390121144726990445.post-68900922025196577182010-01-01T00:16:00.000-08:002010-01-01T00:16:34.233-08:00Quick Link IIFrom the same <a href="http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=491418&page=2">thread</a>, and not so much a link as an unearthed quote. But god, can Vincent Baker break it down like none other.<br />
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<div>Originally Posted by <strong>Vincent Baker</strong></div><div style="font-style: italic;">Roleplaying is negotiated imagination. In order for any thing to be true in game, all the participants in the game (players and GMs, if you've even got such things) have to understand and assent to it. When you're roleplaying, what you're doing is a) suggesting things that might be true in the game and then b) negotiating with the other participants to determine whether they're actually true or not.<br />
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So you're sitting at the table and one player says, "[let's imagine that] an orc jumps out of the underbrush!"<br />
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What has to happen before the group agrees that, indeed, an orc jumps out of the underbrush?<br />
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1. Sometimes, not much at all. The right participant said it, at an appropriate moment, and everybody else just incorporates it smoothly into their imaginary picture of the situation. "An orc! Yikes! Battlestations!" This is how it usually is for participants with high ownership of whatever they're talking about<b></b>: GMs describing the weather or the noncombat actions of NPCs, players saying what their characters are wearing or thinking.<br />
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2. Sometimes, a little bit more. "Really? An orc?" "Yeppers." "Huh, an orc. Well, okay." Sometimes the suggesting participant has to defend the suggestion: "Really, an orc this far into Elfland?" "Yeah, cuz this thing about her tribe..." "Okay, I guess that makes sense."<br />
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3. Sometimes, mechanics. "An orc? Only if you make your having-an-orc-show-up roll. Throw down!" "Rawk! 57!" "Dude, orc it is!" The thing to notice here is that the mechanics serve the exact same purpose as the explanation about this thing about her tribe in point 2, which is to establish your credibility wrt the orc in question.<br />
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4. And sometimes, lots of mechanics and negotiation. Debate the likelihood of a lone orc in the underbrush way out here, make a having-an-orc-show-up roll, a having-an-orc-hide-in-the-underbrush roll, a having-the-orc-jump-out roll, argue about the modifiers for each of the rolls, get into a philosophical thing about the rules' modeling of orc-jump-out likelihood... all to establish one little thing. Wave a stick in a game store and every game you knock of the shelves will have a combat system that works like this.<br />
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(Plenty of suggestions at the game table don't get picked up by the group, or get revised and modified by the group before being accepted, all with the same range of time and attention spent negotiating.)<br />
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So look, you! Mechanics might model the stuff of the game world, that's another topic, but they don't exist to do so. They exist to ease and constrain real-world social negotiation between the players at the table. That's their sole and crucial function.</div>Robert Miillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576452613236507828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6390121144726990445.post-21024797827530252912010-01-01T00:08:00.000-08:002010-01-01T00:18:52.286-08:00Quick LinkWe have an early candidate for best post of 2010.<br />
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Post #9 by David J Prokopetz from <a href="http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=491418">this</a> thread at RPGnet.<br />
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<span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">What I want out of game mechanics, whether as a player or as a GM, is to provide a concrete framework for tactical play. By "tactical", I don't necessarily mean "miniature figures on a grid" (though I don't necessarily <b>not</b> mean that, either); rather, I mean a condition of play such that:<br />
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<b>1.</b> The game world has a concrete and persistent state, at least within the context of a given scenario. Whether this state is represented by figures on a map, numbers on a page, piles of coloured beads, or a bulletin board with little mug shots and notes pinned on it describing social relationships - yes, I've actually done that one - is immaterial.<br />
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<b>2.</b> The state of the game world responds to the decisions of the player in measurable ways, and the players have access to metrics for evaluating those responses.<br />
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<b>3.</b> These responses are such that some options that are available to the players are "better" than others in the context of particular goals. Among other things, this means that it shouldn't always be possible and/or optimal to go with "whatever gives the biggest bonus".<br />
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<b>4.</b> The breadth of options available to the players is such that it will rarely be the case that there is only a single clearly or trivially optimal choice in any given scenario.<br />
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To draw a parallel, to my mind, there's a meaningful difference between playing a game of <a class="iAs" classname="iAs" href="http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=491418#" itxtdid="9995469" style="background-color: transparent !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 100, 0) !important; border-bottom-style: solid !important; border-bottom-width: 0.075em !important; color: rgb(0, 100, 0) !important; font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal !important; padding-bottom: 1px !important; text-decoration: underline !important;" target="_blank">chess</a> and telling a story about a couple of guys playing a game of chess. Pure free-form and most story-oriented approaches tend to produce the latter, while I'm more after the former.<br />
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I know a lot of folks are going to look at that list and say "but isn't that what rules do anyway?" - but you might be surprised at how many games don't address at least one of those facets. Some games don't have any mechanics to address the state of the game world, beyond the barest outlines. Some have no formal mechanism by which player actions can affect the state of the game world - task resolution boils down to "roll the dice and ask the GM what happens"- or don't provide any clear feedback regarding the players' progress toward their narrative goals. Some have no particular criteria for determining which options are applicable to which situations; they might have skills that are never tested during play, or traits that are so nebulously defined that they can apply to absolutely anything. Some don't offer meaningful choices to the players, admitting only one mechanical approach to any given narrative goal.<br />
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Interestingly, games whose mechanics <b>do</b> fulfil all of those criteria can render adversarial play viable. GMs who are out to get their players are a bit of a bugbear around here, but I think a lot of that is due to the fact that many popular systems don't support that kind of play. A sufficiently rigorous tactical framework affords the GM the freedom to do his or her level best to defeat the player characters within the parameters defined by a given scenario; there's still an obligation to be fair-minded when actually designing that scenario, but once the parameters are set, the GM can go to town on the players and trust that the mechanics won't fall apart without constant babysitting.</span>Robert Miillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576452613236507828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6390121144726990445.post-88324373334194379732009-12-31T16:17:00.000-08:002009-12-31T16:17:45.986-08:00Ripping off Mechanics Part IOne idea generated by my mashing and gnashing of Themes is using dice to create game elements. I won't lie. I am ripping this idea off.<br />
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The genesis of this idea came from descriptions I have read of two recent game systems. Mouse Guard and Diaspora. I have not read, nor currently have access to either. I honestly don't want to know how either of the Mechanics in question work. I want to be in a vacuum until I am done with my blatant rip off.<br />
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:)<br />
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The two Mechanics and what I have gleamed about each from the little I have read. Weather Telling in Mouse Guard, roll a skill check and foretell the weather. But the GM doesn't provide the weather, the Player does, based on how well they rolled. And the galaxy “burner”. Roll dice, make clusters of star to adventure in.<br />
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What these have in common, as well as many other mechanics I have never heard of, is taking the act of creation out the GM's hands. Mouse Guard seems to transfer control to a combination of dice rolling and Player input. I am unclear how much Diaspora is pure dice rolling, and how much is Player creation. From the descriptions though, it sounds as though it is a group activity.<br />
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Another confession. I am also ripping off from my other current work in progress, Disconnect. I am sure Diaspora was running around in the background when I came up with the following mechanic for that game, but I hadn't yet heard of the Weather Telling bit from Mouse guard.<br />
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What I want to do is briefly write out the Disconnect mechanic. And then in Part II, write out two Mechanics for Ascend. <br />
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A few notes about Disconnect are in order. <br />
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<ul><li>Disconnect uses a Dice Pool, the object of the roll is to roll 15 or more. Rolling 15 is a success. For every die not used to total 15, you accrue another success. Rolling a Dice Pool is called a Test. The mechanic I am ripping off is the Scenario Test.</li>
<li>Players play Agents in Disconnect, and are each others Adversaries. They compete in Scenarios to complete a Mission.</li>
<li>Aspects are rated and their rating is added to the Dice Pool if a Player Narrates an appropraite use of that Aspect.</li>
</ul><br />
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Disconnect Basic Play: Scenario Test<br />
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Scenarios are the set-up for scenes. Colorful locals, intriguing personages, or ambiguous activities, Scenarios are short phrases provided by the Game Master. They are designed to spark creativity. The first Scenario of the Mission is chosen by the Game Master. Subsequent scenarios are chosen by the Player whose Agent won the last Scenario. Scenarios are not pre-scripted nor are they well detailed. That is left to the first roll of a Scenario, the Scenario Test.<br />
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The Scenario Test is rolled using 5d6. If this is not the first Scenario, the Player whose Agent won the last Scenario rolls 6d6. So do any Players who Negotiated a Share of the Kitty.<br />
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If no Player rolls at least one Success, the Players rolls again. Once a Player has one or more Successes the dice are kept and form a Player's Scenario Pool. If at least one Player has a Success, the other Players stop re-rolling to form a Scenario Pool. They must wait until it is their turn to roll again. The Player with the most Successes begins play. <br />
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If Players are tied for the most successes, each tied Player rolls an additional d6. The Player with the highest result adds that die to their Scenario Pool. Players re-roll the same d6 if tied until one Player has a higher result.<br />
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Play begins with the first Player Narrating an Aspect about the Scenario. The Aspect is information the Agent's Mega-Corporation has researched or was uncovered by the events of the last Scenario. The Player is free to Narrate any Aspect and the Aspect is added to the Scenario's Dossier. Players should Narrate Aspects they think their Agents will best be able to Exploit.<br />
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After Narrating an Aspect, the Player slides forward one of their dice from their Scenario Pool, indicating it has been “used”. They can use one of the solitary Success dice, or the highest die of those used to form 15. The number shown on the die determines the Rating of the Aspect, with 1-2 being Mild, 3-4 Moderate, and 5-6 Strong. Once a Player has used the highest die of the set used to make 15, the other dice in the set are discarded from the Scenario Pool.<br />
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Play proceeds clockwise. If a Player has no Successes from their initial Scenario Test, they re roll and play continues. In turn, each Player either Narrates a Success from their Scenario Pool, re-rolls their Scenario Test if they have not yet rolled a successful Scenario Test, or makes a Skill Test if they have used all their Successes. <br />
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A Player may perform a Skill Test only after all Successes from their Scenario Pool have been Narrated. The first Skill Test is used to Narrate an Agent's arrival to the Scenario. If a Player's Agent is the first to arrive, they must perform a Solitary Skill Test. Any Agent who arrives later may perform a Solitary Skill Test or an Opposed Skill Test with an Agent already in the Scenario.<br />
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</div>Robert Miillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576452613236507828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6390121144726990445.post-51179143820886686012009-12-31T12:19:00.000-08:002009-12-31T12:19:25.277-08:00Today's Challenge CN:Ascend Themes Part V<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A couple disappointments. Adventure Seeds and Adversaries! My list has narrowed to 3, and only one was at the top to begin with. One I never thought to touch with a ten foot pole. </span><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What I learned in 4 days of shifting through the ashes of 10 themes.</span><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Born Under a Bad Sign</span></b><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Very intrigued with this idea of Divination as a Magic. My idea drifts to one character making a Divination Test. The Successes rolled can be used by anyone in the group as an Aid. This can be done a number of times per Success. There is a catch though. The Prophesy is created by the group. Each Player makes a Faith Test. The player with the highest number of Successes Narrates a snippet of the Prophet, giving it a Tag. The Tag is maybe a Trait, and the Prophesy as an Aid can only be used when making a Test using that Trait. The next Player Narrates one of their Successes, and so on around the table. In this way the Prophesy is made collectively, with the Players Tagging it with the traits they are most likely able to exploit.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Calligraphy</span></b><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Some of this idea, the layering of Narration to create a graceful and fluid description of action has been implemented into the mechanic <b>Invoke</b>.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Artistry, whether Calligraphy, Dance, Kata, etc... may still form a roll in Divination, especially for the Action Sects. This is still conflated in my head with Permanent Art, like Tattooing.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Collapse</span></b><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">This is definitely one of the Themes of Ascend. Both in terms of the Great Collapse which sets the scene for Ascend, the hero's struggle against further Collapse, and in the <b>Collapse</b> Dice Mechanic.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Collapse is a mechanic similar to Legend of the 5 Ring's Raise. There too, one increases the chances of failure to create more advantage should the roll succeed. Several key differences, this “dial” is used in any number of ways, and the risk mitigated frequently through “free Raises” frequently. I am looking for a tighter mechanic for Collapse. Also, most rolls in L5R have no tier beyond success. If you roll particularly well, you are left with a hollow feeling of I wish I had made more Raises. In Collapse, if you roll well, you not only gain the advantage, but still gain the uses of the extra successes. Collapse increases the risk of failure significantly, and reduces the potential of extra successes as well. Interesting choices.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Game Night</span></b><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">This gave me an interesting road to pursue for <i>another </i>game, one based on Duality. I will have to explore this in the future.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Also gave me an Adversary type and Adventure Seed.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">And there is some more idea space to be explored, Game Night in the Theme Park.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><o:p><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span></b></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><o:p><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">I think I can</span></b></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><o:p><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">I am disappointed with my effort on this one. There is still a Neil Gaiman-esque landscape to be explored, the idea that thought enables the possibility of our potential. Ultimately, this wrestled with my established notions of the Sects, and lost.</span></span></b></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><o:p><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Still plenty of fertile ground created in Ghosts as Adversaries. Ghosts are those for whom Thought has supplanted and eliminated Action. They are disembodied spirits. The notion that the Heroes thoughts enable Ghost, and strengthen it gives a strong flavor for them as Adversaries, and an Adventure Hook.</span></span></b></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Pond</span></b><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Pond gave spawn to a great many ideas, and this is now one of Ascend's Themes. I had already decided on a Dice Pool system, but conflating Pool with Pond has given me new Mechanic ideas, <b>Ripples</b> and <b>Casting Stones.</b></span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Pond as setting has also focused by thinking on Ascend's premise. Civilizations are “trapped” in Clusters, unconnected except by the The Last Outpost. Only very very rarely does one travel outside their own Pond. Travel and trade are regulated to riding the Ripples, which while not infrequent, is unpredictable. </span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Ripples also has lead me to think of plot. Each event is a Cast stone, the Heroes contending with the Ripples. The Ripples lash out from their origin, and create more Ripples, affecting things on other planets and other civilizations. This drives the next location. And so on.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Roaming</span></b><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">This theme, I thought, would prove more fertile then it did. It did spawn some good questions. One series to left unanswered by me, but asked for the benefit of the Players. Why do the Heroes ride the ripples? For the experience of the journey? For the Destination? Or to Leave behind … what?</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">The other Question is fertile grounds for Adventure Seeds and Adversaries. What else rides the ripples?</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Tattoo</span></b><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">This starts to cut into some uses of skills, and leaving legacies. The Heroes act to prevent the Collapse of civilizations. To do so they must reinforce Beliefs. But Beliefs held too strongly can be corrupted, and become extreme. Permanent reminders can steel a civilization form future threat, but can also hasten them down a false path.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Storytelling, whether through Tattooing or other means, is a vital method steering each civilization. Each Hero will want a method of shaping their message.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Another question to be contemplated: What marks the Heroes as one?</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">The Last Outpost</span></b><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Perhaps the most surprising and impacting theme I played with. This has given shape to Ascend's setting. The home of the Council, the last of the Great Civilization. Trading post. The last chance when riding a ripple to catch a hold before plummeting into the maddening depths.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">A necessary way station from time to time for the Heroes, less they deviate too far from the orthodoxy. Their Last Outpost, metaphorically, before plunging into madness.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Harbinger of Humanity's failing, or Hope?</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Theme Park </span></b><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">This theme gave shape to the spaces in-between. The maddening realm of endless possibilities. To dance with the stars is to risk insanity. </span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Also gave birth to the Jabberwocky as Adversary and another Adventure Seed!</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div>Robert Miillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576452613236507828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6390121144726990445.post-40481009437226323602009-12-31T12:03:00.000-08:002009-12-31T12:03:54.578-08:00Writing Introductions<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">M<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">y thinking has turned to Introductions, RPG style. A quick perusal of web advice has left me cold. </span><a href="http://www.thefreerpgblog.com/2009/05/rob-langs-free-guide-to-organising-your.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rob Lang's wonderful guide</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> aside, blog entities, essays and abstracts dominate. Dominated by the Abstract, that's my problem. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From Rob Lang:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><blockquote>The introduction is likely to be the first thing that the reader will go to after the cover, so ensure it is fluffless. It must include the following:<br />
</blockquote><blockquote>·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span>What is in the book? System? Setting? Sample adventure?<br />
</blockquote><blockquote>·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span>What is the genre of the setting? What are the major themes?<br />
</blockquote><blockquote>·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span>What will the characters do?<br />
</blockquote><blockquote>·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span>what sort of mechanic is it (dice/diceless/pool)?<br />
</blockquote><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .05in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .05in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first bit that may jump out is “fluffless.” Isn't an introduction exactly the place for fluff? What, oh what, could Rob Lang be smoking?</span><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a name='more'></a></span><br />
<div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .05in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A bit more about Fluff from Mr. Lang appears later.</span><br />
</div><blockquote>Fluff<br />
</blockquote><blockquote>Fluff is what I call any words or content that does not directly assist player or GM in playing the game. Fluff can appear in the following ways:<br />
</blockquote><blockquote>·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span>Examples that do not demonstrate meaningful bits of the system<br />
</blockquote><blockquote>·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span>A chatty style of writing can add hundreds of words.<br />
</blockquote><blockquote>·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span>Justifications of why a particular rule was chosen over another<br />
</blockquote><blockquote>·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span>Marketing speak about how revolutionary and epic the game is. It is ok to describe why it is different by over the top adjectives is fluff.<br />
</blockquote><blockquote>·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span>Over-elaborate detail regarding a small part of the setting<br />
</blockquote><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .05in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .05in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From this we can gather a furthering disdain toward Fluff. A veritable tempest is emerging! It is clear Mr. Lang is at war, a war against the useless, the inane, the rambling. What he wants is nothing more then the Mechanics, dammit, hack that fluff out! </span><br />
</div><blockquote>Part of me agrees but I still feel that if you printed and placed a game with a setting and one with an interesting mechanic next to each other, the one with the setting is more like to be played. Even if that setting is then butchered by the GM, gen<st1:personname w:st="on">eric</st1:personname> mechanics leave me feeling a bit cold.<br />
</blockquote><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .05in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But behold what is this? Mechanics are lame, Setting is good!</span><br />
</div><blockquote>Norse myth is a strong idea but without that setting, the GM has to do a lot of work to run the game. I think as a designer, you need to make the game as easy as you can to play and to do that you need a setting and a sample adventure.<br />
</blockquote><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .05in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You need to make the game as easy as you can to play. Maybe didn't leap right out on the first reading, but let it sink in a bit. But wait, how did we get off course? Isn't this rant against Rob Lang's crusade against fluff? <o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><blockquote>I'm not very good at describing fluff, except I know it when I see it. The introduction is a good place to give a feel for the setting, let me give you an example of what fluff is and what it isn't.<br />
</blockquote><blockquote><b>Fluff is</b>...I created this setting because AD&D was boring to me and I wondered what would happen if dwarves had steam. Giant cities built on steam with punk elements in there too. So, a fantasy steampunk...<br />
</blockquote><blockquote><b>Fluff isn't.</b>..Deep in the bowels of the megapolis, amongst house size boilers live a underclass of dwarves...<br />
</blockquote><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .05in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is clear to me what we have is a failure of communication. Typical guy, RPG's are broken into two things, fluff and mechanics. Everything not a rule is fluff. Fluff is the stuff that defines Tone, Setting, Premise. Rob Lang's world. Mechanics, The Good Stuff, and the stuffing. The bloated bits that impede understanding.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .05in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .05in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another perspective. </span><a href="http://www.learningassistance.com/2006/february/openings.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From Openings: Writing Effective Introductions</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">by Kyle Cushman.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .05in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .05in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><blockquote>Introductions can fail when:<br />
</blockquote></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo6; orphans: 2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in; widows: 2;"><blockquote>1.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span>A writer starts too far back (We moved to <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Michigan</st1:place></st1:state> when I was five) rather than in the most important place (The day my father died changed everything). Donald Hall, in Writing Well, says, "We usually over-explain at the beginning of a paper and begin too far back…in discussing how World War II began, we can begin with the fall of the <st1:place w:st="on">Roman Empire</st1:place>" (40).<br />
</blockquote></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo6; orphans: 2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in; widows: 2;"><blockquote>2.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span>The writer blandly tells the reader what he or she is going to do: "In this paper I will discuss the bombing of <st1:place w:st="on">Pearl Harbor</st1:place>. First I will…then I will…"Instead, show the reader what the paper will be about: "Many Am<st1:personname w:st="on">eric</st1:personname>ans gawked in disbelief as the bombs rained down on the beaches of <st1:place w:st="on">Pearl Harbor</st1:place>. Had this moment really come to pass?"<br />
</blockquote></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo6; orphans: 2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in; widows: 2;"><blockquote>3.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span>The writer indicates the essay will be about one topic, yet actually writes about a different topic. For example the writer may raise a question about the symptoms and treatment for anxiety in the introduction, but then spend the essay exploring how attitudes towards mental illness have changed in the last 50 years.<br />
</blockquote></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo6; orphans: 2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in; widows: 2;"><blockquote>4.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span>The writer does not establish authority: "I don't know much about politics, but the trends in the last election were interesting."<br />
</blockquote></div><div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo6; orphans: 2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in; widows: 2;"><blockquote>5.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span>The writer never establishes a focus. There's an intriguing quote about deer hunting as the first sentence. The second sentence raises the question of wildlife management. The third sentence explains how the writer worked at the Department of Fish and Game for a few years after college. The last sentence brings up the issue of hunting coyotes.<br />
</blockquote></div><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .05in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .05in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">More geared toward the technical, but several leap out.</span><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .05in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><br />
<ul><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“A writer starts too far back.” A little vague, so let's paraphrase. When first introducing don't get bogged down! Bang first, explanation later.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“The writer blandly </span><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">tells</span></u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> the reader what he or she is going to do” Show, don't tell.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“The writer never establishes a focus”. A scatter shot of ideas with no clear direction what to do with them. Or as Mr. Lang explained, “You need to make the game as easy as you can to play.”</span></li>
</ul><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reexamining Mr. Lang's first list:</span><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo7; orphans: 2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in; widows: 2;"><blockquote>·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 19px;"> </span></span>What is in the book? System? Setting? Sample adventure?<br />
</blockquote><blockquote>·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 19px;"> </span></span>What is the genre of the setting? What are the major themes?<br />
</blockquote></div><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .05in; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo7; orphans: 2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in; widows: 2;"><blockquote>·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 19px;"> </span></span>What will the characters do?<br />
</blockquote></div><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo7; orphans: 2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in; widows: 2;"><blockquote>·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium; line-height: 19px;"> </span></span>what sort of mechanic is it (dice/diceless/pool)?<br />
</blockquote></div><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All these are what the reader needs to know to play the game. What this book is, what is the premise, what is done with it, and how it is done. All of this is </span><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">shown</span></u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, </span><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">bang first</span></u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, in a </span><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">focused</span></u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> matter. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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</div><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why?</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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</div><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=6390121144726990445&postID=4048100943722632360" name="DDE_LINK1"></a></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Leave aside the necessary whoring of the actual game. What is left? To paraphrase, “You need to make the game as easy as you can to </span><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">understand</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.” A good RPG introduction allows the reader to “get” the rest of the game as they read through the book. The game is </span><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">introduced</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, not explained, not detailed.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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</div><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If I read the introduction first, and the next chapter is character creation, the introduction will have done its job if I </span><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">don't </span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">have the urge to skip ahead to figure out what my character is doing, why I want a high dice in a skill, or why I would want to be in a faction. These concept should have already been </span><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">introduced</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> to me. Latter, as I actually create a character, I will need to dwell in the details of the genre, mechanics, setting. On first perusal, though, I should know enough already and have no need to read ahead.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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</div><div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Make the game as easy as you can to understand.</span></span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div>Robert Miillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576452613236507828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6390121144726990445.post-59589742924553955862009-12-30T15:17:00.000-08:002009-12-30T15:21:28.268-08:00Today's Challenge CN:Ascend Themes Part IV<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;">Teeing up the Themes Roaming, Tattoo, The Last Outpost, and Theme Park. I am going to extend this challenge one more day to do a wrap-up of the ideas generated, and maybe refine them a bit as the connections have started to form.</span></div><a name='more'></a><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Roaming</span></b><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; orphans: 2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Mechanics: Roaming benefits. Tools. Magic. Worldshaping. Cast Stones. Resistance. Success accumulation. Don't know where this leads, which is the point.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; orphans: 2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Roaming, Traveling without purpose, Traveling to where you are taken. By what? Riding a ripple, the physical thing. But what is the force, the pull, the reason? Fate? What drove Ronin from town to town? Too long in one place and what happens? But without intervention what happens? Roaming to leave, as opposed to finding something.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; orphans: 2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">What else Roams? What else rides the ripples? </span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Tattoo</span></b><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; orphans: 2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">This one still conflates into Calligraphy for me. As in Calligraphy = Symbols = Tattoos. Difference? Tattoos are individual and permanent statements about one's self. Calligraphy is fleeting, shared, and of any subject. Diversity vs Self/One. Calligraphy as a Diversity/Thought method. Choreography as a Diversity/Action method. Tattooing as an One/Action method.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; orphans: 2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Tattooing as an action. Contemplation and suffering. Tattooing as story telling. History convened through action and moments of action rather then words/thoughts. Shared history through the open display, a reminder that continues but needs no thought.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; orphans: 2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Mechanics: Tattoos are permanent. They have an effect once the characters have moved on. Tattoos are the marks left behind by the characters, the gathering effect of their travels. They are what is built in each place. Each place has a collection of stats, and after each event, the place changes due to the actions of the characters.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; orphans: 2; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Tattoo – Brand – branded throng: The characters are bound together, unable to divide. When a ripple calls, they must either all ride, or stay in place. Rolled Trials determine the result if the characters are in disagreement. What marks them as one?</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">The Last Outpost</span></b><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Last: A once far reaching culture held sway for as far as one could travel. Nothing else but this culture was known. Hegemony. The Great Collapse ended it. It's culture was lost to the unknown, save for this last vestige. How did it survive? What lessons does it hold? What flaws remain, the cause of the Collapse, the harbinger of the next? </span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Outpost: On the edge. A lookout? Protection for travelers? Trading center? New contact with others? What was its mission? What is its reason for being now?</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">The: Solitary, alone, isolated. What is it's fate? To maintain the last vestiges of a lost culture? To learn from and teach the next? Will it disappear in time, mingling and being adsorbed by the new? Will to cling to it's ways in desperation and orthodoxy. </span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Mechanics: The Last Outpost represents a renewing cycle for the characters. A place to reground themselves from the experiences in the pond, engage in the politics of the day. A chance to reclaim who they are and what they represent, or by contrast, realize how far they have grown. New Training and a regrounding are to had, but orthodoxy and flaws are the ruts that lie here as well.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Opposing (somewhat off the path, here, but it was a flash) Traits, Mind and Body. A scale with that as one increase, the other diminishes. Too far down one path, a consequence of the roaming the pond, and the character becomes a Ghost or a Zombie, inhuman and unplayable. The Last Outpost provides the means to rebalance, but at what cost?</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Theme Park</span></b><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">A park, place, area where ideas, beliefs, philosophies, emotions rest. A place to tromp through and explore, trying new themes out, taking them for a ride, feeling the rush of Adrenalin.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Sugar</span></st1:placename><span style="font-family: Arial;"> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Mountain</st1:placetype></span></st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">, to be forever young, a child experiencing each for the first time. A distracting cacophony in which to get lose one's self. Insanity.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">The wildness of the dark, the space in between the clusters of light. Distracting, entrancing. Sensates dance there, but never for too long less they lose themselves. Jabberwockies, the everything at once, the nothing at all.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">The Last Outpost is the last thing to catch a hold of before plummeting ever farther into the void. An oasis in the never ending Theme Park.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div>Robert Miillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576452613236507828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6390121144726990445.post-90212407823936148682009-12-30T15:12:00.000-08:002009-12-30T15:12:33.043-08:00Basic Mechanic for CN: Ascend, Redux III am really excited about this version. I think I have nailed the style and tone, and simplified the approach enough to be there. Just a few more whittles, and the first subsection is finis!<br />
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<a name='more'></a><div style="line-height: 12.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Stories revolve around conflict. Game play in Ascend is driven by resolving a story's conflicts in entertaining and sometimes unexpected ways. All conflict is played out using the same <b>Basic Mechanic</b> whether it is the dance of swordplay, a duel of wits, a negotiated settlement, or a war of ideas between two Heroes, or even within the Hero herself.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
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</div><div style="line-height: 12.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Tests</span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;"> are made to resolve both conflicts and single actions within a conflict. The matter at stake during a conflict may be a simple affair, requiring a simple Test of Skill. Other conflicts form the basis of legends, the struggle monumental. For times like these, conflicts can be extended into multiple Tests representing a single action or line of reasoning.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 12.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;"><br />
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</div><div style="line-height: 12.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">The two most common types of Tests are Tests of Skill and Tests of Conviction. The difference between the two is what is being Tested. <b>Tests of Skill</b> are called upon to resolve conflicts involving physical, mental or social prowess. <b>Tests of Conviction </b>are often internal struggles, conflicts between Heroes, or acts of desperation when a Hero risks it all.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 12.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;"><br />
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</div><div style="line-height: 12.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Tests comprise of four parts. The Hero or Adversary provides the Skill or Conviction being Tested. The Storyteller or Player may provide Difficulty representing complication and opposition. Traits, Backgrounds and Aids provide opportunities for Success. Finally, Ascend uses dice to add a random element.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 12.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;"><br />
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</div><div style="line-height: 12.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Randomness enables suspense and drama. Crisis of faith, triumph from desperation, the sundering of bonds, the deepening of companionship are some of the unexpected storytelling created by randomness. Most importantly, random results give Players the opportunity to define that which is most fundamental to their Heroes. And that which can sacrificed.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 12.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;"><br />
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</div><div style="line-height: 12.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">The dice used in Ascend are ten sided dice, also known as <b>d10</b>'s. These dice are commonly used in games, and usually have of a range of numbers from 0 to 9. In many games the 0 is used to represent the number ten, but in Ascend the 0 is used to represent zero. Multiple d10's are rolled at the same time, and this collection of dice is a <b>Dice Pool<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">. A number, when it appears, in front of “d10” indicates the size of a Dice Pool.</span></b></span><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 12.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
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</div><div style="line-height: 12.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 12.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Example:</span></i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;"> Susan is rolling a Dice Pool of 5d10. Therefore she rolls 5 ten sided dice.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 12.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">To roll a Test a Player determines what is being tested, sometimes with the input of the Storyteller. Most commonly the Test will be of Skill or Conviction. <b>Skills</b> are training in broad areas of expertise required to complete related tasks. <b>Convictions</b> are deeply held beliefs and motivations. The Rating of a Skill or Conviction determines the <b>Target</b>, the number each individual d10 of the Dice Pool must be <i>equal to or be lower than </i>to count as a <b>Success</b>. </span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 12.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;"><br />
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</div><div style="line-height: 12.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Example: Jayme's Hero is making a Stealth Test, and has a Rating of 2 in Stealth. Therefore the Target of the Test is 2. Jayme rolls the number of d10's in his Dice Pool and any die that comes up a 0, 1, or 2 count as a Success.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
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</div><div style="line-height: 12.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Sometimes a Test is opposed or has complications. The Game Master or Player providing the opposition or complication gives the Difficulty for the Test. The Rating of the Difficulty is subtracted from the Rating of the Skill or Conviction to determine the Target for the Test.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 12.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Example: </span></i><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Trent</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">'s Hero is making a Persuasion Test to convince the Council. The Council is wary, and the Game Master gives the Test a Difficulty of 2. The Hero's Persuasion is Rated 3, so the Test's Target is the Skill Rating, 3, minus the Difficulty, 2, for a total Target of 1. Only a 0 or a 1 count as a Success when <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Trent</st1:place></st1:city> rolls his Dice Pool.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
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</div><div style="line-height: 12.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">The size of a Dice Pool is determined by Traits, Backgrounds and Aids. <b>Traits</b> represent a Hero's raw talents and characteristics. <b>Backgrounds</b> are a Hero's culture, upbringing and professions. <b>Aids</b> can be nearly anything from Prophesy and Relationships to exemplary Role Playing or items the Hero has. Each Trait, Background and Aid has a Rating. A Player may use one, and <i>only one</i>, of each in a Test. The Ratings of the Trait, Background and/or Aid are added together to determine the number of d10's in the Dice Pool. </span><o:p></o:p><br />
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</div><div style="line-height: 12.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Example:</span></i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;"> Will's Hero is engaged in combat with a Ghost. The Hero has the Trait, Strength, Rated 4, a Background, Exorcist, Rated 2, and an Aid, Soul Blade, rated 3. Will totals his Hero's Trait, Background and Aid, 4 plus 2 plus 3, for a total Dice Pool of 9d10. Will rolls 9 ten sided dice for the Test against the Ghost.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
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</div><div style="line-height: 12.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">When making a Test, a Player may always opt to briefly Narrate the actions taken by their Hero. If a Hero is particularly vested in the action or conflict, the Player may Narrate a more detailed description. The goal of this Narration is not length, but quality, aiming for a fluidity that Invokes the extraordinary measures taken by the Hero takes. For contributing to the storytelling with this Narration, the Player may use, or <b>Invoke</b>, <i>one additional</i> Trait, Background or Aid in a Test. </span><o:p></o:p><br />
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</div><div style="line-height: 12.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;"><i>Example</i>: Susan's Hero is trying desperately to save a child clinging to a cliff. The Test is of the Hero's Athletics, and Susan is using the Trait Agility, Rated 3, and the Background, Avanus, Rated 1. Avanus is the homeland of her Hero, a place of great heights. She has no Aids that will help her, so she Narrates the mighty leap her Hero makes, clutching the cliff side with one hand as she grabs the child with the other. Doing so, she Invokes her Hero's Strength Trait to use in the Test as well, adding its Rating of 2 to the Dice Pool. The Dice Pool for the Test is now 6d10.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
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</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; line-height: 16px;">In the most rare and dramatic situations, when a Player's Narration is simultaneously beautiful and appropriate to the challenge, the group may award that Player's Hero. By group consensus, the Player may Invoke <i>two additional </i>Traits, Backgrounds or Aids.</span>Robert Miillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576452613236507828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6390121144726990445.post-22332038400832510212009-12-30T06:45:00.000-08:002009-12-30T10:14:41.712-08:00Design Goals for the CN: Ascend Dice Mechanics<div>A summary of 7 design goals I have for Ascend's Dice Mechanics.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
</div><ol><li><b>Usable to resolve all conflicts. </b>I want a mechanic that determines whether a person hit, got bluffed, how much damage, who wins an argument, which belief wins an internal conflict. One mechanic, with several layers, rather then several mechanics.</li>
<li><b>Easy to Grok game state.</b> There is such a thing as too much information. Whether it be a proliferation of different sized counters in Magic, or multiple bonuses and penalties in D&D, having to keep track of, and perform multiple additions and subtractions makes for bad game play. Magic simplified by making all counters +1/+1. Combat Advantage is a way to simplify in D&D as it is always (unless modified by special character ability, something easy to manage for that player) +2.</li>
<li><b>Tracking that is tangible</b>. One of the beauties of Magic is the Mana system, an easy to track and tangible means of resource management. Changes in the amount of this resource, the quantity used, etc, is easy to discern with no memorization. Marking is similar in D&D. Unfortunately D&D has so many game states, some of which are tracked, some not (Combat Advantage) that the game state loses its grokableness.</li>
<li><b>Upfront Player Knowledge.</b> By this I mean that the Player rolls, and the Player knows whether they succeeding or not and by how much. There is no recitation to the GM the result and then a confirmation. Compare this to D&D where the die result is quasi known by the player. There are a multitude of options available to a player after the roll to modify it, if he knows whether he failed or succeeded and by how much. But it is not at all clear how or when, or even if this information is to be given to a player. Whether it is or not tends to vary by group, and thus the power of certain options varies. Beyond the frustration of the variability of certain options, making informed play decisions leads to a more enjoyable game experience.</li>
<li><b>Multiple and (more or less) open ended Success Tiers</b>. Combat in WoD has multiple success tiers, with each additional success having an accumulative effect. Most other non-extended rolls in WoD have 4 tiers, critical failure, failure, success, and exceptional success. D&D combat has 3 tiers, failure, hit, critical hit, some of D&D has 2, and other parts a variable amount (ie, knowledge skill checks). There are multiple variations, and each have their place. For Ascend I want consistency in result tiers - failure and cumulative successes with game state effect.</li>
<li><b>Multiple Successes on every roll matters</b>. There is a meaningful change in the game state any time the dice is roll, and the number of successes matters to the game state. But wait, aren't there times when a simple succeed/fail is all that matters? Yes, and in these instance I still want the amount of successes to affect game state.</li>
<li><b>Clear Distinction in the Dials</b>. D&D has, generally, one dial. Bonuses and Penalties. But it has recently developed a second dial, number of d20 rolled. Certain Backgrounds, the Avenger, even the Elf/halfling rerolls. oWod had two, amount of dice rolled and the number needed for a success. nWod eliminated one of these. Dials modify the chance of success, and can be straightforward like penalty and bonuses, or more subtle like rolling an extra d20 and keeping the higher result. Having multiple, clearly defined, dials at a player's disposal allows more room for decision making.</li>
</ol><div>I'll add to this list if more bubble to the surface, but this is a good start.<br />
</div>Robert Miillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576452613236507828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6390121144726990445.post-40597876527751742782009-12-29T20:47:00.000-08:002009-12-29T20:52:07.937-08:00Outline of Chapters 1 and 2 for CN: Ascend<div>1.Introduction<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>1.The Great Collapse<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>1.Tone prose<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>2.Premise<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>3.Setting<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>4.Style and Tone<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>5.Tone prose<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>2.What is what<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>1.What this book contains<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>2.What is needed to play<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>3.What is Role Playing<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>4.What does Play look like?<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>3.Riding the Ripples<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>1.What is The Last Outpost?<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>2.What is a Pond?<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>3.What is Riding a Ripple?<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>4.Who are the Heroes?<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>5.What are the Factions?<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>4.Basic Mechanic<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>1.Randomness<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>2.Dice Pool<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>3.Characteristics and Tools<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>4.Target<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>5.Skill<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>6.Difficulty<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>5.Getting Started<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>6.Glossary of Terms<br />2.Creating a Hero<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>1.Characteristics<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>1.Traits<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>2.Race<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>3.Background<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>4.Belief<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>2.Skills<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>3.Abilities<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>1.Stances<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>2.Techniques</div>Robert Miillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576452613236507828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6390121144726990445.post-57832526217219920342009-12-29T16:43:00.000-08:002009-12-29T19:19:56.159-08:00Basic Mechanics Revised CN: Ascend<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Further work on Ascend. I am working on the part that would occur during the Introduction to </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">briefly</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> describe the Mechanics. Not there yet. :) </span></span></span></p><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></b></p><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Ascend: Base Mechanic</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></b></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></o:p></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The stories of Heroes is colored by details. Snippets of conversations, the smell of a new day, the stirring of shadows. With nothing at stake, Players and Game Master reach accord and Narrate new additions to the story of the Heroes. They share a world and explore its depths.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But the stories of Heroes are also testaments to conflict and struggle. Passion and drive, belief and failings, duress and suspense demand Heroes who risk their lives, minds and souls. When the Hero is called upon, stories speak not of accord and compliance, but of mettle and resolve.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">To Resolve a conflict, whether an impediment, argument or enemy, a Hero is Tested. A Test can be used to sway a lord or combat a horde. Tests can be to overcome an Obstacle Narrated by the Game Master, an Adversary seeking to destroy a civilization, between two Heroes who cannot reach agreement, or between two conflicting priorities within the Hero. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Tests comprise of three parts. A Hero's character sheet details Traits, Tools, and Skills that enable the Hero overcome and Succeed. The Game Master provides Difficulty. And Ascend, like many games, uses dice to add a random element.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Randomness provides suspense and drama, as the fate of Hero hangs in the balance. It enables a Hero to triumph in desperate situations. Crisis of faith, overwhelming success, sundering of bonds, lasting companionship are all results from the storytelling randomness enables. Most importantly, random results give Players the opportunity to define that which is most fundamental to their Heroes, and that which can sacrificed.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The dice used in Ascend are ten sided dice, also known as </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">d10</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. These dice are commonly used in games, and usually have the numbers o, 1, 2 and so on up to 9. In many games the 0 is used to represent the number ten. In Ascend the 0 is used to represent the number zero, for a range of 0 to 9. Multiple d10's are rolled at the same time, and this collection of dice is a </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Dice Pool</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. The number of d10's in a Dice Pool is placed in front of “d10” to signify the size of a Dice Pool.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><i><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Example: </span></span></span></i><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Susan is rolling a Dice Pool of 5d10. Therefore she rolls 5 ten sided dice. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Dice Pools are rolled to determine not only the success or failure of an action, but</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> how </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">successful the action is. Rolling to determine success is called a </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Test</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. To roll a Test, the Player determines which Skill is being tested, sometimes with the aid of the Game Master. Skills are Rated from 0 (non-existent) to 5 (supreme ability). The Skill Rating determines the </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Target</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, the number </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">each </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">individual d10 of the Dice Pool must </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">be equal to or be lower then</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> to count as a </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Success</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><i><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Example:</span></span></span></i><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> Jayme's Hero is making a Stealth Test, and has a Rating of 2. Once the Dice Pool size is determined, Jayme rolls that number of d10's and any dice that come up 0, 1, or 2 give Jayme's Hero a Success.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">When the Hero's action is being opposed, the Game Master may provide a Difficulty. </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Difficulty</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> represents a concerted effort to oppose or defeat the Hero. Difficulty has a minimum Rating of 1, and can be higher. The Hero's Player subtracts the Difficulty from the Skill Rating to determine the Target for the Test. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><i><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Example: </span></span></span></i><st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Trent</span></span></span></st1:city></st1:place><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">'s Hero is attacking a Guard on alert. The Hero's Weaponry is 3, but the Guard is defending himself. The Game Master rules that the Difficulty of the Test is 1, so </span></span><st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Trent</span></span></st1:place></st1:city><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">'s Target is 2, which is his Hero's Skill Rating of 3 minus 1 for the Difficulty. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">A Player's Dice Pool for a hero's action is determined by both Traits and Tools. </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Traits</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> are more or less constant values, used to represent a Hero's characteristics and relationships. Traits are Rated from 1 (mild) to 3 (strong). The Rating of a Trait determines how many d10's are used in the Test's Dice Pool.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">When making a Test, the Player may briefly Narrate the action and describe which Trait they are using for the Test. If a Hero is particularly vested in the action, with much at stake for the Hero, the Player may Narrate a more detailed action. The goal of this Narration is not length, but quality, aiming for a fluid description that invokes more than one Trait. For contributing to the storytelling in this way, the Player may use two Traits in a Test.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">In the most rare situations, when a Player's description is both simultaneously beautiful and appropriate, the group may award that Player. In this instant the Player may use up to three Traits to determine the Test's Dice Pool. </span></span></span><o:p></o:p></p><a href="ascend: Base MechanicThe stories of Heroes is colored by details. Snippets of conversations, the smell of a new day, the stirring of shadows. With nothing at stake, Players and Game Master reach accord and Narrate new additions to the story of the Heroes. They share a world and explore its depths.But the stories of Heroes are also testaments to conflict and struggle. Passion and drive, belief and failings, duress and suspense demand Heroes who risk their lives, minds and souls. When the Hero is called upon, stories speak not of accord and compliance, but of mettle and resolve.To Resolve a conflict, whether an impediment, argument or enemy, a Hero is Tested. A Test can be used to sway a lord or combat a horde. Tests can be to overcome an Obstacle Narrated by the Game Master, an Adversary seeking to destroy a civilization, between two Heroes who cannot reach agreement, or between two conflicting priorities within the Hero. Tests comprise of three parts. A Hero's character sheet details Traits, Tools, and Skills that enable the Hero overcome and Succeed. The Game Master provides Difficulty. And Ascend, like many games, uses dice to add a random element.Randomness provides suspense and drama, as the fate of Hero hangs in the balance. It enables a Hero to triumph in desperate situations. Crisis of faith, overwhelming success, sundering of bonds, lasting companionship are all results from the storytelling randomness enables. Most importantly, random results give Players the opportunity to define that which is most fundamental to their Heroes, and that which can sacrificedThe dice used in Ascend are ten sided dice, also known as d10. These dice are commonly used in games, and usually have the numbers o, 1, 2 and so on up to 9. In many games the 0 is used to represent the number ten. In Ascend the 0 is used to represent the number zero, for a range of 0 to 9. Multiple d10's are rolled at the same time, and this collection of dice is a Dice Pool. The number of d10's in a Dice Pool is placed in front of %E2%80%9Cd10%E2%80%9D to signify the size of a Dice Pool.Example: Susan is rolling a Dice Pool of 5d10. Therefore she rolls 5 ten sided dice. Dice Pools are rolled to determine not only the success or failure of an action, but how successful the action is. Rolling to determine success is called a Test. To roll a Test, the Player determines which Skill is being tested, sometimes with the aid of the Game Master. Skills are Rated from 0 (non-existent) to 5 (supreme ability). The Skill Rating determines the Target, the number each individual d10 of the Dice Pool must be equal to or be lower then to count as a Success. Example: Jayme's Hero is making a Stealth Test, and has a Rating of 2. Once the Dice Pool size is determined, Jayme rolls that number of d10's and any dice that come up 0, 1, or 2 give Jayme's Hero a Success.When the Hero's action is being opposed, the Game Master may provide a Difficulty. Difficulty represents a concerted effort to oppose or defeat the Hero. Difficulty has a minimum Rating of 1, and can be higher. The Hero's Player subtracts the Difficulty from the Skill Rating to determine the Target for the Test. Example: Trent's Hero is attacking a Guard on alert. The Hero's Weaponry is 3, but the Guard is defending himself. The Game Master rules that the Difficulty of the Test is 1, so Trent's Target is 2, which is his Hero's Skill Rating of 3 minus 1 for the Difficulty. A Player's Dice Pool for a hero's action is determined by both Traits and Tools. Traits are more or less constant values, used to represent a Hero's characteristics and relationships. Traits are Rated from 1 (mild) to 3 (strong). The Rating of a Trait determines how many d10's are used in the Test's Dice Pool.When making a Test, the Player may briefly Narrate the action and describe which Trait they are using for the Test. If a Hero is particularly vested in the action, with much at stake for the Hero, the Player may Narrate a more detailed action. The goal of this Narration is not length, but quality, aiming for a fluid description that invokes more than one Trait. For contributing to the storytelling in this way, the Player may use two Traits in a Test.In the most rare situations, when a Player's description is both simultaneously beautiful and appropriate, the group may award that Player. In this instant the Player may use up to three Traits to determine the Test's Dice Pool."></a><a href="ascend: Base MechanicThe stories of Heroes is colored by details. Snippets of conversations, the smell of a new day, the stirring of shadows. With nothing at stake, Players and Game Master reach accord and Narrate new additions to the story of the Heroes. They share a world and explore its depths.But the stories of Heroes are also testaments to conflict and struggle. Passion and drive, belief and failings, duress and suspense demand Heroes who risk their lives, minds and souls. When the Hero is called upon, stories speak not of accord and compliance, but of mettle and resolve.To Resolve a conflict, whether an impediment, argument or enemy, a Hero is Tested. A Test can be used to sway a lord or combat a horde. Tests can be to overcome an Obstacle Narrated by the Game Master, an Adversary seeking to destroy a civilization, between two Heroes who cannot reach agreement, or between two conflicting priorities within the Hero. Tests comprise of three parts. A Hero's character sheet details Traits, Tools, and Skills that enable the Hero overcome and Succeed. The Game Master provides Difficulty. And Ascend, like many games, uses dice to add a random element.Randomness provides suspense and drama, as the fate of Hero hangs in the balance. It enables a Hero to triumph in desperate situations. Crisis of faith, overwhelming success, sundering of bonds, lasting companionship are all results from the storytelling randomness enables. Most importantly, random results give Players the opportunity to define that which is most fundamental to their Heroes, and that which can sacrificedThe dice used in Ascend are ten sided dice, also known as d10. These dice are commonly used in games, and usually have the numbers o, 1, 2 and so on up to 9. In many games the 0 is used to represent the number ten. In Ascend the 0 is used to represent the number zero, for a range of 0 to 9. Multiple d10's are rolled at the same time, and this collection of dice is a Dice Pool. The number of d10's in a Dice Pool is placed in front of %E2%80%9Cd10%E2%80%9D to signify the size of a Dice Pool.Example: Susan is rolling a Dice Pool of 5d10. Therefore she rolls 5 ten sided dice. Dice Pools are rolled to determine not only the success or failure of an action, but how successful the action is. Rolling to determine success is called a Test. To roll a Test, the Player determines which Skill is being tested, sometimes with the aid of the Game Master. Skills are Rated from 0 (non-existent) to 5 (supreme ability). The Skill Rating determines the Target, the number each individual d10 of the Dice Pool must be equal to or be lower then to count as a Success. Example: Jayme's Hero is making a Stealth Test, and has a Rating of 2. Once the Dice Pool size is determined, Jayme rolls that number of d10's and any dice that come up 0, 1, or 2 give Jayme's Hero a Success.When the Hero's action is being opposed, the Game Master may provide a Difficulty. Difficulty represents a concerted effort to oppose or defeat the Hero. Difficulty has a minimum Rating of 1, and can be higher. The Hero's Player subtracts the Difficulty from the Skill Rating to determine the Target for the Test. Example: Trent's Hero is attacking a Guard on alert. The Hero's Weaponry is 3, but the Guard is defending himself. The Game Master rules that the Difficulty of the Test is 1, so Trent's Target is 2, which is his Hero's Skill Rating of 3 minus 1 for the Difficulty. A Player's Dice Pool for a hero's action is determined by both Traits and Tools. Traits are more or less constant values, used to represent a Hero's characteristics and relationships. Traits are Rated from 1 (mild) to 3 (strong). The Rating of a Trait determines how many d10's are used in the Test's Dice Pool.When making a Test, the Player may briefly Narrate the action and describe which Trait they are using for the Test. If a Hero is particularly vested in the action, with much at stake for the Hero, the Player may Narrate a more detailed action. The goal of this Narration is not length, but quality, aiming for a fluid description that invokes more than one Trait. For contributing to the storytelling in this way, the Player may use two Traits in a Test.In the most rare situations, when a Player's description is both simultaneously beautiful and appropriate, the group may award that Player. In this instant the Player may use up to three Traits to determine the Test's Dice Pool."></a>Robert Miillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576452613236507828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6390121144726990445.post-46265004134897993082009-12-29T14:01:00.000-08:002009-12-29T14:03:51.207-08:00Quick Link<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); line-height: 19px; "><h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; color: rgb(32, 78, 153); font-weight: normal; font-family: 'trebuchet MS'; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; font-size: 2em; line-height: 1.2em; "><a href="http://www.thefreerpgblog.com/2009/05/rob-langs-free-guide-to-organising-your.html">Rob Lang's free guide to organising your RPG</a></h3><div>A how to guide from the web's prevailing purveyor of free RPG's, Rob Lang.</div></span>Robert Miillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576452613236507828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6390121144726990445.post-24371298549719613342009-12-29T07:09:00.000-08:002009-12-29T07:14:40.379-08:00Today's Challenge CN:Ascend Themes Part III<div>Today's themes and the ideas generated by them.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Game Night</b></div><div><ul><li>First a definition. Game - Wild animals hunted for food. That was my second thought after the image of my semi regular Friday night WoD game popped into my head. So, night as defined by the hunted. A world in which the hunters rule by day, but as evening descends the table turns, and the hunted become the hunters. </li><li>Mechanics: this requires a duality. Two characters are played, one for the daytime, and one for the evening. The two characters would seem to oppose each other, so maybe a third force is the real protagonist, and the game is a struggle of overcoming the natural order to oppose it. </li><li>Perhaps the character is a spirit, with both a day hunter,s body, and a game night body. There are limited number of these spirits, and if one of their bodies dies, the spirit is sundered, and the remaining body becomes normal. The spirit doesn't know it is split, but this explains the ferocity of both factions, and why one group has supremacy in the day, and the other the night. The spirits are the difference makers. </li></ul></div><div><b>I think I can</b></div><div><ul><li>First, a confession. I have done a great deal of thinking about Ascend's “colors” before the guidelines were released. By colors I mean a group of divisions, based in flavor, that have mechanical consequences. Like Magic: The Gathering,s color wheel. Each color has a flavor, the flavor gives definition to what the color can and cannot do. D&D 4E has a division of flavor, Arcane, Divine, Martial, and Primal, but these have almost no mechanical impact. Yes the Arcane power source tends toward the Control role, Divine, Leader, Martial, Striker. Which gives a little of the what this color can do part, but with the exception of Martial and Controller, there is no definition by what something cannot do. Which is more important to what makes Magic's colors work.</li><li>Ascend's color wheel, as it stands now, is a six spoke affair, 2 groups of three, 3 groups of 2. The Thought cycle is governed by Thought before action, made up of the Theorists (single unifying theory), the Deists (enlightenment through diversity of belief) and the Ghosts (thought without action). By adding a comma to this theme, I Think, I Can, a theme for this last faction emerges.</li><li>The Ghosts are antagonists, not Player characters. They have taken one of the fundamental dichotomies of Ascend to the extreme. Instead of Thought before Action, they have shed there bodies and become pure thought. They will things to happen. </li><li>Mechanics: Ghosts as antagonists presents a special kind of challenge. Accumulated Successes from Resistance empower Ghosts, as the Resistance represents a fundamental belief in the reality being created by the Ghost. Only by not having a character's thoughts reinforce the reality created by the ghost's thoughts, can a character overcome the Ghost.</li><li>Interesting, the theme for Ghost's dichotomy has formed from this as well. It is </li></ul><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span></span>since there is no thought, just action. </div><div><b>Pond</b></div><div><ul><li>Mechanics: Dice Pool. No really honestly. Pond = Pool. Simple and clean. </li><li>Pond , as in the Big Fish in a small Pond. Pond = Community. But there can still be several distinct places in the Pond. A Pond on a Galactic scale can be a cluster of stars, those near enough to affect and influence each other. A Pond is everywhere that can be easily traveled to. I think of Points of Light, but more like cluster of Lights. In between the points in the cluster, travel is safe, outside the cluster it is difficult and dark.</li><li>Pond – Surface – Ripples – Cast Stones: Stones thrown are the plot hooks, the bangs! Cast Stones into a community creates ripples, evidence of the stone after the stone has already dropped. Character actions creates ripples as they are cast stones as well. Characters ride the ripples from community to community within the pond. Cast stones = dice. </li><li>Mechanics: Dice Pool = Pond. A single cast stone = a die. A single die roll creates a ripple. Ripple = change in the Dice Pool/Pond. Perhaps if there are no successes, a die can be rolled, and that subtracted from each die rolled, “rippling” through them. This represents a crisis of faith maybe, a last ditch attempt to succeed. What is the consequence of casting a stone.... </li></ul></div>Robert Miillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576452613236507828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6390121144726990445.post-6307839012021642242009-12-28T16:38:00.000-08:002009-12-28T16:44:46.264-08:00CN: Ascend Basic Mechanics Part I<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Ascend:<b> Basic Mechanic</b><o:p></o:p></p><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><br /></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">All conflicts in the game are resolved through a roll of the dice called a <b>Trial</b>. Ascend uses multiple ten sided dice when rolling. These dice are known as <b>d10</b>, and a collection of these dice is a <b>Dice Pool</b>. A d10 has a range of numbers, from 0 to 9. In Ascend, the 0 is a 0. Multiple d10's are known by the nomenclature of <b>Xd10 </b>in which X being the number of dice rolled. </p><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><br /></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><i>Example: </i>Susan is rolling a Dice Pool of 5d10. Therefore she rolls 5 ten sided dice. <o:p></o:p></p><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><br /></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">A Trial occurs when a Hero's Skill or Belief is being Tested. A <b>Skill </b>is a trained ability or series of interrelated abilities. Martial Arts, Divination, Leadership, and Wayfinding are Skills. <b>Belief</b> is a Hero's fundamental faith and understanding of the Philosophy of their faction. It measures spirituality, determination and insight. <o:p></o:p></p><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><br /></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Skills and Belief are <b>Ranked</b> from 0 to 4. A Skill Ranked 0 denotes lack of any training or familiarity with the tasks of a Skill. Rank 4 denotes a supreme competency in the skill, representing a level of mastery achieve only by the eldest of Heroes. Belief ranked 0 shows no faith in the tenants of a Philosophy. Even most Infidels have at least 1 Rank in a Belief. Perhaps only the members of the Council and the rare wandering Hero have Faiths Ranked 4.<o:p></o:p></p><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><br /></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">The goal when rolling a Trial is to roll <i>the Rank or under </i>of the Skill or Belief being tested. Each die of the Dice Pool is individually compared, if it is <i>equal to or less </i>the Rank, that die is a <b>Success. </b>Trials may have more then 1 Success. All Trials with 1 or more Successes are successful. A Trial with no Successes is a failure.<o:p></o:p></p><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><br /></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><i>Example:</i> <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Trent</st1:place></st1:city> rolls his Dice Pool of 6d10 Testing his Hero's Martial Arts, Ranked 2. <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Trent</st1:place></st1:city> rolls a 0, 2, 5, 5, 6, and 9. The dice showing 0 and 2 are both Successes as they are equal to or lower then the Hero's Martial Arts Rank of 2. The 5's, the 6 and the 9 are not Successes. <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Trent</st1:place></st1:city>'s Hero has succeeded with two Successes!<o:p></o:p></p><a href="ascend: Basic MechanicAll conflicts in the game are resolved through a roll of the dice called a Trial. Ascend uses multiple ten sided dice when rolling. These dice are known as d10, and a collection of these dice is a Dice Pool. A d10 has a range of numbers, from 0 to 9. In Ascend, the 0 is a 0. Multiple d10's are known by the nomenclature of Xd10 in which X being the number of dice rolled. Example: Susan is rolling a Dice Pool of 5d10. Therefore she rolls 5 ten sided dice. A Trial occurs when a Hero's Skill or Belief is being Tested. A Skill is a trained ability or series of interrelated abilities. Martial Arts, Divination, Leadership, and Wayfinding are Skills. Belief is a Hero's fundamental faith and understanding of the Philosophy of their faction. It measures spirituality, determination and insight. Skills and Belief are Ranked from 0 to 4. A Skill Ranked 0 denotes lack of any training or familiarity with the tasks of a Skill. Rank 4 denotes a supreme competency in the skill, representing a level of mastery achieve only by the eldest of Heroes. Belief ranked 0 shows no faith in the tenants of a Philosophy. Even most Infidels have at least 1 Rank in a Belief. Perhaps only the members of the Council and the rare wandering Hero have Faiths Ranked 4.The goal when rolling a Trial is to roll the Rank or under of the Skill or Belief being tested. Each die of the Dice Pool is individually compared, if it is equal to or less the Rank, that die is a Success. Trials may have more then 1 Success. All Trials with 1 or more Successes are successful. A Trial with no Successes is a failure.Example: Trent rolls his Dice Pool of 6d10 Testing his Hero's Martial Arts, Ranked 2. Trent rolls a 0, 2, 5, 5, 6, and 9. The dice showing 0 and 2 are both Successes as they are equal to or lower then the Hero's Martial Arts Rank of 2. The 5's, the 6 and the 9 are not Successes. Trent's Hero has succeeded with two Successes!"></a>Robert Miillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576452613236507828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6390121144726990445.post-17591217810439043062009-12-28T15:31:00.000-08:002009-12-28T15:32:35.828-08:00Rewriting Basic Play for CN: Cribbage Part II<p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Disconnect: The Basics<o:p></o:p></p> <p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">The <b>Players</b> are the folks around the table playing the game. There are two types, the <b>Game Master </b>and everyone else. Everyone else is referred to as a Player and Players play <b>Agents</b>. The Game Master creates <b>Missions</b> and <b>Scenarios</b>, <b>Narrates</b> obstacles, calamities, and minor characters, and tries to weave the details created by the Players into a coherent story.<o:p></o:p></p> <p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Agents are the protagonists of the story. Each Agent has been recruited by, and works for, a <b>Mega-Corporation</b>. Mega-Corporations are greedy, ambitious, and eternally obsessed with developing the <b>Human Purchasing Unit</b>, or HPU. HPU are the holy grail of Capitalist theory, able to reliably purchase what they are instructed to purchase. The first Meg-Corporation to develop the HPU will cement its power and ensure profits for generations.<o:p></o:p></p> <p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Unlike most Role Playing Games, Agents do not work cooperatively for a common goal. They compete against, sabotage, and generally stick it the other Agents. In other words, the Agents are <b>Adversaries</b>. Disconnect is a Role Playing Game though, and the Players are responsible to cooperatively create a fun and interesting experience for all Players. Play aggressively, but with an eye for the entertaining. The Players are friends, even as the Agents are not!<o:p></o:p></p> <p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Agents are defined by <b>Skills, Aspects, Hang-Ups, </b>and<b> Special Training. </b>These <b>Characteristics </b>are recorded in an Agent's <b>Dossier</b>, and shared only between the Player and the Game Master. Players also keep Dossiers of other Agents as Characteristics are <b>Revealed</b> in play. <o:p></o:p></p> <p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">There are 12 Skills broken into 3 types; <b>Social, Physical, and Mental</b>. Skills have a <b>Rating </b>from 0 to 3. Rating 0 represents no training or natural ability, while 3 represents amazing natural ability and advanced training. Skills also are broken up into <b>Dice Sizes</b>, from d6 to d12. The less risky to use, for both the Agent and their Adversaries, the smaller the Dice Size. The d12 is reserved for only the most hazardous endeavors!<o:p></o:p></p> <p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Aspects are emotional quirks, weaknesses to be exploited. Every Agent has them and identifying them is a top priority. An Aspect's <b>Rating</b> is broken into two parts. The <b>Strength</b> of an Aspect is a number from 1, mild, to 3 strong. The <b>Exposure </b>of the Aspect is the number of other Agents the Aspect has been <b>Revealed </b>to. An Aspect's Rating is the sum of its Strength and Exposure.<o:p></o:p></p> <p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Hang-Ups are neurosis and psychosis. They develop from extreme stress and emotionally duress. A Hang-Up's <b>Rating</b> is its Strength, and ranges form 1 to 3.<o:p></o:p></p> <p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Both Aspects and Hang-Ups can be <b>Exploited</b> during <b>Skill</b> <b>Tests. </b>Aspects are Exploited by other Agents and Hang-Up's by the Agent themselves. Both can be general emotional Characteristics or they can be in <b>Relationship</b> to another Agent. If a Relationship Aspect or Hang-Up is being Exploited, the other Agent must be present in the Conflict!</p><p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Agents begin Play with both Aspects and Hang-Ups. They also result from the <b>Consequences</b> of Skill Tests and from <b>Negotiating</b> a <b>Share </b>at the end of a Scenario.</p><p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><o:p></o:p></p> <p style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Special Training is advanced training blending exotic elements together to produce unorthodox methods. Special Training is unrated. Using Special Training allows the Agent to make an <b>Aiding Test</b> during a Skill Test.<o:p></o:p></p><a href="disconnect: The BasicsThe Players are the folks around the table playing the game. There are two types, the Game Master and everyone else. Everyone else is referred to as a Player and Players play Agents. The Game Master creates Missions and Scenarios, Narrates obstacles, calamities, and minor characters, and tries to weave the details created by the Players into a coherent story.Agents are the protagonists of the story. Each Agent has been recruited by, and works for, a Mega-Corporation. Mega-Corporations are greedy, ambitious, and eternally obsessed with developing the Human Purchasing Unit, or HPU. HPU are the holy grail of Capitalist theory, able to reliably purchase what they are instructed to purchase. The first Meg-Corporation to develop the HPU will cement its power and ensure profits for generations.Unlike most Role Playing Games, Agents do not work cooperatively for a common goal. They compete against, sabotage, and generally stick it the other Agents. In other words, the Agents are Adversaries. Disconnect is a Role Playing Game though, and the Players are responsible to cooperatively create a fun and interesting experience for all Players. Play aggressively, but with an eye for the entertaining. The Players are friends, even as the Agents are not!Agents are defined by Skills, Aspects, Hang-Ups, and Special Training. These Characteristics are recorded in an Agent's Dossier, and shared only between the Player and the Game Master. Players also keep Dossiers of other Agents as Characteristics are Revealed in play. There are 12 Skills broken into 3 types; Social, Physical, and Mental. Skills have a Rating from 0 to 3. Rating 0 represents no training or natural ability, while 3 represents amazing natural ability and advanced training. Skills also are broken up into Dice Sizes, from d6 to d12. The less risky to use, for both the Agent and their Adversaries, the smaller the Dice Size. The d12 is reserved for only the most hazardous endeavors!Aspects are emotional quirks, weaknesses to be exploited. Every Agent has them and identifying them is a top priority. An Aspect's Rating is broken into two parts. The Strength of an Aspect is a number from 1, mild, to 3 strong. The Exposure of the Aspect is the number of other Agents the Aspect has been Revealed to. An Aspect's Rating is the sum of its Strength and Exposure.Hang-Ups are neurosis and psychosis. They develop from extreme stress and emotionally duress. A Hang-Up's Rating is its Strength, and ranges form 1 to 3.Both Aspects and Hang-Ups can be Exploited during Skill Tests. Aspects are Exploited by other Agents and Hang-Up's by the Agent themselves. Both can be general emotional Characteristics or they can be in Relationship to another Agent. If a Relationship Aspect or Hang-Up is being Exploited, the other Agent must be present in the Conflict!Agents begin Play with both Aspects and Hang-Ups. They also result from the Consequences of Skill Tests and from Negotiating a Share at the end of a Scenario.Special Training is advanced training blending exotic elements together to produce unorthodox methods. Special Training is unrated. Using Special Training allows the Agent to make an Aiding Test during a Skill Test."></a><a href="disconnect: The BasicsThe Players are the folks around the table playing the game. There are two types, the Game Master and everyone else. Everyone else is referred to as a Player and Players play Agents. The Game Master creates Missions and Scenarios, Narrates obstacles, calamities, and minor characters, and tries to weave the details created by the Players into a coherent story.Agents are the protagonists of the story. Each Agent has been recruited by, and works for, a Mega-Corporation. Mega-Corporations are greedy, ambitious, and eternally obsessed with developing the Human Purchasing Unit, or HPU. HPU are the holy grail of Capitalist theory, able to reliably purchase what they are instructed to purchase. The first Meg-Corporation to develop the HPU will cement its power and ensure profits for generations.Unlike most Role Playing Games, Agents do not work cooperatively for a common goal. They compete against, sabotage, and generally stick it the other Agents. In other words, the Agents are Adversaries. Disconnect is a Role Playing Game though, and the Players are responsible to cooperatively create a fun and interesting experience for all Players. Play aggressively, but with an eye for the entertaining. The Players are friends, even as the Agents are not!Agents are defined by Skills, Aspects, Hang-Ups, and Special Training. These Characteristics are recorded in an Agent's Dossier, and shared only between the Player and the Game Master. Players also keep Dossiers of other Agents as Characteristics are Revealed in play. There are 12 Skills broken into 3 types; Social, Physical, and Mental. Skills have a Rating from 0 to 3. Rating 0 represents no training or natural ability, while 3 represents amazing natural ability and advanced training. Skills also are broken up into Dice Sizes, from d6 to d12. The less risky to use, for both the Agent and their Adversaries, the smaller the Dice Size. The d12 is reserved for only the most hazardous endeavors!Aspects are emotional quirks, weaknesses to be exploited. Every Agent has them and identifying them is a top priority. An Aspect's Rating is broken into two parts. The Strength of an Aspect is a number from 1, mild, to 3 strong. The Exposure of the Aspect is the number of other Agents the Aspect has been Revealed to. An Aspect's Rating is the sum of its Strength and Exposure.Hang-Ups are neurosis and psychosis. They develop from extreme stress and emotionally duress. A Hang-Up's Rating is its Strength, and ranges form 1 to 3.Both Aspects and Hang-Ups can be Exploited during Skill Tests. Aspects are Exploited by other Agents and Hang-Up's by the Agent themselves. Both can be general emotional Characteristics or they can be in Relationship to another Agent. If a Relationship Aspect or Hang-Up is being Exploited, the other Agent must be present in the Conflict!Agents begin Play with both Aspects and Hang-Ups. They also result from the Consequences of Skill Tests and from Negotiating a Share at the end of a Scenario.Special Training is advanced training blending exotic elements together to produce unorthodox methods. Special Training is unrated. Using Special Training allows the Agent to make an Aiding Test during a Skill Test."></a>Robert Miillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576452613236507828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6390121144726990445.post-2779921804510207762009-12-28T15:20:00.000-08:002009-12-28T15:31:04.363-08:00Rewriting Basic Play for CN: Cribbage Part I<blockquote></blockquote><blockquote></blockquote>One of the <a href="http://rpgnet.gavken.net/Challenge7.html">Game Fu #7</a> Entries is <a href="http://rpgnet.gavken.net/Leftovers.pdf">Leftovers </a> (pdf link that seems to be broken, try to right button click save as).<div><br /></div><div>I give mad props to the writing style and general layout. Here is a bit. </div><div><div></div><div></div><div></div><blockquote><div>the Basics</div><div>Characters are defined primarily by their Natures and Traits.</div><div>There are two Natures: Human and Horrific. The more Human you are, the less Horrific you are, and vice-versa. Everybody’s at least a little bit Horrific, but plenty of things are completely in-Human.</div><div>There are 18 Traits, so we’re not going to list them all here. Traits represent skills, affinities, professions, interests, and so on. A character might be good at fighting, or scientifically minded, or sneaky, or whatever. When you want to do something, you’ll be using a Trait.</div><div>There are three other elements of a character that, unlike Natures and Traits, are situational, in that you won’t always be including them for every roll of the dice. These are Bonds, Tools, and Grafts.</div><div>Bonds are a character’s emotional ties to other people – specifically, they’re ties to other characters. These come in four basic varieties: trust, distrust, loyalty, and betrayal.</div><div>Tools are items that help characters accomplish tasks, from a set of lockpicks to a length of rope to a socket wrench to a .38 Special. Usually, a Tool can only be used with a specific Trait.</div><div>Grafts are body parts from Horrors that have been transplanted onto a character’s body. These come in three varieties: Greater, Lesser, and Minor. Greater Grafts are things like giant bat wings, or two writhing tentacles in place of a character’s arms. Lesser Grafts are less severe, such as a tail or a single replaced limb, and Minor Grafts are much smaller: a Horrific (or third) eye, a tongue, or a sharp-toothed</div><div>mouth in a surprising new location. They also make people tougher and more survivable – big pluses in the post-apocalyptic landscape – and confer amazing recuperative powers when first transplanted. Many a life has been saved, or at least prolonged, by the timely application of a Graft.</div><div>Each of these five components is rated in die size, usually from d4 to d12. We’ll refer to these as your Trait die, your Nature die, your Bond die, and so on. Whenever you want to do something that requires a roll, you’ll roll one Trait die and one Nature die, add the results together to get your total, and compare that with a target number, or Target, to see if you succeeded or failed. If a Bond, Tool, or Graft is relevant, you’ll roll one or more of those, too. </div><div>For example, if you’re trying to fix a car and you have an ace set of tools, you’ll roll your Mechanical die, your Human die, and your Tool die. If you’re trying to steal Jim’s car and your Bond with Jim is “I’d betray Jim for a nice set of wheels,” you’d roll Mechanical, Human Nature, and your Bond with Jim.</div><div>Sometimes the rules refer to steps with regard to dice, like “+2 steps” or “-1 step.” Sometimes, a move up to the next highest die is called a “step forward”; a move down to the next lowest die, a “step back”.</div><div>For example, if you’re rolling a d6, +1 step would mean rolling a d8 instead; +2 steps (or “two steps forward”) would bump that d6 up to a d10, and -1 step (or “one step back”) would make it a d4. Dice can’t be raised higher than d12 or lower than d4, unless stated otherwise.</div><div>Those are the basics of the game.</div></blockquote><div></div><div>I have tried rewriting a portion of Disconnect in this vein.</div><div><blockquote></blockquote></div><div></div></div>Robert Miillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576452613236507828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6390121144726990445.post-16624302515949341722009-12-28T15:10:00.000-08:002009-12-28T15:14:23.678-08:00Today's Challenge CN:Ascend Themes Part II<div>This turned out to be a much larger (and I suspect more fruitful) endeavor then my initial 2 part idea led me to believe. So it will not be in 4 parts! This Part will cover the first 3 Themes, and the ideas generated by them.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Born Under a Bad Sign</b></div><div><ul><li>Mechanics: A “Omen” roll before an action, broad sense, determines whether that idea was “born” under a bad sign, and has a mechanical benefit.</li><li>Sign = Portend = Fate. A world where characters acknowledge Fate, live with Fate, but, most importantly, do not accept Fate. Fate is something to be combated, contended with. Sometimes it wins, sometimes characters overcome Fate.</li><li>I read this bit on Mouse Guard, specifically post #7 </li></ul><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><blockquote>“No magic, not directly. There are some efforts afoot to hack it. IIRC Luke has referred to the weather system (!) as "magic" but I'm not totally clear what he means by that. Probably the fact the player proactively states what the weather will be, rolls, and if he's a good enough Weather Watcher, the player's intent is retconned into the game's ongoing fiction. That's just so ridiculously cool and easy and hackable. I think what you wouldn't get is a magic missiles/fireballs/chain lighting style of tactical magic. Again, probably hackable since the scripted conflict thing in MG is so nice.”</blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I haven't read Mouse Guard (yet!) but this sparked a huge AHA! Moment for me. A Mechanics like Tools that can be used to add to rolls. Good Role Playing can be rewarded as a Tool (blatant rip off of Mouse Guard.) An Omen or other form of Magic can also be used as a Tool. Skill: Divination roll, Successes can be stored for later use. Shared Prophesy making, with each Player vying for a piece of the Prophesy that plays into their skill set. A form of “Magic” for each faction with a different Skill. Stuff like that...</span></blockquote></span></div><div><b>Calligraphy</b></div><div><ul><li><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; ">Mechanics: This one has become interwoven with Collapse. The idea is that action “collapses” into a single roll, multiple actions in a turn, but one roll. Just as Kanji start with a basic symbol for a single and simple idea, but layer on more brush strokes to create more complex ideas with one symbol, this aspect of Calligraphy would have the players perform multiple actions, but the more graceful and interconnected the ideas are, the more would be awarded as a “tool” for the action.</span></b></li><li>Calligraphy/Choreography: A faction that places action before thought, the smoother and more fluid their actions, the better. Tying this to kata and performance as an idea for a Magic type for one of the factions.</li><li>Calligraphy = Symbols = Signs. Calligraphy as a method of Divination.</li><li>Calligraphy as a coordinated series of movements, a single action being the most basic, but later actions adding further meaning. A combination of actions forming a whole greater then the parts.</li></ul></div><div><b>Collapse</b></div><div><ul><li>Mechanics: Already touched on this one. Intend to use a Dice Pool system with the ability to gain multiple successes. One idea to “collapse” the dice, possible to increase difficulty, perform multiple actions, etc. If the threshold for success is 3 or lower on a d10, then normally multiple 0, 1, 2 and 3's would yield a success. In a “collapse” the dice would be ordered in ascending (!) order, so maybe 0, 0, 3, 4, 8, 8. A collapse of 2 would group them as such [0,0], [3,4], [8,8]. Take the highest of the groupings, so 0, 4, 8. If the threshold was 3, then 1 success. A collapse 3 would yield [0,0,3] and [4,8,8]. Still a success. Collapse 4 would yield a single set [0,0,3,4] with a result of 4, failure.</li><li>The Great Collapse. Dark Ages on steroids. A setting in which the society has failed and been plunged into a millennium of darkness, stagnation, a century to century struggle to regain footing. Progress has not yet begun again. The Age right before the Age of Enlightenment.</li><li>Or Alternatively, just after the Great Collapse. The moment right as it becomes clear this is no ordinary pause in Progress, but a free fall into the abyss.</li><li>Collapse under the weight. Collapse, an external force that drives play. Will the characters succumb, or will they persevere? What is the weight. What is the mechanism that represents Collapse. How do they characters contend with Collapse. Or maybe the Collapse isn't of the characters, but of the locations they visit, They must stem the tide and keep the communities from collapsing...</li></ul></div>Robert Miillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576452613236507828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6390121144726990445.post-91206779699276971842009-12-26T11:33:00.000-08:002009-12-28T15:58:54.067-08:00Today's Challenge CN: Ascend Themes Part IToday's Challenge will mark the start of my Design work for Codename: Ascend, my entry into <a href="http://simiancircle.com/dirkblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/d10-2010-Contest-Guidelines.pdf">Simian Circle's 2010 d10 Competition</a> (pdf link). It will be two parter, the first of which will be to whittle the list down to 10 themes out of 20, and the second it to brainstorm 3 ideas for each of the 10 themes.<div>Here are the 20 themes:</div><div><b>1. Automation</b></div><div>I read this one, and Mark Rosewater's article on the evolution of Planeswalkers springs to mind, specifically the part of the design process where they did things automatically, and the bad play experience it produced. Out.</div><div><div><b>2. Born Under a Bad Sign</b></div><div>There are several on this list that appeal to me not one bit, mostly because they are cliches. I see this as a challenge. In.</div><div><b>3. Calligraphy</b></div><div>From abstract magic painting/casting to the mystical meaning of symbols, it is hard not to include this one. In.</div><div><b>4. City in the Sky</b></div><div>So much awesome can be gleamed from single city settings, from Ptolus to Sigil to Sharn, constraining landscapes like this can be most enjoyable. Unfortunately, Ascend is not about constraint. Out.</div><div><b>5. Collapse</b></div><div>The first that captured my imagination. Didn't I say something about Constraint above? Yes, but this one gives a nice tension in my mind, as something to struggle <i>against</i>... In.</div><div><b>6. Fishing Fun</b></div><div>Sorry, silly immediately springs to mind with this one. Out.<br /></div><div><b>7. Game Night</b></div><div>Silly sprang to my mind once again, or at least not anything I would build a game around. And then other meanings of the word Game popped in... intriguing. In.</div><div><b>8. I Think I Can</b></div><div>A rash of children's themes! There is a connection to Ascend though, a world of Neil Giamen's the dreaming makes it possible sense of possible. In.</div><div><b>9. Monolith</b></div><div>Thud. Out.</div><div><b>10. Pond</b></div><div>Just so simple and mysterious it must be In.</div><div><b>11. Private School</b></div><div>Hentai here we come! Or not. Out.</div><div><b>12. Roaming</b></div><div>If Ascend is not a game of Constraint, then certainly it must be a game of Roaming. In.</div><div><b>13. Sand Land</b></div><div>Silly rhyming and constraining theme. Out.</div><div><b>14. Seventh Son or Seventh Sun</b></div><div>On the edge on this one, as in it could be fun to reinvent the cliche, or just banal. I'll wait on the final tally for this one.</div><div><b>15. Small Town Life</b></div><div>Visions of Our Town swarms in my head. Not a fan of that play. Out.</div><div><b>16. Tattoo</b></div><div>Big fan of the Legends of the 5 Rings, with Monks running around with mystical tattoos. Just don't know if this one has the same depth to it as calligraphy, as calligraphy makes me think, ironically, of an action, while tattoo does not. In.</div><div><b>17. The Bog</b></div><div>Constraining and dull. Bog the game down. Bllck! Or least until I think of Magic the Gathering and the card, Fog. Interesting dichotomy that card has with its color, preventing all creature damage... Reaching. Out. </div><div><b>18. The Last Outpost</b></div><div>Dogs in the Vineyard jumps into my head, which is always a good thing. Constraining again, but maybe there is some interesting design space to be explored here. The important thing will be to find a good twist, like The Last Outpost of declining empire, surrounded by the beginnings of new societies. Interesting interaction with Collapse. In.</div><div><b>19. Theme Park</b></div><div>Same reaction to it as Fishing Fun, and then I Game Night'ed Theme... In.</div><div><b>20. Water World</b></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; ">Bad Kevin Costner, bad. Out.</span></b></div><div><br /></div><div>So, by my counting, I am at 10, with Seventh S(u or o)n on the fence. Doesn't bode well for it. Out! Here are the final 10.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>2. Born Under a Bad Sign</b></div><div><div><b>3. Calligraphy</b></div><div><b>5. Collapse</b></div><div><b>7. Game Night</b></div><div><b>8. I Think I Can</b></div><div><b>10. Pond</b></div><div><b>12. Roaming</b></div><div><b>16. Tattoo</b></div><div><b>18. The Last Outpost</b></div><div><b>19. Theme Park</b></div></div></div>Robert Miillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576452613236507828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6390121144726990445.post-16851052888532183622009-12-26T10:46:00.000-08:002009-12-28T09:01:39.120-08:00Scenario, Missions and Experience Kitty for Codename:Cribbage<div>Some of this was where I left off my work, with new completed section my work for today.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Basic Play: Scenarios, Missions, and Experience Kitty</b></div><div>Each Session of Disconnect is played by trying to complete a Mission. Corporations are constantly attempting to gain Market advantage by sabotaging new research, stealing technology, blackmailing CEO's, kidnapping scientists, and any other nefarious methodology imagined. Corporations employ Agents to attempt or prevent these plots, and each Session begins with the details of a new Mission.</div><div>The objective of a Mission is Narrated by the Game Master to all Players simultaneously, though the objectives of individual Agents may vary. It is up to the Player of an Agent to determine if their Corporation is acting benevolently, protecting the object of the Mission, is a part of the nefarious plot, or just interfering with both sides. This choice by the Player is not a reflection of their Agent. They can, for example, choose to have their Agent employed by a Corporation that acts in nefarious ways, but play an Agent with good intentions that slowly discovers the “Truth” behind their Corporation's actions. Or be an Agent who prefers the nefarious and is frustrated by their Corporation's lack of action and mettle to do what must be done.</div><div>A Player's choice of how their Agent's employing Corporation acts and their Agent's relationship to these actions should be an ongoing conversation with the Game Master. In this way both Game Master and Player can work to create a story that is interesting and surprising for all the participants. </div><div>To detail the Mission, the Game Master presents 5 – 10 Scenarios. Some, but not all of these Scenarios may actually be used to complete the Mission. Scenarios are somewhat vague and should leave enough room to allow the Players to Narrate interesting details during the Scenario Test. Scenarios have no set order, and none of them should be necessary to complete the Mission. The only exception to this rule is the first Scenario, which is chosen by the Game Master and to set the tone for the Session.</div><div>Example Scenarios can be Dr. Stevenson's Laboratory, Race Against Time, Chase Scene, The Lady of the House, and the like. The more ambiguous the description the better, and Scenarios that can be staged or defined in a number of different ways will allow the Players to vie for Narrating Aspects they can Exploit to their advantage.</div><div>As each Scenario is played through, the Players roll Tests for their Agents. For every Success rolled on a Test, whether a Scenario Test or a Skill Test, the Player Pegs their Successes out on the Cribbage Board, thus keeping a running total going of their cumulative Successes. The first Player to exceed the End of Mission total obtains the goal of the mission and the wins the final Scenario. The winning Agent's Player narrates the ending of both the Scenario and the Mission, and determines the outcome. They may also, depending on how ambiguous the Mission was described, determine the actual objective of the Mission. This narration should flow naturally from the previous events, with an eye kept out for the unexpected and dramatic.</div><div>With the exception of the Final Scenario which is won by the first Player to peg across the End of Mission line, the other Scenarios of the Mission are won as follows. Each Player narrates their Success from the initial Scenario Test, or subsequent Scenario Test if the previous Test were unsuccessful. After a Player has Narrated the last Success from their Scenario Pool, they may either add Successes by making a Solitary Skill Test, or may try to remove Successes from another Player's Scenario Pool by making an Opposed Skill Test. A Scenario is won by the last Player to have Successes left in their Scenario Pool. In other words, Player's vie to remove Successes from the other Players' Scenario Pools while protecting the Successes in their Pool. The winning Agent's Player is the last Player to still have Successes after all other Player's have had their Successes removed from their Scenario Pool.</div><div>For each Success removed from a Player's Scenario Pool, a token such as a a poker chip, coin, glass bead, etc... is added to a common pool called the Experience Kitty. The Experience Kitty is reset to zero at the beginning of each Scenario. Players add tokens to it for every Success removed from their Scenario Pool. Each token in the Experience Kitty represents one point of Experience, which can be used to improve an Agent's Skills, learn Special Training, and affect Aspects.</div><div>The Player that wins a Scenario collects the Experience Kitty. They Peg on the Cribbage Board a number of holes equal to the amount of tokens in the Experience Kitty. Before adding this number on their Agent's Dossier under Experience though, the other Players have the opportunity to Negotiate a Share.</div><div>To Negotiate a Share, the other Players may offer up either an Aspect or a Rating for an Aspect. This Aspect or Rating is for their Agent, and may be a general Aspect or an Aspect of a relationship to he winning Agent. The Aspect offered can be either a new Aspect or an existing Aspect. If it is an existing Aspect, then the offer is to increase its Rating. The winning Agent's Player may accept the offer, and if they do, they complete the offer by providing either a Rating for the offered Aspect, or an Aspect for the offered Rating. If the winning Player is returning the Rating, it cannot be greater then 3 (or increased by more then 3 for affecting an existing Aspect), though the Player is free to determine the Rating otherwise (strength of 2, known by 1 agent, strength of 1 known by 2 agents, or some other iteration for existing Aspects). The Player that is Negotiating a Share can then reject or accept the resulting Aspect with Rating, and has the final say if the new or existing Aspect will be added to their Dossier (and other Agents' Dossiers as applicable).</div><div>Once all offers have been made and accepted or declined, the Experience Kitty is divided evenly with the winning Agent's Player and all Players that successfully Negotiated a Share. Any left over tokens which result from dividing the Kitty go to the original winning Player. The Players that Shared the Kitty increase their Experience total on their Agent's Dossier by their number of tokens. They also roll 6d6 for the next Scenario Test instead of the normal 5d6. Any Player that attempted to Negotiate a Share of the Experience Kitty but had their offer rejected or did not accept the resulting Aspect and Rating, records a new Negative Aspect in their Dossier.</div><div>The winning Agent's Player then picks the next Scenario from those that remain. Play continues with rolling the next Scenario Test.</div>Robert Miillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576452613236507828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6390121144726990445.post-41367634204949231842009-12-26T09:19:00.000-08:002009-12-28T09:01:17.179-08:00Play Overview for Codename:CribbageHere is the Play Overview I wrote for Codename: Cribbage.<div><br /><div><b>Play Overview</b></div><div><div>Players create Agents with a brief background reviewed by the Game Master. The Game Master may ask for tweaks to the backgrounds to help create links and emotional connections to other Agents. The Game Master prepares a Mission and Scenarios for the first Session. The first Scenario of a Mission is chosen by the Game Master, and after introductory Narration, the Mission begins and the Agents are off!</div><div>Players create a Scenario Pool of dice by Narrating Successes from their Scenario Test. Each Success adds an Aspect to the Dossier of the Scenario. Players then perform actions using Solitary and Opposed Skill Tests, adding to their Agent's Scenario Pool or depleting dice from other Agents' Pools. Each Success rolled during a Test in Pegged on the Cribbage Board. Each dice removed from an Agent's Scenario Pool adds a Token to the collective Experience Kitty. The last Player with dice in their Scenario Pool Narrates the end of the Scenario, and gains Experience equal to the amount in the Experience Kitty. Players can Negotiate to share the Experience Kitty, and then the Kitty is reset to zero.</div><div>The Player who “won” the last Scenario, chooses the next Scenario. Each Player that shared in the Experience Kitty roll an additional d6 in the new Scenario Test. Play continues through Scenarios until a Player pegs past the agreed upon Mission Success level (usually 60). The first Player to reach the End of Mission not only Narrates the end of the last Scenario, but also the conclusion of the Mission. This Player also gains the Experience in the last Experience Kitty, and may Negotiate a share with other Players as normal.</div><div>Players may then spend the Experience earned by altering Aspects, Improving Skills and learning Special Training. Often this is done between Sessions. The Game Master makes preparations for the next Session, and play begins again.</div></div></div>Robert Miillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576452613236507828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6390121144726990445.post-27845278913242884532009-12-26T08:38:00.000-08:002009-12-28T09:02:00.269-08:00Update time!I got caught up in trying, and failing, to get Cribbage out on time. And of course the holidays, some unexpected health issues with my wife, and general life stuff...<div>Where I stand now. I got some serious meat produced for Cribbage, and I am pretty happy with it. I will continue to churn that out, hoping to "submit" it, or at least complete it as though I was going to submit it. I don't know if I'm going to compete in the Pathfinder contest yet or not. I don't own the book, and even $10 is hard to scrape up. I can still pretty easily submit the magic item, and will I think, but going much further will be difficult without more familiarity with the rules.</div><div>But focus has now shifted to two new contests, one form <a href="http://simiancircle.com/dirkblog/">Simian Circle Games</a> and the other this mysterious <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/269694-great-conjunction-2-announcement-thread-rpg-design-contest.html">contest</a> at Enworld.org. The Simian Circle contest I have codenamed Ascend. I have been thinking about and tinkering around with both it's Theme and Dice Mechanics for over a month. I am really excited about this one. The other contest I know nothing about, so I have no name as of yet.</div><div>My plans as of now. I am going to shoot for 3 entires a day, 6 days a week for an average. A Today's Challenge, where I challenge my creative self, a Codename:Ascend entry, and another, either Codename:Cribbage, Codename:Marionette, or something on this new contest. Ambitous, and we will revise my plans as needed....</div><div><br /></div><div>:)</div>Robert Miillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576452613236507828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6390121144726990445.post-53171734504418145432009-12-15T11:23:00.000-08:002009-12-15T11:33:53.526-08:00Today's Challenge: Skills for CN:Cribbage<p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div>Each of these will be assigned a dice, from d6 to d12 (because who really likes rolling d4's, right?) Each up size in dice will represent danger both to the user and the target of the battle. There are currently three categories of Skills, Mental, Social and Physical.</div><ul><li>Concocting (basic MacGyver)<span style="mso-tab-count:2"> </span></li><li>Hacking (basic computer usage)<span style="mso-tab-count:2"> </span></li><li>Raiding <span style="mso-tab-count:2"> (hacking into a person's mind, basic telepathy) </span></li><li>Disconnecting<span style="mso-tab-count:2"> (shutting down,causing pain, mental attacks) </span></li><li>Socializing (flirting, seduction, conversation, etc...)<span style="mso-tab-count:2"> </span></li><li>Impersonating<span style="mso-tab-count:2"> (cultural chameleon, disguise, imitating, etc...) </span></li><li>Net Working (connections, blackmailing)<span style="mso-tab-count:2"> </span></li><li>Inflicting (ability to activate emotions, control emotional responses)<span style="mso-tab-count:2"> </span></li><li>Evading<span style="mso-tab-count:2"> (stealth, shadowing) </span></li><li>Infiltrating<span style="mso-tab-count:2"> (getting inside something, acrobatics, climbing, etc...) </span></li><li>Sabotaging (disrupting a facility, destroying something, etc...) </li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; ">Fighting (hand to hand, ballistics, etc...)<span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span></span></li></ul><p></p> </div><p></p> <p></p><p></p>Robert Miillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576452613236507828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6390121144726990445.post-2661156946722299642009-12-15T10:16:00.000-08:002009-12-28T09:02:30.163-08:00Potential cover art and and idea hopping continues<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(65, 77, 76); font-family:Verdana, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><h1 style="font: normal normal normal 14pt/normal 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-weight: bold; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 2px; margin-left: 0px; letter-spacing: -1px; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 26px; "><a href="http://dopaminart.deviantart.com/art/supremacy-24139882">supremacy </a><small style="display: inline; font-size: 17px; opacity: 1; line-height: 1.5em; margin-left: 1ex; letter-spacing: 0.02em; "><a href="http://dopaminart.deviantart.com/art/supremacy-24139882">by ~dopaminart</a></small></h1><div>Still image hopping and simultaneously groping for a name.</div><div><ol><li>Conspiracy</li><li>Conspiracy of ....</li><li>Supremacy</li><li>Shadows</li><li>Linked</li><li>The things that we do</li><li>Dissonance</li><li>Poignant</li><li>Intrinsic</li><li>Cerebral</li><li>Silhouette</li><li>Profile</li><li>Desire/Conspire</li><li>Blindside</li><li>Double Cross</li><li>Betrayal</li><li>Deceit</li><li>Trust</li><li>Traces</li><li>Fingerprints</li></ol></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 24px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 26px; "><a href="http://laurajwills.deviantart.com/art/Dystopia-1-40856387">Dystopia 1 </a><small style="display: inline; font-size: 17px; opacity: 1; line-height: 1.5em; margin-left: 1ex; letter-spacing: 0.02em; "><a href="http://laurajwills.deviantart.com/art/Dystopia-1-40856387">by ~LauraJWills</a></small></span></div></span>Robert Miillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576452613236507828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6390121144726990445.post-20113388175002579152009-12-11T10:45:00.000-08:002009-12-11T10:46:37.232-08:00UpdateWell...<div><br /></div><div>My tumblr blog, ofdiceandpen.com is suspended, and I have no idea why. So I have spent this morning migrating all my previous posts to here instead. We will just have to go with this site instead!</div><div><br /></div><div>:)</div>Robert Miillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02576452613236507828noreply@blogger.com0