Ripping off Mechanics Part I

One 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.

Today's Challenge CN:Ascend Themes Part V

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.  

What I learned in 4 days of shifting through the ashes of 10 themes.

Writing Introductions

My thinking has turned to Introductions, RPG style. A quick perusal of web advice has left me cold. Rob Lang's wonderful guide aside, blog entities, essays and abstracts dominate. Dominated by the Abstract, that's my problem.

From Rob Lang:

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:

·         What is in the book? System? Setting? Sample adventure?

·         What is the genre of the setting? What are the major themes?

·         What will the characters do?

·         what sort of mechanic is it (dice/diceless/pool)?

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?

Today's Challenge CN:Ascend Themes Part IV

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.

Basic Mechanic for CN: Ascend, Redux II

I 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!

Design Goals for the CN: Ascend Dice Mechanics

A summary of 7 design goals I have for Ascend's Dice Mechanics.

Outline of Chapters 1 and 2 for CN: Ascend

1.Introduction
1.The Great Collapse
1.Tone prose
2.Premise
3.Setting
4.Style and Tone
5.Tone prose
2.What is what
1.What this book contains
2.What is needed to play
3.What is Role Playing
4.What does Play look like?
3.Riding the Ripples
1.What is The Last Outpost?
2.What is a Pond?
3.What is Riding a Ripple?
4.Who are the Heroes?
5.What are the Factions?
4.Basic Mechanic
1.Randomness
2.Dice Pool
3.Characteristics and Tools
4.Target
5.Skill
6.Difficulty
5.Getting Started
6.Glossary of Terms
2.Creating a Hero
1.Characteristics
1.Traits
2.Race
3.Background
4.Belief
2.Skills
3.Abilities
1.Stances
2.Techniques

Basic Mechanics Revised CN: Ascend

Further work on Ascend. I am working on the part that would occur during the Introduction to briefly describe the Mechanics. Not there yet. :)

Ascend: Base Mechanic

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.

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 sacrificed.

The 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 “d10” 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.

Quick Link

Rob Lang's free guide to organising your RPG

A how to guide from the web's prevailing purveyor of free RPG's, Rob Lang.

Today's Challenge CN:Ascend Themes Part III

Today's themes and the ideas generated by them.

Game Night

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

I think I can

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Interesting, the theme for Ghost's dichotomy has formed from this as well. It is

since there is no thought, just action.

Pond

• Mechanics: Dice Pool. No really honestly. Pond = Pool. Simple and clean.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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....

CN: Ascend Basic Mechanics Part I

Ascend: Basic Mechanic

All 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!

Rewriting Basic Play for CN: Cribbage Part II

Disconnect: The Basics

The 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.

Rewriting Basic Play for CN: Cribbage Part I

One of the Game Fu #7 Entries is Leftovers (pdf link that seems to be broken, try to right button click save as).

I give mad props to the writing style and general layout. Here is a bit.

the Basics

Characters are defined primarily by their Natures and Traits.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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”.

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.

Those are the basics of the game.

I have tried rewriting a portion of Disconnect in this vein.

Today's Challenge CN:Ascend Themes Part II

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.

Born Under a Bad Sign

• Mechanics: A “Omen” roll before an action, broad sense, determines whether that idea was “born” under a bad sign, and has a mechanical benefit.
• 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.
• I read this bit on Mouse Guard, specifically post #7

“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.”

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...

Calligraphy

• 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.
• 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.
• Calligraphy = Symbols = Signs. Calligraphy as a method of Divination.
• 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.

Collapse

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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...

Today's Challenge CN: Ascend Themes Part I

Today's Challenge will mark the start of my Design work for Codename: Ascend, my entry into Simian Circle's 2010 d10 Competition (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.

Here are the 20 themes:

1. Automation

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.

2. Born Under a Bad Sign

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.

3. Calligraphy

From abstract magic painting/casting to the mystical meaning of symbols, it is hard not to include this one. In.

4. City in the Sky

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.

5. Collapse

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 against... In.

6. Fishing Fun

Sorry, silly immediately springs to mind with this one. Out.

7. Game Night

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.

8. I Think I Can

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.

9. Monolith

Thud. Out.

10. Pond

Just so simple and mysterious it must be In.

11. Private School

Hentai here we come! Or not. Out.

12. Roaming

If Ascend is not a game of Constraint, then certainly it must be a game of Roaming. In.

13. Sand Land

Silly rhyming and constraining theme. Out.

14. Seventh Son or Seventh Sun

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.

15. Small Town Life

Visions of Our Town swarms in my head. Not a fan of that play. Out.

16. Tattoo

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.

17. The Bog

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.

18. The Last Outpost

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.

19. Theme Park

Same reaction to it as Fishing Fun, and then I Game Night'ed Theme... In.

20. Water World

Bad Kevin Costner, bad. Out.

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.

2. Born Under a Bad Sign

3. Calligraphy

5. Collapse

7. Game Night

8. I Think I Can

10. Pond

12. Roaming

16. Tattoo

18. The Last Outpost

19. Theme Park

Scenario, Missions and Experience Kitty for Codename:Cribbage

Some of this was where I left off my work, with new completed section my work for today.

Basic Play: Scenarios, Missions, and Experience Kitty

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

The winning Agent's Player then picks the next Scenario from those that remain. Play continues with rolling the next Scenario Test.

Play Overview for Codename:Cribbage

Here is the Play Overview I wrote for Codename: Cribbage.

Play Overview

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!

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.

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.

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.

Update 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...

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.

But focus has now shifted to two new contests, one form Simian Circle Games and the other this mysterious contest 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.

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....

:)

Today's Challenge: Skills for CN:Cribbage

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.

• Concocting (basic MacGyver)
• Hacking (basic computer usage)
• Raiding (hacking into a person's mind, basic telepathy)
• Disconnecting (shutting down,causing pain, mental attacks)
• Socializing (flirting, seduction, conversation, etc...)
• Impersonating (cultural chameleon, disguise, imitating, etc...)
• Net Working (connections, blackmailing)
• Inflicting (ability to activate emotions, control emotional responses)
• Evading (stealth, shadowing)
• Infiltrating (getting inside something, acrobatics, climbing, etc...)
• Sabotaging (disrupting a facility, destroying something, etc...)
• Fighting (hand to hand, ballistics, etc...)

Potential cover art and and idea hopping continues

supremacy by ~dopaminart

Still image hopping and simultaneously groping for a name.

1. Conspiracy
2. Conspiracy of ....
3. Supremacy
4. Shadows
5. Linked
6. The things that we do
7. Dissonance
8. Poignant
9. Intrinsic
10. Cerebral
11. Silhouette
12. Profile
13. Desire/Conspire
14. Blindside
15. Double Cross
16. Betrayal
17. Deceit
18. Trust
19. Traces
20. Fingerprints

Dystopia 1 by ~LauraJWills

Update

Well...

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!

:)

Today's Challenge: 10 Metallic Images for CN: Cribbage (bonus round!)

Hitting up DeviantArt once more, this time with "metallic".

Well, “metallic” only yielded this result

Aoi by *Vixxenfairy

So I moved on to cyber

The Magician by ~Gossengel

4 of Discs by ~Gossengel

A Good Night by ~UrbaniteByDesign

Profile by ~hunterkiller

"implant" (I know shudder right, but fortunately no NSFW) yielded

tActiCaL nEurAL iMpLAnT by ~LichtReize

"bionic"...

nada

"metallic eye" at least got me back to decent art

Borg by ~Jenya88

DAY 9- Digital Nightmare by ~StrangelyIsolated

Perfect Enemy. by =hybridgothica

Explosion. by =hybridgothica

So we came full circle, and I believe in =hybridgothica's work we have a winner... so much so that I can't even begin to narrow the list down to one from her.

Today's Challenge: 10 Spy Images for CN: Cribbage

Skipping ahead to the last Ingredient "list", Image Hunt. This will probably be a more or less daily challenge to myself as I hunt down images.

First off is 10 images I like while searching DeviantArt using "spy" as the subject, and branching out from there.

1. Spy by ~hazienuts
2. Spy by ~newfka
3. Spy by ~Timetint
4. Making Your Mind Up by =Life-takers-crayon
5. Extreme Ways by *aryundomiel
6. S.B. Covert Ops by ~Essiss
7. Ghost Town by ~Essiss
8. Spy by ~nikita-kely
9. Metallic green eye by ~nikita-kely
10. Bomb squad Dasha Intro 1 ruff by *PiratoLoco

Some good stuff, but none really hit quite the right note. Number 9 really got my imagination going though. So much so I think I will do a bonus Today's Challenge Image Hunt.

Narrowing the list for CN:Cribbage (Part I)

A reminder of rules of Game Fu #7: Pick 5 Ingredients, at least one of which must be from one of each of these three categories...

Ingredients

System Constraints

[Stuff]

Genre Blender

You must pick two of the following genres and combine the tropes listed to create your game. Picking additional ingredients from this category means adding an additional genre, and its tropes, to your setting (i.e. two ingredients from this category means three genres combined).

[Stuff]

Image Hunt

Instead of picking an image from a list presented here, you must go forth upon the interweb and hunt down images that best fit your game. Each ingredient from this category must include three images.

To Begin

… I will pare down the list in System Constraints. Most of this has been afloat in my head for the last several days, so not much creative work will likely be done in this post. But let's take a look at each one.

• All characters are designed by committee.

Not really my cup of tea, though I would like to tackle this one later in my design career. Plus no good correlation to the game of Cribbage. Interaction between this mechanic and a game where the players compete with one another is also a little wonky (though something that could be very interesting...)

• All statistics (Skills/Attributes/whatever) must be phrased as Haiku or other form of short poetic prose.

Awesome idea, and would lead itself to a great samurai (or other thematic genre). To a game of cribbage though? Plus most spy literature does not compare well to high literature...

• Character creation does not allow characters to have access to all attributes. They must choose which ones not to have values in.

Possible but not terribly exciting to me. On the list for now.

• Characters are composed of a core that is augmented by templates that can be swapped.

Certainly in keeping with some of the genre ideas below (Punk I'm looking at you). Save this one until genre

• Characters belong to a shared pool rather than individual players.

This and the by-Committee approach both fight the basic premise of CN:Cribbage. This one also really fights one of my Mechanics on this list.

• Characters' skills / abilities are generated / recorded using a Sudoku or Magic Square style grid.

Already have elements of one game prominently in CN:Cribbage. Don't want to mix my metaphors, so to speak.

• Does not use numbers to represent skills or attributes in any way.

I really like this idea. Struggle a bit with how to implement, which is a good thing. On the list.

• Game requires making sketches as a mechanic for task resolution, character creation, or whatever.

Another great spark for a game. Just not my first real design I think. Also I struggle with this and the haiku one, wondering how to keep players who suck at these activities from sucking at the game.

• Mechanics must use different die types for specific action types. (e.g. d6 for social, d8 for combat, d10 for magic)

This reminds me of Dogs in the Vineyard. Given the mechanic from this list that really grabs me, this relationship to Dogs is a good thing. In.

• Must include an emotional connection mechanic binding characters together.

And speak of the devil. How do you keep a game of players competing against each other from devolving? Tie them together in interesting ways that will drive play and insert interest into each scene (plus some other tricks up my sleeve.) This game will succeed if each scene is about crossing and double crossing, seduction and flirtation, getting even or getting ahead, etc... and the players meet in each scene over the objective, rather then the scenes being driven by the objective itself.

• Must use non-traditional randomizers (no dice or poker/playing cards)

Brain fart on my end as to what this would be... One day I am sure I will tackle this idea, but this ain't that day. (Sure it's challenging, but what would it add to the game once you unlocked it...)

• Players control character advancement

No immediate reason not to include (no thematic conflict), and challenging as all heck. Let's throw this one on the list.

• Resolution system must involve a bidding mechanic with a risk of loss.

Another mechanic that brought to mind Dogs. Played with the idea of rolling set number of dice upfront, and then bidding for who goes first in the scene. Each player starts with 10 chips with which to bid. Whoever wins the "hand" gets the chips. After the game is over, each person gains XP equal tot he amount of chips.

Then decided I was once again mixing metaphors (cribbage and poker). Will have to keep this in the back of my head though for a Deadlands style game though...

• Reverse dice pool resolution, where all dice in a pool have to succeed. Penalties add dice, bonuses remove dice.

Interesting twist, and will fill for later consideration. A little too specific for my tastes in a competition like this.

In Conclusion

The list as it stands:

• Character creation does not allow characters to have access to all attributes. They must choose which ones not to have values in.
• Characters are composed of a core that is augmented by templates that can be swapped.
• Does not use numbers to represent skills or attributes in any way.
• Mechanics must use different die types for specific action types. (e.g. d6 for social, d8 for combat, d10 for magic)
• Must include an emotional connection mechanic binding characters together.
• Players control character advancement

With emotional connection and players control advancement being the two big drivers right now.

Answer to yesterday's question...

Yesterday I asked the following question...

"And now to the most important question: Who would race each other in the context of imaginary play and allow for multiple instances of entertaining and twisting interaction?"

and the answer, for me, is Spies! Thinking along the lines of Alias meets Ocean's 11 (12, 13). The players will compete against each other each "episode" to retrieve an item, information, etc... The first player across the cribbage line "wins" that episode, and claims the objective for their Organization.

Each "hand" will be a scene with an objective that moves the players closer to the item. Successes will accrue during the "hand" and be kept track of on the Cribbage board. Rolls will be for things like snappy dialog, psionics, hacking, infiltration, connections, combat, etc..

Today's Challenge: 10 Unsummon Items

Today's Challenge is brainstorming 10 magical items for Codename:Marionette. There will be several of these, so each will have a theme.

Today's theme is Unsummon. Unpacking this theme is a subject for another day. To help frame my idea, though, here is the outline:

Unsummon is a Magic: The Gathering card from the very first set. It is also the inspiration for my design(s). On the surface, it is a card with a clear (to the casual) observer use. Return a creature to their owner's hand. It is not terribly efficient though, as most of the time the creature can just be recast the next turn. couple with Dispel, hand removal, etc... it can get rid of an unwanted creature for good, but this takes two cards. Not good.

The utter sublime and elegant beauty of Unsummon becomes apparent only after some time playing Magic. It is, in my mind's eye, what I see when I think of Elegance. Why?

Because it requires soooooo much unpacking. Yes, Unsummon can be used to briefly remove a creature, perhaps clearing an attack route. But past its immediate utility, to a more nuance player another use emerges. It can rescue a vital creature from an impending doom blade, fireball, path to nowhere. So, now, used a little creatively, it does two very different things, and it utility imcreases immensely.

But wait, it does more! It can trigger "leaves play" effects. It can let you trigger again "enter plays" effects. It has many other uses that I, an infrequent Magic player, cannot even think of. In other words it packs a lot of versatility into such a little package.

Which is where it's Elegance begins, but not where it ends. What Unsommon ultimately means to me is the depth of design in M:tG itself. The more interesting, varied, and inventive the game is, the more uses can be found for this card.

Therefore my first Today's Test is a list of 10 magic items for submission to the RPG Superstar 2010 competition all that try to achieve a minimal dual utility.

1. An item that turns a specific damage type into Healing.
2. An item that turns an arcane spell cast upon the wielder into Healing.
3. An item that teleports an unconscious or dead body adjacent to the wielder.
4. An item that stores a spell cast at the wielder, that can be cast latter.
5. An item that allows the wielder to "phase" out of time a creature (gone for 3 rounds while 1 round passes for it, 2 rounds for both real time and the creature, or gone for 1 round while 3 rounds pass for it)
6. An item that allows the user to "step outside" the magic currently cast upon him, leaving it as disembodied aura until another creature enters that space
7. An item that "commands" an unconscious or dead body
8. Redirect an attack (missile, melee, or magic) to another target
9. An item at allows an area within an area of effect spell to be excluded
10. An item that heals (wielder excluded) in a burst whenever the wielder takes damage

I realize as I did this that many of these items require some amount of teamwork to exploit (4E's design influence I presume). Which sparked the next Today's Challenge: 10 Teamwork items...