At the heart of every RPG there is, or at least ought to be, a core mechanic that provides resolution for all manner of challenges. In D&D it is a roll of 1d20 + modifiers versus either a static Target Number such as AC or against another 1d20+mods roll that establishes the TN.
The question at hand now is, what core mechanic will we use for N.E.R.V.system? There are quite a few options and I'm about to bore you with them. However, without making this decision, it will be impossible to develop all the other parts of the game as I won't know what values to create to plug into the core mechanic, there not actually being a core mechanic until we decide on one.
There are two broad categories of core mechanics, roll+mods and dice pools.
Roll+mods is pretty straightforward. D20 system uses a single-die roll+mod vs. Target Number while BESM, for example, uses 2d6+mod vs. TN. In a roll+mod system, the randomizer does not change with the situation, the modification to the roll (and possibly the target number) does.
There are a lot more variants in dice pools. Frex:
Shadowrun 4 style - pool rolled against a static target number to generate hits. The number of hits is used to determine success and degree of success. Exalted uses a similar system, except the dice are d10 not d6 and the static target is 7 not 5.
OVA style - pool rolled with only the highest single die used. If multiple dice match, they are totalled and that used as the result if greater than the highest single die.
One Roll Engine (ORE) style - pool is rolled to find matches. Within a match, the number of matching dice is called the width and the value is the height. Width determines speed of action (or damage in combat) while height determines quality of action. In an attack roll, for example, a roll that includes 3 dice showing 7s (ORE uses d10s) would have a better chance of hitting against a defence that rolled a height of only 5, and would do damage based on the width of 3. The idea is to make one roll (hence the name) to sort out multiple axes of a conflict or contest.
Roll and Keep (7th Sea, Original L5R) style - pool is rolled and the best x dice are allowed to be kept and added together against a TN based on the difficulty of the task. In the standard Roll and Keep games, dice pools are formed from Skill + Trait with the number of Trait dice indicating how many of the total dice can be kept.
Fudge dice style - pool dice are special, indicating either success, failure or null on each die. Total success less total failure gives the final result. Number of successes determines overall performance.
There are probably more but you get the drift.
One advantage of dice pools is that you can add bonus dice and take away penalty dice in various ways to make things more interesting without totally eliminating the importance of the random element. With a roll+mod system, especially one that uses only one die (like d20 system), once the mods get high enough, the roll no linger matters.
Another attraction of dice pools is that the pools themselves are usually formed by adding together dice from multiple sources, usually at the very least a base attribute (like strength) plus a skill or talent. Some systems (such as Exalted) allow more dice for special equipment, stunting and special powers. Houses of the Blooded allows characters to add dice if their name is appropriate to the task. Some systems cap the number of dice in the pool, though they usually allow spare dice to be used to soak off any penalties to the pool before dice are rolled. This can all be very handy in game design.
Some systems such as ORE also have special dice that allow the player to set their value before rolling any other dice and others that can be set after the rest are rolled. This works best with the ORE mechanic, but could be made to work with other dice pool systems.
There are other mechanics out there. Some use playing cards (Deadlands), some use no dice at all (Amber), I hear there is one that uses Jenga (don't ask) and there are probably ones that use the entrails of beasts (don't go there). Suffice to say we won't be using any of those.
So, with Marc's permission, I would like to spend a few moments going over these before we start the next game and then we can mull it over for a few days. I'd like to select something everyone can wrap their heads around while still having a system that allows lots of flexibility when creating the modules of the rest of the game.
The question at hand now is, what core mechanic will we use for N.E.R.V.system? There are quite a few options and I'm about to bore you with them. However, without making this decision, it will be impossible to develop all the other parts of the game as I won't know what values to create to plug into the core mechanic, there not actually being a core mechanic until we decide on one.
There are two broad categories of core mechanics, roll+mods and dice pools.
Roll+mods is pretty straightforward. D20 system uses a single-die roll+mod vs. Target Number while BESM, for example, uses 2d6+mod vs. TN. In a roll+mod system, the randomizer does not change with the situation, the modification to the roll (and possibly the target number) does.
There are a lot more variants in dice pools. Frex:
Shadowrun 4 style - pool rolled against a static target number to generate hits. The number of hits is used to determine success and degree of success. Exalted uses a similar system, except the dice are d10 not d6 and the static target is 7 not 5.
OVA style - pool rolled with only the highest single die used. If multiple dice match, they are totalled and that used as the result if greater than the highest single die.
One Roll Engine (ORE) style - pool is rolled to find matches. Within a match, the number of matching dice is called the width and the value is the height. Width determines speed of action (or damage in combat) while height determines quality of action. In an attack roll, for example, a roll that includes 3 dice showing 7s (ORE uses d10s) would have a better chance of hitting against a defence that rolled a height of only 5, and would do damage based on the width of 3. The idea is to make one roll (hence the name) to sort out multiple axes of a conflict or contest.
Roll and Keep (7th Sea, Original L5R) style - pool is rolled and the best x dice are allowed to be kept and added together against a TN based on the difficulty of the task. In the standard Roll and Keep games, dice pools are formed from Skill + Trait with the number of Trait dice indicating how many of the total dice can be kept.
Fudge dice style - pool dice are special, indicating either success, failure or null on each die. Total success less total failure gives the final result. Number of successes determines overall performance.
There are probably more but you get the drift.
One advantage of dice pools is that you can add bonus dice and take away penalty dice in various ways to make things more interesting without totally eliminating the importance of the random element. With a roll+mod system, especially one that uses only one die (like d20 system), once the mods get high enough, the roll no linger matters.
Another attraction of dice pools is that the pools themselves are usually formed by adding together dice from multiple sources, usually at the very least a base attribute (like strength) plus a skill or talent. Some systems (such as Exalted) allow more dice for special equipment, stunting and special powers. Houses of the Blooded allows characters to add dice if their name is appropriate to the task. Some systems cap the number of dice in the pool, though they usually allow spare dice to be used to soak off any penalties to the pool before dice are rolled. This can all be very handy in game design.
Some systems such as ORE also have special dice that allow the player to set their value before rolling any other dice and others that can be set after the rest are rolled. This works best with the ORE mechanic, but could be made to work with other dice pool systems.
There are other mechanics out there. Some use playing cards (Deadlands), some use no dice at all (Amber), I hear there is one that uses Jenga (don't ask) and there are probably ones that use the entrails of beasts (don't go there). Suffice to say we won't be using any of those.
So, with Marc's permission, I would like to spend a few moments going over these before we start the next game and then we can mull it over for a few days. I'd like to select something everyone can wrap their heads around while still having a system that allows lots of flexibility when creating the modules of the rest of the game.
Given that my attendance this evening is (as is usual of late) somewhat up in the air, I'll post my thoughts on core mechanics here rather than save 'em up for this evening.
ReplyDeleteI have always been a big fan of the d20 system for the very simple reason that it was a very simple mechanic; one die + mod (provided you don't arrive at your mods through 4th dimensional hypercalculus) is a straightforward design that a: speeds up gameplay and b: reduces the number of dice you have to carry. That said, virtual dice have made physical dice and (lol) manual die rolling more than a little obsolete.
Painfully small character limit on comments is awesome!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, advances in die-rolling technology aside, die+mod also carries the advantage of (somewhat) reduced number management. Once you have your mods added up for a particular set of skills (combat leaps to mind), it's a relatively easy task to increment or decrement the +/-1s, depending on the situation.
Of course, it's possible that my preference for die+mod is highly influenced by my preference for pen and paper over excel spreadsheets (which do all or most of the number management with ease), but those are my two bits, for whatever they're worth after the exchange rate.