Now for some more basics

Every RPG needs some basic stats for characters and N.E.R.V.system will be no different. In particular I am referring to basic character attributes, the strength, dexterity, etc. stuff. I envision that there will be two types of these attributes, the standard and the series-specific.

So the task now is to determine which attributes will be bog standard used in all series. I have already asked Bernie and Colin for some input and when we meet next I'd like to hammer out specifics.

What has been suggested so far are:

• Strength
• Physical Agility
• Intelligence (book learning)
• Metal Agility
• Body/Endurance/Constitution
• Looks
• Willpower

So, what would you like to see as the basic attributes? I'm not sure what the number will be so lets throw out ideas and see which ones get the most support.

And don't worry about how you'll pay for them, I'm seeing character generation as being a far more honour-system affair; we're all mature gamers after all. Right. Right?

A Little Update

So, we have a dice mechanic selected (dice pool with set target per Shadowrun 4 for those who might have been blocking). I have started on combat, because killing things is always fun. I should have some stuff for ya'll to look at shortly in that regard.

The Core Mechanic

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.

And one more thing...

Further to the genre emulation concept below, I made the following post to RPG.net a few days ago where it generated a fair amount of discussion, some of it useful in getting me started on this project. I think the post might be a useful illustration of what I'm talking about, so I reproduce it below.

Encouraging the power-escalation-during-combat anime trope in RPG play

To set the scene I’ll use Bleach but many fighting manga/anime follow the same pattern. Our hero Kuchiki Byakuya, all-around cool-but-badass-guy, steps forth to face his opponent. Said opponent is known to be strong - a definite threat. This plays out one of two ways. To whit:

The anime way – Byakuya and the enemy trash talk a bit and then our hero attacks. He uses his zanpakuto but does not unseal it and he uses flash steps (cause that’s cool and what he’s famous for) to move quickly. The enemy uses his natural claws/big teeth/rapier wit/chi-powered rubber ducky (on setting 1).

Not gaining the advantage after a few exchanges at this level, one side or the other ramps it up. Byakuya unseals his zanpakuto to its shikai form, maybe adds in a binding or destruction spell, but not a top-level one, not yet. The enemy dials his ducky up to level 3 (out of 5). Battle continues.

With much sweating and grunting, not to mention cutting and spitting up blood (this is Bleach after all), neither side has an advantage. Byakuya moves to the next level of shikai and spells while the enemy puts his ducky on 5. Cue more trash talk, gouts of blood and the SFX budget of a season of the new Battlestar Galactica

And yet after a few minutes of this, still no winner. The enemy roars, “Is that all you have? Bwahahahaha, then now feel my TRUE power.” His ducky transforms into the fabled Gutting-Goose of Shinigami-Slaying and he races forward to attack. While it takes him the requisite eternity to close with our hero, Byakuya adopts a look of pained regret and utters, in that way he does, “Ban…kai”. Cue drifts of sakura petals and the SFX budget of the entire Star Wars saga. Fight ends in tears for the enemy about 10 seconds later.

Now the RPG way;
GM – “Before you stands a powerful foe. He is thought to possess the mighty Gutting Goose and he may truly be a match for your power. What do you do?”

Player – “Bankai!”

Soooo the question at hand is; what, if any, system does the best job of mechanically encouraging the first version of the scene, rather than the second. I know that the GM could just rule that top-level powers cannot be used out of the gate, but that seems a bit much. And even in-genre there are times when characters pull out all the stops at the start, if only so they can discover that they actually have yet another level of power they hadn’t found yet.

Systems like BESM 3 that can restrict usages also tend to give points for the restriction that can be used to make powers even better than might be desired.

Power point economies (BESM Energy Points, OVA Endurance, Exalted Motes) can actually discourage the trope by penalizing the use of smaller powers first if they eat up the point reserve, perhaps making it impossible to use the big gun later. Better to fire the wave motion gun at the start and mop up with the shock cannons.

I see some merit in systems like D&D 4E with its At Will, Encounter and Daily powers. But if the game is not running with the same kind of “encounters per day” assumptions as D&D, there may not be any incentive to not spam the dailies at the start of the boss fight, especially if it may be the only combat that day.

To some degree the Charge Dice mechanic in Anima Prime has promise, but I’m not sure how well it works out in practice and that system does have a fair bit of combat bookkeeping with its three dice pools and their ever-changing values.

So, does anyone have any suggested sub-systems, games, house rules or just plain ideas that might be of use? I’m probably going to kit-bash something based on OVA or CAHS2 for my own use and I’m looking for something I can lift and graft on to encourage this play style without just mandating it or making the exceptional cases impossible.

On the Whys and Wherefores

Aside from the undeniable itch to create a new gaming system, something that I haven't done in a long while, there are a few more concrete reasons why I am setting out to develop N.E.R.V.system. I'll deal with these reasons, broken down into some broad categories for ease of digestion.

What I want from a system as of now.

As I get (sigh) older I want to spend more of my gaming time (and gaming prep time) on the fun stuff. As I GM most of the time, that means I want to concentrate on plots, characterization and the kind of stuff that doesn't involve lots of time looking at charts and lists. I want to make NPCs' stats quickly and then get on to describing who they really are.

Relatedly, I want to be able to adjudicate in-game with much less reference to the rulebook. Referencing sucks up time, sucks up energy and just plain sucks. I want something with a great deal of freedom both for myself and the players to try things out, go wild and have fun. The highly structured nature of some rule sets does not really encourage that, in my experience.

At the same time I am very uncomfortable with going completely off the rules reservation into the land of pure narrative. I want there to be things that fall back on the mechanics to resolve so that it isn't all GM fiat or unbridled, unopposed player wish fulfillment - sorry Bernie :-) .

Lastly, I rather like the possibilities inherent in the myriad genres and themes contained within the overall umbrella of the comic and animation media, both Asian and Western. There are so many possibilities (see the preceding post for example) that literally dozens of potential campaigns spring to mind. And interestingly, many of the things that we have played before would handily fit into those themes, albeit with perhaps a few new twists and maybe a little greater application of the Rule of Cool.

I don't want to have to learn a whole new set of rules every time I want to explore a new genre. I haven't got the time or the patience for it.

Which brings us to...

So what's wrong with the system we're using now or even (insert other system name here)?

Of the things we've played or discussed before, I'll say the following:

- D&D 3.5 is OK but it really only does fantasy (and at that it really really only does D&D-style fantasy) and it is way too hard to DM, for me at least, at higher levels even with a laptop and dedicated software. And let's face it, we like the high levels.

- D&D 4. The sound you hear is the baby Jesus. Crying. While George Lucas kicks puppies and rapes your childhood. In 3D. I wanted to like it, really I did. But whatever they made did not fix the problems I had with 3.5 and has the added (non-)benefit of giving less character choice and more wargame/videogame/metagame feel than I want. And from what some of you have said, I'm not alone here. Oh, and it still only does D&D-style fantasy, just a different type of D&D-style fantasy.

- Other d20 games ultimate fail on the complexity test just like D&D3.5. True20 is simpler, but the structure is still too cumbersome in many ways. At least many d20's do other genres, and True20 is multi-genre.

- Shadowrun. I'll play it but I sure as heck won't run it. And it really only does Shadowrun.

- WFRP (Hi Rod!!!). The latest version looks kinda cool but it does what it does and is not really applicable to anything else.

- Fate, Fudge, Spirit of the Century, Anima Prime, Cartoon Action Hour, Houses of the Blooded and God knows how many more related games. I like many parts of these more modern games. They are more open and fluid in many ways. But they can still be very crunchy and I want to reduce that as much as possible. At least most (but not all) of them are multi-genre.

- Exalted. Anime...check. Joseph Campbell myth-crap out the wazoo...check. Gonzo action...yuh huh. Heroin pissing dinosaurs...yes (I wish I were making that one up). Rules that make my brain bleed just to think about them...Oh Hell Yes! I'd still love to use the setting, but the rules blow goats.

BESM 3 and OVA. BESM has proved to be workmanlike and it's fairly easy to use. But character generation is a pain in the behind and is really easy to twink (witness the power differential between Father O'Dea and any of the characters who get most of their abilities through items (at 50% off) or through items with "Unknown Attributes" (add another 50% value for not knowing what you'll be able to do). It also, strangely, does not really support genre emulation the way I'd like (see below).

OVA is simpler to create characters for and looks to be easier to run, but it also has genre emulation issues.

So now...

What are my Goals for N.E.R.V.system?

The purpose of N.E.R.V.system is to serve as a transparent rules platform for roleplaying in a wide variety of genres and campaigns. To this end, the following are of importance:

Ease of use - Let's face it, not every member of the gaming group is or wants to be a rules guru. A rules system that can be grasped easily is important. Also important is a system that does not require extreme mastery in order to avoid making suboptimal choices "by mistake". Character generation must not be restrictive, but needs to be easy to use and not require hours of twinking to get just the right build.

Transparency in play - Related to the first goal, the system should not be the elephant in the room when the game is underway. Once grokked, the players (and the GM) should be able to operate smoothly and not have rules considerations unduly impact on actions...except for...

Genre emulation - There are some types of stories that pretty much demand that the characters act in certain ways or the story just doesn't work or "feel" the way it's supposed to. Though many a rom-com or Three's Company episode would have made more logical sense if someone, Hell, anyone, had just cleared up the misunderstanding, we all know that to do so violates the underlying story framework that the audience expects. The same is true of RPGs, at least some of the time.

In the case of manga and anime, many of these tropes revolve around elements of combat and conflict. In a shounen fighting series like Bleach or Naruto, there is the tacit understanding that characters do not start the fight with their biggest attack, they start out small and work their way up.Unless they have already fought the opponent before and know they have to start out stronger. In other sorts of series, like SDF Macross or Black Lagoon, one proceeds straight to the whoop-ass when the fight breaks out.

Other tropes include the power of spirit to overcome adversity and to contribute directly to victory in battle, the power of sacrifice and the importance of teammates and friends. The degree to which these are true varies from series to series.

And then there's the question of character death. In some series, again Bleach for example, few if any main characters die. The there are shows like GUNDAM where they get killed just to demonstrate that war sucks and no-one is same. Then there are the heroic sacrifices.

So N.E.R.V.system has to be able to emulate these tropes. To encourage (but never force) characters to follow the genre conventions. To escalate combat power in one series, or take a realistic "lead with the big guns" approach in another. To try to redeem the villain (yea even to befriend her) or just shoot him in the head cause he's in the way. To allow characters to survive ()but still be defeated) in one campaign and yet fear random death in another.

I have some ideas on how to handle all of these issues (or I wouldn't have even started this project) but I'll get to them in a later post and on the wiki. I think this is enough rambling for now.

On the subject of series...

Having said that I'd like to use this blog to discuss concepts for future series that will (hopefully) use this new system, I'll throw a few out there.

On Sunday I asked Bernie, Eva and Colin if they had any ideas. There seemed to be significant interest in mecha. Can't see the appeal myself. :-) The consensus on the night was that something in the Macross/Gundam/Mospaeda continuum of "real robots" rather than something in the "super robots" genres like Transformers or Voltron would be preferable. Thoughts?

Series of this nature could include hopeful but "writ large" elements of the Macross shows, perhaps even set in that timeline, or the grittier, "war is Hell" vibe of the Gundam shows. The first person to suggest NGE gets summarily turned to Tang®.

Another idea that came up was something in a Firefly/Cowboy Bebop mode. Colin suggested that mechs could be worked into that but I just think he had giant robots on the brain by that point. Some other series that could feed into that vibe might include GunXSword, Trigun and possibly Coyote Ragtime Show.

Bernard said something about high-school drama/comedy. Done right that could be a bit of fun and would certainly be a way to test the rules on "mundanes", The problem is that most shows like that are, at least at some level, romances and I'm not sure this group is suited to that. But there are a few possibilities from series like Cromartie High School. Who knows?

From what I've been thinking about myself there are some modern fantasies like Shakugan no Shana, Buso Renkin, Fate/stay Night, Night Wizard, Shiki Tsukai and Kurokami that have promise, at least as the basis for something.

I'm also toying with a steampunk fantasy based on Elemental Gelade or Fullmetal Alchemist that could be very interesting. And finally I think (assuming you don't get the world destroyed) that it might be interesting to do a sequel series of Kurayami no shi based more on the Trinity Blood side of the source material while still incorporating the Dark Order and the stuff that has taken place in the series as played.

Anyway, what are you're thoughts on the above or suggestions. I've provided links for the series so that you can get a feel for the genres and such that they represent, if you aren't familiar with them yourself.

Now sound off!

So it Begins - or I've got some N.E.R.V.

It's been a while since I decided to try my hand at creating a custom gaming system. So many previous efforts ended...well they ended. Since 2000 we' ve played D&D, some Shadowrun and BESM 3. Now I think I want to have a go at creating something that will allow us to approach a number of different types and genres of campaign (though frequently with an anime/manga/comic book/cartoon aesthetic or underpinning) without having to change systems for each one.

So that's what I want to try.

I'll use this blog to keep my thoughts on the process and the wiki site for the actual mechanics as they develop. You'll be able to comment here on the overall concepts and to respond to my musings. I'll also set it up so that you can muse on the "meta" here as well.

To comment on specific mechanical things, I'll be setting up the page-commenting functionality of the wiki site. You'll need to have a wikidot membership to do that but I hope that at least some of you will take part and help shape the thing as it comes along.

Obviously we won't be using this new game for the second season of Kurayami no shi but once we get some things to a usable point I hope to run some short OVAs to playtest the bits. We can use this blog to discuss series concepts for what ya'll might like to see for new campaigns.

About the Name

What would an RPG be without a catchy name? And what would an anime/manga game be without a silly acronym name? So of course the first thing I came up with was the name. Yes it's corny (cheese-dipped corn at that), but I like it. As soon as I get a chance it'll even have a snazzy graphic!!

So N.E.R.V.system it is, the Novel Exciting Robust Versatile anime-manga RPG is born. Smoke 'em if ya got 'em.

And Anno Hideaki can blow me if he dosen't like it.