D&D Setting, Indy Rules Contest August 9, 2009
Posted by boymonster in design.Tags: contest
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I was listening the Open Design Podcast’s interview with John Wick about “what is your game about?” and it got me thinking about the various D&D campaign settings. Now, I’m not saying that you can’t play Dragonlance or Birthright or Planescape with D&D and have a good time. They were written for D&D, after all. But, I think that if you took a hard look at those settings and figured out what they were really about, it would be different than what D&D is about.
So, I’m proposing a design contest. Choose a D&D world (any TSR or Wizards of the Coast setting), and write up a proof of concept for an RPG that would truly get to the heart of what that setting is about. If the world is not about going up in levels, fighting lots of monsters, and getting treasure (which is certainly a lot of fun), then don’t include that stuff.
You have until September 30 to write this up and send it in to me at boymonster AT gmail DOT com. I’ll post the entries and maybe even have a small panel of judges, or something. What’s the prize? I’ll have to figure that out. I have a really nice copy of Towers of High Sorcery for 3.5 D&D. Those are super rare on eBay! We’ll see.
Super Team, Pt 2: Rosters and the Core Mechanic May 1, 2009
Posted by boymonster in design.6 comments
Once you know how experienced your super team is and what elements this brings to the table, it’s time to make up the Team Roster. This is the list of all of the team members, their identities, and their roles on the team. The default team roster is five, although it can be as few as two and as many as ten or more. Teams work best with four, five, or six team members; additional team members may instead be created as sidekicks using Trouble Dice in order to give the core team better Traits.
Here’s a sample Veteran Team Roster, the Teen Titans:
Kid Flash
Body 3d6, Mind 2d6, Spirit 2d8 | Super Speed 2d8
Robin
Body 2d8, Mind 2d6, Spirit 3d6 | Martial Arts 2d6, Detective 1d6, Gadgets 1d6
Speedy
Body 3d6, Mind 2d8, Spirit 2d6 | Crack Shot 1d8, Trick Arrows 1d6
Superboy
Body 3d8, Mind 2d6, Spirit 2d6 | Son of Krypton 2d10
Wonder Girl
Body 2d8, Mind 2d6, Spirit 3d6 | Strength of Atlas 1d8, Flight of Hermes 1d6, Lasso of Truth 1d8
* Note that each of the Teen Titans has a Triad of Body, Mind, and Spirit in addition to their Traits. The Triad defaults at 2d6 for each. An element of the Triad may be increased to 3d6 or to 2d8, essentially stepping up the number of dice by +1 or the die type by one size. It’s also possible to step up an element by both, giving 3d8, as Superboy has done.
Central Dice Mechanic
Each scene, you need to determine your hero’s overall approach and how they’re trying to accomplish the goals of the team. Typically, your hero stands on one side of a Conflict, either against a villain or some impending disaster or crisis. These are called Threats, and are also rated with dice, though a major villain is just as detailed as any hero. More on this later.
Each exchange, all participants on both sides make their rolls. First, check for any ones. If a die comes up one it’s taken from the table and added to the Consequence pool.
Next, look for dice on your side that that match dice on the other side of a Conflict. All matching dice are removed and returned to their owners. They may be recovered later.
The side with the highest result showing on any single remaining die has the Advantage, the upper hand, of that exchange. If there’s more than one die showing that result on the side, each additional die adds +1 to the result.
The difference between the highest result on the winning side and the highest result on the losing side is called the Effect.
Once the Effect is determined and applied to the losing side, each side gets one die of Recovery for each level of experience. Any dice that aren’t recovered are set aside for the time being, either until they are recovered or the battle is over.
Example: After all dice are gathered together from the Triad, Traits, Team dice, and Trouble Dice, I roll 3d6 + 2d8 +1d4 for Deathstroke, and you roll 4d6 + 1d8 for Robin.
My dice come up 6, 6, 5, 3, 2, 1. Yours come up 5, 4, 4, 3, 2.
The 1 on my side (rolled on the d4) is removed and goes to the Consequence pool.
The 5, 3, and 2 on my side cancels out the 5, 3, and 2 on yours, leaving me with a pair of sixes and you with a pair of fours. The canceled dice go into the ready pool.
Because I have two sixes, the extra six makes the result 7. Your two fours give a result of 5. Deathstroke has the Advantage in that exchange and gets to apply two points of Effect to Robin.
Robin, a Veteran, gets to recover 2 dice. He takes back the d8 and one of the d6, which were cancelled out. His pair of fours came from two of his d6. Deathstroke is Seasoned, so he gets to take back three dice. He recovers two d8s and a d6, which together with his remaining two d6 almost puts him back to his original set.
This means that for the next exchange, unless Robin switches tactics or gets some help, he’s left with 1d8 + 3d6. Deathstroke has the edge again with 2d8 + 3d6.
To be continued…
Ha ha ha! An update. February 19, 2009
Posted by boymonster in Uncategorized.Tags: design
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So here’s an important lesson in blogging. Do not start up a brand new blog, with an ambitious plan to post your new superhero RPG design process, immediately before life kicks you sideways with mountains of work, stress, and other projects.
The good news is that thanks to associates Fred Hicks, André La Roche, Clark Valentine, and others, I’ve brainstormed my way out of a corner and should have something more to post this weekend.
Superteam: Team Creation part one January 13, 2009
Posted by boymonster in design.Tags: superteam
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Creating a Super Team
The first thing your group needs to decide is how experienced the team is. There are three experience levels: Rookie, Veteran, and Seasoned. The Teen Titans are a Rookie team to begin with, although they’re now Veterans. The Justice League is definitely a Seasoned super team. More experienced teams tend to have more powerful heroes, although this isn’t always the case. Sometimes they just have more of them, and sometimes they’re just better equipped to handle the bad guys.
| Experience Level | Types | Team Dice | Trait Dice | Trouble Dice | Rookie | 1 each | 8d6 | 3d8/5d6 | 2d4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Veteran | 2 each | 12d6 | 2d10/4d8/6d6 | 4d4 |
| Seasoned | 3 each | 16d6 | 1d12/3d10/5d8/7d6 | 6d4 |
Types are specific character archetypes that represent responsibilities and roles within the team structure. When a team member is created, he or she is given at least one type, with more experienced teams having team members that cover more bases. Types aren’t rated by dice; they come as a sort of package of statistics that define what the team member does and how they handle mission elements. When added together, all of a team member’s Types create the team member’s profile.
Team Dice are a pool of dice that represent the integrity of the super team, their support of one another and their ability to marshal their own resources to accomplish great deeds. They don’t belong to any one member of the team, but are assigned as needed on each mission. Team Dice are always six-sided dice.
Trait Dice are assigned to individual team members and represent the special abilities, talents, and qualities possessed by those team members. Trait Dice come in various die sizes, with larger dice representing more raw power or effect. For instance, Wonder Girl of the Teen Titans is assigned 2d8 and 1d6 Trait Dice, which the group writes down as Strength of Atlas 1d8, Flight of Hermes 1d6, and Lasso of Truth 1d8. Traits may increase or change during play, and some Types provide additional built-in Traits. Team members may also acquire extra Trait Dice in exchange for adding Trouble Dice.
Trouble Dice represent the areas in which the team is vulnerable or weak. This includes mascots, loved ones, legal connections, and other aspects which, while useful and able to be called upon if needed, are also potential areas in which the team can be attacked, manipulated, or otherwise harmed. A super team with Connections to the United Nations 2d4 may bring in its UN connections but is also vulnerable to influence from the UN, meaning it doesn’t have the independence or autonomy it might like to have. Likewise, a super team with Connections to the Criminal Underground might be able to pull in informants or listen to the word on the street, but this could backfire and make them wanted by the authorities or even branded as criminals themselves.
Group-Focused Superhero Ideas January 13, 2009
Posted by boymonster in design, intro.Tags: superteam
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I’m going to start off my new blog by posting a little of what I’ve been working on in my free time between outlining new projects, fiction proposals, and freelance gigs. It’s the beginning of a superhero RPG, influenced strongly by games such as Dogs in the Vineyard.
I wanted to explore the idea that the players sit down and create a superteam collaboratively. Each mission, players choose one of the team’s heroes to play, and they might even play that same character from mission to mission, but the real development and growth comes in the team. Inspiration for this comes from the Justice League cartoons on the WB (now the CW) and, most recently, shows with ensemble role-driven casts like Leverage, Heroes, and Torchwood.
