Entry 20: Team Spirit!

19. November 2009 by admin.

.::: Entry 20, 2009/11/19 :::.
Roleplaying is a team sport. Yes, there are options for one-player-one-GM adventures out there, and there are even experiments with solitary games (in the spirit of the old Fighting Fantasy books, often). But the intent with the game being created here is fun for the whole group.Oddly enough, while this idea of characters working as teams (typically called a ‘party’) is fairly old, the focus is still very much on individual characters. Most parties quickly become plug’n'play, in that new party members are simply snapped into the group and function with no greater change over time. This always felt odd to me, and I have been paying close attention whenever articles or game mechanics have dealt with the idea of the characters as a coherent group. I want that to be a part of my game, and have experimented a lot with it.

:: The Party Sheet ::

An idea that has popped up its head over and over through the decades I have known this hobby is the idea of having a Party Sheet, which serves the same function for the party as a Character Sheet does for each individual character. Various games have tried various angles on it, but the ones that succeed best are (sadly, in my opinion) the ones that are almost entirely focused on combat; it is simply a powerful and game-compelling gimmick to provide tag-team tactics in combat, allowing special weapons bonuses or unique attacks or defenses when acting as a group. Moreover, it’s logical, because history has shown an unbridled creativity in military units for applying the advantages of numbers in a fight.

The combat angle is thus a no-brainer. Advanced combat will have special tricks and maneuvers, and having some of those require multiple participants is only sensible. That will be included. But I want the team aspects to reach far beyond combat, since combat is not central to the game.

What becomes the next question is what a group has going for it that is not immediately derived from individual members. The combat maneuver concept can theoretically be expanded very broadly, from courtroom assistance (why else would someone have a legal team instead of just a good lawyer?) and research teams to the classic ‘wing man’ approach to everything from dating to elaborate cons. The notion of two or more characters being able to rely on each other to such a degree that they are each stronger in the group is very fundamental, and should be taken advantage of.

But even beyond this idea of two heads being better than one, there are several collective advantages a group might have, which does not require everyone to be doing the same thing. Good leaders and planners only require the group to pay attention to gain from them, certain kinds of gear depends on multiple users to be truly efficient (”yeah, the mainframe is ridiculously big for a computer, but when you have two dozen users on, it’s a fraction of the cost and ten times more powerful than the best computers on the market!”), and complex lay-ups between different positions can make for impressive results (one car knocking the target into the scope of the sniper who can slow it down for the second car to powder it, for example).

A party sheet could hold the maneuvers the characters use as a team, putting the complex interactions together in one place rather than on every single character sheet. The base abilities and such used by each character would still be on that character sheet, but the greater whole is hard to see without a central description.

:: Unified Image ::

Other than what is going on in the party itself, the surrounding world might also have something to say on the matter. Many teams are known as teams, not as individual characters. This goes from legendary law enforcement units to rock bands to acrobats. Meeting one member is interesting, but for the full effect to work, all or most members must be present. A company might not hire individual members, wanting the entire team. Or a gang of criminals might not even be recognized one by one in the streets!

To further cement this, there are plenty of official teams that are required to be collectively present to be accepted. Many military, legal or similar teams cannot be admitted to resources or be given orders or even assistance without proper presence. In some cases, it is a matter of individual team members being formal representation for the team; one member is responsible for strategic communications, one is the equipment acquisitions officer, and so on. A full team has all the access they need, an incomplete team does not. If there are special skills involved, this is even more profound; nobody in their right mind issues heavy explosives to anyone but the demolitions expert, for example.

There are a lot of interesting options beyond that. A team might be known in a certain way by some people, in another by others. This need not be a matter of secret identities (rock band by day, crimefighters by night, for example), but being seen as one team in one place and another elsewhere is possible. Inside city limits, a military unit might have the role of search and rescue, and the functions of team members can be turned around greatly. A team of technical experts may likewise changed greatly in roles when negotiating with potential clients. In this fashion, one team can be many different teams, and not all members need to be on every version of the team; the new member might be part of the adventuring team, but he has no actual role in the guild enforcement team that the others have been with for a long time. People in general will recognize him as part of the legendary adventuring team, but the guild will not accept him, not yet at least.

:: Team Resources ::

For whatever reason, a team might only have access to certain resources as a team. Joint accounts, split passwords, and other methods can make it impossible for one member to grab gear without the others. When the gear is out of this restriction, it might work like any other, or passwords etc. may be continually required.

One type of team resource is the kind that actually requires multiple operators. The traditional example is a giant robot or advanced spaceship. The usual idea is that the skills required are fairly unique, and collective timing is of the essence. In other words, this exact team is needed to operate it.

More exotic versions include magical rituals that take multiple participants, psionic mass-mind gestalts, robots joining up, or even complicated weapons (or other gadgets!) capable of being merged. The idea is that multiple team members are needed to tap into these things; with only one or even just too few members, the act is either not living up to its full potential, or it simply won’t work at all.

There are plenty of ways to simulate all these things in a game, depending on what exactly is simulated (someone giving a team access, things being used as a group, etc.). What is important is that the abilities or other things involved explain this, making it not just a ‘random requirement’, but letting players build this team cohesion into their characters from the start or along the road. The point is to make the team possibilities a part of the characters, not just something that happens to show up along the adventure.

:: Teamwork Abilities ::

There are already several game mechanics in the second draft that can be used to build team concepts into characters, perhaps even create the foundation of a ‘party sheet’ (or several, depending on how the concept is used; different situations may mean they form a different team, as already mentioned). The most immediate option is to make other team members a Specific, perhaps so that it depends on which team members; too many is a problem, as are the wrong! Some method of defining the advantageous team structures will be needed, to make it work well.

Also, there is plenty of opportunity to make Abilities team-dependent. Some will be only part of a major job, like the character who is an ace at making the spaceship engines work at maximum capacity, or the one who acts as the energy conduit of a large ritual. These abilities may well function only or mainly (or just most dramatically) when the character is handling a certain position in the team. For advanced topics, position-specific abilities (and disabilities, gear, etc.!) can be commonplace, opening whole new frontiers in that field. Some combat only works in groups, as do certain social situations, business negotiations, technical work, and so on.

:: No I In Team ::

Of course, one of the chief tasks of teamwork is still to make the players work together. Even if the game is built on dramatic scheming and infighting, roleplaying is a team sport, and methods of making the group want to play together are very valuable. Having a ‘team personality’ set from the start can make the game much more enjoyable and preempt some problems. The players may be friends, but how are the characters as a group? How do their mentalities match up? Having this in writing gives a way to play the game and stick together through drama and challenges.

This is what I want. The mechanics may be little more than a few guidelines on that angle, but making sure playing together increases the fun makes the game a better collective experience. Players wanting to play together makes everything better for everybody, after all!

Posted in Robots, Teams, Reputations, 'Party Sheet', Old blog, Magic, Combat, Conflict, Vehicles, Weapons | 1 Comment »

Entry 15: Genre Review

30. October 2009 by admin.

.::: Entry 15, 2009/10/30 :::.With the fairly general topics I have been chewing on these last two weeks, it might be time to take a look at something a little more concrete. While I am still not anywhere near being able to put together functional rules for everything, I am able to consider actual game content examples in light of what I have already thought over in the first 14 entries.Incidentally, the following considerations will probably look a lot like what one might find in genre books for other games. This is, of course, no surprise, since such books ask similar questions. What is important here is to explore similar ideas within the framework of what I have already written in previous entries, and what my further thoughts for the game are. Looking at genres at this early stage allows me to check for obvious holes in my concepts.

:: Styles ::

Style has already been handled in general in Entry 4, with ideas on what rules can do in keeping track of important or dramatic concepts, and the idea of rewards for adhering to the style of the game. But beyond that, style is a matter of what is available in the game world; action and violence is signified by a game world full of weapons and a lot of detail on conflicts like combat, chases and the like. Details on explosions are also a good idea. A style emphasizing conspiracies and intrigue will be heavy on organizations in both number and detail.

But how will a game system reflect that?

The easy answer is ‘detailed rules’, but that is not really enough at this point. I want to put the answer in the perspective of what has already been described as my early thoughts on the game. So ‘detailed conflicts/combat’ would mean multiple ‘extended hit points’ (Entry 11) and Specifics for weapons abilities (Entry 3). Explosions would probably be related to gear (Entry 8 & 9), with descriptions of what explodes and when, and with some of those extended hit points to see the effects on characters. Something on how big explosions affect places (Entry 13) would also be good, to see if other things blow up from them (boom goes the armory, or gas station, or…). Style points of some sort may be involved, or some other Style concept to emulate the wild things that happen in action movie explosions. As for organizations, Entry 12 is all about them, and resources, structures and the like would be in great demand, especially as relates directly to the characters.

But even those are just minor examples. The concept can be expanded, like something based on psionic battles requiring something like what was just described for regular combat, only molded for psionics. As for genres, well…

:: Fantasy ::

The grand old daddy of roleplaying, based loosely on Tolkiensian fantasy fiction. It is impossible to do fantasy without looking closely at magic, of course, and that brings in both abilities (for spells of all sorts) and gear (for enchanted items). The difficult trick concerning magic is that there are no hard and fast rules for how it works, and thus it leaves everything up to the designer (me) to determine. On the positive side, that means I can utilize available rules as I see fit.

What I am aiming for is to reproduce the idea that magic is a complex and demanding craft. Small spell components, as in learning very simple spells before going on to anything more dramatic, is my basic idea, as is the thought of having certain abilities improve on spells rather than be entirely new and separate spells. And as things are now, that is pretty well covered in the abilities entry (Entry 3). The existing ideas surrounding talents can be brought in to simulate deeper knowledge of magic, and ‘alternate hit points’ open up a range of ways mages can fuel their powers if they need to. I do envision magic as not one canonical system, but as a framework of spells and effects (and the aforementioned improving abilities) that can be reassembled, with a few complete systems of spells pre-made for use.

Magical artifacts can basically be handled as any advanced gear. The bonds between character and gear, even if highly magical in nature, is probably part of character creation more than item, though the actual magic used may require explanation as spells or the like. Brands and compatibility is largely the same as for other gear; some creations are made to work together, some are not, and it might depend on who made them. What interests me most amongst the subjects in Entry 8 and 9 and magical items is really the modding. Gadgets have all kinds of modification gear available, but magical items may have some strange things. This is especially true when they have to interact with other fantasy elements, like dragons and ghosts. Maybe your ruby sphere will strike down water elementals, but how can it be made to react with a rain demon?? Such mods may be about additional items, like gadgets so often are, or it might be about new spells enchanted into the item (a little like updating your gadget’s software, I guess).

There are no doubt many other elements of magic worth a look, but I now feel confident that the basics can be covered with ideas already on the table, or ideas that can be made from what exists. Another topic is races. Elves, dwarves, orcs and the like are integral to the fantasy experience, at least the traditional one. How does the game allow races to be considered unique beings?

The easy answer is abilities and disabilities given to a race from start. Arguably, other characters can copy those things and make a member that is very like that particular race. Very unusual, perhaps even unique, abilities and especially disabilities may void that, giving elves access to some unusual phobias or forest abilities, for example. Organizations are even more useful in depicting a gulf between races, as it would take some serious explaining to get a human inside an old Elven circle of enchanters! Gear and animals, especially magical or exotic ones, can also have a special affinity for one race over the other. I would like to find a fairly straight forward way of making races special already at abilities and disabilities, though.

:: Deep Space ::

Arguably a bit of a leap from fantasy, this is the genre of traveling to other planets, of space stations and gigantic starships, whether it is near-hard science fiction or space opera. The funny thing is that many elements of it are conceptually similar to fantasy: Alien races, amazing gadgets (sometimes of ancient, poorly understood origins), even the occasional monster. Robots add to the mix (possibly substituting magically created creatures), as do disembodied artificial intelligences (spirits?).

Life in space is the big difference, and to make it stand out, many ideas of locations can be used. The way gear functions differently in such places, and what gear and actions are even tolerable, can make things very interesting! Also, the line between locations and gear become blurry if life support or technical systems suddenly become important to an adventure, like when a vessel is dead in space and the characters need a way to survive until they can get rescued!

But many stranger things exist in deep space fiction, worth considering. Nanotechnology, force fields, plasma ’swords’, many vehicles (in space and on a planet), and so forth. The thoughts on gear provide some material for these, but some will need special treatment (nanotech might resemble magic more than gadgets!). That treatment seems, from my current point of view, to be in the extent of details, not the type. What has been discussed should cover it, in terms of game mechanics.

:: Cyberpunk ::

The genre of high-tech dystopian futures has quite a few things that deserve special attention. The two most influential ones are cybernetics and hacking. Cybernetics will probably draw some on gear, but they are still part of the character’s body, and a subsystem of simple rules should be available to mimic that. Brands are a hot topic in the genre, and different makes will definitely exist, with different effects! Consequences for the body and mind are also interesting to examine, especially if genetic manipulation is added to the mix.

Hacking, especially in cyberpunk, is a whole field for itself. At its core, it would be another type of conflict, a cyberspace version of combat, complete with moves and weapons based on software. It would probably be different in its various incarnations, the two most typical ones being the hacker sitting with a keyboard or other computer interface, and the full virtual reality version popular with movies. But more than a ‘computer combat conflict system’, hacking in both/all its forms would probably be a world within the world, with things to be encountered and computer systems to be scoped out before approach. Meeting places, public and private information systems and much more would make it more than just the hack itself, and the creation of software to assist the hacker would parallel the creation and modding of gear. Hacking, if taken serious in the game, would be a wide field onto itself. The tools to recreate it, in vivid detail, seem to be already thought of, though.

Needless to say (but I will, anyway), the archetypical corporations of cyberpunk are prime subjects for the organization treatment, complete with internal conflicts and hidden agendas.

:: Mecha ::

A relatively new genre gaining popularity, mecha is the world of insanely powerful gear in the form of robots and exosuits and the like. It is all (usually) still powered by humans or other sentient pilots, but personal abilities are outshone by abilities to use these mecha. Most mecha games are at least partially military, but mecha police or even comical mecha high school dramas are also popular.

The key to the genre is the mecha itself, and it falls squarely in the category of gear. Some of it might be advanced enough to seem like magic (some mecha stories have really strange technologies, or a big psionic component), but it is still gear at its core, technological marvels for people to use against other people. As such, the rules needed to bring mecha to life in a game would be the things in gears, from the functions and problems of various mecha, to the abilities involved in handling them. Both these subjects, and various lesser ones, need extensive detail. With the appearance of prototypes and themes like ‘old tech vs. new tech’ featuring prominently in mecha stories, bonds may also come in.

Anyone wanting to take the mecha genre into more advanced territory (something gaining cyclic interest amongst the fans of the stories) can add social issues to the brew. Organizations will be the ones with the resources and the challenges needed to warrant mecha production and purchases, and anyone wanting to go beyond the field clashes and personal troubles of mecha pilots and their friends will need to look at organizations. Mercenary or rebel units are strong examples of this, but someone just wanting to play the center stage to acquire new and better mecha or influence the spread of technology or the kind of things the machines are used for, would be facing powerful industrial, political, corporate, military and perhaps even popular or religious organizations, all depending on how the world around the mecha concept is put together.

:: Apocalyptic ::

Whether played in The End Days (call it what you will; the disaster, the apocalypse, the plagues, the final war. It is when the world finally burns) or some time after, this genre deals with the world as we know it, or some other world we can imagine, being destroyed. The theme becomes survival and, in the more optimistic cases, rebuilding.

One thing becomes instantly important in this genre: Repairing gear. The world is in pieces, so putting junk together into working gear becomes a prime ability. It would need extensive rules on not just gear but gear components to simulate that properly, as well as the abilities involved in using it. This is a sub-concept of gear that has only been touched upon slightly in Entry 9, about gear condition, maintenance and repair. Significant extension on it would be needed, and perhaps even a few added rules building blocks. In a way, this could be an addition worth using beyond the genre, too, as cyberpunk techheads patch together their own gear from scrounged parts, or experimental enchantments. It could be considered an extreme variant of modding, just to give it something to lean on until it has a full concept of its own!

Another apocalyptic darling is mutation, typically from radiation or disease. While mutations are a very real thing, the genre has a tendency to view them rather unrealistically, making them a twist on superpowers. The typical mutant is deformed but has strange abilities as a kind of compensation. The balance between deformity and power often sets the tone of mutations in the game, from severe skin conditions compensated by near-godly powers, to painful illnesses closely tied to heightened senses or enhanced digestion (the latter being very handy in a world with no supermarkets).

Mutations are going to be a combination of abilities and disabilities, most likely. Disabilities may have to be extended with some examples to handle certain mutation effects, such as unintentionally scaring people, but painful sensitivity to different things and mental problems can already be handled. The abilities aspect will rely on abilities being designed that are not just trained skills but something more genetic. Such abilities already need attention in other genres, to create different races. The big problem is tying these things together, to create mutations where there is a powerful relation between the disabilities and abilities! This has not really been considered yet, and it could easily be of use outside the genre, as well (malfunctioning cybernetics, psychotic characters, complex curses, etc.)

The part about rebuilding, as well as whatever fights are going on for the destroyed world, would fall into organizations if needing great detail.

:: Horror ::

The genre of horror has diversified over the years, and today there seem to be three major veins: Kingsian/Cravenesque, Lovecraftian, and Gothic.

Kingsian/Cranesque horror, named from novel and movie writers Stephen King and Wes Craven, are typically about some monster or monster-like phenomenon that threatens the main characters. They may have gone looking for trouble (perhaps even professionally), or be hapless victims drawn into it. But they end up trying to understand the monster, in order to destroy or deter it. Sometimes, there is a moral tale involved (don’t build on Indian graveyards, for example), but that is more common in fiction than in games.

Lovecraftian horror, named for the writer H.P. Lovecraft, is far less rigidly structured, and an essential part of it is that the main characters will rarely ever get the fullpicture. Monsters exist, but they are vast and incomprehensible, and the maddening effects of their mere existence is typically the story, rather than the monsters themselves. Ancient mysteries and insane cults dominate the immediate scene, and the story is told through their actions.

Gothic horror is fairly new as a sub-genre. It takes the main characters and involve them, often very emotionally, in the life of the ‘monsters’. Quite often, they actually play the monsters, seeing the world from that side! The feeling of isolation and shunning by society at large and the torments that are inherent in the life of their particular kind of monster, typically compounded by harsh societies of their own, make it an exploration of ‘the dark side’ of an already dark genre.

Since horror is where the Sanity mechanic that has inspired several of the advanced rules here came from, it is no surprise that this method will be a big part of making horror come to life. Other than going insane, risks involve pain, general fear, slow injuries and bleeding, and even less concrete topics like dark powers and magical or psionic energies slowly affecting the characters. All of this can build on the idea of ‘alternate hit points’, which drain slowly and painfully.

A second angle is the monsters themselves. In Kingsian/Cravenesque horror, they can be considered advanced (or not even advanced) animals a great deal of the time. Actual characters as monsters are possible, but the immediate confrontations will typically be with the animal-type monsters. The exception is usually slasher-horror, in which one or a few powerful monsters, fully sentient but horribly warped (mentally and/or physically) stalk and torment the characters, to kill them or someone they protect. The entries on animals and, to a lesser extend, abilities are useful, but I still need something on alien mindsets. Mental disabilities are a start, but more is needed to make a full impact.

The monsters in Gothic horror need very special attention, since the whole point of the genre is to experience their torments. Abilities are important for the immediate game, but organizations need some detail to put the monsters into a greater context of monsters. The mindsets described above will need even greater detail, because players will now need to know how to act upon them. Using various ‘alternate hit points’ to indicate what is tormenting them and how badly gives a running guideline for it, but the focus has to be on continual effects, not just what happens when the points run out. Other things are as important as in other genres, perhaps with some emphasis on the mythology (anicent artifacts, secret tomes, etc.) of the monsters.

:: Supers ::

Nothing really prevents the basic elements of the game as they are now to be used to create powerful abilities. Abilities to affect those abilities can be an interesting addition, which has not been considered much yet (for example, being able to fire blazing discs, and then use another ability to make them bounce off walls or fly around corners). Disabilities already exist to emulate the powerful Achilles Heels that are commonplace in comicbooks, and some elements exist on gear that can be used for super-gear, most notably ‘perfect fit’.

What is still lacking is a way to make the actual conflicts in the genre as earthshattering as they are usually supposed to be. Collateral damage, endangered bystanders, and other classics of the genre are still left to the imagination, when perfectly usable guidelines could be made. ‘Mega-damage’, as experienced between gigantic monsters, doomsday tanks and the like would probably be an extension of combat conflict, but the effects of conflicts beyond those involved is still an empty page.

More complicated samples of the genre also put a lot of unusual detail into the backstory of the super abilities, and by extension that often affects the complexity of (some of) the characters that have them. This can easily become a complex combination of either the concepts considered in fantasy for magic and the needs for creating original new races, or a combination of very complex gear and those same races. Because such cases are typically about how origins, abilities, gear and social situation (and perhaps even more!) are intrinsically linked and co-dependent, it operates at a level of complexity that cannot be predicted with the material currently available. When more concrete detail exists, that field of work will have to be revisited.

:: The Missing Pieces ::

There are plenty more genres, from the realistic war drama or detective story to the fantastic steampunk adventure, but the major hitters are the ones above. While this entry has in no way provided a roadmap to recreating them, and definitely not in the detail intended, this way of reviewing what has been considered already is good to see where pieces are missing and work needs to be done (or rather, thoughts need to be thought).

Races are the big, glaring hole. Character creation has all that is needed to make interesting characters, but there is little to make a race stand out, aside from some abilities that can be racially unique. Special options include organizations and gear that is tied specifically to that race. This will handle races that resemble humans, but I have to admit that I am a bit more ambitious than that. That includes not just physiologies, but also the alien mindset.

I will need something to make the process of creating a race a bigger deal than making just a new kind of character.

Furthermore, the genre check has brought my thoughts to something I have left out of the gear entries: Faulty gear! Apart from compatibility issues and general condition, I have not addressed the idea of gear having problems, be it from damage, age and poor maintenance, or just factory flaws. Luckily, it is something I have dealt with already in TAYDS, to some degree, and I should be able to port over the basics.

Posted in Style, Genre, Aliens, Mecha, Races, Superpowers, Hacking, Vehicles, Magic, Old blog, Robots, Machines | 1 Comment »