Meta-Mechanics Worth Stealing

Riddle of Steel

Riddle of Steel has spiritual attributes. Spiritual Attributes are basically character motivations. They are activated when a character does an activity that would trigger that Spiritual Attribute.

ex.) I'm a cleric of BaJebus. I'm walking down the hallway with a higher cleric of BaJebus. An assassin jumps out to kill the higher cleric. I have a spiritual attribute in my religions w/ x number of dice. Riddle of Steel uses a dice pool system. Now when I pull my mace and move forward to battle the assassin I've activated my Religion Spiritual attribute. It gives me x number of dice extra in my pool.


The system works well in RoS where combat is always deadly. The SA system sorta forces your hand so that your unlikely to enter into combat unless your character really believes in it.

The Grim Tales 'fight or flight' mechanic. When faced with something that provokes a horror check, characters have a choice -- flee, and then face an easier check, or stand their ground and risk the consequences. The kicker is that each player decides in secret, and everything is revealed at once. Watching one guy stand his ground while his comrades flee is just priceless.

Mishihari Lord said:

That sounds really interesting. Can you give some more detailes on how it works?

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Fortunately, the entire list of keys (and secrets, which are like feats or special abilities) is available on Clinton R. Nixon's The Shadow of Yesterday site. Some examples:

I like the nature/demeanor rules in VtM 1e and 2e (the only versions I played).

A bunch of archetypes. Pick one to describe how you act outwardly. Pick one to describe your true inner nature and motivation. Anytime a condition matches your true nature you regain a willpower point (will power points can be used to gain an autosuccess on a roll, or resist certain forced conditions temporarily (such as charms) action points would be similar in D&D/D20).

Thanee said:

The d6 System Wild Die

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Could someone explain the d6 System wild die?

I'm really fond of Instincts and Beliefs from Burning Wheel as roleplaying guidelines for characters.

MoogleEmpMog said:

Patience, from Super Console, is a *brilliant* metagame mechanic. Basically, each player starts with a pool of Patience and may expend it to achieve a variety of effects (such as searching every nook and cranny of cleaned-out dungeon, fighting a no-threat mook battle, or solving a puzzle) that would otherwise take time with little gameplay component.... Not only does it speed up gameplay, it tells you exactly what the players are/aren't interested in!

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That is an excellent mechanic for dungeon crawls -- maybe even better than wandering monsters.

I like the madness meters and fear/nobility/rage traits from Unknown Armies. Along the same lines, I also like Beliefs and Instincts from the Burning Wheel. Finally, I like the idea of Edge from Marvel SAGA.

The River mechanic in Weapons of the Gods lets a player store up good die rolls to use later, thus promoting the kind of "get beat up early, win in the end" fights common in media.

I tried something in my campaign that was a HUGE HIT.

Huge.

Anyway, it's an action point mechanic that is totally unambiguous in what it does.

Conviction (i.e. Action Points):

You get Conviction = to half your level +4.
Conviction Resets daily.
Conviction is used as below.

1 Conviction:
Add 1d6 to a roll (declare before you roll)
Add 1d6 to AC, or the DC of the action where you resist (like Spell resistance) (before opponent rolls)
Take an extra move-equivalent action

2 Conviction
Add 2d6 to a roll for an action you take (declare before you roll)
Add 2d6 to a DC or AC of an action you resist (declare before you roll)
Take an extra standard action (declare before you start acting)

X Conviction:
If you still have conviction left when your character would die, you can spend whatever Conviction you have left to reduce the damage you've taken by 1d6 per Conviction poitn spent. If this brings you above zero you are still unconscious.


I give villains, boss monsters, and PCs Conviction, minor NPCs and lesser monsters don't get it.