RPG Design - Resolution system

[dragoner]

Why did you choose that one?

I chose Cepheus Engine for Solis People of the Sun because it is the Traveller OGL, I knew the Traveller community, and have been playing with that rules system for a long time. Nevertheless I have made it generic enough where I have played it with BRP based M-Space, and someone else told me they are using it with Mothership.

I think the criteria that you should ask is "who is this for?" If it is just for you, then you should do what makes you happy, if just generic, then I'd say something along the lines of 5e. If you are trying to appeal to a specific community, I'd use that rules set.

 

[schneeland]

Before diving into thoughts about different dice-based resolution strategies: are you specifically interested in task resolution or is stake/scene resolution also something you are looking at?

 

[TheAlkaizer]

Alright, many good replies. Many questions, some to which I don't have answers.

Without going to much in the details, here's the pitch for what I'm working on.

The game comes with an expectation of a desertic/post-apolyptic setting ala Mad Max. The group of players are a group of survivors, nomads, and they all share one vehicle. I don't intend the characters themselves to have a ton of advancement, but that the progression be more on their vehicle, their stockpile of resources, etc.

I'm looking into a salvaging/crafting system, some vehicle combat (which includes actors moving around the vehicle, shooting, boarding) and some exploration rules as you're crossing a desert, I'm considering expectations of a hexcrawl or pointcrawl, but that's not clear yet.

I'm also very interested in having some rules for lackeys/sidekicks.
I'm not too interested on very binary resolution. "I try to jump on their vehicle." Roll. "You fail, you fall down and are left behind" is not what I'm going for. I want to have some clear procedures for all these parts of these encounters, or the exploration, or the crafting. But I'm more interested in how the player succeeds, or what complications his success brings.

I'm intending to have a a decent amount of granularity not in the characters themselves, but the different parts you can craft for the vehicle. Do you install additional nets under your wings to stock goods? Or do you install a fuel container? Resource management is one of my goals.

 

[Quickleaf]

Alright, many good replies. Many questions, some to which I don't have answers.

Without going to much in the details, here's the pitch for what I'm working on.

There's a concept that Shawn Merwin & James Haeck discuss called "unity of effect" - they're borrowing from Edgar Allen Poe, and translating the idea that all the narrative, all the writing, the layout, and the game system should serve your design intent around the experience you want players to have.

For instance, I wrote a fun little one-page RPG called "Nine Whiskers in Juarez" about deputized cats facing off against villains in the Old West. Originally I had it as a dice pool d6 system, but then I realized that I could achieve better unity of effect by having the central mechanic be dice poker. Because that feels more "Old West", which is the tone I wanted to evoke, and creates a bit more tension in the bidding process where there's the risk of "busting" which feels more like cats pushing their luck.

For your purposes – whether resource management is a big gritty deal – a depleting dice pool or a d6 ammunition/resource depletion mechanic would serve you well.

 

[TheAlkaizer]

There's a concept that Shawn Merwin & James Haeck discuss called "unity of effect" - they're borrowing from Edgar Allen Poe, and translating the idea that all the narrative, all the writing, the layout, and the game system should serve your design intent around the experience you want players to have.

That's one of my guiding principle at work, and what I'm trying to apply here. But as I mentioned, it's harder for me to fully grasp how the different options for resolution system affect the experience. But I've got some good input from this thread so far.

a depleting dice pool or a d6 ammunition/resource depletion mechanic would serve you well

That's something I'm exploring right now!

 

[TheAlkaizer]

If you're designing a RPG resolution system, and you haven't read Vincent Baker's extensive discussion of this, you should! Here's one way in: anyway: 3 Resolution Systems

I will definitely read this. Thank you.

I think the criteria that you should ask is "who is this for?" If it is just for you, then you should do what makes you happy, if just generic, then I'd say something along the lines of 5e. If you are trying to appeal to a specific community, I'd use that rules set.

I intend to turn it into a product. At first I was aiming for a smaller version for ZineQuest in february, but I don't think that leaves me enough time to test it.

 

[pemerton]

Without going to much in the details, here's the pitch for what I'm working on.

Given what you describe as your design goal, I'm sure you've looked at Apocalypse World. A system that has journey and exploration elements, and has an element of dice pool depletion (though probably not as front and centre as you're looking at) is Torchbearer.

 

[TheAlkaizer]

I'm sure you've looked at Apocalypse World

I actually never have! I would have. But most of the time it's been recommended to me, it's been done in a zealous way that threw me off. But I do own Blades in the Dark, which if I'm right, is kind of a cousin of PbtA games?

 

[pemerton]

I actually never have! I would have. But most of the time it's been recommended to me, it's been done in a zealous way that threw me off. But I do own Blades in the Dark, which if I'm right, is kind of a cousin of PbtA games?

There are similarities between BitD and AW, yes, but also differences. I'm more familiar with AW. BitD uses much more structure around how consequences are established.

One feature of AW which (I think) BitD also has, is clear rules around when and how consequences of action declarations are established. In particular, the GM does not have the power to declare failure, independent of a dice roll, based on extrapolation from "secret" elements of the fiction that are known to the GM (either via prep, or because they make it up on the spot). This has significant implications for how salvaging, crafting and exploration are adjudicated - they're not done by way of "map-and-key" resolution.

 

[TheAlkaizer]

One feature of AW which (I think) BitD also has, is clear rules around when and how consequences of action declarations are established. In particular, the GM does not have the power to declare failure, independent of a dice roll, based on extrapolation from "secret" elements of the fiction that are known to the GM

I did a short one-shot of 2400 a little while ago. And the rules specified to always communicate to the players if there's any risk of injury or death in a roll and was very clear that if it wasn't explicitly stated before the roll, then it can't happen. I thought that was interesting. I don't do a ton of that stuff in my games. But in that one-shot it came up as one player tried to hack an elevator they were in and had a terrible roll, my first reflex was "The elevator starts falling down!" to create a tense situation, then I stopped and said "I can't actually do that, I didn't specify it before the rolls," and went with a different outcome.

Are you describing something similar?

of "map-and-key" resolution.

Can you elaborate a bit on what you mean by that? I'm not familiar with the expression.