Friday Chat: What Mechanics Do You Steal From A Game To Use In Another?

[RenleyRenfield]

Flashbacks from Blades in the Dark. They take the panic and faff out of any game.

 

[Scribe]

The Hope/Fear mechanic in relation to how it drives the narrative, to me is just so great.

Its likely too much for me to lift and drop into SD however, which I keep returning to as just the only system I really want to play.

 

[Reynard]

The Hope/Fear mechanic in relation to how it drives the narrative, to me is just so great.

Its likely too much for me to lift and drop into SD however, which I keep returning to as just the only system I really want to play.

You could replace the d20 with 2d10 easily enough, but I am not sure what exactly hope would power for the players given how thin SD is on class abilities.

 

[TheHand]

I’ve occasionally used 13th Age’s Escalation Die in D&D when I want to ratchet things up.

I’ve adopted Fate’s leveling system to World of Darkness.

And one day, if I ever get to run another Supers game, I may try to mash up elements I like from Sentinels Comics with Marvel/Cortex.

I can’t think of more off the top of my head, but I feel like I’ve often borrowed mechanics or ideas I like from other games here and there. And particularly from older editions of the same game.

 

[RenleyRenfield]

One I have not actually done, yet:

I recently played a one-shot of Draw Steel, and it has a framework around persuading/negotiating with an NPC that I may yoink for D&D, or some other game without much social-dynamics mechanics.

We moved to using this rule for most all games when it comes to 'persuasion' or negotiation or even interrogation rolls... =

Success = you did it, they will do it this one time...

Fail = they counter offer, they will do it but... (you or GM picks one)

• It will cost you something extra first
• They will tell someone else and you get unwanted attention later
• They resent the request and will stab you in the back later
• You owe them a favor they get to ask for later

(if your system has a crit fail then they don't do it and it causes you trouble. and if your system has a crit success, then they do it and it opens up an opportunity for you or you get something extra or they become an ally)
.

This just gets the job done so well every time!
We find that they pretty much always results it what other systems take more steps and more points pools and such to accomplish. In the end, this does what most any plot wants = keeps the current events going, and adds some extra hooks for more plots. The GM gets to decide what and which.

 

[TheHand]

This just gets the job done so well every time!

Oh I like this! I might just try it out in one of my games!

 

[Laurefindel]

Flashbacks from Blades in the Dark. They take the panic and faff out of any game.

Same. Flashback mechanics and unspecific equipment are things I got from BitD and often port to other games.

If player-characters set out « prepared » and « well-equipped » they can produce up to three undocumented items during their outing.

If they were prepared but travelling light, they may only produce one. If they had to leave in a hurry, they only have what’s on their character sheet, etc

 

[payn]

Do you use a specific mechanic from a specific game?

Well, mostly its the general idea. For PF1 hero points allow a reroll, or adjustment to a roll, or to act out of turn, etc.. So, if taking it to another RPG I need to figure out what that translates to.

In Traveller 'goose 2E, we use effect of the dice roll to determine degrees of success. Ill allow a Traveller Point as I branded it, to bump a degree after the result. I'll let folks add a +2 before the roll as well. One thing the players are fond of is allowing a bonus action in combat. Typically, you cant move for cover, aim, and shoot. Ill allow a TP burn to do it.

 

[RenleyRenfield]

Oh I like this! I might just try it out in one of my games!

Please do! I would love to hear how it works for other groups

 

[Vael]

I also tend to see Fate Aspects everywhere, lol. Experiences from Daggerheart can have a lot of that Aspect language, spend a Fear to Compel one, spending Hope to activate on ...

The one though, that I'm noodling around right now is a bit more specific for this campaign.

I've got three Villains, each with their own schemes and plans. The Druid in my party has started a project of creating a network of animal spies to gain intelligence into what they're up to.

And I was just replaying X-Com 2: War of the Chosen. And part of the strategic gameplay is seeing what Advent and the Chosen are planning and getting a choice to push back on one of their plans. So I'm thinking of introducing some kind of system like that into this campaign.