Let's Talk About Character Resources To Power Abilities

[TwoSix]

Another question near and dear to my developer heart.

I think Cypher does a neat thing here by making it a loot-crate game. Where you have slots, you can overflow the slots at a risk. And instead of refreshing with same spells you adventure to get more spells to replace the ones you used, which may end up being same or totally different. I thin Numenera does the loot play better than any rpg ever made. it feeeeeel like I want to go explore to crack open chests to get more cyphers... you just need a GM who understands that and puts the loot there, can't run it like D&D and starve players of goodies...

I adore the idea of a loot-based/currency game for a D&D-like dungeon crawl/site-exploration. Lots of potions, scrolls, items with charges, spells that require spell reagents that have to be bought, etc.

Makes a strong gameplay loop of "acquire treasure, then spend treasure to beat the next challenge to acquire more treasure."

 

[billd91]

The one I hate is the 13th age recovery/recharge where its based on number of encounters instead of something like a day or a rest.

I think I'm largely with you on the 13th Age issue. I get it that these RPGs are games and some metagame is necessary, but there is a point when the game structure is simply too much.

 

[Reynard]

What else would you call it, if the game doesn't have any resources that can be consumed? The gameplay is more than likely going to have some sort of chance-based resolution method (dice, cards, etc.), which provides a success or failure based on the narrative input, and resolves into a curated narrative output.

Whatever character-based assignments the games gives you (skills, backgrounds, attributes, features, etc.) are going to feed into the randomizer and drive the next narration. That's the gameplay.

I am not sure that this is tied terribly strongly to consumable resources, versus how the actually game engine resolves attempts and actions (but that's another thread).

 

[dbm]

How powers work is probably one of the most distinguishing features of systems that include them, and because of this I have a fairly broad tolerance to systems of different kinds.

Systems with unified resources (like fatigue in GURPS and Will Power in Dragonbane) can be interesting as a way of stopping multi-domain characters getting out of hand (as suggested up thread).

Systems with differentiated resource mechanics can be a source of interesting character choices and world building - does your character go with a more structured system like traditional Vancian casting or with a power source that offers the flexibility of power points? What other trade offs do these power choices represent?

Systems with un-metered sources can have a big impact on character and world concepts since the character may have unlimited use of their abilities though some systems combine this with an activation roll that makes if feel different again. Sometimes a significant failure might stop your power working for a short or longer period of time, too.

Cool down systems tend to be less common as they imply a higher level of book keeping. They do stop players spamming the same power all the time, however.

Game structure based recharge (per encounter etc.) can be really strong for game balance if this is a primary concern.

Another interesting facet of resources is how the characters recover them. Some resources might be recovered more quickly - GURPS mages can potentially recover fatigue at one point per two minutes. Some might take longer to recover, like a full night of rest. Some might restore based on a cyclical event like sunset, sunrise, or even a new / full moon for a longer reset cycle. Some might not restore ‘naturally’ but need to be recharged by visiting a specific location or consuming a difficult-to-acquire substance. All these things radically affect how a campaign world will feel in play.

 

[Umbran]

As it pertains to the subject, the resources I am talking about here are things like spell slots, power points, Hope (not as a metacurrency but as fuel for abilities)

I am not sure that's a valuable distinction, but okay.

How do you fee about the inclusion of these sort of resources in TTRPGs?

In general, I'm fine with them, if well-implemented. But then, there are few game design elements I am against just on principle. You have to do it badly for me to dislike it, I think.

Are there alternatives that you prefer (time based cooldowns, for example)?

That just makes time the resource you have to manage...

What RPGs manage to let PCs have cool powers without forcing players to count beans?

One novel system I liked recently was the Sentinels Comics RPG.

Characters have a condition track. As they get beat up, they go from Green, to Yellow, to Red, to Out.

The scene also has a condition track. Green, Yellow, Red to done - if the heroes don't resolve the core conflict in a scene before it gets to the end of the track, the other side wins the conflict, and you reframe into a new scene under those new conditions.

Characters have abilities with color ratings - if the character and the scene are both Green, you have access to the Green abilities on your sheet. As either the character or the scene gets more dire, moving to Yellow and Red, you get access to more of your abilities.

 

[Reynard]

One novel system I liked recently was the Sentinels Comics RPG.

Characters have a condition track. As they get beat up, they go from Green, to Yellow, to Red, to Out.

The scene also has a condition track. Green, Yellow, Red to done - if the heroes don't resolve the core conflict in a scene before it gets to the end of the track, the other side wins the conflict, and you reframe into a new scene under those new conditions.

Characters have abilities with color ratings - if the character and the scene are both Green, you have access to the Green abilities on your sheet. As either the character or the scene gets more dire, moving to Yellow and Red, you get access to more of your abilities.

That is super interesting. How common is it for the characters and the scenes to be aligned?

 

[Laurefindel]

Characters have abilities with color ratings - if the character and the scene are both Green, you have access to the Green abilities on your sheet. As either the character or the scene gets more dire, moving to Yellow and Red, you get access to more of your abilities.

I like that a lot. It's a common trope in many media where the characters go "screw this, I'm pulling out my grenades/flamethrower/big guns!". Rolplaying games are often bad at gradual escalation and tension build-up that doesn't go from 0 to 100 in nanoseconds.

 

[dbm]

RPG is often bad at gradual escalation and building tension.

We found this an interesting side effect of the escalation dice in 13th Age. It encouraged you to use your lesser powers at the beginning of a fight then start to escalate to higher risk / reward powers later in the fight once the escalation bonus had started to make a big difference in likely outcomes.