Let's talk Procedure of Play

[MichaelSomething]

Let's talk procedure(s) of play! What procedures do you like to use??? Which ones do you hate???

 

[dbm]

One of the reasons Savage Worlds is my favourite RPG is that it has some great procedures which cover scenarios that come up often in gaming, beyond combat.

I really like the Dramatic Task system, which is an evolution of various skill challenge systems that other systems also have. There are three main things I personally think put it a step-above some other implementations.

The first, most simple perhaps, is that you can generate multiple successes per roll based on achieving raises (every 4 point you beat the skill target number by is another success after the first). This means that any challenge can potentially be overcome on the final roll, irrespective of how well the party has done up to that point. This keeps things interesting when things are going poorly for the party in the early stages of a challenge.

The second grows out of that effect. Dramatic challenges create an evolving narrative through the course of the test with potential set backs and moments of success. When a player rolls poorly and does. It achieve any successes the GM (or group, however you want to play it) can narrate the difficulties being experienced and how these thwart your gambit at that moment. This can also put pressure on the later steps of the challenge which then results in feelings of dramatic success (no pun intended) when the final player has to get a couple of raises to finish the challenge and they pull it off.

Finally, the integration of the card system is the icing on the cake. This brings more variability into the challenge in a number of ways. It can influence the sequence of attempts (though if there are no external pressures the party can basically go in any order by holding their action to allow a certain sequence of play) and, more importantly, if your initiative card is a club suit this introduces a complication where, if you want to roll, you will have a penalty which is quite big in Savage Worlds terms. Even more impactful, if you fail that roll then the whole Dramatic Task is failed right there, regardless of the total number of successes up to that point. This forces some tough decisions - should I risk it and roll, or should I do something else with my turn instead, leaving the rest of the party to pick up the load? This also integrates with all the edges that relate to the card system in Savage Worlds, meaning that your character is still getting the benefit of those.

The Dramatic Task system is great for putting detail and spotlight on a range of non-combat challenges, and I really love it personally.

 

[Retros_x]

What is meant here with procedure? Without more specification this is barely distinguishable from game mechanics / rules which we already have threads about

 

[Deset Gled]

What is meant here with procedure? Without more specification this is barely distinguishable from game mechanics / rules which we already have threads about

It's Forge jargon. All about the fiction, the loop, and the agency, dontcha know.

 

[MichaelSomething]

What is meant here with procedure? Without more specification this is barely distinguishable from game mechanics / rules which we already have threads about

The core mechanic isn't rolling dice; it's the communication between players.

No, that is the procedure of play.

What's the difference between procedure of play and core mechanic??

This question underscores your position that there isn't a difference, so I am not sure there is much I can say to change your mind.

A "core mechanic" is the system by which the questions that come up in the procedure of play are answered. Does that work for you?

So here we are.

 

[dbm]

I didn’tread the Forge personally. The best explanation I have is that procedures and mechanics are both examples of rules but mechanics are the smaller more discrete things like skill rolls or attack rolls and procedures are the bigger things like how combat works (incorporating rules like initiative, turns, movement, attacks, special abilities etc.).

I personally find distinguishing between mechanics and procedures useful as many games with similar mechanics have different procedures. If you compare Adventures in Middle Earth with D&D 5e they have many of the same mechanics but some quite different procedures. Similarly Level Up uses many of the same mechanics but, again, different procedures.

It’s not a hard-and-fast thing, but then not much in TTRPG theory is.

 

[aco175]

I like rolling dice. In dnd we use them for skills, combat, initiative, DM whatever checks. It gives a bit of tension and randomness to the game. Most games have things like this. Monopoly has dice you roll and hope you roll something so you do not land on a space or hope you roll something to land on a space. Big damage spells like fireball rolls lots of dice or a rogue backstabbing and scores a crit and rolls lots of dice.

I like the initiative tracker I have been using. It is just one of those metal extendable poles with a magnet at the end for picking up a lost screw or washer from inside the engine or behind the washer. I added clothespins with the PCs name and ones for monsters. The players can see who is next and move their pin to where they rolled. It seems to speed things up in that part of combat.

 

[aramis erak]

I love Burning Wheel and Burning Empires. My player base doesn't... Duel of Wits is brilliant. the battles in BE are wonderful... but it's too much for most of my players.

Mouse Guard's procedures collapsed Fight, Duel of Wits, Range and Cover into one unified "Conflict"... which also becomes the extended task system for MG. I once had a party choose to move a hive of bees as a conflict. Another conflict I used was crossing a windswept stretch of land. Another? The classic mice vs snake.

I like the procedures in Savage Worlds, too... and in Dune and STA (both 2d20)... in all of those cases, they support the genre and the game.

I found the procedures in FASA Star Trek: The Roleplaying Game to not support the feel that well... but the ones for WEG Star Wars worked well enough for Star Wars - but I'm not sure it would do Trek all that well.

 

[Reynard]

So here we are.

Sure. The Shadowdark Torch Timer is a procedure of play, and not a mechanic. The shadowdark random encounter system is a procedure of play with a bunch of asociated mechanics.

 

[dragoner]

Let's talk procedure(s) of play! What procedures do you like to use??? Which ones do you hate???

With both I really want them to be intuitive, and quick.