Inspired by this thread, I ordered The Green Knight FRPG (in some broad sense inspired by the new movie).
It arrived today, and so far I've read the PC sheets, the rules, and the first encounter (which helps give a sense of how the rules work).
Each PC has 5 stats - Courage, Might, Intellect, Cunning, Charm - and each of these has 3 skills under it - Intimidation, Authority, Endurance; Melee Combat, Ranged Combat, Brawn; Folklore, Mysticism, Reason; Vigilance, Intuition, Stealth; Persuasion, Trickery, Performance.
Each PC also has a Dishonour score (which starts at 10), one Virtue and one Vice (each chosen from a list similar to the Pendragon traits), and a description which includes answers to three questions: Where were you when you met the Green Knight? Why did you strike down the Green Knight? What did you do in the year between then and now?
PC build involves choosing 2 abilities - each gives +2 to all skills under it - and choosing 4 skills - each of these gets a +2 (a stat bonus and skill bonus are cumulative); choosing a vice and virtue; writing up your description, including answers to the three questions; and choosing a class.
There are 5 classes - Noble, Knight, Hunter, Bard, Sorcerer - and each has 4 special moves. The player can choose 1 of these. Special moves mostly give buffs or rerolls, under various categories, to the PC or another character (eg the Noble can choose to be a Virtuoso, gaining +4 rather than +2 for two of her/his skills), or else manipulate the Honour rules (eg allow stepping back Dishonour, or performing a Dishonourable action with gaining a point of Dishonour).
The play of the game depends upon pre-defined Encounters which are challenges, obstacles and mysteries that occur along the way to the main goal. I've only read one so far, but it seems that these are going to fairly closely resemble Episodes/scenarios in Prince Valiant. Key to an Encounter is that the GM has established a Judgement, that is, Honourable and Dishonourable results of the encounter. (SPOILER ALERT for the following example: looting dead bandits is Dishonourable - +2 Dishonour.)
Encounters work this way:
First, each player rolls a d20 and adds her/his PC's Authority bonus: this is the Initiative order (highest to lowest), and the player who goes first is the Encounter Leader.
Second, each character accrues one point of Dishonour for the delay the Encounter causes on the journey to the Green Knight.
Then, each player takes an action (in initiative order). I'll say more about action resolution below.
Finally, we come back up to the top of the order. At this point everyone accrues another point of Dishonour. Then the Encounter Leader either decides to take another action (in which case revert to the previous paragraph) or decides to finish the Encounter. If the Encounter ends in this way, then the Judgement is announced with consequent further possible changes to Dishonour.
Action resolution is fairly straightforward:
First, the player says what his/her PC is doing, and this is mapped to a relevant skill (there is no discussion of how to do this; given other remarks in the rules I would assume that table consensus is the appropriate method to adopt).
Second, the action is identified as Honourable or Dishonourable. This is the GM's job, though the rules say to "let the players have fun making arguments as to why their actions might be interpreted as Honourable".
If an action is Honourable, it succeeds if a d20 roll + stat/skill modifier(s) is equal to or higher than current Dishonour. If it succeeds, one point of Dishonour is removed. If it fails, one point of Dishonour is accrued.
If an action is Dishonourable, it succeeds if a d20 roll minus stat/skill modifiers is equal to or less than current Dishonour. Whether it succeeds or fails, one point of Dishonour is accrued.
Once per Encounter, a player may call upon her/his PC's Virtue to reroll an Honourable action. Also once per Encounter, a player may call upon her/his PC's Vice to reorll any action, in which case it automatically becomes Dishonourable. The rules say that "Players should be encouraged to describe how their Virtue or Vice gives them an advantage on the action".
There is no discussion of how to adjudicate success and failure; the discussion of possible actions and consequences in the first Encounter makes me think that this is best done via a "fail forward"/"let it ride" approach. I don't think "say 'yes'" applies, as every action puts Dishonour at stake both directly through the resolution framework, and indirectly because of the rule about the cost of delay. But there is an analogue of "say 'yes'" built into the Encounter design, in the sense that there are certain things that happen automatically, as consequences of player-declared actions, without any further action needing to be declared.
The only other rule is Atonement: between Encounters players may accrue three Dishonour points to remove one point of Dishonour from another character. It's not clear whether the three points have to all be taken by one character, or can be spread among multiple characters. I think the second option is probably more interesting.
The adventure begins at a crossroads tavern - each of the PCs has come there on her/his journey to meet the Green Knight. "You agree to go on this quest to the Green Chapel together - some party members more begrudgingly than others". The GM notes also say that the players may "explain why the decided to embark on this quest, or the can remain mysterious. Allow them time to describe their answers to the three Green Knight questions on their character sheets, if they wish."
I am curious as to whether or how the details of the quest will feed into the final Encounter, which is the Green Chapel.
I haven't tried to analyse the maths of the system to see if it works. But it seems interesting.
It arrived today, and so far I've read the PC sheets, the rules, and the first encounter (which helps give a sense of how the rules work).
Each PC has 5 stats - Courage, Might, Intellect, Cunning, Charm - and each of these has 3 skills under it - Intimidation, Authority, Endurance; Melee Combat, Ranged Combat, Brawn; Folklore, Mysticism, Reason; Vigilance, Intuition, Stealth; Persuasion, Trickery, Performance.
Each PC also has a Dishonour score (which starts at 10), one Virtue and one Vice (each chosen from a list similar to the Pendragon traits), and a description which includes answers to three questions: Where were you when you met the Green Knight? Why did you strike down the Green Knight? What did you do in the year between then and now?
PC build involves choosing 2 abilities - each gives +2 to all skills under it - and choosing 4 skills - each of these gets a +2 (a stat bonus and skill bonus are cumulative); choosing a vice and virtue; writing up your description, including answers to the three questions; and choosing a class.
There are 5 classes - Noble, Knight, Hunter, Bard, Sorcerer - and each has 4 special moves. The player can choose 1 of these. Special moves mostly give buffs or rerolls, under various categories, to the PC or another character (eg the Noble can choose to be a Virtuoso, gaining +4 rather than +2 for two of her/his skills), or else manipulate the Honour rules (eg allow stepping back Dishonour, or performing a Dishonourable action with gaining a point of Dishonour).
The play of the game depends upon pre-defined Encounters which are challenges, obstacles and mysteries that occur along the way to the main goal. I've only read one so far, but it seems that these are going to fairly closely resemble Episodes/scenarios in Prince Valiant. Key to an Encounter is that the GM has established a Judgement, that is, Honourable and Dishonourable results of the encounter. (SPOILER ALERT for the following example: looting dead bandits is Dishonourable - +2 Dishonour.)
Encounters work this way:
First, each player rolls a d20 and adds her/his PC's Authority bonus: this is the Initiative order (highest to lowest), and the player who goes first is the Encounter Leader.
Second, each character accrues one point of Dishonour for the delay the Encounter causes on the journey to the Green Knight.
Then, each player takes an action (in initiative order). I'll say more about action resolution below.
Finally, we come back up to the top of the order. At this point everyone accrues another point of Dishonour. Then the Encounter Leader either decides to take another action (in which case revert to the previous paragraph) or decides to finish the Encounter. If the Encounter ends in this way, then the Judgement is announced with consequent further possible changes to Dishonour.
Action resolution is fairly straightforward:
First, the player says what his/her PC is doing, and this is mapped to a relevant skill (there is no discussion of how to do this; given other remarks in the rules I would assume that table consensus is the appropriate method to adopt).
Second, the action is identified as Honourable or Dishonourable. This is the GM's job, though the rules say to "let the players have fun making arguments as to why their actions might be interpreted as Honourable".
If an action is Honourable, it succeeds if a d20 roll + stat/skill modifier(s) is equal to or higher than current Dishonour. If it succeeds, one point of Dishonour is removed. If it fails, one point of Dishonour is accrued.
If an action is Dishonourable, it succeeds if a d20 roll minus stat/skill modifiers is equal to or less than current Dishonour. Whether it succeeds or fails, one point of Dishonour is accrued.
Once per Encounter, a player may call upon her/his PC's Virtue to reroll an Honourable action. Also once per Encounter, a player may call upon her/his PC's Vice to reorll any action, in which case it automatically becomes Dishonourable. The rules say that "Players should be encouraged to describe how their Virtue or Vice gives them an advantage on the action".
There is no discussion of how to adjudicate success and failure; the discussion of possible actions and consequences in the first Encounter makes me think that this is best done via a "fail forward"/"let it ride" approach. I don't think "say 'yes'" applies, as every action puts Dishonour at stake both directly through the resolution framework, and indirectly because of the rule about the cost of delay. But there is an analogue of "say 'yes'" built into the Encounter design, in the sense that there are certain things that happen automatically, as consequences of player-declared actions, without any further action needing to be declared.
The only other rule is Atonement: between Encounters players may accrue three Dishonour points to remove one point of Dishonour from another character. It's not clear whether the three points have to all be taken by one character, or can be spread among multiple characters. I think the second option is probably more interesting.
The adventure begins at a crossroads tavern - each of the PCs has come there on her/his journey to meet the Green Knight. "You agree to go on this quest to the Green Chapel together - some party members more begrudgingly than others". The GM notes also say that the players may "explain why the decided to embark on this quest, or the can remain mysterious. Allow them time to describe their answers to the three Green Knight questions on their character sheets, if they wish."
I am curious as to whether or how the details of the quest will feed into the final Encounter, which is the Green Chapel.
I haven't tried to analyse the maths of the system to see if it works. But it seems interesting.
