So I’m looking for some insight from a player’s perspective. Here’s the (completely hypothetical) situation:

Let’s say you are invited to play a rpg. For the purpose of our discussion let’s presume that game is Top Secret.

Somewhere along the way you realize you’re no longer really playing TS:SI, but instead have been shifted into an actual game of Call of Cthulhu a la Delta Green or X-Files. The games listed don’t really matter; maybe the reverse is true, you start with a gritty CoC game only to find yourselves playing a light-hearted scenario of Those Meddling Kids.

Because each of these games brings with it a specific feel to the situations faced by the characters, when the change occurs and is finally realized, as a player, what would your response to a classic Bait and Switch be?

Assuming the following to be true:

• The reason for the switch is either in the hands of the GM for some plot purpose, or is the outgrowth of the player’s interaction with the scenario.
• The shift doesn’t negate any previous history either in the game world or for any specific character.
• The reason for the shift from one genre to another is completely at least somewhat plausible; perhaps a stretch, but not requiring a complete “A wizard did it.” explanation.

Let’s break it down a bit further with some additional questions:

• What if you knew the game was a “one-off” session? What if the game was the premise for a long standing campaign?
• What if the GM planned to shift the game from one rpg to another all along? What if the shift was a natural conclusion of how the player’s reacted to the setting?
• What if the game you initially thought you were playing wasn’t your cup of tea? What if the game you found yourself now playing wasn’t something you would have agreed to play had you known this was the GM’s plan from the start?
• What if the game feel was a significant shift? What if the shift was more subtle?

How might you, as a player, respond to such a tactic and why? And finally, if you’d be amenable to such a ploy, what advice would you give a GM on how to make the shift more palatable to players in general?

Tags: advice, Call of Cthulhu, Delta Green, Game Mastering, rpg, Those Meddling Kids, Top Secret, X-Files

After many discussions, I’ve settled on a campaign idea for the Spring Convergence. The setting will play off my Red Dawn session from the Fall but will not continue the original session. Instead, I’m going to blend that with other highly requested genres — Modern, Gritty Modern, Top Secret, and Cyberpunk. Each by itself is pretty simple to do although I abhor the over the top cybernetics of most ‘Punk settings. Cybernetics will be available but highly expensive.

I could sit down and run it tonight. My brain is full of the idea but I keep deviating when I attempt to write it up. My Achilles Heel has re-arrived in full force in the form of self distraction. I had a full week off of work during the holidays. My intention was to jot out the history, pick a game system to utilize, and then write up some campaign material. I did manage a few pages of background.

Those pages are not cohesive. They are random 4-5 paragraph blobs of trains of thought. Its a good start but then I started going awry. The concepts I want to use for the campaign are also of interest to me personally. So I bought some books on the subjects. Far too many, I have 5 non-fiction texts and 4 fiction books now just from a campaign idea. I’ve read 3 of the 9 books cover to cover in the last week. So I’m just going to force myself to write tonight in the form of the blog and see where it goes.

Couple that with random wandering on the internet about the subjects and well, I did not get very putting the pen to paper. I want this nugget of an idea to go beyond some mere mental concept into something I can hand to the players to develop characters. Deep characters so the background is critical. Normally I’d be able to sit down and explain my idea vocally. Convergence doesn’t allow me that luxury so I need to find a focus and move forward.

Modern/Post Modern is tough. My target players are all highly educated individuals so if I make a miscue in laying out the science, I fear I’ll fail to engage them properly. I’m probably over thinking the response. However, if I can blend modern science accurately within the session, I get a double entry point — something they want to play and a setting they want to play.

My premise is simple — the break down of modern society, the fall of nations, and the influence of wealth and power. It is not original nor do I intend it to be. This world is just another vision of how things could go wrong. I’m blending the current state of the U.S. with what could happen in the next 20 years. No cataclysmic events occur. My personal nightmare.

Why 2008 as a start? It’s the initial wake up call for everyone that the economy of every nation is intertwined. Sadly, its also the nation, which our wonderful politicians would deem “Too Big to Fail”. The United States economy is based completely on other people wanting to buy our debt. If no one is able or willing to buy that debt, the U.S. is just another Ponzi scheme. Bernie Madoff would be proud. Far too many transactions around the world rely on the U.S. dollar as a basis.

If I were a boxer, I’d see it as Round 1 jabs to determine the defensive posture of my opponent. He keeps hitting me in the body, wearing me down. Crude oil looks cheap on the surface in ’08. Demand is down, the economy is in the tank. Oil supplies are limited and running out.

Green energy is all the rage but it costs. A cost the U.S. economy cannot absorb immediately and the build out will take years and immense amounts of cash. Cash that only comes from people buying our debt. Except they are no longer able or willing to buy the phantom of the U.S. assurance to pay them back. And the efficiency of the green technologies are far below burning oil or coal for power. Everyone is strapped for cash. The U.S. burns more and more fossil fuels to keep the economy running. That boxer just hit me in the kidney…again.

Life sucks at this point…perhaps 2012 but it has been that way for a couple of years. The population is resigned to being in a recession or the Great Depression II. Life will improve. 15% unemployment is unprecedented but things are looking up according to the experts. The U.S. passes new laws. The unemployment extension act for the 12th time. The number of homeless people rises to 10% of the population. The homeless begin migrating across the U.S. in search of work, food, and handouts. The Welfare 2012 bill is held up because no other country wants to purchase debt based on a vacuum. The body blows keep coming.

2015. Financial reckoning. The U.S. starts defaulting on treasury bonds. The rest of the world is no better. Exxon buys Lockheed Martin. Total SA buys the defaulted assets of GM followed by Boeing. Corporations begin to field militaries to defend and protect the resources they own.

2018: Year of Storms. Hurricanes bash the U.S. southern and south eastern states. Florida is obliterated between the flooding and storm surge. New Orleans is swamped once again. The worst drought in history strikes the Mid Western states. The U.S. cannot produce enough food for its residents. Coastal infrastructure is destroyed and the U.S. can no longer produce fuel. Gas prices spike. Mass rioting occurs seeking food and shelter. Unemployment reaches 30%.

2019: The Gulf Stream current breaks down due to the desalination of the oceans. Lack of ice on the poles creates a massive feed forward climate shift. The remainder of the ice at the poles melt resulting in massive flooding of coastal areas. The entire population of the eastern and western seaboard states are forced inland.

Society breaks..

Tags: Convergence, Cyberpunk, Ramblings of Mark, rpg, Setting, Top Secret

This post is another addition spawned from the phone conversation between myself and Mark. There was a lot of good material discussed on that call, and here’s another of what I think was a gem of a realization. – KO

Want to be the center of the story?
Want the GM to cater to your desires and goals by crafting the story to meet the desires and goals of your character?
Want to be “The Hero” of the game?
Want to mold and shape the story with as much power as the guy behind the screen?
You want the reins of the game to drive the story?

Then step up.

In the past I’ve looked around at everyone around my gaming table and tried to ascertain just what desires they held for their characters. I considered the personalities of each player and made a small gameplan on how to hook them and get them involved on a deeper level.

Not surprising, I didn’t do this in the Top Secret game we all remember. And yet this absence of planned hook never was an issue with The Greatest Game Ever Played. Perhaps I should have paid more attention to my Top Secret GM style back then. But at least I’m coming around to it now. – KO

Those days are over. I now realize that I’ve been doing this all wrong. I’m done catering to your whims. I’m done selling you on the game. You sell me on your character.

If you want the spotlight, then demand it.
You want to be the center of the story? Then engage me as a GM.
Want me to cater to your desires and those of your character? Compell me to do so.
You want to be the hero? Well bub, there’s a room full of games who are just slightly removed from the frustrated authors and directors and artists they might all be, sitting around the table with you. And so do they. Make your case within the game and I’ll be happy to accomodate you.

I’m no advocating not having a storyline idea to fall back on, but I’m advocating making the players identify the hooks and attack them with fervor… at least the ones they find interesting. I’m going to start expecting players to find their “in” and run with it with all their roleplay might!

Fail to sell me on what you want to do? Then take a back seat to the guy who markets his ideas better. Either you make me care enough to make the world interesting for your character, or I’m going to have to assume you don’t care enough about your character to find the world interesting. End result? Welcome to the background.

Sell me well and I’ll run the game you’ve always wanted to play. Do so well enought and the Rules of Cool will apply to nearly everything you attempt. I won’t change reality to your every whim, but as the hero, the world will be your oyster and I’ll cater to nearly every desire within reason… until someone at the table catches my eye with a better upsell.

Maybe this is how it should be done. Where am I wrong?

Tags: advice, Characters, Game Mastering, rpg, Top Secret

As my brain meandered the other day, as it is apt to do, I had a thought about game systems.   A common trait between many unpopular systems is that they possessed combat systems which are very deadly.   A mere chance encounter leads to character death far more often than other systems.

All systems can be deadly but the systems that have not achieved popularity do not possess the ability to mitigate risk.   Other than a GM blatantly fudging rolls, a characters in those combat systems are likely to end up dead. Is a deadly combat system a death knell for a system?  Not necessarily.   However, the odds do not to be in the system’s favor.   Popularity, failure, and deadly are all very subjective.    Definitions are required and because it was my thought, I must define each of them.

Popularity:

If a game system is no longer available at a game store in some resemblance of its current state, especially by name, consider it non-popular.   If the original name is intact and still available, no matter the divergence from its roots, consider it popular if and only if it has been commercially available for a decade or more.

Failure:

Utter failure would be a rule system that reached publication but failed to garner any support by the publisher in the form of a second edition or by having affiliated materials published.  Many systems fall in the middle between failure and popular.     In the end, those systems that showed up but only lasted fewer than 5 years, should be judged as failures.  Harsh but they failed the test of time.

Deadly:

Deadly is far easier to define.  Should a character step into combat, he has about equal odds of dying or surviving.    Mano a Mano will result in someone dying.   It might be the PC, it might be the other guy.  Equally paired, players with even stats, are evenly matched.  Being outmatched is not deadly, it is being stupid or being forced to engage in combat when you should not.

In the End:

No game system I could recall hit all those factors and still remains.  Kevin offered an exception.  D&D.  In the basic edition,  D&D hit all the deadly requirements but is still popular.  It was very deadly but the system has elements which mitigate death:  Armor and encounter strength.   Killing kobolds at level 3 is not deadly.

Is there any game system, set in relatively modern times, that defies my supposition?   By relatively modern, assume from the time the crossbow made plate armor moot through when kevlar was introduced as a staple of modern warfighting? Are all systems such as Boot Hill, Gang Busters, James Bond, Top Secret, etc.  doomed to failure before they start?

Tags: Boot Hill, D&D, Death, GangBusters, James Bond, System Design, Top Secret

For starters, generally speaking, they suck. They take away decent roleplay opportunities by giving players the “easy way out” option to fleshing-out a character. And what’s more, they move the burden of bringing certain aspects of a character into play from the player (where such things belong) to the GM (who probably has enough on his plate.)

As if that wasn’t enough to really sour you on the idea of disadvantages, let’s take a look at them from a purely character mechanic standpoint. In almost every case the disadvantage isn’t selected to make the character more interesting, rather one is selected for its exploitable capabilities. And that’s just wrong.

Consider how most disadvantages should result in a weaker character, not a stronger one. Sure, the rules allow you to take those points you gain from selecting a disadvantage and move them somewhere else on the character sheet, but should they? For our first example, let’s select a classic disadvantage: blindness (a la Daredevil.) Consider how well this character concept would really work in even a fantastic setting. How would a character with this specific disadvantage size up in the dungeon? In my games such a player would find themselves at the mercy of their surroundings. (Have you actually been in a cave? One without a paved walkway?) Let’s just say that unless your character concept also involves being part bat, you’re lifespan in the dungeon isn’t going to be a long one.

In fact, the bulk of disadvantages are taken, but not commonly played. Consider the classic choices of enemies and addictions. These disadvantages usually allow a the player to eke out a couple more character generation points to boost another skill or buff up another stat. And all the while the player knows full well that most GMs won’t be including these small disadvantages into a game. Although this is generally the fault of the GM and not the player, but a well known tactic is to take a disadvantage the player knows the GM can’t or won’t bring into play. And that’s just gaming not only the system, but the GM as well.

When done properly, disadvantages can be used effectively to add flavor and depth to the game. Consider the Top Secret spy Guido, whose allergy to cats led to my introducing an arch-nemesis named Feline and her identical yet neutral twin. In fact, Guido’s disadvantage became so central to the character’s ability to identify which femme-fatal he was interacting with that the player refused to buy off the disadvantage later in the game.

But most disadvantages are used to munchkin a character. Face it, it’s true. Even I’ve used the technique to my advantage as a player. In the only game of Werewolf I’ve ever had the misfortune to play (not an attack on the game, but on the way it was run mind you – In fact, it was the only Storyteller game I’ve ever been party to), I created a tower of pure rage and destruction by buying up every disadvantage that didn’t hinder my concept’s physical prowess. Enter Pillar, the massive, mute force of pure primal might that was maxed to the point that he outclassed the game in general. In retrospect this was a good thing as he was used to kill off the rest of the party members when the game became little more than an exercise where the players all sat around while the Storyteller demonstrated how powerful and cool both his and his prospective girlfriend’s characters were. (For the record, the players actually started a bidding war once the carnage began. That’s the only time I’ve ever been bribed to kill someone’s character off.) As fortunate as it was to have a character that could easily dispatch with the rest of the party, it also demonstrated how poor control over input leads to unexpected outputs.

And that leads me to the ultimate question. Why can’t a player just roleplay a disadvantage? Why should they get benefits from a drawback? I hate to sound like the equivalent of the “Hey you kids, get off my lawn” RPG player, but in my day we didn’t need your fancy-schmancy disadvantages. If we wanted our character to be blind, we just played it that way… even if it did lead to things like players trying to create Explosive Braille Runes. But that’s a whole different post.

So I’m asking you to post a vote for the worst disadvantages. I’ll start the bidding at blindness. Or as I like to think of it, the wandering fool dragon snack.

Oh, and if you think I’m wrong, then the floor is all yours…

Tags: Annoyances, Chargen, rpg, rules, Storyteller, Top Secret, Werewolf

I’ve been pondering another major arc game to run at this Fall’s Convergence. I’ve begun to think the best setup for the get-together is a couple of major games punctuated by one-offs. Since Mark has already chosen the first major game to be played, namely his GangBusters Prohibition, and I’m not sure if the other attendees are going to run anything other than a short session or two, the task of coming  up with another multi-session game befalls your’s truely.

I started to think about what I really want to run. My choices are numerous since I have books and material and ideas for the following games:

• Dungeons and Dragons – Arguably the best known and easiest to do. I have tons of material and know the system quite well. Unfortunately most of the players know the material I might want to run at least as well asn I. That’s a significant hurdle to overcome.
• Top Secret – I don’t think I should run this until maybe next Spring’s Convergence when the (hopeful) return of the three core members of The Greatest TS Game the Universe has ever witnessed will be in attendance.
• Boot Hill – To be honest, I’ve never been drawn to Boot Hill. I enjoy playing it, but running it leaves me with the taste of dirt and dust.
• Call of Cthulhu – I’d do this were it not for a couple of factors.
  1. “You’re all going to die”
  2. Keeping players involved in a story arc is an inherent  challenge to the game already.
• Superhero game (DC Heroes or Marvel) – Ideas I’ve got, player buy-in? I think not.
• KORE – I could do any of the above in KORE, but I think this Convergence should be a return to known quantities, nostalgic era games.
• I could siphon off the aforementioned GangBusters game. – But I think maybe a change of pace may be in order at some point.
• I could run something very gritty, a la Battlestar Galactica, but I’m not sure that BSG pressure-cooker is what is needed in a long term story arc game. Maybe as another punctuation this would make a nice addition.

With all that in mind, I realized I had always been leaning back on the classics… it was time to admit that a good ol’ fashioned old school game of D&D was what I wanted to run. Nostalgia once again rears it’s head and I think this time I’m going to embrace it whole-heartedly. But how to do so?

I could use any of the vast abundance of modules I have for the game. But I risk preparing to run a module only to pull it out to be confronted with the classic, “Yea, I’ve run Temple of Elemental Evil a few times. But I promise to keep my knowledge from interferring” response. And I’m not willing to swap modules and try to run one without preparing first. That just leads to long periods of player-idleness while I peruse the material… not a good scene.

Sorry CT, but it really wasn’t going to work out well. In retrospect, you probably should have done something different. – KO

I don’t have the time to build something new. At least nothing with some depth that isn’t going to be a complete rip-off of something I’ve either run earlier or has been experienced by the players. What’s more, I always hate the methods to generate new high level characters for players. Characters always feel so cardboard when they don’t have history to go with their stats, gear, and abilities.

So we’re back to the question of how do I run something that has some depth, hasn’t been experienced by the players before, and yet can be quickly recalled and molded by me?

To be honest, I was stumped; baffled by this conundrum that didn’t seem to have a solution. And then this morning brilliance (or something I’ll call brilliance) struck. As it turned out, I already had a module prepared. One in which I already knew the material to a depth that I could easily run it off the top of my head with a few notes. In fact, large portions of the game had even already been played by a number of people including myself. Everything I needed to run a number of sessions was done. And as far as I know, none of my players have run through it themselves.

The more I pondered the simple solution, the more I was in GM heaven. – KO

Where you ask, did I suddenly come up with this wealth of session material? Neverwinter Nights.

That’s right. It looks like I’m about to eat some serious crow. Crpgs are about to help me ease the return to the classic pen and paper game. Fitting isn’t it?

I have 3 modules in a 5 part series already built for NwN. In fact, they’re available for download on the Neverwinter Vault here. These 3 modules should be fairly easy to convert back to pen and paper rules while the other 2 modules are already penned out in notes that should be easy to backstep into some good tabletop material. The very layout of the modular setup should help to pace the game so it can be stopped and returned to with ease at the breaking points. Of course, I’ll have to do a bit of alteration to eliminate some of the more “computer game” necessary parts, but that’s not a big deal. The bulk of the work is already done. I just need to convert it back.

In order to keep a sense of nostalgia, I considered going all the way back to the beginning and running the game from the Basic/Expert ruleset. In fact I’m still keeping that option open for now. If not, I’ll run the game in the next best option; namely the AD&D Edition rules. So everybody brush up on those THAC0 rules, we’re going back to the mid-eighties for some serious old school gaming.

Tags: Battlestar Galactica, BSG, Call of Cthulhu, Convergence, Crpg, D&D, DC Heroes, Dungeons and Dragons, GangBusters, KORE rpg, Marvel Superheroes, Neverwinter Nights, NwN, rpg, Setting, Top Secret

Ever had that one campaign that, whenever the discussion turns to rpgs and past glories, inevitably finds itself in the forefront of what everyone talks about? You know the one, it’s the game that no matter how hard you try to relive the glory, every other game seems to fall short of. It’s that game the players secretly (or overtly) wish you were really playing.

Sometimes they even find ways of getting you to run a small session in the middle of someone else’s game. Yea, I know, it may not be polite, but it really happens doesn’t it guys? And if the current game is going nowhere, what’s stopping someone from saying, “Hey Kev, while Chris reads the module to figure out we’re supposed to die from the trap on the door, my Top Secret character shoots Randi.” – KO

A number of years ago, long before the whole GNS theory became part of the RP lexicon, I ran the most successful Top Secret game the world has ever known. The game lasted for weeks and we played nearly every day… sometimes into the wee hours of the morning.

I still recall Wheels looking up and coming to the shocking realization that the “strange light” flooding in the window was the sun. – KO

The game began with little more than a spoof idea I got from an Inspector Gadget cartoon… that’s right, a kids cartoon started the greatest TS game in the history of all rpgs. But I’m skipping to the end of the tale. Without the context you’re not likely to believe in just how great a game it was… so let’s go back to the real seed of greatness that was the game.

I never intended to run the game long term. Oh sure, you could say I was duped into it, but none-the-less I only offered to run a couple sessions and then turn the game over to Randi. And that’s why the game ended up being so great.

In retrospect we all owe Randi a huge thanks for being too lazy to take the game over when the time came. His decision to stay unmotivated and leave me to figure out how to keep this thing going was the catalyst that brought about the impending greatness that is to this day so intrinsic to my gaming philosophy. – KO

You see, I had no vested interest in keeping the players from doing what they wanted. I wasn’t adversarial – that wasn’t my role to play. Instead I was one of them. In the beginning I really believed I’d gain from the allowances I leveraged to them as the “temp GM.” What I didn’t realize until much later was that the gains I’d glean were better than those I thought I’d get “in game.”

When they asked to be playboy rock star billionaire super secret spy guys, or the best crack-shot in the universe, or have the Joint Cheifs of Staff on speed-dial, or whatever, I said, “sure.” I mean why not? I wasn’t going to have to deal with the obvious disaster that would ensue as this train-wreck came face to face with a major story arc. So what did I care if they had access to gadgets and wealth and skills so far surpassing normalcy? It wasn’t my problem… and in fact, it never was.

Control is an illusion in games. Any GM who has spent a lot of time behind the screen knows it. We may not want to admit it, but we’re not really in control of the game… nor should we be. Any attempt to wrest control of the game from the players results railroading that might just end in such bad gaming sessions that some players might find it worthy to kill of everyone’s character.

In some cases they might be begged by the other players to do just that and end the game and session. Lookout it’s PILLAR! – KO

The real power brokers in any game are the players. They are mutual creators and shapers of the shared imagining and storytelling that’s occuring at the table. Without the players, you’re writing a novel… and probably doing it in a momologue narrative form. With the players, your imagining the story from multiple points of view.

When it became readily apparent (probably that realization came to me last) that I wasn’t going to get a repreive from running this campaign, I decided that instead of reigning in the players, I was instead going to do the worst thing a GM can possibly do… I was going to give the players everything they wanted.

Oh to be sure there were rules in place to prevent a lot of foolishness from this decision, but surprisingly, for my core players at the time, nobody needed to be controlled by me… in fact, the players all policed themselves quite effectively. And what a releif it was to stop trying to prevent the players from doing what they wanted in the game. All that extra energy could be spent making the game world more interesting, the NPC interactions so much deeper, and the whole game so much more enjoyable for us all.

Liberty had come to our core group of players and we’ve never been the same since. You see, we finally realized that the GM and the players are not supposed to be in competetion with each other, we’re supposed to cooperate to make the game fun for everyone.

So the next time your players ask you to run something amazing, take the advice I learned from the greatest Top Secret game the Universe has ever been witness to… give them exactly what they want. Afterall, that’s what games are played for.

Tags: advice, rpg, rules, Setting, Top Secret

So a few months back, I did a little statistical analysis of the KORE attributes. Some of you may recall that one of my players is a bit of a exploit-junkie. You know the type; if there’s a way to make the numbers do something unexpectedly good for him, he’ll find it. It’s almost second nature to him. He can pick up a ruleset and within a few hours know how to break it legally.

Heck at times I’ve been the exploit guy… Anyone remember Pillar from that failed Werewolf game? He was the classic MIN/MAX exploit doubly facillitated and allowed by a GM who failed to see that my taking the worst possible disadvantages that I knew he’d have no way to get into the game. That’s how most exploits are displayed: First the character is MIN/MAXed, then if the system allows disadvantage for extra points, the exploit guy will take those that will fail to be part of the game but will allow additional MAXing. In RPG terms, that’s the classic definition of munchkinism, and it’s incumbent on the GM to curtail this type of activity… or punish the player by forcing them to live with the consequences of their choices. But alas, that doesn’t happen often. - KO

Usually when I’m running the show, we agree to some middle-ground interpretation of the rules which allows him to acheive his desired vision and I’m allowed to maintain the illusion of control. It’s a good compromise, but I’ve always been, in some small way, somewhat disappointed that his exploitational discoveries were never uncovered and addressed by the game designers during playtesting - especially since the exploits usually are not that hard to find.

And just so we don’t get off track here, from a design persepecive, that’s not necessarialy a bad thing. In fact, knowing this is what actually led to my desire to test the system at it’s basic core for exploits – KO

Most games allow for some variation of exploitable systems. For games like Werewolf and the Storyteller systems, DC Heroes, Top Secret and the ilk with advantages and their counter, the nature of the disadvantage and the point allocations that they provide can create an easy exploit entry. And any disadvantage written on a character sheet that isn’t exploited as fully by the GM as the corollary advantage is exploited by the player is allowing an unfair advantage.

A special note on the disadvantages as used by DC Heroes and Top Secret should be at least mentioned here. These systems even allow for player advancement to eventually “buy off” these disadvantages… but the player is still left with the initial boost to their character – KO

Other systems, such as old school D&D have a historical predicate that actually encourages ability stat MIN/MAXing by granting the player a bonus if they can boost their prime attribute to it’s numerical extreme.

This was probably fine when the method to generate characters was randomly done via the outcome of rolls of dice, but when point buying becoame the more popular method, exploit-city could now be easily seen looming on the horizon by almost all but the most novice of players – KO

Later versions of D&D, as well as virtually any other point buy system with more than one statistic, are notorious for what’s become known as a “Dump Stat.” A dump stat is any statistic that is basically ignored, or depleated, in order to maximize another (more important) statistic. The real nature of the dump stat is that it generally becomes common knowledge among players that in most cases, the advantages of any given statistic is not necessarialy equal to the benefits of all other statistics.

For example, Charisma (CHA) is in most cases, the dump stat of choice for most D&D players. Barring cases of Paladins, Sorcerers and Bards the benefits of a high CHA stat are so incredibly lacking when compared to the benefits of almost any other stat. Couple that with the knowledge that most CHA based interactions are oftentimes roleplayed out wihtout dice, and you’ve got the double whammy - KO

Thus the true nature of the dump stat is revealed. So, as a fun little exercise, I decided to objectively determine if the KORE system as currently designed contained a dump stat. My analysis was a simple one, but it revealed an interesting trend.

I won’t go through a discussion on the whole mathematical analysis I did on the statistics. However, ff you’re interested, it’s in the downloads section and can be studied here: KORE Statistical Analysis

Suffice it to say that the first analysis demonstrated that STR and CON were complete and total dump stats. In fact, before making changes to the math behind the Derived Statistics, STR wasn’t generally worth putting any points into. Not at all what I expected or wanted.

After some tweaking of the Derived calculations, STR is still the most logical dump stat in the group, but I can now at least live with the deltas between the statistical differences resulting from point allocations.

If all this has made your brain turn to mush and given you that glazed ham look in your eyes… then Roll for Initiative! You’re being attacked!

Tags: Annoyances, D&D, DC Heroes, Game Design, KORE rpg, playtesting, rpg, rules, statistics, Storyteller, system, Testing, Top Secret, Werewolf

I’m a huge fan of drama in a game. Not the drama that comes from the standard setup of obstacle vs. players but the drama that comes from any coolness that can be described by the player. Take for instance the drama that comes when a player is allowed to change some facet of the shared reality of the game system. That’s a good recipe for drama.

Some of the game systems I’ve played in that either had a detailed mechanic or by group consensus allowed for the use of this “shared authorship” of reality include; Top Secret (which had luck or hero or fate points – I don’t really recall), Marvel Superheroes (which had karma), DC Heroes (which had hero points), Earthdawn (can’t remember if it was hero or luck points), and D&D (which only had luck points because I imported them in from other systems.)

Now all the systems listed (as well as others I can’t really recall right now) had some great moments when luck/fate/dramatis/hero/whatever points were used to alter the game in some fashion.

I can recall one memorable moment when Shackle (my Earthdawn character in one campaign) and his companions were trapped in a burning tavern. Escape out the usual means of egress was hindered by the fact that the arsonists had locked all the doors and barred all the windows. So while the other characters fled into the cellar and then subsequently into the safety of the sewers, I chose instead to spend my whole amassed collection of points to re-write the scene. As the flames licked into the skies, Shackle waited for the fires to loosen the structural integrity of the door enough to allow him to kick the front door open in one move. The amazed looks on the citizenry as well as the arsonists was pricelessly described as the hero stepped out of a burning tavern just as it fell into rubble behind him. Knowing that the purportrator(s) of the fire was present, but indistinguishable from the innocent citizenry, Shackle just dusted the soot and embers off his clothing and then glared at the assembled crowd.

That’s drama that can’t be easily described by simple dice mechanics.

So how do we allow for players in KORE to harness some mechanic to control the game system? Here was my first email to spur the discussions:

Okay, I know we’ve all played in those games that allow for Hero / Luck / Dramatis / etc. Points.
Thoughts on whether we want to use them here or how we might incorporate them?
My first idea (probably needs some serious work):
Each player will be given 1 hero/luck/whatever point to use per session.
These points are use-it or loose-it style points that cannot be hoarded (Yea M, I recall the TS “hero point” battle you and my main villain got into.)
The points can only be used in the following ways including, but not limited to:

1. Perform a dramatic event successfully (without the need for dice) – the player has to describe the event in sufficient detail. Everyone playing has to agree that the event would/could/does work.
2. Stay alive. Spending a point allows your character to thwart death in some fashion.
3. Try again. Spending a point allows you to re-roll one failure as if you haven’t rolled yet.

Though I’m such fan of these mechanics, as you can see even from this initial email, I’ve had at least one negative experience with luck points that I’ll describe here.

In the longest runing Top Secret campaign in the history of the World (a challenge to you all to just try to prove that one wrong) M got into a heated exchange of gunfire with one of the secondary villians of the story. While in most cases that wouldn’t be an issue, previous to the interaction, all the possible means of escape for said villian were thwarted by the other spy-guys. Leaving him no other choice, the villian decided to shoot it out with M’s character. Since M’s character was a crack-shot, this might seem like a stupid idea, but the villian was no slouch in firearm skill, the villian knew nothing of the skill of M’s character, and M’s character was the only single obstacle to an escape route; whereas all other escape routes were guarded by multiple spys.

Now, as a GM, I have certain rules that I try to adhere to at all times:

1. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. In this discussion it means that namely if the players have access to luck points, then so does the other side. Usually I don’t give such points to nameless mooks, but if the villian is a regular, then I assign a small pool to even up the odds.
2. The enemies usually do the most logical thing. Unfortunately for the villian, the most logical seeming thing was also the worst possible path.

To make matters worse, M had ammassed a rather sizeable collection of hero points. What ensued was an exchange where neither side could be killed no matter the odds until the combined collection of points was expended. At the end of the “hero point” battle, the dice were merciless to the villian and he was easily killed with what was in reality the fith or sixth head shot (but by a stroke of luck the only one that reached the mark.) All in all it was dramatic, but basically boiled down to a “cross-out hero point battle.” That’s an annoyance. Namely when a mechanic becomes nothing more than a mathematical demonstration of “whose is bigger…”

L found the idea quite palletable (I should point out that he did seem to enjoy me importing luck points in D&D.)

I like the idea of these points, played with them before and I think they add an extra flare that all fantasy related items should have. I also think that use it or lose it is a great idea.

-L

M had some trepadition as well as some good insight on the use of luck points in general.

As Kevin likely knows, I have a love/hate relationship with luck points. On the love side, they certainly can make for near epic situations when used in the context of the game as he mention I had with one of his lead villains. That conflict could be included in a Bond film due to the dramatic and heroic activity that ensued but it pushed the limits of believability. I also like luck to avoid having a well developed character safe from the aspects of just a bad string of dice rolling that leads to premature death. I suspect the dice rolling will be limited so that issue is probably moot.  

I also hate the artificial nature of luck. Using luck points to do something that is outside the scope of your character just to accomplish something doesn’t make any sense and detracts from the game overall. It tends to remove good RP when it should be present.  

I like Kevin’s limitations for them.
#1 addresses my artificial capabilities statement — if it isn’t within the character capabilities, anyone can and should call BS.
#2 should place the character at the edge of death — without help in the near future the person will still die.
#3 should allow you to re-roll even if you’d rolled once already. Sometimes you want a particular event to count to develop the character and going for success if critical. Stating that you are using luck prior to the roll doesn’t make much sense unless you know you failed what you wanted to do.  

I also would like to see a character have the capability to accrue luck up to some limit. Perhaps an arbitrary 3. Rather than giving every character one per session. Luck points can be granted by the GM at will and perhaps given to the character by a majority vote at the conclusion of a major plot arc (possibly covering multiple sessions) with the GM having the final arbitration. The voting scheme rewards individuals for playing their character well but is easily biased by having your character saved by another.

-M

In response I disected M’s email to clarify my positions on what he brought to the table. I won’t directly paste the disertation here, rather this should suffice:

IMO, stretching the limits of believability is ok so long as luck points don’t become a “get out of death free card.” I never again want to see another player keep one luck point in reserve “just in case…”
With regards to how they should be used: Luck points should never, ever, ever replace RP. If it does, then let me be the first to propose (okay, perhaps I’ll second – M) eliminating their use altogether.
I really like the idea of placing the character at death’s door. It’s just a good idea. More of a “Cheat Instantaneous Death” rule (death is averted for now, but looms ever present…) as opposed to a “Avoid Death Altogether” rule.
Perhaps I wasn’t clear on the whole “as if they never rolled” part of my point. I’d like to further propose that only 1 re-roll is allowed to try again. No multiple luck points can be expended on the same attempt.

And with that Luck points were added to KORE. They evolved in time to create some other subrules like “Burning Your Bridges”, “Blaze of Glory” actions, and “Pushing Your Luck”. But those discussions are for a later post.

Here’s how luck points were initially written into the rules:

Players start with an initial pool of 1 luck point.

Players can accumulate up to 3 points that are awarded by GM or majority of player approval for good RP at any time; usually the end of a major story arc.

Points can be used in the following fashion:

1. Perform a reasonable action without dice.
2. Staying Death’s hand.
3. Do over.

Repeated use of luck points for the same purpose (using 2 points to roll over twice) is not allowed.

Example of Luck Point usage:

Woz, the gun-totin’ hell-stormin’ veteran of the demonic wars sighs deeply and eschews his alter ego of the mild mannered professional poker player long enough to deal with the hell spawn that has interrupted his game. Pissed that this minor entity would consider facing him here in a public location where the fight is likely to involve innocent bystanders, as well as annoyed at the fact that he just drew to an inside straight, Woz makes a break for the stairwell door hoping to lure the demon to a more private locale to send it back to the brimstone belly of Hell.

The GM determines that the entity isn’t interested in Woz and ignores his attempt to lure it away; there are plenty of delicious souls here that are much easier targets than the abyss-touched warrior for heaven. Woz realizes he’s misinterpreted the demon’s presence as the hell spawn ignores his presence and remains in the room to eat the souls of the other gamblers.

Woz’s player declares that he wishes to use a luck point to flash an Arcane Sigil of Drawing at the spawn of evil. Woz’s knows the spell and could roll for success, but he wishes to insure the infallibility of the spell and that the outcome of the action is to his liking. Woz currently has 3 luck points. The GM decides that this is an appropriate use of the luck point and agrees. Woz deducts 1 luck point from his luck point pool leaving him with 2 points available.

The demon feels its essence tugged at by the Arcane Sigil and recognizes the nature of the threat. Covering itself in a billowy darkness, it rushes into the stairwell and speeds after Woz.
Woz reaches into the pocket dimension that holds his personal armory and draws out a vicious looking curved blade. The old warrior awaits the presence of the demon with a grin, “Hell’s gonna know the wrath of the Woz once again” he thinks.

But this demon is no novice. It realizes that any mortal capable of an Arcane Sigil of Drawing is likely a competent foe. Instead of facing the warrior of heaven directly, the spawn of evil allows its essence to coalesce into the darkness of the stairwell shadows; re-materializing directly behind it’s quarry.

The GM determines that the spawn of evil gets a free attack against Woz. Rolling for an attack, the demon succeeds. Cloth, flesh, skin and sinew are ripped from Woz’s back as the claws of the demon cut deeply into the surprised hero. Damage is rolled and it exceeds Woz’s current hit points.

Woz’s player declares the he wishes to use an additional luck point to cheat death. The GM agrees and modifies the damage to allow Woz to have 1 hit point left. Woz’s player again subtracts a luck point from his pool, leaving him with 1 point.

However, in order to allow the use of luck to save the character, the GM decides that the agony of the attack is so great that Woz has dropped his weapon and fallen down the stairs hitting his head on the concrete.

Woz is now unconscious with a hell spawn flowing down the stairs, grinning at the thought of feasting on the soul of a warrior of heaven…

Tags: Annoyances, D&D, DC Heroes, Dungeons and Dragons, Earthdawn, Game Design, KORE rpg, luck, Marvel Superheroes, mechanics, rpg, rules, system, Top Secret