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nate_s_sword_sorcery_game_that_s_based_on_the_will_to_power_concept [2017/04/28 20:56] – [The Mechanics] paganininate_s_sword_sorcery_game_that_s_based_on_the_will_to_power_concept [2017/05/09 22:19] paganini
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 In this game you play an adventurer - everyone does. Your adventurer is Violent, Charismatic, Skilled, and Sorcerous - these are the four Methods. During play you will be faced with Obstacles and Adversaries. The four Methods are the tools you use to overcome these challenges.  In this game you play an adventurer - everyone does. Your adventurer is Violent, Charismatic, Skilled, and Sorcerous - these are the four Methods. During play you will be faced with Obstacles and Adversaries. The four Methods are the tools you use to overcome these challenges. 
  
-To start with, you have 15 dice (10-sided ones) to distribute among the 4 Methods. Give at least one die to each Method. If it helps, think of it like this: "On a scale of 1 to 5, how Violent (or whatever) is my adventurer?" An average everyday Method has 2 dice, which is enough to handle the mundane obstacles and confrontations regular people encounter as they go about their lives. A Method with only 1 die represents a bit of a disadvantage compared to most people. There's no limit on the number of dice you can assign to each Method. If you want your adventurer to be a stupendously powerful sorcerer - say, on a scale of 1 to 5 he's a 9! - that's just fine.+To start with, you have 15 dice (regular 6-sided ones) to distribute among the 4 Methods. Give at least one die to each Method. If it helps, think of it like this: "On a scale of 1 to 5, how Violent (or whatever) is my adventurer?" An average everyday Method has 2 dice, which is enough to handle the mundane obstacles and confrontations regular people encounter as they go about their lives. A Method with only 1 die represents a bit of a disadvantage compared to most people. There's no limit on the number of dice you can assign to each Method. If you want your adventurer to be a stupendously powerful sorceress - say, on a scale of 1 to 5 she's a 9! - that's just fine.
  
 ==== A Note about Sorcery ==== ==== A Note about Sorcery ====
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 You begin every adventure with 1 Will. You will gain Will by having your adventure do certain things during play. Anyone can do one of the following any time nothing else is going on: You begin every adventure with 1 Will. You will gain Will by having your adventure do certain things during play. Anyone can do one of the following any time nothing else is going on:
  
-  * Sleeping in a Comfortable Place +  * Sleep in a Comfortable Place 
-  * Eating a Good Meal +  * Eat a Good Meal 
-  * Reveling With Companions +  * Revel With Companions 
-  * Enjoying Intoxicants+  * Enjoy Intoxicants
  
 If you do, you get one point of Will.  If you do, you get one point of Will. 
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 ===== The Mechanics ===== ===== The Mechanics =====
  
-Any time an Obstacle or Adversary is encountered by your adventurer you can try to defeat it with one of the four Methods by rolling that Method's dice. Grimm the Assassin rolls 8 dice to do Violence. If you're using a Specialty, dice that turn up greater than are successes. If you're using one of your other Styles, dice that turn up greater than are successes. Otherwise, dice that turn up greater than 7 are successes. Grimm the Assassin needs 6 - 10 to sneak up and cut his victim's throat from behind, 10 to poison the wine, and 8 - 10 to duel with a sword. +Any time an Obstacle or Adversary is encountered by your adventurer you can try to defeat it with one of the four Methods by rolling that Method's dice. Grimm the Assassin rolls 8 dice to do Violence. If you're using a Specialty, dice that turn up greater than are successes. If you're using one of your other Styles, dice that turn up greater than are successes. Otherwise, dice that turn up are successes. Grimm the Assassin needs 4 - 6 to cut his victim's throat from behind, to poison the wine, and to duel with a sword. 
  
 Generally, a single success is enough to get what you want. The man on the street needs one success to kill or convince. Of course, if there are 10 of them you need 10 successes to defeat the whole angry mob. Naturally, some Obstacles and Adversaries will be more significant. The famous swordsman might need 5 successes all to himself, and the sheer wall of the Crying Magician's tower might need 3 successes to climb.  Generally, a single success is enough to get what you want. The man on the street needs one success to kill or convince. Of course, if there are 10 of them you need 10 successes to defeat the whole angry mob. Naturally, some Obstacles and Adversaries will be more significant. The famous swordsman might need 5 successes all to himself, and the sheer wall of the Crying Magician's tower might need 3 successes to climb. 
  
-If you fail to get as many successes as you needyou must make a choice. You can accept your failure. If you stop now, nothing bad happens. You don't get what you want, but that's all; no further consequences. On the other hand, you can spend Will points and re-roll. Each Will you spend adds more dice equal to the Method that you're using. You still get to use your original dice too. So let's say Grimm is trying to talk his way past a guard. He rolls 3d10, but sadly doesn't get any successes. If Grimm spends 1 Will, he can retry the roll using 6d10. If he spends 2 Will, he can roll 9d10, etc. +If you fail to get as many successes as you need you are stymied and lose one will. You must choose how to proceed: 
  
-The thing is, when you use Will to re-roll, you are taking a riskIf the re-roll fails not only do you not succeed at what you were trying to do, but one of the following happens as welldepending on what Method you were using:+You can spend Will points and roll againEach Will you spend adds more dice equal to the Method that you're using. You still get to use your original dice too. So let's say Grimm is trying to talk his way past a guard. He rolls 3 dice, but sadly doesn't get any successes. If Grimm spends 1 Willhe can retry the roll using 6 dice. If he spends 2 Will, he can roll 9 dice, etc. 
  
-Violent - You suffer Harm +Or, you can accept your failure. If you stop now, you don't get what you want, but you suffer no CONSEQUENCES. 
-Charismatic - You receive a Burden +
-Skilled - You experience a Complication +
-Sorcerous - Your Sorcery runs Amock+
  
 +When you spend Will to roll again, you are taking a risk. If the second roll fails not only do you lose Will and fail at what you were trying to do, as above, but you also suffer one of the following CONSEQUENCES, depending on what Method you were using:
 +
 +  * Violent - You suffer Harm
 +  * Charismatic - You receive a Burden
 +  * Skilled - You experience a Complication
 +  * Sorcerous - Your Sorcery runs Amok
  
 ==== Some Nuances ==== ==== Some Nuances ====
-If you want to, you can spend Will on your very first roll and so use lots of dice right away. If you do, though, you take a risk on that very first roll as well, just as if it were a re-roll.  
  
-The initial "risk free" Method roll gives you a certain amount of descriptive leeway. If you're rolling to jump across a wide abyss and you succeedthen you made the jump. If you fail and don'spend Will, maybe at the last second you decided it was wider than it looked at firstso you don't make the attempt. If you spend Will to re-roll but still fail, that's when you really jump but don't make it across+If you want to, you can spend Will on your very first roll and so use lots of dice right away. If you do, thoughyou risk suffering CONSEQUENCES on that very first roll
  
 +The initial "risk free" roll gives you a certain amount of descriptive leeway. If you're rolling to jump across a wide abyss and you succeed, then you made the jump. If you fail and don't spend Will, maybe at the last second you decided it was wider than it looked at first, so you don't make the attempt. If you spend Will to roll again but still fail, that's when you really jump but don't make it across.
 +
 +The successes you generate from your rolls accumulate. If you have enough Will and want to keep spending it to roll a third, or fourth, etc., time you can do that. Just keep in mind that every such roll that fails to reach your goal generates CONSEQUENCES. So if it takes you four rolls before you finally win, you'll suffer two separate CONSEQUENCES.
  
 ==== Harm ==== ==== Harm ====
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 Harm can affect your character mechanically in two ways, depending on whether or not you have any Will left. Harm can affect your character mechanically in two ways, depending on whether or not you have any Will left.
  
-If you have any Will (even just one point) and you receive enough Harm to bump all the way off the track (i.e., you need to cross off box '5' but it is already crossed off, or you take 6 successes of Harm in one blow) you are Down. The GM decides what happens to your helpless battered and / or unconscious body, how long you're out, and what the circumstances are for your return to the world of the living. Additionally, you receive a Scar. A Scar is some kind of permanent mark left by your traumatic experience. A Scar works like one of the universal Will generators - any time you reference it meaningfully in play you get Will(You will have to work out with the GM what "meaningful" means.) +If you have any Will (even just one point) and you receive enough Harm to bump all the way off the track (i.e., you need to cross off box '5' but it is already crossed off, or you take 6 successes of Harm in one blow) you are Down. The GM decides what happens to your helpless battered and / or unconscious body, how long you're out, and what the circumstances are for your return to the world of the living. Additionally, you receive a Scar. A Scar is some kind of permanent mark left by your traumatic experience. It, perhaps, adjusts your HARM track by adding one to all of the boxes. Mike's alternate idea: You get a new box on the end (so, [6] the first time it happens), and you remove your lowest crossed-off box. So if you are [1][2][X][4][5] and you take 7 points of harm, you become [1][2][4][5][6].
  
 If you have no Will and you receive enough Harm to bump all the way off the track, you die.  If you have no Will and you receive enough Harm to bump all the way off the track, you die. 
  
-Harm heals in two ways. First, your adventurer starts fresh at the beginning of every adventure, no matter what happened last time. Second, any time you gain Will you may uncross one box (the smallest one available) of harm.+Harm heals in two ways. First, your adventurer starts fresh at the beginning of every adventure, no matter what happened last time. Second, any time you gain Will you may uncross your lowest crossed-out box and cross off the one to the left instead. If your lowest crossed out box is the leftmost one, that harm is simply healed. 
 + 
 +---- 
 +Above this line is Nate's draft. Below are Mike's notes from online conversations.
  
 ====== Character Generation ====== ====== Character Generation ======
nate_s_sword_sorcery_game_that_s_based_on_the_will_to_power_concept.txt · Last modified: 2017/07/10 17:16 by paganini