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nate_s_sword_sorcery_game_that_s_based_on_the_will_to_power_concept [2017/05/09 20:52] paganininate_s_sword_sorcery_game_that_s_based_on_the_will_to_power_concept [2017/07/10 17:16] (current) – [Notes, July 2017] paganini
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 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+If you fail to get as many successes as you need you are stymied and lose one will. You must choose how to proceed
  
 You can spend Will points and roll again. 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 3 dice, but sadly doesn't get any successes. If Grimm spends 1 Will, he can retry the roll using 6 dice. If he spends 2 Will, he can roll 9 dice, etc.  You can spend Will points and roll again. 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 3 dice, but sadly doesn't get any successes. If Grimm spends 1 Will, he can retry the roll using 6 dice. If he spends 2 Will, he can roll 9 dice, etc. 
  
-Or, you can accept your failure. If you stop now, you don't get what you want, but you suffer no CONSEQUENCES. However, as a result of being stymied you lose one Will+Or, you can accept your failure. If you stop now, you don't get what you want, but you suffer no CONSEQUENCES. 
  
 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: 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:
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 [[About Thornstad]] [[About Thornstad]]
 +
 +====== Notes, July 2017 ======
 +
 +ADVENTURERS
 +
 +The Adventurers are the uber-characters. There may be adventuring NPCs, but no NPC exists on the same terms as an Adventurer. 
 +The Adventurers exist on their own terms, casting down old tablets and building up new ones. 
 +
 +Distribute 10 points among the 4 methods: Skilled, Violent, Charismatic, Sorcerous. Each method must have at least 1 point. 
 +
 +You begin play with 1 Will Power. 
 +
 +
 +REWARD LOOP
 +
 +1. There is a psychological “substance” - Will Power. 
 +
 +This is not a material substance, but an emergent property of the psyche that *seems* real, subjectively. It fluctuates as a simple scalar, like Humanity in Sorcerer or the Pool in The Pool. We can have more or less of it, we consume it to do things, 
 +and if we lack sufficient of it we are stymied. We can call it Will, Power, Willpower, Spoons, Agency, Effectiveness, or simply Points or Dice. In game terms it is the currency of the reward loop.
 +
 +2. What generates it? 
 +
 +Life-affirming things! There are universal life-affirming things available to all:
 +
 +* Rest
 +* Food and drink
 +* Intoxicants
 +* Companionship
 +* Sex
 +
 +In addition, there are personal life-affirming things that reveal the character’s personality. Generally, these have to do with expressing an ideal of some kind and are self-affirming, or self-overcoming. 
 +
 +Examples: practicing a skill, displays of skill, wining a fight, winning an argument, quiet contemplation, studying philosophical texts, praying, meditating, conversing with a respected companion, self-sacrifice to save or help another, resisting temptation
 +
 +There are two parts to a personal life-affirming thing: first, its essence expresses that the character is (or at least feels) *in control* of some specific thing or in some specific way. Second, it reveals some specific facet of the character’s value system. Activating the personal life-affirming thing involves making a choice of some kind. “I give all my money to the poor” involves a concrete choice and sacrifice in exchange for a concomitant buoying up of morale / spirit / feeling of potency.  
 +
 +3. What depletes it?
 +
 +Great deeds! I.e., the RESOLUTION MECHANIC. You can spend it BEFORE rolling to get an extra die, or AFTER rolling to re-roll all the dice you just rolled. 
 +
 +
 +RESOLUTION MECHANIC
 +
 +1. There are two sources of opposition: Obstacles and Adversaries. 
 +
 +An Obstacle is some feature of the material world that is getting in your Adventurer’s way or creating danger. An Adversary is another character acting at cross-purposes with your Adventurer.
 +
 +2. Obstacles are overcome using Skill. All traditional RPG “task” types are incorporated herein - climbing walls, jumping chasms, picking locks, searching libraries, sneaking around, etc. 
 +
 +3. Adversaries are overcome using Violence or Charisma. Violence means real physical contact, not mere threat: you forcefully restrain, harm, or kill the Adversary. Charisma means you manipulate the Adversary. You lie / mislead, intimidate, seduce, etc., them into doing what you want. Good-faith dialogue and negotiation does not engage with the mechanics; just play it out. Using Charisma means you are bamboozling the Adversary; playing on fear, stirring up anger, engaging their lust or avarice, confusing them with clever arguments, etc.
 +
 +4. What about Sorcery?
 +
 +Who the fuck knows. Mike can design it.
 +
 +5. How it works
 +
 +OK. Options:
 +
 +The methods are: 
 +
 +1. A dice pool <- counting successes
 +2. A target number <- means rolling low is good
 +3. A die size
 +4. An additive (i.e., bonus) <- means an extra math step
 +
 +The Obstacles / Adversaries are:
 +
 +1. A fixed static target (i.e., always 10)
 +2. A dynamic static target (i.e., GM chosen DC)
 +3. A fixed dynamic target (i.e., 3d6)
 +4. A dynamic dynamic target (i.e., GM rates difficulty in sorcerer dice)
 +
 +Spending will before rolling increases chance of success:
 +
 +1. More dice
 +2. Larger die size
 +3. Better TN <- seems inelegant
 +4. Straight bonus (+1) <- this one doesn’t combine well with re-rolls
 +
 +Roll 2d6. If you spent Will before rolling, roll 3d6 and drop the lowest one. Add your Skill, Violence, or Charisma, whichever you’re using. If you get 10 or better, you win! Otherwise, you fail. If you fail, you have a choice to make:
 +
 +You can stop here, with no consequence beyond not getting what you want. This is the best you can do at getting this thing, though. You can’t just try again until something seriously changes. 
 +
 +OR
 +
 +You can spend a Will to re-roll all the dice you just rolled. If you get a 10 or better, you win! Otherwise, you fail for good and all. Also, this time when you fail there are Consequences:
 +
 +Violent - You suffer Harm
 +Charismatic - You receive a Burden
 +Skilled - You experience a Complication
 +Sorcerous - Your Sorcery runs Amok
 +
 +Consequences can be either applied immediately, or converted into a Disadvantage to be applied against a future roll, as the GM wishes. The application of a Disadvantage takes this form:
 +
 +“Because of your wound…”
 +“Because Miriam saw through your lies…”
 +“Because you made so much noise…”
 +
 +“…you have a Disadvantage.” 
 +
 +Mechanically, when Disadvantaged, roll an additional die and drop the highest. This sounds like it might get complex, but it really doesn’t. It just means that if you are Disadvantaged and you spend Will up front you roll 4d6 and take the middle two. 
 +
 +Will spent: 3d6, top two
 +Default: 2d6
 +Disadvantaged: 3d6, bottom two
 +Will spent *and* disadvantaged: 4d6, middle two
 +
 +The GM decides whether or not to use the Disadvantage before the player rolls. 
 +If the roll fails and the player spends a will to re-roll, the Disadvantage die gets rerolled too.
 +The Disadvantage goes away after the GM uses it. (I suggest a card-based tracking method).
 +
 +
 +The Fable / Window / Ironclaw Method
 +
 +Each method is rated with a die type - d4, d6, d8, d10, d12. 
 +
 +Choose one of the following sets of dice and distribute among the four methods:
 +
 +5: d12 d4 d4 d4
 +4: d10 d6 d4 d4
 +3: d8  d8 d4 d4
 +2: d8  d6 d6 d4
 +1: d6  d6 d6 d6
 +
 +Also known as: You have 8 die levels to distribute, minimum d4 in each. OR All methods start at d6. You can raise one method one level by lowering a different method one level. 
 +
 +To do a thing, roll that thing’s die. If you get a 4 or better you win. Otherwise you fail. You can spend a Will to re-roll. Spending Will before the roll gives you an extra d6; roll both and drop the lowest one. OR Spending Will before the roll gives you +1 to the roll. OR Spending Will before the roll bumps you up a die size (what happens if you bump up a d12?)
 +
 +
 +The Trollbabe / Runequest Method
 +
 +Each method is a target number. Roll 1d10 vs. that target number. Less-equal to the TN succeeds. Spend will before rolling to roll 1d8.
 +
  
nate_s_sword_sorcery_game_that_s_based_on_the_will_to_power_concept.1494388348.txt.gz · Last modified: 2017/05/09 20:52 by paganini