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| #1the_wandering_alchemistJul 24, 2015 15:44:02 | For the past few days I have been formulating the groundwork of my own system to encourage role-playing. My goal is to create a versitile and simple system that can be used with many different games and games styles. I want the system to encourage people to role-play and help drive the story forward by rewarding them, but to not punish the players who are less apt to do this or prevent them from being able to advance in any way.
My inspiration for such a system is coming form a veriety of games but there are three that are really driving my design intent. My first introduction to such systems was the Savage World's benefit system and is one of my favorites. I mention it whenever talk of such systems comes up or as my favorite part of the Savage World system. From this I want to pull the idea of not only getting the chance to use some form of point to "buy" a re-roll but to alos buy narritive elements that are convienient to the players within a scene. The purpose of this is to get the players to think thematically and in terms of the scene. And the example I always use is a car chase. Instead of a re-roll or continuing the chase using such a point could grant a simple parking garage for that swift getaway / hiding spot to plan a next move before action picks back up.
The second inspiration is the new Inspiration system from D&D 5. Like the Savage Worlds system it grants points from role-players who do a significant job of doing so. Specificaly by doing something in line with the character but not optimized to "beating the game." The system gives basic premises to work of by providing characters with ideals and relationships they must struggle to fit into adventuring life.
The last inspiration is the Burnign Wheel and similar systems. Similar to D&D's inspiration system you have set things that may hinder the overall campaign minorly but drives your character and side story lines. The problem I have with this system is how much is relied on the players doing this. Especially the off-shoots like Mouse Guard and Torchbearer, where it is imperitive that you utilize traits in negative ways to enable the progression of the entire story to your benefit.
So my idea is called Embodiment. I am stealing a bit of mechanics fro ma DM I had at Pax East this year and hybridizing it into the aforementioned systems. My goal is to create a system that encourages role-playing, making the "wrong" choice, and driving the story. Players will be rewarded by both the DM and other players. However points will be limited and spending them is as important as earning them.
First there are a number of categories that need to be defined for each player. So far I am thinking the following: instinct, belief, ideal, connection, goal, and way-of-life. This list may change or shorten as I can think of arguments for seperation or overlap of some categories. All in all I want these to be fairly vague or middle ground. I don't want things like Goal: get out of town or Goal: become a god. Something in the middle like Goal: Find information on rituals to become more powerful and begind my quest to godhood. That gives a good example of goals but for the other ones my thoughts are such.
You may ask why so many for a supplemental system, but I am hoping to use these to help flesh out a character as much as possible. I want it to provide the players and the DM inspiration for play. But most of all I want well-rounded characters that are full of things that may be both helpful and problematic. I'm thinking of adding Flaw to that list but, like I said, the list is just a rough rough rough draft.
Mechanically players would begin with 0 points. This is much like the D&D system. Savage Worlds grants 3, which is veyr powerful, but such a narrative game asks the players to spend often and strive to earn. Burning Wheel also grants begining persona and fate, but can be a challenging game requiring their use and rewarding them on a regular basis. Points would be earned in one of 3 ways utilizing the attributes derived from the above categories.
I think a DM should have a pool of points to give out (use poker chips for example) equal to somewhere between PC number and 2x PC number. PCs should each have 1-2 points to reward as well. Bank limit would be holding onto a certain number of usable points. Probably 2. If you are capped you can't earn anymore, thus encouraging other players to earn available points. Limiting available points prevents one player from chosing (for example) greedy and giving points out to everyone that loots everything all the time. Limits would also provide the players reason to spend them. 1) they can then earn more and 2) those points are available for others to earn. Color coding would help police the limits and whose getting points from who and who is giving them out. It can also encourage players to agree. A frugal player may offer a point to another who is on the fence about over spending their gold nedlessly should they decide to make the wise choice of not spending the party gold.
Obviously I'm looking to do very little while also providing alot of potential. It is a system that is going to need a balance in the number of points floating around, able to be had, able to be given. It also requires a lot of judgement on the DM and the players. I plan on refining this down and testing it a bit and would love to hear similar ideas you guys are using, or for you guys to use this and give me feedback. I'll also be sure to update this when I stabilize the rules for my own testing. |
| #2Xeviat-DMJul 26, 2015 14:16:23 | You can utilize the existing Flaw, Connection, and Trait (names are escaping me, books aren't here) for the same thing. |
| #3bawylieJul 27, 2015 11:21:25 | I use the traits, bonds, ideals & flaws like that.
The rule I implemented is that when you play to a trait, bond, flaw, or ideal to your detriment, you gain inspiration.
For instance, an ideal would be like "I uphold justice," so when you're in a dilemma that pits some goal or desire against Justice, you'd maybe decide to forgo that goal for justice & I award inspiration. Like you could kill this mob boss now and prevent further damage to this city, but you can't prove he's done anything. So you resolve to let him go for now and do it the right way. |
| #4the_wandering_alchemistAug 02, 2015 7:16:11 |
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