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View Full Version : The Most Complex Idea For Game Mechanics EVER!!!



JBPuffin
2014-02-08, 09:08 PM
Alright, so I'm a bit of a universalist when it comes to gaming: I want to be able to play literally anything in any game I play, and this often carries over when I think about game systems. This, however, is one of the strangest ideas I think I've ever had, and I want some commentary on it.

Characters can use any kind of weapon or armor without penalty...but only the ones they make themselves. You'd start off without any gear whatsoever (except some wood, that is), then gain the ability to construct weapons, then armor later. The trick is, though, that your first weapon invariably will be a shaft of wood, and that first piece of armor is quite probably only going to be a shirt.

As you grow in power, you can invest your advancements into Expansions (things like Blades or Ranged Attacks for weapons or Legs and Joints for Armor) and Complexity (which allows to change the sizes and shapes of the various parts, as well as create more elaborate weapons). At first, all you have is the Shaft, a quarterstaff in other words. Then, you might add Blades to your options and level up Complexity; now, you can have a blade, albeit the one that you'd see in a Gladius, but also change the size of your weapons handle, so you could have a halberd-type polearm, a shortsword or a greatsword. For armor, when you get it, you could pick up a Complexity upgrade and Legs, meaning you could have some jeans-length leg protection, as well as anything from a robe to a bra for a shirt-type armor.

Obviously this system is ridiculously complex...and, as you might expect, the material you make the thing out of is going to have an effect on your gear's stats as well (like, different types of wood, each with its own type of modifier). The best place for this would be some sort of non-tabletop game, but I'm just running the idea through you guys.

To top this off, I was kind of thinking of pairing this with something like a Concept system and beat-em-up-style combat; you'd have three concepts (i.e. Music, Restoration, or Atoms) that you could get abilities from, and you'd have Attack Chains, which you could upgrade with Critical Hits, various Combos, and the like. Oh, and whoever is winning will be more likely to activate their specials; since you'll usually be fighting things of equal power level or that need real tactical thought to be on the same level as, it won't matter all that much, though it will make combat speed up as it goes on.

So, this is a ridiculously complex idea...but it's entirely theoretical, as I couldn't think of any way to actually do this in any system, and it sounds like loads of fun. Even if it's too impractical to work, does it sound cool?

Rhynn
2014-02-08, 09:15 PM
What's the pay-off for the GM, and for the players, compared to other, more straightforward and/or more realistic systems? What's the advantage?

Also, what's the goal? For what purpose would you institute this rule? What results are you looking to get? A mechanic for its own sake is a gimmick, and the value of a gimmick is pretty much inversely proportional to its complexity. (E.g. in Kobolds Ate My Baby, if anyone mentions the name of King Torg, everyone else has to shout All Hail King Torg! That's a simple gimmick that's purely supposed to be silly.)

JBPuffin
2014-02-08, 09:46 PM
What's the pay-off for the GM, and for the players, compared to other, more straightforward and/or more realistic systems? What's the advantage?

Also, what's the goal? For what purpose would you institute this rule? What results are you looking to get? A mechanic for its own sake is a gimmick, and the value of a gimmick is pretty much inversely proportional to its complexity. (E.g. in Kobolds Ate My Baby, if anyone mentions the name of King Torg, everyone else has to shout All Hail King Torg! That's a simple gimmick that's purely supposed to be silly.)

...so I'll say this again, just so it's clear: it's not really meant for tabletop BECAUSE it's so complex. If necessary, I'll move it somewhere else...but i can't figure out where it would go then.

As for your questions...well, a GM who wants the maximum amount of "player control" might use this; if you want your players to be in charge of what they can do, I'd encourage using this system. The payoff is the sheer feeling of "I'm in control"; you have the right and ability to do whatever your little mind can think of, and that feeling is one I enjoy immensely. The advantage...well, I'm not quite sure, really.

And for goal/value, the goal would be to use this for a kitchen sink...or, now that I think of it, a prison/dungeon escape type of game. Since you'd be scrounging for materials already, if every little detail counts it seems slightly more realistic, even moreso if it's not all that realistic in that everyone's described as hyper-confident.

All-in-all, it's rags-to-riches with some attempt at balance (no morningstar sword-chuks at first level, guys...). It's not exactly practical, but...it sounds cool to me.

Anxe
2014-02-08, 10:14 PM
Why not just play Minecraft?

NichG
2014-02-08, 10:40 PM
This kind of elaborate system isn't all that uncommon in computer and console RPGs of various sorts. Nippon Ichi games, for example, do this kind of thing all the time - here's a weapon, it can have up to eight different kinds of inhabitants, a weapon level that can be improved through an item world, growth rates that can be modified by exactly how you went through the item world, etc.

It has the sort of appeal that the character optimization minigame in D&D has - its a horrendously convoluted system, so you can spend time learning it and eventually learn to really exploit it, which can be a satisfying outcome.

For actual tabletop use, you can get pretty complex before things bog down, so long as there are stages of compression. E.g. yes, your weapon has 8 different things going into it, but during a fight you can just use the pre-computed attack bonus and you don't have to revisit those 8 things to evaluate the outcome of every hit.

Rhynn
2014-02-08, 10:43 PM
...so I'll say this again, just so it's clear: it's not really meant for tabletop BECAUSE it's so complex. If necessary, I'll move it somewhere else...but i can't figure out where it would go then.

Yeah, this forum is about tabletop RPGs. Are you making a computer game or something? In that case, you're not close to overcomplicated enough to compete: Dwarf Fortress tracks mass, hardness, contact area size, and other bizarrely detailed properties for weapons and somehow derives damaging effects from these, modelling creature bodies complete with skin, muscles, blood vessels, bones, sensory and motor nerves, and internal organs. (Plus every tooth separately.) :smalltongue:

SethoMarkus
2014-02-08, 11:44 PM
This doesn't really seem all that overly complex in general, just too tedious for table-top play. I'm not aware of any to point you in the direction of, but it really just sounds like you're looking for a crafting/manufacturing simulationist game.