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Leewei
2017-03-16, 10:43 AM
Hello, Playground!

I'd like to collaborate a bit on an idea for a homebrew PbP game system. The idea is a simple one, and somewhat derivative of Ars Magica or an old GURPS Magic variant.

Character sheets consist of words. The players use these words to define actions they take in a game. The words have meaning in English, of course, but they also have meaning in the game itself.

Beyond this simple concept, nothing is carved in stone. I do have some ideas on how to flesh it out.
The total number of syllables in a word increase its game effect. A PC may begin the game with the verb, Dupe. After some practice, the PC becomes better at this action, and the verb is promoted to Confound, then to Dissemble and eventually to Prevaricate.PCs might expend resources to enhance an action. For instance, casting a Blazing Inferno would be better than just a plain old Inferno. If used with the Syllables option, above, this effect would simply add more syllables to the action.Some parts of the Syntax would not be on the character sheet. These are other PCs, NPCs, and aspects of the game world with which the players interact.

With the Syllables option, a Subject would make actions harder if it had more syllables.

A character's name could be used like this. As the PC advances in personal power, their name could increase in length. NPC helpers would similarly get longer names as they leveled up.Tactically, one action per turn would make a lot of sense. On a longer bases, perhaps players could use each verb once per turn.

PCs may also have duplicate verbs, similar to traits in a LARP. Alternately, PCs might have verbs which are synonyms. A last option would be for verbs to be categorized with a syllable count providing the limit.The difficulty of each action needs to be determined, somehow. Perhaps Subjects could have a difficulty rating displayed by color coding - or else Syllables may be used.

A few options are possible. First, a flat die roll pitting the success and failure factors against each other. If a player has 4 success factors and 2 failure factors, a 1-4 on d6 would succeed.

Next, there could be a net bonus applied to 1d10. With 2 net success factors, a player would need an 6+ on 1d10+2. A "1" might be considered an automatic failure.

Lastly, there is a die roll for each factor, with failure dice subtracted from success dice. This is similar to Shadowrun, where 6+ on 1d10 indicates a die is counted.

Due to simplicity, I'm leaning toward the second option using 1d10.

Please let me know what your thoughts are, and if you have ideas on how to extend this system.

Thanks!

JeenLeen
2017-03-16, 11:59 AM
Would you intend this to be a generic system for use in multiple genres (classic fantasy, gritty fantasy, modern, sci-fi) and play styles (combat-focused, social-focused, mix), or for a specific setting and theme?
I could see this working very well for something like a setting where each character is a True Namer, and your words are the names you know and, thus, how you can impact other beings of power. Maybe if you were playing spirits or divine beings, so that is the only way you can interact (or at least channel your interaction) with the material plane.
But I can see it working with other settings. Just... takes more work or thought.

Syllables Mean Power
You would need to think up a lot of word chains ahead of time, and some might get mighty contrived or not make sense (i.e., a 4-syllable synonym for a 3-syllable word might have a connotation or even denotation of being weaker). I'd recommend veering away from this for what players can do.

Adding it in as part of names sounds cool.

Adjectives/Adverbs
Sounds cool.
Also, creates a neat delineation between verbs (actions/powers) and descriptors that enhance said things.
I could also see you adding nouns, thereby enable conjuration, control, or stronger impact upon the named thing. Or maybe Nouns are actions just like Verbs, but a noun has an implied "summon" or "command" verb with it.

Subjects
Sounds cool. Although, unless I misread you, the first part seems to just mean that the PC is limited in part by other PCs and NPCs.


Eh.... out of time to comment, but I hope to come back and edit this post.

Leewei
2017-03-16, 01:10 PM
Thank you, JeenLeen!

My inclination at the moment is exactly the "true name" fantasy type of scenario, but I want the system to not be inherently limited to that.

Good point regarding syllables. Darn! They convey complexity well enough, but you're right about power denotation. I'm hopeful this is still workable, since other options for denoting power require special rules write-ups and/or formatting.

Nouns make a lot of sense to throw into the mix, which is why I wrote up the Subject example. Thinking over the way Subject gets used, it may be more sensible to call it Object, or perhaps Target. (The sentences will often resemble commands, with the PCs themselves being implied subjects.) Use of items may be supported with adjectives or adverbs ("vorpal", "eldritch", or so on).

JBPuffin
2017-03-16, 01:54 PM
I had a plan for a word-based game, although closer to Risus than Ars Magica (each character has Verber-type nouns, with adjectives adding rank/power [1 Word = 1 Rank], uses all kinds of weird dice). This does sound fantastic, though.



At the base, every character could Think, Feel, and Act; beyond that, skills are more specialized, but also more powerful.

My "Mage" character with 6 Syllables has three skills: Stupefy, Conjure, Blast. One of his cousins has three as well: Levitate, Shatter, Trick. Another only has two: Manipulate and Bolster.

During a fight, my Mage and his third cousin (3 Syllables - Negate and Strike) get into a fight. I have "Mana" I can apply to magical actions - that is, I can add a two-syllable adjective or subject to my magical actions without spending the broader resource, "Chance", which all characters have access to. So, I decide that I need to Conjure Wolf Pack, and roll 2d10, needing higher than 12 total (base 8+1 per syllable), and I roll a 16, so that works out, right? Well, my cousin throws in his Negate (making it 14), and then he uses up all three of his Chance points to Mightily Negate, meaning I end up needing a 17...so I Conjure a Fierce Wolf Pack with a point of Chance, and voila! Wolves are now alive.

Now, my cousin wants to Strike me...but all he has is Strike. He rolls 1d10, and gets a 9, so all I have to do is Blast him. Sweet!


For Synonyms, I think all you have to do is monitor word choice. Thesauruses are powerful tools. All you have to do as a GM is say, "Hey, Scrape->Injure->Dissever->Eviscerate is cool, but Slay->Injure doesn't make sense." And of course, you don't have to have the progression pre-mapped if you don't want to, just have the player ask about the advancement they want and collaborate (Quite the strong word in this format for "help"). Heal->Restore->Resurrect->Reincarnate, anyone?

Ooh! You have the option of using Chance to step up your Verb rather than just add other words - for a point of this per-scene resource, I can now Assist instead of Help or Injure instead of Scrape. Man, this is fun. I could definitely play this at PbP speed...

Leewei
2017-03-16, 02:32 PM
Very interesting idea - using Mana as a wildcard ability to flesh out spells on the fly.

Also, the more I think about it, the more I like the interaction between names and syllables. Players would immediately intuit a sense of power for NPCs and monsters, which is both unforeseen and cool.

EDIT: Further thoughts about the Conjure action. To keep this simple, it'd make sense to tie the effect to the act's word, itself. A player could Call an Imp, Invoke a Demon, or so on. Game balance would be a factor. Such creatures would act independently of their master, and would be very versatile. I'm thinking making them appear but not act until subsequent turns is about right. This gives enemies a chance to react (possibly using actions to destroy the creature). If names are balanced correctly, it could even allow a player to summon up defeated enemies, similar to Weiss in RWBY. For that matter, creating undead from slain enemies would work on a similar principle. (Reanimate is a nice, four-syllable word.)

Thanks, JBPuffin!

JBPuffin
2017-03-16, 04:41 PM
Very interesting idea - using Mana as a wildcard ability to flesh out spells on the fly.

Also, the more I think about it, the more I like the interaction between names and syllables. Players would immediately intuit a sense of power for NPCs and monsters, which is both unforeseen and cool.

EDIT: Further thoughts about the Conjure action. To keep this simple, it'd make sense to tie the effect to the act's word, itself. A player could Call an Imp, Invoke a Demon, or so on. Game balance would be a factor. Such creatures would act independently of their master, and would be very versatile. I'm thinking making them appear but not act until subsequent turns is about right. This gives enemies a chance to react (possibly using actions to destroy the creature). If names are balanced correctly, it could even allow a player to summon up defeated enemies, similar to Weiss in RWBY. For that matter, creating undead from slain enemies would work on a similar principle. (Reanimate is a nice, four-syllable word.)

Thanks, JBPuffin!

Warriors might have Tactics (Mana for certain types of attack), and Rogues could have Rackets (essentially a specialty -stealth, deception, still cetera). This is totally a niche-defining method.

If you ever solidify things to the point of playtest, shoot me a PM; I'm down for game like this any time.

Weird thought - in some settings, PCs and​ NPCs alike might use different languages. Could be a facial or archetypal distinction, a cultural thing, or just something players agree upon before the game.

Leewei
2017-03-17, 12:22 PM
I'll want a playtest not too far off from now. I'll PM anyone expressing interest here, as well as open a recruiting thread.

Having thought this through a bit, I'll pitch character generation and game mechanics.

Each character is created with a number of syllables. The character's name has that number of syllables, as does their strongest action. The player then assigns additional actions, each with one fewer syllable than the previous one, until an action with one syllable is assigned.

3 Syllable Character
Lahanran
Incinerate Immolate
Shapeshift
StrikeRolling 1d10 modified by syllables with a target of 6 seems the most reasonable approach; it favors larger modifiers without completely overshadowing smaller ones.Harming: Rolling an action against the Name of a target may apply statuses such as Scathed / Injured / Disfigured / Mutilated / Decapitated or so on. Success advances this status by one; when syllables match those in the target's name, they are defeated.
Summoning: Create a creature to act independently of you. The creature's Name has syllables matching that of this ability. The creature appears immediately, but cannot act until subsequent turns. No further use of this action is possible until the creature is gone. Unlike other NPCs, summoned creatures may only take Harming actions using their Names.
Healing: Rolling an action against an injury allows the character to reduce its severity by one syllable.
Dispelling: Cancel a magical attack or dispel an existing effect.

JeenLeen
2017-03-17, 01:51 PM
Sounds cool. (Sorry--I got busy so wasn't able to look back at this until now.)

One interesting thing I noticed is regional dialect when it comes to syllables. From your example of Lahanran, a 3 syllable name: I count 4 syllables in 'Incinerate': in-cin-er-ate. I reckon you read it as 'in-cine-rate'. This isn't really a problem, as I can see the DM & player deciding upon the meaning & syllables during character creation, but something I thought to note. Probably a good sidebar to add in the final ruleset.

Also, how single-meaning do you intend the words to be? Some words have multiple meanings, which could enable a character to do more actions than one word would usually allow. Is this intended or something you'd want avoided by defining the meaning ahead of time?
(I'm surprised I can't think of a good example. Maybe something like "trip" to inconvenience or harm someone by making them trip, or as a noun to teleport or transport something (taking a trip). That's a bad example, though. I'm sure there's some verbs with a dual meaning.)

I like the d10 with 6 + modifiers in general. It will be an easy adjustment for players use to d10 systems like World of Darkness. "Health boxes" equal to your syllable is also a good and intuitive idea, and seems okay if players start with at least a few syllables so a single hit doesn't kill them.
However, I kind of dislike how it means your magic/action can fail. I'd rather something like it succeeds (unless impeded by another 'caster'), but with varying levels of success. Your way seems simpler, though, so that's probably the better way to go at it. I just remember a lot of frustration during Mage games when my Arete rolls kept being too low.

Question on Damage: does a successful hit always do 1 syllable of damage and only 1 syllable of damage? (including advancing existent damage by 1 syllable).
Seems okay in principle, but it means that if a party has a healer and outnumbers a dude, that dude cannot effectively ever kill someone. Just have your healer heal whoever was just hit.

Is there a limit to how much you can use a syllable, i.e., only so many castings per 'rest' (day, scene, whatever you decide to use)?
I could see something almost like an inverse on your syllable name. Like, if you have a 3 syllable name, you can cast 1-syllable words 3 times, 2-syllable 2 times, and 3-syllable 1 time per 'rest'. Or maybe keep a separate mana pool equal to your Syllables*3 or something like that.
Although if you intended infinite castings, that could work fine, too. The above is just advice if you plan to limit castings.

I do like the idea of Chance or Mana as mentioned earlier, by another poster, to let you do limited-use augmentations.
Also, I'm interested in a playtest.


ALTERNATIVE IDEA: if you can make the use of names into a reasonable limited resource, I could see trying a diceless system where, instead of luck factoring in, it is completely a game of strategy and resource management, the resources here being your syllables. Sort of like a card game where you have your whole deck as your hand, able to use when needed, but not sure when the best time to play a given card is.

Leewei
2017-03-17, 02:12 PM
Thanks again, JeenLeen.

I'd miscounted syllables in my example. I've edited it into Immolate.

The notion is that each word will have one meaning, but some words could certainly be far more versatile. Consider Shapeshift, which could be used offensively to neutralize weak enemies, or as utility, allowing the caster to grow wings or gills.

As conceived, a PC/NPC would get to use the same action every round. It could be sensible to tweak the game to encourage variety*. I like the idea of limited-use actions as well, but I'm thinking that maybe adding in stuff such as expendable potions / scrolls / herbs or the like would make sense.

*I'm thinking carrot rather than stick, here. Maybe scale up a bonus to new actions, or somehow put in a mechanical award for Rule of Cool?