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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    Blueiji's Avatar

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    Default What Are Your Favorite Conflict Resolution Mechanics?

    What do I mean by "conflict resolution mechanic?"
    • An instanced, discrete mechanics instigated by player action. Think fights, duels, clashes, and other "deciders."
    • Have a beginning and end-point, and are likely to happen more than once per game.
    • Involve some degree of strategy, tactics, or influence-able luck.
    • Have a winner and loser, or involve varying results for any engaged parties.

    A few examples of what I mean.
    • The poker-based shootout system in Doomtown: Reloaded.
    • The combat-card systems in games like Kemet, Game of Thrones: The Boardgame, and Scythe.
    • The risk/reward, commitment-based systems in games like Rex: Final Days of an Empire and Cosmic Encounter (I may be misremembering the latter, its been a while).
    • The chaos bag skill tests in Arkham Horror: The Card Game.
    • The dice-pool skill check system in the Mouse Guard RPG (along with the game's conflict system, which incorporates the skill checks into a more complex context).

    Thanks for reading! I'm excited to hear y'all's thoughts, and am especially interested in hearing why your favorite is your favorite.

    Spoiler: The context, if you're interested.
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    I'm developing a LARP system. I didn't lead with this because I wanted to . If you are

    For physical/disability accessibility reasons, I'm looking to avoid traditional boffer-combat. At the same time, I really abhor the literal rock-paper-scissors system of some LARPs. I'd ideally like something:

    • That gives the feel of a fight without requiring physical contact.
    • That can be done standing up, and without a shared flat surface (but not necessarily without props--anything that can be carried on-hand is fine).
    • Is nuanced enough to feel engaging and influence-able, without being too complicated (not all LARPers want heavy rules).
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  2. - Top - End - #2
    Ogre in the Playground
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    Default Re: What Are Your Favorite Conflict Resolution Mechanics?

    Quote Originally Posted by Blueiji View Post
    What do I mean by "conflict resolution mechanic?"
    • An instanced, discrete mechanics instigated by player action. Think fights, duels, clashes, and other "deciders."
    • Have a beginning and end-point, and are likely to happen more than once per game.
    • Involve some degree of strategy, tactics, or influence-able luck.
    • Have a winner and loser, or involve varying results for any engaged parties.

    A few examples of what I mean.
    • The poker-based shootout system in Doomtown: Reloaded.
    • The combat-card systems in games like Kemet, Game of Thrones: The Boardgame, and Scythe.
    • The risk/reward, commitment-based systems in games like Rex: Final Days of an Empire and Cosmic Encounter (I may be misremembering the latter, its been a while).
    • The chaos bag skill tests in Arkham Horror: The Card Game.
    • The dice-pool skill check system in the Mouse Guard RPG (along with the game's conflict system, which incorporates the skill checks into a more complex context).

    Thanks for reading! I'm excited to hear y'all's thoughts, and am especially interested in hearing why your favorite is your favorite.

    Spoiler: The context, if you're interested.
    Show
    I'm developing a LARP system. I didn't lead with this because I wanted to . If you are

    For physical/disability accessibility reasons, I'm looking to avoid traditional boffer-combat. At the same time, I really abhor the literal rock-paper-scissors system of some LARPs. I'd ideally like something:

    • That gives the feel of a fight without requiring physical contact.
    • That can be done standing up, and without a shared flat surface (but not necessarily without props--anything that can be carried on-hand is fine).
    • Is nuanced enough to feel engaging and influence-able, without being too complicated (not all LARPers want heavy rules).
    It really changes in relation to the context.
    I usually enjoy tactical games, where there is some element of luck, but mostly it's about preparation and reading what your opponent is going to do.

    in the context of what you need, here is a simple system that might work:
    Spoiler
    Show

    I'm assuming that whatever the type of game, there is some element of class/skill system.
    For the sake of the example, let's say that the characters have several skills they choose and they rate in levels between 1-10 (0 if you don't have the skill)
    This applies to both combat and non combat skills

    The system is based on decks of cards with numbers between 1-10.

    In the start of the game, each player gets X random cards and an additional "joker" card with value of 0
    If the character rests/recharges somehow, all the cards except the joker are discarded and replaced with new X number of cards.

    When there is a challenge, we'll split it to two: player vs player (like sword vs sword skill, or bow vs dodge), or player vs GM (lock picking, mechanical skills, knowledge skills...)
    In player vs player, both sides select a card from their pack, after both sides pick the card, it is added to the relevant skill and calculated as card+skill between the two players.
    In player vs world, the player chooses a card, adds the relevant skill and the GM determines if it passes or failed.
    Each card except the joker can only be used once!

    This gives both the element of chance (what cards you have)
    Some level of strategy (know when to keep the strong cards for)
    And combat involves some mind games, when you have to guess if your opponent will try to blast you with his strong card, or if he even has any cards left

  3. - Top - End - #3
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    Blueiji's Avatar

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    Default Re: What Are Your Favorite Conflict Resolution Mechanics?

    Quote Originally Posted by random11 View Post
    It really changes in relation to the context.
    I usually enjoy tactical games, where there is some element of luck, but mostly it's about preparation and reading what your opponent is going to do.
    I definitely agree that the "best" conflict resolution system is the one that's right for the game! That's why I'm asking for your favorite though, because I'm more so looking to widen my familiarity with conflict resolution systems that people enjoy. If you have any favorite conflict resolution systems from board/card/tabletop RPGs, I'd love to hear them! It's okay even if they're really niche/game-specific, I'm looking for inspiration rather than stuff to wholesale copy.

    I'm assuming that whatever the type of game, there is some element of class/skill system.
    For the sake of the example, let's say that the characters have several skills they choose and they rate in levels between 1-10 (0 if you don't have the skill)

    *snip*
    This is a really nice, rules-lite system! Thank you for sharing it. Working with a deck of cards definitely feels like a good way to capture some of the excitement of boffer/physical combat while remaining accessible.
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  4. - Top - End - #4
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    Man_Over_Game's Avatar

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    Default Re: What Are Your Favorite Conflict Resolution Mechanics?

    Netrunner comes to mind for what you've described.
    The game utilizes an asymmetrical duel system, where one player is a Hacker, the other is the Corporation, and both have very specific rules and powers. Basically, the Hacker is the Aggressor, while the Corporation is the Defender. Hacker wins by stopping the Corporation from cashing in his investments, Corporation wins by cashing in his investments or killing the Hacker.

    Some of the great ideas it implements are:
    • Hand size is representative of the hacker's HP, losing cards randomly when he takes damage. If he doesn't draw cards, he puts himself at risk of being killed.
    • The Corporation places defenses in front of his investments face-down, with a cost to activate them when they're triggered that the Corporation may or may not be able to afford based on his current funds (which the Hacker can see).
    • Investments themselves are face-down until their effect takes place, so they themselves can also be traps to burn out the Hacker into killing himself.


    As a result, Netrunner uses a lot of mindgames and resource manipulation to get your opponent to slip up and to capitalize on his mistakes. I just put a trap down but I have no money, so is it a really cheap trap, is it protecting a trap investment, or am I just bluffing to get you to not hit me while I'm vulnerable?



    Another great game of conflict resolution and interactivity is 7 Wonders: Duel. It does a plethora of things that encourage interactivity, between:
    • Having the cost of buying a missing resource be based on the number of that resource your opponent can supply (so if you need more wood to buy something, you have 2, your opponent has 1, each wood you buy costs +1 more)
    • The resources and buildings that you each buy are done in an alternating card-draw method on a Mahjong-style card board, so you know almost exactly what your opponent might try to do based off of your priorities, your actions, and their own, making it a game of chess, sacrifices, and counter-plays.
    • The game allows multiple means of playing, whether that means gathering enough Science icons (which already provide long-term buffs) to get an instant win, pushing your military prowess to conquer their city (which comes with penalties to their income and more victory points to you should the game run out of cards), and a victory-point option for when the game stalls long enough to run out of cards for players to draw.


    For me, the most important thing is that every decision one side makes should change the decision the other side makes. Which, for me, is the reason I dislike combat in TTRPGs and TCGs. Too often are your actions based on your character/deck building, rather than based on whatever's happening in that single moment. It becomes an endless cycle of "Well, there's not anything I can do about that, so I'm just gonna do the thing that I'm good at", which is just isn't fun to me.

    In something like MTG, you cannot interact with a Flying, Unblockable, or Hexproof creature unless your pre-decided cards give you permission to. Similarly, a Fighter cannot escape a Wall of Force box unless a power gives him permission to.

    Or, separating it from multiplayer play, I should be able to solve any possible problem, just with varying levels of efficiency. I might not be able to fight well as Daisy in the Arkham Horror Card Game, but that's a matter of efficiency, not permission.

    I guess you could say that, for me, a good resolution-based mechanic is one that never says "You Can't", but instead says "You Shouldn't". That way, I always have a possible solution, the question becomes whether it's worthwhile, and that, in-turn, creates more options and more "game" for me to play.



    Translating that into something as you've described, it basically means having every possible aspect of contribution translate as value into other forms. The Chaos Bag in Arkham Horror, and how all attributes basically work the same way, means that everyone has roughly the same possibilities despite having specialties. In something like 7 Wonders: Duel, it means that taking the Science route at the start translates well into a Military victory if you can acquire the science buff that removes your opponents gold whenever you advance in military in case the Science victory isn't working, or how the Military scale between the players translates into Victory Points at the end in case the player run the clock out.

    Nothing you can do should go to waste. Maybe things aren't in your favor, but you should still be able to scramble together a solution, and hard-stops (like Flying in MTG) are bad mechanics because of that.
    Last edited by Man_Over_Game; 2020-09-24 at 10:02 AM.
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  5. - Top - End - #5
    Ettin in the Playground
     
    Amechra's Avatar

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    Default Re: What Are Your Favorite Conflict Resolution Mechanics?

    One of my favorites are the Battle Boards over on the Magic Set Editor forums. It's a long-running forum roleplay that uses custom Magic cards as the resolution mechanic.

    No, not the effects, the actual act of creating those cards.

    I like it as much as I do because it's not a traditional resolution mechanic by any stretch of the imagination. And yet it works surprisingly well.
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  6. - Top - End - #6
    Ogre in the Playground
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    Default Re: What Are Your Favorite Conflict Resolution Mechanics?

    I was going to propose a "baseline skill plus limited extra effort pool per scene" system but I like the card based system better. It also lets you throw in character bonuses or penalties that interact with the cards directly: Lucky characters get to draw an extra card whenever cards refresh and also discard one. Steady characters can treat any card as a five, maybe with a limit of uses per scene. Reckless characters can spend a second card in a contest for a small bonus maybe with a minimum on how big the card has to help (which also means you run out of cards faster). It's a cool idea and I like it.

  7. - Top - End - #7
    Barbarian in the Playground
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    Default Re: What Are Your Favorite Conflict Resolution Mechanics?

    I liked the combat mechanism in the board game shogun. It had a dice tower type setup that you and your opponent put whatever troops you dedicated to the battle in the top and since they were just little wooden cubes not all would fall through but the side with the most come out the bottom won the fight.

    It made it a pretty fun mechanism since it's random but the kind of random you could plan for since you would know when the tower was full of your troops and when most were not in the tower.

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