Apologies

There have been numerous unavoidable problems in my life that have caused significant delays. When it rains, it pours. Things seem ok for now, so I hope to get some work done soon.

Metaplot

I'm enjoying a piece of cheesecake and an espresso after my lunch. I've got settings, timelines, and Metaplot on my mind. Last night I converted my ODT files to Google Docs so I can edit them on my phone at times like this. Today I sorted some of them into a folder for settings that I'd like to write up later, so I'm thinking about what I don't like about other settings.

I think constantly advancing timelines are terrible. I saw it as a customer when I was into "Legend of the Five Rings" and I had to deal with it as a writer when I was working on the Iron Kingdoms setting books. The second volume was seriously delayed because a book for the war game was released that advanced the time line and we had to re - write a lot (and cut out a lot of good material) to follow that.

It just struck me as really stupid to constantly make each book redundant or incompatible. If you're making a war game about Europe, you wouldn't write army books set in different years, but fantasy and Sci Fi games too often do that.

Here are the stats for the Prussians in 1770. Now here are the stats for the French under Napoleon. And the Russians in the Crimean War. Here are the British in WWI: they have machine guns and tanks, so those poor Prussians don't stand a chance. Oh, here's an update for the Russian army list. Now they have commisars and tanks (and by the way, Prussia is gone now).

What's the point of adding more detail to a setting if it's at a different time than the other details? If your campaign follows the same locations at the same time, it's not a problem, but it's a serious problem if you don't want to follow that one path.

If you wanted to play an Iron Kingdoms campaign set in Llael before Khador invaded, too bad! We threw that material away because the book about the invasion came out before we finished the setting book. If you want a Llaelese campaign, you're going to be freedom fighters resisting Khador's occupation.

I never played in Hârn but I heard that they avoided this problem by explicitly not describing anything in the world that happens after a certain date. The books provide background and detail, but they won't contradict your campaign by introducing new events. That seems like the best way to handle things to me.

Possible futures can be described (i.e. "Here's how a war between A and B might go" or "new technologies that might come up soon"), but as soon as you pick one path to follow with the official Metaplot, you cut off all the other options.

Further trimming

I haven't forgotten to update the blog, but for a long time I had nothing to say. Real life became very busy for a while due to job, family, and health issues. I recently returned to working on Impressions with fresh eyes (one benefit of an extended break) and cleaned things up a bit more.

I transferred my files to my Google Drive and now I can work on them on my phone during lunch breaks and other quiet times away from home or office. I prefer to work on my laptop but that only works when I have plenty of time to work. With my phone, I can open a file and edit a paragraph or two while I finish my coffee after lunch.

I'm still slogging through the powers section and I'm having a lot of second thoughts about the content. There are some powers that I included just for completeness but which I don't really have much interest in using in a game. Mind control, for example. Should I include those for people that want to use them or just cut them out to save myself some time?

Sorting Powers

Since I posted the sample character sheet for Goran, I've been trying to sort out the chapter on Powers so that I can do a sample character that uses them. I've been struggling to organize all my ideas. I've got a lot of ideas for how different things can interact but I wasn't sure where to start. After all, there has to be a starting point before all the tweaks and adjustments. I think I've finally settled on a solution.

The base cost of a power will be based on it's duration: Instant (one quick effect that won't last into the next round), Focus (lasts as long as the caster maintains it as an action each round), and Scene (lasts for the rest of the scene). This base cost will be the basis for the target number of the casting roll and the cost to learn the power. The cost to learn the power will also be modified by a multiplier based on versatility and power compared to mundane options. In a wuxia game for example, if everyone has access to super-powered kung fu, then it doesn't matter how much the powers cost because everyone has them. On the other hand, in a fantasy setting with a mundane/magic divide, that cost is more important. If the powers are too cheap, you get D&D where casters can do anything and other characters are just along for the ride.

There are three rough categories of powers: Limited, Flexible, and Unlimited. For the sake of simplicity, this will be set according to each power source (i.e. arcane magic, super kung fu, etc.) instead and not per power. Powers can be limited in various ways. A flexible wizard who wants to blast things with fire and lightning can learn one expensive spell that can be cast as either fire or lightning; a limited wizard would have to learn two separate spells (the same Power twice with different special effects each time). There are several ways to limit powers, but I can't really make a GURPS style point break down for them. I can't say things like "requiring material components is a 5 point disadvantage" or "spells that drain the Body facet instead of the Magic facet are worth a 50% discount on cost" because the actual value of limitations like that will vary from setting to setting or campaign to campaign. I'm just going to provide the 3 categories and a list of ideas for limitations and some thoughts on their potential value in different situations. It will be up to GM in each group to decide how many limitations are needed to count as "Limited" and which limitations are actually limiting. I had already planned to include several examples of power sources to show how the generic powers could be used to represent different things. I think I'll tweak those examples to also show how powers can be limited for a given setting's tone.

When balancing powers, you need to consider not just how powerful they are, but also how powerful other options are. In a world with no ranged weapons, being able to telekinetically punch a dude is pretty useful. If everyone is carrying an AK-47, then it's not so powerful. In a primitive stone age tribe, being the shaman who can magically summon handfuls of salt makes you a handy guy to have around when it's time to make mammoth jerky, but it's hardly an overpowering ability. When your primitive stone age world is being invaded by the hyper-slug empire from space, being the guy who can magically summon handfuls of salt makes you a god on the battlefield and the savior of your planet. I can't foresee everyone's campaign for them, and I'm not going to try. I'm just going to try to make a checklist of things for GMs to consider when designing their own settings so that powers are as limited as they want them to be.

Because honestly, sometimes you want things to be overpowered. If you're running a Star Wars game set during the original trilogy, the Force is fairly understated: a little telekinesis, some telepathy, and a lot of intuition. You don't need a lot of powerful abilities and a blaster at your side is just as good. If you're playing in a setting like the prequel trilogy or the video games, you'll want the Jedi to be over the top and you don't want them to break a sweat when they use their powers in extreme ways.

After taking my latest thoughts about scale and using Facets to fuel powers into account, I can see that some of the powers are really redundant. Some are no longer needed as separate powers because they can be modeled as one power on different scales; some are redundant because they refer to the old preliminary damage system that I had penciled in back when I started working on the system (before I decided on using Facets). For example, "Bolt" is just "Strike" with range; "Blast" is just a scaled up "Bolt"; and, "Energy Drain" is just a "Blast" that targets a different Facet. I think I can easily shorten the list of Powers, which is good because it still looks a little long to me.

Sample Character: Prince Goran of Mars

Today, I made a sample character sheet to show how the character sheet looks when it's filled out. This character is for a pulp-style "sword and planet" science-fantasy setting. In this setting, Earth is the evil Terran Empire. It's currently fighting a civil war with Luna, but it has ambitions to conquer the solar system as its birthright (Earth is the birthplace of humanity, they reason, so all of humanity should be ruled under the banner of Terra). The other planets of the system have their own governments and cultures. Mars is a rugged desert frontier world with many crumbling decadent cities and an unknown number of nomadic barbarian tribes that roam the wilderness.

"Prince" Goran of Mars claims to be a prince among his own people but he's really just another proud warrior from one of those barbarian tribes. His tribe lived as hunters and pirates, but they were proud and honorable people. Although they were pirates, they always gave their prey the opportunity to surrender peacefully and they never fired on unarmed travelers. After he witnessed a Terran expedition raiding a Martian town for slaves and greenmetal ore, Goran got caught up in a brawl between the Terrans and some offworlders who were trading with the Martian city-dwellers. Goran joined up with them and now travels the system with a ragtag crew of mercenaries and traders who run cargoes for profit. They carry equipment, personnel, and information for the Lunar rebels and try to give Terra a black eye whenever they can. Although he hates slavers, Goran maintains his tribe's honor code: if his opponent only has a melee weapon, he won't draw his gun; if his opponent only has a knife, he won't draw his saber; if his opponent is unarmed... well, slavers still have to die, so Goran will snap their necks with his bare hands if he has to.

Sample character sheet: "Prince" Goran (PDF)

The Passions provide free Drama Points. Each Passion can be used once per scene to get a free Drama Point (which can be spent for bonuses) if the Passion is relevant to that scene. Goran's Rage Passion is slavery, so he never has to worry about not having any Drama Points on hand when he runs into Terran slavers. His Noble Passion is honor, so he also has a little something extra to give when his reputation is on the line (such as in a duel or when handicapping himself to face a foe with inferior weapons). His Fear Passion is obscurity, so if he finds himself in danger alone, he'll be more motivated to get back to his friends alive (or at least get word to them before he dies so his story can be told). His Focus Passion is "The free winds of the dead seas of Mars are in my blood! You'll never chain or cage me!" so he always has access to one more Drama Point when someone tries to capture or imprison him (or convince him to settle down and retire, for that matter). These are the kinds of scenes that really matter most to Goran.

The Signs are visible manifestations or hints of strong traits. There is a Sign for every Talent or Drawback and every Attribute or Skill with a score of 3D or more. Signs provide a +1D bonus certain rolls in play, but their major purpose is to provide a cool description of the character that is more than just height, weight, eye color, hair color, etc.

+Talents and -Drawbacks are situational modifiers (bonus and penalty, respectively). Goran grew up in the Martian wastelands, so he's an expert in surviving the harsh environments and dealing with the dangerous flora and fauna to be found in such wild places. He's a good fighter, but he excels with the sword which is his weapon of choice and in battle, he has a fierce battle-cry that rattles his foes. Goran also has two -Drawbacks: "Barbarian" and "Lust for Life". The first penalizes him when dealing with polite society and the second makes it hard for him to resist temptations to enjoy himself (i.e. he's easily seduced or lured into drinking contests when he should be doing other things). The -Drawbacks only apply when his player chooses to use them, but he gets a Drama Point any time a -Drawback causes a problem for him, so it's advantageous for Goran if he occasionally acts boorish among high society or parties a little too hard.

The Facets are basically different kinds of "hit points". In this setting, the GM has chosen not to use Mind because there aren't any sources of mental damage. There are psychics, but they don't have telepathic attacks; there are eldritch horrors, but this is a pulp action setting where the heroes don't really get scared (at most, they're reasonably cautious) so there's no need for keeping track of how much their sanity is blasted. For this campaign, the premise is "rogue traders ply the spacelanes for profit as a front for rebel missions", so wealth will mostly be just a cosmetic issue. The character of the captain of the ship probably has a higher Wealth rating for getting a bigger share but that would go toward maintaining the ship and funding the next mission, in the same way Indiana Jones hunts for artifacts to sell to museums so he can afford to go on more trips to hunt for artifacts to sell to museums. The money isn't really important and the Wealth Facet could easily be crossed off here. It's only real use for Goran is to put a limit on the scale of his carousing: he can spend a night drinking in a bar and getting into fights, but he's not going to be buying and crashing sports cars for fun. If the campaign were set entirely within Goran's own honor-obsessed culture, the group could add a Reputation or Honor Facet to keep track of their social standing, but for this campaign, that will just be something Goran worries about.

So, how does it look?

Updated Character Sheet

I finally got around to putting my scrap paper character sheet onto a PDF document today. I used Inkscape to draw the lines and boxes and insert the SVG icons that I made and a few creative commons icons that I got from game-icons.net (made by Lorc of lorcblog.blogspot.com).

This version of the sheet is rather generic. I don't expect many campaign settings to have a use for everything at once. Particular settings could have more specific character sheets that eliminate unneeded Skills and Facets and add that setting's specialties. Check it out and let me know if you see room for improvement. I'll also be happy to answer any questions about what's on the sheet. Sometime soon, I'll post an example or two of a filled out character sheet.

Impressions Character Sheet (December 12, 2012 revision)

Simple is hard

I'm still in the process of trimming the system down and editing my writing for clarity. Unfortunately, I only have a little time every day to spend on this project. Over the past two or three weeks, I've trimmed the combat section down a lot. I always try to make things too complicated, so most of my writing is actually just re-writing for simplicity. I had so many specific rules for combat situations that were really not necessary. To be honest, most of them were just examples of how to use the standard task resolution rules for combat. I struggled to figure out ways to represent things that I suddenly realized I had no interest in playing anyway, so I cut them. It's really hard to make these cuts, because I liked making the fiddly little details, but they're actually useless and need to go.

I've got the combat stuff trimmed down to a reasonable level and I decided how I want to do damage and healing issue. This week, I've been revisiting the Social Conflict chapter to bring it more in line with the revised skill list and combat rules. I've decided that I don't want to have separate "combat" and "social" rules. I want them both to be handled as "conflict". Today, while I was cleaning up the social conflict section, it occurred to me that I really need to tie it in with the damage system.

The damage system isn't particularly revolutionary, but I decided to track damage for physical, mental, and social values in addition to other things (although not every campaign or setting will need to use all of them). I originally planned for the Social damage track to relate to your position in society. If someone causes Social damage to you, it's because they humiliate you or make you look foolish in front of everyone and cause you to lose face (for settings where that matters). It occurred to me today that I need to actually talk about how this works in the social conflict section on an individual scale too.

The guiding principle here is "social skills are not mind control". Mind control can make a character do something that the character doesn't want to do; however, social skills can make a character do something that the player doesn't want. Characters only have so much willpower. I know from personal experience that baser instincts can win over better judgement. Just because the player knows that it's probably a trap when the sultry femme fatale invites him up for coffee, that doesn't mean the character will refuse. Just like I know I shouldn't eat a second piece of cake, but sometimes I do it anyway.