Eureka moment

I've just had a eureka moment while in the shower. I was thinking about the changes I made recently to the damage and healing system. (Specifically, I altered the way damage is recorded and finally settled on how it is healed and recovered.) Then, I suddenly remembered that I still have unresolved issues with how to balance the Powers system with everything else (i.e. how much does it cost to learn a Power compared to raising an Attribute, etc.) and I realized that I could link the two together. This is just a rough idea right now, but I haven't made a post in a while, so I'm going to put my notes here before I forget this idea.

The damage system: Each character will have Facets* that determine their state of health. Characters would have a Body Facet to represent their physical health or "hit points" in most settings (obviously in a setting like Wraith: The Oblivion where everyone is a ghost, this would be replaced with another Facet). In settings like Cthulhu Mythos investigations, there would be a Sanity Facet to represent mental stability. In settings where wealth is important but counting pennies isn't, there could be a Wealth Facet to represent how much money a character can throw around without denting their wallet. Not every setting will need or use every Facet. Facets will be part of the setting rules that must be chosen for any given campaign.

(*Originally, I called these Aspects, but I decided to change it to avoid confusion with FATE's Aspects which are more like Van Gogh's Talents and Drawbacks. I'm not really that familiar with Fate. I've only really read the Tri-fold FATE pamphlet made by Michael Moceri and absorbed a lot through osmosis by reading gaming forums like rpg.net. Still, I think that there may be some overlap between FATE and Van Gogh so I want to avoid using the same terms for different things.)

So how does this tie in to the Powers? Powers could be, er, powered by "damage" to different Facets. Warriors with special combat techniques could exhaust themselves by causing light damage to their Body Facet (or Chi in a wuxia "jiang hu" setting) when they use their techniques, so they can't use too many fancy moves without taking a break to rest. In a Cthulhu Mythos setting, using magic spells would be harmful to your Sanity Facet. In a D&D style fantasy world where magic has a limited number of uses per day but no real downsides, spells would damage your Magic Facet; once your Magic is depleted, you can't cast any more spells until you sleep/study/meditate/pray but your health and well-being is otherwise completely unaffected (because in a setting like that, the Magic Facet isn't used for anything else except limiting how much magic someone can use in a limited span of time).

Powers could be altered and adjusted for each setting simply by adjusting the Facet that powers them. In a D&D style world of Vancian magic, spells would be powered by draining the Magic Facet. The only drawback to draining the Magic Facet is not being to cast spells until it recovers, but recovering it is a simple matter of resting overnight and studying your spellbook: magic has no harmful effects but its use is limited. In a Cthulhu Mythos campaign, spells drain a resource that does more than just power your spells--it keeps you sane--and recovering Sanity is a slow and difficult process involving extensive therapy with an alienist who's probably not really equipped to handle your particular issues: magic is detrimental to anyone who wants to stay sane. In a superhero setting where all the important characters have a set of powers, they might not cost anything to use (because powers are always available unless it's a special "Captain X loses his powers to Yellow Flubtonite" collector's issue) but they have to be aimed and controlled with a skill.

Powers can also be controlled by the kind of damage they do to a Facet. A power that does light damage to a Facet can be used repeatedly because that damage is equivalent to being winded and disappears between scenes when characters can catch their breath for a few minutes. Powers that do more serious damage will have to be used more sparingly because it will be more difficult to recover the damage they do.

Cleaning up some loose notes

I use Linux for my computer (specifically, a Gnome 3 desktop environment on top of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS for those who are interested). Linux has a nice little note-taking program called Tomboy that makes it easy to cross-reference notes because it automatically creates hyperlinks to other notes when you mention them. For example, I have a note called "layout" where I put all my ideas for page layouts; when I type "layout" in another note, the word "layout" automatically becomes a link to the "layout" note. I stopped using it because the Ubuntu One cloud service (similar to Dropbox) stopped supporting Tomboy's online syncing. In addition, the only app for my phone that could sync with Tomboy would only allow reading notes and not editing/creating them. I found that to be only slightly better than useless.

I started using Evernote instead. Evernote doesn't automatically link your notes together like Tomboy, but it does have some other useful features. It's available as a desktop app (which I have installed on my Windows 7 partition for when I need to boot into Windows for something) and as a web application (which I have pinned in a Chrome tab so it's always at hand). It allows the use of tags to make it easy to categorize notes and sort them later. And it has a very neat browser extension that allows you to select part or all of a webpage and save it as a note. I've clipped a lot of interesting snippets with this feature: online articles, forum posts, pictures, or other things that sparked an idea.

I didn't have a lot of time to work on the game this evening, but I did try to do something useful to keep my promise. I exported my Tomboy notes to .HTML and put them into my cloud folders for safe keeping. Then I opened them in Chrome and clipped their contents to Evernote. My next project will be to use the Evernote app on my phone to sort through and upload scans of my loose paper notes and tattered notebooks. This will let me put everything in one place to more easily sort it out and put things together.

In the past, I always wanted to have hard copies because I've lost files in the past to hard drive failures or lost USB drives. Using paper notebooks felt safer to me, but now I'm satisfied that I have enough redundancy to go completely digital. I've got all my files backed up in several places at once (Evernote, Dropbox, Box, Ubuntu One, Google Drive, and--on the rare occasions I boot into Windows 7--everything gets backed up to Skydrive too). I've even got a portable 1TB hard drive for back ups too, so I'm not really worried about losing my files anymore.

The Die Cap

By default, all rolls are limited to a maximum of 6 dice. Any dice lost to the Die Cap are converted to Free Wagers, the ability to retroactively Wager (adjust the difficulty of a roll for extra Advantage on a success). I feel that a Die Cap of 6 is perfect for any of the settings or campaigns I would like to run and I don't anticipate writing any settings or supplements that will use a different Die Cap, so I'm cutting the section about adjusting or eliminating the cap. For those that are interested, this is the section on alternate caps that I'm cutting out:

"The Die Cap can be adjusted or eliminated if desired for a particular setting, but this will have an effect on levels of success. A lower Die Cap means that highly skilled characters will have their maximum level of success reduced (because they will not be able to roll as many successes), but the Free Wagers will ensure that they perform more consistently near their peak because they will have more Advantage on their rolls. A higher Die Cap means that highly skilled characters will be capable of scoring more successes (each die is potentially 0-2 successes), but they will need to risk wagering to make full use of those extra successes."

Divination and Example Power 12: See the Past

Many GMs are wary of allowing divination powers in their games because divination can neutralize mystery plots. It is true that magic or psychic powers or other divination methods might reveal clues about a mystery that ordinarily would have gone unnoticed by conventional investigation, but that doesn't necessarily invalidate the conventional investigation techniques. For example, if a psychic detective is investigating a series of murders, his special abilities may tell him that the killer is the brother-in-law of the mayor. That's a helpful piece of information but the case isn't solved yet because most settings don't allow psychic hunches or cosmic “vibes” as admissible evidence in a court of law. That poor psychic detective can't arrest the killer without real tangible evidence and a judge won't issue a warrant based solely on the detective's word or gut instincts.


Divination powers alone won't solve the case for you (unless you're a vigilante who acts as judge, jury, and executioner). On the other hand, they can save a lot of time by letting you avoid red herrings and dead end leads, because you can focus the investigation on the guilty party and spend your time gathering evidence that links them to the crime. Divination can tell you the answer to a mystery, but if you want anyone else to believe you, you'll still need to prove it. The key to running a good mystery game with divination powers is to ensure that the PCs don't live in a vacuum. PCs who have the ultimate authority to act on their information and answer to no one can just say "Oh, the mayor's son-in-law is the killer? I waste him with my crossbow. Case closed." In a campaign structured like that, you'll either need to disallow divination for PCs or be comfortable with the fact that mysteries aren't going to provide much challenge in themselves. On the other hand, PCs who live in a society with laws and public opinion that matters will still need to find real evidence. Just think of all the police dramas that feature detectives investigating someone that they know is guilty but they can't find the evidence they need to convict him. With that in mind, the first divination power is after the jump.

Power Summary

This is my most recent trimmed down version of the powers list. It could be trimmed down further because some of them are just specific uses of other powers, but I'm going to keep them separate for now. The categories are just for ease of reference and don't really have any effect.


Attack Powers
Enhance Weapon: This power adds damage and/or weapon qualities. A specific form of Instill Traits.
Bolt: This power makes a ranged attack for 3D damage with a basic success.
Strike: This power allows its user to deal 4D damage to a target in the user's Area. (This includes short range attacks that can hit multiple opponents in other systems, like spray or "cone" area effects.)
Blast: This power allows its user to deal 3D damage to every target in an area. (This is the usual area effect attack like the fireball spell, grenades, etc.)
Energy Drain: This power causes Strain in an area.
Push: This power moves a target from one area to another.
Puppet: Take control of someone with an opposed roll.

Defense Powers
Armor: This power increases a character's Toughness. (A specific form of Alter Attributes, but I think it will be commonly used so I'm leaving it as its own power for easier reference.)
Deflection: This power misdirects attacks. (A power that could be done with Enhance Skill but this specific form will probably be commonly called for in many settings.)
Dispel: This power negates another character's power.
Intangibility: This power allows its user to become ethereal and insubstantial.

Divination Powers
See the Past: This power allows the user to see the past of an object, person, or place.
Detect/Conceal Aura: This power reveals or hides the presence of powers. (Also useful for realizing when Obi-Wan Kenobi is on your battlestation...)
Analysis: This power identifies important information about people, places, or things.
Locate: This power is used to find something specific.
Mind Probe: This power is used to find, hide, or implant information
Clairvoyance: This power senses places and events beyond normal limits.
Major Divination: This power determines the circumstances of a future event.

Utility Powers
Communication: This power communicates with entities normally unable to. (Speak to animals, plants, etc.)
Environmental Protection: Immunity to the background hazards for a particular environment.
Healing: This power restores wounds and treats afflictions like poison and disease.
Environmental Control: This power alters ambient environmental penalties such as light/darkness etc. Specific examples would be creating light, darkness, gusts of wind, etc. (probably as separate powers in most settings).
Telepathy: communication at a distance

Skill Powers
Alter Attributes: This power allows its user to modify the target's attributes by rearranging, adding, or subtracting dice.
Instill Traits: Gives the target a Talent or Drawback.
Enhance Skill: This power grants a bonus to a skill or gives a skill to someone who doesn't have it.
Incite/Still Passion: Double up or forbid uses of Passions.
Skill Swap: Use one Attribute or Skill in place of another. (For example, telekinesis is using Will instead of Might to move things around.)

Movement Powers
Barrier: This power creates a barrier (i.e. a wall or gap) to impede movement between Areas.
Portal: This power penetrates barriers and crosses gaps (i.e. makes bridges and doorways).
Jump: Rapid movement across short distances, including short teleportation hops.
Entangle: This power hinders or stops movement.
Petrify: This power puts a character in stasis. (Medusa, Han Solo in carbonite, etc.)
Fly: This power ignores movement penalties.

Summon Powers
Creation: This power produces mundane items. (Although they might not look that mundane if you're creating them temporarily with something like a Green Lantern power ring, but they are still just equipment and gear to be used by characters and don't have their own attributes.)
Summoning: This power summons another character, creature, vehicle, etc. (These are things with their own attributes.)

Are there any important powers that I'm missing?

Power Taboos continued

Ok, it's later. So, I was watching the Clone Wars cartoons and thinking about the Sith/Jedi division. The Sith favor passion and believe that the best way to use the Force is through emotion, while the Jedi prefer to keep their cool and remain free from attachments. So the Sith use the Dark side to gain power more quickly, but then they always seem to pay a price for it. Some Star Wars games use Dark Side Points to represent the accumulation of corruption. If a character gains too many, they fall to the Dark side. I never really liked this because it feels too much like hit points in D&D, but instead of "I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm dead", it's "I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm evil". I want to see more of a slippery slope.

For the "Source" sample power set that I wrote up, I divided the Source into two sides: Astral and Cthonic. The Astral Source can only be accessed in a calm and peaceful state of mind, which prohibits using it with the character's Passions or any emotional Talents (like being a berserker or something). Calling upon the Cthonic Source can be done with Passions, but when you do so, you gain an emotional or psychological Drawback (such as "vengeful", "jealous", "paranoid", etc.). These Drawbacks don't apply when calling on the Cthonic Source, but they do hinder accessing the Astral Source. "Falling" is what happens when you accumulate so many penalties that you can no longer access the Astral Source. The Cthonic Source is a faster route to power because you can use it with large bonuses ("free" Drama Points from the character's Passions), but as you draw upon the Cthonic Source, you become more and more hateful and fearful until finally you lose access to the Astral Source. So, turning to the "Dark Side" is a faster route to power, but the power you achieve leaves you more limited in what you can do. If you just want to be an evil jerk, then it won't matter so much. But if you try to turn to the dark side with good intentions (like Anakin trying to save his wife's life), you'll end up being the kind of person who won't pursue those good intentions (like Anakin becoming so angry and paranoid that he killed his wife in a jealous rage). It's sort of a Catch-22: the Dark side can give you the power to do good things, but once you have achieved that power you will no longer be the kind of person who wants to use that power for good.

The Passions can also be used to tie other types of powers to the setting. For example, a classic fantasy paladin or cleric who gains power from a deity but must maintain a strict code of conduct. Their powers may be limited by their adherence to the code or you can take things a step further and require that they define their passions in terms of their deity. Paladins are usually presented as being much more focused and zealous than clerics, so that could be a distinguishing feature. Both are required to follow their deity's code of conduct, but the Paladin must go a step further and have all their Passions defined in terms of their deity. The cleric of a god of justice may have a Noble Passion of "Let Justice be done" and then Rage and Fear Passions unique to himself. But the Paladin would have a Rage Passion of "Injustice must be punished" or "My wrath undoes the wicked" and a Noble Passion of "Let Justice be done though the Heavens fall!" and a Fear Passion of "None". Passions are fairly useful and powerful resources, so giving one of them up is a notable sacrifice that really sets the paladin apart from the priests.

This idea of using Passions and mental Drawbacks can also be applied to powers that are described as leading to a degradation of the user's humanity. There are numerous examples of this in games and fiction. In some (non-Transhumanist) cyberpunk, characters who get a lot of cybernetic parts in their bodies worry about whether or not the cyberdocs will eventually take out the soul and replace it with a computer chip. In some horror stories (particularly those inspired by Lovecraft), acquiring knowledge of "things man was not meant to know" can lead to madness and loss of one's morality and humanity. In "sword & sorcery" fiction, magic is often depicted as one of those things that corrupts men and turns them into inhuman sorcerers.

In the early stages, this could be represented by adding phobias and quirks in the form of Drawbacks. When the character starts to feel crippled by too many Drawbacks, they could "compile" their Drawbacks into a new Passion. For example, a Lovecraftian sorcerer who has accumulated several psychological quirks such as phobias of right angles, furry things, or the dark, could get rid of those phobias by compiling them all into a new Fear Passion like "Aspects of the Hounds of Tindalos". For very severe cases, such as S&S fiction where sorcerers develop inhuman mentalities, they could actually lose their Passions completely as they gain in their magical knowledge. The order in which they lose them could be a character defining trait as well. A sorcerer with more curiosity than sense will probably lose Fear first, while one with ambition and lust for power at any cost will probably lose Noble first, for example. Once they've lost all their Passions, they are cold and inhuman like the reptilian sorcerers of the ancient Snakemen civilization that always seems to be hiding somewhere in the jungles of these S&S worlds.

Power Taboos

Just a quick update before I run out the door. The Powers chapter is coming along nicely. I did another round of revisions on the sample power sources to trim them into a shape more suitable for the game table. This morning I also spent some time writing up an example power source that I'm calling "The Source". It's a mystical energy field that has two sides that are--shall we say--"light" and "dark". This has helped me to consider some classic restrictions on the use of powers in RPGs. For example, taboos such as "the Force can't be used in anger or out of hate without falling into the grip of the Dark Side" or "a paladin who commits and evil act will fall from grace". While writing up the "Source", I thought an interesting and simple way to incorporate that into the Impressionist system. I'll add more about that later, but for now I'm running late for an appointment so I have to go.

Using Powers

While I wait for my lunch to cool down enough to eat it, I thought I'd post some quick thoughts about ways to limit the use of Powers. In some settings, you don't want powers to be used all the time. In a fantasy campaign where one PC is a wizard and the others are warriors and thieves and other mundane archetypes, you don't want the wizard to be dominating every scene with powerful spells. On the other hand, if it's a high fantasy setting where everyone knows some magic, then you don't want it too be too difficult to use minor spells. Thinking about Star Wars, I think it would be stupid to say that Jedi or Sith can only use telekinesis X times per day or something like that.

One option of limiting power use is a system of "Mana" or "Power Points" but I don't want to do that. I don't want to keep track of how many points have been used or how many are left. Above all, I don't want to keep track of how quickly they recharge. The option I chose to use by default is to make more potent powers more difficult to use. Instead of saying a power costs 3 Mana to use, it will be cast with a difficulty of 3. This isn't a very onerous limit. A wizard could use a spell every round to blast his enemies with a lightning bolt or something, but the mundane characters could match his output with a (much less flashy and mystical) bow or gun. In fact, the mundane characters might have the advantage because their difficulties may be lower.

In campaigns where magic needs to be rarer and more limited, there are other options. One is the Vancian Magic option: spells must be prepared in advance. If using powers is slow and must be done in advance, the effects aren't limited but the uses of them are. There is also diminishing returns: if the powers become increasingly difficult the more you prepare, there will be an upper limit to the number that can be ready for use at one time. Another option is resource expenditure. A warrior who can put everything into one Fighting skill will be able to do his thing for less cost than a wizard who needs to use Knowledge: Magic, Shooting, and Concentration skills to fully use all of his powers. In settings where powers are common, they can be used with less resources (like one skill) and in settings where they are less common, they may require more skills to fully use so it takes more character resources to get good at them.

Powers coming together.

Just a quick update before heading to bed. I spent some time slogging through the powers chapter today. I think almost all of the powers are in a first draft stage now. Just a few more powers that need details added. Most of the time I spent today was on the beginning of the chapter about different power sources like magic, psionics (and its little brother, mentalism), supernatural martial arts, alchemy, etc. I wrote up Vancian Magic and Mentalism/Psionics today. I also started thinking about super science, mad science, and alchemy: the kind of power sources that put powers into a device or potion to use them and had an interesting idea.

If a mad scientist knows how to make a death ray, he could make an energy pistol with cool rings and tail fins. What if he built the same thing but much bigger and mounted it on his rocket ship? It would be simple to say that it just works on the larger scale. He won't be able to use it to hunt Venusian tigerphants on safari, but if he runs across any Venusian warships on his way then he could shoot at them (just as he could use his pistol against the Venusian marines that try to board his rocket). It occurred to me that the same "scaling up" could be applied to the other power sources too. A wizard who can teleport himself short distances with a few seconds of mumbling and handwaving  could cast a scaled up version of that spell to teleport vast distances by using a much longer ritual. Why do powerful wizards live in big towers? Because a wand or a dagger or a staff is a sufficient focus for a small scale spell, but if you want to be a spellcaster on the international stage then you'll need a much bigger phallic object as a focus. A diviner with a dowsing rod can find a lost item in his village, but if he has a big wizard tower then he can find it anywhere in the whole country or even in neighboring countries. If you lead a group of soldiers to attack a wizard out in the world, he'll blast one of your spearmen with a lightning bolt or hit a handful of them with a fireball. If you lead your army against his tower, he'll blast a whole unit of spearmen with lightning and then devastate your left flank with a blazing inferno. Of course, while he's operating on that larger scale, he suffers the Death Star vulnerability: a small single-man fighter could get through the defenses and strike a vulnerable spot.You can't swat insects with a cannon, so it's a trade-off.

Talents and Drawbacks

I've been feeling rather unmotivated recently. I meant to post the Talents and Drawbacks section about a week ago, but I've been putting it off. I've also been very slowly working through the Powers chapter. I've had that file open but minimized for the past few days but I only occasionally look at it and work on it. I usually do some work on it late at night before going to sleep. I start to make some progress then decide to go to bed and continue the next day, but then I wait until late at night again. The Powers chapter is still a monstrous hodgepodge of abilities that I'm struggling to trim into shape. When I'm actually working on it, it doesn't seem so bad. When I'm not working on it, I have the idea in mind that it's going to be really hard so I procrastinate working on it. The Talents and Drawbacks chapter used to be a similar monstrosity but I've finally cut it down to size. 

Talents are like Edges in Savage Worlds, Feats in D20, or similar advantages in other systems. In my original draft of that section, every Talent was a special case with its own rules. As I had more and more ideas, it started to bloat out of control. It was turning into what I hated about those other systems. I needed to trim it back and get it under control. When I showed it to Mike Addison over at Zombie Dojo, he suggested that I give Talents a limited set of effects and then just vary the circumstances where they apply. In their new stripped down form, Talents essentially function like Fate's Aspects in the way they all provide the same bonus when they apply. However, unlike Aspects, there's no cost to invoke them: they apply whenever they are appropriate. I like the way this works because it means that the different Talents can still have their different descriptions of what they are and how they work, but the specific mechanical effects are easy to remember. You only have to read the Talent once and the name of it should be enough to remind you of when you can use it. I'm also hoping that Talents will provide another layer of description to  help define a character and differentiate one character from another. Rules and examples after the jump.

Creative Combat Options

Han Solo screaming and chasing a bunch of stormtroopers down a hallway. Hobbits ducking through a troll's legs. Swashbucklers swinging on chandeliers. A fierce orc warrior bellowing a war cry to draw the attention of his gods and make his enemies freeze in terror for fatal fraction of a second. The comic relief con artist trying to fast talk his way out of a beating, then distracting the thugs so he can hit them over the head with a nearby blunt object before running away. There are so many interesting things that can happen in combat and I really want to encourage combat scenes to be more than just "I hit him". With that in mind, I made options to use other skills and abilities to boost combat skills (primarily using the concept of Advantage from the Detailed challenge in the core resolution mechanics).

Armor, Weapons, and Scale

One of the design goals that I had in mind for Van Gogh was that weapons would essentially do the same damage but they would be used in different ways. A warrior armed with a big two-handed sword should still have a reason to draw his dagger once in a while because sometimes the smaller weapon is the better choice.

Combat Sytem Basics

Combat

Combat is a great source of dramatic conflict and exciting action. Every Attribute and almost any skill can mean the difference between victory and defeat, but certain skills play a larger role than others.

Incoming!

It's rather late now so I can't write a long post, but I spent some time working on Van Gogh today. I finished the dueling rules I was working on and then started cleaning up the combat section. I think it's mostly finished. I'm still wrestling with the grappling rules (yeah, I know, I hate puns too), but I'll start posting some of the combat rules tomorrow or the next day. Just wanted to post a head's up for now. I'll probably split the combat stuff up into several posts.

I think my favorite part to write was the section on weapons. Weapons are essentially all the same: they let you fight armed and apply greater force than your bear hands. Ever since I first played AD&D 2nd Edition (more years ago than I like to think about) I never really liked the way you could stick 6 inches of dagger blade into someone and it's only 1d4 damage but sticking 6 inches of sword blade into someone was 1d8 damage. In Van Gogh a weapon is a weapon. Your choice of weapon will be based on it's qualities. Some hit a little harder, some are easier to use, some have more reach, some can be used in tight spaces, some make you look cool, some are just scary looking, some are more defensive, etc. Every weapon is different. You should choose a weapon based on what you want to do with it and not based solely on which one does the most damage. The part I really liked was that the exact same weapon might have different qualities in different settings based on the themes of that setting. Even in superficially similar settings.

For example, shooting zombies in the head. In Raccoon City, a pump action shotgun is just your basic, standard issue, zombie-popping boomstick. In Silent Hill, that reassuring K'CHAK gives you something to anchor your courage and help convince yourself that you're not a total coward.

Table of Contents (Tentative)

I haven't forgotten Van Gogh, but I've been rather busy with other things this past week. I've been working on a section about duels. I've covered a pretty good variety so far and I think the system can handle any of the types of duels I enjoy seeing. Dogfighting for battles with everything from biplanes to dragon knights to starfighters. "The Chess Match" for duels that go back and forth until one sudden finishing move ends everything like a "checkmate": good for those duels that end with one fighter suddenly disarmed and at the mercy of the other. "Raising the Bar" is a type of duel where competitors challenge each other to progressively more difficult tasks: like playing a game of "chicken" (with the Driving skill) or engaging in a round of "snaps" or "yo' mama" (with Taunt) or trading displays of fighting prowess by making impressive weapon flourishes or breaking bricks (with Fighting), etc. "Quick Draw" duels are for duels like old west gunslingers or (old east) samurai who stare each other down then, after a sudden blur of motion, one falls. I still haven't finished this section but I'm enjoying it. These tense scenes are some of my favorites in cinema and literature, so I like seeing how they fit into the Van Gogh resolution system. As much as I like fiddling with the dueling section, I really need to get to work on other sections to finish up the system. This is a list of the sections in progress, a sort of tentative table of contents:

• Core Rules: how dice rolls work and how they're used for skill challenges (95%)
• Attributes and Skills (95%, just needs some editing)
• Talents and Drawbacks (90%, rules are done but the examples need to be cleaned up)
• Gear (around 70% done, I'm not including a big list of equipment, but I'm going to explain how to choose gear and resources for characters. I've never cared much about encumbrance rules or counting pennies in the games I've played or run, so I'm not interested in writing such things. I care that Han Solo has the Millennium Falcon, but I don't need to know how many changes of clothes he has or how many ammo packs he has for his blaster.)
• Campaigning: rules for character advancement and running different kinds of sessions (80%)
• Minor Characters: Mooks, background extras, followers, cannon fodder, etc. All those characters that give the world depth and fullness while possessing little of their own.
• Powers: Unusual abilities like magic, psychic powers, hyper-science, supernatural kung fu, etc. This section has been a tangled mess since the beginning. I think I have all the powers covered that I want to cover, but I still need to consolidate things and trim the fat. I don't want a long list of specific powers. I want a short list of versatile powers that can be adapted to specific uses for different settings inspired by the "generic powers with specific trappings" from Savage Worlds (I think I saw this first in the Hero system, but Savage Worlds was the one that made me realize it could be done without a crazy level of math). I'd say this is about 40-50% done.
• Social Conflict: How to get the best use out of the social skills. (95%)
• Combat Rules: How to handle combat, including how to use the social skills, maneuvers, and other creative tricks for advantage to win instead of just saying "we need a bigger stick!" (About 85%, mostly done but in need of some cleaning up and better examples) 
• Mass Combat: How to use the skill challenges system to set up and run large scale battles. (About 75% done, needs some good examples.)
• Chases and Races: How to use the rules to handle chases and make them more interesting than just comparing movement scores. (I think it's about 95% done, but I'd like to provide some cool examples)
• Dogfighting and Dueling (About 85% finished. I'm still in the middle of writing up the Quickdraw duel)
• Environmental Rules: For storms, harsh deserts, and other situations where the setting itself is an enemy. Not started yet.
• Planning and heists: For running complex bank robberies and other infiltration schemes and cons without spending a lot of game time dealing with all the dull planning parts. Still in the brainstorming stages.
• Vehicles: Rules for handling vehicles. I have only got a paragraph or two on this but I'm expecting it to go quickly. I don't want to introduce a lot of special rules, so the vehicles will use the same rules as everything else. This section will be about how to recycle the rules for use with vehicles, rather than adding a lot of new rules.
• Organizations: Rules for handling the actions and interactions of organizations from street gangs to nations. Like the vehicle section, it's just barely started but it's going to be about how to use the existing rules for organizations instead of adding new rules.
• Optional Rules: An appendix of extra rules for things that some players might like to use, but which I don't want to include in the basic rules. For example, methods of random character generation (which will add randomness without turning character creation into a mini-game with "winners" and "losers") and a "wild die" like in the D6 System (with an explicit explanation that it's not a critical failure system). So far this is just a file of random notes and some pieces of scrap paper with notes sketched out.

Right now, I suppose I should finish up those sections that are almost done and then get to work on cleaning up the powers section, so I can move into the editing and layout stuff. I've got to rustle up some illustrations too. I'll start working on getting the illos together and start laying out sections as they get finished. If the powers section takes a while to sort out, maybe I'll save it for last and release a "light" version of Van Gogh without the powers section while I work on finishing it.

Running and Gunning

I don't have much to post today. I've been a bit busy the past few days, but I have made some interesting progress on Van Gogh. I put together a "chases and races" subsystem for chase scenes. It isn't really a new system, so much as a detailed example of how to use the core resolution system for interesting chases. One of the biggest complaints that I've heard about combat systems is how they tend to devolve into "I swing, I hit, I dodge, I swing again." I haven't heard any complaints about chase rules. I suspect that that's because chase scenes aren't as common as combat in games. The chases I've seen tend to be very similar to the boring combat: "I move, he moves, I move again". I'm hoping the chase system will encourage more interesting tactics in chases than just "I try to go faster".

While I was doing the chase rules, it occurred to me that dog-fighting is also a cool kind of scene that never seemed to come up in my games as often as I'd have liked. I remember playing D6 Star Wars and feeling like we were missing out on a lot by not having a lot of cool starfighter engagements. So I started putting together a "dog-fighting" interpretation of the core resolution system. I started that because of fond memories of starfighters but while I was working on it, I mostly thought about SPADs versus Fokkers, aviation adventure from the time when radio was king (like "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow"), and knights mounted on dragons.

While I was working on these rules for aerial duels, I realized that I should also include some commentary on other more formalized duels. I love samurai movies and westerns with their quick draw duels. Many types of duels could be played out as ordinary one-on-one combats, but those are kind of special. I also thought of some other unique duels that I'd love to play in a game, such as the duel between Nameless and Long Sky in "Hero" where they play out most of the battle in their heads while planning their strategy before actually moving. Or the battle between Nameless and Broken Sword, where Nameless studied Broken Sword's calligraphy in order to gain insight into his sword techniques. Since I have some chanbara and wuxia setting ideas in mind for Van Gogh in the future, I want to be sure that these things can be done by the rules now.

Exploits and Advancement

I'm really on a roll today. I cleaned up the section on experience and character advancement. The rules for exploits are one of my favorite ideas that I'm incorporating in Van Gogh. I wish I had thought of this many years ago when I was running D6 Star Wars and players complained about spending their character points in game to do cool things instead of saving them to raise their skills (so they can do cool things later). I liked the way character points (the experience points in D6) could be used to add a temporary boost in play, but I didn't like the way that characters who played it safe and didn't do exciting (dangerous) things would advance faster because they didn't "waste" their CP in play.


I also was never really satisfied with the way some games allow a character to earn experience points and then advance in skills completely unrelated to how they earned their experience. My favorite example of this was in a D&D3 game. My friend Mitch was playing a strictly pacifist wizard. He spent every combat hiding and casting defensive spells to protect himself and the party. He never did anything violent or aggressive. After he had gained a level and was adjusting his stats on his character sheet, the DM said "Don't forget to raise your attack bonus this level" and Mitch replied "Do I have to?" Systems that aren't class-based usually allow for more player choice in character advancement than that, but they still allow for advancement in completely unrelated areas.


Some systems attempt to get around this problem by having a "checkpoint" system in which skills that are successfully used get a check mark. Later, during advancement, the checked skills have a chance of being raised. The problem with this system is that it encourages players to try to use all their skills all the time even when it's inappropriate. I think the Exploits system that I'm using in Van Gogh avoids these issues. 


Exploits can provide a temporary bonus every session until you spend them for a permanent bonus. Exploits can only be used for skills that are related to them, but they aren't specific to one skill. Unlike the checkpoint system, an exploit isn't "successful use of Fighting skill" for example. It would be something like "decapitated an orc chieftain and scattered his warband", which could be used to boost the Fighting or Intimidation skills, or the Might or Finesse attributes, or to buy any Talents related to those things.


Also included in the Exploits and Advancement section is a rule for using the Exploits of dead friends. I got this idea from Levi Kornelsen's "Legacy Pool" option in his "Death Gift" plugin at Amagi Games. I thought it was a great idea in general and a great fit for Exploits in particular. More Van Gogh rules info after the jump.

The Core Resolution Mechanic

I finally got around to writing the core rules mechanic in detail. I had the basics scribbled down in my notes but I didn't write out the full details until last night. I originally started with the resolution system that I call "Detailed Challenges" below, but I later added Simple and Extended challenges. I particularly like the Simple Skill Challenge rule as a pacing mechanic. I was watching the rather lackluster "Solomon Kane" movie a couple months ago when I got the idea. 

In one scene, he's fighting a bunch of goons and trying to save a girl who is being kidnapped. It occurred to me that there is no doubt that he'll win the fight against those guys, but the dramatic tension was based on doubt about whether or not he could fight through them fast enough to save the girl before they rode away with her. I recalled the games I've played in before and thought, "If I were playing Solomon in a game, the GM would probably make me spend an hour rolling to fight and kill all those goons. Why do the exciting, fast-paced parts have to go into slow motion in tabletop RPGs?" Then I realized: they don't. The core rules of Van Gogh (including the Simple Challenge rule for fast forwarding the action) are after the jump.

Skills

These are the skills I decided to use for Van Gogh. This is kind of a lot of material, so I'm going to put a jump break here. 

Van Gogh Attributes

I was planning to write about dice pools today and why I chose them for the resolution mechanic, but it's been a long day. Tomorrow (actually now, it's late here) is the final day of the year on the lunar calendar so we had to get up early and clean the house thoroughly. Then we went out to buy flowers and decorative gold coins to hang in the house for luck. I'll talk about dice pools another time when I'm not so tired and can express myself more clearly. For now, I'll just transcribe some notes I made about Attributes.

Attributes

There are four attributes which determine a character's raw abilities: Might, Finesse, Cunning, and Will. Starting characters distribute 9 dice among the four attributes with a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 5. The attributes cover a broad range of abilities that are often linked. For example, strength and endurance often go hand in hand so they are governed by one stat: Might. For unbalanced characters that can bench press a Buick but who have a glass jaw or wiry marathon runners who can’t lift a wet towel, a combination of Talents and Drawbacks can give them a boost in one area and a penalty in another.

• Might: This is the physical power and resilience of the character. It covers strength and endurance. It governs a characters ability to resist damage and disease as well as their ability to deal out damage in hand to hand combat and lift a lot of luggage. Athletics is the only Might based skill, but it's a useful skill. It covers running, jumping, throwing, swimming, and all kinds of other exciting actions. Might can be used in combat by itself for strength-based maneuvers like pushing a stack of crates onto someone or rolling a barrel into a crowd of thugs like bowling pins. Might is also useful because it is the basis of Toughness (the difficulty to damage the character) and melee damage.
• Finesse: This is the character’s balance, spatial awareness, coordination, and agility. Finesse skills include Driving, Fighting, Piloting, Shooting, and Stealth. It's understandably a popular attribute with PCs in action-oriented games. Finesse can also be used in combat for swashbuckler/monkey maneuvers like climbing up a bookshelf, swinging from a chandelier, or diving under a table to unexpectedly kick a foe in the shins like in a Jackie Chan movie.
• Cunning: This is the character’s mental abilities and includes logical reasoning, perception, common sense, intuition, and various types of “smarts” (street, book, people, etc.). Cunning has the most associated skills because it is the attribute that covers retention of knowledge and social perception and manipulation. I chose the name “Cunning” because I think it applies equally well to clever animals, Machiavellian politicians, or an innovative engineer. I don't like it when games use "Intelligence" or "IQ" for this stat and then have to explain how a non-sentient beast can still be really clever even if it's IQ is really low because can't read or speak or do arithmetic. Cunning skills include Bluff, Healing, Helm, Investigation, Knowledge, Notice, Repair, Social Circles, Survival, Taunt, and Wrangling. Cunning can also be used in combat for clever maneuvers like blasting the door control mechanism to make the door slam shut on the foe lunging toward you, smashing an oil lamp on the floor to create a slick spot (or a fire if the lamp was lit, or cutting the rope that holds a chandelier while an enemy is standing beneath it.
• Will: This is the character’s spirit, willpower, determination, and sense of self. Character’s who are exceptionally stubborn or devoted to a cause have a high Will. If you have a high Might, you can walk across a room full of broken glass like John McClane in "Die Hard", but if you don't have a Will, you won't want to. Will skills include Concentration, Intimidation, and Persuasion. Will is also used to resist compulsions like another character trying to intimidate, seduce, bribe, or otherwise tempt you. Opposing psychics staring each other down and engaging in a quick mental tug of war. Combat maneuvers relying on Will aren't as common as the other attributes because most active uses of Will are covered by the Intimidation or Persuasion skills, but some examples include: A warrior charging an enemy through a dangerous path for a surprise advantage (e.g. leaping over a fire instead of going around) or a berzerker pulling himself further onto the shaft of a foe's spear in order to get close enough to strike back. 

There are no "dump stats". Every attribute has useful skills and can contribute to a character's performance in combat. Outside of combat, Cunning and Will are even more useful due to their associated knowledge and social skills and Finesse is still useful for chases (with Driving/Piloting) or spying (with Stealth).  Might remains useful outside of combat thanks to the diversity of the Athletics skill and you never know when you might need to move a sofa. Tomorrow, I'll try to put up some notes about what all those skills are used for.