Spes Magna Games

For Tiamat’s Throne, I want to accomplish three things:

1. Create an interesting sandbox setting for sci-fi/fantasy gaming.

2. Increase the amount of narrative control the players have over in-game events.

3. Reduce the prevalence of binary action resolution.

I think I’ve got a pretty good handle on number one. The handles for numbers two and three, however, were proving rather slippery. I want something that can be attached to Stars Without Number (SWN) with a minimum of disruption to the core rules.

In other words, the narrative control elements need to be like a prepositional phrase in a sentence. You can remove a prepositional phrase from a sentence and still have a sentence. Whatever I add for narrative control needs to be the sort of thing that can be left out of the game completely without impacting playability. This way, a gaming group that doesn’t like changing the scope of narrative control can still use SWN and Tiamat’s Throne without having to rewrite the rules.

Dungeon World (DW) appears to provide the means by which I can accomplish goals two and three in one fell swoop. Let’s look at how this might work with combat.

Success, but…!

In DW, failure within a certain range below the target number isn’t necessarily a failure. (I’m thinking the range will be within 3 points of the target number for combat rolls.) Let’s call this kind of failure a qualified success. When a qualified success occurs, the player should have a choice between at least two options, one of which grants a some degree of success coupled with a negative consequence. The exact nature of the qualified success depends on the player’s narrative input, and it starts with in-game narration of the desired action. For example:

GM: While you’re in the corner trying to open the door into the abandoned station, you hear a hiss just in time to turn and see a Denebian ripper lunging out of the mist, claws extended and jaw snapping.

Player: Ag! I duck out of the way, trying to get behind the beast while blazing away with my automag.

GM: Sounds good. Roll away. Three defense checks versus 25 and one attack roll versus AC 5.

Player: Three! Yipes! *dice clatter* Defense is 25, 22, and 7. Crap. Attack is a 12, which means I hit AC 8, even with burst fire.

GM: You easily evade the first attack. The other two, not so much. You can get behind the beast, but you’ll get raked by a claw in the process, or you can stay in front of it but avoid the claws entirely.

Player: Let’s get behind it. I don’t want to be pinned into the corner.

GM: Alright. You also get bit. The ripper’s claws and fangs tear through your flesh as you dive around it. *dice clatter* Take 7 points of damage. The beast now has its back to you. The impact and injury spoils your aim, but your attack roll is a qualified success. Thoughts?

Player: How about I still hit, but I slip and end up on my back?

GM: Sounds fair. The bullets thud into the ripper’s hide as your rush by. Unfortunately, you only make it about fifteen feet before you lose your footing on the icy ground.

Considerations

As with DW, this sort of action resolution pretty much removes many considerations related to initiative and tactical movement from the game. The same idea can also be applied to saving throws and skill checks, but the qualified success range for skill checks probably needs to be more narrow since skill checks are based on 2d6 rather than 1d20.

More thoughts on this topic will be forthcoming.

Tags: game play, Stars Without Number, Tiamat's Throne

In Stars Without Number, the combat roll has a target number of 20+ on 1d20, subject to the following modifiers:

+ target’s Armor Class
+ attacker’s Combat skill
+ attacker’s attribute modifier
+ attacker’s Attack Bonus

That’s pretty simple, but I like for the players to make defense checks when their PCs are attacked. If I’m going to do this with SWN, I need to modify the combat roll.

A PC has a Defense Value equal to Armor Class (including Dexterity modifier). Thus, an unarmored PC with no Dexterity modifier has a +9 Defense Value. Armor adds to Defense Value an amount equal to 9 – the Armor Class provided by the armor. For example, a combat field uniform is Armor Class 4. It adds +5 to Defense Value.

Every enemy has an Attack Value equal to 19 plus (Combat skill + attribute modifier + and attack bonus). To make a defense check, the player rolls 1d20 + Defense Value. If the total equals or exceeds the enemy’s Attack Value, the PC’s defense succeeds. A natural 20 always succeeds, and a natural 1 always fails.

Consider the magovore invader versus a normal, unarmored human. This monster has a +6 attack bonus, which means it would have an Attack Value of 25. Using SWN core rules, the invader would need a 5 or better on 1d20 to hit the human (5 + 6 attack bonus + 9 Armor Class = 20 total combat roll). Using the defense roll, the human’s player needs a 16 or better on 1d20 (16 + 9 Defense Value = 25) to save his PC from the invader’s serrated beak.

Let’s consider a more complicated example. A PC with a 16 Dexterity is wearing combat field uniform (Armor Class 3) is fighting a level 3 warrior with a 14 Dexterity who is skill level 2 with Combat/Projectile Weapons. The PC’s Defense Value equals +15 (9 + 1 Dexterity + 4 armor). The enemy warrior’s Attack Value equals 23 (19 + 1 attack bonus + 1 Dexterity modifier + 2 Combat skill).

Using the normal combat roll, the enemy warrior would need a 13 or better to hit the PC (13 + 1 attack bonus + 3 Armor Class + 1 Dexterity modifier + 2 Combat skill = 20 total combat roll). Using the defense roll, the PC’s player needs an 8 or better on 1d20 (8 + 15 Defense Value = 23) to not get shot.

You might by this time be wondering, “Why do this?”

Good question, and I have what I think is a good answer. For a while now, I’ve wanted a way to introduce more narrative control into the standard RPGs. Narrative control shifts responsibility for describing game action from the GM to the players. I’ve experimented with a couple of ways to do this before, but they didn’t really seem to work (perhaps because I didn’t stick with them long enough).

I’m convinced that placing the burden for all attack rolls (and saving throws, but that’s another topic) on the players’ shoulders is key to giving the players more narrative control over the game. My recent readings here and there about Dungeon World (published by Sage Kobold Productions) have only further strengthened this conviction (but that too is a topic for another post).

Tags: Stars Without Number, Tiamat's Throne

I’ve been writing/thinking about magic in Tiamat’s Throne. I want the setting to be science-fiction/fantasy, in that order. Magic is real, but science is realer. Magic is a comparatively new addition to the our universe, having arrived, so to speak, when the barrier between our universe and the universe of the dragons was sundered. Our universe can be affected by magic, but it resists such effects.

Here’s some of the fluff text I’ve written about magic:

“What can be perceived is real. What can be perceived via our normal senses is the natural world. What cannot be perceived via our normal senses is the supernatural world. Magic starts by observing the supernatural world. From observation, the wizard moves to imposing his will upon the supernatural world. Magic always requires an act of the will without which no magical effect is possible.

“The supernatural world affects the natural world through wizard’s act of will, which directs and transforms eldritch forces. Such effects, however, have vanish over time as eldritch energies revert to their original form and the enforced connection between the supernatural and natural worlds breaks.”

One of the consequences of this way of looking at magic is that no magical effect can have a permanent duration. Some clarification is perhaps in order. A fireball burns down a house. The magical effect, the fireball, goes away. The natural effects of the fireball, the destroyed house, remain. That only makes sense. The damage inflicted by magic shouldn’t go away when the magic does.

But since magical effects cannot be permanent, that does mean that, among other things, there aren’t going to be many magic items (if any at all). The process of placing a permanent enchantment to create, say, a +1 sword cannot be accomplished in our universe. A wizard might be able to temporarily enchant a weapon, but that enchantment cannot be made a permanent feature of the weapon.

This limitation on magic requires me to alter some spells as well. For example, wizard lock has a duration of permanent until dispelled (according to the old-school open content source I’m using for spells). In Tiamat’s Throne, however, no spell can have a permanent duration. I’ve not made up my mind yet about what I’ll change permanent durations to. These changed durations are likely still going to be lengthy, and they’ll almost certainly vary depending on the spell. My version of wizard lock will probably have a duration measured in days.

Even though magic is a potent force and wizards enjoy a greater variety of choices than psychics, neither magic nor wizards can replace high-technology. A feinos wizard isn’t going to wade into battle, lobbing spells from his magic staff while protected by magic rings and robes. For protection, he’ll likely need armor, perhaps augmented by a shield spell. Sure, he can throw some magic missiles or tear through enemy ranks with a lightning bolt.

But when he’s used up his mana, there aren’t any magic items to fall back on. Not even scrolls. He’ll eventually end up pulling that sidearm and blazing away like a warrior, but without the benefits of the warrior’s better attack bonus and training.

Tags: Stars Without Number, Tiamat's Throne

On Elanor, the Eugenics Commissars needed a durable race that could survive underground for long period of times. Gengineering resulted in the malgrandegulos, a stoic race famous for their love of both money and combat. Instability in the malgrandegulos genome has resulted in the speciation of a new race, the koboldo.*

Appearance and Biology: This race tends to be squat, broad, and heavy. Males are seldom taller than 5 feet and weigh on average 150 pounds. Females are somewhat shorter and lighter. A malgrandegulo’s arms reach to just past his knees, and they are usually well-muscled with powerful shoulders. Malgrandegulos tend to have short, bowed legs that cause them to move with a rolling gait. This race tends to be hirsute; facial hair is ubiquitous among males and common among females. Earth tones dominate malgrandegulo eye and hair color, but many malgrandegulos watch their hair go gray to white by middle-age. Skin color ranges from ruddy to bronze.

Psychology: The malgrandegulos share strong common psychological traits that often make them difficult to tolerate. Status among malgrandegulos is almost universally measured by the successful accumulation of wealth and by demonstrated martial prowess. While it might seem as if these traits would lead to widespread double-dealing and violence, the malgrandegulos have learned to hide their true intentions behind facades of bland, patient gentility. A malgrandegulos seldom says what he means. Instead, he remains vague, noncommital. At the same time, he takes stock of what he sees and hears, making careful mental notes about the possible true intentions of others. These elaborate charades of respect and civility between malgrandegulo individuals and groups can go on for months, even years. Then, when the time judged right, the machinations are revealed, and to the victors go the spoils.

While malgrandegulos plot revenge for offenses real or imagined, outright blood feuds are rare. Since status is gained by financial and military success against rivals, malgrandegulo social norms strongly reinforce a stoic attitude about defeat. When one is bested, the sensible thing to do is acknowledge the winner’s superior cunning and strength. Of course, any self-respecting malgrandegulo will also plot ways to get even…eventually.

Flavor: A malgrandegulo is an honorable schemer, and many who manage to leave Elanor for the wider sector find themselves in diplomatic service or public relations. Everyone knows that a malgrandegulo can’t be trusted farther than he can be thrown in normal gravity. At the same time, malgrandegulos tend to excel at saying no more than what needs to be said, if that much.

A malgrandegulo’s love of wealth and martial prowess may also lead him into more aggressive occupations. Companies of malgrandegulo mercenaries tend to be both well payed and feared, and quite a few wealthy people employ malgrandegulo bodyguards. Some companies, especially those involved in the mining industry, recruit and employ malgrandegulos as both workers and security personnel.

Racial Traits: Malgrandegulos move up 45 feet per round (rather than 60 feet). Although slow, a malgrandegulo is built for portage. He can have up to four additional items can be carried ready or eight additional ones stowed at the cost of becoming Lightly Encumbered, and having his base movement slowed from 45 feet per round to 30 feet per round. A further two items can be carried ready or four stowed at the cost of becoming Heavily Encumbered, with base movement then reduced to 15 feet per round.

Malgrandegulos are good at spotting traps, unsafe cave formations, slanting passages, and new construction while underground. Malgrandegulos gain a +1 bonus to Perception skill checks to detect such things. Malgrandegulos use neither magic nor psionics. They are, however, resistant to magic and psionics, gaining a +4 bonus to saves against such effects.

A malgrandegulo’s natural vision is equivalent to low-light goggles. Consequently, malgrandegulos have difficulty with normal levels of illumination. Without protective lenses in such conditions, malgrandegulos suffer a -1 penalty to sight-based Perception skill checks and a -2 penalty to saves against attacks that blind or disorient via bright light.

A malgrandegulo character must have at least a 13 Strength and 13 Constitution, and he cannot have higher than a 14 Charisma. They cannot be wizards or psychics.

* Most koboldo newborns are destroyed at birth, but a substantial number of malgrandegulos have refused to cooperate with imperial racial sanitation codes. As a result, many of Elanor’s deeper subterranean places are infested by koboldos.

Tags: planetary tour, Stars Without Number, Tiamat's Throne

Of the available race choices, the feinos are the only true aliens, having entered our universe at the same time as the dragons. Feino populations suddenly found themselves shunted from their native realm into ours. Hundreds of thousands feinos perished as they appeared in environments incapable of supporting life, such as in the void of space or in Bellatrix’s argon-rich atmosphere.

On those worlds where the feinos could survive, they quickly found themselves embroiled in terrifying war. Viewed as invaders by native populations and viewed as insignificant by rampaging dragons, the feinos who didn’t quickly organize for war were hit hard. Today, few worlds have sizeable feino populations (the notable exception being Duke Níðhöggr’s throneworld, Ylli).

Appearance and Biology: A feino appears human only with the most casual of glances. This race tends to be tall, averaging an inch or two more than homo sapiens, with long, thin arms and legs. The torso is broad across the shoulders and chest, but isn’t thick and tapers to narrow hips, giving most feinos a somewhat emaciated appearance. The feino cranium grows long from chin to brow with pronounced cheek bones and a narrow, downward turning mouth, which sports about two-thirds as many teeth as found in a healthy human mouth. Feinos do not have canine teeth. Their ears are pointed. Hair color ranges from pure white to light blue to gold. A feino’s eyes appear to swirl with liquid color because the fluids which lubricate the eyes are pigmented. Hormones related to emotional states alter the fluid’s colors.

Feinos cannot easily metabolize proteins found in animal tissue. As a result, most feinos are vegetarians, and those that aren’t still consume only small portions of meat. The equivalent of the liver in a feinos is hyperefficient at metabolizing alcohol. Consequently, a feinos can consume enormous quantities of libations without adverse effects.

Psychology: The feinos are almost insatiably curious. They constantly pry into the affairs of others. While a feinos may seek privacy for certain activities, he is also likely to assume that these activities will end up being observed eventually. Feinos love to explore new places, to experience new sensations, and to observe new creatures. Feinos societies tend to operate in a profoundly transparent manner. Many feinos view the keeping of secrets as an automatic indication of malicious intent.

As a consequence of a feino’s intense curiosity, he is also likely a rapacious consumer. This is especially true of food, drink, and artistic experiences. Most feinos will do almost anything to increase access to these resources, and more than a few can be deeply indifferent to the needs of others to the same resources. Extreme consumption is viewed as a source of honor and glory for the feinos. The greatest and most respected feinos tend to be those who have the greatest stockpiles of resources to consume and/or share with their followers.

The pigmented fluids in a feino’s eyes interfere with his ability to accurately perceive colors. Feinos are not color-blind, but instead perpetually view the world through a tinted medium. This species’s native tongue has an ornate vocabulary related to color as the definitions for such words must account not only for hue but also for emotional state. For example, feinos have one word for “red” when perceived in a happy state of mind and another word for the same color perceived when angry.

Flavor: The feinos can be difficult to understand. Their extreme psychological traits, extradimensional origin, and alien view of the universe often conspire to make a feino unwelcome anywhere except among his own kind. Consequently, most feinos tend to be insular, even xenophobic. Feinos encountered away from their native society are often exiles, usually criminals whose behaviors were unwelcome by other feinos. Such feinos tend to live short, violent lives in the Empire.

A minority of feinos, however, embrace the realities of living in a new universe. They learn to moderate their more extreme psychological traits in order to live among humans. Derisively referred to as Passers by both human and feino purists, these feinos can be intensely loyal to those who accept them as friends.

Racial Traits: A feino character must have at least a 14 in Dexterity, and cannot have higher than a 13 Constitution.

Feinos have a knack for finding hidden doors. They gain a +1 bonus to Perception skill checks to notice such portals. Feinos cannot be psychics, but they can be wizards. In fact, they excel at the arts of wizardry. By spending one extra mana point when casting a spell, a feino wizard imposes a -1 penalty to the save against that spell. This extra mana point does not count against the mana point limit imposed when using Kouranism to modify spells.

A feino cannot become intoxicated by consuming alcohol. He also enjoys a +1 bonus on saving throws against organic toxins.

Tags: Tiamat's Throne