Spes Magna Games

Musical Interlude

In most games that include hit points, character death occurs at something approximating 0 hit points. At 1 hit point, your character is live and kicking. At 0 hit points, your character is pushing up daisies. The Boogie Knights of the Round Table (BKotRT) doesn’t work that way, even if it can work that way at least some of the time.

With simple and extended actions, the winner of the compared dice totals gets to narrate the loser’s fate. In most cases, this fate won’t result in death. In other words, there are story limits on the narration. It’s not likely that winning a foot race will cause the loser to die, or that bribing a bouncer makes him your devoted henchmen.

This is especially in important in extended actions where hit points are at stake. One cannot win one round of an extended action, inflict only a portion of a foe’s hit points, and then narrate that the foe was sent flying by a spinning back kick off the top of the Hoover Dam to dash himself to bits on the way down. That sort of dramatic finish is reserved for when the foe’s hit points have been depleted.

Of course, there’s no reason in BKotRT for zero hit points to equal death. The loser may just be unconscious (and perhaps wake up hog-tied in the back of a semi heading for the border). He may be curled up in a corner, whimpering for mercy. This is especially important when it’s one of the heroes who has lost his last hit point. Even as simple as character generation is in BKotRT, it’s still not often fun when one of the heroes bites the dust.

When the heroes win, they should also consider mercy. BKotRT takes place in a recognizably modern setting, where the authorities (even those not in cahoots with the Man) usually take a dim view to killing, maiming, arson, et cetera. Other games encourage heroic murderhoboes. BKotRT doesn’t go in for that sort of thing. Sure, a game session may include lots of mayhem and violence, but it’s more akin to the A-Team than the Peaky Blinders.

Tags: A to Z 2015, Boogie Knights

Musical Interlude

One of the foundational premises of The Boogie Knights of the Round Table (BKotRT) is that just about anyone can attempt just about anything. Since the game system’s resolution mechanic for any action starts and ends with narration by a player, the limits of the systems are the limits of the players’ imaginations, descriptive abilities, and powers of persuasion. BKotRT is not a game that tries to define the minutiae of what characters can do. With this system, it just doesn’t make sense to look for ways to exploit combinations of skills, feats, spells, and items.

As previously explained, BKotRT has three types of actions: unopposed, simple, and extended. Just about anything a hero attempts can be any one of these three action types. The exact same activity could be a different action type depending on the situation and what makes the story being played more entertaining. When a hero attempts an action, the first question to ask is, “Is anyone or anything opposing the hero?” If the answer is “Yes” (or if you, the GM, think it’d be more fun if the answer is “Yes”), then use simple or extended action rules. Describe the situation and let the dice fly. If the answer is “No”, then decide on a difficulty number (DN).

Remember that the DN for a task depends on who is attempting it. An action that is DN 10 for one hero might be DN 6 for another. It all depends on qualities. What might be easy for a Hard-Bitten Detective might be challenging for a Preppy Accountant (and vice versa). For an unopposed action, an appropriate quality should usually face a DN between 6 to 10. A moderately inappropriate quality would probably face a DN of 12 or 14. For greater degrees of inappropriateness, increase the DN by +5, +10, or more.

With simple or extended actions, an inappropriate quality results in the hero’s dice total being halved (round up). This helps ensure that a Poetic Records Clerk d10 isn’t on par with a Stone-Fisted Pugilist d10 in a street brawl. Of course, if all contestants in a simple or extended action are equally inappropriate, feel free to ignore the extra math.

Perhaps above all, keep the action moving. There’s no point in trying to figure out the perfect DN or most accurate degree of inappropriateness for a system as loosey-goosey as BKotRT. Make a decision and move on. Failure in BKotRT seldom has to be fatal or otherwise permanent.

Tags: A to Z 2015, Boogie Knights

Musical Interlude

Today’s post has two topics. Huzzah.

Initiative

The Boogie Knights of the Round Table (BKotRT) uses a standard deck of 52 playing cards to determine initiative, or who gets to act first in any given situation where it’s important to know who acts first and it isn’t otherwise obvious. The system is simple. Deal one card face up to every player and one card to every important foe or group of foes. Cards from highest to lowest run ace, king, queen, et cetera, down to two. In the case of ties, the suits from highest to lowest are clubs (duh), diamonds, spades, and then hearts. So, for example, the king of clubs beats a king of any other suit.

The player with the highest card gets to act first in the round. If the highest card belongs to a foe (or group of foes), the GM gets to act first. Actions are described and resolved as normal. The card belonging to the hero, foe, or group of foes that just acted is then turned face down to show that actions have been completed. The person who just acted, player or GM, then chooses who goes next. This choice can be tactical, whimsical, whatever seems best for the story, et cetera. This process continues until everyone involved in the conflict has acted, at which time the cards are collected into a discard pile and new cards are handed out.

Hero Points

As I mentioned yesterday, yesterday’s post was supposed to be about hero points. Since that ended up a bust, here’s the hero point information. I’m less committed to these rules at the moment, so consider these an even rougher draft than the other posts. In particular, I’m still dithering over how many hero points a her gets and how new hero points are earned.

As for the hero points themselves, I picture them being used for these effects:

1. One hero point adds one die to the hero’s dice pool. The added die has the same rating as the highest die currently in the pool. So, a player rolling 1d8+1d6 could spend a hero point to roll 2d8+1d6.

2. One hero point restores one category of hit points. The number of hit points restored equals one-half the ability score’s maximum value. Thus, a hero with Kung-Fu d6 would recover 3 Kung-Fu hit points.

I have some ideas for other possible effects, but I’ve not made the time to sit down and work out the details, consider the implications, et cetera.

Tags: A to Z 2015, Boogie Knights

Musical Interlude

Today’s post is supposed to be about hero points, that third type of point that I forgot about when I said that there were two types of points in The Boogie Knights of the Round Table. Mea culpa maxima. Unfortunately, I have had quite the pounding headache all day long; hence, my choice of a musical interlude. Tomorrow, I shall tackle both hero points and initiative in a sort of two-for-one post.

Until then, don’t stop the music.

Tags: A to Z 2015, Boogie Knights

Musical Interlude

Arthur and Lance traveled the land, challenging different performers to battles of song, dance, and poetry. The disco duo defeated every opponent, but always with grace and good will. In the process, they united several clubs dedicated to various styles of performance. Thus, the Peace of Genres.

This dealt the Man a significant blow. The Man is all about control, and one of the Man’s most effective tools for maintaining that control is dividing people against each other. As a result, the Man encourages classism, racism, religious triumphalism, et cetera. Anything that some people can latch onto in order to rationalize feelings of superiority serves the Man’s purposes.

One of the Man’s early triumphs came about shortly after the birth of jazz and the blues. The Man planted seeds of suspicion among whites, especially in the South. Jazz and the blues weren’t music for respectable people, the Man hinted. It was fine for those people, but those people needed to keep themselves and their music in their place. As the blues evolved into rock, the seeds of suspicion were sown anew. The same happened when hip hop started to move from the streets to the airwaves.

In a seeming contradiction, the Man also lured artists into the mainstream. This way, those inclined to ignore or rebel against the Man’s insinuations could be lulled into thinking that these mainstream artists (frequently referred to as “sell-outs” by those in the know) somehow represented an authentic musical voice. Along with the mainstream came the merchandising, the carefully controlled messages, and further divisions.

Arthur and Lance achieved something important with the Peace of Genres. People still have their musical preferences. Arthur and Lance remain devoted disco darlings. The crowded clubs in the Land of Funk still thrum with groovy bass lines. Cowboys still two-step in honky tonks, and long-haired head bangers thrash in mosh pits.

But gone is much of the hostility. In its place is an appreciation for artistry and a common desire to get down. Tex Rhinestone, manager of the Texas Twister, still thinks disco sucks, but he also knows that “Disco sucks!” are words put into the people’s mouths by the Man.

“United we dance! Divided we fall!”

Tags: A to Z 2015, Boogie Knights