Spes Magna Games

Giant Boy and I are heading up to the Dallas/Fort Worth area near the end of July for Texicon 2012. I’m running Metro Gnomes, a post-apocalyptic survival horror adventure using Dyson Logos’s inspired Geodesic Gnomes RPG.

When planning a 4-hour convention event, one of my big concerns is fully using that 4-hour block of time. Most people attending a convention have shelled out money, and part of what they’ve paid for is being entertained by me, each other, and the game for 4 hours. Also, I love experimenting with new ideas at conventions. I get plenty of Pathfinder with my regular gaming group. Conventions are a great place to try new things.

So, I’m trying two new things with Metro Gnomes. (New to me at least, that is.) First is the game itself. I’ve never played Geodesic Gnomes. I’ve never run a game of it for anyone. Tackling a new system, even one as rules light as Geodesic Gnomes, presents the sort of challenge that lets me make use of my teacher skills. I’m not only having to learn new material; I’m having to do so while preparing to present that material to others. Creating the pre-generated characters, player hand-outs, et cetera, is almost like working on a lesson plan.

Who says teachers get the summer off?

Also, I want to use a circular narrative structure for Metro Gnomes. Check out the diagram to the right. A prologue, four acts, and an epilogue comprise the adventure. The players will be able to play through all four acts in whatever order they want within the 4-hour event. My major design goal for Metro Gnomes is that it be pretty much the exact opposite of the typical, linear adventure.

In that sort of adventure, Metro Gnomes would flow from prologue to acts one through four (in that order) and end with the epilogue. With a circular plot structure, Metro Gnomes starts with the prologue and ends with the epilogue, but the order in which each act occurs is entirely up to the players.

The challenge with the circular structure is to ensure not only that the players have freedom of movement within the plot, but also that they players understand their choices. The pre-gen PCs, the prologue, and each of the four acts must all contain carrots and sticks to motivate the players to move from act to act.

I’ve still got a bit of work to do on Metro Gnomes, but I think I’ve got a solid handle on the basic structure. I can hardly wait to see the end result!

Tags: adventure design, Convention Gaming, game play, Texicon 2012

Before I continue with my zombie brainstorms, I realized I made a boo-boo of sorts. GFYG! doesn’t grant a new Hit Die at every level, but only for the first 4 levels. For example, the brave character class grants a d10 Hit Die at each level 1 through 4 only. After that, the brave gets +3 hit points per level thereafter.

The proposed Bruises/Wounds system in the last post will still work with one clarification. The bonus hit points gained by a character after 4th level are added to Bruises only.

Classes

GFYG! has 11 classes, including the optional wandering monk. The other 10 classes are the brave, doctor, drifter, gunslinger, maverick, mountain man, muckraker, preacher, scout, and wrangler. Many of these classes look like they’d work without modifications in a survival horror game. There are some questionable cases, however.

Doctor: Can a doctor treat an infected via his herbals class ability? It seems the answer must be, “No.” Part of the horror is that the infected cannot be cured. It does seem fair, however, that a doctor might be able to help an exposed person resist initial infection. Thus, we need an addendum to Herbals.

Herbals Addendum: A doctor cannot cure an infected. If, however, he acts quickly once a person is exposed, he does grant his Herbals save bonus to the victim. To do this, the doctor must take an action before the end of the round after the victim is exposed. After that, it is too late to apply medical countermeasures.

Another doctor ability, Pain Relief Potion, mentions negating “the effects of negative modifiers on attribute checks and attack rolls from painful wounds.” I don’t see any mention of such modifiers in GFYG!. Do they need to be clarified? Maybe, maybe not.

Care & Attention, Heal, and Minor Surgery also need some tweaking due to the change in hit points. Treat all references to hit points as applicable to Wounds. Bruises are restored at twice the rate of Wounds (although for Care & Attention this won’t matter much).

Drifter: The drifter’s Prairie Tales ability applies to “zombie” lore as well.

Maverick & Muckraker: The Silvertongue ability cannot be used to “strike up friendships” with the infected. A maverick can use Showmanship against the infected, but the maximum duration is halved. The muckraker’s Prairie Tales ability applies to “zombie” lore. These classes’ other abilities work as normal.

Preacher: A preacher cannot Exalt or Demoralize the infected. He cannot Exhort Greatness in an infected. His Sanctuary ability works against the infected, but the preacher suffers a -2 penalty to his attribute check. His General Knowledge applies to “zombie” lore. Like the doctor, the preacher’s first aid restores Wounds and twice as many Bruises. The preacher’s other abilities are unchanged.

Wandering Monk: A wandering monk’s Stunning Attack works against the infected, but the duration is halved. The monk’s Fast Healing restores Wounds and twice that number of Bruises. Otherwise, the wandering monk is unchanged.

Brave, Gunslinger, Mountain Man, Scout, & Wrangler: These classes work as normal.

Exploding Dice

Every GFYG! hero has two primary attributes, two secondary attributes, and two tertiary attributes. One of the hero’s primary attributes is determined by class. For example, a scout’s primary attributes always include Dexterity. Each attribute has a particular exploding die assigned to it.

But wait, you say. What are exploding dice? That sounds dangerous!

Well, that’s kind of the point. Let’s say your exploding die is a d4. When you roll it, if it comes up a 4, you roll again and add the two rolls. If another 4 comes up, you roll again, et cetera.

For example, Tex makes a Wisdom check, rolling 1d20 plus 1d4 against a target number of 18 (since Wisdom is one of his tertiary attributes). He rolls a 9 on the d20, and a 4 on the d4. He rerolls the latter die and gets another 4. He rolls again, scoring a 2. His total roll is 9 + 4 + 4 + 2, or 19 (not counting any applicable Wisdom modifier). Tex makes his Wisdom check!

Now, back to the types of exploding dice that go with a hero’s attributes:

Primary Attribute: d8
Secondary Attribute: d6
Tertiary Attribute: d4

Exploding dice also apply to attack rolls. Any hero who has a +1 Bonus to Hit at 1st level uses a d6 exploding die with attack rolls. Other heroes use a d4.

But why? Why use exploding dice in survival horror?

Good question. The main reason is that the odds of surviving long are stacked against the heroes. The infected are seriously dangerous. One failed Constitution check against infection is a death sentence. The exploding dice reflect that special element of luck that many characters in survival horror movies seem to enjoy.

But, as Brendan Gleeson’s character Frank in 28 Days Later demonstrated, even a hero’s luck runs out eventually, and exploding dice can help simulate that as well.

If a hero both fails an attribute check or attack roll and his exploding die yields its lowest possible result, the hero’s luck has run out. For the rest of the game day, the hero doesn’t get to use his exploding dice.

For example, Tex swings his machete at an infected, rolling 1d20 and 1d6. He rolls a 5 on the d20 and a 1 on the d6. He not only fails the attack, but his luck has run out. As more infected rush through the shattered saloon windows, Tex’s situation looks grim. He can still attack, but he doesn’t get to use his exploding dice for anything.

Back to Survival of the Fittest

Even with the distinction between Bruises and Wounds and the addition of exploding dice, hero death is all but inevitable in survival horror. As Tex demostrates above, when a hero’s luck runs out, he can find himself going from frying pan into fire. This means players are probably going to end up making up new heroes.

A new hero comes into the game at the same level as the player’s recently deceased hero. What’s more, the player doesn’t have to roll 3d6 for all six attributes. Instead, he rolls 3d6 five times, and gets a sixth score equal to either 15 or his last character’s highest ability score, whichever is higher. The player can then arrange these attributes to taste.

For example, Tex is eaten. His attributes were Strength 13, Dexterity 17, Constitution 14, Intelligence 5, Wisdom 10, Charisma 11. (Tex was as a dull as a loaf of bread.) Tex’s player gets to keep the 17. He rolls 3d6 five times, getting these results: 14, 11, 13, 10, and 6. Tex’s player decides his new character will be a mountain man with a 17 Constitution.

Next up, I think I’m going to shift away from game mechanics and look at the history of the infection. Where did it come from? Who has done what in response? When did the plague start?

Tags: adventure design, game play, horror

During the A to Z blogging challenge, when I got to T, I faced a dilemma. I had shared with my son Giant Boy my idea for making a monster out of Michael Jackson based on “Thriller”. We had loads of fun geeking out in the car driving to wherever it was we were driving to at the time. Then, a few weeks later, I finished up S Is for Snakes, and Giant Boy, basking in the glory of my achievement, said, “Patermaximus, next is T. You get to do ‘Thriller’.”

And so I did, but in doing so, I didn’t talk about teamwork feats, which had also been on my list. Paizo’s Advanced Player’s Guide introduced teamwork feats, informing us that “[t]eamwork feats grant large bonuses, but they only function under specific circumstances. In most cases, these feats require an ally who also possesses the feat to be positioned carefully on the battlefield. Teamwork feats provide no bonus if the listed conditions are not met.”

This is such a great idea, but is marred by one glaring flaw, namely that it requires two or more players to deliberately plan their characters so that their characters all end up with the necessary prerequisites and choose the same feats. (Ignore the exceptions of inquisitors and cavaliers, who break the general teamwork rules in minor ways.) Skill points and feats are scarce resources, and the sort of character advancement via committee necessary to build teamwork feats into an adventuring group seems to ask a bit too much of most players.

Which is a shame because I really like the idea of teamwork feats.

I’ve read a couple of people suggesting to give teamwork feats to teams, but I haven’t seen any concrete suggestions on what this might look like in actual play. Here’s my stab at it.

Team Feats

Over time, an adventuring party does all sorts of things together. They kick down doors, kill monsters, and steal their stuff in a wide variety of settings. Adventurers experiment with various weapons, spells, and items, devising new tactics to adapt to a dizzying array of situations and foes. Along the way, the adventurers learn to read the intentions of their comrades-in-arms, forging themselves into a cohesive engine of destruction, death, and grave robbery.

Starting at 3rd level and every two levels thereafter, an adventuring party gets to choose one teamwork feat that the party can use. This is a bonus feat, and only members of the party who meet the feat’s prerequisites can use the feat. Since the teamwork feat doesn’t “belong” to any single character, party members who later meet the prerequisites gain access to the teamwork feat at that time.

For example: Wes, Eric, Terry, and Christopher create a new batch of characters to adventure together. Their PCs face many dangers and reach 3rd level. At this time, they get to choose a teamwork feat. They choose Coordinated Defense, which has no prerequisites, meaning all four PCs now gain the benefits of this feat.

By the way, I’m not sure if animal companions should gain the benefits of these bonus teamwork feats. My initial instinct is that, no, they shouldn’t, unless the animal companion has at least a 3 Intelligence. Since this won’t happen in the early levels, the animal companion would be treated as a new PC.

What about New PCs?

The idea of team teamwork feats assumes that your players run a stable group of PCs that does not suffer changes in personnel over several levels. This won’t always be the case. A life of monster-killing and treasure-stealing is dangerous, and PCs die, at which time they are replaced. Also, new players may join your group, and old players may end up with cohorts or animal companions that suddenly don’t have animal-level intelligence any more. These new additions to the party haven’t had the training time to justify use of the team’s teamwork feats. What to do? I see two ways to handle this: the easy way and the harder way. (Really, there’re are three ways, but when I typed this paragraph, I’d only thought of two, and I ended up adding the third way later on, but didn’t edit this paragraph. Go figure.)

The easy way is to let the new additions gain access to the team’s teamwork feats after they’ve been part of the team for one level. At that time, the new additions can use all of the team’s teamwork feats.

The harder way requires new additions to earn access at a slower pace. When the team next earns a new team teamwork feat, the team decides if they want to allow the new teammates to gain access to an old feat, in which case no new feat is earned, or gain a new team teamwork feat that everyone can use. (Did I just set a record for the most times “team” gets used in a sentence?)

For example: Christopher’s PC dies a horrible death. Next game session, Christopher’s new PC joins the team. He doesn’t get to use the team’s Coordinated Defense feat because he hasn’t been part of the on-the-job training for it. Using the easy way, Christopher’s new PC gets to use Coordinated Defense after he earns a level. Using the harder way is more laborious. The heroes fight and loot until they reach 5th level. At this time, the players face a choice. Have they been training Christopher’s PC to work with the team, or have they been training the team to work together in new ways? If they opt for the former, Christopher’s PC gets to use Coordinated Defense, but the team doesn’t get a new feat. If they go for the latter, the team chooses a new team teamwork feat. Christopher’s PC gets to use this new feat, but not Coordinated Defense.

Of course, there is also a via media. You could use the harder way, but eliminate the dilemma. Christopher’s PC learns Coordinated Defense and the team gets to choose a new teamwork feat for all of its members.

But What about Game Balance!?

Balance, shmalance. Over the course of 20 levels, a team of PCs end up with 10 bonus teamwork feats. Will this make them more powerful? Obviously. Will it destroy game balance? Not really. Treat the team’s average party level (APL) as being one level higher for every X number of bonus teamwork feats. I’m not sure what value should be assigned to X. E6 rules suggest that 5 feats equals one level, but those rules don’t take into account the generally more powerful nature of teamwork feats. Since I like numbers to divide evenly, perhaps treating every four bonus teamwork feats as +1 to APL would work. So, that hypothetical party of four 20th-level characters with 10 bonus teamwork feats would be treated like an APL 24 group of adventurers. That might work, but without extensive playtesting, it’s really just a guess.

Tags: game play, Pathfinder RPG

Okay, so here’s the scenario. The adventurers are in the middle of a 40-foot-square chamber. Other than a bit of debris here and there, the room is empty and devoid of cover for the adventurers to, well, take cover behind. Suddenly, an up-until-then invisible sorcerer appears, lobbing a fireball at the adventurers. The wizard and the cleric fail their Reflex saves and take full damage. The fighter makes his and takes half damage. The rogue also makes his saving throw and, thanks to his evasion class feature, takes no damage at all.

Why does the fighter take half damage? Why does the rogue take none?

Well, we could say that the fighter hunkered down behind his shield, avoiding a lot of the direct heat. That is, if the fighter has a shield. The rogue, however, evaded the entire attack. Without moving. When the flames clear, he’s still in the exact same square, unharmed.

Again, why?

It seems as if making a Reflex save implies some sort of movement. Some sort of reflex action. But, as noted, when all is said and done, no one’s positions on the battlefield actually change due to a Reflex save. This bugs me. It didn’t bug me back in 1E or 2E days because there were no Reflex saves. Instead, you saved versus spells, or death magic, or rods and staves and wands, et cetera. These categories really didn’t have much in the way of descriptive power. They really don’t even imply anything about how the character resisted whatever it was he just resisted. Fortitude, Reflex, and Will, however, are descriptive. How did you resist the poison? Through Fortitude! Why didn’t that vampire dominate you? Because of my Will! Wow, that fireball barely hurt you! How come? My Reflex! But you didn’t move. Uh….

So here’s my quick thought before I head off to bed after a long week of molding young minds: Whenever a character makes a Reflex save, he gets an immediate move action.

That’s it. It’s not a big idea. It might not even be a good idea, but I’d be willing to give a try. Who knows? Could make the game more fun, and, if it did, that’d make it a winner idea in my book.

Tags: A to Z, fireball, fun, game play

One of the many things on my overcrowded plate is preparing for Texicon near the end of July. I’ve committed to running two different events, “Metro Gnomes” using Dyson Logos’s inspired Geodesic Gnomes and “Castronegro” using a mashup of Beyond Belief Games‘s Go Fer Yer Gun! and Chaosium‘s Call of Cthulhu (CoC). While reviewing the rules for the latter game, I was re-introduced to the concept of the Luck roll.

In CoC, players make Luck rolls frequently, usually to determine which character is the least lucky and, therefore, suffers some sort of horrible fate. For example, when walking by a mirror that sometimes shows glimpes of Things Best Left Unseen, the investigators must be lucky enough to not briefly see reality for what it really is. Investigators whose Luck rolls don’t pass the test end up having their psyches scarred (and Sanity scores lowered). Other times, investigators whose Luck rolls succeed end up stumbling upon something beneficial, such as luckily noticing that the ceiling of the ghoul-dug tunnel beneath the graveyard is about to collapse, enabling the investigator just enough time to avoid being crushed by tons of earth, rock, coffins, and corpses.

What might Luck look like in Pathfinder? Well, how about making Luck an ability score? Let’s look at a brand new, 20-point buy wizard:

STR 10 for 0 points
DEX 13 for 3 points
CON 14 for 5 points
INT 14 for 5 points
WIS 12 for 2 points
CHA 10 for 0 points
LUC 14 for 5 points

Since he’s human, he adds his +2 racial bonus to Intelligence, ending up with these ability scores:

STR 10 (+0), DEX 13 (+1), CON 14 (+2), INT 16 (+3), WIS 12 (+1), CHA 10 (+0), LUC 14 (+2)

Which is all fine and dandy, but now we have to figure out what LUC does for our wizard.

What LUC Does

LUC represents the degree to which cosmic forces, karma, the gods, Lady Fortune, et cetera, smile upon a character. During the course of a game session, a character’s LUC can affect any dice roll the character’s player makes. The player decides to apply the LUC bonus after rolling but before the GM reveals the results of the roll.

At the start of the game session, give each player tokens of some sort, one token per +1 of LUC bonus. (For now, ignore LUC penalties; I’ll get to those below.) Whenever a player wants to apply his character’s LUC bonus to the dice, he must surrender one token. The bonus to the dice equals the total number of tokens the player has prior to surrendering one token. For example, our wizard has a +2 LUC bonus. The player gets two LUC tokens at the start of the game session. The wizard is forced to roll a Fortitude save, and the player isn’t quite sure about his total of 15. He adds +2 from LUC, and surrenders one LUC token. When a player is out of tokens, his character is out of LUC for that game session.

By the way, the bonus from LUC is a luck bonus. It doesn’t stack with other luck bonuses. Of course, since LUC is an ability score, it can be improved via the ability score bump characters get every four levels. You could even design magic items and spells to provide temporary LUC boosts (clover of good luck +2 and rabbit’s luck, anyone?).

Unlucky Characters

A character with a negative LUC modifier is unlucky. For every point of negative LUC modifier, the GM gets one unLUC token at the start of the game session. The GM’s collection of unLUC tokens form his pool of misfortune. The GM gets to use his unLUC tokens for a variety of effects during the game session:

* Have a Monster/NPC Act Out of Turn: For one unLUC token, a single monster or NPC can take its turn immediately. This is treated as a readied action, changing the affected creature’s initiative as appropriate. The monster/NPC can take only a move or standard action using this option.

* Bonus to Dice Roll: The unLUC token grants a luck bonus to a single roll of the dice. If declared before the dice are rolled, it adds +2 per PC the monster/NPC faces. If declared after the dice roll, it grants one-half this bonus.

* Extra Action: A monster/NPC can gain an additional standard or move action for one unLUC token.

* Recall: For one unLUC token, a monster/NPC can regain one use of an expended ability, such as a cast spell. This affects only abilities that are recharged on a daily basis.

* Second Wind: One monster/NPC immediately regains 1 hit point per Hit Die per PC being faced. For example, a 4th-level half-orc antipaladin fighting four PCs could regain 16 hit points for one unLUC token (4 HD times 4 PCs = 16 hit points). Hit points above the creature’s normal maximum hit points are ignored.

The GM can spend any number of unLUC tokens in one round for any combination of effects, but no single effect can be applied to any one monster/NPC more than once. For example, a GM could spend three unLUC tokens to give that antipaladin the benefits of Bonus to Dice Roll, Extra Action, and Second Wind.

Pushing Your LUC

Any character, even one with a negative LUC modifier, can decide to push his LUC. Pushing his LUC grants an additional +2 luck bonus to the affected dice roll without any extra cost in LUC tokens. A character with no or a negative LUC modifier gets a total +2 luck bonus. The downside is that the GM immediately gets to add one unLUC token to his pool of misfortune.

Tags: A to Z, ability scores, game play, luck