'allo all...
About a week ago I was all set to upload the Core Rules version 0.3 (tightening up Size rules and missile combat, as well as getting rid of the abbreviations I put into .2 that ended up being #$@%% annoying)... but as usual, when finishing up one idea, another one appeared in my head...
I'm doing a writeup of some rules that totally revamps the test system. The original test system was thought up for the combat system and applied to everything else... and honestly, so is this new version. I *loved* the basic concept of how hand to hand combat worked so far in LotFP: RPG, and it was coming up with that system that made me think an entire game system might have some legs to it.
But missile combat never felt quite right to me. Using the tests to climb and research and build things, I was cool with that. But in an abstract combat engine, I couldn't get my head around making missile combat work right.
So the idea is now to take out the individual aspects of combat and make combat entirely a GROUP function. Think of the tomb fight in Moria from Lord of the Rings. Giant chaotic melee, and even the hobbits are jumping into the fray... one would think the orcs would grind up the hobbits real quick, right? Well if the TOTAL combat results of the Fellowship are compared to the TOTAL combat results of the orcs, and then any damage is applied to the party as they decide. So the hobbits can jump in the fight and contribute but Gimli, Boromir, and Aragorn will take the damage as they're better able to deal with it... until the end, where Frodo volunteers to take the big Troll blow because he knows he can take it.
I don't know if that made any sense but basically the idea is that combat will be resolved as a group, with members of that group deciding who takes the damage dealt out. Yes, players will get to bicker and argue about who takes damage amongst themselves and they'll be penalized with more damage if they can't decide themselves and end up determining it randomly.
I'm also tinkering with a Motivations/Lamentations kind of mechanic which rewards and penalizes characters in-game for how they react in relation to self-defined issues. I'm usually not a fan of "narritivist" meta-game concepts, but they're all the rage and I got an idea I'm comfortable enough with to give it a try without compromising my ideals of a game I'd want to play. Besides, it'll be entirely optional. Using the system will increase the stakes for your character, because following the Motivation will result basically in Cheats aplenty, but running afoul of the Lamentation is going to be near-certain doom. It'll be something that encourages short-term play, or at least somewhat frequent character turnover if it works as I think it will... which makes it different than most game elements of this nature, right?
When this is done and tried out a few times, I'll have it up on the site for free download, and spend a few bucks putting some banner ads in a few places and hopefully that'll get people really slinging in the feedback and we'll go from there.
About a week ago I was all set to upload the Core Rules version 0.3 (tightening up Size rules and missile combat, as well as getting rid of the abbreviations I put into .2 that ended up being #$@%% annoying)... but as usual, when finishing up one idea, another one appeared in my head...
I'm doing a writeup of some rules that totally revamps the test system. The original test system was thought up for the combat system and applied to everything else... and honestly, so is this new version. I *loved* the basic concept of how hand to hand combat worked so far in LotFP: RPG, and it was coming up with that system that made me think an entire game system might have some legs to it.
But missile combat never felt quite right to me. Using the tests to climb and research and build things, I was cool with that. But in an abstract combat engine, I couldn't get my head around making missile combat work right.
So the idea is now to take out the individual aspects of combat and make combat entirely a GROUP function. Think of the tomb fight in Moria from Lord of the Rings. Giant chaotic melee, and even the hobbits are jumping into the fray... one would think the orcs would grind up the hobbits real quick, right? Well if the TOTAL combat results of the Fellowship are compared to the TOTAL combat results of the orcs, and then any damage is applied to the party as they decide. So the hobbits can jump in the fight and contribute but Gimli, Boromir, and Aragorn will take the damage as they're better able to deal with it... until the end, where Frodo volunteers to take the big Troll blow because he knows he can take it.
I don't know if that made any sense but basically the idea is that combat will be resolved as a group, with members of that group deciding who takes the damage dealt out. Yes, players will get to bicker and argue about who takes damage amongst themselves and they'll be penalized with more damage if they can't decide themselves and end up determining it randomly.
I'm also tinkering with a Motivations/Lamentations kind of mechanic which rewards and penalizes characters in-game for how they react in relation to self-defined issues. I'm usually not a fan of "narritivist" meta-game concepts, but they're all the rage and I got an idea I'm comfortable enough with to give it a try without compromising my ideals of a game I'd want to play. Besides, it'll be entirely optional. Using the system will increase the stakes for your character, because following the Motivation will result basically in Cheats aplenty, but running afoul of the Lamentation is going to be near-certain doom. It'll be something that encourages short-term play, or at least somewhat frequent character turnover if it works as I think it will... which makes it different than most game elements of this nature, right?
When this is done and tried out a few times, I'll have it up on the site for free download, and spend a few bucks putting some banner ads in a few places and hopefully that'll get people really slinging in the feedback and we'll go from there.
