Every time. Every. Damn. Time.
But equally I suppose it's simply that I can't be bothered to do all the maths and have to stat out every little thing just in case. Obviously there are both advantages and disadvantages to any way of running a game, and one is not necessarily better than the other. It all depends on the type of game you're aiming for and the people involved.
But anyway, at least one time I DID write up a system with actual rules. Not many, I admit. But some. And since some of my players have expressed an interest in maybe digging the game out for another go at some point I figured this was a good opportunity to dig out my notes and write it up.
So, ladies and gentleman, let me introduce you to the Overpower system.
This was something I came up with because we wanted to play a super heroes game. The basic idea was that in most systems you have fumbles and critical successes, but there's never really anything for when things go to far. Sure, you can knock a guy out with an uppercut (natural 20). Or you can miss entirely and fall on your ass (the inevitable 1). But how come you can't accidentally punch his head clean off?
Whoopsie.
The idea was to create something simple, that allowed for characters with awesome powers that they are barely in control of. And thus we get the idea of a catastrophic success.
The basic resolution mechanic is D20 based. A 1 is an Abject Failure. A 10 is a Perfect Success. And A 20 is a Catastrophic Success. This is perhaps best demonstrated with an example. If I might quote from my original notes for a moment.
The Hulking Colossus is trying to smash through a wall. He makes makes a roll.
On a 1 he would probably break his arm on the (apparently) super reinforced magnacrete casing.
On a 10 he would smash a conveniently Hulking Colossus sized hole in the puny concrete.
On a 20 he would probably collapse the entire building, killing everyone inside.
Do you see where we're going with this?
Now, obviously the system isn't based solely around some innate mutant ability to only roll 10s. The 10 in the perfect success. How close you get determines the degree of success. Any challenge that requires a roll may have some target range of success. A range of 1 for example gives a success on a 9, 10, or 11. The smaller the range the harder the task. Look, I even did maths to work this out!
| range | number of success | Number of failures | % Success |
| 0 | 1 | 19 | 5 |
| 1 | 3 | 17 | 15 |
| 2 | 5 | 15 | 25 |
| 3 | 7 | 13 | 35 |
| 4 | 9 | 11 | 45 |
| 5 | 11 | 9 | 55 |
| 6 | 13 | 7 | 65 |
| 7 | 15 | 5 | 75 |
| 8 | 17 | 3 | 85 |
| 9 | 19 | 1 | 95 |
Anyway, this is just raw crunchy numbers part. Where things get interesting is in when we add in the actual Powers themselves, and the Wild Cards.
All powers on a character sheet will come with a control value. This, in a shocking twist that nobody saw coming, represents the characters control over their powers. These are determined on a per power base, and are probably as close as this system gets to being complicated. This is because it's not just a number, but also how that number is applied. It could be a plus, or a minus, or both. It could also be mandatory or optional.
For example, a character who has reasonable control over their power could have +/-2. They can either add or subtract 2 to any roll. A character who is somewhat repressed might have a permanent -2, whereas a character who is cautious might have an optional -2. A character who tends to go over the top might have a permanent +2. Or maybe you might have a character who's powers run out of control who gets a cumulative +1 until they chill the fuck out.
So, we have the numeric modifier along with how it's applied (+, -, +/-) and the qualifiers Optional (O), Permanent (P) and Cumulative (C). So an example super power might be:
Pyrokinesis PC+1 for someone who is going to burn all the things. O>r maybe:
Super Strength O+/-2 For someone who is good at punching cars and stuff.
Then we have the Wild Cards. I actually think this is one of the funnest aspects of the game. In addition to a D20 when running this game you need a deck of playing cards. At the start of each game each player is dealt 3 random cards. These are then used like a +/- value for any roll. The player can spend the card to apply that value to the roll in whichever direction. Cards can be played before or after the dice are rolled, but once played are returned to the GM and can no longer be used that game. A 10 can be played instead of rolling for a one time automatic success. The Kings, Queens, Jacks and Jokers are not required for this, but can be assigned narrative rather than mechanical effects. For example you could say that a king card is a "Dramatic Reversal". A queen is "Unexpected Aid", and a jack is "Sudden Insight". If you're feeling particularly meta you could make the joker "Popular With Readers". Exactly how these play out once used is of course entirely up to the GM. Ideally you should build up a list of possible things that can be assigned to these cards and change them every game.
Part of what I wanted to do with this system was to create a more graduated system of task resolution than the starkly binary pass/fail type mechanics that you see in a lot of games. I mean, if you need an 18 to hit something and you roll a 17, does it really feel that satisfying for it do NOTHING? But whilst I've outlined how the basic mechanics work, I haven't really mentioned how the effects are applied. And that's because, well, I don't NEED rules for that part. Sure, I've got the numbers to see what degree of success or failure is required. But these results are then interpreted by the GM and applied NARRATIVELY. There are no hit points or magic points or armour classes or anything like that. The mechanics exist to give an amount of randomness and control to the results, but those results are part of the story, and described as such.
Now, one thing that's probably obvious is that there are some circumstances where this sort of system is not best suited as a resolution mechanic. Maybe it's something that really would have a binary pass/fail result. Maybe it's something that doesn't really have the potential for the character to go overboard and destroy everything. The big question here is why you're bothering to roll for these things in the first place. As I said, this system is designed for a particular kind of game. Big, loud, overblown comic style superpowers. That's what the mechanic is for. Anything else can be narrated by the GM. Or maybe flip a coin or something, I dunno.
Anyway, I think I may have waffled on here for long enough. Tune in next time when I'll get into character creation and background.
All powers on a character sheet will come with a control value. This, in a shocking twist that nobody saw coming, represents the characters control over their powers. These are determined on a per power base, and are probably as close as this system gets to being complicated. This is because it's not just a number, but also how that number is applied. It could be a plus, or a minus, or both. It could also be mandatory or optional.
For example, a character who has reasonable control over their power could have +/-2. They can either add or subtract 2 to any roll. A character who is somewhat repressed might have a permanent -2, whereas a character who is cautious might have an optional -2. A character who tends to go over the top might have a permanent +2. Or maybe you might have a character who's powers run out of control who gets a cumulative +1 until they chill the fuck out.
So, we have the numeric modifier along with how it's applied (+, -, +/-) and the qualifiers Optional (O), Permanent (P) and Cumulative (C). So an example super power might be:
Pyrokinesis PC+1 for someone who is going to burn all the things. O>r maybe:
Super Strength O+/-2 For someone who is good at punching cars and stuff.
Then we have the Wild Cards. I actually think this is one of the funnest aspects of the game. In addition to a D20 when running this game you need a deck of playing cards. At the start of each game each player is dealt 3 random cards. These are then used like a +/- value for any roll. The player can spend the card to apply that value to the roll in whichever direction. Cards can be played before or after the dice are rolled, but once played are returned to the GM and can no longer be used that game. A 10 can be played instead of rolling for a one time automatic success. The Kings, Queens, Jacks and Jokers are not required for this, but can be assigned narrative rather than mechanical effects. For example you could say that a king card is a "Dramatic Reversal". A queen is "Unexpected Aid", and a jack is "Sudden Insight". If you're feeling particularly meta you could make the joker "Popular With Readers". Exactly how these play out once used is of course entirely up to the GM. Ideally you should build up a list of possible things that can be assigned to these cards and change them every game.
Part of what I wanted to do with this system was to create a more graduated system of task resolution than the starkly binary pass/fail type mechanics that you see in a lot of games. I mean, if you need an 18 to hit something and you roll a 17, does it really feel that satisfying for it do NOTHING? But whilst I've outlined how the basic mechanics work, I haven't really mentioned how the effects are applied. And that's because, well, I don't NEED rules for that part. Sure, I've got the numbers to see what degree of success or failure is required. But these results are then interpreted by the GM and applied NARRATIVELY. There are no hit points or magic points or armour classes or anything like that. The mechanics exist to give an amount of randomness and control to the results, but those results are part of the story, and described as such.
Now, one thing that's probably obvious is that there are some circumstances where this sort of system is not best suited as a resolution mechanic. Maybe it's something that really would have a binary pass/fail result. Maybe it's something that doesn't really have the potential for the character to go overboard and destroy everything. The big question here is why you're bothering to roll for these things in the first place. As I said, this system is designed for a particular kind of game. Big, loud, overblown comic style superpowers. That's what the mechanic is for. Anything else can be narrated by the GM. Or maybe flip a coin or something, I dunno.
Anyway, I think I may have waffled on here for long enough. Tune in next time when I'll get into character creation and background.
No comments:
Post a Comment