Combat Mechanics Help
Hello everyone. It is I, Tavanesh with a few questions. First off i'd like to thank the people who have visited my book Insanity is Better than Life. It is you guys that keep making me want to work on it. Secondly I have some things i'd like to ask because I have somewhat of a writers block (if you can call it that). I need suggestions for how my combat should work out. How should I use the 5 different attributes in combat and what sort of mechanics should i use. I know it sounds kind of negligent of me to not have done this before coming up with attributes, but I'm doing this as i go along. Please Help Me.
Don't do, what you can put off until tommorow.
Indeed
You are correct in assuming that I some of my ideas stem from Adventuria. When I first joined this site and was looking around I found it. I truly loved it and played it several times. Then I decided I wanted to make something like it, but I didn't want to rip too much off. Please tell me if I am taking too many of your ideas.
Recent survey says that 3 out of 4 people make up 75% of the population.
Not feeling ripped off at all
I was pleasantly surprised to see your game was so inspired by Adventuria Online RPG. No worries at all that you have lifted from me, and all I'm interested in is checking out your game and playing it. That and giving you a pointer or two if you had any questions for making your solo game. And, for what it's worth, a lot of the Adventuria rules are a variation on the rules of the game Talisman, so it's not like you are taking much from me. Even then, you are welcome to take from my free rpg Adventuria because it's free! The only thing is, you don't want to copy Adventuria too much or else you will rob your game of being it's own thing. One of the factors which I feel makes Adventuria tick is that it is it's own world. Do the same with IiBtL, as I see you have already begun to do...
Really clever idea you got going with the whole insane asylum thing. I particularly like the imaginary creatures that can be your pet. Your system looks solid so far, and it will be interesting when you start having pages which represent areas. Feel free to browse through Adventuria if you need any ideas for navigation and mapping in your game.
Peace, Errin : )
Need for Speed
Most of your attributes have a rather common sense link to what they should do in combat. Drive/power could either determine the strength of the imaginary friends, or act as a limit on the number of times an ability can be used. Agility determines speed and ranged accuracy for throwing.
As a beer and pretzels style game, the ideal would be to keep it quick. One roll die to hit, and maybe a second for damage - but avoid much more than that. Don't offer a plethora of special moves, stances, or things like resistance and dodge rolls. An escape ability might add a bit more to your resistance to damage, but doesn't add rolls. The more polyhedral, modifiers to consider and steps to add - the slower the combats.
Returning to the question of themes - how dangerous is combat to be? Are we evading big nurse and orderlies with batons, or dealing with clawed monsters flowing out of the basement? Is depletion of HP death, or just out for a scene? Should there be planning for encounters, or acrobatics and fancy moves once opposition is stumbled upon?
There is a fine line between hobby and obsession. I seem to have lost sight of it some time ago.
Reply
Thank you for the help with the mechanics, and on to a different subject, the theme. You ask what kind of enemies you will be facing. Well, Rabid Bunnies of course. More or less, figments of the imagination will dominate the prime amount of enemy encounters. Whacked out realities, life to the extremes, ironic enemies (rabid bunnies), etc. On to your second question about planning, or face first combat. There really shouldn't be a whole lot of planning ahead when it comes to this game, other then a little in-depth character creation (which I enjoy). On the other hand, part of the cunning ability and the class, Serial Killer, might take a bit more planning then others for the fact that their abilities are best used in specific situations, and might require a bit more management and care, causing increased difficulty, but greater rewards.
Recent surveys say that 3 out of every 4 people make up 75% of the population.
Reply to a reply
I have thought about the mechanics of my game a bit more, and i realized a beer ans pretzels game was not really what i was going for. In fact i wanted it to be a little more in-depth, but out of the ordinary.
Out of the ordinary?
Well, considering that your game is about the mental states of serial killers and other oddities, perhaps a "bending" mechanic would be novel. After all, while they might be caught up in their own fantasies, they ARE in control in a strange sort of way due to it all being in their mind.
Players could have points that they can spend to bend the rules or change the reality they are in. For example, the player could be up against two of the aformentioned rabid bunnies. They are on a level field, but by spending a point, he could change the ground underneath them to water, put a wall between them, or other reality bending abilities. This could be further customised by character class.
Just some food for thought.
Good but contradictory.
That is a great idea, but looking through some of my other work I have necountered a problem. Those aforementioned powers are basically like the skill set of the mumbler so he would become useless if everyone could do what he does. However, you have given me a great idea that stems from your advice, but I won't share it quite yet.
Recent suveys say that 3 out of 4 people make up 75% percent of the population.
Play Adventuria much, Tavanesh? : )
lol
I just came across the Insanity is Better than Life e-book here, and was pleasantly surprised to see it drew some inspiration from my game Adventuria Online RPG.
I am just beginning to delve into your game's mechanics, and will have to get back to you with some feedback when I better understand the game. It really looks like a cool concept, and I have always been a fan of solo gamebooks. That is really great you are using the page links in the book format here and making the most of what RPG Lab has to offer. I look forward to seeing the rest of IiBtL as it shows up... make sure to map out your pages first when creating the 'area' pages of your game! It helps a lot.
Peace, Errin : )
http://www.1km1kt.net/Errin-Famiglia.htm
Adventuria Online RPG