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Character Sheet RPG 2007: MACE
Submitted by Relentless96 on Sat, 2007-05-12 20:59.
Publishing
Alright, it seems to be taking a little bit of time for MACE to be posted on 1km1kt (not really, I am just impatient ^_^). So, below is the Character Sheet RPG version of MACE ready for perusal. It is basic, some of it you have already seen in my posts for the game, but the biggest new feature is a description for Stages and their implementation (new!!!). UPDATED Please do provide your thoughts on this game, thanks! Darn it!Submitted by Relentless96 on Wed, 2007-05-16 06:56.
After rewording it I realised I left out the part about Block and Dodge (I must have removed it by accident). Neither Block or Dodge require a Action, they are played in reaction to an opponents Strike or Blast. I will fix this in the complete version! "The world is your arena now, Sagat, not the street!" » reply
BummerSubmitted by ErrinF on Wed, 2007-05-16 18:23.
Bummer about the missing Block & Dodge rule. The all new layout for the pdf looks great, and I can't wait until you correct the Lite pdf so that the Block & Dodge rule is completed. Then I can get a final draft of this great game! Peace, Errin : ) » reply
Done!!!Submitted by Relentless96 on Wed, 2007-05-16 23:15.
The final draft is now complete. I shouldn't have missed anything now (I hope). Also tidied the image a bit so it wasn't so contrasted. Thanks "The world is your arena now, Sagat, not the street!" » reply
Yay!Submitted by ErrinF on Thu, 2007-05-17 14:18.
Fantastic! The layout is really cool. Ya know, this challenge is not a competition, and no prizes are going to be handed out, but if it were a competition, Mace Lite would easily be in contention for first place. Thanks again for this excellent one page RPG. I really never found much to add besides praise as far as feedback goes, but it looks like you had it covered anyway on what might have improved MACE. I look forward to seeing MACE in it's other incarnations, though I think I'll alway be partial to the lite version. Peace, Errin : ) » reply
MACE is incredibleSubmitted by ErrinF on Mon, 2007-05-14 19:17.
It blows me away that this game is probably the smallest pdf in the group of submissions for this challenge, has the simplest layout, and yet is probably one of the more complex systems to show up as a one page RPG (two-sided one page RPG in this case). I had thought I had seen MACE before in book form here, but I didn't realize it would make such a perfect one page rpg. It's also got a certain thorough realism to it's game system, that is, as realistic as Kung Fu Theatre can get. This game is perfect for anybody who wanted to do a quick, easy, and fun martial arts RPG. Excellent, excellent work, Aaron. Thank you so much for contributing MACE to the 2007 character sheet challenge. Peace, Errin : ) » reply
There is more comingSubmitted by Relentless96 on Tue, 2007-05-15 03:30.
I did have thoughts to immediately jump to another Character Sheet RPG, but my immediate thought now is to take the feedback that has been so graciously bestowed upon me and further refine the game. I will probably remove the Fighter Card examples and post them seperately, purely so I can focus on expanding the rules properly. Jeff gave me some excellent feedback, so expect a couple of changes later (I am playtesting them now). As Jeff mentioned, once I have the core of this game fleshed out, developing it further into a RPG will be a great opportunity to provide a RPG niche. Thrash does it well if you like the detailed character creation (which I do normally), MACE is there for people who want a simpler system but with plenty of strategy in combat. I think that for a action oriented RPG session, when players have fun in combat they get much more enthusiastic for the roleplaying ("Your Shaolin is no match for my Eagle's Claw"). On a side note, please do provide any critical comments you have about the game or any confusion, it all helps to make the game as easy to pick up and play as possible. Thanks! "The world is your arena now, Sagat, not the street!" » reply
GoodSubmitted by ErrinF on Tue, 2007-05-15 13:45.
Obviously, this one pager is not the end of MACE. I hope you are able to use this as an opportunity to expand it and add on to it. You can always make a more complex, more pages version of the one page MACE, and still keep this one pager as it's own thing. If you update the current pdf, please let us know so that those interested (such as myself) can download any updated versions of the MACE one pager. You know, I have nothing but praise for MACE and have mainly just tried to fully understand it's system. But I'll give it another read and playtest it a little to see if there's anything I think I can add. As it were, it seems Jeff Moore is putting forth some ideas helpful to you. Perhaps I can do the same. Peace, Errin : ) » reply
Speaking of an update . . .Submitted by Relentless96 on Tue, 2007-05-15 23:18.
After the great responses I had, I knuckled down and focused on refining the rules. Stages and Fighter Cards have been squeezed out for the moment (simply for the sake of ensuring the rules are clear and concise), my idea is simply to create a page in the MACE rules detailing new Fighter Cards as well as designing some Stages for play. The idea is to make sure that the game is clear and covers all aspects I might have missed trying to squeeze it in before. This edition shall hereafter be known as MACE Lite. I will have it ready later tonight for posting. Again, thanks for the kind words! "The world is your arena now, Sagat, not the street!" » reply
Love MACESubmitted by Jeff Moore on Mon, 2007-05-14 11:47.
Aaron, I love MACE. I like the simple correlation between suits and combat actions. I remember loving the momentum rules that were originally presented, but they seem to be different here. Did you change momentum? It seems like damage cards are played as "Active" cards on a player's turn and that defense cards like dodge and block would be played as "Interupts" played on an opponents turn. Maybe an explanation of this would be useful? I don't understand the card play for CHARGE/BLAST ... Why play the card face down first, then turn it face up? What's the purpose of this? I feel like I am missing something in the way this particular mechanic is supposed to play out ... what am I missing? I like the addition of "Fighter Cards" for special abilities. These are cool. Also like the Knock back and Damage rules. This reminds me of Duel Blade... a sort of combat engine in search of an RPG. I'd like to challenge you to develop an RPG around this engine as what you present here is very intriguing. I would like to see movement and momentum tied directly together as I remember it being originally described, and not have movement as a option beyond the momentum rules. It's just that the momentum rules were so logical to me... and so original. But to give players an option beyond momentum to initiate movement kind of takes something away from that beautiful mechanic... at least for me. I also think that a momentum boost for movement should only be allowed on cards played that are higher than the current card showing for momentum. This just made more sense to me. Just my thoughts based upon what I read before plus what you offer here. I love this game. I do plan to attempt a play test with my friends as soon as possible. *** If I may be so bold ... here is my idea for turning MACE into an RPG from the simple combat engine that it is (without creating too much additional complexity) Each character would have 4 attributes tied to the 4 suits / combat actions. The player would have tokens or counters to represent their values in each of these suits. Maybe the character would be really good at dodging and so they might have 3 or 4 HEART counters, for example with fewer counters of the other suits and maybe if they were also really weak in one area, no counter related to that suit at all. Just for the sake of argument/example, let's say the character was: SPADES (STRIKE) 2 Now the way the tokens would work (and these would regenerate automatically at the end of a battle) is that the players could spend one of these tokens to change a card suit for a card that they just played over to the suit matching the counter ... for example. If I needed to strike but didn't have any spades in my hand, I could spend one of my SPADES tokens to change the suit of the Jack of Hearts I had in my hand, effectively transforming it into a Jack of Spades so that I could perform the strike. In this way, character customization could favor certain styles of combat by making certain actions/suits more commonly used based upon the token distribution belonging to that character. What do you think? Also, have you considered altering your suit assignments a little to attempt to create a suit:action mnemonic? If each action began with the same initial letter as its corresponding suit, it might make the associations easier to remember. Maybe something like: s soak - soak/absorb "x" damage soak=spades, hit=hearts, dodge=diamonds, charge=clubs ... in this example the suits and actions each start with the same initial character making their correlation easier to remember. Just an idea. Just trying to help. Really love the game. Regards, Jeff Moore » reply
(Flexing Fingers) Ok, AnswersSubmitted by Relentless96 on Mon, 2007-05-14 23:21.
First and foremost, thankyou very much for taking the time to respond so thoroughly, this is exactly the feedback I needed. I have been tossing and turning about how I would word the way the system works, your responses are showing me what I am "assuming" players will know (which now means I can describe it properly). First and foremost, Momentum was changed slightly for the purpose of a) the Character Sheet RPG and b) playtesting. Previously, if you played to Momentum on your Turn and lost having the highest Momentum, your Turn ended and was continued when your Turn came up later in the Round. As you can see, it takes a little bit of explanation and examples (which I didn't have room for), so I set the order of Turns in a Round (Momentum counted next Round). To comment on the idea of Tokens, I think it is a brilliant idea. I have tried many different "character creation" models to make players different, yet each time it was somehow unbalanced. The brilliance of your idea is that it allows for more options with Fighter Cards. "When using this card, gain two Strike Tokens". Or even having a Token cost for even more powerful effects. I am happy you were so bold as to comment, as you may have helped me turn a corner to make MACE even more strategic and nailbiting. Thankyou very much for this idea! I have thought about what you have just described with keeping the starting letters matching. If you look at the Life Skills model for skills I posted on my blog, I did tie them together (Occupation for Diamonds (close), Hobby for Hearts, Sport for Spades and Class for Clubs). I am just used to the suites I have used all these years for the different Actions, it just made sense personally, but for others sake I will eventually convert it around. Finally, the idea with Charge was to balance Blast and other energy effects. Sure you can attack from a distance, but you have to spend an Action to gather that energy. I also realised I missed a important rule - if a players character takes Damage, they must discard one of their face down Charge cards. This also helps balance the power Blast's have. I would comment more (plus there are other great games to comment on), but my break is up and I am about to go to work. Thanks for the great critical responses Jeff, especially the Token idea (I love it)!!! Seeya "The world is your arena now, Sagat, not the street!" » reply
ChargeSubmitted by Jeff Moore on Mon, 2007-05-14 12:31.
Okay ... I just realized how the "charge" thing works... you meant "charge" as in, "Charge up your battery with power." Not "charge" as in, "Here comes the calvary ... Charge!" So the player plays the card to charge up their energy blast, they put it in front of them face down to indicate that they are charging, and draw a new card. Next turn the card is flipped over to reveal the power of the blast based upon the charge up that was done last turn... but since no new card leaves the player's hand no additional card is drawn. Is this right? Does Charge / Boost constitute an action requiring 2 turns? If so, is there an advantage to this over a simple Strike (since it takes an extra turn to set up?) Just curious? I like the mechanic ... just wondering how it balances compared to a Strike. To avoid confusion in the future, maybe alter terminology slightly to "Charge-Up" instead of just "Charge." Jeff Moore » reply
Just downloaded MACESubmitted by ErrinF on Sun, 2007-05-13 14:40.
I like... I like... Upon first glance, it seems to be all in order, and I really like the complexity of your card-based system. But I still have to read and delve into it further so that I can give you a proper appraisal of MACE. As it were, my initial speedread of your pdf really peaked my curiosity, so I look forward to finding some time to give it a proper read and playtest. As far as I know, this is the first character sheet RPG to be a martial arts RPG, at least as far as these 1km1kt challenges go. Good job. Thanks again for submitting MACE for this challenge. I truly didn't expect to have so many cool games be made in response to this challenge. Peace, Errin : ) » reply
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Tadaaa!!! Here it is, MACE Lite :)
Taking the great advice I have recieved, I have redone the MACE rules, reformatted it and added a picture I done in high school (though it didn't optimise well, I might try somthing later).
Special mention must go to Jeff for his idea of Fighter Tokens, they are in there with a special twist (I always had the idea for the Rage mechanic, just not how to use it well). However, there was a sacrifice in that the Fighter Card Examples and the Stage rules were cut, I will post them seperately later.
Please do comment in regards to your thoughts about how complete this Character Sheet version is, thanks!
"The world is your arena now, Sagat, not the street!"
M. Bison, Street Fighter: The Animated Movie