New Project: Warriors Way (Working Title)

Submitted by Relentless96 on Sat, 2007-07-28 20:37. Announcements

I am taking a small break from MACE to try somthing fresh and new. I am working on an RPG title that is, funnily enough, inspired by old Commodore 64 style fighting games such as Karateka, International Karate, Yie Ar Kung Fu, even Bad Dudes. This system will be dice based, but will emphasise complexity through simplicity (in other words, lots of choices but little fuss). I have several idea's running through my mind, but the biggest hurdle I have is making this game unique unto itself. There are some great dice based martial arts games, the best being Final Stand and Brawl. So the challenge I have is to innovate a new system.
The game will be d6 based, and character creation will be relatively minimal. The game will have an RPG element, but this is the easiest task. I will be posting my progress on this blog, so stay tuned.

For those of you that are wondering, MACE is not finished, but I need to take a step back from it (as I have hit writers block with it). I feel that after completing somthing new, I might have a new perspective for MACE and can continue to finish it as an RPG (and not a game). Thanks!

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New Setup!!!

Submitted by Relentless96 on Fri, 2007-08-31 22:08.

All this talk with Brawl and Zenith Supers got me thinking again with Warriors Way. I have been playing with a number of idea's, including the Energy dice pool idea. I realised that there was still some amount of book keeping, so I turned a new page with the game.

You see, I was thinking to myself, "Self, how do I have lots of actions and combo's in combat without having a system for tracking the number of actions players take?". Then it hit me, why does it matter how many actions a player takes in a turn?

The new setup has characters with Attributes ranged between 1-6. When a character attacks/targets another player, the Attributes are compared, with the margin between the two determining whether it succeeds. For example, if a character with Technique 4 attempted to hit an opponent with a defense Attribute of 3, would hit on a 3+ on a single d6.

Why is the above important? Because my thoughts are, simply enough, if a player keeps succeeding at his actions, why should his turn end? This added a new spin to the small playtest I did, as a player weighs whether an action is worth the risk of ending their turn.

It is a small incomplete part of a larger puzzle, but I am very excited about this idea. Keep posted for a small demo pdf coming soon!

http://www.1km1kt.net/Aaron-White.htm

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Finalised Attributes

Submitted by Relentless96 on Sun, 2007-09-02 22:09.

Done a small bit of work on my break, which resulted in the Attributes for characters being completed. They are listed below.

Might: Physical strength and force.
Ability: Speed, coordination and dexterity combined.
Spirit: Willpower, focus and determination.
Technique: Fighting skill and accuracy.
Energy: Physical stamina and fitness.
Reason: Intelligence and ability to communicate.

It is another small piece, but I will keep on it a rule at a time until it is complete.

http://www.1km1kt.net/Aaron-White.htm

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Rules Tidbit II

Submitted by Relentless96 on Thu, 2007-08-02 23:03.

While I haven't had much time on the computer, I have been contemplating different elements of Warriors Way. I have decided the game will be extremely Lite (in the same spirit as the Commodore 64 games), which means that even the proposed Attributes (Body, Mind + Soul) will not be included. The core of the game will revolve around the Energy stat (which will determine both your health and options in Combat), with Actions determining the difference between players.

Warriors Way is shifting focus away from being a roleplay to being a fun game with one player being the "GM" in that they will design the levels and the bad guys, while the other players try and get their own character to the end. To keep with the lite focus, the game will be d6 based with all Actions succeeding on rolling a value or higher (4+ for rolling 4 or more, as an example). I have some interesting ways tie Energy dice and Actions in together, as well as a spin on character creation, but I will have more later.

http://www.1km1kt.net/Aaron-White.htm

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Rules Tidbit

Submitted by Relentless96 on Sun, 2007-07-29 23:11.

I had been thinking a lot about how to achieve this with a dice system without having the typical contested rolls setup. After all, I wanted to make somthing new, not just a re-tooled d6 system for martial arts. As per usual, when I look for inspiration for somthing like this, I watch lots of martial arts movies and play lots of fighting games.

What caught my interest was a mechanic used in the UFC games on the PS2. In this game, whenever you executed a move, it caused fatigue damage to your life bar. If you were hit and this second fatigue bar went to zero, you were KO'd. This got me thinking, which drew me to the conclusion that there aren't any RPG's I am aware of that handles fatigue in this sense. So, below is the rough action system for the game idea.

Energy and Fatigue
Energy Dice
During combat, each player has a pool of dice known as Energy Dice. The number of Energy Dice each player has is equal to their Body+Mind+Soul divided by three (yes, the game is Tri-Stat, but so much is changed it isn't really compatible anymore). A player can spend a Energy Dice during their Turn to perform an Action. Each Energy Dice spent is put in the Fatigue pool at the end of the Turn. A player can spend a maximum of three Energy Dice a Turn.

Fatigue
At the end of a Round, players can return Fatigue Dice to their Energy Pool, the amount determined by how many dice they spent in their Turn, as shown below.

3 Actions = 0 Dice
2 Actions = 1 Dice
1 Action = 2 Dice
0 Actions = 3 Dice

Would type more, but running out of time on my break. Just a tidbit of how it will work.

http://www.1km1kt.net/Aaron-White.htm

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The Energy Pool idea ...

Submitted by Jeff Moore on Tue, 2007-09-04 14:42.

Cool. This is really a great idea... This allows the player to decide how many actions they can afford to take before they need to slow down. Good concept.

I take it you have X number of dice in Energy... if you use energy it goes to the fatigue pile (as you have indicated) ... if you take damage the dice come out of the fatigue pile first, then action pile second to reflect damage taken... these dice lost to damage are effectively removed from the game.

Why does energy need to be the sum of three stats (or any stats?) I don't see anything wrong with a system that uses Energy as it's only attribute. I guess it depends on what you have in mind for those other attributes and how they will be used.

Jeff Moore
http://www.1km1kt.net/Jeff-Moore.htm

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Your right

Submitted by Relentless96 on Wed, 2007-09-05 04:08.

I did think that with Energy (regarding stats). I think that I need to discontinue this post, not because I do not like the idea, but because this "idea" has grown heads and split into two, possibly three different games. The Energy concept is the one I am most excited about, so it will be the first one to work on. I posted above somewhere about using Attributes, I think I will save that setup for a Fudge variant I have been thinking about since high school.

In regards to Damage, the idea is that it would come from the Energy pile first, not the Fatigue pile. The reason for this is to encourage more strategic thinking when spending Energy. Sure, I can do three Actions this Turn, but what if I fail to defend and he flash KO's me? I think it is this torn decision making that can make a game memorable, with my favourite last words being "If I had done this instead . . ."

The Dynamic Initiative idea I posted for Super Brawl was inspired by this idea. I know you said you don't like dice pools (technically I don't either), but I think MACE is coming out in me in regards to players being represented not by a sheet of paper, but by physical objects that reflect their strength and skill (cards or dice). I think there is somthing natural about that.

http://www.1km1kt.net/Aaron-White.htm

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