a d13 system?

Ghost Whistler · September 04, 2008, 03:10:43 PM

I want a cool system for my game (see sig, though the ideas therein are out of date), so i started thinking, as I read the graphic novel entitled 'The 13th Son' (a real creature feature!), how could i create a d13 system. The point being that 13 is a nice round evil number (and, unlike d666, wasn't created by soeone else first!). Is it possible or just as impossible as a 13 sided dice. Could you roll a d20 and use 13 as a target number of sorts? Maybe you could have a stat modify the roll up OR down and so get 13 either way?

Vaecrius · September 04, 2008, 06:02:01 PM

2d12 averages 13... maybe you can use that?

Ghost Whistler · September 05, 2008, 05:48:53 AM

How about:

At the start of play, each character holds 4 cards. To perform an action the player must play cards to total exactly 13. The number of cards he uses is the number of successes he generates. Characters can’t play more cards than the stat score. If they succeed they draw a number of cards equal to their Stat score; if they fail they draw this same amount – the difficulty factor (0, -1, or -2). That same factor, depending on the difficulty of the task, is applied to the value of every card when played. It is therefore possible for players to voluntarily fail actions, this is permissible.

Lawbag · September 05, 2008, 05:59:55 AM

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;244608How about:

At the start of play, each character holds 4 cards. To perform an action the player must play cards to total exactly 13. The number of cards he uses is the number of successes he generates. Characters can't play more cards than the stat score. If they succeed they draw a number of cards equal to their Stat score; if they fail they draw this same amount – the difficulty factor (0, -1, or -2). That same factor, depending on the difficulty of the task, is applied to the value of every card when played. It is therefore possible for players to voluntarily fail actions, this is permissible.

Wow, that sounds like a fascinating concept.

Id like to hear more about it.

Ghost Whistler · September 05, 2008, 06:24:22 AM

er, well that's it. I got the idea reading a graphic novel called 'Thirteenth Son' on the bus. 13 seems like a great target number for a monster game and it's fundmentally important to me that games have mechanics in keeping with the setting and the concept (whcih is why i disdain generic systems).

Lawbag · September 05, 2008, 07:47:43 AM

Have you given any thought on developing it perhaps a stage further, you or indeed anyone else?

Ghost Whistler · September 05, 2008, 08:00:43 AM

The purpose of the discussion was to create a system for use with my game-in-progress, Night's Dark Heroes.

I am tempted to include allowing players to use any card as a base value of (1 -difficulty modifer), and/or allowing players to use doubles of cards played to gain extra successes. It's difficult to tell hwo balanced this system is, or, more importantly, how cumbersome it might be.

Age of Fable · September 07, 2008, 12:02:10 AM

I get the idea, but I don't think people's appreciation of the cleverness would outweigh the difficulties of learning an unfamiliar system.

Ghost Whistler · September 07, 2008, 03:04:14 AM

That could be said of any system, clever or otherwise. What else can you do? I woudln't say it was inherently difficult to understand.

Ghost Whistler · September 07, 2008, 07:30:41 AM

How about a system involving 3d6 (666, again), whereby stat+evens - difficulty+odds determines succes, with the difference, where positive, is the number of successes scored?