D.R.A.T.S. Diceless System

Jason Morningstar · August 25, 2008, 05:56:32 PM

Who cares what people call it? That's just semantics.

OK thought experiment: I want to sneak across that tightrope. I'm the world's most fantastic ninja and it's a cakewalk - easy, one AP. But the tightrope is, for whatever reason, the crux of our collective story. My success or failure saves the kingdom. Still one AP?

It seems like you are trying to model reality a bit (east/hard/impossible) while modeling the structure of a story as well. Is one more important than the other?

HinterWelt · August 25, 2008, 07:40:43 PM

Quote from: Jason Morningstar;239823Who cares what people call it? That's just semantics.

Agreed, but I just thought it interesting and worth mentioning.

Quote from: Jason Morningstar;239823OK thought experiment: I want to sneak across that tightrope. I'm the world's most fantastic ninja and it's a cakewalk - easy, one AP. But the tightrope is, for whatever reason, the crux of our collective story. My success or failure saves the kingdom. Still one AP?

Yes. Cost is determined on difficulty. So, it would be more like "...and high winds gust up" then it would be say 3 AP or whatever the group determined. It is a combination of the Moderator, the cost table and the group that determines cost and modifiers to it.

Quote from: Jason Morningstar;239823It seems like you are trying to model reality a bit (east/hard/impossible) while modeling the structure of a story as well. Is one more important than the other?

I always fault towards reality. It is the trad gamer in me. Story can take care of itself. So, if I had to go one way or the other I would prefer easy/hard/impossible as opposed to small/moderate/important to the story.

Bill

Jason Morningstar · August 26, 2008, 08:22:30 AM

OK, thanks for your replies! I'll stop poking at it now.

HinterWelt · August 26, 2008, 12:43:22 PM

Quote from: Jason Morningstar;240023OK, thanks for your replies! I'll stop poking at it now.

No, thank you Jason. It is always good to get feedback on a design. I hope I did not come off as dismissive, I just tend to phrase responses in a way that sometimes seems like I am not open to change. This is most definitely not the case. It is the down side of conviction.

Bill

Jason Morningstar · August 26, 2008, 01:38:18 PM

No, not dismissive at all! You answered my questions, all is well.

Mcrow · August 27, 2008, 06:11:35 PM

I'll add that I don't see any reason why you couldn't determine the AP cost based on the action's importance to the story instead of its difficulty. Doing it the way it is written in the rules will be a more realistic playing game while determining AP cost by importance tot he story would give you a more story driven game.

I think the system allows for both uses or a mix of the two. If the tight rope is the crux of the story but in reality is a simple obsticle you could just say that it's one AP for difficulty but three more for story importance, for a total of 4 AP.

Jason Morningstar · August 27, 2008, 07:38:43 PM

That's an interesting idea. Leading from that, you could have story moderator and world moderator at any given time...

HinterWelt · August 27, 2008, 09:39:08 PM

Quote from: Mcrow;240843I'll add that I don't see any reason why you couldn't determine the AP cost based on the action's importance to the story instead of its difficulty. Doing it the way it is written in the rules will be a more realistic playing game while determining AP cost by importance tot he story would give you a more story driven game.

I think the system allows for both uses or a mix of the two. If the tight rope is the crux of the story but in reality is a simple obsticle you could just say that it's one AP for difficulty but three more for story importance, for a total of 4 AP.

Very much thinking in the framework Mike. Good call. Yeah, AP could go all types of directions depending on the emphasis a group wanted. They are really just a resource token. An interesting way of looking at the game would be to see how many AP used in an adventure. In fact, you could then turn it so that it becomes tournement play. Who can do the adventure int he lowest number of AP? I digress a bit though.

Mike has the core of my design philosophy though. A desire for flexibility.

Bill

Mcrow · August 27, 2008, 10:13:44 PM

Quote from: Jason Morningstar;240870That's an interesting idea. Leading from that, you could have story moderator and world moderator at any given time...

What do you mean by "world moderator"? Control of the physical part of the world opposed to the story modrator controling purely story elements?

Jason Morningstar · August 28, 2008, 09:29:32 AM

Right, so if you can assign value to AP based on either story or plausibility, it seems like it would be fun to separate those two mandates. So one guy is always looking for an action's value to the overall story, and the other guy is assigning difficulty based on raw difficulty. So in my example:

ME: Tightrope!

STORY GUY: Awesome! This is make or break time for your guy in the eyes of the Sensei! Will he accept you into the ninja dojo? 3AP!

DIFFICULTY GUY: Awesome! It's covered in bacon grease! 2 AP!

ME: OK, 5 AP, huh? Here goes...

Mcrow · August 28, 2008, 10:13:23 AM

Quote from: Jason Morningstar;241037Right, so if you can assign value to AP based on either story or plausibility, it seems like it would be fun to separate those two mandates. So one guy is always looking for an action's value to the overall story, and the other guy is assigning difficulty based on raw difficulty. So in my example:

ME: Tightrope!

STORY GUY: Awesome! This is make or break time for your guy in the eyes of the Sensei! Will he accept you into the ninja dojo? 3AP!

DIFFICULTY GUY: Awesome! It's covered in bacon grease! 2 AP!

ME: OK, 5 AP, huh? Here goes...

That's what I thought you meant. Yeah, that would be interesting.