I'd like to just bounce a bunch of random game mechanic ideas off of you guys, and see what you think of each one individually.

Fragments of Memory
Whenever you gain a level, roll randomly on a Fragments of Memory table and gain the memory indicated.
Each magic item is keyed to a certain memory. If you have that memory, you identify the magic item automatically and can use it to its full effect.

Chaos Score
The world itself has a chaos score that increases temporarily over the course of a game session and permanently over the course of a campaign.
As the chaos score increases, days become shorter and monsters become more powerful.
Chaos increases independently of the party's level, so players must be work to level up as efficiently as possible to keep up.

Random Forest Generation
Forests can be generated with at least the same level of detail as AD&D random dungeons.
Roll randomly for major landmarks, then roll for trails connecting them.

...More to come.

Quote from: Cave Bear;935862Chaos Score
The world itself has a chaos score that increases temporarily over the course of a game session and permanently over the course of a campaign.
As the chaos score increases, days become shorter and monsters become more powerful.
Chaos increases independently of the party's level, so players must be work to level up as efficiently as possible to keep up.

I like that idea; the campaign self-adjusts in difficulty and resource management becomes even more important (I liked the resource management of using magic items in old D&D to best effect). But it will either be something like Call of Cthulhu (the players will inevitably fail) or there's some objective like defeating Sauron that might be reached, if you play well enough and get lucky (the original computer game Rogue was like that; you had to go down levels, which increased in difficulty faster than the player character could advance, but with the objective of reaching a deep enough level to find the Amulet of Yendor and return with it - you couldn't go up until you had the amulet).

Quote...More to come.

(Not that I disliked the other ideas; just no strong opinion on them.)

Quote from: rawma;937043I like that idea; the campaign self-adjusts in difficulty and resource management becomes even more important (I liked the resource management of using magic items in old D&D to best effect). But it will either be something like Call of Cthulhu (the players will inevitably fail) or there's some objective like defeating Sauron that might be reached, if you play well enough and get lucky (the original computer game Rogue was like that; you had to go down levels, which increased in difficulty faster than the player character could advance, but with the objective of reaching a deep enough level to find the Amulet of Yendor and return with it - you couldn't go up until you had the amulet).

How about this?

Dark Gifts
Each hero has a number of special abilities called Dark Gifts given to them (willingly, or not) by otherworldly beings called the Triumphant.
Dark Gifts give the players power with which to banish the Triumphant from the world. Banishing Triumphant causes characters to lose their Dark Gifts, but also stalls the spread of Chaos. Each Triumphant banished reduces Chaos by one. Banishing all the Triumphant does not reset Chaos to 0, but it does stop Chaos from increasing.
The Triumphant may be fought in any order, but their level scales with Chaos.

The Triumphant hide deep within chaos-haunted forests guarded by monsters to delay those who might come to fight them.

Another idea:

Encampment
In games with tactical combat using battlemaps and miniatures, give the players an Encampment tile to set up between combat.
The players should arrange their wagons, tents, campfires, and defensive fortifications on the Encampment tile as they see fit.
The purpose of this is to give players strategic control over one corner of the battlemap, and to promote use of defensive objectives in encounters.

Quote from: Cave Bear;937403How about this?

Dark Gifts
Each hero has a number of special abilities called Dark Gifts given to them (willingly, or not) by otherworldly beings called the Triumphant.
Dark Gifts give the players power with which to banish the Triumphant from the world. Banishing Triumphant causes characters to lose their Dark Gifts, but also stalls the spread of Chaos.

I like it as a basis/motivation for a campaign.

QuoteEach Triumphant banished reduces Chaos by one. Banishing all the Triumphant does not reset Chaos to 0, but it does stop Chaos from increasing.
The Triumphant may be fought in any order, but their level scales with Chaos.

Wait ... the Triumphant get less powerful as Chaos goes down? That's anticlimactic. Or do you mean they're inversely proportional? Or is "they" the player characters who become less powerful as they succeed? Hmm, that would be an interesting way to subvert XP, but I don't think players would like it.

QuoteEncampment
In games with tactical combat using battlemaps and miniatures, give the players an Encampment tile to set up between combat.
The players should arrange their wagons, tents, campfires, and defensive fortifications on the Encampment tile as they see fit.
The purpose of this is to give players strategic control over one corner of the battlemap, and to promote use of defensive objectives in encounters.

Like a marching order for when they camp? OK, but no strong feeling on this one.

Notion
noun no·tion \ˈnō-shən\

1 a (1) : an individual's conception or impression of something known, experienced, or imagined (2) : an inclusive general concept (3) : a theory or belief held by a person or group b : a personal inclination : whim

2 obsolete : mind, intellect

3 plural : small useful items : sundries

Haberdasher
noun hab·er·dash·er \ˈha-bə(r)-ˌda-shər\

1 British : a dealer in notions

2 a dealer in men's clothing and accessories


Did You Know?

"At various times throughout its history, the term "haberdasher" has referred to a dealer of hats or caps, a seller of notions (sewing supplies such as needles and thimbles), and apparently (perhaps somewhat coyly) as a person who sells liquor. Nowadays, with hats not being as fashionable as they once were, the word mostly is applied generally as a clothing outfitter for men, with "haberdashery" referring to the establishment or the goods sold there. Haberdasher derives via Middle English from "hapertas," an Anglo-French word for a kind of cloth, as does the obsolete noun "haberdash," which once meant petty merchandise or small wares."

Scraps of Ideas:
Weaver of Fate
Fabric of Reality
"The Craft"
Warp & Weft
Notions

...


I am tickled by the idea of using 'notions' as a currency in place of gold pieces. Notions in this context are small objects such as buttons, ribbons, and spools of thread spun from magical fibers of pure imagination.

Here's an idea for hidden movement in a game with tactical combat on a grid.

Hidden Movement
When you become hidden, remove your miniature token from the board and place a 'trace' token on the board in the last space where your character was seen occupying. Put a counter set at 1 on the token.
Hidden characters are treated as indeterminately and simultaneously occupying all potential spaces in an area surrounding their trace token. It's a Schrodinger's Cat kind-of effect.
Whenever you successfully move while hidden, your trace token remains where it is, and you advance the counter according to your speed.
When you are revealed, place your miniature in any unoccupied square within X squares of your trace token. X is the value of your counter. You must be able to make valid movements from your trace token to your current square. You may only move through squares that grant concealment, but you do not have to end your movement in a square that grants concealment*. You may not move through occupied squares*. Remove your trace token and counter after the movement.

*These two clauses allow opponents to control a hidden combatant's movements. If you can remove concealment through the use of torches and other light sources, or block squares by standing on them, you can reduce the number of potential squares your hidden enemy can appear in.

Here's another idea, pertaining to grid movement.

D&D (WotC era, anyway) assumes each square on the battle map is 5 by 5 feet.
What if instead, the squares were 2 by 2 meters, and movement is given in meters instead of feet.
Moving cardinally (to an adjacent square, through the side) costs 2 meters of movement.
Moving diagonally (to an adjacent square, through the corner) costs 3 meters of movement.
Pythagorean!

How about it?

Weapon Reach on the Battlemap
Extra steps of granularity are added in melee reach. These result in huge debuffs for melee combat. Melee attacks should deal a lot more damage to compensate.

Short Weapons: You can only attack targets in cardinal adjacent squares with short weapons. You can't attack diagonally.

Medium Weapons: You can attack targets in any adjacent square with a medium weapon. You can attack cardinally or diagonally.

Long Weapons: As medium weapons, but you can also attack targets cardinally from two squares away.

Pole Weapons: You can attack targets in any cardinal or diagonal square two squares away from you, but you can't attack targets in adjacent squares.

Ultra Weapons: You can attack targets in any square within two squares of you. You can attack both cardinally and diagonally.