GryffonDurime
2008-09-06, 08:00 PM
So, ever since I first saw Will Wright's overview of the wonder that is Spore, I've had an unquenchable desire to create a Pen-and-Paper system that can emulate that ability to zoom in and zoom out. With that thought in mind, I've been kicking around a potential system, using three main influences--Spore, Heroes of Might and Magic, and Erfworld (strangely enough). It's still rough and all I've got is the barebones, but I hope that maybe some more eyes could help to flesh out the direction and mechanics of Civatus.
The system, by default, aims to play as a somewhat traditional fantasy game, save that players can and should move between levels of organization: on the whole, players should, by default, represent organizations such as Mage's Guilds or Knightly Orders. Players gain Heroes to staff their organizations, and at this "zoomed-out" level, Heroes provide bonuses like magical items in standard DnD...essentially, they're equipment for the organizations. At the same time, the system aims to allow players to pick up any of those Heroes and take them out adventuring on a very personal level, with the inbetween being troops and organizations of varying size.
All characters and organizations have only seven core, essential stats. The first five govern methods by which characters or groups may interact with the world, the other two govern interactions based on size and complexity and also cover resiliance, health, and authority.
Basic Statistics
The Interaction Statistics:
Physique - Governs physical violence and force; lifting, carrying, running, enduring, fighting. A Physical Contest is rolled to accomplish something by strength or skill at arms.
Cunning - Governs perception and deception; sneaking, searching, lying, and seeing. Cunning Contests are rolled to deceive others or to resist deception.
Charisma - Governs force of personality; leading, speaking, entertaining, inspiring. Charisma Contests are rolled to convert others, to sway opinion, or to establish diplomacy.
Intellect - Governs reasoning and genius; thinking, inventing, crafting. Intellect Contests are rolled to play tactics or create wonders.
Power - Governs magical potential. Power Contests are rolled to affect magic--dispelling wards, countering spells, or making demonstrations of mysticism. Power Checks, as a rule, do not create a lasting effect--once the check ends, so too does the effect. Casters who seek more permanent effects must invest in Spells.
Other Universal Statistics
Resolve - Governs spirit, health, or determination. Creatures and groups who fail Contests while at Full Threshold are subject to losing Resolve; once a group or character has no more Resolve, they lose the ability to narrate and are, in essence, subject to GM whim.
Magnitude - Governs size and complexity. When interacting with a unit of a different Magnitude, the difference between Magnitude scores is applied either as a bonus or penalty to the players based on whether or not size/power is necessarily advantageous. For example, a Magnitude 2 group of skeletons attacking a Magnitude 4 platoon of Knights would take a -2 Magnitude penalty to their checks.
Threshold - Threshold represents a unit's ability to endure before taking some kind of lasting damage. Whenever a unit loses a Contest against another party, it subtracts its own rate in that Statistic from the winner's result, and adds that value to its Threshold. Once a unit's Threshold is Full, failed contests cause Resolve loss.
Generating a Unit
All Units begin, by default with 24 points to invest in the five Interaction Statistics (Physique, Cunning, Charisma, Intellect, and Power. At generation, no single statistic may exceed 6. Each statistic begins at 0, and points are invested on a 1:1 ratio.
Units begin with 5 Resolve.
Players, at the start of the game, generally create two initial units: an Organization and a Hero. Organizations begin at Magnitude 4, Heroes at 1.
All units then receive 10 points to spend on Abilities and Spells.
Equipping Units
When playing at non-Heroic Magnitudes (anything other than Magnitude 1), your Heroes are effectively "equipped" to a larger unit, from a platoon to an army to a guild to a city-state. Whatever level your group has chosen to play at, your Hero (and, eventually, Heroes!) provide bonuses to their Units as follows:
Add a +1 bonus to Physique, Cunning, Charisma, Intellect, or Power if your Hero is rated 6 or higher in it; +2 if your hero has mastered (is rated 10 in) that Statistic.
Any Abilities marked with the "Leadership" Keyword continue to function while the Hero is equipped to a Unit.
Contests and Resolution
Whenever a unit is faced with any sort of obstacle or opposition, it ultimately boils down to a Contest. A Contest can describe any sort of situation wherein another party is trying to stop or deter a player through any of the five Interaction Statistics. Anyone present declares their entrance into the Contest, and play begins.
Initiative is not terribly important to Contests; every round is narrated, and a statistic is rolled that reflects the general efforts from that round; if a player spent most of the round describing the sword manuevers he used to parry and counter the villainous knight's attacks, he will obviously roll a Physique Contest. Players may gain a Narrative bonus by describing their actions and intents in the round with particular skill or flair--+1 for using their surroundings, +2 for particularly skillful or interesting choices, and +3 for game-stopping epic moments. The GM is ultimately the arbiter of Narrative Bonuses.
Once a contest has been rolled, the higher roll wins and inflicts their roll as damage to the loser's Threshold. If the loser's Threshold is already full, they lose a point of Resolve. If a Unit loses all its Resolve, its player looses control of that unit to the GM.
The system, by default, aims to play as a somewhat traditional fantasy game, save that players can and should move between levels of organization: on the whole, players should, by default, represent organizations such as Mage's Guilds or Knightly Orders. Players gain Heroes to staff their organizations, and at this "zoomed-out" level, Heroes provide bonuses like magical items in standard DnD...essentially, they're equipment for the organizations. At the same time, the system aims to allow players to pick up any of those Heroes and take them out adventuring on a very personal level, with the inbetween being troops and organizations of varying size.
All characters and organizations have only seven core, essential stats. The first five govern methods by which characters or groups may interact with the world, the other two govern interactions based on size and complexity and also cover resiliance, health, and authority.
Basic Statistics
The Interaction Statistics:
Physique - Governs physical violence and force; lifting, carrying, running, enduring, fighting. A Physical Contest is rolled to accomplish something by strength or skill at arms.
Cunning - Governs perception and deception; sneaking, searching, lying, and seeing. Cunning Contests are rolled to deceive others or to resist deception.
Charisma - Governs force of personality; leading, speaking, entertaining, inspiring. Charisma Contests are rolled to convert others, to sway opinion, or to establish diplomacy.
Intellect - Governs reasoning and genius; thinking, inventing, crafting. Intellect Contests are rolled to play tactics or create wonders.
Power - Governs magical potential. Power Contests are rolled to affect magic--dispelling wards, countering spells, or making demonstrations of mysticism. Power Checks, as a rule, do not create a lasting effect--once the check ends, so too does the effect. Casters who seek more permanent effects must invest in Spells.
Other Universal Statistics
Resolve - Governs spirit, health, or determination. Creatures and groups who fail Contests while at Full Threshold are subject to losing Resolve; once a group or character has no more Resolve, they lose the ability to narrate and are, in essence, subject to GM whim.
Magnitude - Governs size and complexity. When interacting with a unit of a different Magnitude, the difference between Magnitude scores is applied either as a bonus or penalty to the players based on whether or not size/power is necessarily advantageous. For example, a Magnitude 2 group of skeletons attacking a Magnitude 4 platoon of Knights would take a -2 Magnitude penalty to their checks.
Threshold - Threshold represents a unit's ability to endure before taking some kind of lasting damage. Whenever a unit loses a Contest against another party, it subtracts its own rate in that Statistic from the winner's result, and adds that value to its Threshold. Once a unit's Threshold is Full, failed contests cause Resolve loss.
Generating a Unit
All Units begin, by default with 24 points to invest in the five Interaction Statistics (Physique, Cunning, Charisma, Intellect, and Power. At generation, no single statistic may exceed 6. Each statistic begins at 0, and points are invested on a 1:1 ratio.
Units begin with 5 Resolve.
Players, at the start of the game, generally create two initial units: an Organization and a Hero. Organizations begin at Magnitude 4, Heroes at 1.
All units then receive 10 points to spend on Abilities and Spells.
Equipping Units
When playing at non-Heroic Magnitudes (anything other than Magnitude 1), your Heroes are effectively "equipped" to a larger unit, from a platoon to an army to a guild to a city-state. Whatever level your group has chosen to play at, your Hero (and, eventually, Heroes!) provide bonuses to their Units as follows:
Add a +1 bonus to Physique, Cunning, Charisma, Intellect, or Power if your Hero is rated 6 or higher in it; +2 if your hero has mastered (is rated 10 in) that Statistic.
Any Abilities marked with the "Leadership" Keyword continue to function while the Hero is equipped to a Unit.
Contests and Resolution
Whenever a unit is faced with any sort of obstacle or opposition, it ultimately boils down to a Contest. A Contest can describe any sort of situation wherein another party is trying to stop or deter a player through any of the five Interaction Statistics. Anyone present declares their entrance into the Contest, and play begins.
Initiative is not terribly important to Contests; every round is narrated, and a statistic is rolled that reflects the general efforts from that round; if a player spent most of the round describing the sword manuevers he used to parry and counter the villainous knight's attacks, he will obviously roll a Physique Contest. Players may gain a Narrative bonus by describing their actions and intents in the round with particular skill or flair--+1 for using their surroundings, +2 for particularly skillful or interesting choices, and +3 for game-stopping epic moments. The GM is ultimately the arbiter of Narrative Bonuses.
Once a contest has been rolled, the higher roll wins and inflicts their roll as damage to the loser's Threshold. If the loser's Threshold is already full, they lose a point of Resolve. If a Unit loses all its Resolve, its player looses control of that unit to the GM.