My Next Setting
My Next Setting will be called All Along the Watchtower.
I’m hoping to use this as an opportunity to test a few different ideas for game design that have been stewing in my head. It will also be the siphon through which all the slush of my July and August GLoG content floods will be funnelled.
As such, this system mayyyy suck. But hopefully, it will be a good start to something cool. In this post, I'm going to name some design goals, and provide a first draft of some Dueling rules I've been sitting on.
Character Creation
First, in character creation, I want to take modularity and push it to the max. In practice, this means a particular kind of design flow:
Start with the world and what people will be doing in it, most often.
Create a rules system for that.
In your session zero, talk to players about what the world looks like, and who they are, and figure out what they’re good at. Do not assign capacities according to class.
EcksianRaven over in GLoG supermutant factory makes an important point about the pitfall of this approach:
“There are pitfalls with trying to make each class different: The original fighter, magic user and cleric all contributed very different things to the party, but the next class, the thief, had features that discouraged much of the behavior I would like to encourage amongst members of other classes. The thief couldn't really do anything new.”
In summary: the game-world should be a certain kind of arena, in which each PC has a distinctive kind of agency, but all players still have some relevant skill. Everyone should be able to play, and still be capable of playing differently. Thus, the main activities in the world need to be activities that involve the other players.
This is one of the virtues of having a game system centered around combat-- it’s an activity that involves and engages every character. However, I want to try gaming that’s not necessarily combat-centered. Games like Stonetop and Wanderhome do this wonderfully, though they’re not GLoG-hacks (the former is Powered by the Apocalypse, the latter is a unique system).
Second, and relatedly: rules increase in complexity as you get better at them, without being too cumbersome. I’m calling this templates-as-competency or TAC for now.
For example: the rules for combat as an untrained warrior are exactly those you’d see in D&D. If, however, you are a trained duelist, you have more options and more agency, within a combat that takes place with less trained fighters.
I suspect my tolerance for cumbersome rules is fairly high. I’ll try to bear this in mind.
World Design
People do Hexmaps and Hexcrawls pretty often, and I love them, but I want to try a system in which the boundaries of regions aren’t determined or influenced by a grid. This is because I have few map-drawing skills, so I never make the map and then overlay it with the hexes; I make the map on top of the hexes, which means notable landmarks are essential either within the same 1 mile hex, or a determinate number of 1 mile hexes away. I want to see what it’s like to remove that intuition from travel.
The map will be 10 hexes. There is no set distance between them. For most people, to pass, it must be your time to foray into this new place, or you must convince Fate that it is.
In this world, most things you would do by means of calculation and brute force are, by default, accomplished by spiritual means. There is always a violent way of accomplishing these things too, but the miasma of such means clings to you. The people of the world will delight at your cleverness and trickery, but seldom at your violence.
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With all this in mind, let me detail what the Templates-as-Comptencies approach looks like in practice, and provide the example of Combat that I gave before.
A crucial feature of this approach is that knowledge of what competency is like is not universal. The domains in which people can act are exoteric-- available to everyone-- but each competency is esoteric, hidden except to the knowledgable.
For example, everyone gets the rules for Brute Combat, and anyone can give it a try, but someone who has even basic training as a duelist (Template A) will be much more capable in a one-on-one combat scenario. I’ve written down rules where and when I think they should be told to the players who know those rules. (E.g. If you’re not a duelist, you don’t know the Duelist’s playbook, but if you are a Duelist A, you do know that riposting successfully gives you the Initiative, even though you don’t yet know how to riposte.)
Another crucial feature is, we are actually describing the rules for new aspects of the game when we write up these esoteric competencies. So, each class playbook is actually a mini rulebook.
Lastly, the world doesn’t necessarily need to have a set of preexisting competencies. Because you need to know what your players will be up to, you need *some* preexisting competencies, so they can make characters and such. But if they tell you they want their character to be good at something you have yet to write the rules for, you can write new rules. The main advantage of having a set of preexisting competencies is that they can be integrated into each other.
Let’s look at rules for Combat as an example of this approach.
Brute Combat
There’s levels to this shit. The basic way combat goes is people with varying degrees of physical capacity try to smack or stab each other with objects. To resolve that, we do as follows:
Hitting in combat is a skill check. (I’m basically using a goblinpunch skill system called the S system, found here.)
Roll 2d8.
Subtract the lower from the higher.
Factor in attack modifier (subtraction) and defense modifier (addition).
If you roll lower than your Weapon’s stat, you hit. (this procedure is called an s8 roll, for Arnold K).
If you’re competent at defending yourself, it can be more complicated. If you’re competent at attacking, even more so. Usually, you get the option to choose to defend yourself, unless you're surprised or disadvantaged in some way, in which case you don’t factor in the defense modifier.
Great. Now, if you are a duelist, then you’re competent at defending and attacking, so it gets much more complicated.
Competency: Duelist (A Minigame/Ruleset for Dueling)
As you devote your life to dueling, combat begins to take on a very different form. Combat has an interactive, developing pace. You’ll learn a number of Techniques as you train which will let you shape this flow to your advantage. Techniques give you advantages, but also require you to master different aspects of combat.
Rules of Duels.
Initiative.
Combat is not just someone going first, and someone going second (according to Brute Initiative). One person has duelist’s initiative. Whichever Duelist has initiative leads, and their opponent follows. Someone always has the initiative.
If you attack, and your opponent merely tries to defend, you take the Initiative.
Corollary: If someone leads by defending, and their opponent follows by attacking, their opponent takes the initiative.
Corollary: If you Riposte, you take the initiative. [Template C]
If someone declares an attack and it does not resolve, they cede the initiative to their opponent.
If someone with initiative tries to attack with a feint, and gets their attack interrupted by a faster attack, they cede the initiative.
If someone misses their attack entirely because their opponent is not there when the attack would land, they cede the initiative.
You always end a round defending the zone you defended last in the previous round, unless given an opportunity to explicitly take the defense action.
Body Zones.
Every creature has body zones. Duelists are humanoids who specialize in humanoid body zones, which are: Head, chest, abdomen, lead leg. If you get hit in the head, take 2x damage (you probably die instantly).
When you attack, you target one of these. When you defend, you defend one of these. This works as follows:
The leader declares an attack, determining their attack zone in secret;
The follower declares defense, either continuing to defend themselves or suddenly starting to defend themselves (in which case they are in more danger). They determine their defense zone in secret.
Resolve the leader’s attack (if both players attacked, resolve the leader’s attack first).
The leader reveals which zone they were targeting, and any modifications to the attack.
The follower reveals which zone they were defending, and any responses they'd like to make.
The leader takes any responses they’d like to take, and the defender follows suit until both players are satisfied.
Determine if the attack hits, and its range. If it hits, deal damage.
Ranges: within a square, there are three ranges close, conventional, and distant. Once you move past Distant, you are no longer in an adjacent square and no longer immediately in melee combat.
With a sword, you can attack someone at any range. However, your opponent gets to respond as if Watching for Tells at Distant range. (Similarly, with a dagger, your opponent gets to respond as if Watching for Tells at Conventional range; however, daggers cannot attack distant opponents.)
Templates:
A: Duelist, Technique: Interpose, Technique: Watch for Tells
B: Technique: Advanced Footwork, +1 Technique
C: +2 Technique
D: +2 Technique, Master Duelist
A: Duelist
Your weapon always lands where you want it— head, chest, abdomen, or front leg.
You have [templates] CCs (Combat Choices) per round.
Leads:
For 1 CC, you can attack, in which case you cease defending.
For 0 CCs, you can defend yourself.
For 1 CC, you can not only defend, but watch for tells. Taking any other action (besides Footwork, as you’ll learn) will cause you to stop watching for tells.
Follows:
For 0 CCs, you can interpose, in which case you cease defending (and begin interposing, which is resolved exactly like defense, but for someone else).
For 1 CC, you can begin defending yourself (as a response). You continue defending yourself without spending more CCs.
For 0 CCs, if you are watching for tells, when attacks are resolved, can shift your defense zone up or down by 1 (see Techniques, A: Watch For Tells)
Basic Footwork: Once per round, for 0 CCs, you can one range towards or away from your opponent. There are three ranges in combat-- Close, Conventional, and Distant-- and once you move past Distant, you are no longer in an adjacent square and no longer immediately in melee combat. These ranges matter for the purposes of the weaponry you use (rules forthcoming).
Misc:
For 1 CC, you can ask a question about the terrain or about your opponent.
For 1 CC, you may perform an action using the terrain to your advantage. You do this instead of attacking or defending. Some actions are fast (they resolve in the flow of a duel) and others are slow (they take a proper Character Turn action). Whether this is a lead, a follow, or a proper action depends on what you’re trying to do.
Basic Combat between level 1 Duelists looks a lot like combat in general. Players alternate choices in combat, with opportunities to respond to their opponent’s choice before making their own. The main differences are:
Watching for Tells makes your defense much more reliable at level 1.
Interposing gives you an option to defend a friend.
D: Master Duelist
Anyone engaged in brute combat is a Mook for you.
There are a maximum of 3 choices per player per round. If you have 4 templates, you must spend your fourth CC modifying one of your choices.
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Techniques
(Whenever you can add a technique, you may instead perfect a technique you already have.)
A: Watch for Tells
Lead; Response
Just before someone attacks, the attacker gives tiny tells as to what they’re going to do. If you watch for tells, you get to change your defense zone by one the first time an attack is declared-- for free. You must choose one opponent to watch for tells when you spend a point to watch for tells.
Perfect Watch For Tells: When you Watch for Tells, target a defender (who could be yourself), not an opponent; you watch all attacks targeting that defender for tells.
Mooks: You always know where a mook is going to attack. Anyone unskilled with their weapon is a Mook.
A: Interpose (Defend-a-Friend)
Response
When someone declares an attack on an ally within range, you can Interpose as a response. You defend them as if defending yourself.
Perfect Interpose: When you interpose successfully, you can spend CCs to cause the player you are defending to take actions as if they were you.
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Techniques
B: Advanced Footwork
Response
For 0 CC, once per round, when you or your dueling opponent declare an action, you can adjust ranges.
For 1 CC, When you declare an action, you can declare that you will move 5 feet in response to that action. (Duelist or otherwise).
Perfect Footwork: you may perform the 0 CC Footwork option 2x per round, and in response to actions, responses, or modifications. You may perform the 1 CC Footwork option in response to any action.
B: Feint
Modification
When choosing your attack, you may spend 1 CC in secret. Write down two attacks instead, targeting adjacent zones. You declare the first one, and when attacks resolve, You declare the second attack.
Perfect Feint: You can feint any action into a melee attack. Write down that action, spend 1 CC in secret, and when you would resolve that action, declare a melee attack action instead.
B: Lunge
Modification
For 1 CC, you can move one zone towards someone as part of an attack. You declare this as part of declaring an attack, and deal +1 damage on an attack for each zone you lunge towards them as part of that attack.
You can lunge on either instance of a feint.
Lunge Stance.
Perfect Lunge:
You can lunge 0-2 zones as part of a feint.
As part of a lunge, you can feint a lunge, declaring that you will move 0-2 zones, and declaring a different amount when you resolve the attack.
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Techniques:
C: Athletics
Action/Response Option
You may prepare Athletics responses by spending points when you take other actions.
When you defend, you may Duck OR Jump: IF your opponent attacks your head, you duck, and they miss. OR: IF your opponent attacks your legs, you jump, and they miss. (You cannot prepare both of these actions at once)
Roll: When you Lunge or Move 5 feet with Footwork, you may Roll. You dodge any attacks not targeting your legs, but are automatically hit by any other attacks. (If you do this as part of a lunge, you declare a lunge, and resolve a roll; this is a kind of feint.)
Rapid Swing: when you attack, you may spend 1CC to perform a rapid swing. If you are leading, your opponent cannot spend 1+ CCs in response to this attack. If you are following, resolve your attack first instead of second.
C: Parry
Response Option
When you defend, if you guess someone’s zone correctly (without swapping zones), you Parry instead of simply blocking. You may perform any 0 CC Duelist action in response to this.
Perfect Parry: When you Parry, you give your opponent’s weapon a ding, and your opponent cannot respond to your Parry Response.
C: Riposte
Response Option
When you successfully block, you may spend 1 CC to immediately attack. If you Parry, you can spend 0 CC to attack instead.
Perfect Riposte: You may Remise, performing an attack action in response to any action or response you take. (Remising multiple times in a row, in response to your own attacks, is called a Blitz.)
Now, this is all much too complicated. I'm also handwaving damage for now, which I think is ok. I suspect if you get struck with a weapon by a skilled duelist, you should usually die.
If you've got thoughts on how to simplify, let me know!
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