Game Mechanics (A brief rundown)

[PC]

In order to successfully roleplay in scenarios and scenes where there is a chance combat may happen, or some other instance of random chance, or where you must determine if one ability or skill triumphs over another, you must have some sort of system to adjudicate these fairly, in a matter that is easy, concise, and fair to everyone involved. Unfortunately, this requires some sort of rules system, and some method of determining chance, be it dice, flipping a coin, or whatever. "Allowing" it to happen "because I want to," or "not allowing" it to happen "because I don't want to be beaten or be hurt" isn't going to cut it here. What we want is usually a very selfish and self serving line of reasoning, and to hell with the other person(s) involved.

So, with that in mind, we developed an extremely simple system to handle those moments where chance or skill takes the driver's seat and the characters are left to the whims of chance. The system is detailed as follows below:

We've streamlined what we need into six very simple, very straightforward statistics, or stats. Five of them are variable, which means their score will fluctuate from character to character. The sixth stat, Health, is a static number that never changes. These will suffice to handle any situation that you'll need to resolve by means other than simple decision. These stats are:



Primary Power Rating: This number is your primary power's rating. This number is every number your power can possibly use. Its to aim, attack, and the effect of it. This is why its a rating. If you're a normal human, this obviously will not apply to you and be blank on the character bio.

Secondary Power Rating: This number is your secondary power's rating. It's very much like the Primary Power Rating. This number is every number your power can possibly use. Its to aim, attack, and the effect of it. This is why its a rating. If you're a normal human, this obviously will not apply to you and be blank on the character bio.


Action Value: This number is your action value. This number is every number you can possibly use for an action that you would need to make a roll for. If you throw a punch, throw a baseball, kick someone, shoot a gun at them, shoot a bow and arrow, etc, this is the number you use. Its also the effect value of whatever action you're doing. If you're punching someone, this determines if you hit, and how much damage you do. This is why its a value.


Reaction Value: This number is your reaction value. This number is every number you can possibly use for a reaction that you would need to make a roll for. If you block a punch, catch a baseball, duck a kick, dodge a bullet or other projectile shot at you, jerk your hand away from a hot stove, etc, this is the number you use. Its also the effect value of whatever reaction you're doing. If you're dodging a bullet and ram into your partner, this determines what happens, and how much damage is done if applicable, etc. This is why its a value.

Resistance Value: This number is your resistance value. This number is every number you can possibly use for a resistance to an event that you would need to make a roll for. If you are punched, hit by a baseball, kicked in the head, shot by a bullet or other projectile shot at you, burned by a hot stove, etc, this is the number you use. Its also the effect value of whatever you're resisting. If you're shot by a bullet and didn't succeed on your Reaction Value roll, this determines if you can remain conscious from the pain, or how much damage you can take and keep taking actions after receiving the damage. This is why its a value.


Health: This is a measure of your health, or life. The number is static, staying at 200. Once you take damage, the amount of damage that is taken is subtracted from the Health points. Once you drop to -10, you fall unconscious. If you drop to -20, the character is dead.


These stats are determined when you create your character bio. The number range will always be somewhere between 1-20. To get these stats, you must contact a Game Master (this would be PC, CC, LadyDragon, or Eekersgirl), and tell them you're ready to roll your stats.

Once you've got the attention of a Game Master, you'll use the die roller in the room. Hit Die Roller, and then select 1 die to roll, and you'll need to select a 20 sided die. After you've selected the appropriate radio buttons, click the button to roll the die. The number will be posted by your name. You do this five times, once for each variable stat (there are six stats but Health is static, remember?), and then you roll an extra number, a sixth roll.

When you have your six rolls, you're ready to start assigning them to the five variable stats. You can put them anywhere you want to, but you'll want to remember, if you're playing a special, you'll want your primary power to be more powerful than your secondary one, so you'll want a higher number in your primary power than your secondary power.

I know you're wondering "So what do I do with the sixth number?" I'm glad you asked. Before you assign the scores to the stats, take a look at them all. Find the lowest score, and throw it away. The five highest numbers are the ones that you use for your variable scores.

Remember, these stats have to be rolled in the presence of a Game Master, in the room. This ensures fairness. Once you have your numbers, you can finish your character bio.



Now, we come to the mechanics, namely how these numbers will actually be used. And I'm sure you're wondering how these affect chance when the numbers are pretty small. The scores you rolled will be used as a modifier to your roll. You'll make your roll using 1 100 sided die. This is also called percentile dice. This generates a number between 1-100. You'll add your score to what you roll for a total. If the roll is contested (this means you're making a roll to do something to someone, and they're making a roll to see if they can keep you from doing it in some way), then whoever's total roll is higher is the winner of the roll.

When you're ready to make a roll for something, you click Die Roller in the room. Select 1 die to be rolled, and then select the 100 sided die. In the field that says "Modifier," put the score of whatever stat you're using and hit roll. After the die rolls are done, make your post as appropriate. See? Pretty simple, huh?

Just to be on the safe side, though, let's go through a couple of examples. We'll use two completely made up characters fighting, and work from there. We'll use Leslie, who has the power of Pyrokinesis (the ability to generate and control fire), and Russell, a really nasty kind of guy, with the power of Telekinesis (the power to move and manipulate things with his mind). To simplify the examples, though, we'll assume neither Leslie or Russell have a Secondary Power, though most of your characters probably do. So, Leslie and Russell look a little something like this. We took Leslie's stats first, and this is what we came up with. She rolled 16, 18, 15, and 13 after discarding her lowest score. She doesn't have a Secondary Power, so she was left with four numbers. Leslie's pretty good with her power, and its pretty strong, so she puts her 18 there. She has no secondary power, so that's a zero and her player decides she's reasonably athletic and able to do things pretty well, so puts her 15 in her Action Value. She figures her reflexes are really good, so she puts her 16 in Reaction Value, but decides that Leslie is a little more frail than she likes to let on, so assigns her Resistance Value as 13. Her Health is, of course, 200, and if she loses all her Health points and goes to -10, she's unconscious. If her Health goes to -20, she's dead. Her stats look like this:


Leslie (Pyrokinesis)
Primary Power Rating: 18
Secondary Power Rating: 0 (no secondary power)
Action Value: 15
Reaction Value: 16
Resistance Value: 13

Health: 200 (At -10, character is unconscious. At -20, character is dead)


Russell's player rolls (he has no secondary power either, remember) and gets a 20, 17, 14 and 12. He got one max score, so he's doing really good, in that regard. Russell's player decides that Russell has really tapped into his inner self and found the potential power and unleashed it within himself, so assigns his 20 to Primary Power Rating. He has no secondary power, so that's a zero (as stated earlier, most of your characters will probably have a secondary power). The player reasons that since Russell depends so much on his power, he's not especially good at mundane, physical tasks, so puts his 12 in Action Value. Because he figures Russell to be really alert and aware, he puts his 17 in Reaction Value. Finally, he decides that Russell is almost nerdy and weak in his constitution because his concentration on development has been with his powers, so he puts the 14 in Resistance Value, and his Health is 200 with the unconscious and death thresholds that Leslie has. His stats look like this:



Russell (Telekinesis)
Primary Power Rating: 20
Secondary Power Rating: 0 (no secondary power)
Action Value: 12
Reaction Value: 17
Resistance Value: 14

Health: 200 (At -10, character is unconscious. At -20, character is dead)



Now, on to the example. Leslie has been out doing her thing all day, and finally gets to come home. Once she gets inside, she finds Russell there, rifling through her belongings. He hears her and whirls around, and Leslie is not happy. Without thinking, she decides she's going to blast him with a flame bolt, so she rolls 1d100 (a 100 sided die) plus her Primary Power Rating of 18. She rolls the 1d100 and gets a 61, plus her Primary Power Rating of 18 for a total of 79. The flame bolt goes on its way.

Russell has an "Oh shit" moment and decides he's going to try and dodge. He's really hoping he can avoid that blast, otherwise, he'll potentially take 79 points of damage (79 because that's what Leslie's roll was). He rolls 1d100 plus his Reaction Value of 17. He rolls 67, plus his Reaction Value 17 for a total of 84. Leslie's flame bolt blasts against the wall and end table where Russell had just been standing.

Our hapless villain isn't too pleased with Leslie, so he decides to knock her back, hard, with his telekinesis. His Primary Power Rating is 20, and he rolls 1d100 and gets a 90, for a total of 110. He's shoving her hard back against the wall.

Yet another "Oh shit" moment is at hand, and Leslie tries to dodge that telekinetic shove, otherwise there's going to be some serious pain. With a Reaction Value of 16, she rolls 1d100 for 75, which is a total of 91. Leslie didn't make it in time and is slammed hard against the wall, knocking the wind out of her. Leslie takes makes a Resistance Value roll, to try and minimize the damage she takes. Her Resistance Value is 13. She rolls 1d100 and gets 20, for a total of 33. She managed to take the edge off, but took 77 points of damage (Russell's damage of 110, minus Leslie's Reaction Value roll of 33, so 110 - 33 = 123), leaving her with 123 Health Points. Leslie still isn't going to feel good in the morning.

Assuming our nasty boy Russell manages to keep up the attack, and keep pummeling Leslie until he deals 128 points of damage, that would leave Leslie at -5. She's still awake, barely, but in so much pain she can barely move or think, let alone react and save her own life. Every five minutes she stays at a negative Health score, she loses a point. So, if Russell left Leslie like that, and no one helped her or she couldn't help herself for twenty five minutes, she'd slip into unconsciousness.

Once she's unconscious, she's not losing Health points any longer, but she's not gaining any either, until someone gives her medical attention of some sort appropriate to the kind of damage that was done. Once unconscious, you can't regain consciousness until your Health Points reach at least 1 point. Until you reach 25 Health Points you have to make a Resistance Value roll and roll at least a total of 60 to take any action that requires concentration, or exertion.

We'll be constantly revising these as we find the kinks in the rules, so bear with us. Any suggestions on playability would be helpful. Thank you.