IMech and War 3: Open Design Notebook

While some cry Eureka!, I will continue to plug away at my own little social interaction mechanic.  I haven't abandoned use of a typical 52-card deck but I also haven't made any significant breakthroughs.  I have been tinkering and considering expansion quite a lot, though.  I like the idea of build a little, play it.  Build a little more, play that.  My last bout of real rules tinkering was a tear-down and re-build of D20 that I abandoned for the comfortable bosom of OSR gaming somewhere around spell lists after 2nd level and wilderness exploration rules.  I now much prefer fiddling around the edges of the game while the main engine efficiently purrs along. 

Where I'm at.  I have recently been considering Telecanter's poker personalities and how his rules and/ or musings might influence what I have down so far.  Superficially, the two systems are related only in that they each attempt to use a deck of traditional playing cards to facilitate interactions with NPCs where the suits relate to specific traits or circumstances.  In practice, there's not a lot of overlap other then possibly how the suits might influence play.

If I understand Telecanter's system properly, NPC's are assigned a number of public, private and secret cards and these seem to equate roughly to motivations or susceptibility to certain social levers.  To find and pull these levers the players will need to do their homework.  They need to role play.   

Taking Tele's suits:


♦: Wealth, power and advantages dealing with acclaim, fame and prestige.
♥: Love, lust and approaches to life dealing with the appetites-- but also nostalgia, security, and comfort
♣: Threats of violence and harm, fear, dread
♠: Reason, rational arguments involving laws, systems, explanations, and examples.

or during round 2 of his discussion:

♦: Memorable purchases, moments of fame, dreams of success.
♥: Lost loves, stories of home and family, nationalism
♣: Tales of hardship, monster encounters, war stories
♠: Teaching of philosophies, religious doctrines, guild bylaws

You can see the sorts of relevant things that he's aiming at representing.  My suits, however, are currently assigned a relationship to a particular ability score or the character's level like so:  

♦: Intelligence
♥: Charisma
♣: Level (or Social Caste)
♠: Wisdom

Looking at just the black suits his second set is thematically similar to what I have.  For reds, hearts is his "emotional" suit whereas that relates solely to Charisma in my set.  His diamonds seem to represent status vs. Intelligence in mine.  In my application the suits relate directly to character qualities already described in the rules that essentially get "played" during an interaction.  Telecanter appears to be more interested in using the cards to establish the basis for how the players will resolve things.  How this resolution tales place either hasn't yet been developed or relies on a "softer" role playing approach.

What I really like about Tele's framework is that the cards can represent a level of an individual's susceptibility to a particular approach when being engaged socially.  What I find lacking so far in my IMech system is just such a sense of relativism.  In other words, when does the soft touch trump the hard sell?  When will a threat of force have more impact than a bribe in coin?  From whose perspective should this be determined?  In Tele's world it seems to be from the perspective of the NPC.  One could take his lead, though, and fashion an IMech so that both the PC and NPC introduce their own variables into the interaction.

What if during character generation each character randomly determined a number of particular  susceptibilities or in-susceptibilities?  Perhaps a drawn card's suit would represent the general nature and severity of such and the specific impact could be randomly generated by die roll.  A table like that found below, for instance, could be developed and used:

♥:  Nature of Charisma Susceptibility/ In-Susceptibility (d8):


1. You're a sucker for the opposite sex.  You will lose any hand your opponent plays their ♥ card if the situation involves potentially improving relations with a member of the opposite sex. 

2. You have a soft spot for children.  You will lose any hand your opponent plays their ♥ card if their intent is to protect, aid or benefit a child.  Conversely, you will win any hand that you play your  ♥ card if your intent is likewise.

3. Susceptible to Flattery:  Your opponent's ♥ card is considered four ranks higher if they flatter you in some way.


4. Follower:  If your opponent's ♥ card is higher than your own by at least two ranks, then you will automatically lose whichever hand they play it regardless of the value of your card.

5.  Patriot:   You will lose any hand your opponent plays their ♥ card if their intent is to defend, serve or benefit your community.  Conversely, you will win any hand that you play your  ♥ card if your intent is likewise.

6. Family First:  You will lose any hand your opponent plays their ♥ card if their intent is to defend, serve or benefit your family.  Conversely, you will win any hand that you play your  ♥ card if your intent is likewise.

7.  Racist:  You hate x.  You will win any hand your opponent plays their ♥ card if their intent is to protect, aid or benefit x.  Conversely, you will lose any hand that you play your  ♥ card if your intent is likewise.


8. Sexist: You will win any hand your opponent plays their ♥ card if their position in the interaction involves improving the situation for a member of the opposite sex. 

Those were the first eight examples I could think of without straining overmuch.  The final table or tables could and should be much, much bigger.  They need not even be arranged by suit.  Each character could be required to roll a number of times from 1 to whatever on two large tables representing all susceptibilities (weak suits) or resistances (strong suits) when being rolled up.  Sub-tables could add even more variation. 

In this manner, things become less sure than what you would otherwise experience playing an IMech with set numbers and static relationships between suits.  There is now also a subjective benefit or drawback to a character arbitrarily being a particular sex/ race/ class or arguing for or against a certain group or action.  


So Dulac the Wise, who would begin play with the following four cards plus one random...


16♦: Intelligence
11♥: Charisma
10♣: Level (3rd level)
Q♠: Wisdom

... might be wise to avoid the opposite sex or situations pertaining to his involvement with elves based on the below:


1. You're a sucker for the opposite sex.  You will lose any hand your opponent plays their ♥ card if the situation involves potentially improving relations with a member of the opposite sex. 

7.  Racist:  You hate elves.  You will win any hand your opponent plays their ♥ card if their intent is to protect, aid or benefit elves.  Conversely, you will lose any hand that you play your  ♥ card if your intent is likewise.

So, What REALLY Happened at Castle Caldwell?

Some time ago I posted an e-mail exchange wherein my players were arranging their next adventure.  They had recently ditched the painstakingly detailed hinterland campaign setting I crafted  for them over many long and arduous days (enter strings, largo molto mesto) for the nearest big city.  The party was now on the look-out for some work.  Specifically, they were interested in establishing themselves as legitimate merchants to sell goods (i.e. captured loot and purchased stock) and their peculiar services (i.e. general butt-kicking).  The purpose of posting this exchange here, aside from tempting my players to come and read tales of their very exploits on my fledgling blog, was to illustrate how we attempted to facilitate our normal face-to-face table top game via electronic communication.  Some in-person games use things like campaign wikis or message boards away from actually playing, but how many try to play-by-post or via e-mail in addition to their normal face-to-face game?  We gave it a spin with mixed results and you can go back and read about it if you like, but I'll summarize below. 

Over the course of the posted exchange the party arranged a deal with a highly placed member of the city's merchant's guild.  In exchange for their assistance in clearing out a recently acquired property the official would pay them each in gold, provide for their induction into the guild and even assist them in establsishing their business, should they prove to be reliable and capable in the endeavor.  What that has to do with today's post begins in the comments section of the former.  Reader C'Nor wondered what happened once the party got to the estate.  I've been waiting for "the adventure" to conclude before making this post, and this past weekend it finally did so.  What happened at Castle Caldwell actually involves a number of topics I've been wanting to opine on, and I'll get to below.  First, I'll recap what happened before and after the exchange.

Lord Caldwell, until recently simply Burgher Caldwell, has long been a successful merchant in Valinport, the party's new home base.  As a result of some deal struck with the Duke of Mubonc, Caldwell finds himself risen up to the landed class with an estate, title and substantial adjunct lands to his name.  The nature of the deal involves some level of secrecy or at least sensitivity, as the duke's official Sir Barius was inclined not to speak of it in front of the player-characters when Caldwell made an oblique reference to it in our e-mail exchange.

Caldwell's problem, of course, is that the castle upon the primary estate is overrun with strange, monstrous creatures that are a variation on these guys (thanks to Mr. Curtis).  I boosted the possible effects of the psychotropic spores to include the chance of being controlled by an extra-dimensional spore hive-mind/ portal hidden down deep in the castle (much fun) but gave clerics the chance to turn them.  There were also spore blobs that looked like sacks full of loot (much fun), spore skeletons and a giant spore monster akin somewhat to a blob or jelly.

How the spore-creatures and their hive-mind-portal came to be occupying the castle involves events  predating Caldwell's concerns.  The short story is there's a magic user with a forbidden tome of knowledge and a penchant for intricate, trans-dimensional revenge plots at the heart of all of this.   The party never uncovered the plot or gave much thought to the magic user, somewhat to my surprise, despite fighting her twice with each encounter resulting in her slipping away.  This lack of knowledge or closure didn't actually interfere much with the adventure's conclusion so I'll spare the details. 

The rest of the story you can probably already sort out.  The party traveled to the estate and installed themselves in a nearby village.  Before leaving Valinport they were equipped with knowledge from a sage in the employ of Caldwell and alchemical aids they felt would be of use against a trans-dimensional mold.  When entering the castle itself they took precautions not to breath the spores in and conducted a rather efficient and at times exciting exploration of the place.  Highlights included a nice knock-down, drag-out with the blob-monster; inexplicably locking themselves in a trap room despite having ample opportunity to avoid it; being ambushed in the village by the aforementioned magic user and discovering the pieces of a disassembled magical door.  After puzzling out the function of the latter they uncovered a trans-dimensional space wherein treasure was hidden.  The door and the treasure were both kept by the party, unknown to Caldwell.

In the end, two concerted but failed attempts to deter or wipe out the party that instead severely depleted her own resources and nearly cost her life led the magic user to abandon the castle and take to the hills.  Lacking the vile ceremonies and ministrations of the mage, the hive-mind/ portal was expelled from the campaign world and the minions that were left  behind mopped up easily enough by the party over the course of several  tactical forays into the castle.  There was a time-sensitive aspect to the hive mind/ portal's ability to stay "open".  The party had so many days to kill or drive off the mage or somehow interrupt or stop any of the handful of ceremonial activities she was conductng to keep the hive-mind from becoming a more permenant fixture to their world. They succeeded without ever realizing it.  When the hive mind/ portal was gone they were perplexed, having encountered it once and retreated but expecting that they would need to do so again. 

That the magic user is still out there and bares significant ill-will to the party is obvious.  That until reading this most or all of my players are blissfully ignorant of this is equally true.  What they will do upon reading this is anybody's guess.  Probably nothing.  These are not the droids you are looking for...

Use of Commercially Available Adventures

So a number of things were involved with all of the above, first of all being my use of a commercially produced adventure as the basis for what was happening.  Anybody familiar with Castle Caldwell and Beyond   may already know or suspect that this is the adventure to which I refer.  Those particularly in the know will no doubt realize by now that the spore-zombies, vengeful magic user and the political underpinnings of my Duchy of Mubonc have absolutely nothing to do with the module.  This is typically how I end up using pre-written adventures when I do so at all. 

I hardly ever set out intent on using a pre-made adventure.   It almost always begins with the party throwing me some kind of curveball.  I already mentioned above the abandoned campaign setting (enter strings, largo molto mesto) so once a name for a city was given and the distance to get there determined the party set out immediately.  This was during the same session that they informed me they sure as shit weren't going back into that gods-damned deathtrap of a dungeon I cooked up (a ruined castle not Castle Caldwell).   I had some notion of the city before this point in time, but had no plans for us playing there anytime soon.  Then I suddenly had 4-5 hours of adventuring to facilitate. No worries. 

Along the way to the city of Valinport  a random encounter was rolled involving a group of bandits.  This motley band had happened to have just robbed and murdered family members of the Duke Himself!  I'm a proponent of the belief that even random encounters can and should be woven into the ongoing campaign narrative when it makes sense to do so.  This notion was expressed and demonstrated recently by ChicagoWiz.  That he chose to post about it as I wrote this saved me the effort of explanation, so thanks Michael.  In my case I had no idea yet how the duke's niece and nephew being struck down and discovered by the party would factor into the campaign, but it was there in the tool box if I needed it.  The rest of what's important about getting set up in Valinport is covered above and in the previous e-mail post, so I'll spare you that.

Once the players expressed to me their desire to "go legit" I immediately cooked up all sorts of Byzantine hoops they could leap through to become chartered by the merchant's guild and recommended we manage the start of that via e-mail in preparation for the next session.  The party side-stepped them all.  They thought to go directly to the duke as the first step, whose family they had recently avenged in meting out justice to the bandits and returning their loot.  It was a bit cheeky, but of course he owed them some small gesture and of course they could have kept the loot for themselves so why not allow serendipity and their initiative with the duke pay off? In short order they were set up with Cladwell and made aware of his problem.

My problem, though, was that the actual adventure The Clearing of Castle Caldwell sort of sucks.  I've got stacks of bought and paid for adventures that are all unsatisfactory to me in some way.  None more so than Caldwell's jaunt.  The monster encounters make no sense given the map lay-out.  The dungeon level below the castle is silly and absurd.  In the end I used only the premise, Caldwell's name, the castle-level map and that's about it.  Oh, I almost forgot the room descriptions.  I used those, but instead of using the actual denizens of Caldwell's newly acquired estate I used only their corpses as descriptive elements.  If, for instance, the players would have normally encountered a nonchalant merchant dozing on a bunk in an abandoned guardroom, several rooms away from hostile goblins and slathering wolves, the party instead located the dessicated corpse of the same lying amongst the moldy bones and teeth of goblins and once-slathering wolves.  Having these room descriptions at the ready and having solved my own issues with suspension of disbelief saved me a lot of time and effort that I spent on the important aspect of the adventure. 

Having and Understanding the Dynamics of a Location is Vital to Sandbox Play


If you play the way we do, your adventure plots aren't detailed out ahead of time because you already anticipate that your players will have their own ideas about what should happen and when.  Not being so concerned  with adventure structure in terms of story structure as one might otherwise be, I now focus on knowing the environment and characters better.  For the former, this mostly amounts to maps detailed enough to figure out what goes where and enough general knowledge or notes to fill in those blanks when the time comes.  Pre-written adventures are a handy resource for these.  By using just a map and a few notes, whole dungeon room descriptions can easily be fabricated on the spot once you've done enough of them.  I say don't waste a lot of time writing detailed descriptions of slimy dungeon walls and spooky noises.  If you can't conjure that up at the table with a few notes you might want to consider another hobby.

Spend your time instead on understanding what's really going on... what sorts of things would be happening if the adventuring party were not involved.  Know your characters.  Stat them out as required and understand their motivations.  If the boss-NPC's sole purpose for existing is to stand in the area marked A on your map and fight the party to the death prior to an obligatory award of XP or treasure, then your game will be as shallow and 2-dimensional as most video games. As the NPCs have and display more depth and complexity, the party will be encouraged to deal with them in different ways, making the game deeper and more interesting.  This doesn't mean that your game, mostly about exciting combat and looting ruins, needs to become a social encounter game.  I'm just saying make the environment and the characters in it dynamic and driven by something in addition to just what the party happens to be doing.  That sort of movement in a game milieu creates its own excitement and stretches the imagination. 

Some like to imagine in detail and ahead of time the final confrontation and whatever important encounters that lead up to it.  Their adventures could amount to story boards or flow charts.  The last two iterations of D&D, being 3rd and 4th of course, focus a great deal on constructing appropriate encounters and arraying them in a somewhat, if not exactly, linear fashion.  Blah & phooey.  Don't we want the freedom to have the party kill-off all of the minions prior to the "final confrontation" if they're smart enough to do so?  Don't we want the villain to have the freedom to do the same?  If the party makes a huge mess of the villain's lair and network of henchmen only to bail out to rest and recuperate, why on earth would said villain simply wait around for the party to return, sitting in the same exact place they would have been had the party busted into their den of villainy the day before or two weeks hence?  It's absurd and too often that's exactly what is settled for, because that's what has mostly been written in the modules and what we see in computer and console games.  We can do better than that, can't we?

Forget about where the villain will stand as he delivers his ludicrous monologue or where his archers are always hiding at the ready.  Figure out why he's there in the first place and what he'd logically do about a group of raiding interlopers like your adventuring party.  If this means his taking his forces and striking out at the party's not-so-secret camp, I say go for it.  This is an adventure game.  Make it so. 


Sometimes the Players Can Miss the Point and Still Succeed

In my example the players were confronted with two underlying situations relevant to their adopted task.  One, there is some political maneuvering going on back in Valinport that has resulted in a common burgher being elevated to a lord.  What machinations could possibly be going on?  What does this newly made lord's established position as a guild functionary (and not a guild master) mean to the guild politics?  How do the established nobles, many of whom now possess much less in land than Lord Caldwell, feel about this?  What vital dealings are there between the duke and Caldwell that would  necessitate such a strange circumstance?  Is the party now embroiled in this situation?  Lord Caldwell was rather accommodating in seeing to the party's new business established when they returned to Valinport, does he desire something more from our intrepid band?

As for Castle Caldwell itself, the party never sorted out what was happening there, but they could demonstrate to Caldwell's local agent how the castle was now free of monsters (that very second).  So, after an IMech resolution with a difficult soon-to-be castellan, they were on their way.  What of the mysterious magic user and her book of forbidden lore?  Did the trans-dimensional moss-blob that fell several hundred feet down a shaft and into an unexplored natural cavern truly die?  What of the hive-mind/ gate?  If alive/ still open, what now? Given future possible complications, will the party's burgeoning and politically powerful ally Caldwell seek retribution or remuneration?

We may never explore these questions or they may be front and center the next time we play.  A lot depends on the party who, by the way, have chosen to immediately follow up on leads regarding an ancient dwarven treasure in the nearby hills.  Since the players chose not to explore these questions during the adventure I have them at my future disposal as necessary, but neither I nor they are compelled to do anything.  There's no moment looming in our future where I say "Look guys, this is the adventure I prepared tonight so can we just drop this merchant business and have you go chase after the magic user you've been ignoring?"  or, almost as bad, have the magic user waylay and capture the party on their way to the dwarven ruins because I want to tie up a loose plot thread.

The magic-user may never return or the party may discover she is the unwanted love-child of Caldwell and the duke's mother, or a vengeful alien emissary from another dimension or simply yet another power hungry mage with forbidden knowledge that has now gone on to greener pastures (so sorry you didn't get to loot her body and get that staff and grimoire, by the way).   That I'm not relying on the mage's relevance and the character's biting on a single hook to propel the campaign forward means they're not being railroaded and the information is there if and when I need it to help make the game go.  So the next time I roll a random encounter and the results involve the party hearing a familiar cackle from over the next rise just before a wave of moss-zombies descend upon them, it will have some significance.  Or maybe it'll be just another band of duke-hating bandits.

IMech and War 2

My group and I took an updated version of the previously posted IMech system for a spin this weekend in my regular campaign.  The updated rules are reproduced below in their entirety.  What changed from the first go-around was that Wisdom and Intelligence were made separate suits, Wisdom displacing prime requisite as a factor. Also, for each hand the participants will choose their cards in secret then reveal them simultaneously rather than have a player "lead" the hand.  

Rules

Social interactions are resolved with a 5-card hand of what is essentially War using a standard 52-card deck.  The participant that wins 3 of the 5 hands will "win" the interaction.  Each hand will represent one card from each suit and be determined by the guidelines below.  The fifth card will be drawn randomly from a playing card deck once the four initial cards have been determined and drawn.  For this reason, each participant must have their own deck.

** edit**

Forgot this part: Any card may be played at any time.  The highest numerical value wins.  In the event of a tie each player must randomly draw a card from their standard deck and compare ala War, using the battle/ war resolution system of that game to complete the hand.

**edit**

Hearts:  Based on the Charisma score of the participant.
- 1 or below, no card
- 2 through 10 equals the same numerical value card (e.g. an 8 charisma score nets you an 8 of hearts)
- 11-13: Jack
- 14-16: Queen
- 17-18: King
- 19 and above: Ace

Diamonds:  Based on the Intelligence score of the participant

- 1 or below, no card
- 2 through 10 equals the same numerical value card (e.g. an 8 WIS/ INT score nets you an 8 of hearts)
- 11-13: Jack
- 14-16: Queen
- 17-18: King
- 19 and above: Ace

Spades:  Based on the Wisdom score of the participant

- 1 or below, no card
- 2 through 10 equals the same numerical value card
- 11-13: Jack
- 14-16: Queen
- 17-18: King
- 19 and above: Ace

Clubs:  Based on the level of the participant
- 0 level and below get a 5 of clubs
- 1st through 3rd level get a 10
- 4th through 6th level a Jack
- 7th through 9th level a Queen
- 10th through 12th level a King
- 13th and higher level an Ace

Both sides reveal their card simultaneously each hand and DM and/or player can narrate.  I will list the player-character's play first each time.


In our specific game, the need to use an IMech was brought on in the following manner:   The players had recently completed a job for an influential patron in their home city.  The job took place outside of the city, so the players were dealing with an agent of said patron, needing his confirmation to receive their payment from the lord once they returned home.  The terms of what constituted completion of the job were vague, so while the players justifiably believed that they were finished and should be paid,   their patron's agent was inclined to keep them around if for no other reason than to cover his own ass with the boss.   In short, the players needed the agent's go-ahead which the agent did not want to provide.  Clearly this was an interaction requiring that a definite winner and loser be determined.

I narrated the action as the cards were played, as I agree with the point Zak S. made in the comments on the last IMEch post that this should at least be implied in any IMech system.

Thanks to my player Dan L. for his outstanding memory and aid in corroborating what was played when. 

The game went as follows:

Based on his character's ability scores the player had: Jack of hearts (11 Charisma), Queen of diamonds (16 Intelligence), Queen of spades (16 Wis), 10 of clubs (3rd level) and drew a King of diamonds for the random card.

Agent had a Queen of hearts (14 CHA), Jack of diamonds (12 INT),  ten of spades (10 WIS), 5 of clubs (0 level), and gets lucky and draws a queen of clubs.


First Hand: (cards revealed simultaneously):  Player came somewhat big with their Jack of Hearts, using their Charisma to warm up to the distant lord's toady.  My strategy with the agent was to play the bad cards early, so I led with the 5 of clubs (based on his level).  His experience and position were not sufficient to resist the player's glad-handing.  The two were chumming it up despite their past differences (you see, the agent had been something of a self-important jerk in the manner that mid-level functionaries granted a morsel of power over their betters sometimes will be).  Despite this,   Player wins. 

Second Hand:  (cards revealed simultaneously):  The player once again came big with a Queen of diamonds (INT), and the agent responded with his ten of spades (WIS).  Feeling good that the conversation was off to a smashing start the player presented a very sound and logical justification for why, under any reasonable basis for measuring such things, one must consider the job as complete.  The agent, sensing (WIS) no ulterior motive and wanting to believe the player is forced to agree.  Player wins.

Third Hand:  (cards revealed simultaneously):  The player uses the other Queen (of spades for Wisdom).  I suspect as the players get better at this game they'll see that with 2 wins in hand and only one more necessary, the king might be the wiser play, but that's for another post.  Obviously the threat of losing was real enough to want to come big this hand for the agent and I had therefore elected to play a Queen as well (of clubs, the drawn card).  A tie.  The ensuing game of war was won by the agent.  I narrated that based on how well things had gone the player sensed (WIS) a win, and so backed off to allow the agent to come the same conclusion on his own.  The agent, fearing reprisals from his lord and subsequent loss of face and position had second thoughts.  Agent wins.

Fourth Hand:  (cards revealed simultaneously):  The player, hoping that the agent has spent his big card and still having a King if not elects to use his 10 of clubs (level) which the agent beats with his Jack of diamonds (INT). In narration, the character was at this point relying on their position and gravitas to win the day, perhaps making a suggestive comment or simply affixing the harried agent with a meaningful look.  The agent, bright enough to know (INT) that his lord was the greater man to fear in this wasn't going for it.  Agent wins. 

I was glad things came down to a fith and final hand, because based on the non-random cards the agent seemed to be outclassed going in.

Fifth Hand:  Playing the only cards left to them the player turned over his King of diamonds (drawn card) while the agent played his impressive but still insufficient Queen of hearts (CHA).  The player, restating his position and reminding the agent of his lord's desire to see this task completed wins out over the strength of the agent's personality and ability to resist the player-character's will.  Player wins the hand and the interaction.  Reluctantly the agent provides the necessary documents and seals to prove the player's claims upon returning to their home city.

The good:  

• The players liked it and we had fun doing it.
• The played hands were suspenseful.  The players wanted to be done with this task rather badly, so when the agent staged a minor comeback they were naturally concerned to the point of mildly berating the poor player for blowing the lead.
• The intraction was resolved quickly and objectively but with more depth than a single die roll. 
• Ditching prime requisite and basing three of the five cards on the attributes of Charisma, Intelligence and Wisdom instead provided a nice framework for narrating what was going on.  I was having trouble conceiving ahead of time how to narrate one's excellent dexterity influencing a hand.
• It meets my requirements for a game.  There are those that think cards are merely replacing dice under this system, which seems to me either a limitation of my previous ability to describe this or their ability to visualize it.  Cards provide randomness or uncertainty on the part of the participants based on who is playing what and when plus randomly selecting one card.  The latter random card is the only analogous activity to dice rolling that I can see.  Otherwise, the game is based on player strategy in deploying the mental attributes and relative importance (level) of his or her character.

The bad:

• The suits themselves really don't have a function in the game and I'd like to explore the idea of certain suits having trump power over others.  Does insight or subconscious belief (WIS) always trump logic (INT)?  Should a likeable person (CHA) have an edge over an important one (level)?  Vice versa? 
• Given the above comment on suits, there's a resulting lack of depth and complexity to how the cards interact with one another that makes mastery of the game easier.  Without changing this somehow over time I suspect that the results will become predictable, making the game simply an extended version of making a CHA check.  
• The DM has a clear advantage once he or she knows (or can look up) all of the players cards but one.
• Ideas tossed around before, like "friends with the duke", "hates elves",  "greedy" are not accounted for yet, but could be.  Perhaps as modifiers to existing cards.  You know the duke of Mubonc?  Your 10 of clubs for being level 3 is a queen of clubs in the duchy and a jack of clubs in adjoining realms.  You're greedy?  Your drawn card in any situation involving money is worth two less than shown.  Etc, etc...
• In my estimation all of the games so far proposed as an IMech merely replace inter-personal skills with card playing ones amongst the players.  What now happens to the silver-tongued player that is no good at cards?  Has this begun to solve a problem or simply replace one problem with another?

The ugly:

• It took a while to set up the first game based on having only one deck of cards handy (doh!) and not having four of the player's five cards already drawn.  This is easily fixable, though. 

So What IS the Point, Then?

A reader and friend recently inquired if I was discouraged from posting to the blog based on the how the IMech discussion went.  I was somewhat dumbstruck.  Let's establish first that nothing could be further from the truth, in the event that there are others out there with similar notions.  As for the difference of opinion in how to go about the IMech, that's been more than adequately addressed here.  For my part, I'm still working on my own solution to the IMech and plan to post about it when I have a post's worth of material and results to share.  But that's not really what I wanted to write about.  The question set me on a path of inquiry, and I apologize in advance for the lack of actual game-related content to follow.  Why am I blogging at all?  Here's what I came up with, in no particular order:

1) Narcissism:  Anybody starting one of these has a narcissistic streak.  One would have to admire their own thoughts on something before he or she could presume somebody else would as well, yes?  There are also the additional and related benefits of seeking and obtaining approval and validation and increasing one's relative importance, I suppose, but if those things motivate me they seem at least to be secondary concerns.  Primarily I'm here because I like what I have to say.  I don't see narcissism as a problem, really, provided that one's faults are balanced by more admirable qualities.   I hope to offer more then just over-indulgent navel gazing to anybody stopping in, and that's admirable in its way, yes?  (Ah, there I go seeking validation)

2) I Think About the Game Constantly:  I do.  I even blogged about this recently.  My hope is to capture some of what goes through my head every day for posterity's sake.  Why should posterity care?  It doesn't.  See narcissism above. There's an added benefit to writing your thoughts down and making them public, however.  Given the implied scrutiny a potential reader will bring to bear you need to be a more vigilant editor when examining your own bullshit.  It's easy to be a genius after a glass or two of wine, blathering on about agency in RPGs to your unlucky friends and family.  Write that brilliance down and invite other people to come and shit on it, I say.  Perhaps there's a buried sense of masochism at work here as well.  I've always felt all artists are secretly masochists, and I have at times aspired to be an artist.

3) I Want to be a Better DM:  Reading an abundance of fine gaming blog content has given me no shortage of things to consider. My interest in them began with a desire to be better at the craft of DMing.  Writing a blog is in many ways simply an extension of that.    

4) It's a Writing Project:  I don't want my life's body of work to begin and end with what I did for a living.  So I'm taking Oprah Winfrey's fine advice and finding my passion and pursuing that.  This amounts, essentially, to writing.  I've written music and lyrics, and now essays for no other reason than to have them and see them commented upon.  I'm working my way up to short stories or perhaps a graphic novel .  The end goal is to have conceived and completed a novel before I'm dead.  To be a novelist.  Yes, I'd like to be a novelist.  This blog is part of that process. 

I have no illusions regarding acclaim, fame and fortune in this pursuit.  I also have shared this with only a handful of people.  I'm doing it because in some ways I have to and I regret not having done it sooner.  I feel like time has been wasted, never to be regained.  The sands are running out and all of that mid-life crisis stuff.  Writing this down here, publicly if still largely anonymously, might help me overcome my tendency to think grand thoughts and not pursue them due variably to complacency, fear and an avalanche of more mundane concerns. 

As an aside, its long been my suspicion that the DMing ranks are lousy with frustrated writers.  What other reason for the tendency to think of the game's structure and execution more in terms of storytelling media (books, movies, etc...) than as a game.

5) I'm Not Here to Sell You Anything:  I make a good enough living that I don't want or need to turn my primary hobby into another means of generating income.  I'm not here to begrudge any that do want to make a buck off of gaming.  I do wish some of them would shill less and go back to doing what made their blogs so great in the first place, but I suppose if the milk is free nobody will buy the cow.  Or something.

6) I Want to Do My Part:  I believe there is a community of like-minded people out there, and whatever differences I may have with them are secondary to the common interest we have in sitting around a table and rolling dice.  No stark revelation here, I know.  This so-called OSR seems to just get bigger and bigger.  Whether or not it will sustain itself is another matter, and that's what I'm driving at.  For this to amount to something greater than nostalgia or a niche of a niche then its participants need to continue to challenge one another with new ideas, methods, mechanics, and what have you.  There needs to always be new blood.  It needs to not be managed or constrained by some commercial entity, be it WoTC or Goblinoid Games (I'm accusing neither of any such desires, by the way) but by the talents and interests of its participants.  I want to do more than just cheer and jeer from the cheap seats, so here I am. 

So in closing, let me just say that based on all of the above I will go through stretches of time where I won't post anything here.  It won't be due to lack of interest, or hurt feelings on having been disagreed with... but probably lack of having something meaningful to say.  I'm both pretty thick-skinned and reasonably even-keeled and surrounded in my professional and personal life with bright, dynamic, bull-headed, explosive, opinionated, and sometimes outlandish people.  This OSR blog shit is a breeze by comparison.  Also, I typically won't inflict the sort of self-examination preceding this paragraph on the burgeoning readership that I recognize and appreciate now having.

IMech and War

To understand the following post you will have had to have read this one.   If you're not interested in developing or debating a social mechanic for D&D then this won't hold much interest for you.

Taking Alexis's desired template of the child's card game War and incorporating elements relevant to D&D I've come up with the following  tentative system.  I've also set aside my inclination to have the cards be a resource as well as a static value.  You get almost the same hand every time you play until one of the cards changes due to one of the reasons outlined below.  I'm posting this not as a fully realized system, but as means of furthering the discussion begun on Alexis's blog with more detail added to the framework he suggested.

Social interactions are resolved with a 5-card hand hand of what is essentially War using a standard 52-card deck.  The participant that wins 3 of the 5 hands will "win" the interaction.  Each hand will represent one card from each suit and be determined by the guidelines below.  The fifth card will be drawn randomly from a playing card deck once the four initial cards have been determined and drawn.  For this reason, each participant must have their own deck.

Hearts:  Based on the Charisma score of the participant.
- 1 or below, no card
- 2 through 10 equals the same numerical value card (e.g. an 8 charisma score nets you an 8 of hearts)
- 11-13: Jack
- 14-16: Queen
- 17-18: King
- 19 and above: Ace

Diamonds:  Based on Intelligence or Wisdom

- 1 or below, no card
- 2 through 10 equals the same numerical value card (e.g. an 8 WIS/ INT score nets you an 8 of hearts)
- 11-13: Jack
- 14-16: Queen
- 17-18: King
- 19 and above: Ace

Spades:  Based on your highest prime requisite

- 1 or below, no card
- 2 through 10 equals the same numerical value card
- 11-13: Jack
- 14-16: Queen
- 17-18: King
- 19 and above: Ace

Clubs:  Based on your level
- 0 level and below get a 5 of clubs
- 1st through 3rd level get a 10
- 4th through 6th level a Jack
- 7th through 9th level a Queen
- 10th through 12th level a King
- 13th and higher level an Ace

Player's will roll initiative as if it were a combat and the winning player will decide whether to lead or reply.  Each of the five hands will then proceed in this order.

Any card may be played at any time.  The highest numerical value wins.  In the event of a tie each player must randomly draw a card from their standard deck and compare ala War, using the battle/ war resolution system of that game to complete the hand.

Discuss, Decide, Describe and Resolve Pt. III: The Dice

The Dice Decide and Resolve

I spent some time over the recent holiday break thinking about how I'd like to write this post on dice.  On how dice can determine scores, decide content or resolve actions.  On the value of randomness in general.  On the specific necessity for uncertainty in a game.  I thought on how once having assigned a task to the dice, one must allow them to carry through with it no matter how poorly it goes  for either DM or players.  Because that is their job, is it not?  To make this a game.  To be, if nothing else, counted on for objectivity and impassivity.  To at times help or hinder the goals of the participants with the fickleness that only fate possesses.  Yes, I spent some time considering all these things but they were all summed up in a few short seconds this past week while actually playing the game.

I once wrote how I don't worry too much anymore about my belief that the players are bending the rules for character generation when I'm not around.  This is an affront to the dice on both of our parts, but it keeps the peace and doesn't wreck the game so I mostly look the other way.  I'm not perfect.  I am, though, a bit more of a stickler when it comes to those dice rolled when leveling up.  I'm talking mostly about hit points here. This past week one of the fighters in the group made third level and rolled for additional hit points.   He rolled a "1".  Without a constitution bonus that means 1 more hit point.   For the fighter.  That's the guy that stands in the front of the party, bangs sword against shield and shouts "bring it on, motherfuckers".  Yeah, that guy got one extra hit point.

Obviously he wanted more hit points.  Having hit points is sort of in his character's job description.  If he is to serve as one of the primary melee combatants he needs the extra hit points, especially at third level.  I want him to have the extra hit points because I actually don't like it when characters die and making it to third level is a big deal in a game where punches aren't typically pulled.  Also, there's the cleric that has more hit points.  That's gotta hurt.  Yet there the upturned "1" lay before us.  It mocked us.  I was sorry.  He was disappointed.  A look passed between us in that instant.  His was the sort of questioning, outraged and amused all at once look that asked, "You're not really expecting me to keep that roll are you?"  Mine was the raised brow and apologetic half-smile that responded, "Yes.  I'm afraid I am."

He took in stride.  He explained that he just felt a fighter should get more hit points when leveling up.  It only made sense.  I agreed.  A fighter should get more hit points.  At least one of the '85 through '87 Philadelphia Flyers teams should have won a Stanley Cup.  Cordalene should have recorded at least one more album with the original lineup.  Firefly should have lasted longer than the 14 episodes Fox gave it.  George R.R. Martin should have by now written and published another book for  A Song of Ice and Fire.  Lots of way more important things beyond the minor woes of my personal history should have happened or should be happening right now.  If the universe functioned according to concepts like fairness or logic, that is.  But they're not.  It doesn't.  In the real world its debatable who we can blame.  One might argue there is no blame, at least not in any cosmic sense.  Things are what they are.  In the game, we at least have the dice to blame, and what a dull and pointless game it would be without them.

The dice are there to keep us honest.  To be objective.  To be interesting. To resolve.  The dice provide the game both necessary impartiality and uncertainty.  The DM is the referee, and gets the final say on most things, but his or her power must be held in check.  There are the players and their agency, which any good DM should but doesn't actually have to consider.  There are also the rules and the dice.  The rules establish a framework and probability for what can happen.  DM and players create the situations that operate within that framework.  The dice resolve it all.  They tell us how the dust will settle.  Without dice, there is no game... just narration.  It might be fun, but it's not a game. 


Each set of rules and each DM will have their own way of utilizing the dice.  I personally prefer things somewhat random within a pre-determined framework, so like a lot of so-called old-schoolers I use random tables for all kinds of stuff.  I love them.  To me they make things interesting and sometimes provide spark or inspiration  and a whole new direction for the activities going on.  I'm not proposing that you play the game the way I do or that this particular size fits all.  I am saying, though, that once you figure out what role dice will play in your game you need to stick to it, even if the results aren't immediately palatable.  To do otherwise is to undermine the game.

The closest analog to the table top game is the CRPG.  They're less fun to play, if you ask me.  It's not just the social interaction and chance to be creative and quick-thinking I get out of traditional RPGs... it's the finality of the dice.   It's the fact that there is no saved game to fall back on in the event of failure.  When much is risked on the cast of the dice, the rewards are that much sweeter.  The event of a character death or, fates forbid, a total party kill actually has some meaning.  It's the dice that provide this.  But to do so, they must be fully empowered to perform the function of resolution.  They must be able to kill favorite characters or provide them only one extra hit point at a crucial level.  Their rule and role in this regard must be absolute.   Each little re-roll, no matter how innocent seeming or even logical, erodes the agency of the dice.  As the dice lose meaning, so do the concepts of risk and reward.  Eventually, so too does the point of playing a game at all.   Fudging the die rolls is to me a slippery slope to hell.

I could have allowed the player in question to re-roll his hit points last week.  It would have been immediately acceptable to all nine of us standing around the table the moment it happened.  I would have been congratulated on my fairness and ability to see a greater picture.  Somebody would have fetched me a beer or put the water on for my customary cup of tea as the night got late as a gesture of love and respect.  Then the magic user would roll a "1" for his hit points.  Or the other fighter a "2" or a "3".  Or perhaps there's this really intense moment later on in the evening, where all comes down to a single die roll and the player tossing it misses.  What then?  Where is the line drawn?  Will that really intense moment remain intense if everybody around the table knows the DM will just let the re-roll happen if he desires it?  If the DM doesn't allow the re-roll is he or she being unfair?  Isn't it therefore better to always let the dice have their say, so as to not appear to be playing favorites or making decisions as DM on a subjective and inconsistent basis? I think so.  So the fighter got 1 hit point, I poured my own damn water for the tea and my players will always know what to expect.  That, if nothing else, I at least respect the dice.

Part I:  The DM
Part II: The Players