DOTM: open system design: Reveal
Apr. 14th, 2006 02:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mneme posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
labcatsThis is the current design for the Combat/Conflict/Voluntary revelation system for DOTM.
In the name of giving things cute quasi-descriptive names, I'm calling it Reveal.
Reveal! An information-economy combat system
Each character has a number of combat cards. The cards have the following features:
Always: A title, indicating what the card signifies. "Martial Arts", "Graceful", and "Weak Fighter" are all reasonable titles.
Often: A character code or title indicating who can use this card. Most cards are not transferable; some (weapons, vehicles, armor) are.
Always: a number, representing how effective the card is in combat.
Often: A symbol representing what class of card it is. You may only use one card of any given class at a time (though you can swap cards out in the course of combat).
Sometimes: A special rule associated with this card. "You can only use this card if you have previously lost a combat". "You can only use this card once per day". "You can only use this card if Corwin is involved in this combat." "If you use this card, your stakes -must- include killing at least one person on the other side. This may change your stakes when it is used." "This is a one handed weapon. You may only use two hands of weapons at a time."
Often: A revelation that you must make when using this card. "You cannot defeat me, for I am secretly Zorro!" "Whatever I am, it's not human!" "I turn into a bear" "I pull a hidden knife" "My bodyguard attempts to protect me". Items fall into this category, at least conceptually.
Play:
1. The initiator of the combat declares combat on their target or targets. Normally, this is visible to anyone who can hear them, though some abilities may modify this. Then, they declare what they are trying to accomplish -- their stakes. They must also declare their current combat hand -- a set of combat cards that don't contain matching (exclusive) symbols, fulfil any conditions of those cards, and declare their current combat total -- the sum of the values of the cards in their hand. They may also narrate their initial attack (but see narration).
2. The targets and initiator are automatically involved in the combat. Anyone else can get involved in the combat as long as it's still going on -- as long as a winner has not been determined.
3. The other side must now chose to either give -- allow the initiator to accomplish his or her stakes, and revealing at least one combat card of their choice (which may be a card previously revealed). Or, they can respond -- declaring what they are trying to accomplish if the win, and revealing a hand (which may contain a mix of cards they revealed before and new cards...or may contain entirely new cards) with a value exceeding that of the previous hand. They may also narrate their response (but see Narration), even if they Give.
4. The players are at this point free to discuss things out of character, including negotiating stakes (ie, I'll Give if you change your stakes to capturing rather than killing me). If nobody has Given, repeat step three as long as necessary -- one side attacks, the other side responds, then the first side responds, then the other, as long as the previous value continues to be beaten.
Narration: at certain points (when a player makes an Attack, Responds to it, or Gives), they have the option to narrate what happens. While the player has a lot of freedom in how they narrate, it's important to note that they are limited entirely to color here -- because combat only involves the players in question, narration may not have any side effects or affect the stakes.
Stakes: Stakes -can- have effects (obviously). However, stakes may only affect the characters involved in the conflict -- if someone, PC or NPC, is affected by a conflict, they're part of defending against it.
Extra Stuff:
Groups: A group may engage in combat. People may join the combat at any time before it ends (note that given a credible attack and response, a combat will usually be over in a single exchange, and players may not join once all but one sides have Given) on any side or their own side -- if there are multiple people on a side, they may combine their cards to form a hand under the same rules as a single person -- So (using letters for symbols) a player with A3 and B1 and a player with A2 and C2 could form a single hand with A3, B1, and C2 for a 6 point attack, but could not also include the A2 (unless they avoided using the A3 card).
Weapons: Will generally not have a symbol (any number of weapons are valid) but have an exclusion on number of hands per player. So if there is one person on a side, they may use two hands worth of weapons; if there are three, they may use up to 6 hands of weapons. (too good?)
Extra sides: Should work fine. Just continue going around in the order declared; the last group standing gains their stakes. If their stakes doesn't preclude further combat, the remaining sides may choose to continue the combat (ie, one side chooses to flee, and both other sides give; the other sides can stop fighting or re-enter combat without the side that fled).
Fleeing: is a stake. Players may (often will) have cards that they may only use when their stake is "I flee".
Characters will generally have a single card for each primary identity (usually, though not always, one), which contains most of their combat value. On top of that, they'll then be able to layer any special abilities, which will generally have smaller combat values than the base.
Cards can have multiple exclusion symbols -- if so, they may not be used with any cards matching -any- of the symbols depicted (an AB9 card may not be used with any other A or B cards).
Questions:
Can/should this be adapted to conflicts other than combat?
Should you need to make certain differentials to be able to make your stakes rather than take a lesser stakes?
May it make sense to have some of the revelation be tied to the sense system? IOW, some cards could display a number of sense symols instead of a revelation; if an onlooker reveals the appropriate number of matching symbols, they get the revelation; otherwise, they don't. This increases the interaction and ties the system further into Sesere (the sense system), but might be too much.
In the name of giving things cute quasi-descriptive names, I'm calling it Reveal.
Reveal! An information-economy combat system
Each character has a number of combat cards. The cards have the following features:
Always: A title, indicating what the card signifies. "Martial Arts", "Graceful", and "Weak Fighter" are all reasonable titles.
Often: A character code or title indicating who can use this card. Most cards are not transferable; some (weapons, vehicles, armor) are.
Always: a number, representing how effective the card is in combat.
Often: A symbol representing what class of card it is. You may only use one card of any given class at a time (though you can swap cards out in the course of combat).
Sometimes: A special rule associated with this card. "You can only use this card if you have previously lost a combat". "You can only use this card once per day". "You can only use this card if Corwin is involved in this combat." "If you use this card, your stakes -must- include killing at least one person on the other side. This may change your stakes when it is used." "This is a one handed weapon. You may only use two hands of weapons at a time."
Often: A revelation that you must make when using this card. "You cannot defeat me, for I am secretly Zorro!" "Whatever I am, it's not human!" "I turn into a bear" "I pull a hidden knife" "My bodyguard attempts to protect me". Items fall into this category, at least conceptually.
Play:
1. The initiator of the combat declares combat on their target or targets. Normally, this is visible to anyone who can hear them, though some abilities may modify this. Then, they declare what they are trying to accomplish -- their stakes. They must also declare their current combat hand -- a set of combat cards that don't contain matching (exclusive) symbols, fulfil any conditions of those cards, and declare their current combat total -- the sum of the values of the cards in their hand. They may also narrate their initial attack (but see narration).
2. The targets and initiator are automatically involved in the combat. Anyone else can get involved in the combat as long as it's still going on -- as long as a winner has not been determined.
3. The other side must now chose to either give -- allow the initiator to accomplish his or her stakes, and revealing at least one combat card of their choice (which may be a card previously revealed). Or, they can respond -- declaring what they are trying to accomplish if the win, and revealing a hand (which may contain a mix of cards they revealed before and new cards...or may contain entirely new cards) with a value exceeding that of the previous hand. They may also narrate their response (but see Narration), even if they Give.
4. The players are at this point free to discuss things out of character, including negotiating stakes (ie, I'll Give if you change your stakes to capturing rather than killing me). If nobody has Given, repeat step three as long as necessary -- one side attacks, the other side responds, then the first side responds, then the other, as long as the previous value continues to be beaten.
Narration: at certain points (when a player makes an Attack, Responds to it, or Gives), they have the option to narrate what happens. While the player has a lot of freedom in how they narrate, it's important to note that they are limited entirely to color here -- because combat only involves the players in question, narration may not have any side effects or affect the stakes.
Stakes: Stakes -can- have effects (obviously). However, stakes may only affect the characters involved in the conflict -- if someone, PC or NPC, is affected by a conflict, they're part of defending against it.
Extra Stuff:
Groups: A group may engage in combat. People may join the combat at any time before it ends (note that given a credible attack and response, a combat will usually be over in a single exchange, and players may not join once all but one sides have Given) on any side or their own side -- if there are multiple people on a side, they may combine their cards to form a hand under the same rules as a single person -- So (using letters for symbols) a player with A3 and B1 and a player with A2 and C2 could form a single hand with A3, B1, and C2 for a 6 point attack, but could not also include the A2 (unless they avoided using the A3 card).
Weapons: Will generally not have a symbol (any number of weapons are valid) but have an exclusion on number of hands per player. So if there is one person on a side, they may use two hands worth of weapons; if there are three, they may use up to 6 hands of weapons. (too good?)
Extra sides: Should work fine. Just continue going around in the order declared; the last group standing gains their stakes. If their stakes doesn't preclude further combat, the remaining sides may choose to continue the combat (ie, one side chooses to flee, and both other sides give; the other sides can stop fighting or re-enter combat without the side that fled).
Fleeing: is a stake. Players may (often will) have cards that they may only use when their stake is "I flee".
Characters will generally have a single card for each primary identity (usually, though not always, one), which contains most of their combat value. On top of that, they'll then be able to layer any special abilities, which will generally have smaller combat values than the base.
Cards can have multiple exclusion symbols -- if so, they may not be used with any cards matching -any- of the symbols depicted (an AB9 card may not be used with any other A or B cards).
Questions:
Can/should this be adapted to conflicts other than combat?
Should you need to make certain differentials to be able to make your stakes rather than take a lesser stakes?
May it make sense to have some of the revelation be tied to the sense system? IOW, some cards could display a number of sense symols instead of a revelation; if an onlooker reveals the appropriate number of matching symbols, they get the revelation; otherwise, they don't. This increases the interaction and ties the system further into Sesere (the sense system), but might be too much.
