Post by Storyteller on Mar 27, 2009 16:03:02 GMT -5
As I hope you can see, I am trying to keep this game as close to the Core stuff as possible.
But, this is Text-Based RPG, and not Live Action RPG, so there are still a few differences needed to make the adaptation possible.
I took the Nature/Demeanor aspect completely out of play, as I see how Text Based can stay 'in character' without this controlling feature.
I have also taken out the 'Abilities' as I see how in Text Based, there are better ways to keep this aspect in check, without the headache of added information and Dice Rolls interfering in the flow.
The more complicated 'Abilities' Like doctor/scientist skills, or Espionage, would HAVE to be mentioned in a Vampire's history to be used, but will not require rolls to accomplish.
Example: If your vampire doesn't have any pre-existing understanding of lock-picking, he's not going to be able to pick the lock, plain and simple. If he was a petty thief in his lifetime, and has picked a few locks, he shouldn't need to roll for such a small issue, UNLESS there's a magickal ward, or supernatural feat on that particular lock, in which case the Storyteller will enlighten everyone on it. (and then it would require real vampire abilities and Disciplines to accomplish, and would no longer fit under the idea of 'lock picking' at all).
My 'system' is still relatively a 'work in progress' and if problems crop up from it, it will be updated accordingly.
If you have any suggestions or ideas on this system, feel free to send them to me VIA Pm, I welcome any ideas to improve the quality of this game.
So, when will you have to roll?
In basic play that is non-combat, there shouldn't be much reason to require rolling for actions to happen.
To use ANY Disciplines, rolls will be made, and difficulties will be issued in play for the outcome to be established.
To use any Attributes on another Supernatural character, Rolls will be made, and difficulties will be issued in play for the outcome to be established.
Though: You can use your Attributes on regular humans without any roll required, the outcome based on your level in the Attribute and descriptions given in the level.
Willpower rolls are required for allot in play, and MOST of the time this roll will be taken from your PERM Willpower rating, and not the fluid Willpower points spent and gained within each situation.
A vampire must roll to use anything on another Kindred, and the Kindred usually have the option to counter the roll.
This is in effect whether it is 'combat' play or not.
In these cases, it is ALL about the abilities of the vampire and the luck of the dice in tandem, and TURNS are of paramount importance to pull off flawlessly in play with little interruption to the game itself.
So, for your rolls, you have points in your stats, that determines your Dice Pool.
[Example]Say you have 3 points in the Discipline Obfuscate, then to use it, you would roll 3 times.
((Even if you want to only use the Level 2 of the Discipline, because this extra die will increase your chances for successes.))
Once you make a roll, you have to post to see the outcome.
((Because of this, it is against the rules to alter/repost your post after you have rolled, in Campaign Play, so look over your writing carefully before you submit, be sure that you have everything just as you want it before posting the message, which keeps our roles in tact and FAIR to everyone.))
IF you want to know the 'difficulty' rating before attempting the move, you need to PM the Storyteller asking for it. If you don't care to know, make the roll and post, once the roll is posted, the Storyteller will tell you how your roll outcomes in response, laying out details both in play and in private message to the player.
Combat Specific:
As everything is determined by Dice rolls, Combat is a process of moves and turns that we need your patience on in play.
WAIT YOUR TURN!! This is of extreme importance, to keep things as organized as possible. If you do not know your turn, ask the Storyteller.
When it is your turn to post, you're first Combat turn/post must declare what your character does, in as much detail as possible, as well as end your post with all appropriate rolls for the actions.
(If the roll system still confuses you, don't hesitate to ask the Storyteller for help.)
And WITHOUT describing the Outcome of the action. That can not be determined until the next turn.
After every character has taken their turn, the Storyteller will come in and describe what is going on, as well as PM any additional things between the players.
The Storyteller is a Storyteller for a reason, to help things flow and keep all things understood in play. As the action and dice direct the battle, I will lead you in the story.
Difficulties
Whenever you try to perform an action, the Storyteller will give the appropriate difficulty number. A difficulty is always a number between 2 and 10. Each time you score that number or higher on one of your dice, you're considered to have gained a success. For example: if an action's difficulty is a 6, and you roll a 3, 3, 8, 7 and 10 then you've scored 3 successes. The more you get, the better you do. You need only one success to perform most actions successfully, but that's considered a marginal success. If you score 3 or more, you succeed completely.
Naturally the lower the difficulty, the easier it is to score successes and vice versa. Six is the default difficulty, indicating actions neither exceptionally tricky, nor exceptionally easy to accomplish.
The Storyteller is the final authority on how difficult attempted actions are, if the task seems impossible, she'll make the difficulty appropriately high, while if the task seems routinely easy, the difficulty will be low (if the Storyteller decides you have to roll at all).
And, in case it needs to be said, a result of a 10 is always a success, no matter the difficulty number.
Failure
If you score no successes on a die roll, your character fails his attempted action. he misses his punch, His pitch is a ball instead of a strike. His attempt to persuade the Prince falls flat. Failure, while usually disappointing, is not so catastrophic as a botch.
Example: Feodor, a Nosferatu, is attempting to spy on some suspicious looking activities in one of the galleries of the sewers, and is perching precariously on an overhead pipe to do so. The Storyteller tells Feodor's player to roll 5 with a difficulty of 7. He rolls and gets 2, 5, 6, 4, 3, no successes. The Storyteller rules that Feodor attempts to shift position on the pipe, his foot slides on something slimy, and he loses his balance. The thugs below don't see Feodor, but he is definitely in trouble....
Botches.
Bad luck can ruin anything. One more basic rule about rolling dice is 'the rule of one' or (spoken in a despairing tone) 'botching'. Whenever one of the dice comes up as a 1 and one of the dice showing a successful number, they cancel each other out. In this manner, an otherwise successful action may be reduced to failure.
Occasionally, truly bad fortune strikes. If a die roll garners no successes whatsoever, and one or more 1s show up, a botch occurs. In other words, if none of your dice comes up a success, and there are dice showing 1 (no matter how many) the roll is a botch. If you score at least one success, even if that success is canceled out, and additional 1s remain, it's just a simple failure.
A botch is much worse than a normal failure, it's outright misfortune. For instance, rolling a botch when trying to gun down a hunter might result in your gun jamming, physically hurting your character in turn.
The storyteller decides exactly what goes wrong, a botch might produce a minor inconvenience or a truly unfortunate mishap.
But, this is Text-Based RPG, and not Live Action RPG, so there are still a few differences needed to make the adaptation possible.
I took the Nature/Demeanor aspect completely out of play, as I see how Text Based can stay 'in character' without this controlling feature.
I have also taken out the 'Abilities' as I see how in Text Based, there are better ways to keep this aspect in check, without the headache of added information and Dice Rolls interfering in the flow.
The more complicated 'Abilities' Like doctor/scientist skills, or Espionage, would HAVE to be mentioned in a Vampire's history to be used, but will not require rolls to accomplish.
Example: If your vampire doesn't have any pre-existing understanding of lock-picking, he's not going to be able to pick the lock, plain and simple. If he was a petty thief in his lifetime, and has picked a few locks, he shouldn't need to roll for such a small issue, UNLESS there's a magickal ward, or supernatural feat on that particular lock, in which case the Storyteller will enlighten everyone on it. (and then it would require real vampire abilities and Disciplines to accomplish, and would no longer fit under the idea of 'lock picking' at all).
My 'system' is still relatively a 'work in progress' and if problems crop up from it, it will be updated accordingly.
If you have any suggestions or ideas on this system, feel free to send them to me VIA Pm, I welcome any ideas to improve the quality of this game.
So, when will you have to roll?
In basic play that is non-combat, there shouldn't be much reason to require rolling for actions to happen.
To use ANY Disciplines, rolls will be made, and difficulties will be issued in play for the outcome to be established.
To use any Attributes on another Supernatural character, Rolls will be made, and difficulties will be issued in play for the outcome to be established.
Though: You can use your Attributes on regular humans without any roll required, the outcome based on your level in the Attribute and descriptions given in the level.
Willpower rolls are required for allot in play, and MOST of the time this roll will be taken from your PERM Willpower rating, and not the fluid Willpower points spent and gained within each situation.
A vampire must roll to use anything on another Kindred, and the Kindred usually have the option to counter the roll.
This is in effect whether it is 'combat' play or not.
In these cases, it is ALL about the abilities of the vampire and the luck of the dice in tandem, and TURNS are of paramount importance to pull off flawlessly in play with little interruption to the game itself.
So, for your rolls, you have points in your stats, that determines your Dice Pool.
[Example]Say you have 3 points in the Discipline Obfuscate, then to use it, you would roll 3 times.
((Even if you want to only use the Level 2 of the Discipline, because this extra die will increase your chances for successes.))
Once you make a roll, you have to post to see the outcome.
((Because of this, it is against the rules to alter/repost your post after you have rolled, in Campaign Play, so look over your writing carefully before you submit, be sure that you have everything just as you want it before posting the message, which keeps our roles in tact and FAIR to everyone.))
IF you want to know the 'difficulty' rating before attempting the move, you need to PM the Storyteller asking for it. If you don't care to know, make the roll and post, once the roll is posted, the Storyteller will tell you how your roll outcomes in response, laying out details both in play and in private message to the player.
Combat Specific:
As everything is determined by Dice rolls, Combat is a process of moves and turns that we need your patience on in play.
WAIT YOUR TURN!! This is of extreme importance, to keep things as organized as possible. If you do not know your turn, ask the Storyteller.
When it is your turn to post, you're first Combat turn/post must declare what your character does, in as much detail as possible, as well as end your post with all appropriate rolls for the actions.
(If the roll system still confuses you, don't hesitate to ask the Storyteller for help.)
And WITHOUT describing the Outcome of the action. That can not be determined until the next turn.
After every character has taken their turn, the Storyteller will come in and describe what is going on, as well as PM any additional things between the players.
The Storyteller is a Storyteller for a reason, to help things flow and keep all things understood in play. As the action and dice direct the battle, I will lead you in the story.
Difficulties
Whenever you try to perform an action, the Storyteller will give the appropriate difficulty number. A difficulty is always a number between 2 and 10. Each time you score that number or higher on one of your dice, you're considered to have gained a success. For example: if an action's difficulty is a 6, and you roll a 3, 3, 8, 7 and 10 then you've scored 3 successes. The more you get, the better you do. You need only one success to perform most actions successfully, but that's considered a marginal success. If you score 3 or more, you succeed completely.
Naturally the lower the difficulty, the easier it is to score successes and vice versa. Six is the default difficulty, indicating actions neither exceptionally tricky, nor exceptionally easy to accomplish.
The Storyteller is the final authority on how difficult attempted actions are, if the task seems impossible, she'll make the difficulty appropriately high, while if the task seems routinely easy, the difficulty will be low (if the Storyteller decides you have to roll at all).
And, in case it needs to be said, a result of a 10 is always a success, no matter the difficulty number.
Failure
If you score no successes on a die roll, your character fails his attempted action. he misses his punch, His pitch is a ball instead of a strike. His attempt to persuade the Prince falls flat. Failure, while usually disappointing, is not so catastrophic as a botch.
Example: Feodor, a Nosferatu, is attempting to spy on some suspicious looking activities in one of the galleries of the sewers, and is perching precariously on an overhead pipe to do so. The Storyteller tells Feodor's player to roll 5 with a difficulty of 7. He rolls and gets 2, 5, 6, 4, 3, no successes. The Storyteller rules that Feodor attempts to shift position on the pipe, his foot slides on something slimy, and he loses his balance. The thugs below don't see Feodor, but he is definitely in trouble....
Botches.
Bad luck can ruin anything. One more basic rule about rolling dice is 'the rule of one' or (spoken in a despairing tone) 'botching'. Whenever one of the dice comes up as a 1 and one of the dice showing a successful number, they cancel each other out. In this manner, an otherwise successful action may be reduced to failure.
Occasionally, truly bad fortune strikes. If a die roll garners no successes whatsoever, and one or more 1s show up, a botch occurs. In other words, if none of your dice comes up a success, and there are dice showing 1 (no matter how many) the roll is a botch. If you score at least one success, even if that success is canceled out, and additional 1s remain, it's just a simple failure.
A botch is much worse than a normal failure, it's outright misfortune. For instance, rolling a botch when trying to gun down a hunter might result in your gun jamming, physically hurting your character in turn.
The storyteller decides exactly what goes wrong, a botch might produce a minor inconvenience or a truly unfortunate mishap.