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Author 	Topic: Part V: Peeling Back the Layers - The Real Deal  (Read

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*Le Joueur <http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=73>*

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<http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=1122.msg10546#msg10546>

*Part V: Peeling Back the Layers - The Real Deal

<http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=1122.msg10546#msg10546>*

« * on:* January 01, 2002, 08:43:00 PM »

------------------------------------------------------------------------

January 24th, 2002 -

At the behest of my friends here on the Forge, I will present

Scattershot at the point I have it.  Even though this is a

work-in-progress and much of the terminology is in a state of flux, I am

not trying to present a diary of the progress.  Expect the lead

component of this thread to undergo changes as Scattershot does.  This

edition was originally put together very early on Tuesday, January 1st,

2002.  This series of articles will detail strictly the mechanics of

Scattershot, articles relating to the techniques of 'how to play' will

have to wait until I have more of them centralized and organized.  The

third major component of the game, the setting and genre material is

will be addressed once I get a new batch of playtesters.

So at last we come to the mechanics.  This is where we formalize the

'flow of play' in support of emotionally engaging contextual thinking

<http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1073&forum=2&1>.

 We are going to examine primarily the Advanced Scattershot mechanics

<http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1087&forum=2&0>

across the whole range of 'Densities' from General to Mechanical

<http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1087&forum=2&0>

play.  We're going to fully formalize the process of passing who the

Speaker

<http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1087&forum=2&0> is

during scenes

<http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1087&forum=2&0>

within a game into the communal language

<http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1073&forum=2&1> and

mechanics of Scattershot.

At its simplest level, the Scattershot mechanic is little more than a

resolution system

<http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1096&forum=2&0>

with trimmings.  Every ability (or quality of any entity within a

Scattershot game) is described by a Rating.  Before I talk about using

these Ratings, I think I should describe 'how to get them.'

Fat Points

      Scattershot's point-based system requires that you 'buy' abilities

      using character points, during character generation or evolution,

      in order to take full advantage of them.  Since simplicity is one

      of the design specifications and it is a point-based system, we

      quickly decided that to raise any rating 1 point would cost 1

      point.  This makes Scattershot's points 'worth more' than most

      games (by a factor of 3, 5, or in some cases 10 or higher).

      Some have suggested that this lacks a limit on the 'return on

      investments.'  This is only an illusion.  Scattershot's die

      mechanic (more in just a bit) creates a sigmoid graph (which means

      more and more points give less and less improvement in probability

      terms).  Also, when a player has more points to 'spend' there are

      obviously more choices to make (Scattershot will have rather long

      'laundry' lists of abilities to choose from - for players who

      aren't interested in lists, it's not hard to make up abilities

      instead of searching for them, the lists are mostly to help

      players get inspired); this means that most of the time, these

      points will tend to get 'spread out' more.

      The second part of having a point-based system we do differently

      is that there are no point cut-offs.  Instead of saying, "you only

      have 30 points to spend," we point out that more points means a

      character has a higher or broader efficacy in general.

       Concentrations of points in a single ability means that a

      character is expected to excel at (or be somewhat defined by) that

      ability (like a gunfighter - who /should/ have a high 'quickdraw'

      skill).  Based on this quality, the rest of the group can form a

      quick understanding of 'how able' a character is and can play

      accordingly.

      All abilities (which does not /appear/ to include Stats) require

      that at least one point (not including Free Skills1 - more on that

      later) be spent on them in order that the character can make full

      use of them (Stats /are/ the same except a 'hidden' point is spent

      on each prior to character generation).  Abilities not 'spent

      upon' can only be used at a 'default' rating (which means they

      have certain functional restrictions).  Abilities are ranked from

      Free1, to Easy, Intermediate, or Difficult (on up to Exceptional,

      Renowned, Incredible, Nigh Impossible, and Legendary - this is

      actually based on an explicit formulation of efficacy, see 'making

      up your own abilities' below).

      Free skills1 (which make up almost all of the Free abilities) are

      included to cover things that are generally taken to 'flesh out' a

      character (and have much higher 'starting' Ratings than other

      abilities, as listed with each).  Rather than making things like

      academic-based characters very expensive, they allow a broad range

      of 'background' skills.  There is only a minor cost that accrues

      for taking /many/ Free skills1.  All other abilities receive their

      rank not by some arbitrary standard, but how they relate to one

      and another in terms of efficacy in general and specifically how

      they relate to the template abilities (that are used to create

      additional material by the participants - see 'making up your own

      abilities' below).  (Technically 'Free skills' do this too, but

      the point cost is also 'hidden'.)

      The Rating of an Easy ability is the 'points spent on it' plus 11,

      Intermediate abilities are 'points plus 10,' Difficult is 'plus 9'

      (and so on)².  (As an example, Superpowers are of Incredible rank,

      but in the example powers - a fairly wide list - may be treated as

      Difficult with a 'buy in' cost of 3 for Ratings purposes;

      numerically the result is the same.)  Natural human range for all

      abilities (Stats included) is 8-14 with a median of 10 (any rating

      is possible, but a 15 means the character is at least superhuman

      in that respect - and that may require additional explanation in

      the character's description).[/list:u]What Do You Do with These

      Ratings?

            When an Instantaneous, Invoked

            <http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1096&forum=2&0>

            Rating is 'checked³' for an Immediate action

            <http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1096&forum=2&0>

            by an Individual

            <http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1096&forum=2&0>,

            after determining the necessary rating, two ten-sided dice

            are rolled and their sum* is subtracted from this rating (so

            rolling lower is better).  The difference is called a MIB

            (short for Made-It-By) number.  Rolling higher than the

            Rating is a failure or MIB (Missed-It-By) number; a roll

            equal to the rating has 'just made it.'  There are many

            different types of Modifiers that can be applied to this

            roll.  Beyond the familiar range, size, and opportunity

            modifiers you would expect, there can also be Residual,

            Scope, and Duration

            <http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1096&forum=2&0>

            modifiers when the available ability is not a perfect match

            for the needed action.

            A MIB becomes a contested 'check3' by having any party who

            is 'engaged' by the action actively resist it.  After the

            modifiers are applied, both parties roll separate MIB

            numbers, and then subtract the resistor's MIB number from

            the MIB of the character performing the original action.

             Sometimes the resistor's MIB number can be derived as

            either a Reactive or Residual

            <http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1096&forum=2&0>

            MIB number, depending on the circumstances.  The Resulting

            MIB (or RMIB) number is used to determine the /quality/ of

            the success of the action (just like the MIB number in an

            uncontested roll).[/list:u]Taking Turns

                  As I mentioned in the first installment

                  <http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1073&forum=2&1>,

                  Scattershot formalizes the 'flow of play,' especially

                  at times of high emotion

                  <http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1087&forum=2&0>.

                   Just like the normal tendency to formalize play

                  during cacophony

                  <http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1087&forum=2&0>,

                  Scattershot switches to a rigid play-order during

                  Mechanical play

                  <http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1087&forum=2&0>.

                   A lot of game systems use complicated mechanics to

                  create some kind of turn order related to the efficacy

                  of combat-skilled characters.  For as much trouble as

                  I have seen this cause, it never seems to be a

                  reasonable return for such wargame inspired mechanics.

                  During Mechanical play

                  <http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1087&forum=2&0>,

                  Scattershot does a very simple thing; play goes

                  counter-clockwise around the group (play passes to

                  your right once you have taken the turns for each of

                  the characters you play).  Each time around the group

                  is called a Round (simple huh?).  What about all those

                  things complicated games capture with their turn-order

                  mechanics?  Well, it seemed to us they were trying to

                  emulate the kinds of advantages characters could have

                  over each other in melee, so we created the Combat

                  Advantage system (I'll come back to that later)

                  instead.[/list:u]Who Goes First?

                        Another feature that seemed to us a needless

                        complication was all of those 'initiative'

                        mechanics.  Ultimately, they only seem to

                        mitigate who makes the actual 'first swing;'

                        while that can have important consequences in

                        fairly lethal systems, it seems to completely

                        eliminate those tense and exciting 'leading up

                        to combat' scenes.  The tense circling, the

                        traded insults, having guns at the ready yet not

                        wanting to 'make the first move.'  Looking at

                        all these examples with an eye towards writing

                        mechanics, I could only see one thing.  /The

                        battle had already started./

                        In the source material, sometimes it seemed like

                        a mental battle, sometimes not, but it always

                        'felt' like they were already using Mechanical

                        play

                        <http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1087&forum=2&0>.

                         So how were they fighting without trading

                        blows?  It looked like they were 'looking for an

                        opening,' seeking the 'advantage,' or the like.

                         (I'll get to Combat Advantage in a moment.)  If

                        that is the case, /then/ who starts it?  That

                        seemed simple, whoever first chooses to act as

                        though battle is inevitable.  Whether it is the

                        cowhand walking into the bar spoiling for a

                        fight, savages springing from an ambush, the

                        dandy striking with his white glove, or a pirate

                        slowly drawing his cutlass from its scabbard,

                        the character who makes the decision that battle

                        is a foregone conclusion is the one who takes

                        the first Mechanical play

                        <http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1087&forum=2&0>

                        turn; it's that simple.[/list:u]What about

                        Bigger, Faster Combat?

                              During Mechanical play

                              <http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1087&forum=2&0>,

                              scope is an important feature to keep

                              track of.  Things like naval engagements,

                              a battle like Waterloo, and those mass

                              combat scenes from The Hobbit and

                              Braveheart will only rarely have an

                              Individual Scope aspect (and even then the

                              battle itself is usually handled 'behind

                              the scenes'

                              <http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1087&forum=2&0>)

                              and are usually only in Specific play

                              <http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1087&forum=2&0>.

                               Our mechanic for melee is, if the

                              characters played by one participant

                              outnumber the rest of the group /of

                              players/, you will usually need to switch

                              to a 'higher' level of Scope

                              <http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1096&forum=2&0>

                              than Individual

                              <http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1096&forum=2&0>

                              play.  This keeps things from 'bogging

                              down' the pacing, like a battle against

                              bad odds.  This also allows the system to

                              simplify handling what I believe are

                              called 'mooks' more easily.

                              While we're talking about melee, I would

                              like to describe a seemingly unique

                              feature of Scattershot.  Now you probably

                              don't imagine using Involved actions

                              <http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1096&forum=2&0>

                              in Individual

                              <http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1096&forum=2&0>

                              melee, but we have a way where it seems

                              almost necessary.  To me, when a

                              gunslinger sizes up his opponent, waits

                              for them to 'twitch,' draws his gun, and

                              fires as though he'd aimed; these four

                              actions actually count as a single

                              Involved action

                              <http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1096&forum=2&0>.

                               The same is true for those 'Hong Kong

                              Martial Arts Theatre' movie moves, a whole

                              flurry of actions that Scattershot treats

                              as a single Involved action.  (Because of

                              the nature of this contested action and

                              how the actual landed blow is determined,

                              Scattershot resolves this as a /series/ of

                              die rolls between subject and actor.)

                              When a character knows a martial art that

                              includes any of these Involved

                              <http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1096&forum=2&0>

                              sequences of actions and they have an

                              opportunity to act, they may use one /as

                              though it were a single action/.  In many

                              cases, the literal sequence will be

                              described by a loose 'script' that can be

                              customized 'on the fly' during play.

                               These sequences can be followed to their

                              end, provided every component is fended

                              off or the whole sequence is not

                              interrupted (specific mechanics of

                              interruption apply).[/list:u]How Do I

                              Defend Myself?

                                    In Scattershot, whenever someone

                                    makes a melee action against your

                                    character, the have 'engaged' them.

                                     When your character is thus

                                    engaged, you may Forfeit one of

                                    their upcoming actions (if they have

                                    any left this Round) and perform a

                                    Reactive or defensive action with

                                    its MIB roll.  (And performing such

                                    a Forfeited action can be a lead in

                                    to a flurry of actions, /by the

                                    defender/, so be careful who you

                                    engage, you might regret it.)  After

                                    you have Forfeited both of your

                                    character's actions, they may

                                    perform nothing but 'free actions'

                                    until the end of their next

                                    turn.[/list:u]What was that about

                                    Advantage?

                                          During a melee, many things

                                          happen, too many to easily

                                          catalog as mechanics.  In

                                          order to reflect the many,

                                          varied ways that combatants

                                          can shift the tide of battle,

                                          we created the Combat

                                          Advantage mechanic.  Basically

                                          speaking, it is any action

                                          that would result in a

                                          Residual penalty

                                          <http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1096&forum=2&0>

                                          against the opponent that your

                                          character holds the Advantage

                                          over.  Scattershot's

                                          techniques discuss what can be

                                          or should not be worthy of

                                          creating this Residual penalty

                                          <http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1096&forum=2&0>;

                                          what kinds of actions will

                                          create Advantage, what sorts

                                          will support an Advantage, and

                                          what one can do to erode

                                          another's Advantage over you.

                                           (I'm not going into the

                                          specifics here unless requested.)

                                          This mechanic of Combat

                                          Advantage is what replaces

                                          most other games' rules for

                                          initiative and complex

                                          turn-order rules (which, as

                                          far as I can tell, only result

                                          in some kind of advantage

                                          anyway).[/list:u]What if I Miss?

                                                In many cases during

                                                Specific play

                                                <http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1087&forum=2&0>

                                                a roll might Miss-It-By

                                                just a point or two.

                                                 After the MIB number is

                                                calculated, the

                                                character's player may

                                                opt to 'Buy a Success'

                                                by changing one of the

                                                parameters of the

                                                attempt /after the

                                                fact/.  Let's say an

                                                auto mechanic

                                                Missed-It-By 1 (often

                                                just MIB -1), his player

                                                can turn this failure

                                                into a success by

                                                changing the amount of

                                                time it took, or by

                                                requiring more parts and

                                                thus cost (or both if

                                                they Missed-It-By 2).  A

                                                'bought' success is

                                                never higher than 'just

                                                making it.'  In

                                                Mechanical play

                                                <http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1087&forum=2&0>,

                                                like melee, if a player

                                                needs to 'Buy a Success'

                                                they can do things like

                                                give ground, yield

                                                Combat Advantage, dive

                                                for cover, or something

                                                more descriptive like

                                                going down on one knee

                                                as long as the group

                                                seems receptive to the

                                                complication it creates.

                                                If you can 'Buy a

                                                Success,' why not be

                                                able to 'Sell a

                                                Success?'  The mechanic

                                                for when you 'Sell a

                                                Success' is called the

                                                /±5 mechanic/.  To take

                                                longer, you find the

                                                duration on the UE Chart

                                                <http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1096&forum=2&0>

                                                and then count up or

                                                down 5 points.  This way

                                                you can /add or

                                                subtract/ to the amount

                                                affected; 'extra' points

                                                of success can also be

                                                'spent' on Residual

                                                modifiers.  You can

                                                likewise 'buy' a point

                                                of Combat Advantage

                                                (which is of course just

                                                another form of Residual

                                                modifier

                                                anyway).[/list:u]Critical

                                                Junctures

                                                      In setting up a

                                                      game, the

                                                      participants need

                                                      to fix how 'epic'

                                                      or 'over the top'

                                                      they want to play.

                                                       The primary way

                                                      this is done is by

                                                      adjusting the

                                                      Critical Juncture

                                                      Threshold.  The

                                                      core suggested

                                                      threshold is 7.

                                                       This means

                                                      whenever any

                                                      modified MIB

                                                      number is 7 or

                                                      higher, the player

                                                      of the character

                                                      this 'goes

                                                      against' is

                                                      compelled to

                                                      create a

                                                      description of not

                                                      only what has

                                                      happened but must

                                                      also indicate how

                                                      this forms a

                                                      turning point for

                                                      their character.

                                                       (I especially

                                                      like the title

                                                      character's first

                                                      encounter with the

                                                      Sheriff of

                                                      Nottingham, in

                                                      Robin Hood: Prince

                                                      of Thieves.  Robin

                                                      clearly scores a

                                                      /Telling Blow/ -

                                                      matching or

                                                      exceeding the

                                                      Critical Juncture

                                                      Threshold of the

                                                      game.  The

                                                      Sheriff's player,

                                                      rather than taking

                                                      a horrible wound,

                                                      describes a fatal

                                                      attack on his

                                                      vanity, taking on

                                                      a new Disadvantage.)

                                                      Likewise, if a

                                                      player rolls a

                                                      Missed-It-By

                                                      number 7 or more

                                                      points above the

                                                      modified Rating

                                                      used, they are

                                                      also compelled to

                                                      describe what kind

                                                      of fantastic

                                                      mistake occurs.

                                                       This

                                                      /Catastrophic

                                                      Failure/ must also