diff -r 3164c82ac16e -r bdef1afd1170 draft/wind13feb02.txt --- /dev/null Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000 +++ b/draft/wind13feb02.txt Wed Aug 30 21:32:44 2006 -0400 @@ -0,0 +1,245 @@ +RPGnet + + + + Reviews Forums +News & Press Columns & +Info RPG Wiki + RPG Shop + + + + Wind in the Flowers: Re-inventing a Game + + + Systems Change + +*R. Sean Borgstrom* +February 13, 2002 + +The new edition of *Nobilis* needed a stronger combat system. The game +itself does not depend on action or physical conflict, but stories of +combat play a big part in roleplaying games and speculative fiction in +general. I consider the old combat resolution system a bit weak, and +that's unfortunate. Many people enjoy roleplaying combat a great deal. +So we revised the system for greater usability and excitement. + +In building a new combat system, I set out to avoid a phenomenon I think +of as "the death of a thousand cuts." In many roleplaying combat +systems, if you bruise or nick a character seven, or twenty, or even a +hundred and fifty times, the character eventually falls over dead. With +proper design, such systems are realistic. Properly managed, they can +produce dramatic results. But I don't like this phenomenon in *Nobilis*. + +Characters in *Nobilis* transcend biology. Even ordinary humans have a +mythic, spiritual element to their nature. The Nobilis, the main +protagonists and standard PCs, have a bit of the /divine/ in them as +well. If the immortal spirit plays as large a role in sustaining life as +proper liver and kidney function, slow accumulation of minor mechanical +damage shouldn't kill a character off. + +The first principle of the new combat system is simple. It should always +take at least one significant blow to bring a character down. An +assortment of scratches does not suffice to kill someone. There must be +an actual mortal wound. + +Other systems have implemented this idea. Traditionally, a character can +take an arbitrary amount of damage in these systems, with normal +deleterious effects, but cannot /die/ without taking a level of the +deadliest form of damage. + +In a way, such games reprise the "death spiral" seen in various early +and modern systems. The more damaged a character becomes, the easier it +becomes to suffer further damage. Eventually, the character falls to the +center of the spiral - incapacitation or death. Healthy characters are +extremely hard to kill, however fell the blow. After taking a few hard +knocks, however, the character becomes vulnerable. + +Realistically, this makes sense. Certainly, very few character types +actually get /better/ at avoiding damage when they become wounded. The +talent is rare and specific and, in *Nobilis*, players should purchase +the talent as a player-designed Gift. It does not belong in the main +combat system. The death spiral also makes dramatic sense. Systems built +around a death spiral tend to make sure that characters /do/ survive one +or two blows before death. Finally, it makes the character's injury more +real for the players if it has a mechanical impact on the game. + +The standard death spiral bothers me, however, for the same reason that +nicking and scraping characters to death does. As characters descend the +spiral, it becomes ever easier to inflict that fatal blow. This +undermines the purpose of requiring at least one significant attack. To +me, if someone beats a character into helplessness with a series of +minor blows, and then finishes them off at leisure with a gun held +against their eye, it's not the gunfire that killed them. It's the minor +beating that left them unable to stop their enemy from shooting their +head point blank. + +The first unusual element of *Nobilis*' new combat system works as +follows. It's not the /last/ blow that must be particularly lethal to +take one of the Nobilis down. Taking a deadly wound isn't the final +indignity for a player character. Instead, a character /begins/ to +suffer the game mechanical effects of damage when they take their first +terrible injury. + +From a traditional perspective, *Nobilis*' new death spiral curls +backwards. A character has one to three Deadly wound levels. When they +suffer a truly horrible wound -- damage to the heart, a terrible fall, a +bullet to the head, serious burns, a lightning strike -- they lose one +such wound level. Until they run out of Deadly wound levels, lesser +damage has no game effect. A character also has a few Serious wound +levels. /After/ they run out of Deadly wound levels, significant damage +costs them a Serious wound level. + +Finally, characters have a few Surface wound levels. When they run out +of Deadly and then Serious wound levels, even a modest knocking around +costs them a Surface wound level. When they run out of /those/, they +die. Characters have between four and nine levels all told. + +Before I discuss this any further, I must admit to one obvious flaw. It +/is/ unintuitive for mortal characters to completely ignore any number +of Serious wounds received while they still have a Deadly wound level +remaining. You can lay open all their limbs with a knife, cut their +stomach, shoot their feet, spray them with mildly toxic gas, hurl them +into a cloud of angry wasps and then roll them through a fireplace and +they'll still be good to go. Not just fit and unimpaired -- they won't +lose even a single Serious wound level, since they still have a Deadly +wound level left. + +I don't have a solution for this. It's an intrinsic part of the system. +I do have some reasons to think it's acceptable, however. From the +dramatic perspective, when a character suffers a Deadly wound level, it +serves as the "cue" to the audience -- the players -- that the character +is now genuinely at risk. + +For those more oriented on realistic results, you might wish to think of +the miraculous energy that pervades the Nobilis as "ablative vitality." +Their sheer natural health simply /transcends/ damage insufficient to +inflict a wound level. Like physical armor, a Nobilis' vitality must be +pierced before the Noble themselves can suffer impairment. + +From my perspective, and hopefully the players', this wound system has +one significant virtue. The damage that characters suffer is "honest." +In a traditional death spiral, when a character takes a trivial wound +early on, it could mean the difference between life and death later. In +this system, a character cannot /suffer/ a trivial wound until they are +on their last legs -- when they know exactly how much closer to death it +brings them. + +Consequentially, when the characters take that deadly wound dramatically +necessary to bring them close to death, they have time to react to that +information. This honesty /does/ reduce risk, but the person running the +game can compensate with increased danger. It also reduces /chaos/, +allowing both players and those running games greater control over the +game world. + +R. Sean + + + What do you think? + +Go to forum! + Go to Top | New Topic + | View Threads + | Search + + + Topics Author Date Latest Reply + James and the Small Caps + (2) new Kibo +08-20-2002 16:29 02-10-2003 01:23 new + Art (1) new Lxndr +04-26-2002 07:36 04-26-2002 07:36 new + The Original Nobilis Club + (3) new Bret Gillan +04-17-2002 11:28 03-17-2003 17:48 new + Questions & Thoughts + (3) new Pyske +03-20-2002 18:31 05-01-2003 13:03 new + Noble Buddhism? + (9) new Tlaloc +03-20-2002 12:17 12-10-2004 01:20 new + Noble Suicide (9) new +Eric Christian Berg 03-20-2002 07:43 01-18-2005 16:27 new + Art Notes (4) new R. +Sean Borgstrom 03-14-2002 16:31 03-21-2002 03:44 new + Ack...you just lost my sale + (10) new SteveD +03-14-2002 04:06 03-15-2002 06:29 new + Onomastikon working URL + (4) new Jorge +Hernández 03-06-2002 12:51 08-20-2002 16:10 new + Why do angels change names ? + (10) new philippe +tromeur 03-06-2002 10:13 12-10-2004 01:34 new + R. Sean, some examples? + (3) new Arref +03-05-2002 08:17 03-13-2002 20:28 new + Sounds great, BUT... + (2) new Kane +02-27-2002 16:43 02-27-2002 17:30 new + Sort of backwards? + (8) new Eric Finley +02-20-2002 14:25 02-28-2002 09:35 new + Programmer nature slips out! + (2) new Sean +McCarthy 02-20-2002 13:18 02-21-2002 10:30 new + Object Lesson Damage + (1) new Darren +Miguez 02-13-2002 12:45 02-13-2002 12:45 new + How about this? + (2) new Kristian +Lund 02-13-2002 11:30 02-14-2002 01:17 new + Now, this was strange! + (7) new access.denied +02-13-2002 07:44 02-16-2002 21:44 new + Briefs on the other two? + (5) new Eric Finley +01-31-2002 18:39 02-13-2002 10:36 new + Forum now works (1) new +Sandy Antunes 01-31-2002 17:36 01-31-2002 17:36 new + limited series (2) new +Sandy Antunes 01-21-2002 17:41 01-31-2002 17:36 new + + Go to Top | New Topic + | View Threads + | Search + + + Newer Messages + | Older Messages + + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + * Editing, Development, and Production + + March 27, 2002 + * Affiliations + March 20, 2002 + * How to be a Hollyhock God + March 13, 2002 + * Naming Conventions + March 6, 2002 + * Art Notes + February 27, 2002 + * Dynamic Nobilis + February 20, 2002 + * Systems Change + February 13, 2002 + * Treachery + February 6, 2002 + * The Emperor to Come + January 31, 2002 + * The Changing of the Guard + January 21, 2002 + + + Other columns at RPGnet + +[ Read FAQ | Subscribe to RSS + | Contact Us | +Advertise with Us ] + +Copyright © 1996-2006 RPGnet & individual authors, All Rights Reserved +RPGnet® is a registered trademark of Skotos Tech Inc., all rights reserved. +