Lately my posts have mostly been content pulled straight
from the most recent changes and additions to Mythic Bastionland.
This has let me focus on grafting away at that game, not getting bogged down in
writing extra content.
Except this week my progress has been:
- Think
of a radical change to the game, right at the core of the system.
- Run
an initial test of that system and get excited that it would streamline
things and create some fun moments in play.
- Get
over-excited and go through the document, applying this change across the
board.
- Run
some more tests of this new system and... find some unfortunate knock-on
effects that would need fixing.
- Spend
time applying those fixes to the document.
- Try
the system out again... I’m not so sure about this actually.
- Take
a hard look at this new system, comparing it to the existing system.
- Full
of dread, face the facts that the original system was probably better
overall.
- Feel
intense relief that I backed up the document before I made all of these
huge changes.
So I sat down this morning to work on Mythic Bastionland,
staring at a document that is very much in the same place as it was last week.
Feels bad.
So instead I’m drawing on an old cliché.
I haven’t failed to make the game, I’ve succeeded in finding
another way not to make the game.
There’s a branch of reality where I powered through with
this change. Perhaps I didn’t back up the document, or I just couldn’t face
undoing all that work. Perhaps the changes made for a better game, perhaps they
made it worse and alienated the players that wanted something that still felt
close to ITO and EB in mechanics.
We’ll never know, but right now I’m happy with this reality.
What was this big change anyway?
WELL SINCE YOU ASKED, but remember this is now right in the
bin. Maybe something for a future project, but it didn’t feel right for this
one.
Remove Guard entirely. Armour reduces incoming damage as
normal, then the target decides which Virtue to assign the damage to. If
there’s damage remaining it goes to another Virtue until it’s all been
absorbed.
I tried a few variations of the fine details. What does
having 1/2/3 Virtues at 0 mean? Is there an effect when a Virtue gets cut in
half? How are Virtues restored now? Are they harder to restore when they’re at
half/zero? When do you lose access to each of the Feats?
Details aside I do think there’s something there, and
there’s a certain appeal to removing Guard entirely when we already have Armour
and three different Virtues to work with, but the result was a system that just
felt a little too far removed from ITO and EB and became a little too much
about managing numbers.
You also lose some of that immediate transparency where you
can say “if you have Guard left you evaded the attack, if you took VIG loss
then you’re wounded, if you lose have your VIG then you’re mortally wounded.”
So never say never, but for now this is firmly on the scrap heap. A scrap heap that should be viewed with pride, not shame.
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ReplyDeleteI am working on something based in Into The Odd. Allow me to tell you what I've done (not tested yet): Use Strengh/Vigor as HP/Guard. You don't roll saves until you get to zero. Then, you roll a save, but it is rolled at your original, max STR.
ReplyDeleteDepending on if its lethal or stun damage, pass means you are unconscious instead of dead, or standing instead of KO.
While you are at zero, repeat this save every time you are attacked until you drop.
I must say that the game doesn't focus on combat, is more a cattle drive simulator with occasional man vs man and man vs beast fights