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Drama Mechanics

Page history last edited by 1nfinite zer0 13 years ago

Drama Mechanics are those changes to the adventure which do not arise from a choice of a player character directly.  These mechanics should be used sparingly at first, and discussed with the rest of the players or GMs in your play group, as they have the potential to seriously slow things down if over-used.  But, it is fun to throw a wrench in things sometimes.  The two mechanics are Dice Fudging and Bidding.

  • Dice Fudging is spending Action points to alter the success of a roll, before or after, by changing the rank of you characteristic that you are using.
  • Bidding is a way for the group to vote on changes using Action point expenditures and rolls.

 

ice Fudging

On rolls that have not been modified by any other expenditure of points you may reroll any six-sided dice at the cost of one action point.  So, if you've had a critical failure and got a -5 result (a less than 1/1000 chance!), you can spend a few points to prevent the utter catastrophe.  Note, this only applies to regular six-sided dice. The rainbow die (dR) cannot be fudged, because it breaks the trump mechanic.

 


 

idding

  Everyone has a say in their adventure; this mechanic allows for flexibility to change the adventure as it's going along. In addition to the previously mentioned rules, you can change the action in two ways:

  1. Scene Changes - are happenings in the scene that come as a twist
  2. Disputes - Something you're having troubles negotiating

 

Bidding happens as soon as someone says "I'm bidding against that" and it proceeds in order of all the players like a card bid, where each player can equalize to the current bid, raise the bid or pass until everyone has passed.  A pass means you don't want to contribute any more.  And a raise that is not equalized wins.

 

Scene Changes

Suppose that you are sneaking into the Prince's room to steal a magical crystal, and you've messed up your roll.  The GM has decided your failure is being discovered by one of the servents coming to refresh his Master's bedclothes.  And then you have an idea!  You have a spare brother in your background that you said you've lost track of, maybe this is him!  So you propose your idea to the group, everyone thinks it's hilarious and wants to see what happens.

  • If a scene change is quite plausible and easy, there might not be a need to roll.  Is it unanimous that the group can go forward with this idea? Yes? Cool!
  • If it seems unlikely, then gauge the rank of the chance of the idea happening.
  • Starting with your default rank of Mediocre, roll against this target
    • Action points to raise your level using the action point rank change chart (on the previous page and at the bottom of this one) 

 

If everyone likes the idea but it is still unlikely/uncertain, any number of players can contribute any number of action points to the level for the roll.  The rank of difficulty must be unanimously agreed though.  If the GM/storyteller really doesn't like the idea because it will ruin everything they have planned and are just to grumpy to go along with the new changes (hint: don't be grumpy), then they can bid against the players an equal number of action points (always equalize if they want).

  • Decide who is on what side of the idea
  • Bid action points through the order of opposing groups
  • The GM can only bid as much as the total of the players action points against them
    • There can be players adding to the GM bid as well, or however the bids need to oppose each other
  • Once the bids are final (and no group conceded) compare the total to the table, from the row of mediocre rank find the output rank that point total can pay for, and then rainbow roll!
    • The opposed rolling mechanic (or rainbow rolls) gives a 1/6 chance of trump, introducing a bit of random into the situation. If this is too much of a chance, you can increase the number of rainbow roll rounds that are needed to win at a cost of 2pts per additional round. e.g. best 2 of 3 costs 2pts, best 3 of 5 costs 4pts.

 

Disputes

This uses the same bidding mechanic, but in the place of solving problems.  If you feel like you're at a standstill in negotiating a situation, then ask if this is a better way to get it out of the way quickly than getting stuck.

 

If disputes are frequent, then you might want to discuss why they are.  Something might not be working in how you are interacting.  What is the fundamental conflict?  Did you have different ideas of how the feel of the adventure was going to be? E.g. silly pirates vs perilous fighting for your life at sea?  The dispute mechanic is a band-aid, but it can't fix a wound.  Agree to something to keep the adventure going, and start those meaningful discussions over your values in a private venue.

 


Navigation

Next Section (#6) - Character Design - make a character for your own story

Previous Section (#4) - Spending Action Points

Mechanics - index to all rules

 

Action Point cost to modify rank for a test

Start at mediocre on the left by default for Drama mechanics. Negative numbers are the cost you must pay, positive is what you get back.

 

 

Outcome Rank ⇀

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-2

-1

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

#

⇃ Initial Rank

Terrible

Poor

Mediocre

Fair

Good

Great

Superb

Legendary

Godly

-2

Terrible

0

-1

-3

-7

-15

-31

-63

N/A

N/A

-1

Poor

1

0

-1

-3

-7

-15

-31

-63

N/A

0

Mediocre

2

1

0

-1

-3

-7

-15

-31

-63

1

Fair

3

2

1

0

-1

-3

-7

-15

-31

2

Good

N/A

3

2

1

0

-1

-3

-7

-15

3

Great

N/A N/A

3

2

1

0

-1

-3

-7

4

Superb

N/A

N/A N/A

3

2

1

0

-1

-3

5

Legendary

N/A

N/A N/A N/A

3

2

1

0

-1

6

Godly

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

3

2

1

0

 

A word on Drama Mechanic overuse:

It's only too much when people tire of using it. It can also be used as a game mechanism all to itself, or as a way to generate scenes. For example, using only the Scene Change rules, you can start with a blank slate, and bid upon the scene of the adventure, what type of characters are in it, the goals or complications in the plot, and then how those get resolved. To make such a storytelling game work, everyone gets all their character points for creating a specific character, and has them in a pool, then pays them into the bank to buy characteristics/abilities of characters or settings (e.g. a haunted wood can have the Spooky 2 ability bought for it, which means characters inside it are going to be afraid). You win points back from the bank (in this case the pool which all the expenditures have been paying into) when a rainbow roll or conflict is resolved.

 

CC Images

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jvdc/4493937976/sizes/m/in/photostream/

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