Topic: An Introduction to the Hybrid System

[Neoadept]

Well, before this planning didn't matter either.  We were deciding things arcs in advance, plotting out the course of events.  This can make for great stories and I wouldn't undo what we did, but it means that it's not much of a game anymore.  It ended up bad enough that two or three of us were deciding how everything went behind the scenes while everyone else struggled to keep up.

This way, no one knows what's going to happen, we all have to roll with the punches.

It's not a perfect system, but we'll improve it as we go like we do with everything else.  We could complicate things further with rules that allow for strategy to impact the rolls, but then those rules need modifiers to keep things in check, and at a certain point we might as well just play DnD.

[PatMan33]

Indeed. Besides, it's always good to try new stuff. I'm excited to see how this turns out! Hopefully it will work, but if it doesn't at least we gave it a try and we can use whatever information we gather to try something else. I'm glad to see you showing an interest in what we're doing here, Raz. Are you going to play with us this time? You know you're always welcome!

[Inkling]

I'm still not sure that I get this, when exactly we roll, and what triggers a sabotage roll.  But hey, no better way to learn than hands on.

[PatMan33]

You can roll the sabotage whenever you want as long as it is a logical place to have your character do an act of sabotage. This was the best solution we could come up with without having to include more rules or math. Just be smart about it and things should be fine. Also remember that there are a limited number of sabotages per team and that everyone on a team draws from the same limited pool.

If you can come up with something better feel free to tell us.

[Yannick]

So basically, when we say: I shoot X in the neck, a dice is thrown to see if I'm successful?

[Zolinn]

Not quite, sabotage would be more along the lines of say... blowing up an important piece of machinery. Also, keep in mind, you aren't required to use the sabotages either. As for shooting or attacking individual players, same rules apply as usual. The only things that are rolled on are the sabotage rolls (to see if they go according to plan or not) and the outcome roll, which more has to do with larger outcomes. For example, if the heroes win or the villain wins.

[/lurk]

"Sabotage" isn't really applicable to a lot of RPs, though.

Really you either need more rules or to drop the whole thing altogther, because deciding the outcome on a coin flip is just totally unsatisfying.


Also there's the problem where, if the villain wins, it's usually the end of the word.

[PatMan33]

Zolinn's answer is about right. A sabotage isn't your typical "I shoot you and you respond" type of thing. For example, if the heroes (or a hero) are in the generator room of the volcano lair, a player can decide to try to sabotage the generator. You'll have to write your character into such a situation and if you think it is viable you can use a sabotage. Again, given the nature of his this game works, some things are going to be a tad arbitrary but it shouldn't pose too much of a problem. I think Neo said this in IRC at some point, but this type of system would also keep people from continuously one-upping other players and also help ward off some of the tendency for inexperienced players to disallow their characters from failing.

When we test it all out we'll probably find some ways to tweak it. Hopefully we get good feedback from a live test.

[emmet]

So what would a typical RP post look like in the new system?

[PatMan33]

They'll look exactly the same as anything you'd find in the Superpower RP or the Steampunk RP. The game is played nearly the same way. All that has changed is that the outcome of the story will be left up to chance.

[Raz]

Except it's not really a game. I agree more with lurk than anyone else.

[PatMan33]

Alrighty, everything seems to be good. I'd wager we have enough bodies for the test game and all feedback can either go in the OOC topic or in this topic. All official modifications and tweaks will be discussed and voted on in this topic though. So hey, let's see what we've got!

[Grangan]

I have to say I agree with some of the others.  This is exactly the same as the old system, except the planners write two endings and pick one based on a coin flip.  You brought up several of the old system's problems but fixed none of them.

[Neoadept]

It should be noted that most RPs run for more than one arc, and the main problem was people planning out the entire course of several arcs, not just their own.  You could do a branching tree for every possible scenario in a ten arc course (that's 2046 possible arc endings), but at that point you're running a Xanatos roulette no matter what system you use.

And, to reiterate:

If you can come up with something better feel free to tell us.

[martyk]

Essentially it is playing out like a Choose Your Own Adventure now instead of a regular novel.  Many potential endings, with no way of knowing where we'll end up.