By Darren on June 08th, 2010
The Rationale for Simple
I know. I know. The last word in the title should be “simplicity” but “simple” is just so much more… simple.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the objectives of the game I’ve been working on. Which I am calling The Broken Veil. At least for now.
Anyway, objectives. What do I want the game to accomplish?
- Atmosphere – I want to create an atmosphere of dread and horror. I want the players to be scared. I want the game to have the feel of a gritty survival horror video game.
- Easy-to-Learn – I want the core mechanics to be easy to learn.
- Quick Yet Robust Character Creation – I want the players to be able to quickly create a character that they can identify with and customize.
- Dramatic Support – I want the system to support the atmosphere and drama, not take the players out of the game.
With that in mind, I’m giving strong consideration to reducing the number of Attributes to 3 Core Attributes:
- Body – This attribute represents the character’s physical abilities, from strength to agility to endurance.
- Mind – This attribute represents the character’s mental abilities, including intelligence, reasoning and wit.
- Spirit – This attribute represents the character’s social/emotional strength, resilience and flexibility.
In addition to an adjective-based rank in each of the three attributes, the player would select a primary and secondary attribute, with the remaining attribute becoming the tertiary. Skills associated with the primary attribute would be easiest to learn and advance, with secondary being next easiest.
Following the adjective-based theme of character creation, the prime Skills are also descriptive. The player would write down a number of descriptive phrases for the character, based on the Skills she wishes to possess. For example: Player 1 is creating a character named Justine, who is a reporter for the local newspaper (cliched, but this is an example). He decides that she is going to be “witty” “flirtatious” and “easy to talk to.” These are the Skills that are going to help her get the good stories despite not being the best writer at the local rag. Perhaps the Justine is “agile” as well. Depending on the number of points the player wants the spend, the the character gets a rank in each of these Skills from Mediocre to Excellent (the default level for a character who doesn’t possess the Skill is Poor). Note that these names are not written in stone. I am working on the names of the Skills I plan on using. In addition to Attributes and Skills, there are also Gifts and Faults. Gifts and Faults aren’t ranked. The character either possesses them or doesn’t.
What do you think of a system that keeps the required Attributes simple, but allows the player to customize characters through skill depth?
how does this stand as of now? i know it’s an older post. I’ve always like the simple attribute sets and using a combination for checks against a DC rather than a gajillion modifiers for the 8 different abilities. That being said, my first thought was how do you define or restrain the creation of skills from being too outrageous?
It is stalled right now until I have more time. Reading and playing some excellent Indie games has been helpful for me in this process. Why are the mainstream games the most complex?
In defining or restraining the creation of skills, it is the GM’s job to limit anything outrageous. He works with the players to create things that work for the game.