Skip to main content

Mechanic Monday: Out of Mana Tramples on Through

Did I really end my last entry with “Til net time!”? Lord I hope that was an intentional cyberpunk joke.  Look, it’s 11:36pm and I’m tired, and I’ve already been writing all evening, so you’re getting the bare minimum from me - especially since I still need to shower and get back to MtG Arena, which I’ve now downloaded.  RIP priorities - you would have loved me having you.

Excess Damage Represented by Additional Pieces

In GREEM, each player has stacks of 3, 2, or 1 checkers.  On a player’s turn, they may move a stack a number of spaces equal to the height of the stack.  If a stack lands on a friendly stack of equal or lesser height, the stacks are combined.  If a stack lands on an opposing stack of equal or greater height, it removes the opposing stack.  If a stack lands on an opposing stack of lesser height, it removes the opposing stack and creates a new friendly stack, which has a height equal to the difference between the two stacks.  The game ends if all spaces on the board have a stack (in which case the player with the majority of occupied spaces wins) or if only one player’s pieces remain (in which the player with pieces remaining wins).

Another abstract with stacks.  What can I say, if they were good enough for Sid Sackson and Steve Jackson, they’re good enough for me.  This idea could go a couple of different ways - right now there’s pure capture/replacement, with big stacks capable of multiplying alarmingly, but also as easy to remove as anything else; or there’s the image I still have in my head, of nothing being removed but pieces stopping short of capture, with their excess momentum forming a line of pieces on the opposite side of the “hit” piece, like splash damage.  In case it wasn’t clear, this simulates the MtG mechanic Trample.  I think the splash damage thing might be more interesting.  Less like a Chess capture and more like a Tafl hammer creating its own blast of anvil.

Right, that’s all for this week.  Maybe this shite idea will keep morphing until it’s something usable.  Tifl next time!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

TTRPG Tuesday: Three Means Of Resolving

Hi it’s another TTRPG Tuesday! First of the year.  Let’s get right into it. Saw a challenge on Twitter to make some resolution mechanics.  I can do those! Here we go: Hand to Hand The player performing the action and the person running the game or otherwise opposing the action both put their dominant fists toward one another, bounce them three times to get a rhythm, and reveal a number with their fingers, 0-5.  Sum the two numbers, and if the number is greater than 5, subtract six, so that the final number is always between 0 and 5.  On a 0, the action fails catastrophically, on a 1-2 it fails, 3-4 it succeeds, on a 5 it succeeds spectacularly.  The player taking the action starts the game with all five fingers up on their non-dominant hand; after an attempt, they may lower fingers on that hand to add to the sum of the attempt. Ex. Alice attempts to seduce Cat’s character over to the coup conspirators.  They put their dominant hands together (right for ...
Post a Comment
Read more

TTRPG Tuesday: Campaigning

  Hey it's TTRPG Tuesday, let's see if I get something written before sleep overtakes me. I'm still on that Channelers kick, but today I want to talk about a possible campaign path: The Magpie Offensive.  I see this as a military campaign where the PCs are conscripted, volunteers, or mercenaries for an army that is marching to quell Spirit threats and unite the region under a protectorate. There should be free RP sections as interludes between missions, and missions should be chosen by the party.  The army ensures loyalty with intangible rewards as well as artifact items. NOTE: This whole thing is being designed with the Rascal article on militarization in ttrpgs in mind. What is the thrust of the campaign? It's fundamentally one of conquest.  How do I encourage characters to question their presence and their complicity? How much interpersonal violence is an acceptable price to pay for environmental justice? How can party composition affect all this from jump? H...
Post a Comment
Read more

TTRPG Tuesday: Channeling Curses

  Hey it's TTRPG Tuesday.  Well I’m gonna start writing one on a Tuesday.  We’ll see how it goes. Been doing a lot of writing on Channelers lately.  And this time is no exception! In particular, I’ve been wondering if there's room for a sixth Calling: the Haunted. The Haunted There are those who live with a Spiritual affliction: a family curse, intermittent possession, psychic wounds from exposure to a manifestation - whatever the cause, the Haunted lives with a power they can try to manage but never fully control.  The act of Channeling itself is risky, with twisted and unpredictable Techniques and Incarnations, and a tendency for the Haunted’s power to run away from them. The hidden truth of every Haunted is that they bear their burden because they believe they deserve it.  They may despise their state or try to suppress it, but they will remain cursed only as long as they believe, consciously or otherwise, that they should be.  If a Haunted eve...
Post a Comment
Read more