The purpose of combat

Since its beginning rpg has evolved from simple miniatures combat to something that no self respecting rpg would dedicate at least a few pages to. And if the 400 pound gorilla of all Rpgs can still be considered an rpg, then this means it has taken a complete turn on itself, back to a miniatures game. There are obviously many, many rpg's that do not touch the issue of physical combat, but these focus especially in internal conflicts, and I will reflect on these in a future post. For now, I want to talk about those I consider to be the three main purposes of combat in roleplaying games: The characters are the Heroes, Combat as a Tool for Advancing the Story, Combat Itself is the Purpose of the Game.

1 - The characters are heroes

This point is in one way or another in all games. Nobody wants to be John Doe, and even in games that focus on human misery players still want to win, because if you don’t, you can’t continue being miserably human, right?

Some games are specifically made to be like this, to show how badass the character is. Exalted, Wushu and the in house game The 101, among many others, are made to this point. Exalted has the rules of stunting, which dice to a pool when a description is done in a way that suits the table, Wushu adds dice according to the complexity description, and The 101 helps by bringing the Cool Factor up, thus making the task easier.

Three different systems with the same purpose: interesting descriptions showing the character in a heroic light help the player succeed in the action.

2 - Advancing the story, players have little or no intervention

A recurrent situation in many games is when the GM mounts the stage for an exciting fight that only serves as a bridge to a more important event, showing one of several situations: either the battle is going badly for the players because of bad decisions or bad luck, and the story depends on them living, so the GM brings up the cavalry, who saves the day, the characters’ skin and some NPC's show up who are potentially important for the characters; the combat can also be going bad for a character, and the GM changes the results so the character in fact succeeds; or, no matter the outcome of the battle, the important event that the GM had planned happens. None of this is terribly bad, if everyone agrees and is having fun. However, it is important to note that there is little or no influence from the players on the course of the story.

3 - The purpose of combat is the game itself

There are a few games like this, of which the ultimate example is the fourth edition of Dungeons and Dragons (D&D4e). The game does not live without combat. The rules are described so that the various possibilities that can happen in a fight involving magic are covered almost entirely with systems for distance and movement, weight and load have an effect on the effectiveness of the character so much as its expertise in the various weapons, just like the different effects that the various weapons, spells and objects can have on people. Is so detailed and is so strong a part of the system that everything else takes a distant second place.

There are other systems as well, albeit with a weaker take on combat (than D&D 4ed, that is), are GURPS, which is modular in its complexity but allows a degree of variety in combat almost identical to the D&Ded, and Savage Worlds, which is rather simpler than the previous but particularly inclined to tactical miniatures combat.

In this third point, the choices should always be on the side of the player players, otherwise the game crashes. The player must always have the power to choose what kind of action his character takes. The success or failure of its character in combat must be more than the result of a dice roll.

Other cases

There is a game that I know of but have never played, but I’m told to be tremendously tactical, which is The Spirit of the Century. In this game the player can tag Aspects of his character to change the situation in his favor, changing the ability to use in the conflict to a higher, favorable ability, and can create new Aspects on the fly that will be tagged to create situational modifiers, and still has some resource management in the form of Fate Points. This is different from other combat systems because it doesn’t use the usual type of "rock-scissors-paper" decisions and is not directly dependent on situational modifiers. Here the player is closely tied to how combat is resolved, as it’s his decisions affecting the outcome, and the combat is there to show the character as hero.

This type of game promises to be fun and engaging, of which there are several examples, all based in the FATE system. A must see.

There is also a game that I’ve not played, but of which I’ve already done a hack, called 3:16 Carnage Among the Stars. Here combat is present at 100%: the characters are Galactic Marines fighting monsters in the name of Humanity. Combat here serves as a vehicle for a journey of self discovery, because players can invoke memories of other battles to provide bonuses for this conflict. It also deserves further attention.

Because of this post I started a discussion in rpg.net about the possibility of tactical combat without having any kind of randomness. So far, the results seem promising, with some posters making references to chess...
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O propósito do combate

Desde os seus primórdios que o rpg evoluiu de simples jogo de combate de miniaturas, para algo que hoje em dia não passa sem ter umas páginas dedicadas ao combate. E, se o gorila de 400 kilos de todos os rpgs pode ser ainda considerado um rpg, então este deu uma volta completa e voltou a ser um jogo de miniaturas. Há obviamente muitos e vários rpg's que não tocam no assunto do combate físico, mas estes versam sobretudo em conflictos internos, e irei reflectir sobre estes num post futuro. Por agora, quero debruçar-me sobre aqueles que considero ser os três principais propósitos dos combate em roleplaying games: As Personagens são os Heróis, O Combate como Ferramenta para Avançar a História, e O Próprio Combate é o Propósito do Jogo.
1 - Mostrar que os personagens são heróis

Este ponto existe de uma maneira ou de outra em todos os jogos. Ninguém quer ser um Zé Ninguém, e mesmo nos jogos que versam a decadência humana os jogadores querem ganhar, pois se não querem, não podem continuar a ser miseravelmente humanos, certo?

Alguns jogos são propositadamente feitos para ser assim, para mostrar o quanto o personagem é feio, porco e mau, ou se calhar bonito, amigo e bom, se for bishonen. Exalted, Wushu e o The 101 aqui da casa especialmente, entre muitos outros, são feitos para este ponto. Exalted tem as regras de stunt, que ajudam com dados uma descrição que agrade à mesa, Wushu ajuda com dados uma descrição detalhada, e The 101 ajuda elevando o Cool Factor.

Três sistemas diferentes com o mesmo propósito: descrições interessantes mostrando o personagem numa luz heróica ajudam com que o jogador seja mais facilmente bem sucedido.

2 - Fazer avançar a história, os jogadores têm pouca ou nenhuma intervenção

Uma situação recorrente em vários jogos é quando o GM monta um cenário para um combate excitante que serve apenas como ponte para um evento mais importante, mostrando uma de várias situações: ou o combate está a correr mal para os jogadores, por causa de más decisões ou má sorte, e a história depende que eles vivam, e por isso o GM faz aparecer a cavalaria, que salva o dia, a pele dos personagens, e potencialmente faz aparecer NPC's importantes para os personagens; o combate também pode estar a correr mal para um personagem, e o GM altera os resultados dos dados para que o personagem saia vencedor; ou, independentemente do resultado do combate, o evento importante que o GM tinha planeado acontece. Nada disto é terrivelmente mau, se toda a gente concordar e estiver a divertir-se. No entanto, é de notar que pouca ou nenhum influência existe da parte dos jogadores no desenrolar da história.

3 - O propósito do combate é o próprio jogo

Existem vários jogos assim, do qual o exemplo derradeiro é quarta edição do Dungeons and Dragons (D&D 4e). O jogo não vive sem o combate. As regras estão descritas de tal maneira que as várias possibilidades que podem ocorrer num combate envolvendo magia estão cobertas na sua quase totalidade, com sistemas para distâncias, peso e carga têm efeito na efectividade do personagem, assim como a sua perícia nas diferentes armas, tal como os diferentes efeitos que as várias armas, feitiços e objectos podem ter nos personagens. Está tão detalhado e é uma parte tão forte do sistema que tudo o resto toma um distante segundo lugar.

Outros sistemas assim, embora com uma carga de combate menos forte, são o GURPS, que é modular na sua complexidade mas que possibilita um grau de variedade no combate quase idêntico ao do D&D4ed, e o Savage Worlds, que é bastante mais simples que os anteriores, mas que versa particularmente o combate táctico de miniaturas.

Neste terceiro ponto as escolhas só podem estar do lado dos jogadores, caso contrário o jogo falha. O jogador deve ter sempre, e nunca lhe deve ser retirado, o poder de escolher que tipo de acção o seu personagem toma. O sucesso ou insucesso do seu personagem no combate deve depender mais dele do que do resultado dos dados.

Outros casos

Há um jogo que não conheço por nunca ter jogado, mas que me dizem ser tremendamente táctico, que é o Spirit of the Century. Neste jogo o jogador pode invocar Aspectos do seu personagem para mudar a situação a seu favor, mudando a abilidade a usar no conflicto para uma abilidade mais alta, e pode criar novos Aspectos que serão invocados para criar modificadores situacionais, além de ter ainda um aspecto de gestão de recursos, na forma de Fate Points. Isto é diferente dos restantes sistemas de combate porque não utiliza o tipo normal de decisões "pedra-tesoura-papel", e não está directamente dependente das situações existentes. Aqui o jogador está intimamente ligado à maneira como o combate é resolvido, e são as suas decisões que afectam o resultado do mesmo, e o combate serve para mostrar o personagem como herói, além de inserir intimamente o personagem na história, pois são os seus Aspectos, e sua invocação, que fazem andar a acção.

Este tipo de jogo promete ser divertido e envolvente, do qual existem vários exemplos, todos baseados no sistema FATE. A experimentar.

Existe também um jogo que ainda não joguei, mas de que já fiz um hack, chamado 3:16 Carnage Among the Stars. Aqui o combate está presente a 100%: os personagens são marines galácticos que combatem monstros em nome da Humanidade. O combate aqui serve como veículo para uma viagem de auto-descoberta, já que os jogadores podem invocar memórias de outros combates para terem bónus no conflicto presente. Merece ser visto com atenção.

Por causa deste post comecei uma discussão na rpg.net sobre a possibilidade de ter combate táctico sem qualquer tipo de aleatoriedade. Até agora, os resultados não parecem promissores, com alguns posters a fazer referências a xadrez...
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Project Ephebos 3D&T - Teaser

This is the Age of Heroes. Carved in ash by Zeus, father of the gods, armed in bronze and tempered by the fires of Troy and Thebes which destroyed a large part of their ancestral Aqueus, it is up to the new generation of demigod heroes to decide the fate of the kingdoms of heroic Greece.

Driven by the prolonged absence of their kings, lords of kingdoms such as Pylos, Mycenae and Argos, only their excellence can be put to the test by the numerous unholy plagues, monstrous creatures and bloody invasions that threaten the entire peninsula and islands. Only these young Greeks, despite his boyish inexperience, may be cunning enough to set off alone in search of the fate of their parents and elders, facing strange peoples of dangerous costumes, cruel witches of primal magic or the fury of the gods, for their terrible daring in wanting to change the fortune of those they ostracized.
In this game, players assume the role of young people, blessed with Areté, the virtue of divine heroes, and the overwhelming Hubris, the arrogance of a superior breed of violent men they inherited. Will the players make theirs one of the kingdoms' Blessed by the gods, or leave them devoid of life as the ghostly realms of the underworld? Will these young people redeem their parents of their unfortunate destination or will they become the new champions of Olympus, making company with the Twelve Gods in their constant intervention in the lives of other mortals?

The Project Ephebos, which is a working title, will be a game of epic fantasy based both in Greco-Roman mythology and its epic poetry as well as the fantastic action of Japanese manga and anime.

The system will be based on the 3D & T RPG, the classi Brazilian game loved by thousands of players and constantly evolving and refinning.
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Tokyo Super Sports Star 316.000

Over on rpg.net people are discussing ways to adapt the excelent 3.16 game to other venues.

Being the lazy, fatting, inglorious basterd that I am, I quickly jumped on the train to rescue an old idea of mine that was loosely based on Captain Tsubasa.

So I bungled together these quick and dirty rules for a Tokyo Super Sports Star 316.000.

Keep the Reputation, because everybody knows if you're a hot star. FA and NFA become Playing Abiliy and Non-Playing Ability, for the skills you have on the pitch, and everything else. Kills have to change, of course, and Become Achievements, to cover goals scored, saves, hat tricks, killer crosses, etc. If this seems too much, make it cover only Goals and change the name accordingly, but record the number of passes, saves and everything else on the space used for Kit, Medals and Notes. Keep the Ranking, because every team has a Captain and Sub-Captain.

Kits and Weapons become the Skills to play the game, Threat Tokens become the opposing team's Team Ability, and Development is all about the stuff that happens between matches: trainning, dating, skipping classes, etc.

Sure this needs developing. I own the original 3:16 game but have yet to play it, so I have absolutely no idea how this would play out, but I think it's worth the shot.

Care to try it? :)

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What can videogames teach us II

You guys probably don't remember, but I started writing a column I tentatively named "What videogames can teach us", of which you can read the first instalment here. Please scroll down that page for the English version of the post. :-)

Today I'm gonna talk about a dear game of mine, Sid Meyer's Pirates, and in my case I'm going to address specifically the PSP version.There are several mini-games on it, but the one I'll give more attention to is the Swordfighting mini-game. This mini-game is triggered by several events, either on a tavern chasing someone, or on high seas when boarding another ship, and several others.

It tipically envolves a duel with swords, but pistols can be acquired to give the player an advantage in the beggining. There are two distinct phases to a combat, one where the player tries to hit his adversary with his sword (or, in this case, a choice of rapier, cutlass and longsword, all of which affect your combat and way of fighting, one allows for faster attacks, the other for stronger attacks, and the last one is on the middle ground). Each opponent tries to get the other through a combination of low slashes, high chops, and mid-stabs, with the possibility to defend with dodges, jumps and parries.

There is a red and white bar at the top of the screen, and for each succesfull hit, the opponent is driven back a step, until he hits a spot where an event is triggered and an opportunity for additional damage is met.

When one of the contenders hits the end of the red bar, he's lost the duel.

In my opinion, this can be translated as a conflict resolution system for a not so traditional roleplaying system.

The characters each had an Initiative skill, that could be improved by objects. The initiative skill was used less to determine who went first, and more to determine if one could guess the other's strike, thus earning him an advantage. The roll would be modified by the relevant position on the "red bar", which would indicate an abstract position on the combat stage. The further one drives the opponent, the easier it becomes to guess his movements. Also, the choice of sword would modify this, with the rapier being light and fast, and the cutlass being slow and cumbersome, albeit powerfull.

The players then choose either to attack or defend, and again high, low or middle, but in secret. This could be done by putting tokens on a card, for example, or using different coloured dice for each type of attack and defence. Then, after revealing their cards, the players would roll dice and compare results. Perhaps each character could have different skills for the different attacks and defenses, for a nice tactical twist. This could be either a dice pool, or the sum of skill plus die roll.

Just by looking at the chosen attack and defence modes would indicate success or failure; the dice roll would be to indicate either a penetrating attack, in the case of a successful defence and the attacker getting a higher result, or a riposte, with a successful defence resulting in a counter attack. This is also where the initiative would factor in, as the character with higher initiative could chose to change his attack or defence. All the other options are self explanatory, I think.

This makes for a very different conflict resolution system, that can be used for all kinds of conflict. I can easily see this adapted for social combat, for example.

Try it out!
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A little anedocte about The 101 rpg

The 101 rpg is a mad game full of hyperviolent action on surreal premises. It has been tested to good effect on a couple of seperate events, and it has grown to be a good, filler, game. We hope to make it grow even more into an adult stage with this revision.

However, the game has not always been like this.A while ago, say some 9 or 10 years ago, I was writting on a couple of portuguese roleplaying sites, when I got this thread about making a Portuguese rpg.

I quickly jumped into it, only to find it was more about making some D&D 3.x related exapansion, based on the Portuguese Discoveries, than an actual full fledged game.

Back in those days I was already high on lite systems, so I proposed something that was to become the bare bones of The 101. Of course, back then I wasn't even thinking of The 101, I never knew what it was.

The system was pretty simple, each character had a basic attribute called Destiny, and a couple of Traits. You had nothing compared with skills, mind, the only way to test how good you where at something was to see if your character was Destined to succeed. You rolled them bones, and if the result was lower than your Destiny, then you were meant to pass said test or conflict. If you failled, you had the option to buy the success with one or more of your Traits.

See, the Traits where something like past memories or achievements your character had, something he was known for. Say he had the Trait Fast Talker, that meant he was not only good at fast talk, he was known for it and had already a history of fast talking it, including, and that's where the Trait thingy really shined, that one episode where his fast talk got him out of trouble. So when the dice didn't fell your way, you could always recall the story of when you fast-talked those thugs and... you get the point.

However, despite me loving the system (I called it Destiny Awaits!), I somehow forgot about it, playing other stuff as it came.

Fast forward a couple of years. We were playing Feng Shui at the moment, and I was having, lets just come forward and say it, not a good time. You see, Feng Shui has a most exciting setting, but a terrible system. The system says that you have to describe your actions in a colourfull way, to make the game more cinematic. This is very exciting to me, as I love to colour my actions. I'm also an Exalted nut that way. However, the system also says that physics have an effect on your actions, so when I was describing my character running up and down walls shooting at bad guys, the GM was adding up the negative modifiers for my roll..., which was not a good thing, because, you see, I have a chronic bad luck chasing me. And also, there's this urban legend about Feng Shui where it's dice hate you and want you dead. And that's what was always happening.

So I got the idea of designing my own high flying game. However, it also had to cater to my tastes in lite games and account for my bad luck; also, it should be about people's descriptions and looking cool while fighting enemies.

That's when I remembered my old game Destiny Awaits!, and quickly got to thinkering with it. At the time I was also becoming an avid Warren Ellis fan, and a couple of his comic books became an inspiration, namely Global Frequency and Planetary. Combining them I got a game about a secret agency that fights to maintain the status quo, and it does it while looking cool.

You see, The 101 rpg only has the one stat, Cool Factor, which is directly based on Destiny, from Destiny Awaits!. Describe your actions in a cool manner and your character's Cool Factor goes up, does making the check easier. Just like it should be. Remember, not only does Neo not fail, but he's also the coolest cat in the block. The 101 rpg is just like that.

After a couple more years have passed, I met this guy with some insane ideas. So insane, in fact, I had to drop kick him into submission. I'm talking, of course, about my partner in crime, João Mariano. His ideas will, without putting too much pressure on his shoulders, make The 101 rpg the game I've always wanted to make. Hopefully, it will be yours, as well.

Until then, stay in touch.
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101 rpg - Preview to Chapter 0 - Intro

Part 0 - Intro

What is The 101?

101 is a narration game of high action stories, world scale conspiracy and bizarre imagination whose protagonists are secret agents inspired on hyper violent comic books and the weirdest conspiracy theories. The game is about this hyper realistic action that stubbornly refuses to let go and grabs our attention to the last minute, while telling us about the impossible movement in slow motion where the hiss of bullets burns the air to a choir leaving vivid trails of distorted light in our imagination. It’s also about what motivates us as individuals and how the choices we make not always reflect the society we live in or contribute to it’s preservation.

What do the characters do?

The characters in this game are secret operatives with superhuman capabilities and extraordinary abilities who live in a surreal world of inter dimensional terrorists, ageometric gods and self desctruct codes imbedded in our genes. In the name of John Smith’s blissful ignorance these operatives investigate, isolate and systematically eliminate each and every glance of the frightening truth that each moment threatens our existence and mental health. To do it they seduce dangerous pleasure droids with haikus, exorcise the spiritual reason backing Rio de Janeiro’s drug trade with the help of military ghost squadrons, destroy the magical placenta of Pope Joanna during a secret meeting of the Order of False Popes, and defeat the undead body of the very first victim of execution in British soil.

What do the players do?

The players control the characters and agents of the 101, using their imagination to vividly describe their actions and emotions; if these descriptions are to the liking of the other players, they can even directly influence the game and the flow of the story. One of the players, Zero, that in other games would be is pompously called the Game Master, controls the adversity, in the form of enemy agents or moral questions that the other players will have to address.

Influences

The 101 is based on movies like The Matrix and Equilibrium, with its lethal ballets that defy the laws of physics and its corporate dystopias, documented on the books by Ken Hite, respect author and well versed on Secret History, and write of, among others, several GURPS supplements and countless articles on his monthly column Suppressed Transmissions by Steve Jackson Games. The game also draws inspiration from the mad esoteric British comic book writer Grant Morrison, creator of The Filth and The Invisibles, which is a fundamental inspiration for this game. The 101 also draws inspiration from such movies as Pi, The Number 23, and The Da Vinci Code, in it’s approach to the mosteries of life and the existence by analogy to symbols and imperceptible unknowns of the unaware. And, last but not least, this game is secretly energized by the wickedly perverse mind of Warren Ellis, another British comic book writer, known by his revisionist work on the very nature of comic book heroes, namely on works like The Authority, Planetary, Transmetropolitan, and, a huge influence on this game, the mini-series Global Frequency.

What are the 101?

The 101 is a game that reflects the methodic effort of a secret organization called, surprisingly, One Hundred and One, and its purpose is apparently incomprehensible to those who observe the consequences of their actions. This non-governmental group is not looking for global security or supremacy over all. Instead, its goal is to effectively maintain Humanity’s status quo: total ignorance of the Unreal that at every moment stalks us from the comfortable boundaries of our perception and the monotonous nature of reality. The implacability of the means at its disposal is so logical and impersonal that for a mathematical genius each 101 operative must seem nothing more than a numerical constant and something less than human: an inhuman function of the encryption algorithm that this organization uses so that the systematic denial, elimination and alteration of historical facts is successful until today.

Why 101?

Every day the one hundred and one operatives further the obfuscating operation of hiding the absolute truth from the fragile human existence and its tragic future on this world, and they do it through the efforts of their operatives on the field. However, 101 is not only the total number of operatives this organization maintains global wise at every moment, all with different super human and supernatural capacities thus contributing to facing and eliminating each and every threat that threatens John Smith’s place in the universe. 101 is also an acronym meaning introductory course to a matter unknown to the student, a violent way to confront an opponent, and the room number in the Ministry of Love where subjects are brainwashed into submission, in George Orwell’s 1984. Any of these possible meanings is also an ironic reference to the daily life of the 101 operatives, and is considered by the authors as a terrible coincidence.

What is the world of the 101?

The world of the 101 is shock full of daily psychedelic suggestions by the Illuminati in the literary hallucinations of Robert Anton Wilson, the sacrosanct myth of the inverted womb of Isis and the Holy Grail, Bin Laden’s enigmatic location on Prester John’s kingdom of Ethiopia, the laser precise attacks of CIA’s black helicopters, the Freemason Initiatory Order and the deep roots of the medieval cathedrals, the unregistered stock of UFO’s on Area 51, and everything else that each one of us takes from careful reading of conspiracy theorists sensationalist blogs and newspapers. On this world, trips are made through imaginary Victorian worlds, population control bombs are built, UFO’s arrive from a distant future one hundred thousand years away, werewolves howl in prayer to their moon totem, and the real reason for 9/11 is known.

The 101 deal with all this and they do it so that these kind of news stay in the rampant imagination of tabloids, comic book writers and videogame designers. And they do it day in day out, even if they have to throw a discordant whistle capable of obliterating the material frequency where mere seconds ago their enemy was standing, Kung-Fu kicking the space time continuum to paint them a new smile full of broken teeth. Each ends in the desired effect: the obliteration of the truth no matter what.

What does it take to be on the 101?

The 101 operative is a being with extraordinary capabilities far beyond the human range. Some of them shouldn’t even be called human anymore, even if they chose to keep such appearances, while others couldn’t stop living if they so chose, forced to fake their own deaths time and time again. All of them are specially trained for field duty, hand to hand combat, active hostage negotiation, systematic target elimination, long range recon, and, from time to time, even how to take out the Finnish idea-powered generator.

Cool?

Each 101 Operative is the perfect example of the dreadful game of zero-sum: that of being cool. Either through their twin Uzi forged with the metal from the horns that razed the walls of Jericho, or through their scar in the left cheek in the form of the goddess Discordia that allows them to speak in tongues, or even in the fact that they are the human incarnation of the Phoenix bird, capable of hurtling fireballs with a pyromaniac smirk on their face. All this is cool and it’s this that lets the Operative to do the impossible, and only those showing this level of ability in the fight against the Unreal and its ageometric space in constant expansion deserves to be recruited into this elite group. And if in the process he makes the other guy look bad in the name of the all sacred blissful ignorance, then better for all!

But, what is the 101?

In the end, the 101 is a game about these beings and the world of hyper violent conspiracy they insist on maintaining, one that is undeniably closer to our unawakened minds we wish it were. In this game the players will have the opportunity to experience what it’s like being an Operative of the 101 inside the clean, safe limits of the game table. They will be able to create the details and characteristics that define them, that will put them in the Criptoverse, to describe the fantastic way their actions impact on the world around them, and guarantee those actions further their motivation as Operatives inside the Organization. They will help their characters through the tough choices about their role on the 101 while facing Humanity, Ethics, and Physics. And they will do it all in the name of fun, while helping tell the story whose audience is you and the other players.
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