Design Notes - Revision history

Jim at 11:36, 10 November 2014

2014-11-10T11:36:00Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:36, 10 November 2014
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	This is also why Talismans are limited to 3-4 a day. You can't hand someone a giant pile of consumables to let them blow through a linear. Or rather you can, but they can use a few of those and have to hand the rest out to other party members.		This is also why Talismans are limited to 3-4 a day. You can't hand someone a giant pile of consumables to let them blow through a linear. Or rather you can, but they can use a few of those and have to hand the rest out to other party members.


	=== Early success is not absolute. ===		=== Early success is not absolute. ===
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	=== Defense is costly, but possible ===		=== Defense is costly, but possible ===
	In combat terms, RESIST and CRUSH RESIST are ablative. This has two functions; one, it prevents PCs from being useless just because they don’t have a particular type of damage (benefit attacker), two, it means that they can be included without making them overly powerful (benefit defender)		In combat terms, RESIST and CRUSH RESIST are ablative. This has two functions; one, it prevents PCs from being useless just because they don’t have a particular type of damage (benefit attacker), two, it means that they can be included without making them overly powerful (benefit defender)


	==XP system==		==XP system==
	We've moved that out to its own page at [[Design:XP]]		We've moved that out to its own page at [[Design:XP]]

Jim: /* Overall rules design goals */

2014-11-10T11:31:49Z

Overall rules design goals

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:31, 10 November 2014
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	*The system should be easy to use, and having to remember any numbers bigger than 9 should be avoided.		*The system should be easy to use, and having to remember any numbers bigger than 9 should be avoided.
	*Skill trees should have reasonably varied effects, rather than the Crippling Overspecialisation of say, TT Cursing.		*Skill trees should have reasonably varied effects, rather than the Crippling Overspecialisation of say, TT Cursing.
	Fewer judgement calls for refs to make. Speeds play, les ref stress, no feeling anyone’s favoured. Use of secret rules or beadbags is preferable to having to decide what a PC got out of a ritual or an Ultimate Faith in TT~~. Bleed on 0 Hits means you know if a PC falls over they are in danger~~.		*Fewer judgement calls for refs to make. Speeds play, les ref stress, no feeling anyone’s favoured. Use of secret rules or beadbags is preferable to having to decide what a PC got out of a ritual or an Ultimate Faith in TT.
	There should rarely be a case where everything fails unless a PC has Skill X (Purging, Spirit damage, etc). There should be Good, Bad and Ugly solutions. This way PCs can always do something* regardless of the OC factor of Who Turned Up.		There should rarely be a case where everything fails unless a PC has Skill X (Purging, Spirit damage, etc). There should be Good, Bad and Ugly solutions. This way PCs can always do something* regardless of the OC factor of Who Turned Up.
	*PCs start competent, the power gap between newbie and veteran PC should be low enough that everyone is useful.		*PCs start competent, the power gap between newbie and veteran PC should be low enough that everyone is useful.
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	*Things which completely incapacitate a PC shouldn’t happen. FREEZE is boring because it either wins a fight or gets resisted.		*Things which completely incapacitate a PC shouldn’t happen. FREEZE is boring because it either wins a fight or gets resisted.
	*Character Death should be nontrivial, and a risk that is present and obvious.		*Character Death should be nontrivial, and a risk that is present and obvious.
	*Heroic sacrifices should be decisions not deus ex machinas, and not Win Buttons. No ultimate faith, no overcast. You could blow yourself up with an overcharged ritual to save the day, but in the end it’ll be be an upstat to a thing that someone could already do.		*Heroic sacrifices should be decisions not deus ex machinas, and not Win Buttons. No ultimate faith, no overcast. You could blow yourself up with an overcharged ritual to save the day, but in the end it’ll be be an upstat to a thing that someone could already do.


	==System themes==		==System themes==

Jim at 11:24, 10 November 2014

2014-11-10T11:24:23Z

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	=== Limited, Uptime Buffs ===		=== Limited, Uptime Buffs ===
	The sudden appearance of a pile of buffs from someone who’s not appearing on a linear is a balance problem for refs as they aren't just looking at the party but what other spong might upstat them. Also, you’ve stuck a lot of consumables on the team and yet no roleplay has really occurred. NFNC tries to limit buffs. The best ones are things you can only cast on yourself, and they tend to require uptime casting, not "I put this on PCs before the linear while never appearing".		The sudden appearance of a pile of buffs from someone who’s not appearing on a linear is a balance problem for refs as they aren't just looking at the party but what other spong might upstat them. See TT Blessing, buying a pile of potions, etc. Also, you’ve stuck a lot of consumables on the team and yet no roleplay has really occurred. NFNC tries to limit buffs. The best ones are things you can only cast on yourself, and they tend to require uptime casting, not "I put this on PCs before the linear while never appearing".

			This is also why Talismans are limited to 3-4 a day. You can't hand someone a giant pile of consumables to let them blow through a linear. Or rather you can, but they can use a few of those and have to hand the rest out to other party members.

	=== Early success is not absolute. ===		=== Early success is not absolute. ===

Jim at 11:21, 10 November 2014

2014-11-10T11:21:34Z

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 A page where the Refs write down roughly what they were thinking of when they were designing this game, for the benefit of system pokers, rules nargs and other interested larpers.
-== XP system ==
+==Overall rules design goals==
-The XP system had several goals
+*Incentives to play to the brief, both in setting and the mechanics.
-'''Encourage buying Plot Skills'''
+This is an area of game where we want PCs to be hesitant to act because it means those PCs who do choose to act get to control the information.
-*Other games suffer a bit from "Human Warrior Syndrome". A new player makes a human warrior type with hitty skills because that is simple and fun to play. They then run out of game because they have no means to interact with plot besides hitting it.
-*This is why no faction has a combat skill as a Faction Skill, and all L1 skills have some sort of plot-fixing or wierd-stuff-detecting use. Since you get L1 Faction Skill for 0XP, everyone has something noncombat.
+=== Easy Nonhuman Races ===

Jim: /* XP system */

2014-10-27T16:04:33Z

XP system

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	'''Restrict Minmaxing'''		'''Restrict Minmaxing'''
	*Players should be incentivised to buy more than just a single skill at the start. Overspecialisation should be a weakness, not a strength, but you should be able to do it if you want that weakness.		*Players should be incentivised to buy more than just a single skill at the start. Overspecialisation should be a weakness, not a strength, but you should be able to do it if you want that weakness.
			*The default PC should be somewhat generalist, as it means more skills are in play at once and there's a bigger space for PCs to create or solve problems.
	*This was why XP spend at character generation was restricted. If you could save starting XP, you could work around the starting limits by buying up to a L3 skill, saving 2XP and buying a L4 skill in your next DT, getting it faster than normal.		*This was why XP spend at character generation was restricted. If you could save starting XP, you could work around the starting limits by buying up to a L3 skill, saving 2XP and buying a L4 skill in your next DT, getting it faster than normal.
	*With 15 XP in week 1, you could buy up to 3 L3 skills, provided that one was your Faction skill.		*With 15 XP in week 1, you could buy up to 3 L3 skills, provided that one was your Faction skill.
			*As we only have 5 levels of each skill, this was principally a problem we wanted to avoid in the early game.

Jim at 16:01, 27 October 2014

2014-10-27T16:01:20Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:01, 27 October 2014
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	'''Restrict Minmaxing'''		'''Restrict Minmaxing'''
	*Players should be incentivised to buy more than just a single skill ~~tree~~ at the start.		*Players should be incentivised to buy more than just a single skill at the start. Overspecialisation should be a weakness, not a strength, but you should be able to do it if you want that weakness.
	*This was why XP spend at character generation was restricted. If you could save starting XP, you could work around the starting limits by buying up to a L3 skill, saving 2XP and buying a L4 skill in your next DT, getting it faster than normal.		*This was why XP spend at character generation was restricted. If you could save starting XP, you could work around the starting limits by buying up to a L3 skill, saving 2XP and buying a L4 skill in your next DT, getting it faster than normal.
	*With 15 XP in week 1, you could buy up to 3 L3 skills, provided that one was your Faction skill.		*With 15 XP in week 1, you could buy up to 3 L3 skills, provided that one was your Faction skill.

Jim at 15:53, 27 October 2014

2014-10-27T15:53:50Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:53, 27 October 2014
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	*Other games suffer a bit from "Human Warrior Syndrome". A new player makes a human warrior type with hitty skills because that is simple and fun to play. They then run out of game because they have no means to interact with plot besides hitting it.		*Other games suffer a bit from "Human Warrior Syndrome". A new player makes a human warrior type with hitty skills because that is simple and fun to play. They then run out of game because they have no means to interact with plot besides hitting it.

	This is why no faction has a combat skill as a Faction Skill, and all L1 skills have some sort of plot-fixing or wierd-stuff-detecting use. Since you get L1 Faction Skill for 0XP, everyone has something noncombat.		*This is why no faction has a combat skill as a Faction Skill, and all L1 skills have some sort of plot-fixing or wierd-stuff-detecting use. Since you get L1 Faction Skill for 0XP, everyone has something noncombat.

Jim: /* XP system */

2014-10-27T11:43:07Z

XP system

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:43, 27 October 2014
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	*There should be no difference between a PC that was started N weeks ago but never played and a PC that was started this week.		*There should be no difference between a PC that was started N weeks ago but never played and a PC that was started this week.
	**Therefore the starting XP is raised each week at the same rate that PCs gain XP for existing.		**Therefore the starting XP is raised each week at the same rate that PCs gain XP for existing.


	'''Restrict Minmaxing'''		'''Restrict Minmaxing'''

Jim at 11:42, 27 October 2014

2014-10-27T11:42:56Z

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 '''Progression'''
-There should be progression, because this is a game about discovery and progress. Not all skills should be available to start/
+*There should be progression, because this is a game about discovery and progress. Not all skills should be available to start.
-A starting PC should be less powerful than a long-term PC, but the power gap should not expand too far
+'''Restrict Minmaxing'''

Jim: Created page with "A page where the Refs write down roughly what they were thinking of when they were designing this game, for the benefit of system pokers, rules nargs and other interested larp..."

2014-10-27T11:30:37Z

Created page with "A page where the Refs write down roughly what they were thinking of when they were designing this game, for the benefit of system pokers, rules nargs and other interested larp..."

New page

A page where the Refs write down roughly what they were thinking of when they were designing this game, for the benefit of system pokers, rules nargs and other interested larpers.

== XP system ==
The XP system had several goals

'''Progression'''
There should be progression, because this is a game about discovery and progress. Not all skills should be available to start/

A starting PC should be less powerful than a long-term PC, but the power gap should not expand too far