Showing posts with label Situation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Situation. Show all posts

Monday, May 30, 2016

ABS12: The anatomy of the combat numbers

All the changes from this page will be added to the complete master game page at A Basic System 12 (ABS12).

For this post, I wanted to look into what exactly the numbers in the formula mean. This is important to help determine how to describe actions.

Minor change

One other change I'm making is removing the PL from PL damage roll, PL Live, and PL defense, which don't seem to make sense anymore.

Verb Skill formula portions


1. Situation roll portion
The first roll 1d12, in every type of roll means the situation roll. Situations can vary from good to bad. The first random roll tells you how good current situation about the skill or combat.

Player should describe exactly how the character does something, not just what a character does. 

If a character uses a description verb to look for clues, then the player should explain exactly how the player will search for clues. Will they look through all the drawers and cupboards? Having explained how the character will search, the roll can then be performed to describe how lucky fate is with the character in performing the task.

Interpreting the numbers
A 1 is so bad that it's a fumble. A 12 is so good that it's a automatic success.

Describing the situation depends upon what type of action is being performed. Once you have that action in mind, you can describe the situation surrounding the action using adverbs and adjectives in similar degree to the the result rolled. The situation may be environmental. It may include actions of opposing characters. It may include the conditions of the character performing the action.

Above six becomes more positive.
Below six becomes more negative.

Here is a general adjective scale denoting quality and degree for the situation surrounding the how the action is performed.



If as in the prior example, if the character is looking through all the drawers and cupboards looking for clues, and the player roll a three - what does that mean?. A three is very bad. What could a very bad situation mean or look like when searching through cupboards and drawers? It might mean that the character rushes through the search doing a poor job of searching. It might also mean that despite ones great skill, something happens to be covering the thing that the character is trying to find. The first explanation is a more method based or quality of performance rational. Whereas the second one is luck based or quality of the environment. Either way, they both explain and describe a the situation that is very bad.

2. Learned description level and power level experience portion
Both the PL and DL portions are fixed. 

The PL represents experience as the character acquires more real world experience. Characters recognize patterns and appropriate methods just by watching life around them. The learn little tricks to help live even doing unskilled and untrained actions easier. They have life knowledge.

The DL represents learned skill. It represents actual study, practice, exploration, teachings, and education. They receive education formally or on the job.

The next portion of the formula appears in combat. It is a special kind of roll called the damage roll.

Offensive roll 1d12 + PL + DL + Damage roll

3. Why is the damage roll added to the offensive roll?
The damage roll represents how viscous and potentially damaging the attack, blow, or strike is. The damage roll is potential damage, rather than actual damage.It represents how deadly the strike could be - how much force and accurate the blow may be. Even with a little lesser luck, a very powerful attack my still do damage if the attack is powerful. Too much of a bad situation will make even a powerful attack miss. Yet a great situation might help a weak attack still hit and do damage depending on the defender's situation.

The lowest damage possible is 1. Even variable damage weapon will at least do 1 point of damage

In damages where even a roll of 1 is made out of 1d12/6, = is all one or the other. There is no fumble or automatic success from the damage roll. Your only trying to find the amount, in this case 1 or 2. It's either one or the 

Damage roll is countered with the armor value portion of the defense. The defender offsets the damage roll with their fixed defense which is made up of skill (DL) and experience(PL) plus any armor.


Damage Table



Wednesday, May 25, 2016

ABS12: Basic Fact Generator

All the changes from this page will be added to the complete master game page at A Basic System 12 (ABS12).

ABS12 Solo Game Engine and Fact Generator
ABS12: Basic Fact Generator
ABS12 Solo Game Engine: Additionals, Branching, & Conditionals
ABS12: Synonyms for writing using the ABS12 Solo Game Engine
Testing the ABS12 Solo Engine and Fact Generator
ABS12: Story Engine
ABS12: Random Objects & Participants
ABS12: Drama Escalator

ABS: Solo Gaming Engine - flexible version It contains 1d6, 1d8, Fate, Fudge, 1d10, 1d12, 2d6, 3d6, 1d20, 4d6 JAGS, and 1d100 columns and modifiers.

A flexible version of the Fact Generator is now available at rpgnow/drivethrurpg

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/191261/ABS12-Fact-Generator-Flexible-Dice-v-10

Available for dice 2d6, 1d12, 3d6, and 1d20

What you need to use this chart

In addition to the Solo Game Engine, here is my attempt at a fact generator which can be used with one 12 sided dice.

A writer might use the lists to help with inspiration.

Directions

  1. First roll a 1d12 to find which row to consider: sensory, element of time and space, emotion/mood, or state of change. 
  2. Roll the 1d12 again to find a detail.
  3. Repeat as many times as needed.
  4. Discard or change as necessary.
  5. Interpret the result using creativity and considering your story situation.


For example. A roll of 1d12 resulting in 4 means something about sound, indicated by the ear symbol. Another roll of 1d12 equaling an 8 would indicate Loud.

Something in the story was loud. 

If you need further details you could roll more.

Lets say that you pile up loud, cold, and move. If in a modern house indicate something about a loud refrigerator vibrating. In space it might be indicate something about a scream from a cryogenic chamber. In a horror story or game it might indicate a chill running down a character's back pushing the character to flee as a loud rumble shakes the ground. In a fantasy story, it might indicate the launch of an ice ball from the trigger of a trap. 

It's just meant to help creativity. So use, discard, and change the results as needed.

[Click the chart to enlarge]


All icons are made and attributed to either Lorc http://lorcblog.blogspot.com or Delapouite http://delapouite.com/ downloaded from http://game-icons.net/ licensed under the CC BY 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/. No changes were made to the icon images.


A Basic System 12 (ABS12)
Index of my blog


Fact Generator © by Ken Wickham 2016. All rights reserved.

This blog may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise for any other person—without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law.