So, AGON sort of fell through. I would love to pick that up, especially since I dropped some money (not a lot, granted, by money still). My room mate and I have been watching a lot of television and movies that have been stirring a desire to fill a void I have in my creative need to roleplay. I won't go in to detail, because my players read this, and I want to shock and awe them.
The beginning of a new game is to decide what world you want to live in. Every world has multiple avenues to explore, high fantasy has Dungeons & Dragons, DragonQuest, Pathfinder, etc. A modern telling has even more. So, for this idea, I wanted to explore a survival suspense game in a modern, here-and-now, setting.
So, to skip ahead, I've decided to use World of Darkness. Now, I've been talking about WoD for a while now, so it comes as no surprise. However, I feel that what I want to do is lacking within the World of Darkness storyteller system. I explored several different options, but without the ability to commit to a concept I didn't want to shell out money for a book I may not use. Additionally, every other system I observed would have given away exactly what I have planned, which won't be a huge surprise or be very original or deep, but I still want it to be a surprise.
Blast. I want to discuss another system, but it, too, will give away what I want to do. Let me just say, the primary reason I wouldn't use the system-that-shall-not-be-named (I'll name it at a later time). is that it is a leveling system. My brother and I had an interesting conversation about the concept of a leveling system.
Every roleplay that has a system has a tier-based method of "leveling." World of Darkness have attributes and skills and other things that scale from zero to five, or even higher. The higher, the better. Yet, it's not what I would call a leveling system. DragonQuest has a player acquire a skill, which we call a profession for clarification, that ranks from zero to ten, yet DragonQuest is not a leveling system. What makes a leveling system a leveling system? Leveling systems have ceilings.
Leveling systems often boil down your entire character to one numerical level. To participate in an event that would be for a character of higher level is often suicidal, hence a ceiling. In D&D, if you are level five, you cannot fight a level fifteen monster, conceivably within the rules. Same with the system-that-shall-not-be-named. You level, you gain skills, combat ability, and health points. In a non-leveling system, you gain experience but you can distribute it in many ways. More importantly, in these non-leveling systems it is more conceivably for someone of lesser skill to stand up against someone of greater skill. In World a Darkness, if two shooters go at each other, one of Dexterity 3 and Firearms 3, the other with Dexterity 4 and Firearms 4, the latter has the advantage, but there are many variables outside of your "level" effect the outcome of the battle. There a variables in leveling systems, too, mostly based on gear, but often in these games there is a level requirement for better gear (ie D&D 4e).
There's also another interesting aspect. Two character of the same level, if the game is balanced, should be a relative even match for one another. Two characters in a non-leveling system that have the same amount of experience could be completely different. Honestly, typing it all out, its really had to put it in to words. There is a giant difference between the two, but honestly, if you don't know it, you want comprehend it here.
So, back to planning the first session. Survival suspense is a great thing to explore, but I know my group, and they aren't in to a kind of helplessness. Survival suspense, to me, isn't about helplessness, its about not having enough. My goal is to ensure that the characters are never satisfied, globally. They must be lacking something, or honestly the game will end. There's no survival sense if you have everything, and their no suspense if you have a tool for every situation.
One aspect of World of Darkness that I want to really explore is the option to use object in the environment as weapons. Wooden doors have a damage rating. I want to create a situation where the players are guiding their characters to bash a guys face into a door, or throw someone through a window. The best way to have this be an option it so limit their ability in hand-to-hand combat, which most people are not skilled in, and denying them weapons. Unfortunately, we've already rolled characters and one of them is a former professional boxer. I guess he won't be, but I have three other characters!
Another tool to deny the players for a suspense game is knowledge. Part of the surprise is that the knowledge is there, but not available. The less they know, the more helpless they feel. On the flip side, to have them completely in the dark is just frustrating for them. Fortunately, they will have plenty of information for them to decide a course of action, and plenty of things to question.
One thing I have developed the more I play WoD is the place. The place a game exists in is really important, and must be developed before hand. My last campaign in WoD was a Hunter game, where the hunters belonged to the Union compact. As neighborhood protectors, they needed to know what they were protecting, where they meet, who lives where, who works where, and what places are of importance to them. It helped me and the players when I based the place on our city of residence (and Google Maps is a huge asset for just taking a city or town, and using the markers to make the map for you).
Before we begin, I know I need the place well constructed, and I need to place the gathering of knowledge on a sort of timeline. The one thing I'm hesitant about is something I heard while watching the PAX Prime D&D Ask the Dungeon Master panel. They said that if you think up something cool, just do it, and don't hold it back. This spoke to me, because for every successful campaign I run, I've run a dozen disasters. Survival suspense demands a pace, so I'll have to find a balance.
So, expect character descriptions soon, and my Wednesday update will now be a second game. Or I'll update Thursday with the game. Its in the air right now. Also, I feel like this post is very disorganized, and I apologize.
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