PbP RPG/Mechanics
These mechanics are a diceless system based on a game of Exalted I played at this year's Buckets of Dice
Every player has five attributes:
- Wood - scholarship
- Air - presence
- Water - stealth
- Fire - fighting
- Earth - willpower
They also have a number of aspects, which also have scores from 1 through 5 (generally 1 through 3)
Every story has a number of story GMs. The Story GM may also have a character in the story, but this is generally discouraged, and the character may not take a main role.
Each score goes from 1 to 5. Each player gets a number of Action Points. Any time a player wants their character to do something, they will probably do it UNLESS it is particularly hard (e.g. climbing a cliff in the driving rain) or being opposed. Players can not dictate the actions of an NPC unless they bring the N PC up - they must effectively state their intentions and let the owner of the NPC dictate what happens. The exception is that a story GM may take control of any NPC.
In conflicts you will have a difficulty. If your appropriate ability is over the difficulty, you succeed. Given than a difficulty of 3 is pretty damn hard, and 5 is almost epic, it's likely that, say, the general with a 5 in Fighting will succeed in all unopposed fighting actions. If you wish, you may increase your score by spending an Action Point to apply one of your Aspects to it. In this case, add your aspect to your ability. Bam!
Opposed conflicts are different. Opposed conflicts start off with someone initiating the conflict, or attacking. The attacker must make clear (either explicitly or implicitly in text) the stakes of the conflict. They pick the appropriate ability, and may add aspects as before by spending an AP.
The defender may then defend. They narrate how they defend, pick the ability, and may add one (or more) aspects too.
One other thing you may do in these conflicts is take advantage of an opponent's weakness. If you can turn an opponent's aspect into a shortfall, you may give that player an AP to add their own aspect to your score. You can do this with aspects on the surroundings too.
Once the defender has worked out their score, the scores are compared. If the attacker wins, they inflict a CONSEQUENCE on the defender. The consequence is effectively a negative aspect that the attacker chooses. The power of the aspect is equal to any current consequence + 1. If the attacker's score exceeds the defender's by 5 or more, its power increases by 1 (so previous consequence + 2). If the defender wins, they may counterattack - they are now the attacker. If the defender wins by 5 or more, they inflict a consequence upon the attacker.
If the defender loses, they may spend an AP to up the stakes - turning a friendly discussion into an argument, a debate into a fist-fight, etc. They get to be the attacker now.
The defender may choose to back down before scoring. This means that the attacker wins, but doesn't lose any AP they spent in this round of the conflict. It's generally a nice thing to do. The attacker may still inflict consequences if they wish.
How many action points do you get? Depends on the scene. Story GM will decide.
Things I'd like to change:
I'd like to make diceless combat/opposed conflict quicker. E.g. I want to attack someone, I immediately know if I'll succeed or not. Then I can narrate the result. Problem being that if you're going to fail, you just don't attempt. Perhaps some sort of incentive to fail.