Weird Tools for Playing Games

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tibbius
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Weird Tools for Playing Games

#1 Post by tibbius »

This is partly an experiment to see if I can attach a pdf, partly a request for some old school folks to look at this very newish set of rules and comment.
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WeirdTools.pdf
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Neil Gaiman: "I started imagining a world in which we replaced the phrase 'politically correct' wherever we could with 'treating other people with respect', and it made me smile."..."I know what you’re thinking now. You’re thinking 'Oh my god, that’s treating other people with respect gone mad!'"
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Re: Weird Tools for Playing Games

#2 Post by tibbius »

Here's another one pager.
DestinyDeck0.1.pdf
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Neil Gaiman: "I started imagining a world in which we replaced the phrase 'politically correct' wherever we could with 'treating other people with respect', and it made me smile."..."I know what you’re thinking now. You’re thinking 'Oh my god, that’s treating other people with respect gone mad!'"
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Re: Weird Tools for Playing Games

#3 Post by rredmond »

Neat little resources, thanks!
You didn't license the first one, fyi. :)
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Re: Weird Tools for Playing Games

#4 Post by tibbius »

Thanks for the kind words!

The attached version has the proper license in the footer.
WeirdTools0.4.2.pdf
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Neil Gaiman: "I started imagining a world in which we replaced the phrase 'politically correct' wherever we could with 'treating other people with respect', and it made me smile."..."I know what you’re thinking now. You’re thinking 'Oh my god, that’s treating other people with respect gone mad!'"
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Re: Weird Tools for Playing Games

#5 Post by tibbius »

An update ...
WeirdTools0.9.2.pdf
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Neil Gaiman: "I started imagining a world in which we replaced the phrase 'politically correct' wherever we could with 'treating other people with respect', and it made me smile."..."I know what you’re thinking now. You’re thinking 'Oh my god, that’s treating other people with respect gone mad!'"
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Re: Weird Tools for Playing Games

#6 Post by tibbius »

WeirdTools1.1.pdf
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Neil Gaiman: "I started imagining a world in which we replaced the phrase 'politically correct' wherever we could with 'treating other people with respect', and it made me smile."..."I know what you’re thinking now. You’re thinking 'Oh my god, that’s treating other people with respect gone mad!'"
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Re: Weird Tools for Playing Games

#7 Post by tibbius »

MundaneVirtues1.6.1.pdf
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A later version of what started as "Weird Tools."

Still focused on rolling d6s, with 5 or 6 succeeding. Successes accumulate toward victory. Failures (no success in a roll) accumulate toward defeat. Characters have many innate virtues, others need tools. Each character has a few competencies, may even have mastered a virtue or two. As a character gains competence and mastery, they also become more resilient to failures.
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Neil Gaiman: "I started imagining a world in which we replaced the phrase 'politically correct' wherever we could with 'treating other people with respect', and it made me smile."..."I know what you’re thinking now. You’re thinking 'Oh my god, that’s treating other people with respect gone mad!'"
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Re: Weird Tools for Playing Games

#8 Post by Leitz »

It's an interesting mechanic. I'm not sure I totally "get" it yet.

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Re: Weird Tools for Playing Games

#9 Post by tibbius »

It's an experiment. I'm still not sure how well it works. Might have been a bad idea to foist it on a game in progress - though it did seem to be working ok there.
Neil Gaiman: "I started imagining a world in which we replaced the phrase 'politically correct' wherever we could with 'treating other people with respect', and it made me smile."..."I know what you’re thinking now. You’re thinking 'Oh my god, that’s treating other people with respect gone mad!'"
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Re: Weird Tools for Playing Games

#10 Post by Leitz »

tibbius wrote:It's an experiment. I'm still not sure how well it works. Might have been a bad idea to foist it on a game in progress - though it did seem to be working ok there.
Yeah, I kind of lost any sense of Bran moving forward, and that's important to me. This is still better than games like Classic Traveller, where there is effectively no skill progression post chargen.

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Re: Weird Tools for Playing Games

#11 Post by tibbius »

Here's another experiment. It lacks any explicit mechanism for character growth, though I guess through narration a hero could pick up more Advantages / overcome a Failing.
MadHermit.pdf
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Neil Gaiman: "I started imagining a world in which we replaced the phrase 'politically correct' wherever we could with 'treating other people with respect', and it made me smile."..."I know what you’re thinking now. You’re thinking 'Oh my god, that’s treating other people with respect gone mad!'"
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Re: Weird Tools for Playing Games

#12 Post by Valdus »

Cool, I wonder if there is anything to change for play by post. Or, if a game like this can be specifically made for play by post.

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Re: Weird Tools for Playing Games

#13 Post by tibbius »

I made it to be useful in play by post - or over a table. It can be run solo, collaboratively, or with a DM. If it's collaborative or with a DM, it might be better to have the person who rolls narrate "no" or "yes" and have another player/DM narrate ", and..." or ", but..." results as well as Twists. Mistakes might be (initially) hidden from the player who rolls.

The most recent version can always be found at the "Other" things link in my sig.
Neil Gaiman: "I started imagining a world in which we replaced the phrase 'politically correct' wherever we could with 'treating other people with respect', and it made me smile."..."I know what you’re thinking now. You’re thinking 'Oh my god, that’s treating other people with respect gone mad!'"
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Re: Weird Tools for Playing Games

#14 Post by Leitz »

I think rule sets like this are much better for PbP resolution than many "traditional" rules. It does take a lot more collaboration between the players and the DM, so that results can quickly be described and everyone can move forward.

As noted above, the need for character progression is felt by many of us. :)

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Re: Weird Tools for Playing Games

#15 Post by tibbius »

It wouldn't break the game to provide a level of Mastery above and beyond Advantage. Yet a rubric for obtaining Mastery would be challenging to implement in play by post particularly. I think if it was provided, it would need to be something achieved by consensus of the players based on narrative events. Not "I slay the monster and it's worth X points so now I get Mastery of my sword-waving." Instead, "After we slay the monster and loot its meager hoard, I use my share to support myself working half-time as a shop guard so that I can pay for lodging and food and sword-waving training. My money runs out in a couple of months, but by that time I've almost reached Mastery." And then a roll, with a likelihood set based on narrative, to determine whether Mastery is attained.
Neil Gaiman: "I started imagining a world in which we replaced the phrase 'politically correct' wherever we could with 'treating other people with respect', and it made me smile."..."I know what you’re thinking now. You’re thinking 'Oh my god, that’s treating other people with respect gone mad!'"
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Re: Weird Tools for Playing Games

#16 Post by Leitz »

Let me bounce a related idea off you. I've recently watched "John Wick", Jason Statham's "Safe", and the Kenau Reeves version of "47 Ronin". Like many movies, the main characters are well and beyond the average Joe off the street. Their ability to wade through underlings is well portrayed in games like "7th Sea", where you can deal with the "brute squad" in one or two flashy rounds. However, the main character eventually comes into contact with someone who is their equal, or better. Those are the "big fights".

So, if the plan is "your character has an area of high skill" then the character can do the low level stuff easily. The game more becomes about those fewer high level encounters, and how the character(s) prepares for them. Especially if it's a team effort, where the rogue failing their rolls means everyone else is weakened a little bit, before they actually get to the monster.

Make sense?

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Re: Weird Tools for Playing Games

#17 Post by tibbius »

I would characterize those "boss" encounters as "unlikely" if a single hero had one relevant Advantage, "even" with two Advantages or Mastery, and "likely" or even "very likely" if two or more heroes had a plan to leverage Mastery plus one or more disparate Advantages.
Neil Gaiman: "I started imagining a world in which we replaced the phrase 'politically correct' wherever we could with 'treating other people with respect', and it made me smile."..."I know what you’re thinking now. You’re thinking 'Oh my god, that’s treating other people with respect gone mad!'"
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Re: Weird Tools for Playing Games

#18 Post by tibbius »

I see the Mad Hermit rules got downloaded a few times - that's encouraging for me. I made some updates, you can download for free over at https://tibbius.itch.io/the-mad-hermit. Thinking about starting a game with those rules, over on GiantITP forums: https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread. ... Mad-Hermit (though I might do it here, instead, depending where I get most / any interest).
Neil Gaiman: "I started imagining a world in which we replaced the phrase 'politically correct' wherever we could with 'treating other people with respect', and it made me smile."..."I know what you’re thinking now. You’re thinking 'Oh my god, that’s treating other people with respect gone mad!'"
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