What is the logic behind rgp systems and Old School mechanics? |
An rpg system is a mechanics model that uses
mathematics, statistics and logical procedures in order to guide its
participants to create their storytelling experience. Whatever be the
system used, it will have a mechanical procedure to provide answers
to conflict resolution and options for world and story building. Be
it a very simple system, like Cthulhu Dark, or a complex one, like
HERO or GURPS, all systems have a model that it uses to resolve
conflicts and present new possibilities of play.
And because it is a mechanics model, every
rpg system has an optimal range of application and action – the
kind of storytelling experience that it is trying to emulate, an
'optimal targeted range', or 'effective range' per se. And when you
try to go beyond that range, the system starts fumbling, working in a
faulty manner and needing some overhauling by the participants,
giving it house rules and addends.
It is very easy to see the limitations of an rpg system.
You just need to stretch it a little bit and try to use it in a
different context than usual. For example, if you try to use Cthulhu
Dark as a deep and strategic combat simulation, the system will just
not work well. The same poor result will happen if you try using the
d20 system to play an investigative horror game, with deadly free form combat
and focus on gathering clues. Or if you try using the GURPS system's
basic rules to play anything that is not realistic.
This does not mean that you can't use those systems to
play these kinds of games. You can play everything with anything, and
the objective with an rpg system is to provide rules that will help
your group to have fun. The thing is that going beyond the targetted
range of a system will probably break it and create awkward
situations. You may have to deal with many modifiers and having to
roll dozens of dice, making every single action extremely slow. Or
maybe the stats will be so high that the bookkeeping in game will be
unbearably boring. Or maybe the game just gives no support to some
actions, like, for example, using tactical combat in Cthulhu Dark.
When a system goes beyond its projected scope of action resolution,
it basically - borrowing a term from the electronic games domain –
glitches. And it normally takes a lot of effort to essentially create
a 'mod' for the game, where those glitches are fixed or new rules are
added.
The Old School Mechanics Model
After discussing about the overall aspects that exist in
all systems, I'd like to ellaborate on what is the model which Old
School Systems (and I'm referring more specifically to the Old School
D&D affiliated games) are based on and what would be their
intended effective range.
Old School games are based in classic sword and sorcery
fantasy – the likes of Conan and Lord of the Rings, besides
european mythological and legendary tales, such as the Arthurian
Cycle, the Beowulf tale and the Nibelungen Lied. These are the
fiction that Old School Games try to emulate – and more than just emulating those tales,
as I discussed previously here, the Old School genre tries to emulate the
challenges of those stories: delving into a creature's lair, fighting
creatures of darkness, dungeoncrawling in search of treasures,
hoarding treasure and becoming a renown adventurer.
So, if the objective in an Old School
game is to emulate those actions found in sword and sorcery fantasy, the mechanics
themselves are geared towards hitting that target. If we take a look
at Old School D&D (which had its mechanics based in wargaming
rules that developed further to accomplish one-on-one combat and
action resolution) and analyse its core mechanics – the hit roll,
armor class value, hit die, damage and saving throws – we see that
they all fall into a precise escale of resolution. Besides damage and
hit points, all other rolls are based on a 1 to 20 scale, more or
less. The hit roll, integrated in the THAC0 (to hit armor class 0),
went from 20 to 0. Also, the saving throws, were numbers that ranged from 20 to 2. The same idea of a matrix of resolution that falls into this '20' escale.
And adding to that, Old School rolls were devised thinking humanoid creatures, and specially the player characters. For example, the Armor
Class system took its base on humanoid characters wearing armor. An
AC 3 [17] was equivalent to a human wearing plate. So, if you see a monster with
AC 3 [17], that would mean that this creature was 'as hard to harm as a human
wearing plate'.
At the same logic, saving throws were based on how heroes could survive impossible odds, like being struck by a dragon's breath or resisting a medusa's petrifying gaze. Normally, if you are a normal human and were afflicted by such attacks, you'd
basically be dead. But, if you are a hero, maybe you can survive.
That is the reason behind the saving throw, and that is the reason
why being a 1 st level character you have such a low chance of
resisting danger – because the whole Old School system is geared
towards that 1 to 20 scale. At first level, you are a 'newbie hero',
and it is hard to do heroic stuff yet. At max level, you are a
'veteran hero', and you do things very well – but you may STILL
die. You are just better at surviving than a 1st level character.
1st ed AD&D Dungen Master Screen Hit roll and Saving Throws values |
That is the Mechanics Model for Old School games –
humanoid sword and sorcery heroes. All statistics are modelled on those figures. The target for Old
School games was emulating those old tales and legends, focusing on
exploration and overcoming challenges, and the effective range of its
rules was heroic dungeoncrawling the likes we see in Conan.
With that said, maybe I may answer the question I asked in my post about giant creatures. The reason why it gets sometimes silly when you fight creatures
the size of buildings in Old School Systems is because fighting creatures of that size and
power is beyond the effective range of their mechanics, even when
they just give random stats to giant monsters.
But in the end, every gaming table is different, and with
good houserulling you may ampliate the effective range of a system.
What do you folks think of it? How do you people overcome the
limitations of a system? Do you think they exist at all? I'm curious
to hear what you think of it.
Until then,
Valete
Images:
1 , entering Acererak's Tomb. A great drawing by Brian 'Glad' Thomas.
2 is taken from the AD&D's 1st edition dungeon master screen
2 is taken from the AD&D's 1st edition dungeon master screen
I am also evaluating different RPG systems, and like your approach. If you're still open to discussion (or if you have another post elsewhere) I would like to know how far you have proceeded and if you came up with any way to compare them qualitatively or quantitatively?
ReplyDeleteThat post was by me.... My ID was not linked to my post above, but it should be on this reply.
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