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Unusual TTRPG mechanics? (lemmy.world)

submitted 4 days ago by naught101@lemmy.world to c/rpg@ttrpg.network

22 comments fedilink hide all child comments

What interesting mechanics exist out there?

I don't mean just "here's a new way to roll combinations of polyhedral dice", or "here's a new theme overlaid on a standard progress tracker", or "here's stress with another name".

I mean, actual new conceptual mechanics that produce new and interesting behaviours in-game. Things like CoC's push rolls, or Slugblaster's Beats/Character Arc, or Blades in the Dark's Flashbacks (these might not be the first games that those appeared in, but the point isn't the game, it's the mechanic).

Interested particularly in what those new mechanics bring to the table in terms of player interactions or story development.

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[–] lime@feddit.nu 5 points 4 days ago (2 children)

it's not particularly new but i've always found it interesting when games mechanize metagaming.

fate's point economy allows players to actively change the game by putting themselves at an immediate disadvantage. when you play to your character's weakness, you get a point which you can cash in later to modify a story beat or situation. but you can also pay other players with them to suggest actions for them.

[–] agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Interesting, GURPS has a couple mechanics kinda like this. You build characters with point buy, and you can "buy" Disadvantages like Cowardice or Alcoholism which have a negative point cost, giving you extra points to spend on other attributes.

There's also a way to spend points that you earn (you earn points by adventuring like exp) to change things in the world slightly, though I don't really use it.

Also, there's a fun attribute called Common Sense, where the GM warns you if you're about to do something particularly stupid.

[–] lime@feddit.nu 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

i was into gurps before i started with fate and i think i gave the wrong impression because they're not really similar. fate points are not used during character creation, but are an actual physical token that is actively used during sessions. you can collect them by playing into your characters weaknesses, and pay others to play into theirs, including npcs and the world itself. they're metagaming coins basically.

the central conceit of fate is that characters are very free-form. there are no fixed skills, quirks, or features. instead, your character aspects, the short descriptions of who your character is and can do, are mechanically relevant. if your character concept is a "brash, handsome rogue with a heart of gold", you will be able to easily talk your way through situations, but you are also impulsive and prone to selfless heroics. if you're trying to save yourself escaping a sinking ship, the gm can go "actually i don't think you're the kind of guy to leave a beautiful lady behind" and toss you a coin and you either have to go back for that npc without thinking of the consequences, or make a counter offer that costs you points. other players can also compel you to do things by paying you points, and you can compel them, or npcs with known aspects.

this tying of the rp to actual game boons, as contrasted to the vague "you sure roled that play, so you got +1" stuff you tend to get in more crunchy systems. this also results in points trading hands constantly, as the players learn about eachothers characters and lean into the failures.

[–] agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Oh I know, I was just commenting on conceptual similarity, not mechanical. It does strike me how conceptually similar GURPS and Fate are, despite being mechanically at opposite ends of the crunch spectrum.

[–] lime@feddit.nu 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

i think that's why i gravitated toward them both. i ultimately didn't gel with gurps due to that crunch, because even though you can pick and choose what parts you want there's still a lot of stuff that you really can't remove or the game feels hollow. FAE still feels meaty even though it's super stripped down.

[–] agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 days ago

I like reality simulation, so the crunch is fun for me. I think it's modular enough to focus on just the aspects of crunch that you like

[–] naught101@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Yeah fate points are a killer idea. I think Slugblaster's Nope mechanic is somewhat similar, in that it lets you skip some unwanted bad outcome, but you take on Trouble, which causes consequences later. Fate's implementation seems more flexible and broadly useful though.

[–] crpknkr@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago

Dune: Adventures in the Imperium does a version of this. Extra successes on a challenge give the players Momentum points which they can use to generally make things better for them. But the GM has Threat points which make things harder for the players. Points can also be used to buy off bad outcomes or improve good ones.

But the most fun bit is that the GM can cash in a bunch of Threat to introduce a rival to the players into a scene. So their nemesis can drop in on the party where they're trying to gather allies to confront the nemesis.

[–] lime@feddit.nu 2 points 4 days ago

yeah the big thing is how fate points tie into the characterisation of the pcs. they anchor role playing decisions in the rules in a way i've not seen many systems do.