Core Mechanics & Concepts
Welcome back to The Crossblog, the official developer diary for the tabletop role-playing game, Crossroads: The Yzyrra Chronicles! Last time we over a brief history of the creation and flourishing of the world & setting. This time, we will be taking a look at the core mechanics of Crossroads as well as some of the unique ideas that help drive the game.
CORE MECHANIC & PRINCIPLES
Crossroads is a 2d10 based-system where the player attempts to roll equal to or greater than an intended result, in order to succeed in an action with an uncertain outcome. This produces a bell curve of results that can serve as a balancing point that gives a reference of how difficult something is. For example, when a character wishes to perform a skill strain ("strain" indicates a dice roll because a character may have to push the limits of their proficiency to succeed), that player will roll 2d10 and add their Skill Rank as well as any other relevant modifiers that may be active for the character. If there is no contestant, the player is simply trying to exceed a value determined by the Game-Master, or GM. If there is an entity attempting to thwart the result of the skill strain, it becomes a contested strain. The entity makes an appropriate skill strain of their own, rolling 2d10 and adding their Skill Rank as well as any other relevant modifiers that apply to them. Whoever has the higher value is considered to have succeeded, while the opponent faces some sort of consequence or disadvantage for the failure.
Skill Strains
CORE MECHANIC & PRINCIPLES
Crossroads is a 2d10 based-system where the player attempts to roll equal to or greater than an intended result, in order to succeed in an action with an uncertain outcome. This produces a bell curve of results that can serve as a balancing point that gives a reference of how difficult something is. For example, when a character wishes to perform a skill strain ("strain" indicates a dice roll because a character may have to push the limits of their proficiency to succeed), that player will roll 2d10 and add their Skill Rank as well as any other relevant modifiers that may be active for the character. If there is no contestant, the player is simply trying to exceed a value determined by the Game-Master, or GM. If there is an entity attempting to thwart the result of the skill strain, it becomes a contested strain. The entity makes an appropriate skill strain of their own, rolling 2d10 and adding their Skill Rank as well as any other relevant modifiers that apply to them. Whoever has the higher value is considered to have succeeded, while the opponent faces some sort of consequence or disadvantage for the failure.
Skill Strains
Uncontested:
2d10 + Skill Rank + Modifiers VS Target Number
(Equal to or greater than is a success.)
Contested:
2d10 + Skill Rank + Modifiers VS 2d10 + Skill Rank + Modifiers
(Whoever has the higher value is successful.)
COMBAT
In Crossroads, there are three types of combat: melee, ranged, and magical. Each of them work similar in the fact that the attacker's Accuracy needs to meet or surpass the target's corresponding evasion. Success inflicts a hit that may will do damage. This is part of the concept of "overload", which I discuss in a moment.
We won't go into the formulae right now, that is for a later post. However, for melee and ranged combat the attack rolls are exactly the the same just with the exception of one reversed component. Melee attackers will use Agility (AGI) to make an attack that is hard to dodge, while the ranged attackers will use their Wits (WIT) to lead their shots as appropriate for someone trying to not be shot.
Conversely, the targets of said attacks use the opposite stats. People in melee will need to keep their wits (WIT) to do whatever it takes to get out of the path of a weapon swinging towards them. The targets of ranged attacks will have to rely on their agility (AGI) in an attempt to dodge incoming fire.
Magical combatants will fight in a similar way, trying to outclass the target's Magical Evasion. However as usual, magic works by it's own set of rules. Magical combat is more about one's Elemental Affinity for the spell which they are casting, which every character has varying affinities to nine of them. While one can stack their affinity to one element, there are still 8 other elements that they would be defenseless against.There is an actual cap on how high one can invest in there affinity to an element. Editor's Note: This is being removed because of the concept of the "Dedication Wall" which is a driving principle behind Crossroads. Beyond that point, the only way to increase the affinity is by equipping armor that grants it.
OVERLOAD
The attentive reader may have noticed the sentence about "a hit that may do damage". This is because of how damage works in Crossroads. A hit may very well land, but there is a chance that the blow glanced off of the character. This is represented by the character's Defense. This value is how much damage must be dealt to "overload" the target's armor and hurt them. If the Defense is not overloaded, then the hit dealt no damage. Overload is the concept of inflicting more damage than your target's Defense. If you successfully hit your target, but the damage you inflicted does not overload your target's Defense, you inflict HALF DAMAGE. If the attack deals more damage than the target's Defense, then the target suffers all of the damage, it is not mitigated. This concept of overload applies to magical damage as well, except instead of Defense, Resistance must be overloaded. Editor's Note: This came about because as I was discussing it with one of my playtesters, I explained that it worked that way because it was meant to be a way to give the heavy armor guys who try to take the brunt of enemy aggression a way of having some extra survivability. As I thought about it though, it felt icky to tell a person who made a good roll and successfully hit their enemy, that because they did not or could not overload their enemy's Defense, they did nothing with their successful attack. That doesn't feel very successful. As such, I decided to compromise and revise the process and allow the successful attack that does not overload the target's Defense to inflict half damage. The attacker is not robbed of a good attack roll, and the defender still gets to feel tough. It also makes the tougher characters a little more cognizant of their situations because they could still be overwhelmed just by being "chipped" to death.
CORE CONCEPTS
First Roll
The concept of the First Roll kicks in whenever a player makes a 2d10 roll. Only the First Roll, determines if a critical or a doubles effect took place. A critical success or failure is only determined by the First Roll. Similarly, a doubles effect can only be triggered by a First Roll.
Doubles
In Crossroads, everyone has the potential to perform beyond their normal limits. Some ways can be called upon, others are more unpredictable. To reflect this uncontrolled potential, whenever a character makes a First Roll, the possibility for Doubles comes up. Should a First Roll yield matching values that are not 1's (i.e.: 2&2, 3&3, etc.), Doubles are triggered which does two things. First, if the roll was an attack roll, the Doubles effect on the weapon the attacker used is executed using the value that was matched. A weapon's Doubles effect only triggers on the First Roll. Second, when Doubles come up on a First Roll, the player gets to keep the total that they rolled, but they get to re-roll and add the new values to the old. Should these new values also be Doubles, they get to keep their new total and re-roll. This process can repeat until the newly rolled values are no longer Doubles. This final total is the value that gets added to modifiers to determine if success was obtained.
Ex: Al is having his character Ashoq, attack an animated skeleton. Al makes his First Roll which is a 3&3 (6 total). Ashoq was using a Club (Doubles: Stun). If the skeleton was able to be stunned, they would have been negatively impacted. Al gets to re-roll and gets a 7&7, bumping the total die roll to (6 + 14 =) 20. Al re-rolls again and gets a 1&5, for a roll total of 26 before adding in his melee Accuracy bonus.
Bloom
Bloom is a beneficial status effect that helps a character achieve better results more reliably. While a character is under a bloom effect, any First Roll that yields adjacent values (i.e.- 2&3, 5&6, 9&10, etc.) can be treated as though they were true Doubles. In special cases, Blooms can stack creating a Double-Bloom, where First Rolls yielding results that are within 2 of each other (i.e.- 2&4, 3&5, 4&6, etc.). Bear in mind even with Blooms, 1's are not eligible values for First Roll triggers.
For non-combative situations, a player can gainthe a Double Bloom effect when a player and an ally possess a skill in common with each other. Provided that they are reasonably capable to do so, one character declares that they are assisting the other, the character that is being assisted gains the benefit of the Double Bloom effect for that skill strain. Editor's Note: The reason for adding in "double" is because anyone can attempt any skill. To give skills granted by one's Crossroad a purpose, I revised the rule so that any skill granted by your Crossroad, is treated with a permanent Bloom effect. Those who are trained in their skills are more likely to achieve greater results when using their skills. For one player to receive assistance from another, the assistant must also possess the skill as well to confer the Double Bloom. A person without training in a skill is not able to grant such a synergy.
Minimum Critical
In Crossroads, a First Roll of 18 or better is considered a critical success. For skills, rolling an 18 yields an exceptional result. Anything higher than that is just a greater tier of success. Eighteen (18) is the minimum critical result.
For attacks however, the minimum critical (MC) value is determined by the weapon being wielded. Whenever a player makes an attack roll where the First Roll results are equal to the MC value, the weapon's damage is doubled (2x DMG). For each value over the MC attained on that First Roll, the weapon damage multiplier increases by one.
Ex: Al's character, Ashoq is making an attack with a weapon that has an MC value of 17. Making a First Roll of 17 deals (2x), an 18 deals (3x), a 19 deals (4x), and a natural 20 deals (5x).
So long as it is discussed between the players and GM beforehand, a player may or may not have the option to roll their weapon damage repeatedly OR roll it one time and multiply it.
On the other end of the spectrum, a critical failure is triggered whenever a character has a First Roll of matching 1's. As it was stated earlier, double 1's do not work for triggering Doubles effects. A critical failure primarily results in a complication of some sort, whether it be materials ruined, a weapon is thrown, falls down, or something else appropriate that the GM decides to go with. The complication resulting from a critical happens in addition to the results of succumbing to Heat. Heat is something that will be discussed in the next post on resource management during one's turn.
Flanking
Flanking in Crossroads is a dangerous predicament for the person being surrounded. For someone to be considered flanking, both participants must be adjacent to the target, and they must be touching diametrically opposite walls or corners of the enemy's square(s, in the case of a large enemy). While attackers are oriented in these positions, they grant each other the "Bloom" status effect, which makes it easier for them to impart their weapon's Doubles effects. See the following picture for reference.
This goes a step further however. If a third ally decides to assist in the fight; and they get into a position where they are adjacent to both the enemy AND flanking ally, they can also gain the benefit of a Bloom status effect. This gives one person the power to grant 3 Bloom effects. Bear in mind that the middle person of the 3 has to be in the flanking position. Below you will find pictures demonstrating flanking in both cardinal and diagonal orientation.
In the case of large opponents (2 squares x 2 squares), the same rules apply but clarification is needed. When flanking in cardinal directions (north, south, east, west), if one attacker occupies one of the squares on the west side of the enemy, an ally can flank by taking a square on the east side of the enemy. Because there are 2 squares, that western attacker can have 2 active flankers on the east side of the enemy. When additional allies step in as well, one combatant can grant 4 Bloom effects in this orientation.
Until the next post, I'm Darrick Herring, and I look forward to seeing you next time. Good fortunes be with you!
We won't go into the formulae right now, that is for a later post. However, for melee and ranged combat the attack rolls are exactly the the same just with the exception of one reversed component. Melee attackers will use Agility (AGI) to make an attack that is hard to dodge, while the ranged attackers will use their Wits (WIT) to lead their shots as appropriate for someone trying to not be shot.
Conversely, the targets of said attacks use the opposite stats. People in melee will need to keep their wits (WIT) to do whatever it takes to get out of the path of a weapon swinging towards them. The targets of ranged attacks will have to rely on their agility (AGI) in an attempt to dodge incoming fire.
Magical combatants will fight in a similar way, trying to outclass the target's Magical Evasion. However as usual, magic works by it's own set of rules. Magical combat is more about one's Elemental Affinity for the spell which they are casting, which every character has varying affinities to nine of them. While one can stack their affinity to one element, there are still 8 other elements that they would be defenseless against.
OVERLOAD
CORE CONCEPTS
First Roll
The concept of the First Roll kicks in whenever a player makes a 2d10 roll. Only the First Roll, determines if a critical or a doubles effect took place. A critical success or failure is only determined by the First Roll. Similarly, a doubles effect can only be triggered by a First Roll.
Doubles
In Crossroads, everyone has the potential to perform beyond their normal limits. Some ways can be called upon, others are more unpredictable. To reflect this uncontrolled potential, whenever a character makes a First Roll, the possibility for Doubles comes up. Should a First Roll yield matching values that are not 1's (i.e.: 2&2, 3&3, etc.), Doubles are triggered which does two things. First, if the roll was an attack roll, the Doubles effect on the weapon the attacker used is executed using the value that was matched. A weapon's Doubles effect only triggers on the First Roll. Second, when Doubles come up on a First Roll, the player gets to keep the total that they rolled, but they get to re-roll and add the new values to the old. Should these new values also be Doubles, they get to keep their new total and re-roll. This process can repeat until the newly rolled values are no longer Doubles. This final total is the value that gets added to modifiers to determine if success was obtained.
Ex: Al is having his character Ashoq, attack an animated skeleton. Al makes his First Roll which is a 3&3 (6 total). Ashoq was using a Club (Doubles: Stun). If the skeleton was able to be stunned, they would have been negatively impacted. Al gets to re-roll and gets a 7&7, bumping the total die roll to (6 + 14 =) 20. Al re-rolls again and gets a 1&5, for a roll total of 26 before adding in his melee Accuracy bonus.
Bloom
Bloom is a beneficial status effect that helps a character achieve better results more reliably. While a character is under a bloom effect, any First Roll that yields adjacent values (i.e.- 2&3, 5&6, 9&10, etc.) can be treated as though they were true Doubles. In special cases, Blooms can stack creating a Double-Bloom, where First Rolls yielding results that are within 2 of each other (i.e.- 2&4, 3&5, 4&6, etc.). Bear in mind even with Blooms, 1's are not eligible values for First Roll triggers.
For non-combative situations, a player can gain
Minimum Critical
In Crossroads, a First Roll of 18 or better is considered a critical success. For skills, rolling an 18 yields an exceptional result. Anything higher than that is just a greater tier of success. Eighteen (18) is the minimum critical result.
For attacks however, the minimum critical (MC) value is determined by the weapon being wielded. Whenever a player makes an attack roll where the First Roll results are equal to the MC value, the weapon's damage is doubled (2x DMG). For each value over the MC attained on that First Roll, the weapon damage multiplier increases by one.
Ex: Al's character, Ashoq is making an attack with a weapon that has an MC value of 17. Making a First Roll of 17 deals (2x), an 18 deals (3x), a 19 deals (4x), and a natural 20 deals (5x).
So long as it is discussed between the players and GM beforehand, a player may or may not have the option to roll their weapon damage repeatedly OR roll it one time and multiply it.
On the other end of the spectrum, a critical failure is triggered whenever a character has a First Roll of matching 1's. As it was stated earlier, double 1's do not work for triggering Doubles effects. A critical failure primarily results in a complication of some sort, whether it be materials ruined, a weapon is thrown, falls down, or something else appropriate that the GM decides to go with. The complication resulting from a critical happens in addition to the results of succumbing to Heat. Heat is something that will be discussed in the next post on resource management during one's turn.
Flanking
Flanking in Crossroads is a dangerous predicament for the person being surrounded. For someone to be considered flanking, both participants must be adjacent to the target, and they must be touching diametrically opposite walls or corners of the enemy's square(s, in the case of a large enemy). While attackers are oriented in these positions, they grant each other the "Bloom" status effect, which makes it easier for them to impart their weapon's Doubles effects. See the following picture for reference.
This goes a step further however. If a third ally decides to assist in the fight; and they get into a position where they are adjacent to both the enemy AND flanking ally, they can also gain the benefit of a Bloom status effect. This gives one person the power to grant 3 Bloom effects. Bear in mind that the middle person of the 3 has to be in the flanking position. Below you will find pictures demonstrating flanking in both cardinal and diagonal orientation.
Cardinal Orientation
Diagonal Orientation
In the case of large opponents (2 squares x 2 squares), the same rules apply but clarification is needed. When flanking in cardinal directions (north, south, east, west), if one attacker occupies one of the squares on the west side of the enemy, an ally can flank by taking a square on the east side of the enemy. Because there are 2 squares, that western attacker can have 2 active flankers on the east side of the enemy. When additional allies step in as well, one combatant can grant 4 Bloom effects in this orientation.
In this picture below, the combatant on the left is flanking with the one directly across the enemy from him. The person in the top right corner would also benefit from a Bloom effect because he is adjacent to both a flanking ally & and enemy. The combatant on the bottom right does not receive any special benefits as he is not flanking, nor is he adjacent to a flanking ally.
When flanking a large enemy on diagonals, the attacker is considered flanking with anyone in a square that touches the FARTHEST corner of the enemy's squares. Flanking on diagonals allows an attacker to have 3 eligible flanking partners. This is before additional allies step in as well and get their Bloom effects because they are standing next to both a flanking ally & enemy. Diagonal flanking ultimately allows one person to grant up to 5 Bloom effects.
In this picture below, the top left combatant and anyone that takes up one of the other three positions are considered to be flanking.
In this picture below, the attacker on the left and the top attacker on the right are considered to be flanking. The attacker at the bottom right is adjacent to the enemy & flanking ally, so they will also gain the benefit of the Bloom effect. The attacker directly below the enemy does not receive any flanking related effects.
In this picture below, things got shifted around a little. The top left attacker is flanking with the two allies touching the farthest corner of the enemy's squares. The ally on the left below the enemy is adjacent to both the enemy & a flanking ally, so in fact, all allies pictured will receive a Bloom effect.
Hopefully you have a deeper insight as to some of the mechanics that are powering this game and it has whet your interest in Crossroads: The Yzyrra Chronicles. Next time, we will be going over what happens when a player's turn comes up, and the resources available to the player to maximize their impact on the battlefield. If you are interested in learning more and wish to keep up with the updates on this games development, please feel free to Comment, Subscribe, and Share.
Until the next post, I'm Darrick Herring, and I look forward to seeing you next time. Good fortunes be with you!
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