From the ashes and into the flames.
Welcome back to the Crossblog! Please pardon our dust as we continue the construction. We are continuing to work towards the completion of this endeavor. As such I figured that I would do something a little different this time, and simply give a couple updates as to things that are happening with the game.
LIKE A PHOENIX RISING FROM THE ASHES...
First off, the playtest that I spoke of in Playtest Evolution #1 that was on indefinite hiatus is starting back up. We actually just completed the first session this past Sunday and it was a roleplay heavy session which was good for reintroducing everyone back into the fold after being off for 7 months. The session also started with them being walked through a level-up. This was significant because as the previous posts stated, their characters started as Lv. 4 characters that were sent out from the Adventuring Academy on their first assignment. For the sake of the playtest, I was going to grant them an accelerated TRIPLE level up to get them to their next Path ability, which would have put them at Crossroad (character) level 7. The hiatus gave me time to mull things over and realize that I was not really wild about the fact that in a legit campaign, the players would have two "dead" levels where they were getting Hit Points, Ability Points, Skill Points, and the like, but they weren't getting any cool new toys to play with. I wanted Crossroads to FEEL like an epic saga where they work their way to Level 50. Then I hit 14th Level on my Thaumaturge in my friends Thunderscape campaign. It was a "dead" level. I didn't really get any new abilities or spells because 13th level was a Christmas level for the build that I had. It was at that moment that I really started thinking about the gaps between unlocked abilities in my game and I realized that I wanted to fix that feeling.
I thought about this and realized that I wanted players to always have that carrot dangling in front of them. I wanted them to be persistently excited to reach the next level. I already had a dual Path system where the players learned 18 abilities over their career. Should I adjust the Level Cap down to 20? Well I thought back to a conversation that I had months earlier with Mike (a.k.a. "Balderk" the Cleric). He asked in reference to the main campaign and the fact players started as level 4 characters on their first assignment, "What if I want to make a homebrew campaign where the players start as level 1 people and level my paths separately?" In the earlier iterations that they learned about, I had the original stats for the 9 Paths in the Core Text that I shared with them. The growth bonuses for the core stats were averaged between the two component Paths and became the stat growth bonuses for the Crossroads that the character leveled as. Mike wanted to min-max and level each Path separately for the bigger bonuses to certain stats.
I thought about his question and at first, I had put up resistance, but I knew that min-maxing was nothing that I could prevent. So I gave it thought and realized that I needed start writing rules in the Core Text that accommodated this idea and explained how to do it. These new rules became know as AMP (Advanced Method Progression), and what I officially was presenting to the players was the SMP (Streamlined Method Progression) where I was "doing the secret math" for the player to allow them to focus on what I believe is the fun part of the game, the decisions of which new Path ability to take and how to spend your Path Points to achieve a Journey (build) that the led the player to a place that they enjoyed being in, in terms of strategy. This AMP related text was color coded so that when reading through, the player new what they were looking at. I was essentially trying to integrate two sets of character creation & progression rules. I was not really wild about the task, but I went through the process to try and cover my bases because I wanted the game to scratch those itches, wherever they may be.
That brings us back to the moment where I was trying to consider the possibility of lowering the Level Cap to 20. I mean in a dual-Path game where you unlock 9 abilities each, I've already got 18 levels taken spoken for, but how do I resolve those last two levels and where do they sit in the order?
In the playtest adventure I wrote for the players to go through, they were told by the Headmistress of their Academy giving them their first assignment, that upon completion of their assignment they should return as soon as possible so that they may receive "a special reward". They were going to find out that the "special reward" was a pair of Path Items appropriate to what their Crossroad was. It was at that moment, I realized I had my last 2 levels of unlockables.
What I decided to do was rearrange the narrative of the setting to resolve a couple issues. Instead of adventurers going into the academy, and taking on their first assignment at Level 4 and coming back to get their Path Items as a badge of honor, now the characters go to the Academy as Lv. 0 Commoners. They get their education and learn about all nine Paths and pick the two Paths that they wish to walk. They receive their Path Items, and they get their first assignment, as Crossroad Level 1 character (Path 1 Lv. 1/Path 2 Lv. 0). The character's first level in either of their Paths, is attuning and accessing their Path Item.
In the case of Balderk the Cleric, a Priest's Path Item is their Holy Symbol and the Fighter gets their Tabard. The Holy Symbol answered another question of Mike's about if there was a way for his healing to scale at higher levels. The design he chooses to put on his Tabard would enhance his assorted social skills (Interrogation, Provoke), as well as enhance his ability to motivate his allies when he grants them damage bonuses.
This was a good solution for a few reasons. First it answered the question of "What does the character unlock?". Second, it answered the question of "When do they get this unlock?". Third, it followed my original idea that I felt a character should have to sow investments into a Path before they start reaping the benefits of it. Fourth, it would be better to adjust how the adventuring education system worked so that it integrated better into any homebrew campaigns that ambitious GM's may craft. This would answer Mike's question about starting as Level 1 characters. When you only have 20 levels of progression, you don't want to spend the first 4 in adventuring school. This does not however answer the last part of his question about leveling Paths separately.
OUT OF THE FRYING PAN AND INTO THE FLAMES...
I was busy incorporating the adjustments that came with compressing the progression. It was actually not as hard of an endeavor as I expected because the changes I was making was truly streamlining progression. Every level unlocked an item or new ability. Skill Points were unaffected. Stat growth was unaffected, but had the added benefit of reducing character Hit Points. Having a bunch of dead levels meant near end game, combat could become a slog of people just trying to saw through each others HP. I don't want mountains of Hit Points eroding each other away. That's not the experience I'm going for. The compression DID result in characters having fewer HP, but they got more powerful. At Lv. 50 in the previous iteration, the character would have invested up to 150 Path Points (3 per level) acquiring and upgrading abilities.
With this compression, I bumped it up to 10 Path Points per level for a total of 200, when they have capped. For a frame of reference, to max out all 18 abilities, it would take 378 Path Points. I wanted specifically characters to not get enough PP to max everything out, because that would make everyone at the cap almost identical, leaving only their choice of race as a minor factor granting the slightest of edges (good or bad). That is not fun to me.
I believe that players will find the fun in following their Journey, or character build. They have an array of tools that can help them fulfill a role in their party's dynamic. Sometimes their dynamic will change as team strategies develop, rosters may shift, roleplaying directives may lead a player toward a certain theme in their build. Now with 200 points, they can do it a little more effectively.
Another side effect, that I found interesting was that with the Cap at 50, the player got 3 points per level. This would lead to sometimes going a couple levels before you could afford more expensive Ranks of an ability. That slower journey gave the player more time to make their decision about what they wanted to invest their points on. They were more determined because they easily knew what the most desirable thing was of their immediately accessible options. With the Cap at 20 and having 10 points per level, early gameplay will result in players taking an ability and instantly being able to buy multiple ranks into it. The thing that intrigues me is that this "rank gobbling" will slow down when more abilities become available. Points will start spreading out. Decisions will have to be made the higher level you become. Where does your Journey take you? Will you enjoy the view? THAT is where I feel the fun is in this game.
I've mentioned the guiding principle of "The Dedication Wall" for this game. I want to design a game that doesn't hold you back with arbitrary things like skill caps based on levels and the like. I feel if someone wants to be the best at something, there is nothing to stop you outside of yourself. You can improve at things but as you get better, it becomes harder and harder to improve. Could you be getting a bigger impact with your points elsewhere so you have other tools at your disposal? How far are you willing to go?
I have been listening to the Board Game Design Lab podcast almost ad nauseum while I'm working my day job and something was said by a couple of the designers that kept ringing in my ears. It was something to the effect of "Cut the excess, then cut some more.". Another thing I heard that struck a chord was the idea of designing to the experience that you want to create. As I've just said, I think that the real meat and potatoes of this game is in how one spends their ability points to fulfill their strategy.
As such, I am looking for places that I can cut the offal and leave the prime material. That being said, I will be cutting the AMP (Advanced Method Progression). It simply does nothing but add to the word count and create confusion because there is two sets of rules for progression. Ideally, I'd like to have leveling be something that could be handled in 15 minutes maximum and the majority of that should be internal debate over what you should acquire. Not referencing if you hit an even level in a specific Path so that you can get stat growth from there over stat growth that has been averaged for the combining of two Paths.
Crossroads: The Yzyrra Chronicles is a mid-crunch tactical role-playing game that benefits from the use of miniatures. You probably could play it more cinematic-style in the theatre of the mind, but as I've been working on it, I've always envisioned it playing out on a map like Final Fantasy Tactics. You have normal attacks, movement, abilities, skills, magic, casting ranges, area of effect attacks/spells, buffs/debuffs, etc. and only 5 Action Points (7AP when you near end game) in a turn to cram it all into. I don't think the waters need to be muddied with two sets of rules for progression.
Heat is a mechanic I think is interesting, offering performance benefits at the cost of increasing stress in combat. Then I started talking about Minimum Heat which, is heat that requires a character to rest to go away. I liked how it functioned but when explaining it, it is apparent it is a redundancy and needs to be cut. Until I make that cut, I am looking into the other ways to provide an organic way to prompt the Healer to tell his party, "Yo! I need a rest!". Options I am looking into are things such as:
LIKE A PHOENIX RISING FROM THE ASHES...
First off, the playtest that I spoke of in Playtest Evolution #1 that was on indefinite hiatus is starting back up. We actually just completed the first session this past Sunday and it was a roleplay heavy session which was good for reintroducing everyone back into the fold after being off for 7 months. The session also started with them being walked through a level-up. This was significant because as the previous posts stated, their characters started as Lv. 4 characters that were sent out from the Adventuring Academy on their first assignment. For the sake of the playtest, I was going to grant them an accelerated TRIPLE level up to get them to their next Path ability, which would have put them at Crossroad (character) level 7. The hiatus gave me time to mull things over and realize that I was not really wild about the fact that in a legit campaign, the players would have two "dead" levels where they were getting Hit Points, Ability Points, Skill Points, and the like, but they weren't getting any cool new toys to play with. I wanted Crossroads to FEEL like an epic saga where they work their way to Level 50. Then I hit 14th Level on my Thaumaturge in my friends Thunderscape campaign. It was a "dead" level. I didn't really get any new abilities or spells because 13th level was a Christmas level for the build that I had. It was at that moment that I really started thinking about the gaps between unlocked abilities in my game and I realized that I wanted to fix that feeling.
I thought about this and realized that I wanted players to always have that carrot dangling in front of them. I wanted them to be persistently excited to reach the next level. I already had a dual Path system where the players learned 18 abilities over their career. Should I adjust the Level Cap down to 20? Well I thought back to a conversation that I had months earlier with Mike (a.k.a. "Balderk" the Cleric). He asked in reference to the main campaign and the fact players started as level 4 characters on their first assignment, "What if I want to make a homebrew campaign where the players start as level 1 people and level my paths separately?" In the earlier iterations that they learned about, I had the original stats for the 9 Paths in the Core Text that I shared with them. The growth bonuses for the core stats were averaged between the two component Paths and became the stat growth bonuses for the Crossroads that the character leveled as. Mike wanted to min-max and level each Path separately for the bigger bonuses to certain stats.
I thought about his question and at first, I had put up resistance, but I knew that min-maxing was nothing that I could prevent. So I gave it thought and realized that I needed start writing rules in the Core Text that accommodated this idea and explained how to do it. These new rules became know as AMP (Advanced Method Progression), and what I officially was presenting to the players was the SMP (Streamlined Method Progression) where I was "doing the secret math" for the player to allow them to focus on what I believe is the fun part of the game, the decisions of which new Path ability to take and how to spend your Path Points to achieve a Journey (build) that the led the player to a place that they enjoyed being in, in terms of strategy. This AMP related text was color coded so that when reading through, the player new what they were looking at. I was essentially trying to integrate two sets of character creation & progression rules. I was not really wild about the task, but I went through the process to try and cover my bases because I wanted the game to scratch those itches, wherever they may be.
That brings us back to the moment where I was trying to consider the possibility of lowering the Level Cap to 20. I mean in a dual-Path game where you unlock 9 abilities each, I've already got 18 levels taken spoken for, but how do I resolve those last two levels and where do they sit in the order?
In the playtest adventure I wrote for the players to go through, they were told by the Headmistress of their Academy giving them their first assignment, that upon completion of their assignment they should return as soon as possible so that they may receive "a special reward". They were going to find out that the "special reward" was a pair of Path Items appropriate to what their Crossroad was. It was at that moment, I realized I had my last 2 levels of unlockables.
What I decided to do was rearrange the narrative of the setting to resolve a couple issues. Instead of adventurers going into the academy, and taking on their first assignment at Level 4 and coming back to get their Path Items as a badge of honor, now the characters go to the Academy as Lv. 0 Commoners. They get their education and learn about all nine Paths and pick the two Paths that they wish to walk. They receive their Path Items, and they get their first assignment, as Crossroad Level 1 character (Path 1 Lv. 1/Path 2 Lv. 0). The character's first level in either of their Paths, is attuning and accessing their Path Item.
In the case of Balderk the Cleric, a Priest's Path Item is their Holy Symbol and the Fighter gets their Tabard. The Holy Symbol answered another question of Mike's about if there was a way for his healing to scale at higher levels. The design he chooses to put on his Tabard would enhance his assorted social skills (Interrogation, Provoke), as well as enhance his ability to motivate his allies when he grants them damage bonuses.
This was a good solution for a few reasons. First it answered the question of "What does the character unlock?". Second, it answered the question of "When do they get this unlock?". Third, it followed my original idea that I felt a character should have to sow investments into a Path before they start reaping the benefits of it. Fourth, it would be better to adjust how the adventuring education system worked so that it integrated better into any homebrew campaigns that ambitious GM's may craft. This would answer Mike's question about starting as Level 1 characters. When you only have 20 levels of progression, you don't want to spend the first 4 in adventuring school. This does not however answer the last part of his question about leveling Paths separately.
OUT OF THE FRYING PAN AND INTO THE FLAMES...
I was busy incorporating the adjustments that came with compressing the progression. It was actually not as hard of an endeavor as I expected because the changes I was making was truly streamlining progression. Every level unlocked an item or new ability. Skill Points were unaffected. Stat growth was unaffected, but had the added benefit of reducing character Hit Points. Having a bunch of dead levels meant near end game, combat could become a slog of people just trying to saw through each others HP. I don't want mountains of Hit Points eroding each other away. That's not the experience I'm going for. The compression DID result in characters having fewer HP, but they got more powerful. At Lv. 50 in the previous iteration, the character would have invested up to 150 Path Points (3 per level) acquiring and upgrading abilities.
With this compression, I bumped it up to 10 Path Points per level for a total of 200, when they have capped. For a frame of reference, to max out all 18 abilities, it would take 378 Path Points. I wanted specifically characters to not get enough PP to max everything out, because that would make everyone at the cap almost identical, leaving only their choice of race as a minor factor granting the slightest of edges (good or bad). That is not fun to me.
I believe that players will find the fun in following their Journey, or character build. They have an array of tools that can help them fulfill a role in their party's dynamic. Sometimes their dynamic will change as team strategies develop, rosters may shift, roleplaying directives may lead a player toward a certain theme in their build. Now with 200 points, they can do it a little more effectively.
Another side effect, that I found interesting was that with the Cap at 50, the player got 3 points per level. This would lead to sometimes going a couple levels before you could afford more expensive Ranks of an ability. That slower journey gave the player more time to make their decision about what they wanted to invest their points on. They were more determined because they easily knew what the most desirable thing was of their immediately accessible options. With the Cap at 20 and having 10 points per level, early gameplay will result in players taking an ability and instantly being able to buy multiple ranks into it. The thing that intrigues me is that this "rank gobbling" will slow down when more abilities become available. Points will start spreading out. Decisions will have to be made the higher level you become. Where does your Journey take you? Will you enjoy the view? THAT is where I feel the fun is in this game.
I've mentioned the guiding principle of "The Dedication Wall" for this game. I want to design a game that doesn't hold you back with arbitrary things like skill caps based on levels and the like. I feel if someone wants to be the best at something, there is nothing to stop you outside of yourself. You can improve at things but as you get better, it becomes harder and harder to improve. Could you be getting a bigger impact with your points elsewhere so you have other tools at your disposal? How far are you willing to go?
I have been listening to the Board Game Design Lab podcast almost ad nauseum while I'm working my day job and something was said by a couple of the designers that kept ringing in my ears. It was something to the effect of "Cut the excess, then cut some more.". Another thing I heard that struck a chord was the idea of designing to the experience that you want to create. As I've just said, I think that the real meat and potatoes of this game is in how one spends their ability points to fulfill their strategy.
As such, I am looking for places that I can cut the offal and leave the prime material. That being said, I will be cutting the AMP (Advanced Method Progression). It simply does nothing but add to the word count and create confusion because there is two sets of rules for progression. Ideally, I'd like to have leveling be something that could be handled in 15 minutes maximum and the majority of that should be internal debate over what you should acquire. Not referencing if you hit an even level in a specific Path so that you can get stat growth from there over stat growth that has been averaged for the combining of two Paths.
Crossroads: The Yzyrra Chronicles is a mid-crunch tactical role-playing game that benefits from the use of miniatures. You probably could play it more cinematic-style in the theatre of the mind, but as I've been working on it, I've always envisioned it playing out on a map like Final Fantasy Tactics. You have normal attacks, movement, abilities, skills, magic, casting ranges, area of effect attacks/spells, buffs/debuffs, etc. and only 5 Action Points (7AP when you near end game) in a turn to cram it all into. I don't think the waters need to be muddied with two sets of rules for progression.
Heat is a mechanic I think is interesting, offering performance benefits at the cost of increasing stress in combat. Then I started talking about Minimum Heat which, is heat that requires a character to rest to go away. I liked how it functioned but when explaining it, it is apparent it is a redundancy and needs to be cut. Until I make that cut, I am looking into the other ways to provide an organic way to prompt the Healer to tell his party, "Yo! I need a rest!". Options I am looking into are things such as:
- Adjusting how much Heat is impacted by abilities, maneuvers, spells, heals, etc.
- How does resting in it's various forms effect Heat?
- Can Tactic Point(s) be spent to function like a rest of sorts? If so, how do I manage that?
- Can I add limitations on certain actions by making them "X times per day"?
- What are the potential ramifications of adjusting these things?
The final thing regarding casting the portions to be cut into the flames is this is even impacting the core attack roll. The attack roll has 5 components that factor in. The target of said attack has to have 5 components that serve as a counterweight and each component needs an opposition so that the final result produces something that is relatively balanced and attainable. While trying to figure out if there was something I could cull from this formula, I immediately started looking at the concept of Weapon Skills and it's opposition, Base Dodge Bonus (BDB).
The short version of this story is that Base Dodge Bonus was conceived as a way to emulate that a person who has become battle-hardened naturally becomes better at dodging. Weapon Skills were intended to be an compliment another component in the attack roll, Combat Bonus (CB). CB was a stat that represented prowess in all forms of physical combat, be it melee or ranged. CB granted an attack bonus, but had no impact on damage. Weapon Skill applied to both attack bonus and damage so long as a weapon was being wielded that counted as being of that skill.
The reason that it is getting cut was because in the Cap 50 iteration, BDB would end up at +9 to +10 if you banked ALL your Weapon Skill points on one weapon (which I'm sure there would be players that decided to do that). In the Cap 20 iteration, BDB would stop at +5 however the points I granted for Weapon Skills would have still allowed a player to ride one skill and still end up at +9.
It was at that point that I realized, by getting rid of Weapon Skills, it made weapon accessibility a bit easier to dole out to the various Crossroads. It also means that Plussed versions of weapons are all the more important to seek out. I won't go into it right now because I still need to finalize it, and get it in the Core Text but I have an idea that I think could be really cool and makes the player excited about getting a "+X Shortsword". In the end, I'm still trying to find that experience I'm looking for and try to shave off the excesses that don't really fit that inspiration or the principle of The Dedication Wall.
I'm not sure but this feels like one of my longer posts, but it does shed light on the thought processes and considerations that are being taken into account. It feels kinda nice to pull back the curtain and let others see what is happening behind the green screen. I may take this approach moving forward.
Hopefully, if you've made it this far that I'm saying something that has piqued your interests about Crossroads: The Yzyrra Chronicles and you want to learn more. If that is the case, please feel free to Comment, Subscribe, and/or Share.
Until next time, Good fortunes be with you!
This is Darrick Herring, signing off!
The short version of this story is that Base Dodge Bonus was conceived as a way to emulate that a person who has become battle-hardened naturally becomes better at dodging. Weapon Skills were intended to be an compliment another component in the attack roll, Combat Bonus (CB). CB was a stat that represented prowess in all forms of physical combat, be it melee or ranged. CB granted an attack bonus, but had no impact on damage. Weapon Skill applied to both attack bonus and damage so long as a weapon was being wielded that counted as being of that skill.
The reason that it is getting cut was because in the Cap 50 iteration, BDB would end up at +9 to +10 if you banked ALL your Weapon Skill points on one weapon (which I'm sure there would be players that decided to do that). In the Cap 20 iteration, BDB would stop at +5 however the points I granted for Weapon Skills would have still allowed a player to ride one skill and still end up at +9.
It was at that point that I realized, by getting rid of Weapon Skills, it made weapon accessibility a bit easier to dole out to the various Crossroads. It also means that Plussed versions of weapons are all the more important to seek out. I won't go into it right now because I still need to finalize it, and get it in the Core Text but I have an idea that I think could be really cool and makes the player excited about getting a "+X Shortsword". In the end, I'm still trying to find that experience I'm looking for and try to shave off the excesses that don't really fit that inspiration or the principle of The Dedication Wall.
I'm not sure but this feels like one of my longer posts, but it does shed light on the thought processes and considerations that are being taken into account. It feels kinda nice to pull back the curtain and let others see what is happening behind the green screen. I may take this approach moving forward.
Hopefully, if you've made it this far that I'm saying something that has piqued your interests about Crossroads: The Yzyrra Chronicles and you want to learn more. If that is the case, please feel free to Comment, Subscribe, and/or Share.
Until next time, Good fortunes be with you!
This is Darrick Herring, signing off!
Comments
Post a Comment