Decommissioned: Keeping Time

(This is mostly a re-post from my own blog, put to public display in hopes of getting feedback)

The beginning of a D-Com game consists of the player(s) and Department Manager (my term for the person “runs” the game) discussing how long they want to play that night. The negotiated length of the play session determines a central mechanic in the game: Core System Time.

Let’s say the 2 players and the Dept Mgr decide on a 2 hour game. The two Battlebot PCs begin play with a 10 in Core and a d4 in “Fuzzy Logic”. Since in this example the game length is 2 hours or 120 minutes, every 12 minutes, both Battlebots lose 1 point of Core. When a Battlebot’s Core is 0, they are completely broken and cease all functions. These 12 minutes are real-time since everyone agreed to a two hour game.

If you think about this with the Core mechanic of “Stressing the System”, most of the time, the game would last less than 2 hours.

Here’s my favorite part of the timing mechanic. Once the play group settle on a game length (in hours), they play an mp3 that comes with the game that lasts two hours. The mp3 is completely silent (nothing to distract those players who hate music in game) most of the time. But for the two hour version, every twelve minutes, an audio cue notifies the players that a Core System failure has occurred (I’m envisioning a cool robotic voice).

But say you only want to play for an hour? That’s cool. The game will come with an mp3 with audio cues every 6 minutes. The game will come with mp3s for play sessions of 1, 2, 3 and 4 hours. As for what “comes with” means, I’m still pondering the details of either a CD included with the game or more likely, hosting the mp3s online.

* So, combined with the Two Stats, what do you think?
* Does this sound like a fun thing or a frsutrating thing? can GMs roll with this kind of short, structured game?

Decommissioned: 2 Stats

A few weeks ago, I was reading the game theory discussion Ron Edwards placed at the end of Sorceror and found his breakdown of the types of conflict resolution a very interesting explanation of how games work.

The next morning, I woke up with ideas for D-Com mechanics that has really excited me about the game again.

At this point, there are two base stats. Once I get them firmed up, I may add more fiddly bits to play with, but for now, only two.

Core:

The first stat is called Core. Core covers all actions that a Battlebot can do: move, shoot, hack into systems, follow orders, process sensory input, make tactical decisions in the field, pretty much anything and everything that a corporation would create a Battlebot to do.

Core is a base number, not a die value. You cannot “roll” Core. To perform an action, you compare Core to the difficulty of the task. If the score of Core equals or exceeds the difficulty of the task, it is completed.

• Core begins at a 10. The highest possible Difficulty for an action is 11 (that’s right, my game goes to 11). Therefore, at start, a Battlebot can do pretty much anything (they’re the best there is at what they do)
• As play progresses, the Core stat decreases (reflecting the Meltdown as systems fail). This means Battlebots will face failure for easier tasks as the game progresses.
• Fear not! One fiddly bit is that a player can choose to “stress the system” and push their PC to accomplish higher difficulty tasks by taking immediate drops in their Core equal to the difference between their current Core and the difficulty (EX: Battlebot is at 6 Core and wants to attempt Difficulty 7 action to save a comrade; the player can choose to “stress the system”, meaning their PC saves the comrade, but the PC’s Core drops to 5 immediately (7 Diff – 6 Core equals 1 drop in Core); this means a player can still do fantastic deeds with their PC, but at a cost of hastening their destruction.

But wait… there’s more: there’s yet another way for players to beat the odds – check the next stat
“Fuzzy Logic”

The second stat is currently called “Fuzzy Logic” but it is only a placeholder name. “Fuzzy Logic” is the reflection of the AI and Learning Computer that sets a PC apart from other units (While an average Battlebot only exists to serve the Tech Masters for the good of The Corporation). “Fuzzy Logic” is also the reason for the Battlebot’s upcoming destruction, because it is what drove the unit to rebel and flee the Compound.

“Fuzzy Logic” is used when a Battlebot does something outside its programming: talking to humans, making decisions off the battlefield, moral or ethical decisions, performing “illogical” actions or anything the play group agrees would be outside a Battlebots programming.

• “Fuzzy Logic” is represented by a die type and a roll of the die. “Fuzzy Logic” begins as a d4, but grows over the course of the game (currently thinking of growing the die type form d4 to d6 to d8, but may just stick to d4s and increase number of dice).
• For measuring success or failure of “Fuzzy Logic” actions, the Department Manager sets the difficulty of the action and player rolls their die attempting to meet or exceed the difficulty.
  “Fuzzy Logic” is increased when a player fails a roll. This represents the learning computer within the Battlebot.
• “Fuzzy Logic” is normally used for actions outside a Battlebot’s programming, but if the player describes how their “Fuzzy Logic” gives a boost to an action that is within Battlebot programs, the player can roll “Fuzzy Logic” and add it to the Core total to compare against the difficulty of the action.

So, does this breakdown work, as in make sense for a game?

Will players have fun with two stats only?

What could I call fuzzy logic?

Decommissioned Big Three

Big Three
1. What is your game about?
Decommissioned is a satirical look at the dehumanization of corporate life.  In the game, players take on the role of Battlebots, Atificially Intelligent combat units manufactured by multi-global corporate entities specifically to war with the Battlebots of other corporations.  The PC Battlebots have decided to escape their monotonous existence for a short span of freedom, knowing that once they leave The Compound, their Tech Masters will flip their Killswitch and their Core will begin Meltdown, the inexorable descent to destruction.  Each Battlebot will have a specific goal from character creation and the game is about its pursuit of that goal.  This goal is created by the player in corporation with the GM.

2. What do the characters do?
Decommissioned PCs are Battlebots that begin play escaping The Compound and spend their remaining existence pursuing their one goal before their Meltdown (destruction).  During this time, the Battlebots will face conflict with their former department members (other Battlebots) and other obstacles until the Battlebot either meets destruction while achieving their goal, or possibly being destroyed before accomplishing it.

3. What do the players do?
During the initial stage of the game, the player(s) and GM choose the length for the game (1, 2 or 3 hours) and players create their Battlebot’s goals.  Then, the GM begins play and the timer begins.  As time progresses, PCs suffer Core Failures, losing their main character statistic.  However, by trying new things and driving towards their stated goal, players can increase a second stat that can be used to help their Battlebot succeed at conflicts.

New Moderators

Master Miners,

This is the official announcement of a “changing of the guards”. Chris Perrin and I have volunteered to help moderate the site. Our term of office will be three months. After that, we pass it on. This is a self-imposed term of office completely of our own design. I have a drive to get far into the Playtesting phase by GenCon ’08, and hopefully can move to Reserve status after that (more on Reserves later).

We think the core of Master Mines is great: “we’re fledgling designers designing our games together”. Most of our efforts will be back to basics, resuming the Ping, keeping people posting, creating new buzz. That being said, I think in trying to be autocratic, some of the drive was lost. I want Master Mines to be synonymous with Mutualism, in that as a community we will push you towards your project goals and love you when you take each step. I myself look forward to getting the kick in the butt I need on my design, so feel free to Mutual away on me. Lastly, our default assumption for your project is that you plan on publishing it for people to buy. If this isn’t the case, please explicitly and openly say so.

Based on feedback from Miners, we have revised the status set-up: moving recharging, publishing and dormant Miners to the Reserves to keep focus on those of early in the design phase. This is in no way a demotion, it frees the Reservists to post and comment as they have time, but still be a contributing part of the community.

Here are a few things each Active member should contribute to their Projects page.

1. A draft. No mater if it is a bunch of bullets or something slightly out of date, we need something to read through in a single, focused sitting. This should be a living, breathing document. A Google doc might be a good idea for this, but for now, let’s keep that as is.

2. The Big Three. This is something everyone should do for their game at any state. I personally will be pushing for this from each Active member.

3. The Power 19. This is not a requirement, but a suggestion.  The Power 19 should be completed soon after Big Three or after you’ve completed a draft.  It will help you more than you’d expect and will challenge you on some of the assumptions you’ve made in your head about your game.

These changes aren’t set in stone. We are open to feedback. But ultimately, we hope these changes will benefit the group.

Decommissioned

Decommissioned (D-Com) is my first game design. It’s a one night sci-fi game with a small number of players and a GM. I submitted the original draft as an entry for Game Chef 2007. It was fun to design and I like some of the core, but the game is very incomplete.

The Player Characters (PCs) are robots called Battlebots. They were manufactured to wage endless war at the behest of planetary corporations against other planetary corporations’ Battlebots. What makes the PCs special is that they decide to leave The Compound and stake out on their own, knowing this spells their doom.

Once a Battlebot leaves The Compound, the administrators of the facility, known as the Tech Masters, pop the Killswitch on that unit. Once activated, the target Battlebot begins to degrade quickly, giving it scant hours until they lose all functions and cease to exist.

Most Tech Masters take an extra step to ensure that the Battlebot is Decommissioned. They gather the Battlebot’s former team, advise them that a former must be destroyed, and pop the Killswitches of that team, promising to reverse the process for them once their mission is complete.

The game is created to last an exact number of hours or less, based on play.  I did this for a couple reasons: to give it a pick-up feeling to be used when nobody wants to get into a campaign but wants to play something in a short amount of time and to avoid the trap of players not wanting to create a character just to play through several sessions and watch them die.

The current questions I have about the game are as follows:

1. Difficulties for actions will be from one to ten (except completely insane actions, which would be an eleven).  That means if a GM wants to imagine how tough something would be, they just assign a percentage value to it.  That just doesn’t feel like enough of an explanation to me.  How should I give GMs and players good descriptions on difficulties?

2. The game will move very fast (there’s a version where you play in an hour).  What can I do to help GMs think on their feet and push scenes to quick resolution (not mech resolution, that will be a later post)?

3. What should my Battlebots look like?  A completely human looking android? Something akin to the Battle Droids of the SW prequels?  Maybe the robots from I Robot the movie?

Here’s Where I Accomplish Another ’08 Gamer Resolution

Hi! My name is Rich Rogers. I am excited to be a Master Miner.

A Bit About Me

I’m one of the hosts of the Canon Puncture Show (a podcast about RPGs) and a commenter on many of the designs posted here in Master Mines. I live and work in Jax, I’m married to a wonderful gamer wife and I have a two and a half year old son. During and slightly after college, I was heavily involved in theater and got a degree in it, but once I hit adulthood and my time became limited, I’ve moved to using RPGs more of a creative outlet. I still attend plays as much as I can. I’m a big baseball fan and I love being in Florida during spring training.

How I Know You

In regards to the Master Mines community, I’ve gamed with Ryan, Chris, Paul and Daniel and consider all of you peers and friends. I learned about this whole Story Game and game design thing from Sons of Kryos originally, and I’m a big fan of Jeff L. But I found out about Sons of Kryos from listening to Gamer: The Podcasting, the former LARP-White Wolf loving podcast co-hosted by Jeff H.

I semi-played a game with Rob at GenCon ’07, but really just sat there after Jason Morningstar handed me his character(s) and left the table for something. I had some sparkling actor vs. author stance discussions and supped with Clyde at GenCon ’07 and I’m still chewing on the knowledge he dropped on me then. I look forward to getting to know Mike and Matt.

My Gaming History

I come from a history of traditional RPGs such as D&D, Rifts, Shadowrun and Star Wars d6, but in the 90s, I took to the White Wolf Storyteller System and ran several long campaigns involving players speaking primarily “in character” with lots of drama and intrigue, something I once referred to as a “sit-down LARP”. I’m a reformed munchkin who became a “GM Nazi” then woke up to Story Games, so I’ve run the gamut. I prefer the acting part of role-playing to anything else and strongly believe in the C.S. Lewis quote, “Plot is character”. I like rules-light systems over mech heavy ones. Recently, I’ve played much more over Skype than face-to-face and find the medium intriguing.

My Game

I’m excited to officially “jump in” to Master Mines with my current project and my first game design ever. My game is called Decommissioned (a.k.a. D-Com). It’s a sci-fi corporate satire about conformity vs. freedom and the cost of being different. I have a draft of the game that I submitted as an entry to Game Chef ’07, but the game has radically changed since that point. My time-related goals are to create a playtestable draft before GenCon ’08 and playtest it at GenCon ’08 then I want to move to the publishing phase by year’s end and publish the game in early ’09.

My D-Com design goals are as follows:

• Create a quick resolution system that uses a declining stat and a variable die roll in separate and in combination
• The game will run to a strict time factor: you can play it in one sitting; the approach will be that it is a pick-up game, something you can play if someone in the group doesn’t show for game night
• It will use audio cues for the timing of the game
• The story and system must work over VoIP and face-to-face
• The game must reward choices to move the story forward and punish goofing off
• The game should include a simple story-building kit, a way for players to sum their characters quickly and to create flags that a GM can hit with minimal effort; scene construction must be easy and fast
• Player Characters will not survive this game, and it should be meaningful and engaging

My Big Three will be up soon. Following that will be a revised Draft.