Category: Gaming

One of my rules of thumb for evaluating RPG combat systems is the number of times you have to roll to resolve an attempt to hit, on average. For example, in D&D, you have to roll twice — once to hit, and once for damage. In Vampire, you roll at least three and often four times — once to hit, maybe once to dodge, once for damage, and once for soak. In Feng Shui, you roll once — the roll to hit is also the roll for damage.

My assumption is that (assuming a standard combat system, rather than something more narrativist) fewer is better, because it make combat flow more quickly. There’s an orthagonal concern, which is getting the feel of combat right; for most games, you don’t want to say “roll 1d6 and if you get a 4 you hit, and if you get a 5 you hit and kill.” That’s quick and simple but most likely not satisfying.

However, I recently decided that this is too simplistic. While playing Mutants & Masterminds, I found myself getting all antsy about the combat system. Which is weird, because it’s simple: one roll to hit, one roll for defense.

But it’s a different person for each roll!

So, the addendum: you have to take information transfer into account. Go back to D&D. Roll to hit, tell your opponent what you rolled, roll for damage, tell your opponent what you rolled. Compare and contrast to M&M — roll to hit, tell your opponent what you rolled, tell your opponent what your Damage bonus is, your opponent rolls a Damage save, your opponent tells you if you did damage.

Same number of rolls, but you keep having to pass information back and forth. Feng Shui, the ruling champion of quick combat systems, is way simple: roll to hit, tell your opponent what you rolled, opponent tells you if you did damage. Hero is on par with D&D — roll to hit, tell your opponent what you rolled, roll for damage, tell your opponent what you rolled.

Of course, you really ought to figure in math complexity. It’s easier to do the math in Feng Shui than it is in Hero, and Hero is noticably more complex than D&D (since you’re counting BODY and STUN from the same roll, and adding a lot more dice).

The key observation, though, is that information transfer matters. I’ve heard more than one game designer talk about giving the defender a chance to roll to “involve him in the game” and so on, but I begin to think that’s a misguided concept.

More hot White Wolf vs. Sony action!

The plaintiff mandatory disclosures have been filed; I’m not going to further disseminate the PDF because, well, there are home addresses in there and I don’t see any reason to make ‘em more public than they already are. I’ll do a fuller transcription later if I have the chance. In the meantime, here’s a no doubt inadequate summary of the bits which are interesting to non-lawyerly me — i.e., what’s White Wolf asking for?

Everything Underworld to be recalled and destroyed. Damages for copyright infringement. Additional damages for $150,000 per copyrighted work infringed. (I haven’t gone back and counted, but that’s gotta add up to seven figures, if I recall correctly.) Damages in the amount of Sony’s sales, tripled. Plus, of course, the costs of the lawsuit.

I was gonna do a long review of Gamma World, but, well, here. I liked the design of the book much more than that guy, but his comments on the mechanics are right on target.

The community rules are both really inspiring and kind of disappointing. The idea of using PC stats to represent a group of people is great; I can’t remember where I first saw it (might have been Vampire, actually) but this is a really good implementation of it. Except that several of the stats have no game effect, and there’s no meat behind most of the ratings — no explication of what they mean.

I see, in Gamma World, a pretty stark example of the conflict between the relatively rules-loose style of White Wolf and the number crunching of D20. There’s more room for jazz in the Storyteller system, partially because the system is looser and partially because the expectations of the fans are different. D20 games need mechanics that interlock and function predictably. Gamma World doesn’t really have ‘em.

And it’s a shame, because it’s a really inspirational book. The updated background, involving a failed Singularity, is very good. It just needs a better ruleset.

On the topic of Unknown Armies writeups, here’s Unknown Armies: Kansas, another UA blog. As I understand it, their game is being played via the blog, which is an interesting idea. I’m really curious about the mechanics behind the curtain.

Anyhow, the writing is promising, and it’s set in Kansas.

There is always more White Wolf v. Sony. Here’s Danny McBride’s declaration, as promised (the third screenwriter).

I also have White Wolf’s interrogatory of 9/18 for you. The relevant bit seems to be the five questions asked, which I will reproduce for those who scorn PDFs:

1. Identify all sources for the items listed for Underworld on the comparison chart attached hereto as Exhibit “A.”
2. Identify all documents read, references or used at any time by anyone with any involvement in creating or contributing to the script, screenplay, treatments, character studies, script or production notes, movie, comic book or novel for Underworld.
3. Identify all persons involved in the creative process for any version or draft of the script, storyboards and/or script or production notes for any version of Underworld.
4. Identify all vampire and werewolf books or sources reviewed (including Internet search engines), read or consulted by Wiseman, McBride, Grevioux or any other person involved in the creative process for the script(s), storyboards and/or script or production notes for any version of Underworld.
5. Identify all persons who may be used by you at any hearing in this case and/or upon the trial of this case to present evidence under Rules 702, 703 or 705 of the Federal Rules of Evidence and provide the disclosures required by Rule 26(a)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

And a few notes:

Exhibit A is a long list of purported similarities. It’s more or less the same as the list in White Wolf’s original complaint, except that it cites specific pages in both White Wolf’s books and in the script. It’s at the end of the PDF linked above.

It strikes me as slightly odd that question 2 doesn’t specify computer games, since the subtitle “Bloodlines” is one of White Wolf’s claimed points of similarity.

Rule 702 says expert witnesses may testify, Rule 703 describes when an expert witness can testify, and rule 705 says an expert witness can testify in terms of opinion or inference without first testifying to the underlying facts. Rule 26(a)(2) calls for disclosure of expert witnesses. I.e., if you’re gonna call expert witnesses, you gotta tell the other side in advance.