Making a Better Game ...

So now that I have finally "given birth" so to speak ... I find myself looking back at Xceptional with a critical eye. I like much of what has been done here but I also find that I feel there are things that could be handled better. Perhaps my biggest disappointment is in the way I have handled (or not handled) the subject of weapons and armor. Translating Weapons and Armor arbitrarily to specific Xceptions feels tacked on ... and it is.

I have been a game designer who has switched gears a lot. Trying on this way of doing things, then that ... I have experimented with dice and mechanics, stealing ideas from every source that has inspired me, then started over from scratch with a new idea as soon as the next inspiring clever little idea tickled my fancy. I mention this mainly to say, that I believe I am settling in a bit at last. What I mean by this is ... "I like Xceptional."

The game mechanic, the game that I have built and specifically everything about the system that deals with task resolution and combat, feels good to me. I like it. I want it. I am going to stick with it. So, if I have finally settled on a way of handling these very basic things and I plan only to build up from here, and NOT to start over yet again ... then maybe ... finally, I am on my way to producing a "real" game. A game that can evolve into something better than a few interesting ideas. A game that people will play.

So, I love Xceptional but am not crazy about its current rules for weapons and armor. I want to change those and I need a plan to do that. What I am planning right now is to create a micro-game in the spirit of Steve Jackson's "Melee" that deals with simple skirmishes incorporating new rules for weapons and armor. My goal is to use the game mechanic from Xceptional (pretty much everything from pages 11-17 of the rules) with a minimum of alteration.

The intention is not to barrow from the rules for "Xceptions" in the creation of the weapons and armors rules. (Maybe I will save the Xceptions for a second, "Wizard" inspired micro-game.) I am going the independent micro-game route to narrow my focus to exactly what I wish to accomplish while not tying myself to trying to actually adapt the existing Xceptional document. Once I have created something that I like, I can fold the new weapons and armor rules into the entirety of the Xceptional framework (I will also want to incorporate my new "Elements" rules into the system as well.)

If anyone who has looked over the Xceptional document has suggestions for more integrated mechanics for weapons and armor, I'd love to hear your ideas.

Regards,



Jeff Moore

"You give me Fever!" - Adding ELEMENTS to Xceptional

In the comics, Super Powers have elemental sources (like fire or electricity) and heroes and villains are victorious or defeated often based upon their resistance to, or vulnerability against certain elements.

Adding elements to Xceptional is actually really easy. The trick is determining what sort of element a character's powers are based on, and then what that means to the character in terms of strengths and weaknesses.

Every character will gain three new properties.

* Foundation Element (FE) - this is the element the character's damage is based on. This Element forms the basis for all of the character's abilities and exceptions. When an opponent rolls to Control Damage caused by this character, the defender must take the attacker's Foundation Element into account.

* Element Vulnerability (EV) - this is an element that the character will take more damage from. It will often be an element that opposes the character's Elemental Foundation. For Example: Fire and Ice are opposing elements. Choosing a vulnerability that is opposed to a foundation is common but not required. A character's Elemental Vulnerability cannot be the same as their Foundation Element.

* Element Resistance (ER) - this is an element that the character will take less damage from. It will often be the same element as the character's Elemental Foundation, but it doesn't have to be. A character's Elemental Resistance cannot be the same as their Elemental Vulnerability.

CHARACTER CREATION

Foundation Element (FE) - Roll or Choose one Foundation Element for your Character.
Element Vulnerability (EV) - Roll or Choose one Elemental Vulnerability for your Character.
Element Resistance (ER) - Roll or Choose one Elemental Resistance for your Character.

ROLLING ELEMENTS:

[0-2] Roll or choose from set A [A0-A5]
[3-5] Roll or choose from set B [B0-B5]

[A0] Kinetic (knives, guns, rocks, clubs, fists)
[A1] Light (photons, positive energy)
[A2] Ice (or extreme cold)
[A3] Good (Holy, Life)
[A4] Psionic (mental powers, chi)
[A5] Corrosive (acid, water)

[B0] Cosmic (Generic Comic Book Energy)
[B1] Shadow (dark, negative energy)
[B2] Fire (or extreme heat)
[B3] Evil (Unholy, Death)
[B4] Lightning (electricity)
[B5] Toxic (radiation, poison)

HOW RESISTANCES AND VULNERABILITIES WORK.

If a character is Resistant to a certain Foundation Element they improve their Control Damage effect by one "level" when being attacked by a character of that Foundation. A basic success becomes a critical success and a failure becomes a basic success.

If a character is Vulnerable to a certain Foundation Element they reduce their Control Damage effect by one "level" when being attacked by a character of that Foundation. A critical success is only a basic success, and a basic success is a failure.

There are no effects greater than Critical Success or lesser than failure.

UPDATING THE STAT BLOCK

I am fond of mnemonics and like to use them to make the stat block easier to read. In the case of Elements, I use the word FEVER to help remember the order of FE (Foundation Element,) EV (Element Vulnerability,) and ER (Element Resistance) on the stat block.

The character's FEVER appears in Parenthesis, after the character's name, and before the ability scores. (I originally thought to append the information at the end of the block, but I was afraid this might make the character's Elements become confused with the character's Xceptions.) I also think dropping the rest of the information (following the FEVER) to a second line will make the whole block easier to read, and a two line block isn't too bad.

The New Stat Block would look like this.

OLD:
Dark Lord, 343, U2U, 121, Flight, Regeneration

NEW:
Dark Lord (Shadow/Light/Shadow)
343, U2U, 121, Flight, Regeneration

Remembering the mnemonic FEVER, we see that the Dark Lord above has a Foundation Element (FE) of "Shadow," an Element Vulnerability (EV) of "Light," and an Element Resistance (ER) of "Shadow."

ADDING ELEMENTS TO XCEPTIONAL ALSO SUGGESTS A FEW:

NEW XCEPTIONS

ELEMENTAL CHAMELEON: You can change your Foundation Element to a different one for the duration of your turn. You can only use this Xception if your unadjusted Initiative roll is equal to or lower than your ranks in Elemental Chameleon.

LACK OF WEAKNESS: Ignore the effects of Element Vulnerability until the next Initiative Sequence. You can only use this Xception if your unadjusted Initiative roll is equal to or lower than your ranks in Lack of Weakness.


INVULNERABILITY: You can change your Element Resistance to a different element until the next Initiative Sequence. You can only use this Xception if your unadjusted Initiative roll is equal to or lower than your ranks in Invulnerability.

Elements make a logical addition to the Xceptional game mechanic, and their inclusion seems to integrate well into the existing rules set.

As always, feedback is welcome.

Regards,


Jeff Moore

The Play's the Thing!

I haven't posted in a while. After a

very active January and February, I find that I have fallen off drastically in the "blogging" arena. This is due in part to the completion of Xceptional that finds me taking a bit of a rest. But also, I have shifted gears a bit. I spent a few weeks trying to learn about Linux and put it on my home PC, but I can't get my sound to work (sigh.)

Also, something the community that only reads about my RPG's online might not know about me is that my interest in RPG's blossomed in my earlier days into a full blown interest in theater. When I moved to Tulsa (more than 20 years ago now) I became involved in community theater here and stayed active in theater for over 10 years. I was even directing theater professionally (still community theater, but with a paycheck) by the time I eventually left it behind (for a technical profession that paid much, much better.)

I mention this because some of my recent "writing energy" is focused on writing a play for the stage. I found an interesting and useful website for organizing and formatting scripts. Zhura is a place to work online on your creative works and it has formatting options that will allow you to produce a final PDF version of your play that is preformatted for professional submission. I am working on a stage play, but geeky friends who are interested might also like to know that there is a different form for authoring scripts for comic books (as well as screen plays for movies and TV.) So, it might be something to check out if you are feeling creatively inclined.

Regards,

Jeff