#RPGADAY 21 Push

Makes me think of pushing rolls – fate points, karma in marvel super heroes & beanies in fate that kind of thing. I listened with interest to the latest grognodfiles on the Conan RPG and the use of momentum & doom seemed really interesting – even if expensive coffee table RPGs bring me out in hives.

I think the interesting element here is that give players agency in changing the odds. Of course the simulationist in me thinks players can do that without fate points etc by making interesting decisions – picking their fights, using terrain, setting up stings. I suppose it’s an issue of the stories you want to tell

• Do the characters succeed despite or asides the environment from their innate heroism – use fate points etc
• Do they succeed because of the environment & their cunning ? don’t but this does put a pressure on tired / frazzled players.

These are of course two extremes and there are spaces in the middle.

Condition : smoky or -2 to perception checks due to smoke ?

A tangential point to this is the various conditions that systems like FATE use to affect play. I like this, but I don’t think it’s anything new – how is applying a penalty to a guard the PCs get drunk in runequest different to a condition ‘ drunk’ applied after a successful party animal aspect use in FATE ? I suspect they’re not – it’s just a case of the empire it’s new mechanics and that the newer systems make it explicit players should be trying to change their environment something that got lost in the cult of master storyteller DM.

What do you think on these topics ?