Previously we focused on the Oracle system, what we can use it for, what potential it has, and then we put a pin in it and decided to finish later after we have a better sense for what the rest of the system looks like.

Let’s begin with the action resolution system. The system as it stands:

1. Player declares the action or GM declares an action is required (equivalent to a save).
2. GM names relevant ability.
3. GM chooses difficulty score and doesn’t tell the Players.
4. Player selects a card (for opposed actions, GM chooses a value to oppose)
5. If Player Card + Ability is greater than Difficulty + Opposition Value, Success.

The major issues I can identify:

• Doesn’t leverage the Oracle very well. This procedure might as well just have dice.
• The difficulty score not being shared negates the ability for negotiation around position and effect, which compromises the heroic feel the game is going for.
• Failure does not introduce excitement. It’s a ‘No.’, not a ‘Yes, and…’
• Difficulty scores are boring. I know, I know, that’s a personal preference not a major issue.

My goals then:

• Leverage the Oracle
• Negotiation around position and effect
• Failure results in a ‘Yes, and…’

To achieve this, I’ll define some terms:

• Skill Level: Each Action has a Skill Level, and they are Unskilled (o), Skilled (1), Expert (2) or Master (3). If you are Unskilled you have Disadvantage, if you are not, you have 1, 2 or 3 Advantages respectively.
• Disadvantage: When you choose a card from your hand, draw a card from the deck in addition to it and play the lowest card.
• Advantage: When you choose a card from your hand, draw a card from the deck in addition to it for each advantage you have and choose which one to play.
• Trump: The suit of a card matches the suit of the Action being used. If two Trump cards oppose, neither count as Trump.
• Playing Cards: After a card is played or drawn, it is discarded and a new card is drawn from the deck to replace it.

The Procedure:

1. Declaration:Declare your goal and propose an Action. The GM should negotiate and explain logical consequences of using that Action to achieve that Goal.“I want to use Wreck to wedge the door open, so that I can hear the conversation.” “If you use Wreck, they’ll probably hear you regardless of how careful you are, and the door won’t be able to be closed again. If you use Tinker instead to listen at the keyhole using a makeshift ear horn, the door won’t be damage and they won’t be able to hear you, but you mightn’t get the information you want.”
2. The Play: Choose a card from your hand (and any additional cards according to your Skill Level), and play one (and only one) of these cards onto the table.
3. The Draw:The GM draws a card from the deck and places it on the table. If your position is desperate, they have Advantage. If your position is controlled, they have Disadvantage.
4. Compare:
   • If the Play beats the Draw and the Play is Trump, you succeed without consequence.
   • If the Play beats the Draw, you achieve your goal and suffer a consequence.
   • If the Play beats the Draw and the Draw is Trump, you succeed but your effect is reduced or you suffer an additional consequence.
   • If The Play does not beat the Draw, you do not succeed and suffer a consequence.
   • If the Play does not beat the Draw and the Draw is Trump, you do not succeed, and you suffer a additional or more severe consequence.
5. The GM describes what happens in line with your negotiation. 

This achieves my goals: Negotiation is present, mixed success turns failure into ‘Yes, and…’, Trump tying into consequences directly and effecting both Play and Draw is very neat and couldn’t be done with dice (as elegantly, at least). Difficulty on the GM side being Advantage and Disadvantage is a neat re-use of a mechanic and symmetrical in a way I like.

We can leverage the Oracle further by adding to our final implementation of it a clear indication (or an interpretative technique) that can use the Draw to help improvise the nature of Consequences. We’ll have to look at that when we come back to the Oracle.

Trump, Advantage and Disadvantage are levers that can be pulled by spells, special abilities and for more powerful foes, if we’re in need of levers down the line.

Ok, we’ll put a pin in that, and see what else comes up down the line. Next we’ll move into Combat and see how we can reduce the pointless complexity of combat in Fifth Age into something more pointed, simple and heroic. This might also require a diversion into the GM section of Effect, Position and Consequences, I’m not sure yet. I’ll take a break next week, though, to review and talk about Spire, taking a similar approach to it as I took to Troika, looking at it’s anti-text, mecha-text, canon-text and layout to see what I could learn from it to apply to Infinite Hack and Gaoltown.

What do you think about these quick development of an action resolution system? Is it interesting enough to want to act? Does it balance randomness and tactical choices sufficiently for interest? Does it take advantage of the Oracle in a way that justifies the lack of dice? Would you change anything, or have I forgotten anything? Comment below!

27th January 2022,

Idle Cartulary