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Old 06-13-2018, 06:31 AM   #1
Jim Kane
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Join Date: Mar 2018
Default Examining "Once Per Day" in TFT: Solution or Problem?

Examining "Once Per Day" in TFT: Solution or Problem?

On the subjects of: Healing Spells, Recovery from Injuries, etc., quite often of late in our discussions, the term: "Once per Day" has been evoked as part of an offered solution of how to govern: time, rate, speed, and frequency. While on the surface, a seemingly logical and completely serviceable solution in it's own right, I tend to reflexively resist going down this road as a rule-deliniator for use in The Fantasy Trip.

Why?

As we have no established incremental time-keeping system beyond the 5 second combat turn, which are not minutes or hours, on a day-length scale - of which there are 17,280 of these 5 second combat turns "per day". How then would a GM easily and accurately track exactly which combat-turn *on the next day*, Kov, the wizard, can finally cast again - now, finally re-charged 24 hours later - when down in the labyrinth?

It make a big difference when the Orcs are busting down the door your party has spiked-shut, in order to secure their over-night resting place down in the labyrinth.

And therein lies the rub.

I cannot imagine any GM would want to engage in the bookkeeping required on an Adventure Control Sheet, to accurately determine when a specific figure has completed a cycle of 17,280 combat turns from the time the spell was last cast, or a wound last inflicted.

Yes, a GM can just "fudge" the refractory period, by saying: "Okay, the Orcs have left your bloodied and bruised adventure party shackled to the cold, stone walls, and have left you to rot - if, a troll doesn't come along and eat you first! Anyway, you hang by your chained wrists, and it is now the next day. Kov your magic spell is recharged and you can now free everyone."

That sounds about as exciting to me as... some other game system.

The real problem rears it's head if we consider the question of: "What if the adventure party is not in a downtime period?"

Let us imagine it is sometime the "next day"; however, in this case, the party is in the middle of a heated battle, or, being pursued through the labyrinth tunnels by something large, fast, and nasty... What then?

How will a GM, know exactly when - *on which combat turn* - Kov can cast again?

Is he just going to *fudge it* as a "GM decree"?

If he does, he opens the door to inviting future expectation of such arbitrary and elastic rulings on the part of his players - and those lead to player-abuse, GM-abuse, arguments and case-pleadings further down the road; and worst of all:

A violation of: The Willing Suspension of Disbelief.

And *that* is when this specific game stops being magical, and the spell which is unique to The Fantasy Trip is broken.

While that is just one of the mechanical problems which would face us, the other problem I see with adopting a "once per day" deliniator, is that it is wholly antagonistic to the entire form and structure of our established magical system.

The Fantasy Trip uses a unique Jacksonian magic system, which is engineered around a "Per Usum" platform; whereas, other game systems use a Vancian magic system which is engineered around a "Per Diem" platform.

While both platforms have merit within their own games; however, because we have no time-keeping system which matches our tactical-scale over an extended period of time, we will be lost in a world of "fudging it" every time the question of when a "per day" has passed *every time* the characters are operating on the combat time-scale - the most critical part of the game.

I personally feel we should not take the "easy way out" on this one.

I believe we can come up with a better rule which matches, preserves, and subscribes to our Jacksonian "Per Usum" platform, and still achieves the goal of informing the 24 hour time period with accuracy. And, if we are going to seriously consider adopting the Vancian concept of "Once Per Day" as a rule deliniator, I feel we are obligated to also provide a matching rule for how that passage of time is accurately measured - without much "fudge".

Those are my thoughts on matter; but hey, do what you like.

JK

Last edited by Jim Kane; 06-16-2018 at 11:12 PM. Reason: Typo & Clarity
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