12-04-2019, 03:49 PM | #21 | |
Join Date: Oct 2006
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Re: Basic Emotional Mechanics
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- Danny |
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12-04-2019, 03:55 PM | #22 | |
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Southeast NC
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Re: Basic Emotional Mechanics
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RyanW - Actually one normal sized guy in three tiny trenchcoats. |
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12-04-2019, 04:05 PM | #23 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
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Re: Basic Emotional Mechanics
Agreed. Any such mechanics need to enhance the game, not detract from it; and while a more generalized version of the Fright Check mechanic would be great for handling overwhelming emotions, milder ones ought to operate on a carrot-and-stick mechanism (you get bonuses in these cases and penalties in these other cases) rather than a loss of agency mechanism: the player should still have final say on what course of action his character takes.
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12-04-2019, 10:41 PM | #24 | ||
Join Date: Mar 2006
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Re: Basic Emotional Mechanics
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If a player can be ok with a failed HT roll causing unconsciousness to the character, or a failed Fright Check having the character run away screaming, I see no issues with a failed Emotion check causing the PC to behave as if they have Bad Temper (or something like that) towards the object of their PC's anger. You'd not lose control of the character so that you can only make one possible choice, but rather have your options limited based upon the specific emotion. Obviously, they'd be optional and not meant to be used in all types of games, but when you're trying to play a more dramatic game and your players just behave as if their PCs have no emotions at all, always making the most logical choice, or the most mechanically beneficial choice, it can get downright annoying as GM as they consistently ignore the dramatic interactions you slap in front of their characters. If I'm not mistaken, Cortex has such mechanics in one of its editions. IIRC, there are three: High Drama, High Action, and Superhero, but it's been a long time since I've looked at that, so I'm probably off on the naming. Quote:
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12-05-2019, 03:22 AM | #25 |
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: France
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Re: Basic Emotional Mechanics
My two cents …
Taking emotions into account is a good idea. A French game, Rêves de dragons (Dreams of Dragons) does it very well. By the way, it also considers astrological signs. Giving a bonus as well as a penalty is also a very good idea because it makes everything balanced. Thanks to the penalty, those who get the emotional bonus are not more nor less powerful than those who don’t get it. Having said that, as others said it above, making it a complete system is a bit cumbersome, especially during combats where there are already a lot of other things to focus on. Likewise, using the fright check table is a very good idea too, but it also slows down the game with several additional dice rolls … So, what would I do? I would just give bonuses and penalties, like AlexanderHowl suggested it. But I would do it without any system, and would choose much lower ones. As noted above, compared with usual combat modifiers, +9/-9 is tremendous! Even +5/-5 is too big. All-out attack only gives a +4 and a major distraction like all clothes in fire only gives a -3. Thus, when it is obvious that an emotion should improve or lower chance of success (strong anger when attacking, fear when climbing a tree to flee), I would assess a +1/-1 to the relevant skill rolls. If the emotion was far much stronger than that, I would raise it to +2/-2. But no more. And I would do it on the fly, without any system to assess it. That way, it would remain very simple and could even only be used when the player would claim for it: “He just killed my wife in front of me, fury should help me to strike him!” So, it would respect the control that the player is supposed to have on what thinks his character. |
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