1. Dice pools.
I like dice pools, but I usually expect them to do something that flat rolls can't do. It seems like a roll-under or roll-plus-modifiers-vs.-TN system would suit you equally well here.
Now, granted, counting is usually easier than adding (with dice, the difficulty of operations goes something like this: comparing, counting, adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing), but using a roll-and-count-and-compare operation to replace what could be a simple roll-and-compare operation doesn't sit well with me.
If you have me rolling a dice pool and counting successes, I expect to be treating them as successes rather than points against a target number. Like this, for example:
Conan is running away from a bunch of bad guys. He encounters an obstacle: a pit. He wants to jump over it with his panther grace.
The GM says that clearing the encounter will require three successes:
- one success to at least catch the ledge and avoid falling down deep into the pit of darkness (what is below? who knows! or maybe you just say it is death)
- one success to land on his feet on the other side instead of just catching the ledge (enemies are chasing him! dangling off the ledge would open him up to ranged attacks or make it possible for them to catch up!)
- one success to avoid causing a pebble to fall into the pit in such a way that it awakens the slumbering horror below, which Conan might encounter later
If the player rolls at least three successes, Conan can safely bypass the danger.
But if the player only rolls two successes, now there is a choice: would he rather have Conan end up dangling dangerously from the ledge or would he rather escape the enemies but potentially deal with a no-longer-slumbering horror later on?
Maybe if he rolls four successes the player can not only bypass the dangers but also narrate how Conan's mighty leap causes the ledge to crack below him, sending a chunk of earth down into the chasm below, and talk about how that either makes it harder for his enemies to follow or clobbers the slumbering horror so that he doesn't have to worry about it again.
It's your game and I haven't seen this stuff in context, but if you just ask me "Hey, how about this mechanic?" that's the answer I'd give.
2. Roleplaying Rewards
I like player-driven mechanics here. Ones that allow players to tag what it is about their character that is important.
Several good options present themselves here:
You could make "roleplaying XP" the
only XP engine. Here's an example from
The Shadow of Yesterday:
Keys are the primary method of increasing a character's abilities. These are goals, emotional ties, or vows a character has. By bringing these into the story, the player gains experience points (XP) she can use to advance the character, increasing pools and abilities, or learning new Secrets and Keys.
Again, an example will illustrate this better:
Key of Conscience
Your character has a soft spot for those weaker than their opponents. Gain 1 XP every time your character helps someone who cannot help themselves. Gain 2 XP every time your character defends someone with might who is in danger and cannot save themselves. Gain 5 XP every time your character takes someone in an unfortunate situation and changes their life to where they can help themselves. Buyoff: Ignore a request for help.
The buyoff shown above is a special bit about Keys. Whenever a player has a character perform the action shown in one of the buyoffs, the player can (this is not mandatory) erase the Key and gain 10 XP. Once bought off, a character can never have the same Key again.
Alternatively, you could let players define a few motivations/interests/whatever (define, like right on your character sheet) and have those trigger bonuses (especially bonus dice). So maybe fighting for your country is worth +1 die to all your rolls. Perhaps "character levels" unlock new slots for motivations. Or perhaps the number of motivations you have is fixed but you can change them over time (with the balancing factor that you can never reclaim an old motivation, perhaps).
A nice related trick is to allow players to write down some weaknesses/flaws for their characters. Then the GM, in play, can offer the player a bribe for acting on some flaw. "1 XP if you let your honorable nature get the best of you and spare the bad guy, even though you know he's still up to no good." Then the players can choose how exactly the flaws kick in but they get rewarded for playing to them.
3. Use, Don't Save
Hmm... you could always knock out daily power economies altogether. Just make everything per-scene. Or maybe a mixture of per-scene and per-"adventure".
Reign has no abilities with limited uses and it's still quite good as a swordfighting-and-spellcasting game.
4. Lego Mini Figs
Are they going to be on a grid-based map? Or an abstract map? Or not on a map at all?
-- Alex
