A Tale of Two Frameworks
This is one of those facepalming moments of D'OH! that happens to me every other day or so. The circuits go 'click', the proverbial light bulb flickers on, and I'm left going "oh! So that's why..."
I am a big, big fan of Vince Baker's Apocalypse World system. I'm also a big, big fan of Ed Texeira's Chain Reaction family of miniature wargames. And it finally occurred to me that they have one interesting feature in common...independently derived, and not entirely identical, but surprisingly close.
They also have a certain tone in common, being fairly narrativist in feel. (I know, I know, 'how do you write a narrativist wargame'? Ed's done it. Trust me on this.) They achieve this by abstracting a whole lotta stuff that most of the gaming industry tries to define to a fare-thee-well and seventeen decimal places, letting you focus on the important stuff*. This is more apparent in the 'light RPGs' that Ed has published, like By Savvy and Steel, And A Bottle Of Rum, Future Tales, and of course the entire family of All Things Zombie including After The Horsemen...but it's definitely there in 5150 Star Army and 5150 Battalion Commander as well.
So, about that common feature:
In Apocalypse World and all its derivatives, there's a simple three point scale. Whatever the roll is, whatever you add to the 2d6, there are only three outcomes that matter.
In anything from Two Hour Wargames, there are only three basic outcomes for almost anything. You roll 2d6 and compare each individually to your figure's Reputation (the all-encompassing unistat for most of Ed's stuff). If the die is equal to or less than your Rep, it "passes" the check.
This may well explain why I keep looking at New Hope City (the official setting for 5150 New Beginnings and the Private Eye supplement that goes with it) as a possible setting for Uncharted Worlds! There's a lot of stuff that could transition smoothly from one game to the other! Not that it would be perfect. Oh, Void and Darkness, no, not perfect. But some of those localized and specific tables could convert to Custom Moves very easily.
(By the by, when you adjust for the various stats in AW, they come fairly close to matching the mechanics for Reputation. If you have a +2 in something, then you are roughly the same as a Rep 5 Hero for any move using that stat. I actually didn't expect that when I started a few envelope calculations to check the numbers. 'Course, I'm a crappy statistician, so someone out there can probably prove me utterly mistaken...)
Honorable Mention goes here to Blades in the Dark, which has a whole lot of PbtA in the source code. John Harper's rules also have a three-stage outcome, depending on the high die showing after a roll is made.
Blades is a bit more complicated, because there's also a sliding scale of difficulty depending on how much control the PCs have over the risk in question...but that's way too much to cover until after the book is finally published, lest I spill too many secrets.
* Other wargames that do this with fair success are Frank Chadwick's Command Decision and Arty Conliffe's Crossfire and Spearhead. I've heard a lot of bickering and arguing over the years about how these aren't "realistic" games, but my opinion is that they have the right "feel" for command at the level they represent. To paraphrase Mister Chadwick, you're a Battalion Commander. You issue orders to your companies and you want to know where your platoons are. You don't need (or want) to know that the number three vehicle in Company K, 3rd Platoon just threw a track and is immobilized. That's just too much information.
My only complaint with Command Decision is that I lose more Battalion Commanders to Panzergrenadier overruns than any other 'gamer I know. But in Soviet Army, Friendly Comrade Political Officer serves as a backup BC, which can save your bacon.
I am a big, big fan of Vince Baker's Apocalypse World system. I'm also a big, big fan of Ed Texeira's Chain Reaction family of miniature wargames. And it finally occurred to me that they have one interesting feature in common...independently derived, and not entirely identical, but surprisingly close.
They also have a certain tone in common, being fairly narrativist in feel. (I know, I know, 'how do you write a narrativist wargame'? Ed's done it. Trust me on this.) They achieve this by abstracting a whole lotta stuff that most of the gaming industry tries to define to a fare-thee-well and seventeen decimal places, letting you focus on the important stuff*. This is more apparent in the 'light RPGs' that Ed has published, like By Savvy and Steel, And A Bottle Of Rum, Future Tales, and of course the entire family of All Things Zombie including After The Horsemen...but it's definitely there in 5150 Star Army and 5150 Battalion Commander as well.
So, about that common feature:
In Apocalypse World and all its derivatives, there's a simple three point scale. Whatever the roll is, whatever you add to the 2d6, there are only three outcomes that matter.
- Got a ten or better? You do that thing.
- Got a seven, eight, or nine? You do that thing, but it's a mixed success. There's a complication or a cost.
- Got a six or less? In Soviet Union, thing does you.
In anything from Two Hour Wargames, there are only three basic outcomes for almost anything. You roll 2d6 and compare each individually to your figure's Reputation (the all-encompassing unistat for most of Ed's stuff). If the die is equal to or less than your Rep, it "passes" the check.
- Pass Two Dice? You're good to go.
- Pass One Die? You're good to go, mostly...sort of. Depending on what it was you were doing.
- Pass No Dice? This is gonna hurt.
This may well explain why I keep looking at New Hope City (the official setting for 5150 New Beginnings and the Private Eye supplement that goes with it) as a possible setting for Uncharted Worlds! There's a lot of stuff that could transition smoothly from one game to the other! Not that it would be perfect. Oh, Void and Darkness, no, not perfect. But some of those localized and specific tables could convert to Custom Moves very easily.
(By the by, when you adjust for the various stats in AW, they come fairly close to matching the mechanics for Reputation. If you have a +2 in something, then you are roughly the same as a Rep 5 Hero for any move using that stat. I actually didn't expect that when I started a few envelope calculations to check the numbers. 'Course, I'm a crappy statistician, so someone out there can probably prove me utterly mistaken...)
Honorable Mention goes here to Blades in the Dark, which has a whole lot of PbtA in the source code. John Harper's rules also have a three-stage outcome, depending on the high die showing after a roll is made.
- 6? Success. Maybe even a Critical Success if you have more than one.
- 4-5? Sort of a success, mostly.
- 1-3? Failblog Fodder.
Blades is a bit more complicated, because there's also a sliding scale of difficulty depending on how much control the PCs have over the risk in question...but that's way too much to cover until after the book is finally published, lest I spill too many secrets.
* Other wargames that do this with fair success are Frank Chadwick's Command Decision and Arty Conliffe's Crossfire and Spearhead. I've heard a lot of bickering and arguing over the years about how these aren't "realistic" games, but my opinion is that they have the right "feel" for command at the level they represent. To paraphrase Mister Chadwick, you're a Battalion Commander. You issue orders to your companies and you want to know where your platoons are. You don't need (or want) to know that the number three vehicle in Company K, 3rd Platoon just threw a track and is immobilized. That's just too much information.
My only complaint with Command Decision is that I lose more Battalion Commanders to Panzergrenadier overruns than any other 'gamer I know. But in Soviet Army, Friendly Comrade Political Officer serves as a backup BC, which can save your bacon.
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