Gothikus! Draft

I’ve made some major updates to Gothikus! Some of the features I blogged about earlier have been incorporated, while others have been abandoned. You can consider this document the “canon” Gothikus draft until I get more playtest feedback.

Gothikus! 17-June-2008

 

Absynthe & Opium

This is just a reminder to myself to look into writing this game about Libertines fighting the evils of the occult and supernatural “just for kicks.”

 

The Libertines

Standing over the corpse of the man I’d just killed in his own home, and surrounded by the broken forms of men who had once been my closest friends, I wondered for a moment if it had all been worth it. I wiped my rapier on my coat and stilled the tears threatening to clean the dust from my cheek. I availed myself of the dead man’s liquor, and sitting in his chair next to the fireplace I promptly drank myself into oblivion. And I dreamt an absinthine horror of how it all began.

Henri and myself were, as usual, reclined in the tattered chaise lounges that were our regular places at the Yellow Poppy, drawing deep breaths on the long, narrow pipes who were our preferred mistresses. Henri had outdone himself, and several times whores had entered the room to solicit our patronage and mistaken Henri for dead. For myself, I no longer cared if he were or not, as I no longer had much stake in the status of my own life. We were all just passing the days until the end of life, trying not to commit the single unforgivable sin of suicide, trying to dull the insufferable boredom.

We all had a good laugh when the Ethopian girl unbuttoned the fine trousers that Angelique had worn – after her regular fashion of dressing as a foppish boy, to the distress of her fine and noble family – and reaching for the prize, found naught-and-minus. Angelique’s franc bought the same services in the end that all of ours did, and the brash American brothers in the corner did nothing all night but stare at the two of them in amazement and disbelief.

François burst through the door with the enthusiasm of a priest in a brothel. His arms waving and tongue wagging wildly. Drinks were spilled and sleepy eyes were half opened. Blasphemies were muttered. Eventually he calmed down enough to tell us what was the matter.

“Nothing is the matter! I have the answer! I have it.”

“By all means, then, share it or still your offensive tongue from breaking my hard-won silence,” said I.

“In the tavern tonight, a traveler told a tale…”

“Must you alliterate so, François?”

“…of a remote manor near his home village. The lord of that manner terrorizes that town to no end.”

“As do we, François, with our respective properties.”

“But he…he is a Vampire!”

And so our plan was born, the plan to cure our sickness of world-weariness, the meal that would satiate our hunger for adventure, for our swords to taste the sweetness of flesh. We would search this “vampire” out and save the town. In its gratitude, the nectar of its grapes and grain, the flesh of its deer and foul, and the flowers of its daughters would no doubt be laid before us for the taking.

And here I stand. The last one of my friends to hang on to this world of mortal illusion. Do I regret it? I tell you: no!

 

Simple Narrative System – An Experiment in Brevity (inspired by (Wheel of) FATE)

Character Concept

Briefly describe who your character is. It should more or less follow this format: (adjective) (optional adjective) (noun).

Character Description

Describe three, and only three details about your character’s appearance.

Skills

First, the Adjective Ladder of Skill & Difficulties:

Number of Dice	Level of Skill	Descriptor	Level of Difficulty	Target Number
6	Superb	Preternaturally	Revolutionary	30
5	Great	Extremely	Staggering	25
4	Good	Very	Daunting	20
3	Fair	Pretty	Difficult	15
2	Average	More or less	Challenging	10
1	Poor	Not Very	Simple	5

Characters roll 1 die for everything by default. They roll their skill level when appropriate.

Characters choose 1 skill at Great (5), 2 skills at Good (4), 3 skills at Fair (3), and 4 Skills at Average (2).

The skill list can include anything the GM and the players feel is important to the game. I suggest that eveyone involved sit down for a brainstorming session and create the skill list together.

Players are not required to choose all their skills prior to play. They need only choose their 1 Great skill, and one of their Good skills, and can choose the rest as the need arises in play.

Traits

Create five traits. One of them should explain how your character acquired how he gained his Great skill, one of his Good skills, and one of his Fair skills. At least one should describe some weakness or flaw, and one should include some sort of relationship (family, organization, nemesis).

Stress

You get five boxes each in the following tracks: Health, Composure

You can get extra boxes by taking Endurance and Resolve as skills. You get one box for each level (example: Average Endurance will get you 2 extra boxes; Good Endurance will get you 4 extra boxes, etc).

Each time you lose in a conflict, you take one box of damage, plus an additional box for each Ace. Once you are past the last box, you have been defeated and are at the mercy of your opponent.

You can take up to three consequences to clear out boxes of damage. The first consequence is “mild” and clears out two boxes – once is has been tagged once, it is cleared. The second is “moderate” and clears out four boxes – moderate consequences can be tagged for the duration of the scene. The third is “severe” and clears out six boxes – severe boxes can be tagged until they go away.

A consequence is a temporary trait, and can be tagged by your opponent for extra dice. You must negotiate with the GM or opposing player as to what the consequence is. If the consequence is disagreeable, you can always take the damage instead.

Consequences last an appropriate amount of time. A scratch or bruise won’t matter much. A broken arm will heal, a missing eye will not.

Karma

Each character begins with 5 Karma points (in the form of tokens of some sort) which can be spent as follows:

• Invoke a trait. If your roll can somehow benefit from your trait, add an extra die to your pool for that roll.
• Tag a trait belonging to someone, or something, else. This also adds an extra die to your pool for that roll.
• Gain a bonus die.
• Declare a coincidence.

How to get more Karma Points

Do something cool. In a bowl placed in the center of all the table, place 5 Karma tokens for each player. If a player narrates something cool, makes everyone laugh, or elicits a high-five, one of the other players should award him with one of these tokens.

The GM can compel you to act according to your trait and pay you 1 Karma Point. If the action is disagreeable, you can negotiate for more Karma Points. If you refuse, you must pay him the same number of Karma points he offered.

How Dice Work

The GM decides on a difficulty and rolls the appropriate number of dice (or sets a target number).

The player counters by rolling dice of his own.

Extra Dice

If a player invokes or tags a trait, an extra die is added to the roll and counted in addition to the other dice.

Bonus Dice

Bonus dice are added to the roll, but only highest dice equal to the skill dice + extra dice are counted. In other words, you remove the lowest dice equal to the number of bonus dice in the pool.

Penalty Dice

Penalty dice are added to the roll, but only lowest dice equal to the skill dice + extra dice are counted. In other words, you remove the highest dice equal to the number of penalty dice in the pool.

Aces

For every five points you beat the GM’s roll you get an Ace. Each Ace allows you to narrate one additional detail relating to the results of the roll.

Framing Dice

Each player gets 6 dice at the start of each session. After each scene has ended, the dice are rolled to see who gets to frame the next scene. The player who wins loses one of his dice.

The GM can step in and frame a scene at any time.

 

Writing Effective Traits, Aspects, Clichés, etc.

A well written trait should serve several functions; it should have both positive and negative aspects, and should contain the seed of a story.

Here are a few examples of well written traits:

Wears eye patch to cover eye lost in duel with Goodman Bartholemew
Pros: air of mystery and romance, probably trained as a swordsman, story hook
Cons: bad depth perception, recurring enemy

Former strongman in traveling carnival
Pros: has been around, strength, connections, story hook
Cons: still acts like a carney

Disgruntle Vietnam Veteran
Pros: Excellent combat skills, keeps cool head in stressful times
Cons: Flashbacks, lack of social skills

Sleazy Used Car Salesman
Pros: Great people skills, can keep them coming back for more
Cons: Slimy, favors polyester

Easily-Excited Cable Television Journalist
Pros: Out for Blood work ethic, detailed knowledge of politics
Cons: Emotionless, slept their way up the ladder, not worried who she tramples on to get to the top

Mayor of Questionable Ethics
Pros: Has a great public face, knows how to work the system
Cons: Closet full of skeletons, intern under the desk

Low-level Drug Dealer
Pros: Knows the right people, can handle a pistol
Cons: Not only selling but sampling as well, owes someone money

Magnificent Knight of the Kingdom
Pros: Swings that longsword like he was born with it, has all the ladies’ eyes
Cons: Must always do the “Right Thing” regardless of who it affects, cannot read

 

Gothikus Flaw Descriptors

Characters may gain extra points to buy descriptors by taking Flaws (d4).

You may only take a flaw in a stat that is rated higher than poor.

The flaw must somehow be related to a trait, and the points gained must be spent on descriptors related to that trait.

For example, someone with Good Awareness (d10), and a trait called “Wears Eyepatch to Cover Eye Lost in Duel with Goodman Bartholemew” might take a flaw called Poor Depth Perception (d4). They might use the gained points to help purchase a descriptor under Influence called Very Sexy (d10).

 

Exploring Gothikus! (Alternate) Stat Descriptors

First, it might help to expand the adjective ladder to include more descriptors:

Points	Die Value	Original Descriptor	Alternate Descriptor
5	d12	Extremely	Great
4	d10	Very	Good
3	d8	Pretty	Fair
2	d6	More-or-less	Average
1	d4	Not Very	Poor

Originally I thought that each point spent would raise the die one size. I’m currently thinking that each die must be purchased in order to get to the next one. For example if a character has Fair Fitness (d8), and would like Great Strength (d12), they must first purchase Good Strength (d10) for 4 points, and then spend 5 more points to purchase Great Strength for a total of 9 points.

This would accomplish several goals: 1) Characters can’t have tons of Great descriptors, 2) the descriptors chosen make great flags, 3) the relative importance (in terms of point value) of Traits can now follow the same point scale as everything else.

Here are some examples of descriptors:

Fitness

• Extremely Strong (d12)
• Very Agile (d10)
• Good Swimmer (d10)
• Great Climber (d12)
• Average Runner (d6)

Intellect

• Great Sorcerer (d12)
• Good Professor of History (d10)
• Pretty Well Read (d8)

Influence

• Very Intimidating (d10)
• Extremely Sexy (d12)
• Great Leader (d12)
• Fair Orator (d8)

Competence

Competence represents learned skills, especially common skills that just about anyone could pick up with enough practice. A Good (d10) score might represent a Jack-of-all-trades, while a Great (d12) score would be a renaissance man.

• Average Carpenter
• Great Painter
• Fair Marksman
• Good Pickpocket

Fortitude

• Extremely Brave (d12)
• Very Stubborn (d10)
• Great Concentration (d12)

Awareness

• Great Eyesight (d12)
• Extremely Sensitive to Spiritual Phenomenon (d12)
• Good Sense of Smell (d10)
• Very Devout (d10)
• Good Bullshit Detector (d10)

 

An Alternative Attribute System for Gothikus!

There are six stats:

• Fitness
• Intellect
• Influence
• Competence
• Fortitude
• Awareness.

Distribute the following dice among them as you desire (you have 12 or 15 points to purchase dice…depending on the power level of the game). You may only have a d10 in one stat.

Example 12-point builds:

• d6, d6, d6, d6, d6, d6
• d4, d6, d6, d6, d6, d8
• d4, d4, d6, d6, d8, d8
• d4, d4, d6, d6, d6, d10
• d4, d4, d4, d6, d8, d10

Example 15-point builds:

• d6, d6, d6, d8, d8, d8
• d4, d6, d6, d8, d8, d10

Invent 5 traits for your character. Each trait will have a number of points that you can spend on descriptors depending on how important that trait is to your character’s life. The catch is that the descriptor you choose must somehow relate to the trait. Also, the level of importance for each descriptor should match the spirit of the trait. For instance, if your trait is “Former Strongman for Traveling Carnival” then Fitness (d4) >Strong (d8) doesn’t make much sense. Fitness (d6) >Strong (d12) is much better.

• Extremely Important – 5 Points
• Very Important – 4 Points
• Pretty Important – 3 Points
• Kind of Important – 2 Points
• Not Very Important -1 Point

Each point you spend raises the die by one size for the descriptor only. For instance, if your Fitness is at d4 and you’d like a d10 in “lithe and nimble” then you would spend 3 points.

No descriptor can ever be higher than d12.

Any time your character attempts to undertake an action not covered by the descriptor, roll the stat die.

 

Mapping Gothikus Attributes to the 12 Endeavors

S. John Ross discusses the 12 Endeavors in the Risus Companion: Athletics, Persuading, Communication & Protocol, Detection, Driving, Riding & Piloting, Gadgeteering,Medical Arts & Healing, Wilderness Mastery, Scholarship, Intrusion, Combat, and Magic. Pretty much anything a character would want to do, can be handled by the 12 Endeavors. I’ll add Performance and Creativity to his list.

• Athletics – Vigorous
• Persuading – Persuasive
• Communication & Protocol – Persuasive
• Detection – Observant
• Driving, Riding & Piloting – Intuitive
• Gadgeteering – Savvy
• Medical Arts & Healing – Savvy or Intuitive
• Wilderness Mastery – Intuitive or Obstinate
• Scholarship – Savvy
• Intrusion – Stealthy or Nimble
• Combat – Vigorous
• Magic – Savvy or Intuitive
• Creativity – Intuitive?
• Performance – Intuitive or Persuasive

Some of them are stretching it a bit, but I’m willing to let that go. The danger is letting it become so complicated that it can’t be printed on two sheets of paper (one of my major design constraints). I also don’t want them so general (Physical, Mental, Social) that they don’t make good flags.

 

New Gothikus Attributes

Characters have eight attributes which represent their raw, untrained potential:

1. Vigorous
2. Nimble
3. Stealthy
4. Savvy
5. Intuitive
6. Observant
7. Obstinate
8. Persuasive

Players begin with 20 points to buy their stats. The higher the die size, the better your chance at success. A stat must have a minimum rating of d4. No stat for a beginning character can be rated higher than d10.

Optionally, the GM may allow a single stat to be d12 (for flagging purposes).

Point Value	Die Size	Description
1	d4	Not Very
2	d6	More or Less
3	d8	Pretty
4	d10	Very
5	d12	Extremely

For instance, if you have a d4 in an attribute perhaps you are “Not Very Vigorous,” or maybe you’re “Not Very Observant”.

The above table is used for defining challenges as well. A certain task might be considered “Very Challenging” while an opponent might be a “Pretty Formidable Chess Player.”