[Q&A] Valerio De Sanctis (EVENT)

[19:34] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> Hi everyone! My name is Valerio De Sanctis and I was born, live and work in Rome, Italy, together with my wife and 2 kids.

[19:34] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> I’m an avid Board-Game and Role-Playing Game player since I was a little kid, and never stopped since.

[19:34] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> I’m the main author of the Myst Role-Playing Game (not to be confused with the Cyan Inc. videogame with the same name) and the sole author of EVENT, which is the game we’ll be talking about.

[19:36] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> Speaking of which… EVENT, like its tagname says, it’s a “minimalistic” Role-Playing Game System: it’s basically a 30-page gaming manual released under Creative Common License, thus being already available for free.

[19:37] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> (done)

[19:38] <~Dan> Thannks, Valerio_De_Sanctis! The floor is open to questions!

[19:38] <~Dan> So the game doesn’t have a setting, correct? It’s just a rules set?

[19:39] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> That’s correct. Being a RPG system, it rather explains how to build a campaign settings suited for the game.

[19:40] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> However, it has a distinctive feature (“the event”) which serves as a strong narrative premise to motivate the players to act as a group, providing their characters a common goal.

[19:42] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> In other words, the “event” should put the players and the master on the right track to collectively choose (or design) a suitable campaign setting, and fine-tune the exact moment in time to start playing with a definite purpose

[19:42] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> (done)

[19:43] <~Dan> Is there a character sheet in the book?

[19:46] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> The character sheet creation phase is definitely one of the EVENT’s most distinctive features. As a matter of fact, building it is part of the game, as the players will go through a process made of auctions, vetoes, and other unique mechanics to “choose” the level of depth and the “fantasy” scale (from no-fantasy to low-fantasy, up to ultra-high fantasy)

[19:47] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> I’m talking about a wide concept of fantasy here, including sci-fi, superheroes, demihumansn and so on

[19:48] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> If you would like to, I can further explain the “character sheet creation phase” in a couple more minutes.

[19:48] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> (done)

[19:56] <~Dan> (phone — brb-

[19:59] <~Dan> (back, sorry)

[19:59] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> nevermind 🙂

[20:00] <~Dan> Hmm… Would it be easier to discuss character creation first, or the task resolution system?

[20:00] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> The character creation indeed

[20:01] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> there’s nothing difficult, anyway 🙂

[20:01] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> (done)

[20:01] <~Dan> Okay, why don’t you talk us through that?

[20:01] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> sure.

[20:02] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> Before explaining it, I would like to make a quick premise: EVENT aims to be a lightweight and fast-paced game, where the “narrative” aspects will often have the focus over “simulationism” and “gaming”. It’s designed to start playing within minutes, even before reading the manual.

[20:02] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> it’s very important to keep that in mind, because the character creation phase is also a moment of collective play, with its very own interactive gameplay mechanics.

[20:02] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> In a nutshell, the process of creating each character goes through three questions that the players are called to answer in turn. These question are: Who am I? What do I look like? What can I do?

[20:03] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> The players will have to give their answers aloud, on behalf of their respective character. The questions must be addressed one at a time. When all the players have answered the first question, it will be possible to move on to the second one, and so on. The answers must follow some simple rules, clearly explained in the manual, that basically acts like “equalizing factors”, and will

[20:03] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> actually build the Character Sheet.

[20:03] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> It’s worth noting that, throughout this whole phase, both the master and the players will have the opportunity to challenge any individual answer they find inadequate or out of context by exercising a VETO.

[20:03] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> (done)

[20:04] <~Dan> How are numeric values applied to these character aspects (assuming that they are)?

[20:05] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> The first two questions (Who Am I? What do I look like?) are purely narrative aspects. The real deal, as you might easily guess, comes with the third one, which is also the most interesting of the pack

[20:05] * ~Dan nods

[20:06] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> I’ll try to explain the numeric aspects in few words. The third question must be answered N times, where N is a pre-defined number (let’s say, for example, 10) choosen by the players + master collective at the start of the game.

[20:07] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> That makes, 10 answers per player.

[20:07] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> Now, each “answer” you give during that phase is basically a SKILL or a BOOST that you try to add to your character.

[20:07] <~Dan> “Try”? Interesting…

[20:08] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> The best way to understand the whole process it through a quick actual play example (the manual is FULL of actual plays)

[20:08] <~Dan> Sure!

[20:09] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> Let’s say we’re playing event: you, me, Mark and Adam. Adam’s the gamemaster, we are the players

[20:09] * ~Dan nods

[20:09] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> I say “Climbing”. That’s a nice skill indeed. No one will argue on that? No. well,then it’s done. I just write “Climbing” on my character sheet.

[20:10] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> Your turn: you say “mind reading”. That’s a problem, since we’ve chosen to play a Game of Thrones campaign settings, and there is no such thing as “mind reading” we’re aware of

[20:10] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> therefore, I will put a “veto” on this

[20:11] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> Mark will back up my veto. Two vetoes at any time = no way. Your answer is rejected, and you’ll pass your turn. (you won’t lose the answer, you’ll just delay it)

[20:11] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> That’s basically how it works.

[20:12] <~Dan> Are there any limits to veto use?

[20:12] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> To quickly summarize that: players are free to choose their favourite skill, as long as they won’t get 2 or more vetoes.

[20:12] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> No limits. You can veto anything you don’t like to see as a skill.

[20:13] <~Dan> Are there any guidelines regarding how broad skills can be?

[20:13] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> The game favors a collective story-building: the main concept behind this is, if there are 2 or more players who don’t like that, it shouldn’t happen.

[20:14] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> Yes they are. As you might guess, this specific part is explained in-depth

[20:14] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> The manual tries to transfer the “concept” of “playable” skills (given the settings, of course)

[20:15] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> you can allow spells, if the setting has them AND if the previous answers are compliant (a 8-years old won’t have “meteor swarm”)

[20:15] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> back to the numbers (to finish my answer)

[20:15] <~Dan> Even with skills that fit the setting, though, you’ll have an issue with skill scope.

[20:15] <~Dan> (Oh, sorry, go head.)

[20:16] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> Sure, we’ll deal with that issue later on

[20:16] * ~Dan nods

[20:16] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> Let’s say I choose a total of 6 skills, four of them “boosted” (remember, right? I can choose to get a new SKILL or to BOOST a skill)

[20:17] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> when it comes to task resolution, the player gets 1d6, plus 1d6 for each skill related to the task, plus 1d6 for each boost

[20:18] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> quick  example: i have climbing (no boost) and athletics (+1 boost). I need to escape through a steep mountain valley. I get 1d6 (the basics) + 1d6 for climbing + 1d6 for athletics + 1d6 for the athletics boost

[20:18] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> that’s how numeric values come into play

[20:18] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> (done)

[20:19] <~Dan> What is considered an average target number?

[20:19] <~Dan> (wb, plvicente!)

[20:20] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> the task resolution system works in the following way: if the task has no other living challengers (players vs environment, such as climbing a mountain), the master tells the difficult (from 1=trivial to 6=thoughest)

[20:21] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> the player gathers the dices (see above)

[20:21] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> If the action’s difficulty is less than the amount of dice that the player is entitled to get, the player automatically gets a full success; if it is equal, the player can choose between achieving a partial success or throwing the dice; if it’s greater, the player can choose between achieving a failure or throwing the dice.

[20:22] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> if he goes for the “roll”, he rolls all the dices

[20:22] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> – If two or more dice have scored a number equal to or greater than the action’s complexity level: full success.

[20:22] <~Dan> What’s the incentive to accept a failure rather than rolling the dice?

[20:22] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> – If a single die has scored a number equal to or greater than the action’s complexity level: partial success.

[20:22] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> – If all the dice have scored a value of 1: critical failure.

[20:22] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> – In all other scenarios: failure.

[20:22] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> The incentive is, avoiding critical failure.

[20:23] <~Dan> Ah, I see.

[20:23] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> If you have 1 die, and you must do a 5, you could easily accept a failure

[20:23] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> because 1 out of 6 will be critical failure

[20:23] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> the real deal here is how these success/failure results are handled through the gameplay

[20:25] <~Dan> How does combat work?

[20:25] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> Whenever a player score a FULL SUCCESS, the character manage to carry out the action and the player acquires the right to narrate the details, describing what will actually happen and how (with some limitations, explained in the manual). He will basically enter in a “limited gamemaster mode”.

[20:25] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> PARTIAL SUCCESS -> same thing, but the master will narrate

[20:25] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> (with less-heroic effects)

[20:26] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> FAILURE -> master will narrate a standard “you were unable to do that” story

[20:26] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> CRITICAL FAILURE -> the master will narrate a hellish “things went awry” scenario

[20:26] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> the “limited gamemaster mode” is something really important because is a game-breaking feature

[20:27] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> and a distinctive feature of the game (narratively wise)

[20:27] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> As for combat.

[20:27] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> All the actions that require a contest between two or more characters (including, yet not limiting to, combats) are called interactions.

[20:28] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> Again, all the players involved in the interaction (two or more) gather their dice.

[20:29] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> however, this time there’s no fixed “difficulty”: instead, they secretly split their dice pool between their right hands.

[20:29] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> (just like an auction, or a “bid”)

[20:30] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> they basically use their dice pool to simultaneously bid for two things: LEFT-HAND bid and RIGHT-HAND bid.

[20:31] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> when they’re all ready, the LEFT-HAND bid is resolved first: all players open their left hand: the player with most dice wins the showdown. In case of a tie, the players must roll the dice in their hand, keeping only the single highest score: whoever obtains the highest number wins the match. In case of further tie, the interaction will end up in a draw.

[20:31] <~Dan> How do weapons and armor factor in?

[20:32] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> damage only. If you win with a weapon, you’ll deal more damage. If you lose with an armor, you’ll take less damage

[20:34] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> there is currently no given “additional tactical advantage” in fighting “sword vs fists” on equal skill grounds. In some edge cases the master could grant an additional die, but the system doesn’t currently measure this. (it’s lightweight)

[20:34] * ~Dan nods

[20:34] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> however, if you consider

[20:35] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> that you have to bid on TWO parallel auctions

[20:35] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> the overall tactic (given the evident damage difference) would be transfered to the players bidding choice

[20:35] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> as who’ll win the RIGHT HAND BID will

[20:36] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> …

[20:36] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> … be granted the right to narrate the showdown’s outcome (even if he’s not the winner!); such task must be done by following the same set of rules valid for narrating a full success, hence it’s another “limited gamemaster mode”

[20:37] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> That’s how you can play defensive in a fist-vs-sword scenario

[20:37] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> you concede the blow but fight for the right to narrate how it hits you

[20:38] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> (and the veto rule is still there if you try to rule it out badly)

[20:38] <~Dan> How is damage rated (hit points, wounds, etc.)?

[20:39] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> the moment a weapon or armor appears in game, the master publicly explains its stats

[20:40] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> for example, i find a sword in a chest. in that precise moment, everyone will know that that sword will deal 1 damage point for each winning point during the left-hand bid

[20:40] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> (i have 3 dice, you have 1, i deal 2 dps)

[20:40] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> that’s only an example, obviously.

[20:41] * ~Dan nods

[20:41] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> as for the wounds, the manual doesn’t clarify it. The wounds system will be an optional rule that you can kick in if you need combat

[20:42] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> (in narrative games combat is not always the main stuff)

[20:42] <~Dan> Sure.

[20:42] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> To be honest, I come from like 20 years of mostly-combat RPGs, including the other one I authored, Myst.it

[20:43] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> I wanted a change, BUT I’m pretty sure I will be able to put on a more-than-decent optional combat ruleset in the EVENT Kickstarter Edition

[20:43] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> (done)

[20:44] <~Dan> Let’s go back to the breadth of skills issue…. How is that kept under control, aside from the vetoes?

[20:46] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> I want to be sure I understood the issue: you’re thinking about a generic “fighting” skill that will clearly override a more specific (and thus clearly less versatile) “fencing” skill, right?

[20:46] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> Like, i choose fencing, you choose fighting, noone vetoes and I bite my hands because you > me

[20:46] <~Dan> Exactly.

[20:47] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> that’s easy: the rules allow you to “upgrade” any of your skill to a more generic-broad one as soon as it enters in a character sheet (unvetoed)

[20:47] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> let me explain it better

[20:47] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> if we’re a bunch of simulationists, we would NEVER go for a generic “fighting” skill: we would hate it

[20:47] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> therefore, no problem: i get swords, you get bows, and all of us will be happy

[20:48] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> let’s say we’re playing with a couple narrativists who might have different views

[20:48] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> well, we cannot force them to play as we want

[20:49] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> but, we can “relax”  our swords’n’bows as soon as a more generic “fighting” skill kicks in.

[20:49] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> (or we can veto that skill, eheh – which we should)

[20:50] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> the important thing to understand here is that the real outcome of the character generation phase is to properly leverage, balance and tailorize the simulation level to the actual players tastes

[20:51] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> (done)

[20:51] <~Dan> (How did it go, Drew?)

[20:51] <~Dan> So let me make sure I understand…

[20:51] <~Dan> One person takes Swords. Another takes Bows.

[20:52] <~Dan> Down the line, someone takes Fighting, which doesn’t get vetoed, and Swords and Bows both get upgraded to Fighting for free?

[20:52] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> the swords’n’bows players have the chance to “switch out” their swords/bows skill and get the Fighting instead.

[20:53] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> immediately and without consequences. Of course, it must be evident that the skill(s) they’re switching out are sub-sets of the other one

[20:54] <~Dan> Right… So what if a player had two skills that were a subset of Fighting?

[20:54] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> he gets fighting + boost

[20:55] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> (actually, you got me on that: but you have to appreciate my fast answer :P)

[20:55] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> (I’m a bug-fixing guy)

[20:55] <~Dan> (Cool. I’m a bug-finding guy. 😀 )

[20:55] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> jokes aside, it seems fine to me

[20:56] <~Dan> Yes, that makes perfect sense.

[20:57] <~Dan> So you mentioned magic briefly earlier. Can you say a bit more about how you handle that, along with other paranormal abilities?

[20:57] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> we playtested that system a lot and I can assure you that it’s extremely hilarious… I never laughed that much while creating toons

[21:00] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> At the moment, the Creative Commons edition (30 pages) doesn’t have anything on magic. Of course you can easily put in DDs and AE-DDs (magic missile, fireball, lightning bolt) or utilities (flying, water breath) because you can treat them, respectively, as weapons or skills: the player will choose them as a skill, explaining the gameplay effect, the table will then choose to veto them or

[21:00] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> not

[21:02] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> let’s say i choose magic missile, explaining that it’s a spell i can cast like a standard action and that will deal 1 damage point per winning die if I win the challenge against the target’s dodging/athletic skills: fair enough, I wouldn’t veto it

[21:02] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> that’s it for the current “lightweightness”. More content will come, with the KS edition

[21:02] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> (done)

[21:02] <~Dan> For comparison’s sake, how much damage does a sword do?

[21:03] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> it’s up to the master to choose weapon damage as soon as they appear within the story

[21:03] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> they get ruled on the fly

[21:05] <~Dan> Hmm. Well, how much damage would you have a sword do?

[21:06] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> I’ll answer using the wound system I’m currently writing (for the KS edition)

[21:06] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> because without that, there would be no point in telling numbers

[21:07] <~Dan> (wb, plvicente!)

[21:09] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> each character has 3-to-5 health points in either head, left-arm, right-arm, left-leg, right-leg, torso, abdomen

[21:10] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> that said, I would make the sword deal 1 damage point for each winning die, up to a maximum of 6

[21:10] <~Dan> Wow, hit locations? That seems a bit jarring for a light system such as this, to be honest.

[21:11] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> if you play with open-end optional rule (all six calls for another die), you can inflict serious blows with a sword even if you don’t master it

[21:12] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> yeah I’m working at a optional combat module designed for those who want that

[21:12] * ~Dan nods

[21:12] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> as for the creative commons (lightweight & marginal combat), I would go for a simple five-status health bar (full, barely, severe, critical, deadly)

[21:12] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> and that’s it, with the swords making that same amount of dps

[21:12] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> (definitely more deadly, but swords are deadly, and you’ll have armors – hopefully)

[21:12] <~Dan> Nothing wrong with hit locations, mind you. Just seems like a surprising option for a strongly narrative system.

[21:13] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> the plan is to publish optional modules to bring a bit of simulationism for those who really wants it

[21:13] <~Dan> But! Options are good.

[21:13] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> narrative or not, if you run combats often, you’re going to need this

[21:13] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> trust me

[21:13] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> (well, you know better than me )

[21:13] <~Dan> Oh, I don’t know that I’d go that far. 😀

[21:14] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> I’m pretty sure you won’t be satisfied with a simple “narrative health status” when handling 1 combat per session

[21:14] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> 🙂

[21:14] <~Dan> Heh. Perhaps not. 🙂

[21:15] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> but the basic idea is that one: health status, and the “sword” used as the centre of DPS balance

[21:15] <~Dan> So did I understand correctly that a skill can only receive one boost?

[21:15] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> (1-to-6 damage)

[21:15] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> no, you can boost any skill up to six times

[21:15] <~Dan> Ah, okay, I missed that.

[21:16] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> and you will get additional “answers” (i.e. skills or boosts) after sessions

[21:16] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> groups of sessions

[21:16] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> for character progression

[21:16] <~Dan> And “skill” in this game can be skills or what would be attributes in other games, I take it? Like “Strong”?

[21:16] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> only skills. Strong means nothing in EVENT: if you want to be strong, you have to get “Strength”

[21:17] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> otherwise, you’re not “strong”

[21:17] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> there is an optional “talent” rule you could appreciate, though

[21:17] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> let me cut-paste it for you

[21:17] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> (believe it or not, it’s all in 30 pages)

[21:18] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> TALENT

[21:18] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> At the end of the What Can I Do? whole set of questions, each player is allowed to put a distinctive mark on one of their chosen abilities. That single ability will be their character’s talent. Whenever the talent is used for a dice roll, the player will be able to re-roll a single die – thus getting a second chance to get a good score. The latter result must always be kept, even if

[21:18] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> lower than the previous one.

[21:18] <~Dan> (Beware the character limit when cutting/pasting. 🙂 )

[21:18] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> that’s it

[21:18] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> Therefore, I guess that a “Strong” character could put a distinctive mark on his “strength” skill

[21:18] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> thus being able to re-roll all his strength-based rolls

[21:18] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> (reroll is POWERFUL in EVENT)

[21:19] <~Dan> Okay, so Strength is the skill, and skills can have six boosts?

[21:19] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> it will drastically reduce the chance of critical failures

[21:19] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> that’s correct. up to six boosts

[21:20] <~Dan> How strong is a character with Strength and six boosts? I’m wondering about the game’s scaling here.

[21:20] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> he will basically be able to do anything strength-related within human reach without throwing dices

[21:20] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> that’s it

[21:20] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> he will be among the strongest men in the world

[21:21] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> but

[21:21] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> the real deal will come when he’ll need to INTERACT with other dudes

[21:21] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> like him, or similar to him

[21:21] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> a 4-strength guy can likely win the right-handed bet

[21:21] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> vs a 6-strength guy

[21:21] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> and narrate its demise to its advantage

[21:22] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> unless the 6-strength guy manages to strategically counter it

[21:22] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> (done)

[21:23] <~Dan> So if six boosts is peak human, how do you handle nonhuman creatures and other beings that are clearly beyond human?

[21:23] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> by allowing them to go beyond six

[21:24] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> so that they will have a decisive advantage during the interactions with “human” maxed beings

[21:24] <~Dan> Speaking of which, do you have a bestiary of any sort in the game?

[21:24] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> absolutely not. optional content

[21:25] * ~Dan nods

[21:25] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> I’m aiming fora modular system

[21:25] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> so that you only use the “build” you need

[21:25] <~Dan> In the time remaining, is there anything we haven’t covered that you’d like to bring up?

[21:25] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> yes 🙂

[21:26] <~Dan> And I’ll just mention really quickly that my virtual tip jar is at (Link: https://gmshoe.wordpress.com/the-gmshoes-tip-jar/)https://gmshoe.wordpress.com/the-gmshoes-tip-jar/ , if anyone is so inclined. 🙂

[21:26] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> As you have clearly understand, EVENT is a lightweight system with a number of satellites (optional rules/ruleset) you can bring in at will

[21:26] * ~Dan nods

[21:27] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> there are 2 optional rules I would like to explain to see what you think about them

[21:27] <~Dan> Sure!

[21:28] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> the first one is called the TRIGGER

[21:28] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> and it’s something I don’t think you’ve seen elsewhere

[21:29] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> if you adopt this rule, at the start of each session (playing session) each player is allowed to secretly write a TRIGGER on a piece of paper

[21:29] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> and hide it under their character sheet.

[21:29] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> what’s a TRIGGER?

[21:29] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> The trigger is basically a defensive mechanic that can be used by players to prevent a potential threat (or any event) that they think could hit their character during the session.

[21:29] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> The trigger should be written in the following form: “someone does something (or something happens) to me at a certain time and / or in a specific place”.

[21:30] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> The syntax may vary, as long as most of the components defining the context (who, when, where, what) are there.

[21:30] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> The trigger could either happen or not, depending on the development of the story: we could say that the trigger is “the threat the player is prepared to face”

[21:30] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> ok?

[21:30] <~Dan> Yup!

[21:30] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> what happens when the trigger, well, does trigger?

[21:31] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> Whenever the player thinks that the trigger “triggered”, he reveals it, read it aloud and ask the master to give it a value, from 0 to 3, that will correspond to the additional (bonus) dice he’ll get to take the triggered response action.

[21:32] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> The master should give the trigger a higher or lower value depending on how narrow, relevant and contextualized it is. Some examples: “someone attacks me” will most likely get a value of zero as it’s way too broad; “someone attacks me in the tavern” will get a value of 1, yet will also have more chances to trigger

[21:32] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> “Robert attacks me from behind during dinner” will get a 2 or even a 3. The trigger value can be discussed between players and master, but the latter always gets the last word on it.

[21:32] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> that’s it.

[21:32] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> The TRIGGER is, by far, the most enticing rule of EVENT and the one that my playtesting players love more

[21:33] <~Dan> It certainly has potential.

[21:33] <~Dan> Well, thank you very much for joining us, Valerio_De_Sanctis!

[21:33] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> the other (and last) rule I’m telling you is the RECKLESS ROLL

[21:33] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> ops

[21:33] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> ok 🙂

[21:33] <~Dan> Oh, sorry! Go ahead!

[21:33] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> it’s very simple

[21:34] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> Each time a player is not satisfied with the result of a dice roll, such as experiencing a failure or losing any kind of contest, he can ask the master for a second chance with a reckless roll

[21:34] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> The reckless roll is basically a reroll that will replace the previous one – even when worse.

[21:34] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> to gain the right to attempt it, the player must propose a bet to the master by putting something at stake that will happen to his character (and/or his surroundings, including other players) in case of a subsequent failure.

[21:34] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> the master can choose to accept the bet, refuse it, or override it with a different bet which the player can also accept or refuse. If there’s an agreement, the player can (and must) execute the reckless roll (and accept the consequences, should it fail)

[21:34] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> that’s it.

[21:35] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> there’s also a (suggested) hard limit of 1 reckless roll per session

[21:35] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> it simulates the situations where the character *MUST* do something at all costs

[21:35] * ~Dan nods

[21:35] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> ok, that’s it 🙂

[21:35] <~Dan> Okay, cool. 🙂

[21:36] <~Dan> Now, thanks very much for joining us, Valerio_De_Sanctis!

[21:36] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> Thanks to you! I really hope that the KS campaign will be a success

[21:36] <~Dan> So do I!

[21:36] <+Valerio_De_Sanctis> so that I can develop these additional modules we’ve been talking about

[21:36] <~Dan> If you’ll give me just a moment, I’ll get the log posted and link you. 🙂

[Edit] Kickstarter link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/darkseal/event-a-minimalistic-tabletop-role-playing-game-rp