Manifest: Rulesets 0.1
Last time I looked into a whole new ruleset. Now, I’d like to put all the rules I’ve come up with so far in one place, slot in some numbers, and see if that shakes anything out. The following are three different rulesets with…wait, three?
I told you this would happen. After the last post, my mind kept working, and shook out a few more ideas, as well as some polish to previous ones. When my brain gets wandery, it gets wandery.
First, let’s go over the universal basics of all the three rulesets:
To start with, Players play as an Agent of The Company, a specially trained individual who has the ability to capture and control Manifestations; physical embodiments of emotion. Agents have four stats: Anger, Fear, Delight, and Grief. Agents may control up to six Manifestations without being placed under too much stress.
Each Manifestation has a Type, being one of the four emotions. They also possess a Tier, which represents their available strength/power, and a Bond, which represents their connection to their Agent. Both Bond and Tier range from 1 to 5. They also possess LP, or Life Points, which represent their cohesiveness and ability to remain manifest. Their LP is equal to their Bond multiplied by Tier, ranging from 1 to 25, depending on level limits.
Manifestations also possess two “abilities.” At least one ability is an attack or similar, while the second ability could be a second attack, a passive effect, a reaction, or similar special ability.
In combat, each player takes their turn in sequence. On their turn, the player may make six “Move” actions, moving one of their units (either the Agent or one of their Manifestations) one space. They may also take up to a limited number of “Ability” actions, which involve either using a Manifestation’s ability, or activating one of their Agent’s items. Using a Manifestation’s Ability requires the player to make a Power Roll. This roll provides the actions POWER and SYNC, two parts of every ability. Power is usually the main effect, such as damage; while SYNC is a secondary effect, such as afflicting a condition or granting free movement.
Caustic hits occur when a Manifestation’s Type is superior to their target’s. (e.g. Anger Manifestations cause caustic hits when targeting Fear Manifestations, etc.) Caustic hits result in an increase in attacker’s Type emotional stat, and a decrease in the target’s Type emotional stat. (e.g. in the previous example: The Anger Manifestation’s Agent increases their Anger stat by 1, while the Fear Manifestation’s agent reduces theirs by 1, etc.) In some rulesets, these increases/reductions result in subsequent reductions/increases in other stats.
Friendly Fire is turned on; if a Manifestation has an AoE effect that hits an ally, all effects apply normally.
An Agent may, at a specified cost, use an action to heal a Manifestation or reduce one of their Conditions. An Agent may also, at the cost of 1 Move action, move 1 Stat point to the next higher stat in line. (Anger to Grief, Grief to Delight, etc.)
Ruleset 1: Bond-d-Tier
The first ruleset is the one I’ve been walking you through this entire time. Here are some of the specifics:
Agent’s start with 3 points in each of their emotional stats. When a Manifestation makes a Power Roll, their Agent may spend any number of the Manifestation’s corresponding emotional stat to increase the rolled POWER or SYNC by the same amount. (e.g. An Anger Manifestation rolls 5 POWER and 2 SYNC. If the Agent has enough Anger stat, they could reduce their Anger stat by 1 to increase POWER to 6, or SYNC to 3. If they have enough Anger, they could reduce it by 3 to increase POWER to 6, SYNC to 5, or any combination between)
Power Rolls are handled by rolling a number of dice equal to the Manifestation’s Bond, of a size represented by the Manifestation’s Tier. (Tiers in this ruleset are the five polygonal dice: d4, d6, d8, d10, and d12) After rolling, the player keeps the Highest rolled die. This is the Ability’s Power. If any of the Power Roll dice show numbers equal or less than the Manifestation’s Bond, the number of these dice represents the ability’s Sync.
For example, a Manifestation of Bond 3 and Tier d8 would roll 3d8 for their Power Roll. Let’s say they roll a 3, a 1, and a 5. The highest die is a 5, and they rolled two dice equal to or less than their Bond of 3, the 3 and the 1. That means their Ability has a Power of 5 and a Sync of 2.
Players have two actions they can use each turn, in any manner. A single Manifestation could use an ability twice, two different Manifestations could use an action, or one of the actions could be used by the Agent to use their items, heal their Manifestation for Bond LP, or reduce one of their conditions by Bond.
Ruleset 2: d6-Target-Number
This is a modified version of what I came up with in the last post. Specifically:
Agents start with 14 points that they can put into their Emotional Stats, with a minimum of 1. The stats still go up and down with caustic hits, but each increase in one stat requires a reduction in its caustic stat while decreases require increases in the higher stat. (e.g. Lowering Anger by 1 requires raising Grief by 1. Raising Fear by 1 requires lowering Delight by 1. If a stat is at 1 it cannot be lowered, and if it is at 6 it cannot be raised.)
Power Rolls are made by rolling a number of d6s equal to the Manifestation’s Tier stat. POWER is equal to the number of dice that show a number equal-to or less-than the Manifestation’s Type emotional stat. Bond and SYNC are equal.
For example, a Manifestation with Tier 3 would roll 3d6 for any Anger Manifestation’s Power Roll. If they rolled a 3, a 6, and a 4, the Manifestation’s POWER would be 1 if their agent’s Anger stat was 3, 2 if their Anger stat was 4 or 5, and 3 if their stat was 6. Otherwise, their POWER is zero.
Players still only have two actions every turn.
Ruleset 3: Pooled-Single-Number
This one is a combination of the dice-pool idea from last time, and single-stat games like Lasers & Feelings.
Agents start with 1 level in each stat. Stats have a minimum of 0 and a maximum of 3. Stats go up and down with caustic hits, though they do not cause subsequent increases or decreases in other stats as in Ruleset 2.
Power Rolls are handled by rolling Nd6 at the start of the turn, where N is equal to the total of all your emotional stats. These dice, once rolled, can be invested into any Manifestation’s abilities at the player’s discretion. POWER is equal to the number of invested dice that are greater-than or equal-to the Manifestation’s Bond. SYNC is equal to the number of invested dice that are less-than or equal-to the Manifestation’s Bond.
For example, if an Agent has 3 Anger, 2 Fear, 1 Delight, and 2 Grief, they will roll 8d6 on their turn, and divvy up the dice as they see fit between their Manifestations. If a Manifestation has a Bond of 3, and is given a 2, a 3, two 5s, and a 6, then their abilities will have a POWER of 4 and a SYNC of 2 this turn.
Pre-Playtesting Thoughts
Whew. That’s quite a bit, yeah? How does this look? Any weak spots?
Quite a few, at the moment, but the rulesets are relatively simple, and that’s my watchword at the moment. I can always increase complexity later, depending on how the playtests run. I also opted to not include the rules on conditions and a few other specifics, just to keep this post shorter.
And there’s a lot of space for adjustments or swaps. Emotion stats could be either linked like in Ruleset 2, or independent like in Rulesets 1 and 3. Ruleset 2 could use a pool of dice created from the total Tiers of the Agent’s Manifestations, divided by 2. The Power Rolls of the first Ruleset could be rolled at the start of the turn and then invested like Ruleset 3. Heck, we could even mess around with ruleset 1, so Bond and SYNC are equal, Tier is the number of dice you roll, and your stats decide the dice’s size.
What are some possible future changes? Finding some mechanic that affects how Manifestations handle depending on how many there are is a good start: Deciding to just have 1 Manifestation that you focus on versus six that you divide your energy between…there might be something there. Something else worth considering is the idea that certain Manifestations might be easier or harder to manifest, and so give players another issue to struggle with: how many Manifestations? Is there ever a reason you wouldn’t bring six Manifestations to a fight? Is having a single super-leveled Manifestation a viable strategy?
Do players start combat with all six Manifestations, or does that take actions? What if a Manifestation dying reduces your emotional stats for the rest of the combat? What if you could re-manifest dead Manifestations at a cost? What changes could I make to the conditions? How do I balance the different Abilities? How exactly does leveling up work?
These are all things I’ll need to pay attention to, but the fact is that the first playtesting will live-or-die on the Manifestations and their abilities. All these rulesets will require a different mindset when creating Abilities, so I made a lot of work for myself there. Next time, I’d like to break down what my goals for the first playtest should be.