[Let's Study] God-Machine Chronicle Rules Updates Part 4: Combat

Today we’re taking a look at the updated rules for combat from the GMC. Those familiar with nWoD combat will find some interestin changes here, as well as a few optional rules that emulate aspects of combat that don’t normally show up in most games.

Some of the tweaks applied to the combat system are:

• Weapons now have an Initiative Modifier that affects the initiative roll. Bigger, heavier weapons have bigger penalties.
• All weapon damage is now Lethal. Which makes sense, getting hit across the face by a crowbar isn’t Bashing damage no matter how I think of it.
• Weapon Damage is now applied as straight damage rather than additional dice to the attack roll. Needless to say the use of any weapons now are definitely indicative of doing some serious harm.
• Defense is now calculated as the Lower of Dexterity or wits plus Athletics. This makes for slightly higher Defense scores for most characters.
• Dodging allows for characters to double their Defense score and roll it as a pool of dice against an attack. Successes on a Dodge roll are subtracted from the attacker’s successes. This comes in very handy as this might be the best way to use Defense against ranged attacks that would otherwise nullify Defense.

Down and Dirty Combat

This system introduces a “one roll” combat for those fights that aren’t a dramatic focus. While some might argue that every fight deserves screen time, sometimes a fight exists as a speedbump and this system allows for the game to move past those as quickly as possible.

Intent is key to the Down and Dirty Combat system, as the attacker declcares their intent to justify a “one roll” approach to the Storyteller. If the ST is okay then they proceed with the simplified combat. Of course, Storyteller characters aren’t allowed to use these rules.

The roll is handled as any combat task. The Attacker rolls their combat pool, and the target rolls either a combat pool against it, or an attempt to escape.

If the attacker succeeds, then they win the contest, and deals damage equal to the difference in successes plus her weapon damage and achieves her intent. If the intent includes killing then that happens too.

Optional Rules: Beaten Down and Surrender

The Beaten Down and Surrender rules have to be one of the most interesting additions I’ve seen in a game set in the modern-day setting. As an optional rule, a character that takes more than their stamina in Bashing damage or any amount of Lethal damage has the fight knocked out of them and gains the Beaten Down Tilt (a Tilt is a special condition that affects combat, but more on that later.)

Characters who are Beaten Down must spend Willpower each time they want to take an offensive action. He can defend, dodge and run but can’t strike back without spending Willpower.

One of the most important considerations here is that the character who is Beaten Down can then surrender, and gains a Beat and a point of Willpower for their trouble. Furthermore, the assailant now has to spend Willpower to attack you and will most likely suffer a breaking point for doing so.

I’m especially fond of these rules as it simulates a common fact in a lot of real fights. People fight until someone gives up or runs away. Very rarely do fights escalate to the point at which someone dies, and even in those instances, it’s often an accident.

Of course these rules only apply when the side that surrenders has something that he can give up. If the assailant is purely after the person’s life, the Beaten Down and Surrender rules do not apply and both fight with the same kind of desperation.

Intent

I know we mentioned Intent before, but it matters at all times now. Intent is gathered at the start of any hostile encounter to determine what people are after in a fight. This is very important as if an Intent is to commit violence for it’s own sake, the Beaten Down Tilt doesn’t occur.

Storyteller Characters and Willpower

Storyteller characters now have caps on how much willpower they’re able to spend, which is always a good thing, as opposed to the old situation where a character with 5 willpower may end up facing off against 3 nameless goons with a combined pool of say, 12 Willpower.

Combat Tilts

With the Conditions rules, there are now Combat Tilts that affect gameplay during a fight. These conditions range from ones that are obtained after being hit by a called shot (like Arm Wrack) to various environmental factors like extreme temperatures or being flooded.

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The new combat system improves the game in ways that I’d not considered, which is a very good thing. New insights into the brutal and occasionally non-lethal outcomes of combat are greatly appreciated, and will come into play somehow. I’m very eager to try this out and see how it works out side of the usual empty room scenario, with actual stakes, intent and props to work with.

[Let's Study] God-Machine Chronicle Rules Updates Part 3: Social Maneuvering

Social Maneuvering is a new system introduced in the GMC rules to simulate the process of trying to convince someone to do something for your character. It’s an interesting mechanic, and one that makes for an interesting rules-based fallback for players who might not be in the mood to handle socials from a pure roleplaying angle.

The Social Maneuvers system works with the acting character attempting to break down a series of metaphorical “Doors” which represent the difficulty of convincing a character to take a desired action. Doors are a system term, and represent skepticism, mistrust or general disposition to not do what is being asked of them.

The number of Doors is variable, with a base value of the lower of the target character’s Resolve or Composure, and modified by other factors such as whether or not the action goes against their Virtues or Aspirations and other things like whether or not the action in question will trigger a Breaking Point.

Aside from doors, the other component of Social Maneuvering is the Impressions. Better impressions allow for an acting character to be able to make successive rolls in a faster time interval than those who make less memorable impressions upon the target character.

Ways to smooth over things and make a favorable impression is called Leverage, and can take the form of bribes, gifts, or a favorable experience. Each interval allows for a single roll, and if the roll is successful, then the acting character is able to open one (or more) Doors and moves closer to getting the target character to doing what they want them to do.

Sometimes however, one has to force a Door by the use of intimidation and possibly bodily harm. Such actions can trigger an immediate social roll, but allows for a door to be opened in quick order.

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The systems presented by the GMC are a novel one, and can be used in conjunction with standard RP to provide the necessary dice bonuses and penalties to the social roll when it comes to setting up Impressions or in Opening Doors.

I like this system a lot as it feels more organic, as opposed to straight-up mind control, and shows that getting someone to do something for you is a project in itself. Of course, I wouldn’t use this system on all social interactions, but reserve it purely for the ones that would be the most dramatically appropriate for.

[Let's Study] God-Machine Chronicle Rules Updates Part 2: Merits, Conditions and Soul Loss

Hello everyone and welcome back to Part 2 of the GMC series. Today we’re taking a look at the retooled Merits, the new Conditions system and a bit about Soul Loss.

Merits

The Merits system for GMC is still largely the same as it was in the core rules, with the exception that the Merits in GMC supercede those in the core rulebook. Many of the new Merits are much more balanced than their original versions, and have been toned down. The biggest change would be the fact that multiple attacks have been removed from the Fighting Styles. This reduces a lot of the rolling that used to happen with Fighting Style focused characters.

One other thing to note is that there are no longer dead dots in merits. Each dot does something, which is a big relief rather than spending experience for a speed bump dot.

Conditions

Conditions are a “new” system that might seem very familiar to those who have played any game that uses the FATE system. Conditions are descriptors with mechanical effects that are applied to characters. The neat thing about them is that they’re a source of Beats, and characters are therefore encouraged to accept or play through these Conditions to benefit from the added experience of resolving them.

Conditions caused by exceptional successes or via supernatural powers. Breaking points are also a source of Conditions. Furthermore, complex behaviors may also cause Conditions. In general an ST has a large amount of leeway on when he or she feels that they can apply a condition to players and NPCs.

I feel that Conditions are an inspired set of mechanics and I’m very happy to see them in the world of Darkness. It’s a simple mechanic, and yet it slots seamlessly into a more story-focused game. It also helps GMs enforce the gravity of certain situations and gives players roleplaying cues as to how their character feels or is affected by a situation.

Soul Loss

Soul Loss is a special kind of supernatural trauma that affects individuals in the World of Darkness (and is often something of severe importance in Mage: the Awakening games.)

Admittedly losing one’s Soul isn’t something that happens everyday, but several Supernaturals can have the ability to rip it out of someone. This leads to a downward spiral of conditions all based on the fact that the person has lost their soul.

The first condition, Soulless has characters at a state where they are more susceptible to possession and cannot gain Willpower through normal means, and the rewards of her Virtue and Vice are reversed. Virtues can’t give them the kind of affirmation they seek, but Vices are capable of giving more Willpower back but only while indulging their vice in a manner that is potentially harmful to themselves.

Enervated happens when their Integrity has been lost, and their Willpower is the only thing sustaining them. At this point Virtue is no longer capable of giving Willpower, and Vices restore Willpower while reducing the maximum cap of Willpower.

Thrall is the last condition, and is a point at which a player character is no longer considered playable. Willpower may no longer be spent, and they cannot apply their Defense in combat. Further more they cannot spend Experiences and are counted as perpetually under the Broken Condition.

Magics can restore a soul back to a person, but I’m pretty sure that unless Mages and other supernaturals are concerned the process is most likely difficult. Recovery is swift however, as regaining a soul (even ones that aren’t originally theirs) allows for the character to shed these conditions and begin regaining Willpower.

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Overall the changes in the system might leave a bit of a wrinkle in existing games, but I think with a few tweaks, they should be easy enough to convert. The new Conditions system is a great addition, and refreshes the Storytelling system to the point where it feels almost like a new edition with a stronger focus on making dramatic situations that are part and parcel of any horror game.

I’ve already had a chance to pitch the new rules onto my gaming group and we’re gearing up to do a quick playtest of the rules. I’m slowly putting a scenario together that ties in to the God Machine Chronicles themselves with a few twists to make it my own.

Tomorrow we take a look at the systems that make up the new Social Maneuvering System.

[Let's Study] God-Machine Chronicle Rules Updates Part 1: Aspirations, Virtues and Vices and Integrity / Breaking Point systems

Hello everyone, today we’re taking a peek at the new mechanics that have been rolled out for the Storytelling system via the newly released God Machine Chronicle book. It’s a big update, and we’ll be tackling bits and pieces of it to get a better appreciation for the new changes.

Aspirations

The new Aspirations system is a means for the player to set “goals” for their characters. At the Final Touches stage of character creation, the player defines three goals that they want to achieve and play through.

These Aspirations can be short-term or long-term, though a mix is always good. Aspirations are positive, pro-active statements and are a way to tell the ST what you want out of the game. I find that this is valuable feedback as far as STing goes, as having players hand out their goals gives me something to work on.

Virtues and Vice

I’m starting to get a sense that the game is moving towards a more “indie” sort of mechanic. Rather than choosing from a list of virtues and vices, players are now free to define their virtues and vices on their own.

These are adjectives that describe dominant personality traits. Virtues are those that further self-actualization, while vices are short-term coping behaviors. This opens a whole slew of different descriptions for different players. Thankfully there’s also a list of sample Virtues and Vices to pick from as well for those who have a hard time coming up with their own.

when a character’s actions reflect their Vice, they gain 1 Willpower point. On the other hand, if the character acts in accordance to their Virtue while at risk, then they regain all their spent Willpower.

Integrity

The Morality system of the Storytelling System was one that was met with all sorts of reactions, the most vocal of which have been rather negative. While I didn’t mind having the old method, I do like the Integrity rules that take over this particular job.

Each character starts with an Integrity score, and this represents how well a character can cope with traumatic and supernatural events. A character can lose Integrity when they experience a breaking point.

Breaking points occur when a character goes through a traumatic experience such as witnessing horrific violence, something utterly unnatural, or experiences something that violates their sense of self.

Determining a character’s Breaking Point is done by answering a list of 5 questions that help determine what limits there are for a given character. While this seems awfully subjective, the players and storyteller are meant to use this chance to negotiate and find out just where the character’s tolerances are for such things. This way each character is different in the face of atrocity.

When a character encounters a situation that counts as a Breaking Point, the player makes a Resolve + Composure roll, modified by circumstances that can help or hinder their attempt to keep their psyche intact. Depending on the result, the character could lose Integrity dots and gain various Conditions.

I feel that I like this system much better than the original, though they behave somewhat similarly. I feel that this also makes it easier to make decisions on when a character runs the risk of degrading their Integrity based of who they are.

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I’ve been playing nWoD for a while now, and while I haven’t really finished a campaign (they’ve always petered out for some reason,) I think that there’s a lot of changes here that show a more mature ruleset that places a lot of trust on the players and the storyteller’s ability to talk things over between themselves.

Overall, I’m liking what I’ve read so far and I’m eager to see how the Merits have been retooled. We’ll also be looking at the Conditions system and Soul Loss, a condition that is near and dear to any Mage player.

[Let's Study] World of Darkness: God-Machine Chronicle Rules Updates, Starting Tomorrow!

The World of Darkness Storytelling System has been around for quite a while, and with the recent release of the awesome God-Machine Chronicle the core rules have received a pretty extensive rules update and revision.

The rules changes range from minor to pretty large overhauls of the entire subsystems including Combat and the creation of a Social Maneuvering system. We’ll be spending the next few days going over these rules revisions, seeing what works and how it affects character creation and play. Since I’ve got a Mage: the Awakening campaign in planning stages right now, this is of special interest to me. That said, if a Chronicle Book for Mage doesn’t come up with a conversion soon enough, I suppose I could run GMC as a straight up mortals game first.

We’ll kick off tomorrow with a discussion of the Character rules starting with the new Aspirations, Virtues and Vices and Integrity / Breaking Point systems.