Come On, Come On, Let's Work Together (Patreon)

Patrons … assemble! Isn’t it cool to be on a team? You work together, crack wise, make a difference. This is especially true in a heroic RPG, where player characters team up to save the world and look good doing it.

Hey folks, it’s James here with a quick preview of some of the rules we’ve been working on in the RPG. While we’ve got some fun teamwork mechanics and abilities in our combat rules, we also want heroes to be able to work together outside of combat. Maybe it’s a montage of preparing a village’s defenses against an approaching zombie army, enacting a ritual to close a portal to the Abyssal Wasteland, or scouring a vast jungle for the entrance to a secret subterranean city. All those tasks are a lot easier if you have a few helping hands, and they’re far more dramatic if it takes more than a single Test to determine the outcome.

When the players work together outside of combat toward a common goal, the Director has two tools they can deploy: Group Tests and Complex Tests. You’ll notice the latter take some inspiration from fourth edition D&D’s skill challenges.

Here’s the rules for them from the latest playtest packet. (Version 26, baby!)

Group Tests

When two or more heroes attempt to overcome a single, simple task together that calls for them to make the same Test, the Director can call for a Group Test. For example, several heroes are all attempting to climb the outside of a tower at the same time, giving each other boosts and advice, you could have them make a Might-Athletics Group Test. Should a group of heroes attempt to sneak by a sleeping ogre, they could make an Agility-Stealth Test.

Group Test TN

The Director determines the TN of a Group Test, by first deciding on how hard the task would be for a single hero attempting it. Refer to the Typical Target Numbers table for suitable TNs. If you’re the Director, ask yourself, “How hard should it be to climb this wall?” or “What’s the TN for a hero sneaking by this ogre?”

Once the Director knows the TN for an individual making the Test, they should multiply that TN by the number of heroes making the Test. The Result is the Group Test TN. You can use the Sample Group Test TNs table to get quick examples of the math.

Sample Group Test TNS

Group Test Outcome

Each hero makes the Test, then the Director adds up the individual results. If the sum is equal to or greater than the Group TN, the heroes succeed. If the sum is lower than the Group TN, they fail.

AtIf the heroes fail the Group Test but come within the individual TN of the Group TN, then the Director can decide that most of the heroes succeed, but the one who rolled the lowest fails. For instance, if five heroes are attempting to climb a tower’s walls in a medium-difficulty Group Test, the Group Test TN is 45. If the sum of the heroes individual Test results are 40, then all but one hero climb up the tower.

Complex Tests

When a group of heroes works together overtime to accomplish a common goal that requires more than a single Characteristic or Skill, the Director can call for a Complex Test. Such tests typically take place over a prolonged period of time and allow the heroes to work together to accomplish a common goal. Navigating a vast desert, convincing farmers to rise up against a tyrannical leader, and performing a ritual to open a magically sealed gate could all be accomplished with Complex Tests.

In Complex Test, the players take turns making Tests as their characters tackle a task together in a Complex Test Round. Each hero acts one-at-a-time and gets a chance to make a Test or Assist a Test to influence the outcome of the task. Once a hero makes a Test or Assist, they can't do anything else as part of the Complex Test until every other hero involved in the Complex Test also makes a Test or Assists. After each hero has had a chance, the Complex Test Round ends and a new one begins.

Individual Tests

The TN of each Test in the Complex Test is set by the Director and can vary from individual Test to Test. For instance, if the heroes are sneaking through an enemy encampment full of patrolling soldiers, the Director may decide that a character who wants to observe the guard patrols can determine their regimented, routine routes with a TN 9 Intuition-Notice Test. However, these patrols leave so few gaps in their scouting that when another hero attempts to lead the others in sneaking by the guards, they must make a TN 12 Agility-Stealth Test.

Can’t Make the Same Test Twice

A hero can’t make a Test using the same Characteristic and Skill combination more than once in a Complex Test. A Test with a Characteristics and Skill represents your entire contribution to the Test with that combination of Characteristic and Skill. At the Director’s discretion, this restriction can be lifted for prolonged Complex Tests or Complex Tests that are extremely limited in scope and only have a small number of Skills that apply.

Total Successes and Failures

A Complex Test requires the Director (or a willing player chosen by them) to track the total number of successful and failed Tests the heroes make. Every Complex Test has a Success Limit and a Failure Limit. When the number of successful Tests equals the Success Limit, the Complex Test ends and the heroes achieve total success (see “Complex Test Outcomes”). The Complex Test can also end when the number of failed Tests equals the Failure Limit, and the heroes suffer total failure (see “Complex Test Outcomes”).

Timer

Every Complex Test also has a Timer, which is the maximum number of Complex Test Rounds the Complex Test lasts. If the heroes don’t end the Complex Test by achieving the Success Limit or Failure Limit, the Complex Test ends when the number finished of Complex Test Rounds is equal to the Timer (see “Complex Test Outcomes”).

You don’t need to worry about the Timer if every hero uses their turn to make an individual Test instead of Assisting. The Timer prevents all the heroes from simply using their turn to assist the hero with the best chance of success and being more active participants in the Complex Test.

Complex Test Difficulty

The Director determines the Success Limit, Failure Limit, and Timer of a Complex Test. They can share this information with the players or keep it secret—whatever is most fun and dramatic for the situation and group of players.

For groups with 4 or 5 heroes, a Complex Test’s Success Limit should typically be between 6 and 12, and the Failure Limit and Timer should be 1/3rd of the Success Limit (rounded down). For an easier challenge, the Director can make the Failure Limit or Timer or both half of the Success Limit.

In general, the higher the Success Limit, the harder and more complex the Complex Test will be for the heroes to overcome, since a hero can’t make the same Test twice. The Sample Complex Test Difficulty table gives a recommended Success Limit, Failure Limit, and Timer for easy, moderate, and hard Complex Tests.

Adjusting for Group Size

The Sample Complex Difficulty table is crafted for groups of 4 or 5 heroes. If you’re using the Sample Complex Test Difficulty table, you can make the following adjustments based on the number of heroes in the group to keep Complex Tests achievable, but challenging:

If there are 3, decrease the Success Limit by 2.

If there are 6 or more heroes, increase the Success Limit by 3 and the Failure Limit by 1 for every hero beyond the 5th.

Complex Test Outcomes

A Complex Test can have three different outcomes: a total success, a partial success, or a total failure.

Total Success

If the heroes hit the Success Limit before the Timer runs out, they achieve what they set out to do without complication. For instance, if the heroes engaged in a Complex Test to see if they could cross a desert to reach a city before a tyrant’s army got there and leveled the place, on a total success they arrive at the city’s gates with plenty of time to warn the people of the impending battle.

Mixed Success

If the Timer runs out and the heroes have achieved more successes than failures, they succeed at what they set out to do, but there is a complication or cost involved. For instance, if the heroes engaged in a Complex Test to see if they could cross a desert to reach a city before a tyrant’s army got there and leveled the place, on a mixed success they arrive at the city’s gates with the enemy forces only minutes behind and barely any time to give a warning. Alternatively, the Director might allow the heroes to arrive well before the army, but they don’t cover their movements well enough. The tyrant realizes the city has been warned and decides to call in a favor to a powerful dragon to join the siege.

Total Failure

If the heroes hit the Failure Limit before the Timer runs out, they fail to achieve what they set out to do. Just like standard Tests, failure on a Group Test shouldn’t bring a story to a halt. Total failure should make things more interesting and challenging! For instance, if the heroes engaged in a Complex Test to see if they could cross a desert to reach a city before a tyrant’s army got there and leveled the place, then they arrive at the city to find it is already under siege by the tyrant.

That’s It For Now!

I’m hard at work on a revision of the rules for our testing team. I’ve run a lot of tests over the last four weeks, and we’ve been tweaking the game’s core mechanics to get them into a place that’s super heroic and fun. Hopefully we’ll have more to share on that soon.

Oh, and the BackerKit Campaign for this game is going live on December 7th. Sign up here to get an email when it goes live.

Ex animo,

James Introcaso

MCDM Lead Game Designer