Writing a ttRPG - Wyverns & Warrens (Pt 6 - Time, Space, Scale, Distance, Movement, and Range) (Patreon)

(This article is not part of this blog's content that is covered by the OGL 1.0a.)

I'm designing Wyverns & Warrens (WyvWar), an effort at a short, easy-to-learn, easy-to-play, fast-playing fantasy ttRPG that still has a depth of options. And I am doing that in weekly installments, exclusively for my paying Patrons!

First Look - Wyverns & Warrens Fantasy ttRPGPreview 01 - When Are Hit Points Not Hit Points?Preview 02 - Paths & EdgesPt. 1 Writing and RPG (How We Got Here)Pt 2. First Outline DraftPt. 3 - Core Mechanic, Attacks, and DamagePt. 4 - Target NumbersPt 5 - Damage and Benchmarks

In this entry I'm talking about to how I want WyvWar to handle descriptions of and movement within the game reality its rules describe. A lot of this breaks down to units of how the rules will describe various measurements, such as time, space, scale, distance, movement, and range. For example, imagine the game was played in Rounds, with every character getting a single action on each Round, and that each Round lasted half a second. It would make sense that a lot of attacks could be made in a single Round (half a second to pull a trigger or make a thrust with a rapier is easy to envision). When determining how far a character would run in a single Round, a distance of 4 meters in half a second is right around world-class sprinting speed. If the game is going to use some kind of marked-off spaces to track relative positions on a tabletop (such as squares or hexes), that speed each Round means those spaces should be no MORE than 4 meters across, and could easily be 1 or 2 meters and still work with this combination of interlinked scales.

Of course, it also means if a character wants to do something that takes 5 or 6 seconds, that character's player doesn't get to do anything but that ONE action for 10-12 Round. The off-the-cuff sets of scale, distance, and time I sketched out above may all make logical sense together, but there's a good chance they won't be fun.

("How far away is the Dragon-Dragoon?" "Adjacent to you." "How far away is the ground?" "Far. Very far. ALL the way down there." Art by Dean Spencer, used under license.)

As that game system is described above, with a Round being 0.5 seconds , there's no hint of some other measure of time in the game rules. If true, that would result in a 2-hour trip being described as 14,400 Round in game terms, which would be ridiculous and difficult to work with. That's an apagogical argument, obviously, but it does highlight another aspect of defining a reality within a game -- it's often useful to have multiple scales for tackling different situations.

That example also suggests a game that uses an entirely linear scale. If you can only describe time in game terms using a linear scale, then either time interacts with the rules in a very set way throughout the game (for example, +1 to an Action Check for every 10 Rounds you spend being extra careful... which might expand out to getting +720 on a check by taking an extra hour), or you need to write special rules each time you don't want an infinite linear expansion of whatever rule you're writing. That kind of rule ranges from super simple (such as "you gain a +1 to an Action Check if you take 10 or more Round being extra careful," which limits you to a single +1 from extra time), to things that are easy to write ("You gain a +1 to an Action Check if you take 10 Round being extra careful. For every x2.5 multiple of this time you take, the bonus goes up by +1."), but which are a pain to apply on-the-fly in play ("So, +1 for 10 Round, +2 for 25 Round, +3 for, ah... 62-and-a-half Round...").

Since I am seeking both speed and ease of play. I'd rather avoid needing to create ad hoc rules all the time. That may turn out to be unavoidable, but it's what I'm aiming for as a goal.

One way to avoid the limitations of a single linear scale in game rules is to not give hard definitions of any measurement. (Ever wonder EXACTLY how far across a starship-scale hex is in Starfinder 1e?) For example, time could be broken into Actions (when a character does roughly one thing), Beats (a set of 10 related actions), Scenes (all the related beats in a single area), and Acts (all the beats related to one arc). How long is a Arc? Well, that depends on how much happens that's all related. This gives the game concrete values to use rules on ("A minstrel can use his Sociable power to gain a Sense of How Things Are Going once per Beat"), but divorces them from set amounts of time. This is a strong and flexible system you can apply to nearly any game values (ranges could be Adjacent, Short, Medium, Long, and Extreme; areas could be Pinpoint, Tight, Typical, and Expansive). If precise values are needed, the GM can assign them, or the player most involved can assign them, or the group can come up with the values by consensus, or any of a dozen other methods can be used, either as set out by the game or as the GM and players find most satisfying.

I personally find those systems most satisfying in games that are more broadly story-driven and that don't assume you are tracking movement and position of every character with miniatures, maps, and terrain sitting on your gaming table. That in no way means I think they are inferior to games with more concrete measurement systems. The way I tend to play ttRPGs, the more loosely defined scaling and values work best in a narratively-driven game style... but I don't make the mistake of thinking my preferences are objectively superior, or even common.

And as hinted at by my Starfinder reference earlier, a game doesn't have to use just one style of values in its game.

Now, having thought about ALL of that, there are some factors that drive my decision on what to do for WyvWar.

I want the game to be fast and easy, both to learn, and in play. So the fewer different kinds of systems, the better.

The pyramid distribution of 2d10 is not linear, which makes me want to avoid linear scaling for distance and time as well.

I want to emulate my feeling from specific early ttRPG play experiences in my life. When we played those games we neither used a narrative-driven model, nor spent much time worrying about time and distance.

Sometimes I played with miniatures in those days. Sometimes I didn't. We never let it slow down the game, either way.

So, where does that put me on these issues?

The base game time unit when characters are taking fast and furious actions will be a Round, with all characters getting their own turn within the Round. I'm not sure how long I am going to make 1 Round of action, but it'll be less than a minute. When it's important to know how long something takes, but there's no need for precisely tracking multiple turns per minute, the game will measure time in longer increments as appropriate. And all those measurements of time will be outlined on a Time Chart. Here's a draft of the time chart.

Time Chart 100 years15 years5 years1 year90 days30 days1 week24 hours/1 day12 hours6 hours1 hour15 minutes5 minutes1 minute1 round

Less than 1 round (such as 1 action, if characters get multiple actions per round as I expect)The chart will be the benchmark for all the ways the game rules interacts with time, using its non-linear scale. For example, if I want a rule for gaining a bonus for an action by taking extra time to perform it, the rule could say "You gain +1 to your Action Check for every 2 steps up the time chart you move the time taken to perform the action." So if it normally takes 1 round, you get a +1 for taking 1 minute, +2 for taking 15 minutes, +3 for taking 6 hours, and so on. But if you are researching the weaknesses of Ink Crabs in a library, a task that normally takes 6 hours, then you have to spend 24 hours doing the research, and if you want a +2 you need to spend a month on it.

Areas and ranges will use the same kind of scaling tables.

Area Table100-mile diameter25-mile diameter5-mile diameter1/4-mile diameter300-foot diameter100-foot diameter50-foot diameter20-foot diameter15-foot diameter10-foot diameter5-foot diameterSingle Target

All game rules involving area will refer to this table. For example, if a bomb has a 5-foot diameter, and an anarchist wants to make one with a 50-foot diameter, then they need to make a Crafting Check with a -4 penalty for having the area being four steps up the Area Table.

Range Table100-mile range25-mile range5-mile range1/4-mile range300-foot range100-foot range50-foot range20-foot range15-foot range10-foot range5-foot rangeAdjacent

I've set the tables up so "going up the table" increases the value, and "going down the table" decreases it. So, if a GM says "Your range goes 2 steps down the Range Table" the player knows that "going down" the table is a reduction in range.

As for the use of miniatures and maps, or not... my current plan is to give a paragraph or two of advice to GMs for playing the same with them, and another couple of paragraphs to "theater of the mind" style play, and to try to make the game simple enough either method works. If nothing else, that should help me remember I want this fast, and easy.

Next Week: What Defines A Character! (First Draft)