Writing a ttRPG - Wyverns & Warrens (Pt 15 - Pinning Down Some Details) (Patreon)

(This article is not part of the content of this blog 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!

You can check out the earlier articles at the links below.

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 BenchmarksPt. 6 - Time, Space, Scale, Distance, Movement, and RangePt. 7 - What Defines A Character, First Draft: AttributesPt. 8 - Hero McHeroFacePt. 9 - A Framework for MagicPt. 10 -Enough to Start WritingPt. 11 - What Is A Roleplaying Game... and How Do I Design For That?Pt 12. - An Assumed SettingPt 13. - A First Stab At Skill DescriptionsPt 14. - An Attribute Specialization System

Okay, I've made enough progress on enough systems that it's time to pin down some of the elements I've been pretty vague about... including actions and movement. I had decided that 1 round of player actions would be less time than 1 minute, the bottom of my early time chart. Now, I'm going to define the length of a round, and the assumed length of 1 action within that round. Let's just add them to the time chart, then we'll talk about what they mean and I why I made these choices.

(How long does it take to swing an axe? How soon will those ghouls be here? How fast can that dwarf get back to the rest of the party? We need to know how character actions work to even begin to answer those questions. Art © Dean Spencer Art, used under license.)

Time Chart1,000+ years100 years15 years5 years1 year90 days30 days1 week24 hours/1 day12 hours6 hours1 hour15 minutes5 minutes1 minute1 round (6 seconds)1 action ("2 seconds")

Yeah, this means I'm making my duration of a round and number of actions per round the same as a much-better-known-RPG I've had some involvement with. I thought about this long and hard before I settled on these values. First, I know some people will automatically associate WyvWar with games that had these elements first and I'd rather avoid that. Second, it always felt weird to me that big ttRPG conflict that would eat up 5-15 minutes of screen time in a movie, and often an hour or more or real-world time to play through, generally last less than one minute of game time. Say what you will about old-school 1-minute rounds in games, they meant that conflicts took a fair amount of game time to resolve.

But, no matter how I looked at it, 3-action rounds running a total of 6 seconds (and thus an approximate time of 2 seconds per action) just came closer to what I want for this game. And I always disliked games that avoided well-known game mechanics in favor of WORSE game mechanics. So, hoist on my own internal narrative petard, I went with that seemed to work best.

Since I now have a specific action economy, it's time to start defining actions within the game. As with so many elements of this game I want definitions to be broad, but have enough of a concrete rules element to be of use when determining how things work. Here's my first take.

Actions

Attack: You make a single attack, which is anything that requires an Attack check. You can also move up to your movement (normally 15 feet) before or after the attack. Unless you have an ability that says otherwise, you cannot split up your movement within one action--it all must be taken before or after your attack.

Manipulate: You rearrange, use, or examine some object. This includes using tools, drawing weapons, examining locks, opening doors, picking items up off the ground, asd so on. If the entirety of the manipulate action can be taken without you having to be in a single location, you can also move up to your movement (normally base 15 feet). This movement must all be taken before or after you manipulate something. However, if you are manipulating something that isn't part of your carried or worn gear, you can't move while you manipulate it.

For example, if you use the manipulate action to draw a potion from your gear, or drink a potion in hand, you can move while taking either of those actions. However, if you wanted to open a door, since the door is not in your carried or worn gear.

Run: You focus all your effort on going as far as you can. You move up to your movement +10 feet (normally base 25 feet), + your run bonus (see Speed).

Why am I mentioning "base movement"? Well, the Speed attribute is suppose to impact movement. Here's my current plan for that.

Speed and Movement: For every 5 full points of speed you have in a given movement type, you add 5 feet to your movement. For the Run action, your instead get +5 feet for every 2 full points of Speed you have for that movement type.

There's still things to do with this. I need to define whatever action allows you to cast spells or use special abilities that aren't attacks. I need to decide how Climb and Swim, and Fly and Burrow and Teleport and Crawl and Falling and Jumping all work. I can add more actions as I need to, but this is good enough to move towards a playtest draft.

You know what else I need for a playtest draft? My Paths & Edges. So, time to begin drafts of those!

Next Week: Playtest Paths & Edges!