The Campaign Builder's Guild

A Little Bit of ∞ Infinity Design Theory

Most role-players play to interact with the imaginary game world, as described by the gamemaster.

"At the end of the street is a tall building, old and dilapidated. The yard is overgrown with weeds, the paint is peeling away in wide strips, and you can see several holes in the roof. You hear cicadas and the wind is picking up. The streetlight by the house is burnt out. What do you do?"

"Well," the players say, "we park well up the street and..."

Through his descriptions, the GM brings the world to life. Through their character's actions and reactions, players interact with that world.

Game mechanics exist solely as a framework for gameplay. But every mechanic every written is subsidiary to the interplay between the GM and his players, the GM describing the world and its NPC's, and the players describing what their characters do.

This is where the game comes alive, and game designers can't really make it better (though bad design or writing can certainly interfere). A group does what it wants to do, plays the way it wants, and the game designer has no control and should have no control. The best a game designer can do is get out of the way.

∞ Infinity game mechanics are designed to help GM's know what to describe, then leave the description up to them. Give them the raw material to make the world come to life, and get out of the way.

With Attributes, Skill Points, and Skill Ratings, the mechanics are written as they relate to the real world. Knowing that a Strength of 12 is above average, but not stupendous, the GM can describe a character that way.

The same holds for Skills: they are described in real world terms, so GM's know what they're narrating when they describe the world. A bumbling Novice, a sure Professional, an imposing Genius: the rules give the GM hints so he knows what to describe.

Success Levels serve the same purpose: the game mechanic exists primarily to give the GM hints about what to describe. As noted, they don't always apply. But they can always be used as a guide to describing the game world.

I'll give those rules next post.

Skill Challenges and Success Levels

Success levels have two purposes. The first is mechanical: the number of Success Levels has a direct mechanical effect. With damage, each SL is a Wound.

Skill Challenges are, much of the time, binary: you Succeeded or Failed. For those times when extra Success matters, we use Success Levels.

Result	Success Level
-1 or lower	Failure
0-2	Success
3-5	1 SL
6-8	2 SL
9-11	3 SL
12-14	4 SL
15-17	5 SL
+3	+1 SL

In those cases, Success Levels are used to determine how well the character did, beyond just Succeeding. Higher SL may mean the task took less time than expected, that the character got some additional benefit, and so forth. Specific rules for this are included with each skill writeup.

The second purpose is descriptive. Success Levels can be used by GM's as a guide to describe how well the character did.

Success Level	Outcome	Description
Failure	Failure	"You failed."
Success	Success	"You barely squeaked by."
1 SL	Solid Success	"It's done."
2 SL	Superior Success	"Incredible!"
3 SL	Spectacular Success	"One of the best I've ever seen."
4+ SL	Spectacular Success+	"There aren't words to describe it..."

A Failure means the character Failed at the Challenge, and suffers whatever penalties result from that (if any).

With a Success the character barely succeed, by the skin of his teeth. Failure loomed large, and for a moment he was sure he failed, but at the last second he pulled it off.

1 SL is a Solid Success. He did competently, neither bad enough nor good enough to get noticed.

2 SL is a Superior Success. The character did well to earn compliments.

3 SL is a Spectacular Success, the kind of outstanding work that earns admiration and envy.

4+ SL is a Spectacular Success+. This is a once in a lifetime achievement, something that earns awards and accolades.

I'l talk about this a little more next post.

Describing Success (and Failure)

As with the other mechanics, the GM is tasked with not only describing the situation the players face, but also the consequences of any Challenges. He translates game mechanics into description, telling players how their characters did.

The outcomes above were chosen to be simple, clear, and straightforward. They are also relatable: Everyone knows what it's like to fail or to sort-of succeed (but not fully). Everyone knows what it's like to just squeak past, or to succeed, or to succeed so well others are impressed. Because these are relatable, they are easily describable.

Here's an example: A character must jump a ravine, that's both wide and deep. After the Skill roll, the GM calculates Success Levels, then has to describe the outcome to the player. Here's a few ways that could go.

Failure = The character falls. "You miss the cliff. You fall into the dark gulf without a sound, still clawing for the ledge as it recedes in the distance."

Success = The character almost fails, but not quite. "You leap across the gorge, landing on your face, then begin to slip towards the edge. You scrabble at the edge of the cliff for a second, trying to find a vine or crack to get a grip on. After a moment of panic, you pull yourself up."

Solid (1 SL) = He makes it over, but only just. "You make it across, but land face-first in the dirt. Your clothes are dirty, your hands scraped-up, and your pants are torn."

Superior (2 SL) = Nothing fancy, but he made the leap. "You jump the gorge and land on the other side. You're a little winded, but exhilarated."

Spectacular (3 SL) = Spectacular Success means they easily made it, and did so in an impressive way. "You easily clear the vast distance to the other side, lightly landing on your feet. The extreme height doesn't bother you; you own this mountain."

Spectacular+ (4 SL) = The kinds of feats you see in movie stunts, but almost never in real life. "You jump the gorge, tuck and roll, and come up in a crouch. Onlookers gasp."

In many cases, different outcomes won't make a mechanical difference. Even so, the GM should make the effort to give a short description, especially if it's unusually bad or good. Especially Spectacular or better Successes, players love it when their characters look cool.

The Skill Challenge outcomes are built so GM's can easily describe them. Description makes the world come alive, and it helps the players invest in the campaign world and their characters.