Geas RPG (WIP)

[Seraph]

I am playing with an idea here, of having there be 7 specific action types.  This ties in with my runic magic system, where there are 7 "Verb" runes that indicate different things being done with magic.  I was thinking of having the same set of action types apply to "mundanes" as well, so that magic is functioning to create the same basic effects as nonmagical actions. 

Attack—Harm, hamper, or destroy someone or something.
Sample skills: Intimidate, Melee
Rune: Thorn

Build—Used to both make something new or improve the condition of something.
Sample Skills: Craft (Type), Heal
Rune: Breo

Control—Influence someone or something, cause something to happen.
Sample Skills: Animals, Charm
Rune: Tyr

Defend—This would be used for preventing, enduring, and ending stress, conditions, and bad situations.
Sample Skills: Reflexes, Willpower
Rune: Iss

Gain—To acquire something you want, or increase something you have.
Sample Skills: Charm, Perform
Rune: Gra

Learn—Used to gain some knowledge, perception, or understanding.
Sample Skills: Insight, Knowledge (Type)
Rune: Dag

Maneuver—Alter your circumstances, or those of another.
Sample Skills: Athletics, Deceit
Rune: Each

[Humabout]

Ooh, I like this.  I like how it integrates different aspects of CG into a single unified philosophy.  It feels consistent.  I think you have a good start for your seven actions, but I would recommend expounding on them more.  You could do that here or give a rundown of each action as applied to a "noun" within the nouns' descriptions.  The latter might make for easier reference.  Whenever you are trying to convey a specific way of thinking to people who may not think that way, examples, benchmarks, and copious explanations are your friends.  You certainly have a great start here, though.  I'm (still) looking forward to seeing how this develops!

[Seraph]

Ooh, I like this.  I like how it integrates different aspects of CG into a single unified philosophy.  It feels consistent.  I think you have a good start for your seven actions, but I would recommend expounding on them more.  You could do that here or give a rundown of each action as applied to a "noun" within the nouns' descriptions.  The latter might make for easier reference.  Whenever you are trying to convey a specific way of thinking to people who may not think that way, examples, benchmarks, and copious explanations are your friends.  You certainly have a great start here, though.  I'm (still) looking forward to seeing how this develops!

Thank Hum!  I certainly will expound.  In fact, I will start working on that now.

[sparkletwist]

What these verbs leave me wondering is how they directly translate into mechanical effects. What does a "Maneuver" really do? What can I "Control"? Some are more obvious, of course, like "Attack," although how I'd "Attack" with skills like Animals or Willpower is not something I can really figure out. If it's the case that not every verb can be used with every skill, then I wonder if you can't simplify the system further-- in a lot of cases, you're just saying "I'm going to use this skill for what it's good at," and using a different verb is superfluous to the mechanics.

(Alternatively, you could think of things like FATE, where each skill has "trappings," where you explain the types of actions that the skill might be used to perform, and those trappings usually boil down to some heavily-abstracted task within the game rules, like placing an aspect or whatever.)

[Seraph]

The verbs are a way of classifying actions that unites the magical with the mundane.  Though the precise effects are different, magic can be used to accomplish the same kinds of tasks that skills do, and vice versa.  Yes, there may well be a way to make this all simpler without them, but I like having them.  And maybe not every skill will be useful for every action, but all will have multiple utilities.

I cannot think of a way to make Willpower into an attack either.  However, it is definitely useful as a defend, and in some situations might be used as a control, or a gain (get what you want through sheer stubbornness) for instance.

Attacking with animal might be allowed if you are ordering an animal whose obedience is not in question to make an attack (sicking an attack dog, for instance).  If you know Craft (Wooden Structures) and there is an enemy in a watch tower above you shooting down arrows, perhaps you could make an Attack with Craft to take out a strategic support and have the whole tower collapse.

I am still working on getting a list up.  things have been REALLY busy.

[Seraph]

This is incomplete, but I wanted to show what I had come up with so far:

Attack: an attack action is any aggressive attempt to harm, hamper, or destroy.  Though throwing a punch or swinging a sword may be the most obvious expressions of the attack action, attack actions are not confined solely to the Melee and ranged skills, nor are attacks confined to purely physical assaults.  You can attempt to seduce someone as a charm attack, or interrogate them with an intimidation attack.  These forms of attack wear down the opponent's Will Points in the same way a melee attack might wear down their Hit Points.

•   Charm: A charm attack is used when you wish to convince someone to grant you a favor, or succumb to your desires.  You can seduce someone, talk the guard into letting you past that door he's guarding, or some other form of using your charm to overcome someone's will. Charm attacks are defended against with Willpower, unless the GM rules otherwise for a particular scenario.
•   Deceit: A deceit attack can be used just like charm or intimidation to wear down someone's Will (or their Enech).  If you spread a lie about someone to damage their reputation, they could take Enech damage.  A Brehon interrogating a suspect might use deceit to make their captive believe his case is airtight, and extract a confession.  Insight defends against deceit attacks.
•   Intimidate: An intimidate attack mean bullying someone into behaving a certain way, with threats, violence, and insults being used to wear down willpower.  In some cases, Intimidate can be used to publicly insult someone, and wear down their Enech points.
•   Melee: A Melee attack is obvious.  It is a physical blow with the body or a weapon.  It is defended against with Melee, or in some cases, perhaps with Fortitude.
•   Occult: An occult attack most likely takes the form of some kind of spell or curse, though at the GM's discretion, it might be an undifferentiated psychic assault.  Defense against such attacks varies.
•   Ranged: A ranged attack is as obvious as a melee one.  It indicates any throwing, shooting, or otherwise launching of a damaging object towards a foe or target.  It is usually defended against with Reflexes.

Build: A build action most likely will not take place during combat.  Any action that attempts to create something, or improve its state of being can qualify as a build action.

•   Animals: Calming a frightened animal qualifies as a form of build action, because it improves the animal's state of being by removing the "frightened" condition.  The animals skill can also be used to heal injuries of mounts, pets, or animal companions, in place of heal.
•   Craft (Type): The most obvious skill for a build attack, Craft allows you to make an object within your area of expertise, or repair similar objects. 
•   Heal:  Heal is primarily a build skill because it focuses on improving the state of a person by healing their wounds and tending to their injuries, removing Hit Point damage.
•   Inspire: Inspire can be used to build up an ally's confidence and spirit, healing mental damage, or raising one's enech temporarily.  When no mental damage is present, Inspire can also create a sense of optimism that grants a +2 bonus to a chosen skill for a limited period of time
•   Occult: An occult build might be a spell to remove a curse, bolster one's health, or increase fertility.
•   Performance (Type): There may be a way to use perform to build.

Control:  Control actions are used to influence someone or something else, or to cause something to happen.  Control is more often a mental action than a physical one, though physically restraining and carrying or forcing someone can sometimes be considered a control action.  In most cases, however, a control action is to attempt to utilize a skill in order to control the game narrative in some way.

•   Animals: A control action with animals occurs when you are attempting to command an animal to behave a certain way.  This includes falconry, where you order the hawk to fly, to hunt, and to return to your arm, or to make a horse charge into battle.  It can also be used to teach an animal a new task or trick.  An animal that has successfully learned an action usually does not require a control roll, unless there are special circumstances where success matters.
•   Athletics: Athletics can be used to wrestle someone into submission.  Pinning them down so they can't move is a form of physical control, as would be carrying them or pushing a resistant target. 
•   Charm: A form of social power, Charm control is not quite the same as a charm attack.  Whereas charm attacks involve whittling down a subject's will until they belong to you, a charm control is a singular attempt to cause or prevent a certain action.  It cannot be used to stay the hand of a hostile enemy, but it can be used to stop someone from leaving the room, for instance.
•   Inspire: By using rhetoric and public speaking skills, you can use inspire to rile up the public to revolt against an oppressive leader, or appeal to their power to get them to vote for a particular leader, or turn around a routed army for one final stand.
•   Intimidate: 
•   Occult: an occult control action can take many forms, from commanding a sidhe spirit to do your bidding, animating plants or laying a geas upon someone.

Defend: Like attack, defend actions tend to me more-or-less straightforward.  They protect you from something—either by blocking or diverting the effect, or by interfering with the attacker.  Just as attacks can be physical, mental, or spiritual, so too must their defenses.

•   Animals: As with an animals attack, the beast in question must be trained and loyal to you.  This can be used to have an animal harry a foe to prevent their actions, or to have it stand between you and danger. 
•   Athletics: Athletics can be used to resist someone trying to pin you down, to pace yourself to avoid overexertion, or something similar.  In certain cases it may overlap with Fortitude or Reflexes, and such matters may require GM arbitration (or the player making a case for using one over the other)
•   Fortitude: as a form of physical endurance, fortitude functions well to defend against physical strain.  This can be strain from exposure to the elements, to exertion and exhaustion, or to fight off poison or disease.  Under these circumstances, fortitude can be used to deflect HP damage from these sources. 
•   Insight: Insight is used as a defense against Deceit and some uses of Intimidate and Subterfuge.  It represents your understanding of people and your ability to read what's going on in their heads.  It therefore helps you avoid being tricked, bullied or otherwise taken advantage of. 
•   Knowledge: If your knowledge base in a certain subject would conceivably allow you to spot a fake or a liar, then you may defend against Deceit with the Knowledge skill.
•   Melee: Since no combat training is complete without both attack and defense, the melee skill serves to defend against itself.  It can always defend against any physical attack or a maneuver in combat.
•   Occult: Occult can be used to defend against the occult mental attacks of another character, or to shrug off enemy magic. 
•   Perception: Having heightened senses can be incredibly useful when you are defending yourself.  It can be used to defend against subterfuge, thereby spotting the trick.  It may also be used against some uses of Deceit.
•   Reflexes: This is used to avoid taking physical damage by not being hit.  It can defend against Ranged attacks and to avoid physical damage from effects such as falling (by rolling and tumbling).  In some cases it might overlap with Athletics, and require GM arbitration. 
•   Survival: The Survival skill is a defense against physical damage from the elements, and to keep fed if one runs out of food in the wilderness.

[Humabout]

I'm going to have to read this when I get off work. I want to see how this is developing!

[Seraph]

Alright, so I am debating something here:
Since Rose-of-Vellum started showing off Penumbra (based on Numenara) I have been thinking about the stat pools in that system, which function both as a form of "Hit points" and an energy pool from which to power abilities.  I find this an interesting system and I was wondering if it makes sense for Geas. 

As it is, I have the Fortitude skill at least partially determining Hit Points, The Willpower skill determining "Will Points" (mental HP) and I had a social HP Enech which determined your reputation, and which I was considering tying into magic in some way.


Now I am considering the following:
Might/Vigor: A stat that would both serve as HP, and would also power feats of strength and power, such as hurling boulders, "Salmon Leaping" great distances, and other such abilities.  Your Might/Vigor score might possibly provide a bonus to certain skills, and/or to physical damage.  I don't know if this should be a static bonus, wherein the Vigor Score (representing the undamaged "max HP") determines the bonus, or if it should be determined by how much strength the hero has left.  So a hero who is fresh for the fight might hit harder than he would after he's spent his strength shrugging off blows and ripping the arms off of trolls with his bare hands (ala Beowulf).

Agility/Coordination/Senses: In a sense it could be HP, but in the sense of the PCs ability to move with grace, and to reliably trust their perceptions.  So losing points of this would make the hero dizzy and clumsy.  Their directional hearing might be off, causing them to wander astray, or they might have double-vision, causing them to miss a target in combat.  It would be depleted by rogue talents, or by fenian stunts like running at full speed through obstacles. 

Sovereignty: This would be the new Enech, merged with Willpower.  A king must be "without fault" meaning both in fantastic physical condition, as well as being the image of honor.  Well, in our conversations about Enech and social HP, and how to make it universally relevant, we discussed the idea of there being a kind of metaphysical quality to it.  Now I am thinking that if I rebrand it as "Sovereignty," it incorporates the idea of physical presence and reputation in a more absolute sense.  It becomes your ownership, first of yourself, then of your surroundings.  As you gain or lose a sense of honor and esteem, your sphere of "sovereignty" is reduced.  Something in the idea of honor could be said to be the ability to control one's impulses to act selfishly when to do so would be a detriment to the community.  Someone lacking in Sovereignty might not be able to control themselves, and therefore would be seen as lacking in honor as well.  Now, if Vigor is used to power feats of strength, and Agility to power sniper skills, and the like, then Sovereignty could be used to power a number of things: Magic, as you exert your sovereignty over nature itself, or for the "mundane" classes, perhaps to call out a foe for single combat, or issue commands to troops.