[FinalityCYOA]Orphanmaker Writing

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 5:18 pm

And this is why we have the writing thread, to hash shit out. Suggested corrections to the mechanism of action?

JigokuBosatsu · Post by **JigokuBosatsu** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 5:25 pm

Higher result: damage only to you
Same result: both take damage
lower result: no damage to you

I think that skews way on the easier side, so I dunno. Maybe if we keep combat that lethal, then there should just be more minor healing opportunities, i.e. "As you enter the corridor, you stop to tie your boot. As you do so you notice a hidden alcove that is normally invisible to the casual glance. You may take a few moments to rest in the alcove, without fear of being discovered. Recover 2 HP."

Also, draft 001 looks great. I think we're going to need a better system of organization once entries start piling up. Unless you're taking on all of the weight yourself, AH.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 5:35 pm

We're using a modified decision tree format with three major quest-paths, so there are a couple of little tricks we can use to keep stuff straight. The basic thing we need is to keep aware of orphan options and either dead end them or tie them back in. I figure we'll use the first post to map-and-track that sort of stuff.

The problem with the combat you suggest is that there is no penalty to bidding high; you're always best off to bid as high as you can, especially if you have any mods that can take your bid over 6 (unless we allow for exploding dice, which is just nuts). It makes you a glass ninja.

JigokuBosatsu · Post by **JigokuBosatsu** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 5:36 pm

Yeah, it was more knee-jerk than I realized. I suppose we can leave it as is and add "rest stops" if necessary.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 5:41 pm

I guess one possibility is that you lose HP equal to the roll if you win, but HP equal to your bid if you lose...that way if you're on the defensive and bid 1, you don't lose 20% of your HP when you roll boxcars, but if you bet 6 and roll 1, you don't lose 20% of your HP either.

Grek · Post by **Grek** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 5:49 pm

With the current system, you dish out an average of one sixth of your Bid in damage per every 1 damage you take. So there is absolutely no reason why you wouldn't want to bid 6 every time you can do so without killing yourself. And if you have less than 7 HP, you should probably be running, not fighting.

Changing it so that you lose HP equal to roll on a win instead doesn't change the optimum strategy at all: you still would rather have a 100% chance to inflict 6 damage and eat 3.5 damage than any of the other options.

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 7:15 pm

The combination of rolls and bids doesn't work for me. The optimum tactics don't really change based on your opponent, and you end up spamming the same bids all the time and it reduces all fights to a die rolling exercise. It should either be a "roll and add your skill" or a simple bid system. I like running the bid system on its own because it allows explosion potions to be very comparable to healing potions.

Choose how many Stamina you want to spend, and if it's enough you win and if it's not enough you lose. That's simple enough. And then you can have things like Celestial Badgers and Fire Bombs that allow you to bid a certain amount and then not lose any stamina if you win. Thus, a 6 point explosion bomb is better than a 4 point healing potion if it takes 5 or 6 stamina to win a particular fight, and worse if the fight takes only 3 or less stamina for victory.

Once we're in "choose how much stamina to spend" territory (like combat in the Dune board game), a random number generator isn't really necessary. We might have complicated battles where you choose tactics and the required stamina bid would be different depending on what you chose, or multipart combats with a series of choices and/or bid points, but that's not actually necessary.

Each path through the book would then have a certain minimum amount of stamina you had to spend, and thus a certain number of healing potions that were required to complete it. Some paths could presumably be done with no healing potions at all.

-Username17

Grek · Post by **Grek** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 8:04 pm

As an example, Page 007 might look like:

<flavour text about how strong they are>

If you wish to attack them straight on, Bid 1 to 10 HP on each orc and turn to page XXX.
If you wish to cast Summon Badger, count this as a bid of 4 against one orc and bid normally for the other. Turn to page XXX.
If you wish to cast a Dread Curse, turn to page YYY.
If have decided to chicken out, turn back to page 001 and choose again.

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 8:32 pm

The best part of the pure bid system is that it doesn't need entries for the use of fire bombs and celestial badgers. Those items can simply say "If you are in combat, you may use a firebomb instead of spending 6 hit points as your bid". So the book doesn't need to mention every time you have the option of using special attacks, the special attacks can simply be invoked at any time by the player. It also means that the player can get access to more powerful one-use bombs or pokemon and combat notations don't have to spoiler that this is possible because it's character sheet side and not page entry side.

-Username17

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 10:44 pm

Okay, modified bid system is up in the first post.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Sat Sep 14, 2013 2:35 pm

Frank wrote up an entry on 005, and I've put it in the first post for review. Comments, anyone?

Grek · Post by **Grek** » Sat Sep 14, 2013 3:20 pm

Both the ones in the current update look good to me. I assume asking for directions to the Shades gets you caught in your lie?

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Mon Sep 16, 2013 10:41 am

Okay, Frank's entries are up in the draft thread, along with the combat rules. I've posted a draft for the first combat encounter (007) for review.

For the bribe option, I'm thinking of a variant of the bid system - you bid 2-20 silver notes and then turn to entry XXX to see if that was enough.

If anyone wants to encapsulate the Finality setting in 1,000 words or less (including the current currency, etc.), I think that might be a good addition to the frontmatter as well.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 1:24 pm

So, what should we do if you win the fight (007) or successfully bribe the guards (006)? What should happen if you fail?

JigokuBosatsu · Post by **JigokuBosatsu** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 4:10 pm

Could be nice if there was a generic jail entry where you can be thrown at various points. I'm not a big fan of the bribery option, so fail should definitely be jail.

My thought is that winning the fight is not only a drag on your HP, but you also lose out on the opportunity to meet at the officer's club, which should be beneficial.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 8:57 pm

Two new entries in the first post up for review, 004 and 009.

JigokuBosatsu · Post by **JigokuBosatsu** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 9:01 pm

Damn, I was about to write 004. What's the best way to submit entry proposals? PM? Email?

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 9:03 pm

JigokuBosatsu wrote:Damn, I was about to write 004. What's the best way to submit entry proposals? PM? Email?

When I write them, I just send it via email to ancient history.

-Username17

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 9:17 pm

You can PM me too.

JigokuBosatsu · Post by **JigokuBosatsu** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 9:21 pm

I think 004 is just fine, but here is what I was thinking for it.

"I am Nam Orphanmaker, warlord of Griswold. Kinslayer, outcast, thief of lives, and hero for hire!"

As you speak, a hush has fallen over those in the queue behind you. Smirking, the guards seem to take a somewhat dim view of this sort of thing and give you a bit of a lecture about how it is not acceptable behavior to stab people in the face and take their money. No matter who you claim to be. You grudgingly agree to abide by the law while in Finality, and they request a processing fee of 1 silver note each.

The idea behind that was that there would be a few more "State your name and business" opportunities, and your answer would become progressively less purple as Nam becomes used to life in the Big City.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 9:24 pm

"You'll need to fill out a Tax Form 32 then. Enjoy your time."

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Wed Sep 18, 2013 9:40 pm

Yeah, I like that bit.

-Username17

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Thu Sep 19, 2013 10:58 am

009 is up in the draft thread, and entries 006 and 007 are up for consideration in the first post of this thread. My basic idea is that 033 is prison, which is the default place to go after losing a fight, but that prison is one of the separate little adventure paths where you lose your gear (initially) but the adventure doesn't end there because you get to rub shoulders with criminals, escape, bribe the guards, etc.

Chamomile · Post by **Chamomile** » Thu Sep 19, 2013 4:15 pm

If the prison is a place you can go to multiple times, there should be some kind of mechanic that prevents or discourages you from using the exact same method to get out every single time. We don't want people to end up going "rats, lost the fight, flip to 33, 129, 86, 204, and now I'm back at Portal Plaza."

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Fri Sep 20, 2013 1:09 pm

The idea about going to prison is that it's the start of one of the quest-paths through the book. It's not a "get out of jail and resume what you were doing" thing, and we'd work it to avoid loops.