The Gaming Den

What do people think about the idea of inserting arbitrary reflex tests into RPG mechanics? For instance, every time a hypothetical fightan character does a basic sword attack, the player tosses a coin into the air and tries to catch it on the back of their hand. If successful, the attack deals 3 damage instead of 2.

Taking the idea a bit further, when an alchemist decides to use this magic transmutation rock that got found in a complex of evil ruins to make some phat lewt, the person playing the character plays a game of Asteroids or something and rounds their score down to determine how valuable what they get is.

I find the concept interesting, but it would probably be incredibly easy to implement badly. It's inspired by Mario RPG games, but tabletop roleplaying games add a much larger range of potential for human error to mess things up thanks to the reduction of automization.

I really don't want to do sobriety tests for a bonus on my Balance checks.

It would slow the game down, and generally wouldn't be worth the time. It's all fine and dandy when you are playing a single player game but when others are involved it just wastes their time. Much like being in the Matrix in Shadowrun.

Despite the fact that the Mario RPGs represent a pinnacle of awesomeness...

This sounds like a really bad idea for pen and paper games. Really bad.

Lago PARANOIA wrote:

This.

The only reason it works for Mario RPG is that it's a single person learning and doing the twitch minigames.

Sashi wrote:The only reason it works for Mario RPG is that it's a single person learning and doing the twitch minigames.

It's also a videogame.

What works in one format does not necessarily work in another.

I take it you've never gamed with someone with a physical disability.

I have endured numerous boardgames that included arbitrary reflex tests.

Like Ala Carte where you are forced to try and flip a 2-inch size cardboard crepe in a frying pan of the same size.

Like The Dutch East Indies game where you navigate your way to the Orient while blindfolded.

No, just no. Reflex tests are for party games.

"Okay, I attack him with my mace."
"You know the drill. Smack me in the head with a 2x4 to see what your damage bonus is."

Koumei wrote:"Okay, I attack him with my mace."
"You know the drill. Smack me in the head with a 2x4 to see what your damage bonus is."

The only acceptable physical task in PnP games is in fact beating the shit out of the DM.

Mostly just because any DM that suggests physical tasks deserves it.

My phyical task demands are usually pretty reasonable though Kaelik.

"Just stop shaking the damned dice in your hand, individual rolls can't be affected by rolling them more or less damnit!"

Yes, I really have had to tell players to stop rolling their dice, and just drop the dice onto the damned table. Some of them just want to keep rolling. >_<

Judging__Eagle wrote:Some of them just want to keep rolling.

Keep rollin rollin rollin rollin?

Juton wrote:I take it you've never gamed with someone with a physical disability.

Physical disabilities, no. Jerks on the Autistic spectrum, yes. Part of the reason that I have used arbitrary videogame (but not physical reflex) tests in the past. "Here is a scenario I set up in Age of Wonders. It represents the battle you joined. Let me know how it goes."

Occasionally I go so far as "Okay, I have this complex simulatory software set up to determine how your plan to wander off from everyone else and stab people in the face to end the war goes." [Boots up Fallout] "The simulation is a metaphor. A metaphor for how war, war never changes."

It's real good for those times I'd rather do yardwork where I break up hard ground with a pickaxe and then shovel it into a heap than stick around certain people for another half hour.

Koumei wrote:"Okay, I attack him with my mace."
"You know the drill. Smack me in the head with a 2x4 to see what your damage bonus is."

You triggered my trap JPEG.

Avoraciopoctules wrote:Here is a scenario I set up in Age of Wonders. It represents the battle you joined. Let me know how it goes.

Oh yeah, so that was you. And I thought the idea was stupid when it was JUST that, now I think the idea is more stupid.

It is a stupid idea.

Because the idea, you see, is really very stupid.

[Boots up Fallout]
...
then shovel it into a heap than stick around certain people for another half hour.

All this says to me is that you and your players sound a lot like they don't want to play a table top RPG, or hang around each other, or both.

At no point does what you suggest sound like an especially good idea for an actual functional game or social group.

Also, it sounds like a bad idea for your not want to hang around and play RPGs with each other group, who, apparently, should probably just bust out some multi player computer games and trash the TTRPG, or just go home and not speak to each other at all, or do both, by means of the faceless medium of the interwebs.

Eh, what's wrong with a bit of casual trolling between friends? If everyone has fun in an RPG group session, I can't see it as all that bad an idea. And I didn't say my group was made up of nothing but jerks with learning disabilities.

One of my fondest recent RPG memories involved a boss battle that was essentially Magic Tea Party to do something about the Orc King's telekinesis-granting thinking cap followed by people poking each other with wooden swords while I sang a mangled version of "Monkeys disarm their Kremlings".

Av, seriously. Get a copy of Ala Carte. Play it with your friends. Preferrably in a semi-public setting.

I suspect your enthusiasm for reflex tests will evaporate the moment you drop your cardboard crepe on the ground three times in a row.

Avoraciopoctules wrote:One of my fondest recent RPG memories involved a boss battle that was essentially Magic Tea Party to do something about the Orc King's telekinesis-granting thinking cap followed by people poking each other with wooden swords while I sang a mangled version of "Monkeys disarm their Kremlings".

. Hate.

Zinegata wrote:Av, seriously. Get a copy of Ala Carte. Play it with your friends. Preferrably in a semi-public setting.

I suspect your enthusiasm for reflex tests will evaporate the moment you drop your cardboard crepe on the ground three times in a row.

As I previously indicated, I do not think that arbitrary physical reflex tests will be easy to implement or even necessarily a good idea as part of an RPG's rules. However, I do enjoy using video games to abstract RPG stuff I might otherwise find tiresome and distract annoying people when I want half an hour of time to knock holes in the ground with a pickaxe.

Avoraciopoctules wrote:distract annoying people when I want half an hour of time to knock holes in the ground with a pickaxe.

This is a problem that crops up regularly?

I believe there is a line you could try, I believe it goes...

:nonono: wrote:"You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here!"

Not really regularly, but I find the story to be a funny anecdote. Particularly since pickaxe work is among my favorite types of yardwork. It's partially the edge of danger (pickaxe head's a bit loose, risk of a dirt or rock chunk hitting your eyes if you forgot safety glasses), partially the fact that it uses more muscle than raking and I don't get the chance to do it a lot. Usually, I only cut large holes in the earth here when we need to bury a dead pet.

EDIT: this time, we've got a wooden platform on a concrete foundation, and the dirt level's high enough that the edges of the wood are rotting. So every now and then I work on moving the earth away. It'd only be a couple hours work if the dirt weren't so rock-packed and dense. Somewhat sadly, it is, so I do the job a bit at a time. A lot more enjoyable than blackberry picking.

Avoraciopoctules wrote: It's partially the edge of danger (pickaxe head's a bit loose...(thing about deliberately forgetting eyeglasses for more thrill)

So is this transforming now from "stupid things you should not do while playing RPGs" to "stupid things you should not do regarding basic hole digging safety"

PhoneLobster wrote:

Avoraciopoctules wrote: It's partially the edge of danger (pickaxe head's a bit loose...(thing about deliberately forgetting eyeglasses for more thrill)

So is this transforming now from "stupid things you should not do while playing RPGs" to "stupid things you should not do regarding basic hole digging safety"

No. It's about to become a Darwin Award. Leave it be.

PhoneLobster wrote:So is this transforming now from "stupid things you should not do while playing RPGs" to "stupid things you should not do regarding basic hole digging safety"

I think you need to work on your reading comprehension, dude. I'm not saying I deliberately forget glasses for the adrenaline rush. I'm saying that whenever I do pickaxe work, I am sickeningly self-congratulatory over remembering basic safety rules. It's less hazardous to myself, but likely even more annoying to bystanders if I start talking about how clever I am not to do big overhand swings and instead do controlled vertical chops that minimize risk and improve accuracy.