NaGaDeMo: Playtest Part 1

Niki’s first question was, “So, what kind of character am I making?”

I showed her my write up for Johnny Saxon and said, “A normal person from the near future. The earth is about to be struck by a Comet and the last thing the character remembers is being kidnapped by men-in-black. The circumstances are up to you.’

Well, she didn’t disappoint and being a bigger Community fan than I am, she came up with…

Brianne Miller

Brianne was a second year university student. A bit aimless, she had not yet declared a major but was trying to decide between Woman’s Studies, Sociology, Drama and Psychology, all guaranteed to make completely unemployable after graduation.

After the Comet became public knowledge classes were suspended, but being estranged from her mother and not having anywhere else to go, she stuck around campus. One night, she was invited to attend an end-of-the world costume party in the Student Union bar. Knowing that some of the students had been going a little wild, she decided to dress in the least provocative costume she could find. A few hours later, as the party tipped from wild to decadent, she slipped away and tried to stumble back to her dorm room. Along the way, a black van suddenly pulled up and she was dragged inside…

Combat: 14
Mental: 18
Physical: 10
Accouterments: (5) Squirrel costume, half a bottle of tequila, a textbook “The Womyn’s role in Modern Herstory”, and a can of mace (+2 Mental Damage).

Trick: Big Heart: Bri has a big heart but has to work on it, so whenever she draws a heart, she doubles her bid points.

Flop: Temper: Bri also has a bad temper so whenever she draws a Club, the card value is halved.

NaGaDeMo: The Other Guys

Still trying to get a quick Overcard game test together before the end of the month. In the meantime, here are some other NaGaDeMo projects I've run across:

-Savage Afterworld has been working on some Mutant Future stuff.

-Zombie Toast is working on DICE. I'm looking forward to reading the finished product.

-Stargazer's World has some notes on tools writers can use.

-Greyhawk Grognard.

-Paranthesis Press

-And the one that kicked it all of in indomitable Nathan Russel

And the Rest of It...

Doing Stuff beside thwacking each other…
If a physical situation such as lifing a gate, or climbing a wall comes up in the game, the character uses their Physical Stat. To do this the Dealer assigns a Difficulty Number.

Easy: 1-6+1 Card
Average: 7-12+2 Cards
Hard: 13+As many cards as required.

The Player now assigns as many Physical Points as they wish and are dealt a card. If they tie or beat the Difficulty number then they are successful. An amount of points equal to the Difficulty number is added to their X-P.

The points spent are temporarily lost (how to regain Points will be explained soon).

Mental skills work the same way if the PC is attempting to repair anitem, or decipher a code or disarm a trap. It is up to the Player and GM to determine when something is Mental or Physical.

PCs can easily have Tricks or Flops that pertain to Mental or Physical checks, for example the player may want the PC to be a trained doctor, so they give the PC the Trick that when doing a Mental Check involving medicine, they may be dealt two cards and can discard the lowest (or similar).

For obscure or trivial skills, such as Jonny's knowledge of Vintage Rock (that song coming over the speakers is "Black Water" by the Doobie Brothers!) or a character's in depth knowledge of Doctor Who trivia ("that tree looks just like a Tardis!") can be played without a difficulty number unless the Dealer absolutely deems it necessary to the plot.

Using Your XP
During the next significant rest period, players can move points from their XP back into their Combat, Mental and Physical stats at a one for one ratio.

If the character does not have enough points in their XP to cover all missing points, then they are still tired, sore or hurt, depending on where they did not put their points.

XP The other use for XP is allowing characters to build up their stats and/or purchase new Tricks. It costs a number of XP equal to the current number+1. For example to raise a Mental Stat from 7 to 8 would require 8 XP.

The cost of a Trick must be approved by a the Dealer. Conversely, players can raise the level of a current Trick by the same as raising Stats. (if the Trick cost 6 points during character creation, it would cost at least 7 points to make it more powerful. The final cost us up to the Dealer.)

Healing
So the character has nothing in their XP and they want to heal. For every eight hours of rest, the character gains back 3 points that they can put back wherever they wish.
____________________________________
Well, that is it in terms of basic rules. I've done a HORRIBLE job at explaining them here, but I hope to run a quick game-test tomorrow ASAP to see if they actually work as well as they do in my head. I've enlisted the help of my friend Nikki who has volunteered to help out with the heavy duty rp end.

Combat Part IV: Where I reveal that I'm making this up as I go along...

Example Con't. Round 3The following round, Jonny (still with 9 points) attacks the Fireclown (8 points) with his crowbar (+2). When the round is over, Jonny has Bid 5 points and with his 9 card now has a total of 14. The Fireclown
had only a 4 card and bid 6 points, for a total of 10. Because Jonny (the PC) won that round, he collects those 6 points Bid by the Clown and puts them into his "Experience Pot" or X-Pot. How the points in the X-P are used will be described later.

Jonny then gets a total of 17 for Damage, clocking the Fireclown for 3 Physical points (of an original 10).

Example, Round 4In the final round, the Fireclown is attacking with 2 remaining points while Jonny has 4 points left. The Fireclown is dealt a 10 and goes All In, wagering all his remaining points. Jonny Calls and throws in 2 of his 4 points, revealing his card to be a Jack (11 points). Jonny successfully defends that round and takes no damage. Jonny also collects the Fireclown's two points and puts them into his X-P.

The fight is over because the Fireclown does not have any further points to bid, Jonny has two points left. Since he has points remaining, he has won and Jonny's player NOW DETERMINES THE FIRECLOWN'S FATE. The fireclown is not dead, but he has been defeated.  Jonny's player now gets the opportunity to describe what happens to the fireclown. This can be as simple as saying "with one last swing of his crowbar, Jonny cleaves in the Fireclown's head" to whatever the
player envisions. He can take it prisoner; he can sell it for parts or whatever his fiendish little mind so chooses.

If the Fireclown had won, the Dealer gets to determine what happens to the Character.

If the fireclown had taken enough 10 Physical damage points, it would be dead. If it had taken 10 Mental Points, it would be automatically unconscious/nonsensical.

If both the Fireclown and Jonny had ended the fight with 0 Combat points, the winner is determined by the side that collected the most in their X-P. Yes, I'm going to backtrack and state that Dealers should keep track of how many X-P are collected on their side as well.

Jokers – If either side is dealt a Joker, they automatically win that round. If both sides are dealt a Joker, then the side that Bids the most points, wins.

---- yeesh this is bady written. MRW.

Overcard Combat: Part II

Henson above, I hope this all makes sense. Haven't had a chance to playtest any of this...

Example Con’t. Round 2
The next round the Fireclown attacks and Jonny quickly folds because his card was only a 2. No Combat Points are lost by either side to be used next round, but Jonny takes damage as he is hit by the flaming rubber chicken (+3).

Damage
All weapons have a damage modifier ranging from +1 and up. All armour has a modifier ranging from -1 and down.

To determine damage, deal two cards. Take the numerical value of the cards, add in the Weapon and Armour values and consult the following chart.
2-15 Minor Injury. 1 Physical Point lost
16-24 Serious Injury 3 Physical Points lost.
25+ Grievous Injury. 5 Physical Points lost

If a character’s Physical points reach zero, they are considered physically incapacitated and in dire need of medical attention (for most NPCs and monsters it means death).

The Fireclown gets dealt two cards, a 4 and an 8. With the Fireclown’s flaming chicken doing +3 damage, this means a total of 15 points. Jonny takes a minor injury and looses 1 Physical Point.

Overcard Combat, Part I

The character points allocated the Combat option are now Combat Points (CPs). When the character is out of CPs, the character is defeated (exhaustion). They are also out of combat if their Physical (bodily damage) or Mental (stuns or disorientation) stats drop to zero.
 
So how does it work?
 
ANTE
Combat begins with allocating a certain amount of CPs to Initiative, called the Ante. The more points you put into the Ante, the higher the character's initiative. The character MUST Ante to participate in Combat, but they need only Ante once. Any points spent in the Ante are set aside are automatically put back into the characters XPot (experience pot) and cannot be used later during bidding.
 
What you ante is the character's initiative for the entire battle. However, at the start of any following round, a player can choose to add more points to their Ante, thereby increasing their place in the battle order.
 
Dealers Note: If a PC and their opponent have the same Ante, the PC goes first. The only difference is if a player only Antes one point, they act AFTER all opponents.
 
Example
Jonny (15 Combat) is fighting a Fireclown (Combat 12). At the start of the round Jonny antes 2 points, while the Fireclown antes 1 point. This leaves Jonny with 14 CPs for the fight, while the Fireclown now has 11.Round 1: FIGHT!
The Character with the highest Ante goes first and chooses their opponent. The Dealer then deals one card, face-down, to the player and one to herself (as the Opponent). You may look at your card, but do not show it to your opponent. The attacker then begins the round by choosing one of the following options, known as a Bid--
 
BID Options
RAISE: Allocating a number of CPs. Except for the opening Bid, each raise must be at least one CP higher than their opponent's previous bid.
 
TAP: The character does not wish to Bid any further points and is sticking with their last Bid. Their opponent then has one last chance to make a Bid of their choice and the cards are revealed.
 
BUY: For 6 CPs the character can BUY an additional card. This card is dealt Face Up and its value is added to their Bid. Players may only Buy one card at a time (but are allowed to Buy additional cards each time the Bid comes back to them).

ALL IN: The character bids all their remaining CPs. If the character going All In has more points than their opponent, their opponent must go All In or Fold. If the character going ALL IN has fewer points than their opponent, the opponent may make one last Bid of their choice. The round is now over and the cards are revealed.  
 
CALL: To call the character must equal the amount of CPs bid by their opponent. The opponent then has one last chance to make a Bid of their choice and the cards are revealed.
 
FOLD: The character stops the bidding and no CPs are lost by either side. If the attacking character folds, nothing happens and the next round begins. But if a defending character folds, they will take damage as normal.
 
Once the Bidding is done the cards are revealed. The value of the card is added to the number of points bid and the person with the highest number wins.  
 
Example
To begin, the cards are dealt face down, one to Jonny's player and one to the Dealer who controls the Fireclown. Jonny has the highest Ante so he begins by making an opening Bid of 2 points. The Fireclown Raises with 3 points. Jonny then Raises to 4. The Fireclown now Taps which ends his Bidding for that round with 3 Points. Jonny has one last chance to make a Bid, but decides to stay where he is with 4 points.
 
The cards are revealed and the Fireclown had a 10 which gives him a total of 13 points. Tommy had an 8, which means he has a total of 12 points. Since Jonny was attacking, he has failed to hit the Fireclown.

The next round begins. Jonny now has 9 points (15 to start-2 for Ante -4 Bid). To play with. The Fireclown has 8 points (12 to start-1 for Ante -3 Bid).

NaGaDeMo: Character Creation Part III: Tricks and Flops

So what exactly is a Trick or a Flop? The short answer is; they are whatever the player wants them to be. There is no list to choose from, players and Dealers have to come up with their own.

TricksTricks are any bonus that the character possesses. Just that bonus entails, is up to the player. They can be hard rule variations, such as extra cards or points, to in-character notes such as declaring that the character knows everything there is to know about Gnomeish Nose Flute music and will almost always know the answer should anything relating to Gnome Nose Flutes happen during the course of the adventure.

Tricks can be rule variations such as extra cards, bonus points, or wilder variations such as rolling 1d6 and gaining a bonus for a certain number. They can also be rare skills (as noted above), bonuses for using specific equipment or anything else that the player desires. The more powerful the Trick, the more points it will cost.

Flops are the opposite of Tricks, they are detriments, flaws and handicaps that the character has. The more powerful the Flop is, the more points it awards the player.

Players must submit all Tricks and Flaws to the Dealer for approval. The Dealer should not automatically veto any submission, but they may suggest changes. If the Dealer and the Player cannot reach a compromise, then the Player has the option of presenting the Trick or Flaw to the rest of the group. If the group then determines that the Trick or Flaw is acceptable as is, or with modification, then both the Dealer and Player must adhere to their decision.

NaGaDeMo: Character Creation Part II

Where to put your points?
Combat
These points are used during combat situations.

Physical
This represents the strength and fitness of the character and is used whenever the she needs to do something physical such as swim, climb, jump, bend bars or hula.

Mental
This represents how smart and mentally strong the character is and gets used whenever she needs to do something cerebral, such as fix a car, decipher a code or play sodoku.

Accouterments
The character’s stuff beyond the game basics.

Tricks
This is where the player starts to have a little fun. Here they can come up with any special abilities, skills or powers. Tricks will be discussed in more detail in Character Creation Part III.

Flops
These are the flaws and defects of the character. Unlike the other categories, Flops add points that can be used elsewhere. Flops will be discussed in more detail in Character Creation Part III.

NaGaDeMo: Overcard

Overcard

As the name implies, the game is loosely based on poker and is designed to be played using Playing Cards, but D20s or D12s can be substituted with only a slight change in the odds. For the cards, Aces are worth 1, while face cards have a numerical value: Jacks are 11, Queens 12 and Kings are worth 13. How Jokers are used will be explained below.

Obviously, these rules only barely scratched the surface with what you can do with the cards. Dealers are encouraged to tinker, fiddle and warp the system in whatever way they see fit. Players are encouraged to do the same in the Extras category (see below).

CHARCTER CREATION
Players start off with 50 points to distribute between five categories: Combat, Mental, Physical, Accouterments and Extras. There is also an optional fifth category called Flaws that may awards extra points. Players MUST put points into Combat, Mental and Physical. Characters that do not allot points for Accouterments start the game only with the most basic of equipment. In a fantasy game this would mean the clothes on their back, enough pennies for a meal or two and a rusty dagger, while in a science fiction game, it might mean the clothes on their back and a pocket zapper with only a small charge left. For Extinction Event, a character with no points in Accoutrements (depending on the viciousness of the Dealer) could easily start the game completely naked.

NaGaDeMo: the Idea

Most dice based RPGs run on some sort of Dice+Modifier system. While the dice provide the probability, the Modifier is determined by the player. This modifier tends to be static which means that games boil down to grinding out enough experience points to raise the Modifier (as a huge simplification).

What has always bothered me was the set modifier. What if somehow you could compensate for a bad roll? Mulling over this problem a few years ago lead me to create a system I called Pocket, but I could never quite get to run the way I hoped. I was using poker rules as a basis (which has since been done much better with Deadlands), but I think I can salvage something by limiting the cards in play and simplifying some of the rules. The decision to continue to use cards rather than dice is practical rather than stylistic; it is simply harder to fake a card value than it is to conveniently nudge a dice roll. There is actually nothing that would prevent a trusting GM from using d12s.