Board role tactic
Good day.
Today we will talk about the desktop-role-playing system of our own design, the creation of which was inspired by both console oriental games, as well as acquaintance with Western tabletop-role giants. The last ones turned out to be not so fabulous as they wanted - cumbersome in terms of rules, with somewhat sterile heroes and objects, supersaturated with accounting.
So why not write something of your own? With signs of the Zodiac and Eidolon. That's how it all turned out. It took about five to six years for the idea to develop from several scattered pages into a 256-page book.
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"Monstrob" is a role-playing game dedicated to fantastic fantasy tactical battles. Here the heroes draw new combat knowledge from their weapons, monsters have their own "artificial intelligence", and instead of gaining experience, a system of achievements is used.
But first things first. A general view of role-playing games, as a phenomenon, was formed by me somewhere in the 90s, after reading a superb review article in one of the volumes of the Encyclopedia of Computer Games. This article was called “About role-playing games”, it described both the specifics of the desktop-role-playing experience, and numerous examples of computer rollers that took over the atmosphere and color from the desktop universes. Separately, it was emphasized that the role-playing board games are not about the competition "who won" and not about the "upbringing" of the game of careless participants by the game master, but about joint creativity and an entertaining pastime for everyone.
When we played a decent amount of adventures, the difference between what was expected and what was received began to appear more and more clearly. The systems themselves turned out to be overloaded with excessive mathematics, every now and then there was a feeling of constantly going through a limited set of options, any hero with suboptimal parameters was perceived as useless, often the most interesting and intense part of the game was ... preparation for it - the very stage of creating characters.
It is, of course, necessary to separate the degree of influence on the occurrence of all the individual elements. Yes, players can relate to what is happening too superficially and instead of composing bright characters will wander around the game world in the form of gray limp spots, such blanks, hung with valuable things or sights through which you can throw the ability. Yes, the master can abuse his position, try to force players through the plot rails, ruin the atmosphere. But a lot depends on the system itself. From the way it works. It is just this moment that often remains “behind the scenes”, because one of the secrets of the board-role games is that, one way or another, you can get pleasure from each gaming system, would have the proper level of interest among the participants.
Naturally, not all systems can and should be lightweight. Some of them are just about the diversity of content, about the complex system of rules, linked into a single ingenious mechanism and about digging into all these details. And a little accounting does not hurt, and the tables will be useful, and sometimes you can’t get away from mathematics, but the measure is important in everything.
So it turned out that sometimes even interesting adventures developed in our country, the characters turned out to be quite good and the group acted smoothly - thanks to the efforts of the master and the players, it was possible to bypass the sharp system angles.
And I just wanted to build my system, because gradually I began to develop a vision of what I would like to receive from it. And first of all I wanted the following - a fabulous atmosphere (or fantastic, surreal), diverse characters with different levels of power (which often happens in movies and books), a simple but deep tactical component, free creative development of the character, unique game objects, travel between worlds.
The book itself can be freely read here , and below I will review the main points.
The fabulous universe of "Monstroboy" lives according to special laws that differ from those that operate in reality. The local inhabitants are not at all surprised by the need for frequent battles with wild monsters, which are generated by the chaotic game of magic elements.
Every creature here has a hidden primal base , irration . It is the inner core of a being, consisting of interconnected particles of magical energy. Such particles, called Spheres, are also found in free form. Like electrons they circle around various objects and creatures, can change the owner and be used to create material objects.
The hero perceives his irrationus in the form of a special range of feelings, gaining knowledge about some game-mechanical parameters. For example, that he has a certain amount of health. The hero feels the bulk of other parameters as some obvious patterns that are hard enough to put into words. There are also such parameters, the presence of which the hero does not guess at all: for example, the characteristics (Dexterity, Body, Mind and Intuition). The player knows all the indicators and terms, of course, but the main principle by which he is guided in his decisions is the following: the character is not a copy of the player, it is a real living person, with his own motives and ideas about the world around him.
It is worth noting that during battles heroes most often do not suffer physically, because the combat attacks of enemies do not leave marks in the form of scratches or bruises, instead damaging their health and other parameters. Thus, everything that the hero attacks in battle - the blade of the sword, claws, a shot, a charge of magic - will affect the configuration of the irration, and not the material shell. Obtaining various kinds of physical injuries and conditions is nevertheless possible, but not during a tactical battle.
In the world of the game, the character most of all should fear two things: the plot death and the collapse of the irration. The first case implies the death of a character due to the confluence of various circumstances: the outcome of a fatal disease, getting a fatal injury, accumulated injuries, the final loss of reason, and so on. The second case occurs when the character's health drops below minus five (-5): then his irration becomes so unstable that the bonds between the magic particles are destroyed.
For a long time, the inhabitants of the wizarding world have learned to create weapons and equipment that are designed exclusively for battles. These things have varying degrees of efficiency and fairly strict rules of use. In addition, new unique ways are constantly being invented to influence their actions on the irrationality of enemies.
In addition to the main fairy-tale world, another one is mentioned, the dark one.
In the “Monstrob” system, there is a flexible setting consisting of a general description of the world and some of its individual sections, the so-called Nodes, which are not connected with each other in advance by a common map. The book contains such nodes as the fabulous city of waterfalls (Utada), the village of dragon riders (Zaskan), the restored ruins of the ancient city in the middle of the desert (New Asgard), the mysterious castle in the forest (Mathorica), and so on.
This structure allows you to embed in this game world any other elements and locations, for example, favorite places from different books and films. That is, the game world itself is also built up by the participants in the process of their personal adventure, it is not strictly deterministic. Nodes are like free energy in the hands of a game master who has not yet turned into matter. The course of narration translates the Nodes from a free state into a connected, material one.
A biography is a few words / phrases about the essence of the character. For example: “elf”, “witch”, “groovy dragon”, “fire magician with a prosthesis instead of a hand”, “a druid from a branchy forest”, “a merchant of a suspicious type”, “a royal messenger”, “an orc-smith, damned” , “Necromancer student”, “arrogant girl paladin”, “the shadow of a stranger with his lifeless dog” and so on.
This parameter contains all the important information about the hero himself, his condition, and indicates the possible vectors of the hero’s development.
Characteristics - is the degree of success of the hero in various classes of actions, the strength of the connection of his internal fundamental principle with each of the 4 main elements. If a hero performs a plot action or experiences a plot effect, then checks of the relevant Characteristics may be required.
Agility (flexibility of fire)
Body (earth hardness)
Mind (air curiosity)
Intuition (mystery of water)
Each hero has an idea of ​​his biography, but he is completely unaware that the Characteristics influence the success of his actions (neither the hero’s appearance, nor his strength, mass, nor mind depend on the magnitude of the Characteristics).
For example: the hero has a biography “professor of techno-magic,” and his Mind is equal to “-2”. The low value of Reason does not make the hero stupid. He is well versed in techno-magical devices and theories, as well as all that can be attributed to this area of ​​knowledge. Mind "-2" means only that in cases requiring Mind, but with its path, technomagic, not connected at all, it will be unlucky.
The life of the character is subject to belief in oneself and personal ambitions. He cannot compare his achievements with someone else on an absolute scale, he is quite subjective in assessing his qualities. Some do not stop the failure, while others deceive themselves, burying true talent in the ground.
In this ignorance lies a special charm: confidence in something really turns the imaginable into the obvious - making the various actions of the hero thereby earns a biography. Each specific biography, in turn, increases the success of those actions of the character that are associated with it.
For example: if the hero is a "druid", then most often he will be able to walk silently through the forest already on this basis. And if the master decides to assign a Dexterity test for silent movement, then its complexity for the “druid” will not be high.
Even when there are no miniatures, you can always do with improvised means to simulate a combat situation - dice, chips, buttons.
Shot from the prototype in Flash.
This tabletop role-playing system implies that combat clashes will often occur in tactical mode between a group of adventurers and their various enemies. It can be as simple as attacking wild monsters, or fighting with a clever opponent, a scene of unexpected betrayal or a comic duel in the arena.
Before each next fight with throws of cubes, the sequence of moves is formed. If two or more heroes have the same results, then they will get a joint move with the ability to arbitrarily split up and combine their actions.
At the beginning of the turn, the hero usually gets about 3 Action Points and 1 Combat Action. Action points are spent mainly on moving, performing auxiliary tasks (such as using objects or changing equipment) and act as an additional resource (reinforcing the ongoing attack). The fighting is spent on various attacking techniques, or the activation of powerful abilities.
Unused fighting at the end of the turn is burned, and the Action Points can be accumulated by some heroes as fuel for special moves. Any non-standard actions of heroes in battle are also possible, if they do not contradict the situation - the master decides how much and what resources will go to pay for them.
Witch Truann - one of the preset characters
Each character has a battle archetype. There are four of them: "Magician", "Dodger", "Fighter" and "Medium". The names of archetypes are conditional and the heroes themselves do not know about them (for example, the archetype “Magus” does not mean that the hero is necessarily some sort of biography spellcaster).
As mentioned earlier, the fundamental principle of each creature has some strength: a stock of Health Points. But besides the usual health, the heroes also have a Mental: the higher it is, the more concentrated the hero is when performing various magical or energetic actions. If the hero loses all Health Points, then falls unconscious or even dies. If he loses all Mental Health, then his combat effectiveness abruptly decreases: the character cannot use the techniques and special Sacraments of the Signs, he can only use a simple attack with a weapon or without him.
The hero can spend his Mental Health on some special techniques, but the overwhelming part of the techniques and Sacraments spend other, more easily replenishable resources (such as Mana Points). Therefore, in most cases it is better to maintain mental health as long as possible.
As long as the character is not equipped with any defenses - he takes hits on his Health Points. But as soon as the defenses appear, the effect of his archetype begins to influence the hero and part of the damage received is redirected to the mental health of the hero or is completely extinguished.
For example, the hero of the “Magician” archetype has the largest stock of Mana Points compared to other archetypes. Damage blocked by his physical defense is redirected from ordinary health to mental health. And the damage blocked by magical defenses is fully repaid - that is, when protecting 1 from fire-air magic, the hero will receive 1 less damage from fire or air attack.
Nobody forbids such a hero to conduct close combat with the enemy (where physical attacks occur most often), but the game hints that in most cases it will be more effective for this archetype.
The archetype “Lovkach” is moderately universal and due to the increased stock of Mental Health it feels good in any position. "Fighter" is better protected in the melee, but the magic attack can cool his ardor. “Medium” is the most balanced and controls its state better than others.
The game has four types of magic, each of which includes two elements. That is, protection from the Aspect. Time in the equipment of the character will help him immediately and against the attacks of Light and from the attacks of Darkness.
Heroes "Monstrob" several times a day are able to use a variety of mystical disciplines, the Sacraments. There are exactly 12 of them, each of them is patronized by its own Zodiac Sign. At the start of the game, each character owns the Sacraments of the two Signs - his own and the minor.
Each Sacrament can be applied in two different ways: theatrical and tactical. The first method is applied only during the narrative part of the game. The second method is used in a tactical battle or in some way connected with it (it allows you to create a combat item or enchant a weapon).
For example: The sacrament of Mimicry (Patron badge: Cancer) allows the owner to copy the magical, energetic, or mystical effects observed by him for spending 1 use. You can throw a counter-clot of fire at an evil dragon, raise a dead man in response to a similar action by a necromancer, and so on. For waste of additional use, you can cancel the effect instead of copying it. During a tactical battle, Mimicry allows the hero to duplicate other people's attacks or techniques.
Most of the Sacraments do not spend Fighting or Action Points during a battle, so they can be used several times during one turn (as long as there are uses) without losing the ability to move or attack. On the other hand, the sacraments, as a rule, cause reciprocal attacks from nearby enemies for each act of their use.
"Monstrob" uses 3 types of cubes: tetrahedron (D4), hexagon (D6) and twenty hexahedron (D20). Each of them has its own role in game mechanics: the tetrahedron and twenty are used in tactics, the hexagon most often regulates the narration.
D4, weapon attack
In battle, the heroes use a different weapon, each of which has four positions of damage. The die roll determines the position.
For example: the hero attacks the enemy with the Palash. Damage parameters of this weapon: 2/3/4/4. The cube fell 1, so the enemy will receive 2 damage.
Positions can contain zeros, dashes or letters. A dash indicates a single miss, zero - a hit, but with zero basic damage. If the weapon had an increase in damage or other additional effects, then in position 0 they will work.
For example: The Magic Wand (- / 0/1/1) is enchanted with “+1” fire damage to attack. If the cube drops to 1, then the attack of this weapon will miss. If 2 rolls out, the Magic Wand falls, inflicting 0 physical damage and 1 fire on the enemy. If a 3 or 4 rolls out, the enemy will receive 1 physical and 1 fire damage.
In more rare weapons, positions may contain letters that indicate one of the Characteristics of the hero.
For example: Ink sword beats enemies with darkness, not physics. Its parameters: And / 4/6/8. The owner of the sword now has Intuition equal to 5. If 1 is dropped on the attack cube, the sword will deal 5 damage with darkness.
D6, checks
During the narration, some of the actions of the characters require a successful check on one of the Characteristics (Dexterity, Body, Mind, Intuition). The wizard sets the verification complexity, and the player rolls a die, adding to the required Characteristics.
For example: the witch wants to understand the meaning of the ancient symbols that cover the walls of the catacombs. The master assigns a check on Reason with complexity 6. The witch's mind is 2, the cube dropped 3. In total, 5 came out, which is lower than the required complexity, so the meaning of the symbols could not be solved.
D20, Monster Intelligence
Most ordinary monsters are controlled by a cube, which orders them to perform a specific action from the list. The master remains to choose the target, and also to decide when the monster will move: before the action or after it.
For example: there is a battle, the enemy Goblin gets the turn. The master rolls a die, fell 19. Goblin’s parameters indicate that if a value between 15 and 20 falls, then he is supposed to impose an Aura of Poisoning on the target within a radius of 1. The master moves the Goblin to one of the heroes, and then imposes on that Aura of Poisoning.
The concept of the igromechanical model of the monster includes the following parameters:
Identification - rank (from 1 to 5), Mark (one of 12), type (undead, animal, goblin, and so on).
The main ones are Health Points and Speed ​​(sometimes there are Mana Points).
Actions - a list of attacks and techniques tied to the intervals of the 20-polyhedron.
Optional - physical and magical protection, immunities, other features and limitations.
Players in the same way control summoned monsters and Eidolons (special creatures in which heroes can transform with the help of the Sacraments of the Sign of Scorpio).
For example: on several turns, a paladin of the 2nd level turned into Leviathan, Architect of the Depths (Eidolon of the water element). Each turn, the player rolls a die, figuring out the prescribed action, now falls 2. A number from 1 to 9 instructs Leviathan to inflict targets within a radius of 1 damage to Water equal to 2 + hero level. Thus, Eidolon will inflict 4 water damage on the enemy.
In battle, characters can open Titles - various simple achievements. You can have many titles, but only one of them is active during the game day and gives the hero a specific bonus. Those heroes who have access to the Speech (the Sacrament of the Sign of Aquarius) can sing the title they know during the battle, sharing its effect with all allies. In addition, there are secret (unique) Titles that can be opened only once, after which they become inaccessible to other heroes.
Example of the Title:
“Savior”, secret Title
Conditions for obtaining: you have experienced a state close enough to death, but you have not died, and besides, there is someone who loves you.
Advantages of the Title: “the one whom you hold by the hand cannot die” (feature of the biography).
But the Titles "Monstrob" is not limited. He develops these ideas and goes further, completely abandoning the use of game experience (Exp) in favor of global game achievements - Milestones. The hero begins with the first level of Milestones and can open those Milestones 9 times that are provided for by the development plan (pumping this way from the first level to the maximum, the 10th).
Examples of Milestones:
“Mission” - the hero accomplished an important task received from the game subject
“Taste of Battle” - the hero won a victory in 3 battles
“Echo of reflections” - the hero was in a state of Trans
As a starting point, a set of nine different Milestones has been proposed, which each hero can open once. Such a development plan will be quite difficult, but very diverse. The master of the game can put together his own plan, forming a certain style of adventure: to focus on the drama, to explore the world, to battle successes, and so on. The final version is approved before the start of the game.
The plan can be quite simple and narrowly focused, for example, “Mission (9)”, that is, the hero will receive levels only for fulfilling important plot tasks and to get the maximum level of Milestones he simply needs to open the “Mission” 9 times in a row - that is, perform 9 different assignments taken from the characters of the game world. Also, the plan can be very diverse and as free as possible when many Milestones are proposed at once, each of which can be opened more than once.
Of course, in "Monstrob" you can create a hero from scratch by reading the dedicated chapter. However, I decided to offer beginners not only the designer “assemble himself”, but ready-made unique heroes. Each of them belongs to a separate class and has a character outline. This is important because I would like to emphasize the moment that the hero is not a copy of the player. It is difficult to feel such a thing, when you just come to the hobby and you are given the designer of the hero - there is a great temptation to collect the blank sheet easier, without a special story, and to do the same in the future. This is not a problem in computer games, but at the table it can be.
Thus, a new player can simply print himself a card with a character, where all his starting possibilities are indicated. Obligatory bonuses for leveling are provided, but the abilities of the hero and his class can be developed arbitrarily as the game progresses - it depends only on the creativity of the player and the master, on the emerging plot situations. The hero knows a lot from the very beginning, he doesn’t have to wait for some high level just to start enjoying his class.
In other words, there is no illusionist magician who, at the first level, can only show tricks, at the seventh one can always become invisible, and at the fifteenth level he is able to create an illusory city. The local magician illusionist moves after the player's thoughts on his account, having at the start only a general concept and some mechanics already written, like creating educational illusions, for a certain time with the waste of a certain resource. Strictly speaking, this system does not deny the presence in it of heroes with painted reinforcements at specific levels (since the levels themselves are present), but they become a special case, and the freedom of development remains.
Weapons and combat items also have levels — power levels or ranks. With these objects, the heroes study various combat abilities - after spending two or three battles with a magic staff, the hero studies the magic contained within that, in order to use it already without this object. Abilities from low-ranking items more or less remain relevant even further when the hero has abilities from items of higher rank. In the first versions of the game, a situation was more often observed when some abilities looked more “passable” and became not very necessary when a more powerful counterpart appeared. On the other hand, from the very beginning, the game provides the opportunity to disassemble irrelevant items. I will not say that now everything that the character has studied benefits him constantly, but even a small correction has benefited — more variability,more creativity.
In addition to the basic characters from the book, there are about 15 cards with additional characters. There you can find representatives of the race of gizmos (intelligent magic items), characters from the dark dimension, a mushroom man, and even a virus infecting monsters. Based on them, it is easier to design your own new heroes.
Yes, of course, the master will need the ability to improvise. The player will have to figure out how to use the abilities of the hero in a given situation, have to invent new things. But this is the most interesting thing that non-computer role-playing games can give! In addition, other elements of the game constantly provide food for creativity, facilitating this task. I myself, as a master, practice practiced improvisation, and in the book the game is viewed from this position, offering the master various tools for carrying out his plans.
You just need to change the vector of your aspirations - you should not sculpt a monolithic dramatic-cinematic epic, then to submit it to the group in the form of a non-interactive monologue among wooden decorations. No, we will not drive on rails and drive players in all available ways to the only correct right door. Instead, I propose to make before the game a certain stock of key events and leads that the game will arise in the way of the players and adapt to the current situation. The output is a sandbox game with noticeable patches of the plot, a less complete history and good involvement of the participants, despite the greater degree of freedom of the players.
A couple of thoughts about game accessories. In general, as well as many people, I like highly detailed, stylish miniatures in tabletop role-playing games. However, in practice they are not so convenient when it comes to use in the game.
Personally, I would like to see some standardized not very pronounced miniatures in tactical rolls played at the table. Something so universal in the style of cubism-minimalism, especially for opponents / monsters. Usually, those playing use those miniatures that were under the hands, collected from various sources, sets and games.
Such figures for role-playing games are usually released already under a certain setting. A sufficiently high degree of detail allows you to consider the character's race, his clothes and other details. All this is wonderful, but the settings and classes of heroes in games change very often, not to buy new figures every time for a new style / class and so on.
Great, if you have a line of thumbnails in the same style. But these too fantasy-looking, in the game about the space operator or in the Lovecraftian detective story, they will no longer look so advantageous. Although, when it stopped anyone.
This is what I mean to what figures I would put in the box with my game, if such a box were produced:
To begin with, these would be the multi-colored figures of the main characters for the players. If more or less detailed models, then it is possible for each color in the male and female versions. Or just make more different colors, each with one abstract model of the type “adventurer”. If a player brings his favorite figure, then to health, but in this way we have a basic option for any occasion.
For opponents - several groups of identical models. Then it will be convenient to make packs of several enemies of the same type. I usually form most of the clashes as “a party against a group of skeletons”, “a party against goblins and their leader”, “a party against a pair of werewolves and a pair of zombies” - as you can see, there are often monsters of the same type. Therefore, for a group of goblins I want to use the same figures, and not to put different ones and then forget who I have.
It is very desirable to see some numbering on models from the same group. It can be tsiferki, dots, stripes, letters, symbols. On the stomach figures, on the back or top. It would be very convenient to keep track of the amount of health left by the enemy. That is, when the hero poked that figure to his left from a group of skeletons, we immediately see that it was some kind of "skeleton number 3" that he received on the cap, and not someone else. Again, it helps the master very much to track who of the opponents he already walked and who he hasn't.
When there is so much on the table, go figure out who is who.
In principle, cubes are very well suited for conveniently displaying different groups of enemies - you can just pick them up the same and set them up with different numbers. But if it was a figure with a figure, it would be great. Therefore, I would make enemies with numbers.
Actually, even completely abstract models are best suited for opponents, on which the marks are very well read and which, when changing locations and worlds, will not distract us from the current atmosphere with their details. We just make small groups of slightly different colors, sets of different sizes, label them - all that is needed for universal battles.
But for various exclusive opponents, you can already put up any other figures, from all the collectible chaos that you have at hand. Or the Master may take some of the color figures that were not taken by the players. And, since we are talking about figures that would go in a box with a game, we could make several such specific ones and put one random figure of an exclusive enemy in each box.
I dug up such pretty people on the Internet.
Thus, in the most minimal form for playing tactics, I would like to see some minimalistic multi-colored figures for heroes and several groups of abstract numbered miniatures for opponents.
But, of course, the basic configuration can be more diverse and detailed. However, I’m definitely against the practice when in the house tons of beautiful detailed miniatures are laid out on cardboard boxes and we dig into them diligently, trying to get as close as possible to our situation. Then we suffer that they are again not in the same style. Then we buy more zombies, because we now often have zombies in the game, and there are no suitable figures. And then we put everything on the table and anyway we get completely confused. Figures can be many, but they should be convenient to navigate if we want to use them in the game, and not just decorate them with a shelf.
In principle, the “Monstroboy” game mechanics can be adapted for computer implementation. Although it is not as easy as it seems. I just always liked Final Fantasy Tactics, I would like something in a similar style, and the “Monstroboy” boevka is pretty close in spirit. Anyway, computer tactics is still just one of the ideas put on the back burner. There was only a small flash prototype with one scene and this one here is a video showing the direction of thought.
A tesserktak is a special, powerful stone that opens the passage to honey in measurements, which is mentioned in the book. As planned around him and the plot would spin.
And this video more later. Collected in Unity one of the hypothetical locations. There is already more like the style of FFT.
“Monstrob” is not the only role-playing game that I wrote, but certainly the healthiest and definitely it contains this basic impulse that led me to the development of desktop-role-playing games - the desire to make an accessible game with a tactical combat game. Other board role-playing books that I was engaged in are much more narrative. It is understandable, because they are exploring other role niches.
All my role books and related materials can be found on the site .
On that and finish the story. Have a nice weekend.
Today we will talk about the desktop-role-playing system of our own design, the creation of which was inspired by both console oriental games, as well as acquaintance with Western tabletop-role giants. The last ones turned out to be not so fabulous as they wanted - cumbersome in terms of rules, with somewhat sterile heroes and objects, supersaturated with accounting.
So why not write something of your own? With signs of the Zodiac and Eidolon. That's how it all turned out. It took about five to six years for the idea to develop from several scattered pages into a 256-page book.
')
"Monstrob" is a role-playing game dedicated to fantastic fantasy tactical battles. Here the heroes draw new combat knowledge from their weapons, monsters have their own "artificial intelligence", and instead of gaining experience, a system of achievements is used.
But first things first. A general view of role-playing games, as a phenomenon, was formed by me somewhere in the 90s, after reading a superb review article in one of the volumes of the Encyclopedia of Computer Games. This article was called “About role-playing games”, it described both the specifics of the desktop-role-playing experience, and numerous examples of computer rollers that took over the atmosphere and color from the desktop universes. Separately, it was emphasized that the role-playing board games are not about the competition "who won" and not about the "upbringing" of the game of careless participants by the game master, but about joint creativity and an entertaining pastime for everyone.
Master of the game: Standing on the bridge of the descending “Psheso”, the sun elf Sigmar peered at the oncoming fog. Yes, somewhere here must have been found those rare types of monsters that will be needed in the experiment. He put his palm into the control pearl of the ship to adjust the course, and the shell-shaped vessel obediently deviated to the side, bypassing the sharp peak of the rock. Finally, a gap appeared in the mist and the Psheso rushed there. The shell-shaped ship sat down on a small stony ledge, the lights of the power lines on its hull partially went out, going into standby mode. After a couple of minutes, the bottom of the sink clicked and moved down. An elf, a mushroom girl and a goblin left the womb of the ship on a stone ledge ... But no, let them be just an elf and a goblin. So, ladies and gentlemen, you are in the Dungeon of the Mists!Somewhere in the zero years I did various small desktops so that I could play with my friends, and at the same time plunged into the brave world of console exclusives (an unforgettable first PlayStation), found the Magic: The Gathering card club in the city (at that time the colorful Kamigava, little by little, Mirrodin's most powerful bloc retired, and the cards had not yet begun to be printed in Russian) and ... finally joined the board-role-playing games, too, finding a gaming company and a practicing master.
Intrigue: Stop, stop! What about the mushroom girl?
Game Master: For now, let's start with these two characters, and then we'll see.
Connoisseur of the rules: So tell me that you forgot to write her the parameters.
Game master: * sarcastic * Maybe I just decided that she was too good to give it to you?
When we played a decent amount of adventures, the difference between what was expected and what was received began to appear more and more clearly. The systems themselves turned out to be overloaded with excessive mathematics, every now and then there was a feeling of constantly going through a limited set of options, any hero with suboptimal parameters was perceived as useless, often the most interesting and intense part of the game was ... preparation for it - the very stage of creating characters.
It is, of course, necessary to separate the degree of influence on the occurrence of all the individual elements. Yes, players can relate to what is happening too superficially and instead of composing bright characters will wander around the game world in the form of gray limp spots, such blanks, hung with valuable things or sights through which you can throw the ability. Yes, the master can abuse his position, try to force players through the plot rails, ruin the atmosphere. But a lot depends on the system itself. From the way it works. It is just this moment that often remains “behind the scenes”, because one of the secrets of the board-role games is that, one way or another, you can get pleasure from each gaming system, would have the proper level of interest among the participants.
Naturally, not all systems can and should be lightweight. Some of them are just about the diversity of content, about the complex system of rules, linked into a single ingenious mechanism and about digging into all these details. And a little accounting does not hurt, and the tables will be useful, and sometimes you can’t get away from mathematics, but the measure is important in everything.
So it turned out that sometimes even interesting adventures developed in our country, the characters turned out to be quite good and the group acted smoothly - thanks to the efforts of the master and the players, it was possible to bypass the sharp system angles.
And I just wanted to build my system, because gradually I began to develop a vision of what I would like to receive from it. And first of all I wanted the following - a fabulous atmosphere (or fantastic, surreal), diverse characters with different levels of power (which often happens in movies and books), a simple but deep tactical component, free creative development of the character, unique game objects, travel between worlds.
The book itself can be freely read here , and below I will review the main points.
Game world
The fabulous universe of "Monstroboy" lives according to special laws that differ from those that operate in reality. The local inhabitants are not at all surprised by the need for frequent battles with wild monsters, which are generated by the chaotic game of magic elements.
Every creature here has a hidden primal base , irration . It is the inner core of a being, consisting of interconnected particles of magical energy. Such particles, called Spheres, are also found in free form. Like electrons they circle around various objects and creatures, can change the owner and be used to create material objects.
The hero perceives his irrationus in the form of a special range of feelings, gaining knowledge about some game-mechanical parameters. For example, that he has a certain amount of health. The hero feels the bulk of other parameters as some obvious patterns that are hard enough to put into words. There are also such parameters, the presence of which the hero does not guess at all: for example, the characteristics (Dexterity, Body, Mind and Intuition). The player knows all the indicators and terms, of course, but the main principle by which he is guided in his decisions is the following: the character is not a copy of the player, it is a real living person, with his own motives and ideas about the world around him.
It is worth noting that during battles heroes most often do not suffer physically, because the combat attacks of enemies do not leave marks in the form of scratches or bruises, instead damaging their health and other parameters. Thus, everything that the hero attacks in battle - the blade of the sword, claws, a shot, a charge of magic - will affect the configuration of the irration, and not the material shell. Obtaining various kinds of physical injuries and conditions is nevertheless possible, but not during a tactical battle.
In the world of the game, the character most of all should fear two things: the plot death and the collapse of the irration. The first case implies the death of a character due to the confluence of various circumstances: the outcome of a fatal disease, getting a fatal injury, accumulated injuries, the final loss of reason, and so on. The second case occurs when the character's health drops below minus five (-5): then his irration becomes so unstable that the bonds between the magic particles are destroyed.
For a long time, the inhabitants of the wizarding world have learned to create weapons and equipment that are designed exclusively for battles. These things have varying degrees of efficiency and fairly strict rules of use. In addition, new unique ways are constantly being invented to influence their actions on the irrationality of enemies.
In addition to the main fairy-tale world, another one is mentioned, the dark one.
Story nodes
In the “Monstrob” system, there is a flexible setting consisting of a general description of the world and some of its individual sections, the so-called Nodes, which are not connected with each other in advance by a common map. The book contains such nodes as the fabulous city of waterfalls (Utada), the village of dragon riders (Zaskan), the restored ruins of the ancient city in the middle of the desert (New Asgard), the mysterious castle in the forest (Mathorica), and so on.
This structure allows you to embed in this game world any other elements and locations, for example, favorite places from different books and films. That is, the game world itself is also built up by the participants in the process of their personal adventure, it is not strictly deterministic. Nodes are like free energy in the hands of a game master who has not yet turned into matter. The course of narration translates the Nodes from a free state into a connected, material one.
Researcher: * impatiently * So what's next? Arrived, and?
Master of the game: Actually disassemble the characters. Who is the elf, who is the goblin?
Intrigue: I would take a mushroom, but you did not give it!
Game Wizard: There will be more characters later. You still need to show the basics of the battle.
Tactic: Yeah, boy! What we can goblin?
Master of the game: Goblin can throw bombs. And grenades. If you find a pomegranate tree.
Tactician. Oh, take it.
Researcher: * looking around the party * I am then an elf, if no one is against.
Intrigue: Yes please.
Game Wizard: Good. By the way, he has the most curious prehistory.
Biography and Characteristics
A biography is a few words / phrases about the essence of the character. For example: “elf”, “witch”, “groovy dragon”, “fire magician with a prosthesis instead of a hand”, “a druid from a branchy forest”, “a merchant of a suspicious type”, “a royal messenger”, “an orc-smith, damned” , “Necromancer student”, “arrogant girl paladin”, “the shadow of a stranger with his lifeless dog” and so on.
This parameter contains all the important information about the hero himself, his condition, and indicates the possible vectors of the hero’s development.
Characteristics - is the degree of success of the hero in various classes of actions, the strength of the connection of his internal fundamental principle with each of the 4 main elements. If a hero performs a plot action or experiences a plot effect, then checks of the relevant Characteristics may be required.
Agility (flexibility of fire)
Body (earth hardness)
Mind (air curiosity)
Intuition (mystery of water)
Each hero has an idea of ​​his biography, but he is completely unaware that the Characteristics influence the success of his actions (neither the hero’s appearance, nor his strength, mass, nor mind depend on the magnitude of the Characteristics).
For example: the hero has a biography “professor of techno-magic,” and his Mind is equal to “-2”. The low value of Reason does not make the hero stupid. He is well versed in techno-magical devices and theories, as well as all that can be attributed to this area of ​​knowledge. Mind "-2" means only that in cases requiring Mind, but with its path, technomagic, not connected at all, it will be unlucky.
The life of the character is subject to belief in oneself and personal ambitions. He cannot compare his achievements with someone else on an absolute scale, he is quite subjective in assessing his qualities. Some do not stop the failure, while others deceive themselves, burying true talent in the ground.
In this ignorance lies a special charm: confidence in something really turns the imaginable into the obvious - making the various actions of the hero thereby earns a biography. Each specific biography, in turn, increases the success of those actions of the character that are associated with it.
For example: if the hero is a "druid", then most often he will be able to walk silently through the forest already on this basis. And if the master decides to assign a Dexterity test for silent movement, then its complexity for the “druid” will not be high.
Master of the game: We continue. As soon as Sigmar and Otto moved away from the ship, they stumbled upon a group of metal golems, whose appearance resembled revived armor. Mist swirled around each of these strange creatures, penetrating the gaps in the metal. One of the golems was dragging behind him a resisting shock of dark hair, the other clutched at a strange lush creature with ruddy, as if roasted sides. Other armor, seeing the approaching elf and goblin, rushed at them ...
Tactician: I suppose, in order to kiss?
Game Wizard: Worse. Throw a cube ... Although, until we overload the shots. The elf will go first, then the goblin.
Even when there are no miniatures, you can always do with improvised means to simulate a combat situation - dice, chips, buttons.
Shot from the prototype in Flash.
Battles
This tabletop role-playing system implies that combat clashes will often occur in tactical mode between a group of adventurers and their various enemies. It can be as simple as attacking wild monsters, or fighting with a clever opponent, a scene of unexpected betrayal or a comic duel in the arena.
Before each next fight with throws of cubes, the sequence of moves is formed. If two or more heroes have the same results, then they will get a joint move with the ability to arbitrarily split up and combine their actions.
At the beginning of the turn, the hero usually gets about 3 Action Points and 1 Combat Action. Action points are spent mainly on moving, performing auxiliary tasks (such as using objects or changing equipment) and act as an additional resource (reinforcing the ongoing attack). The fighting is spent on various attacking techniques, or the activation of powerful abilities.
Unused fighting at the end of the turn is burned, and the Action Points can be accumulated by some heroes as fuel for special moves. Any non-standard actions of heroes in battle are also possible, if they do not contradict the situation - the master decides how much and what resources will go to pay for them.
Master of the game: Throwing hostile armor into the sides you release their loot. This is a girl with extremely long, slightly moving hair, which almost completely hide her figure. Together with her, another rescued creature looks at you with curiosity - a little levitating above the ground, a lump of something similar to a ruddy baking, it smells like freshly baked bread. Looking closely at the lying armor, Otto noticed that the mist was leaving them.
Tactic: Hm, what does that mean? We need to think about it.
Game Master: In the meantime, we have new heroes available to choose from. So let's decide who will be who.
Intrigue: So-so. What we have here? A lady in trouble and a bun on her legs?
Tactician: * roll with laughter * Well, you give!
Researcher: What a passage!
Master of the game: * edifying * Actually, this witch here is never a lady in trouble, as you put it. She is quite capable of standing up for herself. By the way, in addition to this pair, you can take metal golems.
Witch Truann - one of the preset characters
Hero archetypes
Each character has a battle archetype. There are four of them: "Magician", "Dodger", "Fighter" and "Medium". The names of archetypes are conditional and the heroes themselves do not know about them (for example, the archetype “Magus” does not mean that the hero is necessarily some sort of biography spellcaster).
As mentioned earlier, the fundamental principle of each creature has some strength: a stock of Health Points. But besides the usual health, the heroes also have a Mental: the higher it is, the more concentrated the hero is when performing various magical or energetic actions. If the hero loses all Health Points, then falls unconscious or even dies. If he loses all Mental Health, then his combat effectiveness abruptly decreases: the character cannot use the techniques and special Sacraments of the Signs, he can only use a simple attack with a weapon or without him.
The hero can spend his Mental Health on some special techniques, but the overwhelming part of the techniques and Sacraments spend other, more easily replenishable resources (such as Mana Points). Therefore, in most cases it is better to maintain mental health as long as possible.
As long as the character is not equipped with any defenses - he takes hits on his Health Points. But as soon as the defenses appear, the effect of his archetype begins to influence the hero and part of the damage received is redirected to the mental health of the hero or is completely extinguished.
For example, the hero of the “Magician” archetype has the largest stock of Mana Points compared to other archetypes. Damage blocked by his physical defense is redirected from ordinary health to mental health. And the damage blocked by magical defenses is fully repaid - that is, when protecting 1 from fire-air magic, the hero will receive 1 less damage from fire or air attack.
Nobody forbids such a hero to conduct close combat with the enemy (where physical attacks occur most often), but the game hints that in most cases it will be more effective for this archetype.
The archetype “Lovkach” is moderately universal and due to the increased stock of Mental Health it feels good in any position. "Fighter" is better protected in the melee, but the magic attack can cool his ardor. “Medium” is the most balanced and controls its state better than others.
The game has four types of magic, each of which includes two elements. That is, protection from the Aspect. Time in the equipment of the character will help him immediately and against the attacks of Light and from the attacks of Darkness.
Assistant: How many golems were there?
Game Master: In what sense?
Assistant: Well, how many characters will eventually be in a group?
Connoisseur of the rules: Probably as many as we choose.
Game Master: Naturally. Actually, the golems were introduced specifically, as an additional choice and as an opportunity to expand the number of participants, if more people would come to the game.
Intrigue: Interesting.
Tactic: But these are clones. Being a clone is bad.
Master of the game: If a lot of people take golems, then yes, their heroes will have the same initial mechanic parameters. But this does not prevent different players from playing different characters and making some changes in the appearance of their heroes.
Sacraments
Heroes "Monstrob" several times a day are able to use a variety of mystical disciplines, the Sacraments. There are exactly 12 of them, each of them is patronized by its own Zodiac Sign. At the start of the game, each character owns the Sacraments of the two Signs - his own and the minor.
Each Sacrament can be applied in two different ways: theatrical and tactical. The first method is applied only during the narrative part of the game. The second method is used in a tactical battle or in some way connected with it (it allows you to create a combat item or enchant a weapon).
For example: The sacrament of Mimicry (Patron badge: Cancer) allows the owner to copy the magical, energetic, or mystical effects observed by him for spending 1 use. You can throw a counter-clot of fire at an evil dragon, raise a dead man in response to a similar action by a necromancer, and so on. For waste of additional use, you can cancel the effect instead of copying it. During a tactical battle, Mimicry allows the hero to duplicate other people's attacks or techniques.
Most of the Sacraments do not spend Fighting or Action Points during a battle, so they can be used several times during one turn (as long as there are uses) without losing the ability to move or attack. On the other hand, the sacraments, as a rule, cause reciprocal attacks from nearby enemies for each act of their use.
Intrigue: Great, I'll be a metal golem!
Game Master: I thought you would take the witch.
Assistant: I will take the witch. Does she have a spell book?
Intrigue: I wanted to take a mushroom. Oh, can a bas-relief in the shape of an amanita be filled with my golem?
Researcher: It looks like it won't be boring.
Master of the game: Directly please me. Yes, there is a book. Yes, you can bas-relief. * looking at the Connoisseur of the Rules * Who are you taking - a bakery elemental or a metal golem?
Connoisseur of the rules: So was the bakery elemental? I take it straight without looking.
Master of the game: You will like it, he is also a healer.
Connoisseur of the Rules: Servant of the Great Heavenly Bakery?
Game Wizard: Almost.
Intrigante Oh, he will bake us healing rolls!
Tactic: Or lethal.
Researcher: Everything depends on the filling.
Assistant: Buns are good!
Game Wizard: Let's better introduce the heroes. Tell each other about yourself.
Cubes
"Monstrob" uses 3 types of cubes: tetrahedron (D4), hexagon (D6) and twenty hexahedron (D20). Each of them has its own role in game mechanics: the tetrahedron and twenty are used in tactics, the hexagon most often regulates the narration.
D4, weapon attack
In battle, the heroes use a different weapon, each of which has four positions of damage. The die roll determines the position.
For example: the hero attacks the enemy with the Palash. Damage parameters of this weapon: 2/3/4/4. The cube fell 1, so the enemy will receive 2 damage.
Positions can contain zeros, dashes or letters. A dash indicates a single miss, zero - a hit, but with zero basic damage. If the weapon had an increase in damage or other additional effects, then in position 0 they will work.
For example: The Magic Wand (- / 0/1/1) is enchanted with “+1” fire damage to attack. If the cube drops to 1, then the attack of this weapon will miss. If 2 rolls out, the Magic Wand falls, inflicting 0 physical damage and 1 fire on the enemy. If a 3 or 4 rolls out, the enemy will receive 1 physical and 1 fire damage.
In more rare weapons, positions may contain letters that indicate one of the Characteristics of the hero.
For example: Ink sword beats enemies with darkness, not physics. Its parameters: And / 4/6/8. The owner of the sword now has Intuition equal to 5. If 1 is dropped on the attack cube, the sword will deal 5 damage with darkness.
D6, checks
During the narration, some of the actions of the characters require a successful check on one of the Characteristics (Dexterity, Body, Mind, Intuition). The wizard sets the verification complexity, and the player rolls a die, adding to the required Characteristics.
For example: the witch wants to understand the meaning of the ancient symbols that cover the walls of the catacombs. The master assigns a check on Reason with complexity 6. The witch's mind is 2, the cube dropped 3. In total, 5 came out, which is lower than the required complexity, so the meaning of the symbols could not be solved.
D20, Monster Intelligence
Most ordinary monsters are controlled by a cube, which orders them to perform a specific action from the list. The master remains to choose the target, and also to decide when the monster will move: before the action or after it.
For example: there is a battle, the enemy Goblin gets the turn. The master rolls a die, fell 19. Goblin’s parameters indicate that if a value between 15 and 20 falls, then he is supposed to impose an Aura of Poisoning on the target within a radius of 1. The master moves the Goblin to one of the heroes, and then imposes on that Aura of Poisoning.
The concept of the igromechanical model of the monster includes the following parameters:
Identification - rank (from 1 to 5), Mark (one of 12), type (undead, animal, goblin, and so on).
The main ones are Health Points and Speed ​​(sometimes there are Mana Points).
Actions - a list of attacks and techniques tied to the intervals of the 20-polyhedron.
Optional - physical and magical protection, immunities, other features and limitations.
Players in the same way control summoned monsters and Eidolons (special creatures in which heroes can transform with the help of the Sacraments of the Sign of Scorpio).
For example: on several turns, a paladin of the 2nd level turned into Leviathan, Architect of the Depths (Eidolon of the water element). Each turn, the player rolls a die, figuring out the prescribed action, now falls 2. A number from 1 to 9 instructs Leviathan to inflict targets within a radius of 1 damage to Water equal to 2 + hero level. Thus, Eidolon will inflict 4 water damage on the enemy.
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In battle, characters can open Titles - various simple achievements. You can have many titles, but only one of them is active during the game day and gives the hero a specific bonus. Those heroes who have access to the Speech (the Sacrament of the Sign of Aquarius) can sing the title they know during the battle, sharing its effect with all allies. In addition, there are secret (unique) Titles that can be opened only once, after which they become inaccessible to other heroes.
Example of the Title:
“Savior”, secret Title
Conditions for obtaining: you have experienced a state close enough to death, but you have not died, and besides, there is someone who loves you.
Advantages of the Title: “the one whom you hold by the hand cannot die” (feature of the biography).
But the Titles "Monstrob" is not limited. He develops these ideas and goes further, completely abandoning the use of game experience (Exp) in favor of global game achievements - Milestones. The hero begins with the first level of Milestones and can open those Milestones 9 times that are provided for by the development plan (pumping this way from the first level to the maximum, the 10th).
Examples of Milestones:
“Mission” - the hero accomplished an important task received from the game subject
“Taste of Battle” - the hero won a victory in 3 battles
“Echo of reflections” - the hero was in a state of Trans
As a starting point, a set of nine different Milestones has been proposed, which each hero can open once. Such a development plan will be quite difficult, but very diverse. The master of the game can put together his own plan, forming a certain style of adventure: to focus on the drama, to explore the world, to battle successes, and so on. The final version is approved before the start of the game.
The plan can be quite simple and narrowly focused, for example, “Mission (9)”, that is, the hero will receive levels only for fulfilling important plot tasks and to get the maximum level of Milestones he simply needs to open the “Mission” 9 times in a row - that is, perform 9 different assignments taken from the characters of the game world. Also, the plan can be very diverse and as free as possible when many Milestones are proposed at once, each of which can be opened more than once.
Character cards
Of course, in "Monstrob" you can create a hero from scratch by reading the dedicated chapter. However, I decided to offer beginners not only the designer “assemble himself”, but ready-made unique heroes. Each of them belongs to a separate class and has a character outline. This is important because I would like to emphasize the moment that the hero is not a copy of the player. It is difficult to feel such a thing, when you just come to the hobby and you are given the designer of the hero - there is a great temptation to collect the blank sheet easier, without a special story, and to do the same in the future. This is not a problem in computer games, but at the table it can be.
Thus, a new player can simply print himself a card with a character, where all his starting possibilities are indicated. Obligatory bonuses for leveling are provided, but the abilities of the hero and his class can be developed arbitrarily as the game progresses - it depends only on the creativity of the player and the master, on the emerging plot situations. The hero knows a lot from the very beginning, he doesn’t have to wait for some high level just to start enjoying his class.
In other words, there is no illusionist magician who, at the first level, can only show tricks, at the seventh one can always become invisible, and at the fifteenth level he is able to create an illusory city. The local magician illusionist moves after the player's thoughts on his account, having at the start only a general concept and some mechanics already written, like creating educational illusions, for a certain time with the waste of a certain resource. Strictly speaking, this system does not deny the presence in it of heroes with painted reinforcements at specific levels (since the levels themselves are present), but they become a special case, and the freedom of development remains.
Weapons and combat items also have levels — power levels or ranks. With these objects, the heroes study various combat abilities - after spending two or three battles with a magic staff, the hero studies the magic contained within that, in order to use it already without this object. Abilities from low-ranking items more or less remain relevant even further when the hero has abilities from items of higher rank. In the first versions of the game, a situation was more often observed when some abilities looked more “passable” and became not very necessary when a more powerful counterpart appeared. On the other hand, from the very beginning, the game provides the opportunity to disassemble irrelevant items. I will not say that now everything that the character has studied benefits him constantly, but even a small correction has benefited — more variability,more creativity.
In addition to the basic characters from the book, there are about 15 cards with additional characters. There you can find representatives of the race of gizmos (intelligent magic items), characters from the dark dimension, a mushroom man, and even a virus infecting monsters. Based on them, it is easier to design your own new heroes.
Improvisation
Yes, of course, the master will need the ability to improvise. The player will have to figure out how to use the abilities of the hero in a given situation, have to invent new things. But this is the most interesting thing that non-computer role-playing games can give! In addition, other elements of the game constantly provide food for creativity, facilitating this task. I myself, as a master, practice practiced improvisation, and in the book the game is viewed from this position, offering the master various tools for carrying out his plans.
You just need to change the vector of your aspirations - you should not sculpt a monolithic dramatic-cinematic epic, then to submit it to the group in the form of a non-interactive monologue among wooden decorations. No, we will not drive on rails and drive players in all available ways to the only correct right door. Instead, I propose to make before the game a certain stock of key events and leads that the game will arise in the way of the players and adapt to the current situation. The output is a sandbox game with noticeable patches of the plot, a less complete history and good involvement of the participants, despite the greater degree of freedom of the players.
Miniatures
A couple of thoughts about game accessories. In general, as well as many people, I like highly detailed, stylish miniatures in tabletop role-playing games. However, in practice they are not so convenient when it comes to use in the game.
Personally, I would like to see some standardized not very pronounced miniatures in tactical rolls played at the table. Something so universal in the style of cubism-minimalism, especially for opponents / monsters. Usually, those playing use those miniatures that were under the hands, collected from various sources, sets and games.
Such figures for role-playing games are usually released already under a certain setting. A sufficiently high degree of detail allows you to consider the character's race, his clothes and other details. All this is wonderful, but the settings and classes of heroes in games change very often, not to buy new figures every time for a new style / class and so on.
Great, if you have a line of thumbnails in the same style. But these too fantasy-looking, in the game about the space operator or in the Lovecraftian detective story, they will no longer look so advantageous. Although, when it stopped anyone.
This is what I mean to what figures I would put in the box with my game, if such a box were produced:
To begin with, these would be the multi-colored figures of the main characters for the players. If more or less detailed models, then it is possible for each color in the male and female versions. Or just make more different colors, each with one abstract model of the type “adventurer”. If a player brings his favorite figure, then to health, but in this way we have a basic option for any occasion.
For opponents - several groups of identical models. Then it will be convenient to make packs of several enemies of the same type. I usually form most of the clashes as “a party against a group of skeletons”, “a party against goblins and their leader”, “a party against a pair of werewolves and a pair of zombies” - as you can see, there are often monsters of the same type. Therefore, for a group of goblins I want to use the same figures, and not to put different ones and then forget who I have.
It is very desirable to see some numbering on models from the same group. It can be tsiferki, dots, stripes, letters, symbols. On the stomach figures, on the back or top. It would be very convenient to keep track of the amount of health left by the enemy. That is, when the hero poked that figure to his left from a group of skeletons, we immediately see that it was some kind of "skeleton number 3" that he received on the cap, and not someone else. Again, it helps the master very much to track who of the opponents he already walked and who he hasn't.
When there is so much on the table, go figure out who is who.
In principle, cubes are very well suited for conveniently displaying different groups of enemies - you can just pick them up the same and set them up with different numbers. But if it was a figure with a figure, it would be great. Therefore, I would make enemies with numbers.
Actually, even completely abstract models are best suited for opponents, on which the marks are very well read and which, when changing locations and worlds, will not distract us from the current atmosphere with their details. We just make small groups of slightly different colors, sets of different sizes, label them - all that is needed for universal battles.
But for various exclusive opponents, you can already put up any other figures, from all the collectible chaos that you have at hand. Or the Master may take some of the color figures that were not taken by the players. And, since we are talking about figures that would go in a box with a game, we could make several such specific ones and put one random figure of an exclusive enemy in each box.
I dug up such pretty people on the Internet.
Thus, in the most minimal form for playing tactics, I would like to see some minimalistic multi-colored figures for heroes and several groups of abstract numbered miniatures for opponents.
But, of course, the basic configuration can be more diverse and detailed. However, I’m definitely against the practice when in the house tons of beautiful detailed miniatures are laid out on cardboard boxes and we dig into them diligently, trying to get as close as possible to our situation. Then we suffer that they are again not in the same style. Then we buy more zombies, because we now often have zombies in the game, and there are no suitable figures. And then we put everything on the table and anyway we get completely confused. Figures can be many, but they should be convenient to navigate if we want to use them in the game, and not just decorate them with a shelf.
Tesserfact
In principle, the “Monstroboy” game mechanics can be adapted for computer implementation. Although it is not as easy as it seems. I just always liked Final Fantasy Tactics, I would like something in a similar style, and the “Monstroboy” boevka is pretty close in spirit. Anyway, computer tactics is still just one of the ideas put on the back burner. There was only a small flash prototype with one scene and this one here is a video showing the direction of thought.
A tesserktak is a special, powerful stone that opens the passage to honey in measurements, which is mentioned in the book. As planned around him and the plot would spin.
And this video more later. Collected in Unity one of the hypothetical locations. There is already more like the style of FFT.
Total
“Monstrob” is not the only role-playing game that I wrote, but certainly the healthiest and definitely it contains this basic impulse that led me to the development of desktop-role-playing games - the desire to make an accessible game with a tactical combat game. Other board role-playing books that I was engaged in are much more narrative. It is understandable, because they are exploring other role niches.
All my role books and related materials can be found on the site .
On that and finish the story. Have a nice weekend.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/459018/
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