A small suggestion on Clutch Situations

[October]

Being that you could theoretically never level up your character, how about changing the renewal of Clutch Situations from "when you level up" to "when you roll for advancement"?  At the start of a new adventure, you should have a fresh batch of Clutches.

~October

[Erin Smale]

Yeah, in their current form, this works - basically, you re-up your Clutch Situations whenever you embark on a new gig.

But, I'm still not happy with Clutch Situations as shown in Basic. I'm leaning more toward something like this:

http://thebastardsblade.blogspot.com/2012/05/hail-mary-mechanic.html

In that respect, Clutch Situations aren't about quantity - they're about duration. 

Mind-blowing, yeah?

-- Erin
The Chimera RPG
Simple Rules. Unlimited Options.
http://www.welshpiper.com/

On Fri, Jun 15, 2012 at 12:44 PM, October <october...@gmail.com> wrote:

Being that you could theoretically never level up your character, how about changing the renewal of Clutch Situations from "when you level up" to "when you roll for advancement"?  At the start of a new adventure, you should have a fresh batch of Clutches.

~October

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[October]

A little too mind-blowing for me.  KISS and all that.

The Cortex/Supernatural system uses what they call "Plot Points."  You start with 6 and can have up to 12.  They are given as a reward for good roleplaying, playing to your flaws, making goals, etc.  Players can use them to add an extra die to their roll (in that system, you're adding several dice together to hit a TN), reduce damage, or manipulate the story (in a non-campaign-altering way, such as saying the bartender is your brother-in-law or having a minor object around that could be used to your advantage with a successful roll).  

Plot Points are easy to keep track of.  Paper clips, those little colored glass blobs for fish tanks, whatever.  You spend one, it goes back in the bag.  You earn one, you add it to your stash.  Clutch Situations should be this easy.

~October

Mind-blowing, yeah?

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[Erin Smale]

I hear you - my original thinking was along the lines of Savage Worlds' "Bennies," which let you improve die rolls, soak damage, and some other nifty mechanical bits. I like them for three reasons: (1) they're a non-advancement and way to reward good play, (2) you can customise how they're used/earned to suite your group's style of play, and (3) they promote player agency as a participant in the campaign.

I've also seen some systems use Fate Points or similar. I do like the idea of using them to manipulate the story - that's pretty cool. I tend to nuance  encounters and NPC motivations at the table, based on player input, and giving players a vehicle for direct intervention sounds excellent.

Last point: lots of Savage Worlds players point out another benefit of bennies: they become tangible icons of the setting. A fantasy game might use "gem" like bennie tokens, while a WWII campaign might use spent shell casings. It's nerdy, but hey, that's why we're here, yeah?

I'll get back to work on the Clutch Situation - expect a proper post soon. 

PS. You wanna talk about KISS? Did I mention that a draft version of Chimera incorporated geometric mean in the mechanics? Count yourself lucky, my friend. ;)

-- Erin
The Chimera RPG
Simple Rules. Unlimited Options.
http://www.welshpiper.com/

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[Gregory MacKenzie]

Since we're on the subject of rolling for improvements etc., why not have a clutch renewal roll at the end of each adventure?

~October

Mind-blowing, yeah?

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[Gregory MacKenzie]

What I'm thinking of is you'd have a predictable result, but possibly better. I tend to favour the players in this sort of thing since its relatively harmless.

[October]

Ha!  If that had still been the case, I'd be looking at another system to play. :D

~O

[October]

I'm in favor of just giving them a certain amount of points to start with (say, 4) and then adding another when they roll for advancement.

~O

~October

Mind-blowing, yeah?

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[Erin Smale]

Possible - or make it an advancement reward? 

There are a few directions this could go. Let's start with requirements for a Clutch Situation:

* Provide an in-game benefit (typically mechanical, but could impact story)

* Limited quantity (speaks to resource management)

* Improves,  but doesn't guarantee, success

One issue with Clutch Situations in  Basic is that you get 1/level, but the requirements above tend to break down at high level: either you have plenty of Clutch Situations to spend, or you don't need to bother because your ARs are high enough without the help. So here's another requirement:

* Useful at all levels

That's a start at least. The plot point or bennies concept satisfies these, but I want to think about ways to improve that model.

Cheers,

-- Erin

The Chimera RPG
Simple Rules. Unlimited Options.
http://www.welshpiper.com/

[Gregory MacKenzie]

Maybe you don't need to control this with levels at all. In fact before a particular game session the players each make a roll to determine how many additional clutch situations they may declare. If you wanted to make it really interesting  you could declare this a "pool" of points available to the players as a group. So, the The Time Agents get 1 as a default and need to make a roll at the beginning of each of the sessions that compose the Blueprint Device adventure for the group. All previous clutch situations are lost when the new roll is made.

CF: 1 Assignable Group Clutch Situation

NF: 2 Assignable Group Clutch Situations

NS: 3 Assignable Group Clutch Situations

CS: 4 Assignable Group Clutch Situations

Leave the Clutch Situation advancement out of it, you get 1 and only 1, unless say you paid for it with IP points but the personal ceiling would be 2...

[October]

It would be interesting if Greg's idea of a Clutch Situation pool, given to the group as a whole, could only be spent with a unanimous consensus.  I agree that it doesn't have to be level-based.