From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Alex de
Morris
Sent: Friday, January 26, 2001 1:40 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [ogf-d20-l] Are Sports Corrupting RPGs?
<< But if the characters had to play the game, what type
of game would it be? >>
Well, you can start with the classical "Olymic" games. Those are things that
tend to be universal in understanding and appeal, because they mostly
concetrate on a single skill: running, leaping, throwing, etc. I think
wrestling was probably the most complex of the old Olympic games, and it
didn't have nearly as many rules as we have today.
Add in boxing and archery (or any precision missile combat), and you have
simple sports that can be mostly resolved with existing d20 mechanics.
When you get into more modern sports, there are a few broad categories
(sticking to the physical sports; mental sports add even more dimensions):
* Goal defense. You have an object (ball, puck, shuttlecock, stone, etc.) to
deliver to the opponent's goal. Usually, there's one object and one
opponent, for a total of two goals. The games vary in how much formality
there is in the transport rules, the transport mechanism itself, the defense
mechanism, the way in which control of the object changes hands, and the
definition of the goal. In this category, I include: American football,
soccer/football, rugby, hockey, field hockey, basketball, tennis, handball,
racquetball, polo, water polo, volleyball, lacrosse, curling, table
tennis/ping pong. So to make a goal defense game, answer some basic
questions. What is the object? What is the goal? What is the field? How is
the object transported? How is it defended? How do you determine who
controls the object? And perhaps the most interesting variation: how many
teams? (Asprin had a Myth book -- I forget the title -- with The Big Game, a
three-team football-like game. The strategy gets wild with three.) Also, how
many objects? (Imagine hockey with a variable number of pucks in play!)
* Object defense. A slight twist on goal defense, where you must protect
your own object. Capture the flag is the classic example. Typically, each
team has an object to defend. To make a new object defense game, answer most
of the same questions as for goal defense.
* Undefended goal. This is like goal defense, except each player or team
tries to reach an undefended goal. Scoring is usually based on speed with
which the object is brought to the goal. Golf is the best example. To make a
new undefended goal sport, decide the object, the goal, and the means of
transporting the object to the goal. Then decide the scoring croteria:
fastest, least number of transports, most objects transported, etc.
* Object chase. I wish I had a better name for this category. It's sort of a
weird distortion of object/goal defense, in which one team tries to get the
object as far away as possible, and the other team tries to bring it back
before the first team can perform some task. The only two examples I know
are baseball and cricket (at least from what I can understand about
cricket). To make an object chase game, answer these questions. What is the
object? How does the offense send the object away? How does the defense
pursue it? What is the offense trying to do while the defense is in pursuit?
What can the defense do to hinder the offense during the pursuit? Again, how
many teams? How many objects in play?
* Feat contests. The classics mostly fall in here: racing, leaping, target
shooting, swimming, etc. More obscure examples might include rope jumping
and rope climbing. To make a new feat contest, pick a feat (not Feat in the
d20 sense, but simply an action a player can take), establish rules and
difficulty levels, and you're set. To add complexity, maybe have cooperation
rules (like in relay races).
* Style contests. These are a slight twist on feat contests, where you are
judged not fixed scales but on the style with which you carry out the feat.
Often, there's pleasure in simply seeing the extreme feats of which
participants are capable. Examples include gymnastics, high diving, dance,
juggling, tight-rope walking, trapeze, and hackeysack (at least, if they
keep score in hackeysack, I've never seen it). To make a new style contest,
pick a feat, establish some known moves and the style points for them, and
maybe include the Perform skill for bonus style.
* Combat sport. This is any sort of formalized combat: boxing, karate,
aikido, judo, fencing, wrestling, etc. To make a new combat sport, pick a
style of combat and add rules. Keep in mind that most rules in combat sports
serve one or more of three purposes: ensure safety; make it easier to judge
when a score is made; and outlaw moves that, while successful, will so
unbalance the sport as to make it no longer enjoyable to watch.
* Object manipulation. This is any sport in which the goal is to construct
some pattern with objects, or (more commonly) to deconstruct a pattern, or
simply to manipulate. Most often, the manipulation is remote, via another
object. The classic examples are billiards, pool, and bowling. Bowling is
destructive: knock down that pattern of pins. Pool is destructive (break up
that pattern) and then manipulative (use the current pattern to sink shots).
Plain old billiards (no pockets) is manipulative: use this object to move
those objects according to these rules. For a constructive example, look at
Junkyard Wars on The Learning Channel: two teams of of engineer geeks are
set loose in a junkyard with a goal of building some specific device. They
have to build it in a time limit, then compete against each other. Loads of
fun! To make a constructive object manipulation, pick the pattern to be
created, the objects from which it can be created, the rules for
manipulating the objects, and the rules for acquiring the objects. To make a
destructive object manipulation, pick the pattern to be destroyed, the
objects from which it can be created, and the rules for manipulating the
objects. To make any sort of object manipulation, decide how many players
and teams are involved, and also decide whether they share a single set of
objects (pool) or have separate sets of objects (bowling).
* Searches. This is any sport that involves pursuing and acquiring some
object: an animal (hunting, fishing), a plant, a list of scavenger hunt
items, etc. To make a new search, decide the item or items to be found, the
field of search, and the mechanisms for finding and acquiring the items.
* Navigation. This is any sport where you have to find and follow a path.
Examples include orienteering and road rallying (one of my favorite sports).
Sometimes the contest is judged strictly on time. Sometimes it is judged by
the number of sub-goals accomplished along the way (flags touched, etc.). To
make a new navigation sport, decide how the travel will occur, and how it is
judged.
* Mix and match. Any combination of the above. These will be very common in
RPG sports. Why? Because people LOVE to add combat rules into other types of
sports.
Hmmm... A few more words, and I'll have my first D20 supplement!
Martin L. Shoemaker
Emerald Software, Inc. -- Custom Software and UML Training
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.EmeraldSoftwareInc.com
www.UMLBootCamp.com
