The Symphony of Silvermoon: An S.O.S. from the Horde - Moon Guard Roleplaying Community
Pre-Battle
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Both players communicate with each other OOC and agree upon the outcomes if either should win.
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Both players roll 1-20 for initiative.
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The player with the higher roll gets the first action.
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If there’s a tie, both players re-roll.
Mid-Battle
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The player with initiative emotes an action to defeat his or her opponent and rolls 1-20. In this example, Player 2 gains the initiative and emotes throwing a book at Player 1.
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Player 1 rolls 1-20 to defend against the action.
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If there’s a tie, both players re-roll.
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If Player 2’s roll is higher than Player 1’s roll, Player 1 is disadvantaged in some way. In this example, the book thrown by Player 2 might knock over a vase which crashes on Player 1’s head and disorients him. Player 1 loses a Fate Point.
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If Player 1’s roll is higher than Player 2’s roll, Player 1 avoids the action and does not lose a Fate Point.
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Both players continue to go back and forth until one of them loses all Fate Points.
Post-Battle
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Both players roleplay out the outcome agreed upon at the beginning of the conflict. In this example, Goldina escapes.
The Fate System in Action
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The Story
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Here are two scenarios of a confrontation between Goldina the neophyte priest and Thragadar the seasoned veteran. Thragadar has come to Goldina’s home to kidnap her little brother.
In the original system, Golinda manages to smack Thragadar three times with her fragile walking stick, knocking him out. Goldina wins.
In the new system, a series of unfortunate events happens to Thragadar. The furniture comes to life and attacks him, his sword breaks because of poor craftsmanship, and he has a severe allergic reaction to Goldina’s pet cat which allows her and her little brother to escape unharmed. Goldina wins.
Which of these two scenarios seems more believable from a narrative standpoint? In both scenarios, Goldina wins, but the second scenario is believable. Furthermore, Thragadar gets to save face.
Getting onto the Same Playing Field...
With such a large playerbase to this campaign, it is essential for us to establish a common baseline for everyone to reference to easily maintain the flow of roleplay throughout S.O.S.' duration, especially concerning the determination of conclusions and conflict.
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One issue coordinators of Moon Guard - Community roleplay have suffered in the past implementations of these baselines is that combat felt arbitrary and unsatisfying. There was too much focus on the dice and not enough focus on the integrity of the story being told.
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To address this, we will be looking at the system with a new lens. Instead of viewing the system as a means of determining strength, we will view the system as a means of determining luck. Hit Points will be described as Fate Points.
Scoring a point on your opponent doesn’t mean you are stronger, it just means you are luckier. If you run out of Fate Points, you’ve run out of luck.
Changing Our Perspective
We start by establishing that the outcome of the conflict is not always win-lose. It is not about whose character is more intelligent or strong; it is about fluid determination of an outcome.
Both parties would be allowed to roleplay a conflict out at their own pace, only relying on dice when a conclusion has to be determined. Both parties could still incorporate injuries as well, but that would be entirely up to their own discretion.
Of course, it’s also still possible for both parties to resolve conflicts by dueling, but only if both parties agreed to it beforehand. The dice system will always be the default system because we want all parties to be treated fairly regardless of their level, gear, or experience.
