Well, to start this off, I figure I'll repost the very, very basic system I came up with last week. This is a card-based system derived from draw and hold 'em poker, and it isn't particularly streamlined - that comes later.
I'll direct people who aren't familiar with poker to the Wikipedia articles on the subject:
On to the system...
First: characters have two salient statistics:
- Attributes: These are basic characteristics of the character. The canonical attributes are Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wits, Awareness, and Resolve. All attributes are rated from 1 to 5.
- Skills: These are more specialized abilities. Nearly anything that can be learned or practiced can be a skill: Running, Mathematics, Performance, Lockpicking, etc. All skills are rated from 1 to 5.
I'll probably actually create a list of canonical skills at some point, too.
The way the system works is slightly different from the Baltimore draw 'em I've described above:
Before the hand: The GM must decide whether this is a simple contest, a hidden contest, or a full contest. A simple contest is a test of the character against something that isn't another character, where the results are obvious. A hidden contest is identical to a simple contest, except that the character won't know if he's succeeding until showdown. A full contest is a test of the character against another PC or NPC.
- In a simple contest, the GM declares a difficulty, expressed in terms of a target hand which the character must beat. Easy tasks should have target hands of no-pairs or single pairs; moderately difficult tasks should have targets of two pair or three-of-a-kind; very difficult tasks should have target hands of straights or flushes, and extremely difficult tasks should have targets of four-of-a-kind or straight flushes.
- In a hidden contest, the target hands are the same as in simple contests, but the GM writes the target down out of sight of the player, instead of declaring it aloud, and only reveals it after showdown.
- In a full contest, the GM actually plays a hand against the character. Full contests should be rare - GMs are encouraged to reduce them to hidden or simple contests whenever possible.
Betting can reduce the value of a target hand, in simple or hidden contests. Each chip that a player bets reduces the difficulty by one face value on each named card; if this reduces a named (or implied) card below its minimum possible value, the target moves to the next worst hand, at its highest possible value. For example, if the target hand is "jacks full of sevens", and a player bets two chips, the target hand drops to "nines full of fives"; if the target hand is a five-high flush, and the player bets two chips, the first chip reduces the target to an ace-high straight, and the second drops it to a King-high straight.
GMs may set minimum difficulties, which are always kept secret; regardless of how much a player bets, the target hand will never fall below this point. GMs are encouraged to remember that the lowest possible hand is a no-pair with a 7 as the high card. (A high card of 5 or 6 is either a pair of some kind or a straight; a high card of 3 or 2 requires at least a pair.)
In full contests, betting is done normally between the player and the GM.
Players are encouraged to remember that it is polite to wait their turn before acting - including the act of folding.
- Ante: Each player involved in the action must place one chip into his pot, which is shared between him and the GM (or another player, if this is a PC-vs.-PC competition). A player who cannot ante (due to lack of chips) may still participate, but if he wins the hand, he only receives one chip.
- The Deal: The GM deals each player a number of hole cards equal to the rating of the attribute his character is using. The GM also receives cards, if this is a full contest.
- Bet 1: Players may add to their pot, if they want to increase the effort their character is exerting. This reduces the difficulty of a simple or hidden contest; in a full contest, betting proceeds normally as it would in a normal poker game.
- The Board: The GM deals four community cards to the board. These represent the environmental conditions in which the contest is taking place. During this phase, players may muck and replace a total number of cards equal to the rating of the skill their characters are using, and may discard and refill any number of times until they've drawn new cards equal to their character's skill. The GM may do so as well, if this is a full contest. Once a card is discarded, it cannot be retrieved.
- Bet 2: Based on their new cards and the board, players may choose to increase their effort by adding to their pot, as in Bet 1.
- Showdown: The players reveal their hole cards and declare their best hand. If this beats the target hand (which, in the case of a hidden or full contest, the GM must now also reveal), the character succeeds; if it does not, the character fails. The difference between the ranks of the two hands - 1 for each face value difference between the top cards, and 15 for each hand-rank difference - determines the degree of success or failure. In a simple or hidden contest in which the player won, the GM keeps half of the chips - rounded up - that each character bets, plus one (the ante); in a simple or hidden contest where the GM won, the GM takes all of the chips in the pot; and in a full contest, the winner takes all of the chips in the pot.
Thanks to my friend Jamie's relentless pursuit of the truth, here's a better explanation of degrees of success and failure:
If your hand is the same rank as the target hand, but has a different value - let's say you have 10d-10h-9h-9s-5s and the difficulty is "two pair, eights and fours" - then you compare the highest-valued card in your hand against the highest-valued card in the target hand; the difference is the degree of success. In this case, you'd have a degree of success of 2 (10-8) - a marginal success.
If your hand is not the same rank as the target hand, then you still compare the highest-valued card in your hand against the highest-valued card in the target hand, but you add 15 for every rank you are above the difficulty, or subtract 15 for every rank you're below.
So let's say I have 3d-3h-3s-2h-2s, and the difficulty is "two pair, eights and fours". My high card is 3, and the target hand's high card is 8, so I start out with -5. But my hand is four ranks higher than the target hand, so I add 60 to that, for a total of 55 - an amazing success.
Similarly, if I draw As-10d-6s-4h-2c (an ace-high no-pair), and the target hand is "a pair of 2s", my high card gives me a +12 to start with - but because my hand is ranked lower than the target hand, I take a -15 to the degree of success. Result: -3, a marginal failure.
(The maximum degree of success in this system is 127 - a royal flush defeating a 7-high no-pair. Likewise, the maximum degree of failure is -127, for a 7-high no-pair against a target royal flush.)
| Degrees of success or failure: |
|---|
| -60 or lower |
Abysmal failure |
| -45 to -59 |
Horrible failure |
| -30 to -44 |
Miserable failure |
| -15 to -29 |
Painful failure |
| -5 to -14 |
Irritating failure |
| -1 to -4 |
Marginal failure |
| 0 to 4 |
Marginal success |
| 5 to 14 |
Solid success |
| 15 to 30 |
Excellent success |
| 31 to 44 |
Triumphant success |
| 45 to 59 |
Amazing success |
| 60 or higher |
Spectacular success |
An example of play
Bob is playing Olaf, the Viking Out Of Time. Olaf is chasing an automobile down the streets of Manhattan, so Adrienne, the GM, asks Bob to make a Dexterity/Running check. (Bob says "Well, Olaf has Chasing Down The Lesser Creatures, can I use that?" Adrienne sighs, says "Yes, your difficulty's going to be fives full of twos", and makes a mental note never to let Bob make characters on his own again.)
Bob tosses in his ante, and Adrienne deals him four cards, since Olaf has Dexterity 4. (This is a friendly game, so Adrienne doesn't burn any cards before she deals to Bob.) Bob sees 10h-10s-4h-2h, and drops five more chips into the pot. This lowers the target hand to a ten-high flush (the first chip converts fives full of twos to an ace-high flush, since it reduces at least one named card below 2; the other 4 chips drop the ace to a ten).
Adrienne now deals the board: 9h-8d-6d-4s. Bob sees one of the hearts he needs for a ten-high flush there. Olaf has Chasing Down The Lesser Creatures 3, so Bob mucks the 10s and requests a new card, which turns out to be 8c. Since this is no good, Bob mucks it and is dealt 5s. Also no good, so Bob mucks it and draws his final card - Qh, the heart he was looking for. He drops another three chips into the pot - reducing the target hand to a seven-high flush - and shows his final hand: Qh-10h-9h-4h-2h. This beats a seven-high flush by five, a solid success, and Olaf manages to catch up to the automobile as it stops at a traffic light. Bob and Adrienne split the pot, with four chips returning to Bob; Olaf is winded, but not badly, and he can smash the accountant inside the automobile with his axe on the next round. (If he can bash through the window.)
(Actually, Bob didn't make as good a play as he could have if he'd been thinking about it. A seven-high flush is the lowest possible flush - there are two flushes that start with lower values, but both are straight flushes and therefore have higher ranks - so, with one more chip, Bob could have pushed it down to an ace-high straight and added 8 to his degree of success, for a total of 13. Assuming, of course, that "seven-high flush" wasn't Adrienne's minimum.)
