Proposals Concerning the 2d6 + 19-Hex Power Flower

Forged in the Dark The Workshop
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I came across this really neat rng system with dynamic memory, and I’ve been pondering a way to implement it in a FitD-powered game. They pose an interesting and player-directed flow to encounters that are both structured and allow the GM to craft encounters while maintaining randomness. I’m going to expand this OP with my own theories about how to implement this throughout the day/weekend, but I’d love to hear all of your thoughts!

Update:

The main question that comes to mind is whether there are already existing mechanisms that this new one would interfere with? I think that it most certainly interferes with clocks and with the GM’s discretion in determining the number and arrangement of clock-driven/-dominated scenarios (“score” intervals of play, special project clocks, etc). A clock is analogous to a number line with an even number of intervals that are filled or voided in accordance with the results of die/dice rolls, and which have a resolution state when they are “filled”.

This 2d6+19H system is a far more non-linear system, but it does capture some of the utility of an unconnected graph of clocks as we see demonstrated by the creator of this game. The 2d6+19H system does have an initial and terminus state and the movement of markers about the map is dictated by die results that are modified by the accruing or expending of currency(-ies). However, movement about the flower is driven by a 2d6 engine, were as our FitD system uses a die-pool system.

If the 2d6+19H system were to be adapted or modified into FitD, it would have to be re-engineered from a 2d6 bell-curved engine to a die-pool engine. As far as this system’s interference with clocks, I believe that the clocks have tremendous, situational utility, but that too frequently a scenario continues until the GM has decided arbitrarily when the characters have had enough, and as engineers we abhor arbitrary exit states. No?

Okay, what do you think?

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Now, the base die of FitD is a d6, and as hexes have six sides this does partially answer the reengineering question. A fortune roll at the end of an obstacle encounter where the number of dice rolled is determined by how good of a shape the PCs are in after overcoming that obstacle or other factors could make sense. Players could shift to an adjacent cell based on the options they rolled + one hex for resources (e.g. intel) spent. In this scenario, a 19 Hex flower would be drawn up for the entire mission with a list of encounters and perhaps a few special cells. This warrants some play testing.

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I was initially really intrigued about this system and was wondering how to shoehorn it into blades. But the more I pondered on it I realised it was just a specific implementation of a markov chain. I think actually breaking free of the specific weightings and shape of the 19 hex and just making arbitrarily shaped markov chains when you needed them would be a stronger tool for a GM.

Thinking about the place this sort of thing would be most useful in blades I imagine designing a chain for factions at war and keeping track of other actions that are not directly impacting the players but are changing the landscape.

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I didn’t even think of that. Wonderful 1st post :slight_smile: and welcome to Forged in the Dark! Most game designers would think to use a list and an rng scheme (with memory or not), but a Markov chain or directed graph would also work if you wanted to take into account prior events. Steven Lumpkin ran into this a long time ago where he kept summoning… paragrins (?) and the PCs kept killing them. He even went so far as to say he’d need to rewrite his rng list to account for the extinction of that kind of creature.

Effort would have to be made to explain why one result would come from the next.

Oof, I’m exhausted. I’ll be back tomorrow to chat, but I’m not sure I’ll have more insight haha.

o7

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You’re right, but I think there’s some value in the simplicity of filling out a pre-built template. It removes the portion of the task where you have to decide what your probability values are, and that’s kind of cool.

I’d probably fiddle with the probabilities a bit if I were using the hex, though, make upward movement a bit more likely. Something like, starting north and going counter-clockwise: 12 & 2, 3-4, 5-6, 7, 8-9, 10-11.

Edit: discussion of probabilities, including the alternative I mentioned, here: https://rpggeek.com/thread/2082830/game-science-sort

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