Good day.
Today we will talk about a desktop-role-playing system of our own design, the creation of which was inspired by both console oriental games and acquaintance with western table-role-playing giants. The latter turned out to be not as fabulous as we wanted - cumbersome in terms of rules, with somewhat sterile characters and objects, oversaturated with accounting.
So why not write something of your own? With Signs of the Zodiac and Eidolons. That's pretty much how it all turned out. It took about five or six years for the idea to develop from several scattered pages into a 256-page book.
Monsterboy is a role-playing game dedicated to fantastic tactical battles. Here, heroes draw new combat knowledge from their weapons, monsters have their own "artificial intelligence", and instead of gaining experience, an achievement system is used.
But first things first. A general view of role-playing games as a phenomenon was formed in me somewhere in the 90s, after reading an excellent review article in one of the volumes of the Encyclopedia of Computer Games. This article was called "About role-playing games", it described both the specifics of the table-top role-playing experience, and numerous examples of computer role-playing games that adopted the atmosphere and color from table-top universes. Separately, it was emphasized that role-playing board games are not about the competition “who won” and not about the “education” of negligent participants by the master of the game, but about joint creativity and entertaining pastime for everyone.
Gamemaster: Standing on the bridge of the descending Psheso, the sun elf Sigmar peered into the approaching mist. Yes, those rare types of monsters that will be needed in the experiment should have been found somewhere here. He thrust his hand into the ship's control pearl to correct course, and the shell-shaped vessel obediently swerved to the side, skirting the sharp peak of the rock. Finally, a gap appeared among the fog and the Psheso rushed there. The shellship crouched on a small rocky ledge, the ley line lights on its hull partly extinguished, going into standby mode. After a couple of minutes, the bottom of the sink clicked and moved down. From the belly of the ship, an elf, a mushroom girl and a goblin came out onto a stone ledge ... Although, no, let it be just an elf and a goblin. So, ladies and gentlemen, you are in the Dungeon of the Mists!
Schemer: Stop, stop! What about mushroom girl?
Gamemaster: For now, let's start with these two characters, and then we'll see.
Ruler: Just tell her you forgot to set her parameters.
Gamemaster: *stingingly* Maybe I just thought it was too good to give it to you?
Somewhere in the XNUMXs, I made various small board games so that I had something to play with friends, at the same time I plunged into the wondrous world of console exclusives (the unforgettable first PlayStation), found a Magic: The Gathering card club in the city (at that time a colorful Kamigawa, the most powerful Mirrodin block was gradually retiring, and the cards had not yet begun to be printed in Russian) and ... finally joined the table-role-playing games too, having found a gaming company and a practicing master.
As we played a decent amount of adventures, the difference between what we expected and what we got started to show more and more clearly. The systems themselves turned out to be overloaded with excessive mathematics, every now and then there was a feeling of constant enumeration of a limited set of options, any hero with suboptimal parameters was perceived as useless, often the most interesting and intense part of the game became ... preparation for it - the very stage of creating characters.
It is worth, of course, to share the degree of influence on what is happening all the individual elements. Yes, players can relate to what is happening too superficially and instead of composing bright characters, they will wander around the game world in the form of gray limp spots, sort of blanks hung with valuables or sights through which you can throw an ability. Yes, the master can abuse his position, try to forcibly drag the players along the plot rails, destroy the atmosphere. But a lot depends on the system itself. From how it's set up. It’s just that this very moment often remains “behind the scenes”, because one of the secrets of tabletop role-playing games is that, one way or another, you can get pleasure from each gaming system, if there would be a proper level of interest among the participants.
Naturally, not all systems can and should be lightweight. Some of them are just about the diversity of content, about a complex system of rules linked into a single ingenious mechanism and digging into all these details. And a little bookkeeping won't hurt, and tables will come in handy, and sometimes you can't get away from mathematics, but measure is important in everything.
And so it turned out that sometimes we even had interesting adventures, the characters turned out to be quite good and the group acted in a coordinated manner - thanks to the efforts of the master and the players, it was possible to get around sharp systemic corners.
And I just wanted to assemble my own system, because gradually a vision of what I would like to get from it began to take shape. And first of all, I wanted the following - a fabulous atmosphere (or fantastic, surreal), motley characters with different levels of power (which often happens in the plots of films and books), a simple but deep tactical component, free creative character development, unique game items, travel between worlds.
, and below I will analyze the main points.
World of Games
The fairy tale universe of "Monstroboy" lives according to special laws that differ from those that operate in reality. The local inhabitants are not at all surprised by the need for frequent battles with wild monsters that are generated by the chaotic play of magical elements.
Every being here has a hidden fundamental, irratio. This is the inner core of a creature, consisting of interconnected particles of magical energy. Such particles, called Spheres, are also found in free form. Like electrons, they circle around various objects and creatures, they can change the owner and be used to create material objects.
The hero perceives his irration in the form of a special range of feelings, gaining knowledge about some game-mechanical parameters. For example, that he has a certain amount of health. The hero feels the bulk of other parameters as some obvious patterns that are quite difficult to express in words. There are also such parameters that the hero does not know about at all: for example, characteristics (Dexterity, Body, Reason and Intuition). Of course, the player knows all the indicators and terms, but the main principle that guides him in his decisions is the following: the character is not a copy of the player, he is a real living person, with his own motives and ideas about the world around him.
It is worth noting that during the battles, the heroes most often do not suffer physically, because the combat attacks of enemies do not leave marks in the form of scratches or bruises, instead damaging health and other parameters. Thus, everything with which the hero is attacked in battle - the blade of the sword, the claws, the shot, the charge of magic - will be reflected in the configuration of the irratio, and not on the material shell. Getting various kinds of physical injuries and conditions is nevertheless possible, but not during a tactical battle.
In the game world, there are two things that a character has to fear the most: plot death and the decay of the irratio. The first case involves the death of a character due to a combination of various circumstances: the outcome of a fatal illness, receiving a fatal injury, accumulated injuries, the final loss of reason, and so on. The second case occurs when the character's health drops below minus five (-5): then his irration becomes so unstable that the bonds between the magic particles are destroyed.
For a long time, the inhabitants of the magical world have learned to create weapons and equipment that are designed exclusively for battles. These things have varying degrees of effectiveness and fairly strict rules for use. In addition, new unique ways are constantly being invented to influence the irrational enemies with their actions.
In addition to the main fairy-tale world, another, dark one is mentioned.
Plot Nodes
In the "Monstroboy" system, there is a flexible setting, consisting of a general description of the world and some of its individual sections, the so-called Nodes, which are not connected to each other in advance by some kind of general map. The book contains such Nodes as the fabulous city of waterfalls (Utada), the village of dragon riders (Zaskan), the restored ruins of an ancient city in the middle of the desert (New Asgard), a mysterious castle in the forest (Matorika) and so on.
Such a structure allows you to integrate any other elements and locations into this game world, for example, your favorite places from different books and films. That is, the game world itself is also built by the participants in the process of their personal adventure, it is not rigidly determined. Knots are like free energy in the hands of the master of the game, which has not yet turned into matter. The course of the narration transfers the Nodes from a free state to a connected, material one.
Researcher: *impatiently* So what's next? Arrived and?
Game Master: Take apart the characters yourself. Who is an elf, who is a goblin?
Schemer: I would have taken the mushroom, but you didn't give it!
Game Master: There will be more characters later. You still need to show the basics of combat.
Tactician: Yeah, combat! What can a goblin do?
Gamemaster: Goblin can throw bombs. And grenades. If you find a pomegranate tree.
Tactician. Oh, I'm taking it.
Researcher: *looking around the party* I'm an elf then, if no one minds.
Intriguer: Yes, please.
Game Master: Good. By the way, he has an interesting backstory.
Biography and Characteristics
A biography is a few words / phrases about the essence of a character. For example: “elf”, “witch”, “clockwork dragon”, “fire mage with a prosthetic arm”, “druid of the Twisted Forest”, “merchant, suspicious looking”, “royal messenger”, “orc blacksmith, damned” , "necromancer's apprentice", "arrogant paladin girl", "stranger shadow with his inanimate dog" and so on.
This parameter contains all the important information about the hero himself, his state, indicates the possible vectors of the hero's development.
Characteristics - this is the degree of success of the hero in various classes of actions, the strength of the connection of his inner fundamental principle with each of the 4 main elements. If a character takes a story action or experiences a story effect, appropriate Ability rolls may be required.
Agility (flexibility of fire)
Body (hardness of the earth)
Mind (curiosity of the air)
Intuition (mystery of water)
Each hero has an idea about his Biography, but is completely unaware that the success of his actions is influenced by Characteristics (neither the appearance of the hero, nor his strength, nor mass, nor intelligence depend on the value of Characteristics).
For example: the hero's Biography is "Professor of Technomagic" and his Intelligence is "-2". A low Intelligence score does not make a hero stupid. He is well versed in techno-magical devices and theories, as well as everything that can be attributed to this field of knowledge. Mind "-2" only means that in cases requiring Mind, but with its path, techno-magic, which are not connected at all, it will be unsuccessful.
The character's life is subject to self-confidence and personal ambition. He cannot compare his achievements with someone else's on an absolute scale; in assessing his qualities, he is quite subjective. Some are not stopped by failure, while others deceive themselves by burying true talent in the ground.
There is a special charm in this ignorance: confidence in something really turns the conceivable into the obvious - by performing various actions, the hero thereby earns a Biography. Each specific Biography, in turn, increases the success of those actions of the character that are associated with it.
For example: if the hero is a “druid”, then most often he will be able to silently walk through the forest already on this basis. And if the DM decides to assign a Dexterity check for silent movement, then its difficulty for the "druid" will not be high.
Gamemaster: Continue. Barely moving away from the ship, Sigmar and Otto stumbled upon a group of metal golems, whose appearance resembled animated armor. Mist swirled around each of these strange creatures, seeping through gaps in the metal. One of the golems dragged behind him a resisting mop of dark hair, the other clung to a strange lush creature with ruddy, as if fried sides. The other armors, seeing the approaching elf and goblin, rushed at them…
Tactician: For the purpose of kissing, I presume?
Gamemaster: Worse. Throw a die ... Although, for now we will not overload with throws. The elf will go first, then the goblin.
Even when there are no miniatures, you can always get by with improvised means for simulating a combat situation - dice, chips, buttons.
Battle frame from the prototype in Flash.
Battles
This tabletop role-playing system means that there will often be combat encounters in tactical mode between a group of adventurers and their various enemies. It can be as simple as an attack by wild monsters, or a fight with a smart opponent, a scene of unexpected betrayal, or a comic duel in the arena.
Before each regular fight, the sequence of moves is formed by throwing the dice. If two or more heroes have the same results, then they will receive a joint move with the ability to split and combine their actions as you like.
At the start of the turn, the hero usually gains around 3 Action Points and 1 Combat Action. Action points are spent mainly on movement, performing auxiliary tasks (like using items or changing equipment) and act as an additional resource (strengthening the ongoing attack). Combat actions are spent on various attacking techniques, or the activation of powerful abilities.
Unused Combat Actions are burned at the end of the turn, and Action Points can be accumulated by some heroes as fuel for special moves. Any non-standard actions of the heroes in battle are also possible, if they do not contradict the situation - the master decides how much and what resources will be spent on paying for them.
Gamemaster: Throwing hostile armor to the sides frees their prey. This is a girl with extremely long, slightly moving hair, which almost completely hides her figure. Together with her, another rescued creature looks at you with curiosity - a lump slightly levitating above the ground, something like a ruddy muffin, it smells like freshly baked bread. Looking closely at the lying armor, Otto noticed that the streams of fog were leaving them.
Tactician: Hmm, what could that mean? We must think.
Game Master: In the meantime, we've got new heroes to choose from. So let's decide who will be who.
Intriguer: Yes, yes. What do we have here? A lady in trouble and a plumper on legs?
Tactician: *rolling with laughter* Well, you give!
Researcher: What a passage!
Gamemaster: *advisingly* Actually, this witch here is never a lady in trouble, as you put it. She is quite capable of taking care of herself. By the way, in addition to this couple, you can take metal golems.
Witch Truanne is one of the pre-installed characters
Hero archetypes
Each hero has a certain combat archetype. There are four of them: "Mage", "Trickster", "Fighter" and "Medium". The names of the archetypes are conditional and the heroes themselves do not know about them (for example, the archetype "Mage" does not mean that the hero is necessarily some kind of spellcaster according to the Biography).
As mentioned earlier, the foundation of every creature has some durability: a supply of Health Points. But besides the usual health, the heroes also have Mental: the higher it is, the more focused the hero is when performing various magical or energy actions. If the hero loses all Health Points, then he falls unconscious or even dies. If he loses all Mental Health, then his combat effectiveness decreases sharply: the character cannot use techniques and special Mysteries of Signs, he can only attack with a weapon or without it.
If desired, the hero can spend his Mental Health on some special tricks, but the vast majority of tricks and Sacraments spend other, more easily replenished resources (like Mana Points). Therefore, in most cases it is better to keep Mental Health as long as possible.
As long as the character does not have any defenses equipped, he takes hits on his Health Points. But as soon as the defenses appear, the effect of his archetype begins to affect the hero and part of the damage received is redirected to the hero's mental health or is completely extinguished.
For example, the hero of the Mage archetype has the largest amount of Mana Points compared to other archetypes. Damage blocked by his physical defenses is redirected from normal health to mental health. And the damage blocked by magical defenses is fully canceled - that is, when protecting 1 from fire and air magic, the hero will receive 1 less damage from a fire or air attack.
No one forbids such a hero to engage in close combat with the enemy (where physical attacks most often occur), but the game hints that keeping a distance from enemies will be more effective for this archetype in most cases.
The Trickster archetype is moderately versatile and, due to the increased supply of Mental Health, feels good in any position. "Fighter" is better protected in close combat, but magical attacks can cool his ardor. The "Medium" is the most balanced and controls its condition better than others.
There are four types of magic in the game, each of which includes two elements. That is, protection from the Aspect of Time in the character's equipment will help him immediately against attacks by Light and from attacks by Darkness
Assistant: How many golems were there?
Gamemaster: In what sense?
Assistant: Well, how many characters will end up in the group?
Ruler: Probably as many as we choose.
Game Master: Naturally. Actually, golems were introduced on purpose, as an additional choice and as an opportunity to expand the number of participants if more people came to the game.
Schemer: Interesting.
Tactician: But they're clones. Being a clone is bad.
Game Master: If many people take golems, then yes, the initial game mechanics of their heroes will be the same. But this does not prevent different players from playing different characters and making some changes to the appearance of their heroes.
Sacraments
The heroes of "Monstroboy" are able to use a variety of mystical disciplines, Sacraments, several times a day. There are exactly 12 of them, each of them is patronized by its own Zodiac Sign. At the start of the game, each character owns the Sacraments of two Signs - his native and secondary.
Each Sacrament can be applied in two different ways: theatrical and tactical. The first method is used only during the narrative part of the game. The second method is used in a tactical battle or is somehow connected with it (allows you to create a combat item or enchant a weapon).
For example: The Sacrament of Mimicry (Patron Sign: Cancer) allows the wielder to copy magical, energetic, or mystical effects he observes for the cost of 1 use. You can throw an oncoming clot of fire at an evil dragon, raise a dead man in response to a similar action of a necromancer, and so on. For the cost of an additional use, you can cancel the effect instead of copying it. During tactical combat, Mimicry allows the hero to duplicate another's attacks or moves.
Most Arcanes do not spend Combat Actions or Action Points during combat, so they can be used multiple times in a single turn (as long as there are uses) without losing the ability to move or attack. On the other hand, Mysteries tend to elicit retaliatory attacks from nearby enemies for each act of their use.
Schemer: Great, I'll be a metal golem!
Gamemaster: I thought you would take the witch.
Assistant: I'll take the witch. Does she have a spellbook?
Schemer: I wanted to take a mushroom. Oh, can I have a bas-relief in the form of a fly agaric on my golem?
Researcher: Looks like it won't be boring.
Gamemaster: You make me happy. Yes, there is a book. Yes, you can bas-relief. *looks at the Ruler* Which one do you take, the bakery elemental or the metal golem?
Ruler: So it was a bakery elemental? I take it without looking.
Gamemaster: You'll like it, he's also a healer.
Master of Rules: Attendant of the Great Heavenly Bakery?
Gamemaster: Almost.
Schemer. Oh, he'll bake us healing buns!
Tactician: Or lethal.
Researcher: Everything depends on the filling.
Assistant: Buns are good!
Gamemaster: Let's get to know the characters better. Tell each other about yourself.
Cubes
Monsterboy uses 3 types of dice: square (D4), six-sided (D6) and twenty-sided (D20). Each of them has its own role in the game mechanics: the tetrahedron and twenty-sided are used in tactics, the hexagon most often regulates the narrative.
D4, weapon attack
In battle, the heroes use different weapons, each of which has four positions of damage. The roll of the die determines the position.
For example: a hero attacks an enemy with a Broadsword. Damage parameters of this weapon: 2/3/4/4. A 1 rolled on the die means the enemy will take 2 damage.
Positions can contain zeros, dashes or letters. A dash means a single miss, a zero means a hit, but with zero base damage. If the weapon had damage boosts or other additional effects, then in position 0 they will work.
For example: A magic wand (-/0/1/1) is enchanted for "+1" fire damage to attack. If the die rolls a 1, that weapon's attack misses. On a roll of 2, the Magic Wand hits, dealing 0 physical damage and 1 fire damage to the enemy. On a roll of 3 or 4, the enemy will take 1 physical and 1 fire damage.
In rarer weapons, the positions may contain letters that indicate one of the Hero's Stats.
For example: The Ink Sword hits enemies with darkness instead of physics. Its parameters are: I/4/6/8. The wielder of the sword now has an Intuition of 5. If the attack die rolls a 1, the sword deals 5 darkness damage.
D6, checks
During the story, some of the characters' actions require a successful roll on one of their Attributes (Dexterity, Body, Reason, Intuition). The DM sets the difficulty of the check, and the player rolls the die, adding up to the required Attribute.
For example: a witch wants to understand the meaning of the ancient symbols that cover the walls of the catacombs. The DM assigns a Sanity check, difficulty 6. The witch's Intelligence is 2, and the die rolls a 3. The total is 5, which is below the required difficulty, so the meaning of the symbols could not be deciphered.
D20, Monster Intelligence
Most normal monsters are controlled by a die that tells them to take a specific action from a list. It remains for the DM to choose a target, as well as decide when the monster will move: before or after the action.
For example: there is a battle, the enemy Goblin gets the turn. The master rolls the die, rolled 19. The Goblin's parameters indicate that if a value from 15 to 20 fell out, then he is supposed to impose a Poison Aura on a target within a radius of 1. The master moves the Goblin to one of the heroes, after which he imposes a Poison Aura on that hero.
The concept of a game-mechanical monster model includes the following parameters:
Identification - rank (from 1 to 5), Sign (one of 12), type (undead, animal, goblin, and so on).
The main ones are Health Points and Speed (sometimes there are Mana Points).
Actions - a list of attacks and techniques tied to the intervals of the 20-hedron.
Optional - physical and magical protection, immunities, other features and restrictions.
Players control summoned monsters and Eidolons in the same way (special creatures in which heroes can transform using the Mysteries of the Sign of Scorpio).
For example: for a few turns, a 2nd-level paladin turned into Leviathan, Builder of the Deep (Eidolon of the water element). Each turn, the player rolls a die to determine the prescribed action, now a 2 is rolled. A number between 1 and 9 instructs the Leviathan to inflict 1 + the hero's level of Water damage on targets within 2 radius. Thus, Eidolon will deal 4 water damage to the enemy.
Schemer: Well, what are you waiting for, turn him into a toad!
Assistant: Can I? Master, master?
Gamemaster: I think your specialization is for this, but you are still a beginner, so you do not know this particular spell.
Schemer: Well, okay, anyway - threaten, bluff, intimidate!
Assistant: Let's just let this shadow go in peace, it hasn't done anything to us yet.
Schemer: Some kind of not-so-evil witch you are.
Assistant: Why does a witch have to be evil? She's not old.
Ruler: And here I finally understood everything about witches.
Schemer: Then you signal how old you are. At least I can hide.
Assistant: Too late, I remember you!
Titles and Milestones
In battle, characters can unlock Titles - various simple achievements. You can have many Titles, but only one of them is active during the game day and gives the hero its own specific bonus. Those heroes who have access to the Performance (Mystery of the Aquarius Sign) can hum the Title they know during the battle, sharing its effect with all allies. In addition, there are secret (unique) Titles that can be opened only once, after which they become inaccessible to other heroes.
Title example:
"Savior", secret title
Conditions for obtaining: you survived a state close enough to death, but did not die, and besides, there is someone, someone loves you.
Advantages of the Title: “the one you hold by the hand cannot die” (biography trait).
But "Monstroboy" is not limited to Titles alone. He develops these ideas and goes further, completely abandoning the use of gaming experience (Exp) in favor of global gaming achievements - Milestones. The hero starts with the first level of the Milestone and can open those Milestones 9 times that are provided for by the development plan (by pumping in this way from the first level to the maximum, 10th).
Milestone examples:
"Mission" - the hero completed an important task received from the game subject
"Taste of battle" - the hero won 3 battles
"Echo of reflections" - the hero was in a state of Trance
As a starting point, a set of nine different Milestones is proposed, which each hero can open once. Such a development plan will be quite difficult, but very diverse. The game master can put together his own plan, forming a certain style of adventure: focus on drama, exploration of the world, combat success, and so on. The final version is approved before the start of the game.
The plan can be quite simple and narrowly focused, for example, “Mission (9)”, that is, the hero will receive levels only for completing important story missions, and to get the maximum level of the Milestone, he just needs to open the “Mission” 9 times in a row - that is, complete 9 various assignments taken from the characters of the game world. Also, the plan can be very diverse and as free as possible, when many Milestones are offered at once, each of which can be opened more than once.
Character cards
Of course, in Monsterboy you can create a character from scratch by reading the chapter dedicated to this. However, I decided to offer beginners not only a “assemble it yourself” constructor, but ready-made unique heroes. Each of them belongs to a separate class and has a character outline. This is important because I would like to emphasize the fact that the hero is not a copy of the player. It's hard to feel like this when you're just getting into a hobby and you're given a hero constructor - there's a great temptation to collect a simpler blank, without a special story, and do the same in the future. This is not a problem in computer games, but at the table it can be.
Thus, a new player can simply print out a postcard with a character that lists all of his starting abilities. Mandatory bonuses for leveling up are provided, but the abilities of the hero and his class can be developed as you like during the game - it depends only on the creativity of the player and the master, on the emerging plot situations. The hero knows a lot from the very beginning, he does not have to wait for some high level just to start enjoying his class.
In other words, there is no magician-illusionist who at the first level can only show tricks, at the seventh always become invisible, and at the fifteenth he is able to create an illusory city. The local magician-illusionist moves after the player's thoughts about him, having at the start only a general concept and some already prescribed mechanics, such as creating educational illusions, for a certain time with the expenditure of a certain resource. Strictly speaking, this system does not deny the presence in it of heroes with prescribed power-ups at specific levels (since the levels themselves are present), but they become a special case, and freedom of development is preserved.
Weapons and combat items also have levels - power levels or ranks. From these items, the heroes learn various combat abilities - after spending two or three battles with a magic staff, the hero studies the magic contained inside that one, so that later he can use it already without this item. Abilities from low-ranking items more or less remain relevant even further, when the hero has abilities from items of a higher rank. In the first versions of the game, a situation was often observed when some abilities looked more “passing” and became not particularly needed when a more powerful counterpart appeared. On the other hand, from the very beginning, the game provides the ability to disassemble irrelevant items. I won’t say that now everything that the character has learned benefits him constantly, but even a small correction has benefited - more variability, more creativity.
In addition to the basic characters from the book, there are about 15 postcards with additional characters. There you can also find representatives of the gizmo race (intelligent magic items), heroes from the dark dimension, a mushroom man, and even a virus that infects monsters. Based on them, it is easier to design your own new heroes.
Improvisation
Yes, of course, the master will need the ability to improvise. The player will have to figure out how to use the hero's abilities in a given situation, they will have to invent something new. But this is the most interesting thing that non-computer role-playing games can give! In addition, other elements of the game constantly provide food for creativity, making this task easier. I myself, as a master, practice prepared improvisation, and in the book the game is considered from this position, offering the master various tools for the implementation of his plan.
You just need to change the vector of your aspirations - you should not sculpt a monolithic dramatic and cinematic epic, then to present it to the group in the form of a non-interactive monologue in the middle of wooden scenery. No, we will not ride on rails and drive players by all available means to the only true right door. Instead, I suggest that before the game, a certain reserve of key events and hooks that will appear on the path of the players in the game and adapt to the current situation. The result is a sandbox game with noticeable plot inclusions, a more or less coherent story and good involvement of the participants, despite the large degree of freedom of the players.
Miniatures
A couple of thoughts regarding gaming accessories. In general, like many people, I like highly detailed stylish miniatures in tabletop role-playing games. However, in practice they are not so convenient when it comes to use in the game.
Personally, in tactical role-playing games played at the table, I would like to see some standardized, not too pronounced miniatures. Something so universal in the style of cubism-minimalism, especially when it comes to opponents / monsters. Usually, the players use those miniatures that were at hand, collected from various sources, sets and games.
Such figures for role-playing games are usually released for a certain setting. A sufficiently high degree of detail allows you to consider the race of the character, his clothes and other details. All this is great, but the settings and classes of heroes in games change very often, so you can’t buy new figures every time for a new style / class and so on.
Great if you have a line of thumbnails in the same style. But these have a too fantasy look, in a game about a space opera or in a Lovecraftian detective they will no longer look so advantageous. Although, when did it stop anyone.
This is all about what figures I would put in a box with my game if such a box were produced:
To begin with, it would be multi-colored figurines of the main characters for the players. If more or less detailed models, then it is possible for each color in male and female versions. Or just make more different colors, each with one abstract adventure model. If the player brings their favorite figure, then good luck, but we thus have a basic option for any occasion.
For opponents - several groups of identical models. Then it will be convenient to make packs of several enemies of the same type. I usually form most of the combat encounters as "party against a group of skeletons", "party against goblins and their leader", "party against a couple of werewolves and a couple of zombies" - as you can see, there are often monsters of the same type here. Therefore, for a group of goblins, I want to use the same figures, and not put up different ones and then forget who I have where.
It is very desirable to see some kind of numbering on models from the same group. It can be numbers, dots, stripes, letters, symbols. Figures on the belly, on the back or on top. This would be very handy to keep track of how much health an enemy has left. That is, when the hero poked that figure to his left from a group of skeletons, we immediately see that it was some kind of “skeleton number 3” that got a hat, and not someone else. Again, it helps the master a lot to keep track of which of the opponents he has already resembled and who he has not yet.
When there are so many things on the table - go figure out who is who.
In principle, cubes are very well suited for convenient display of different groups of enemies - they can just be picked up the same and set with different numbers up. But if it was a figurine with a number, that would be great. Therefore, I would make enemies with numbers.
Actually, even completely abstract models are best suited for opponents, on which marks are very well read and which, when changing locations and worlds, will not distract us from the current atmosphere with their details. We just make groups a little different in color, sets of different sizes, mark them - everything you need for universal battles.
But for various exclusive opponents, you can already put up any other figures, from all that collectible chaos that you have at hand. Alternatively, the DM may take one of the colored figures not taken by the players. And, since we are talking about figurines that would come in a box with the game, we could make several of these specific ones and put one random figurine of an exclusive enemy in each box.
Here are some cute darlings I dug up on the Internet.
Thus, in the most minimal version for a game of tactics, I would like to see several minimalistic multi-colored figures for heroes and several groups of abstract numbered miniatures for opponents.
But, of course, the basic equipment can be more varied and detailed. However, I am definitely against the practice, when tons of the most beautiful detailed miniatures are laid out in cardboard boxes in the house and we diligently rummage through them, trying to get the closest figures to our situation. Then we suffer that they are again not in the same style. Then we buy more zombies, because now we often come across zombies in the game, but there are no suitable figures. And then we put everything on the table and still we get completely entangled in them. There can be a lot of figurines, but they should be easy to navigate if we want to use them in the game, and not just decorate the shelf with them.
tesserfact
In principle, the game mechanics of "Monstroboy" can be adapted for computer implementation. Although it's not as easy as it seems. I just always liked Final Fantasy Tactics, I would like something in a similar style, and the combat of Monster Boy is pretty close in spirit. Be that as it may, computer tactics are just one of the ideas shelved for now. There was only a small flash prototype with one scene and this video here showing the direction of thought.
The Tesserfact is a special powerful stone that opens the passage to honey dimensions, which is mentioned in the book. According to the idea, the plot would revolve around him.
This video is from a later date. I assembled one of the hypothetical locations in Unity. It's more like FFT style here.
Сonclusion
Monster Boy isn't the only RPG I've written, but it's certainly the healthiest and definitely contains that basic impulse that led me to develop tabletop RPGs in the first place - the desire to make an accessible tactical combat game. Other role-playing books I've done are much more narrative. This is understandable, because they explore other role niches.
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That's where I'll end the story. Have a nice weekend.
Source: habr.com