Here’s the basic moves for GO TIME
Originally shared by Adrian Thoen
Moves for GO TIME, my quick and dirty opposed conflict hack for escalating back and forth attacks between two opposing forces.
Attack
When you’re not in a tight spot and you go on the offensive and attack your opponent, roll+X. On a 10+, you pick two. On a 7-9, your opponent picks one. On a 6-, you’re in a tight spot, and your opponent immediately makes the counter move.
You gain (momentum) pressure.
You put your opponent into a tight spot, you describe how.
You cause collateral damage to someone or something nearby, describe what and how.
Defend
When you’re in a tight spot or under pressure and defend from attack, roll+X. On a 10+, choose two. On a 7-9, your opponent chooses one. On a 6-, you’re backed into a corner and your opponent can immediately attack.
You gain (momentum) pressure.
You get out of the tight spot, describe how.
You prevent collateral damage, describe how.
Parry
When you’re not in a tight spot, and you try to parry your opponent’s attack, roll+X before they roll. On a 10+, they take 2 to their roll. On a 7-9, they take -1 to their roll. On a 6, you leave yourself wide open, and they take +2 to their roll.
Counter
When your opponent has just rolled a 6- on an attack, and you respond with a counter attack, roll+X. On a 10+, choose two. On a 7-9, choose one. On a 6-, they choose one.
You get out of a tight spot, describe how.
You put them in a tight spot, describe how.
Increase the momentum by +2.
Desperate Action
When you’re backed into a corner, momentum is at 3 or higher, and your opponent has 3 or more pressure, you can unleash your Desperation Attack and roll+X. On a 10+, you nail a devastating manoeuvre, and take all 3. On a 7-9, most of your attack is effective, choose 2. On a 6-, you’re left wide open, and your opponent has a chance to End It now.
You reset Pressure to 0.
You get out of a tight spot and aren’t backed into a corner.
Momentum is at maximum, and you’ve caused massive collateral damage, describe how.
Quip
When you have your opponent in a tight spot, you may take a moment to deliver a brutal quip. They’ll get out of the tight spot, but you will gain 1 pressure and reduce the momentum by 2.
End It
When momentum is at max, your pressure is at max, and you have your opponent in a tight spot, roll+X to end the conflict now. On a 10+, you choose 1. On a 7-9, your opponent chooses 1. On a 6-, nothing’s really resolved and nobody goes home happy.
You leave them destroyed, ruined, or dead.
You offer them a chance to surrender or accede defeat peacefully.
You take something precious from them, describe what.
You win their respect, loyalty, or friendship.
They owe you big time.
End 1 7-9 does only your Opponent choose or do you do too? Otherwise it’s not really working i think. Or do they choose for you i.e. their own fate?
They definitely still lost, and you have the advantage, but they choose their own fate. I’ll look at rewording it to be a bit clearer.
On a 7-9 they choose for you or something like that. Right now it reads as if you loose on a 7-9.
End It
When momentum is at max, your pressure is at max, and you have your opponent in a tight spot, roll+X to end the conflict now. On a 10+, you choose 1. On a 7-9, your opponent still lost, but they choose 1 for you. On a 6-, nothing’s really resolved and nobody goes home happy.
You leave them destroyed, ruined, or dead.
You offer them a chance to surrender or accede defeat peacefully.
You take something precious from them, describe what.
You win their respect, loyalty, or friendship.
They owe you big time.
they choose 1 for you still sounds not right… Like they choose your fate.
How about the GM chooses? Because the GM is not the character and the character can’T choose anyway.
this system may be GM free.
When you say “they choose 1 for you” do you mean that they choose to owe you (the one making the move) big time (for example) or is the one making the move the one that owes them (the you in that case referring to them, since they are the ones choosing).
It makes sense to me that, in a partial success, you win the conflict, but you had to concede to something. In that case, some options wouldn’t work, of course (the losing side can’t leave the other destroyed, ruined or dead, for example).
They can choose to owe you big tim, or choose to be offered a chance to surrender, or choose to get killed, or destroyed, etc.
They still lost, they’re still at a disadvantage, but they get to choose the nature of the disadvantage. It signifies them giving up before you beat them to a pulp.
It’s still pretty unclear though, so I’m gonna reword it to be clearer.
End It
When momentum is at max, your pressure is at max, and you have your opponent in a tight spot, roll+X to end the conflict now. On a 10+, you choose 1. On a 7-9, your beat your opponent and have the advantage, but they offer the nature of their defeat for you, and choose 1. On a 6-, nothing’s really resolved and nobody goes home happy.
You leave them destroyed, ruined, or dead.
You offer them a chance to surrender or accede defeat peacefully.
You take something precious from them, describe what.
You win their respect, loyalty, or friendship.
They owe you big time.
Strangely enough I’ve been chewing on a similar problem, and even created similar moves (though I have some major differences in premise). I think you’re right. A good fight is has pressure that rises to a critical point and then explodes. It also has a rhythm, a back a forth, that dictates who moves when. One thing I haven’t quite figured out what to do with any of this though…
AW Warriors (Eye of the Tiger):
General idea: A way to do blow-by-blow martial arts action in which two players face off against each other and each makes fictional moves. Sources: Kung-fu movies and fighting games.
Terms:
Stats: Players have stats, just like AW. Each stat has 2 values, one for offense, (generally positive) one for defense (generally negative). The offensive stats will be marginally better than the defensive stats. (Example: Fierce +2/-1, Quick +0/-2 , Hard +1/0. Sharp -1/+2)
Momentum: A talking stick of sorts. The player with the momentum is the aggressor. The player without is the defender. The GM asks the aggressor “what do you do” first. They use positive stats and hit on a 10+. The defender gets asked “what do you do” after their opponent has already described their action. They use negative stats and hit on a 6-.
Heat: If this were a fighting game, heat would be meter. You gain heat as the fight goes by and can cash it in for big damage later on.
Resolution:
There is a deck of cards. values 1-6 in four suits for 24 cards total. Suit is irrelevant. Each of the fighters is given an hand of 8 cards. The remaining 8 cards are divided up between players not in the fight. The GM asks the player with the momentum “what do you do?” and that player describes their action and the players decide which move the player has triggered. The GM then repeats this process for the other player. After both players have made their moves they each select a card from their hand and play it simultaneously. The cards are revealed and totaled together with the modifiers:
Aggressor’s card + Stat (positive) + Defender’s card + Stat (Negative) = result
10+ Aggressor wins. Their move is resolved as a hit.
6- Defender wins. Their move is resolved as a hit.
7-9 Mixed. Both players get a lesser version of what they wanted/have to make compromises.
Between rounds the other players may give either of the fighters 1 card as a reward for especially good kung-fu descriptions.
Fight Moves:
Look for an Opening: (Largely stolen from you. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery and all that…)
When you test your opponent’s defenses, play +/- STAT. On a hit, you out maneuvered them, deal your damage or choose 2 below. On a 7-9 choose 1.
+ Your and your opponent both deal your damage to each other.
+ You take/keep the Momentum. It cannot be taken from you this turn.
+ Your force your opponent back and disengage for a moment.
+ You detect a weakness in your opponent’s defenses. Gain 1 Heat.
+ Take defensive measures +1 armor next exchange.
+ You change the fighting distance, terrain, or nature of the contest
Put them in a Bind:
When you trap, bind, or pin your opponent play +/- STAT. On a hit it works, describe the way you screw them over and hold 1. On a 7-9 hold 1 but pick a costs:
+ They land a blow as you get into position. Take their damage.
+ You lose control of the situation. Give up the momentum.
+ You lose focus. Lose 2 Heat.
At the start of a round you may spend your hold and pick a move. Your opponent may not make that move.
Bring the Pain:
When you unleash the full power of your technique spend all of your Heat and play +/- STAT. On a hit it’s awesome, describe the way you kick your opponent’s ass and deal your damage + Heat. On a 7-9 it works, but only barely. Pick 2:
+ Take your opponent’s damage
+ Your opponent gains Heat = damage taken.
+ You lose the momentum
+ You leave yourself wide open.
Cover your Assets:
When cover up, get out of there, or simply tough it out play +/- STAT. On a hit, it works. Whatever you were afraid of, doesn’t come to pass and you can pick 2 below or you may turn their move back on them. On a 7-9 it still happens, but you don’t suffer the full effect. Pick 2 anyway.
+ You take X less damage.
+ You take/keep the Momentum. It cannot be taken from you this turn.
+ You gain 1 Heat.
+ There’s a way out or an opportunity.
Questions:
How is damage resolved?
Should damage be fictional or abstract?
What else happens in this game besides fights?
How are those other things resolved?
Who are the characters?
What is their story besides breaking face?
A friend of mine and I tried something like this yesterday. The results were mixed. I still don’t have clear fictional triggers for my moves. I was curious to get some clarification on your moves.
Who speaks when? Are both players able to make their moves whenever? Do they have a tacit agreement to take turns?
Momentum and pressure are separate right? Does each player track each of these separately or are they shared?
Dylan Green here’s the full rules for go time: https://plus.google.com/113847025671240258531/posts/c94jpY4o4Eu
There’s one pressure track and momentum track for the conflict. Pressure shows who’s got the advantage, the person who’s got pressure is winning. Being in a tight spot is a cue for fictional positioning. The more aggressive moves can only be activated when you’re not in a tight spot.
Momentum is a measure of escalation, indicating how much the pendulum for pressure swings back and forth. As the fight goes on and momentum picks up, you quickly move towards one side overpowering the other in a move or two.
The two sides would generally take it in turns to make moves, but there may be occasions where a side may make a few moves in a row.
Alright so we tried this out today and here are the results.
Overall these moves worked better than mine for general flow. Action moved back and forth pretty easily and seemed to make sense. It was obvious when we were attacking or countering. We hit a snag a couple of times when neither of us was “in a tight spot.” Since it was just the two of us we had to agree who should make the next move and we played like gentlemen, but it felt like we were bending the rules.
Thoughts on the moves:
Attack: This move generally worked fine. We tripped up on collateral damage, unclear on what it might be or why it would be important. There were a number of instances where we already had our opponent in a tight spot, and we didn’t see any collateral damage that would be interesting, and so we didn’t have any valid option as our second choice from the list. This happened so often we actually added “take +1 forward” as an option.
Defend: The main problem we wrestled with was that we did not clearly know when to defend. When one makes an attack, it’s pretty obvious and one rolls and resolves. There there is this hesitation afterward though, as it feels like the other person should take an action, and that action feels like it should be defend (side note, the only action one can take, generally, is defend) but we were unclear exactly what was being defended against. After all, the attack has already been resolved. There are no effects of the attack that are hanging out “in the cloud” waiting to be defended against. After all, the attack has already been resolved, right? We handwaved this by saying that although that attack had been resolved, but that it was part of a larger string of attacks. We described it as when, in the chop-sockey flick that is our story, the attacker leans in and makes strikes while the defender leans back and blocks them. The camera shifts from the attacker to the defender as the focus of the fight shifts. This seemed to work, but it was kludgy.
Parry: This move did not get used. Rarely were we not in a tight spot and, since its trigger is not fictional but rather mechanical we never thought to use it. I’d say cut this move out and add “opponent takes -2 forward” as a defense option.
Counter: We ended up using this move a lot because we were rolling really poorly. Similar problem to attack, there were times when we already had gotten everything the move offered and still had options to pick (I’m out of a tight spot, you’re in tight spot, and the momentum is at its max). We added “gain 1 pressure” to the list of options so that this move had application in these instances.
Desperate actions: I like the feel of this move, but it didn’t come up. There was confusion about if “backed into a corner” was the same thing as “in a tight spot.” We decided it was.
Quip: lots of fun, but never seemed tactically viable. Didn’t get used.
End it: This move seemed fine. Since this was just a test of the options presented as a straight up fight and this moves stakes are more directly targeted at the ongoing narrative it wasn’t really that important. Interesting note, there is no way that, once this move is used, the fight goes on. Whoever has the right to use this move, when they do, the fight is over one way or another. Even if they fail. This seemed strange and I would recommend that failure is a reversal of circumstances.
Suggestions: Because of the interplay between attack and defend I would recommend some attack options that are held “in the cloud” until after the defender has had a chance to mitigate them.
Also, even though it might seem strange some sort of turn order might make things more fluid.
Finally, we felt limited in our tactical options. It was always pretty obvious what to do. Attack if you’re not in a tight spot. Then there’s some questions about “Are you defending? What are you defending against, my attack has resolved? Well I must be defending against something, and it must be your attack so lets assume you’re attacking but that the camera is on me.” Then defend. Then defender becomes attacker or suffers another attack. Sometimes defender fails and there’s a counter.
Separating building pressure and fictional positioning into two moves. Additional things to do when your in a tight spot, besides defend, are vital.
I’m going to try and synthesize our two sets of moves. I’ll let you know how it goes.