Bring your own Treasure or thoughts on Trophy and the Digging-Roll for ItO and 2400
Sooo, I'm quite hyped for Trophy for a while now (Trophy dark, as well as Trophy gold) The only reason that I mustered the strength to not buy the books yet is that I just ordered three more volumes of the Mushishi Perfect Edition. Ha! Moooney. We crust creatures never have enough of that, haven't we? Anyway, I wouldn't be me, if I couldn't copy some of Trophy's Ideas and bolt them on something I already own in a cheap and half way manner.
Steal, Kids! I want you to steal, kids! All the time and everything.
So, I ate up a whole ass of episodes from Jason Cordovas Trophy Scoundrels quarter episodes (highly recommended) and thought about bits that I could use for EB or 2400. Especially regarding the Treasure Hunting.
But before that: I think there is some discussion going on in "the scene" (whatever that entails...) on whether Trophy abstracts too much or not and thus ... kills the immersion? (Whatever?).
I can't give two shits about whether a game qualifies as OSR or not or whether abstraction killed the radio-star, but if you want to take a deeper look into this I'd recommend starting with Marcia B.'s posts regarding Trophy and what she likes about it. I think Marcia is very smart, so you better check out her blog, even if you don't care about Trophy at all.
Sooo, back to the stuff:
Well, might not be surprising, but I'm becoming ever more interested in using player creativity to a) minimize the amount of prep I have to come up with and b) making me feel as if I'm exploring the game-setting alongside my players.
I've already made it a habit to ask the players in one of my ItO groups to set the scene so that I get unexpected Input from them and they can actively contribute to the setting. They like that, I like that and I want to expand this style of play. Let's look at Trophy for that.
In Trophy Gold, players can make a Hunt-roll to investigate an area or mystery and potentially expose themselves to danger. The roll has a high chance of introducing a threat and a decent chance of earning a Hunt-Token.
The Hunt-Tokens can then be spend to either find treasure (1 Token = 1 Gold) or to automatically reach a set-goal (for 3 Tokens).
Consequently: Hunt-Roll -> Token -> Treasure = Hunt-Roll -> Treasure
The players can decide where they want to find treasure, if they are
willing to take the risk of potential danger.
Oh, this could makes thing so easy! I could roughly outline some ideas for rooms in an expedition site (descriptive names would be enough), then I could think about some special items and one or two fixed complications, that are there independend from the Treasure-search and then invest all the remaining time into ideas for Encounters (the prep stuff that I really like).
And then I could send my players in and watch as they show me the world. The rooms and potential assets could be described by my players as they set the scene, their search for treasure defines where the dangers lurk and I'm there with my Encounter-List, when shit hits the fan.
This also makes Expedition sites highly replayable, since the different rooms and scenes are formed mostly by player input. And it also kills a strange form of unnecessary discussion about whether something they've found is actual treasure or not. Now you tell me! (If you are willing to face the consequences). This is the thing!
But of course I didn't wanted to just take the hunt-roll and the Token mechanic and bolt it to other systems. So I made a rip-off thingy for ItO/EB and 2400 below.
Most likely this needs way more testing and reforming until it really does what I hope it will do, but that's fine. For me this is a starting aid to find my way into a style of play built on collective creativity.
Digging-Roll for Into the Odd / Electric Bastionland
Use the following procedure or modify it to your needs. (This also refers to my methode of handling supplies if you don't like this, just replace 9 with "You are deprived until you find a new food source" and 11 with "The treasure is fake".)
- A player declares that they want to "dig".
- They find treasure. Depending on the current location, the Conductor decides how much worth this treasure has. Then either the Conductor or one of the players describe what the treasure is and how it looks.
- The player makes the Digging-Roll. Start with a d4 for the first Digging-Roll of the adventure. Consult the table below. Increase the dice by one step for the next Digging-Roll (d4 -> d6 -> d8 -> d10 -> d12 -> d20)
Results:
- You find a small extra treasure.
- All seems quite
- Traces of an Encounter
- Exhausted. Your next action is at disadvantage
- Traces of an Encounter
- Encounter/Hazard
- Exhausted. Your next action is at disadvantage
- Encounter/Hazard
- Tick 1 supply
- Encounter/Hazard
- Tick 2 supplies
- Or more: Encounter/Hazard
Decreasing the Size of the Dice (Optional):
- Long Rest: Reset back to d4
- Cover your tracks: Decrease the dice by one step
- Sacrifice a piece of Treasure: Decrease the dice by one step
Digging-Roll for 2400
If you want your 2400 game a bit more Treasure hunting like.
First we need Supplies:
- While on a expedition, the crew has Supplies.
- Supplies can be targeted by consequences which cause them to break.
- Supplies can break 4x without a problem. After they break
for the fifth time, the crew is hindered at most rolls,
until they find another food source.
The Digging roll:
When a PC decides to search for treasure, they find a piece of treasure (worth between 1 and 3 ticks, the Conductor decides). After that they make a digging roll with a dice, that increases with every roll (d4 -> d6 -> d8 -> d10 -> d12 -> d20).
- You find a small extra treasure.
- All seems quite
- Traces of an Encounter
- Exhausted. Your next action is hindered
- Traces of an Encounter
- Encounter/Hazard
- Exhausted. Your next action is hindered
- Encounter/Hazard
- Break 1 supply (or "Hindered until you find a new food source")
- Encounter/Hazard
- Break 2 supplies (or "The treasure is worthless")
- Or more: Encounter/Hazard
Homecoming:
- When the crew returns home, every PC takes a look at their treasure.
- Every PC has a Pay-day Gauge (represented by a six-sided dice, that starts at 1 and can tick up to 6) Every piece of treasure that you've found, ticks up the Gauge by it's worth.
- When the gauge reaches 6, you can either choose to advance a skill or earn 1₡.
You can cash-in all your superfluous treasure for either: - Having your pay-day gauge start at 2 for the next expedition
- Have an item of your choice with you on the next mission (remove it afterwards)
- Have someone owe you a favor.
If you dont manage to reach 6 on you Pay-day Gauge after a mission, roll for trouble with a dice, that increases with every roll (d4 -> d6 -> d8 -> d10 -> d12 -> d20).
- They let you get away with it for now
- They break 1 of your items
- You owe them 1 tick of extra treasure
- They catch one of your contacts / friends
- You owe them 2 ticks of extra treasure
- They rough you up. Take 1 injury.
- You owe them 3 ticks of extra treasure
- They lock you up.
- They give you a dangerous extra mission
- Or more: They want you out of the way. For good
Maybe I would give every PC a goal here, that they can reach if the manage to earn 20₡. A sort of longterm motivation to go on expeditions (psst, it's just the drives from Trophy. Steal, Kids! Steeaal!)
Well that's it again. We'll see how that will play out. I'm currently thinking of using 2400 for an Esoteric Enterprise hack at some point. Maybe I could connect that with the Digging-Roll. Or maybe I will just read Mushishi and go for a walk. Never does one know, never does one know.
See, ya!