Harmony
A resolution mechanic
So I’ve been playing around a little with resolution mechanics. I find these interesting to dissect and play around with, not only for the fun statistics in it. But also there’s potential for enhancing a vibe of a game. Especially when mechanics are combined.
And so i made a thing that I’d like to throw into a game where emotions, items and abilities share space in the character sheet. This space is a hex flower. Each item, emotion, skill is written in one hex of the hex flower - and proximity can be used to enhance the idea of relations between your things matter. I do realize what follows might be hard to visualize without the rest of the system. But I wanted to unload it here anyways…
The mechanic consists of two parts.
The first part - determining success
When you attempt something uncertain, choose three hexes from your character sheet to use for the roll - all hexes must be adjacent to each other and none can contain an affliction. The items, emotions, skills, or empty space (which in my game represents health) within these hexes are what you carry into the moment.
Then, roll 3d6 and compare the results:
Success: All dice are within 2 of each other.
Partial Success: One die is more than 2 away from one of the others.
Failure: One die is more than 2 away from both of the others.
The GM narrates what happens and the player provides color to the scene using their 3 chosen things.
Some thoughts on mechanics
Firstly, I wanted a mechanic that is rooted in the idea of resonance between what you have in your character sheet rather than the things in themselves. A hex containing anger adjacent the shovel might give insight into the manner in which you dig. It becomes a neat little metaphor.
The statistics show roughly 40% success, 20% partial success and 40% failure. There are much simpler ways of achieving the same probability range, I know. A 3d6 roll resulting in [2, 3, 2] is a success as much as a result of [4, 6, 5] since both have a distribution of no more than 2 between the dice.
However, rolling high or low can then be used for something else - like introducing risk. Fun!
The second part - allocating cost
After the roll, the player assigns a die result to each of the hexes used. A result of 2 or lower triggers a consequence to whatever is in the hex.
Items are damaged or destroyed.
Mark the item with a dot when damaged the first time. The second time it is destroyed - erase it from the hex.Emotions lose intensity or fade.
Reduce the intensity of the emotion (e.g. rage → anger → frustration). A weak emotion (like frustration) fade away - erase it from the hex.Skills are lost or forgotten.
Erase the skill from the hex immediately.Health is lost.
Add an affliction to the empty hex (e.g. bleeding, fatigue or a lost jaw)
The player experience!
I know, I know. Never tell someone what their experience is - ask them instead! I’ll get back to you with something more trustworthy after having tested it. For now, I’ll use my hubris to imagine what it could (should) be!
Choosing three things to bring into the moment could be fun in itself! I wanted to to provide a resolution mechanic that is flavorful, quick to read and provides risk (and some sweet, sweet anguish as players decide where to allocate it).
Much of this relates to other parts of my game, but still: does it make sense?
Really interesting mechanics. Thanks for sharing. I'd love to hear how they feel at the table.
Without more context (forgive me if this isn't useful at all but, you got my gears turning!), it feels like you could make this about managing your emotions. Assigning high or low results to the hexes to diminish or enhance them could be fun, like with your angry hex example, you could use high rolls to get angrier, and low rolls to mellow out. Or high rolls to use your shovel carefully, without damaging it, and low to just go to town with it. Making it so you can choose digging carefully but getting more angry as your forced to navigate roots and rocks, or taking your anger out through digging but wrecking your shovel.