Additional attributes

[thealmightymudworm]

I was wondering about the attributes that are included in several of the books in addition to Skill, Stamina and Luck - mostly the ones that are rolled for rather than being assigned a score of zero or three or whatever at the start (like Honour). As always I’m hamstrung by there being a number of books that I haven’t read, but off the top of my head: Faith (VotV), Resolve (KotLL), Ferocity (TCT), Willpower (BNC) and Fear (HOH). (Come to think of it, those mostly seem to be about keeping your cool...)

I couldn't find a full list of them on Titannica nor here. Which ones do you think worked best/added something and which ones were misused or would have been better left out altogether?

Would any of the books have benefitted from additional stats? Did it ever jar with you that a test of strength or something got shoehorned into a Skill or Stamina roll? Especially if you fumbled on a roll which aimed to test your mental prowess due to a bruised sword arm or something.

[sylas]

there are a few others that added absolutely nothing to the gameplay but the idea behind them was pretty good. factors like Trail, Nemesis, Change, Alarm, Evil are good examples of this and if done right actually add a higher level of threat which would be most welcome since it is a lot easier to add atmosphere in storytelling but not so easy in gameplay. Time track seems to be a popular one but again is incredibly hard to balance right. being on time could be critical to your success but would mean missing out on potentially enjoyable encounters (Knights of Doom), or at the other extreme, end up being needless bookkeeping if the outcome is negligible (Night Dragon). only the Magic score in Citadel seems to have gotten it bang on.

i mostly find that more than one additional stat. gives too much to keep track of and lessens the fun of playing through an adventure considerably. the easiest way to find out if an extra stat is required is obviously through playtesting, and also your general feeling towards it. if you have to think long and hard about whether or not to have an extra stat. then it's probably not needed. the same applies if you ever feel 'iffy' about using it. extra stats should come naturally as you prepare the adventure and should not be there just for the 'cool' factor.

[johnbrawn1972]

Nov 17, 2014 20:12:27 GMT sylas said:

there are a few others that added absolutely nothing to the gameplay but the idea behind them was pretty good. factors like Trail, Nemesis, Change, Alarm, Evil are good examples of this and if done right actually add a higher level of threat which would be most welcome since it is a lot easier to add atmosphere in storytelling but not so easy in gameplay. Time track seems to be a popular one but again is incredibly hard to balance right. being on time could be critical to your success but would mean missing out on potentially enjoyable encounters (Knights of Doom), or at the other extreme, end up being needless bookkeeping if the outcome is negligible (Night Dragon). only the Magic score in Citadel seems to have gotten it bang on.

i mostly find that more than one additional stat. gives too much to keep track of and lessens the fun of playing through an adventure considerably. the easiest way to find out if an extra stat is required is obviously through playtesting, and also your general feeling towards it. if you have to think long and hard about whether or not to have an extra stat. then it's probably not needed. the same applies if you ever feel 'iffy' about using it. extra stats should come naturally as you prepare the adventure and should not be there just for the 'cool' factor.

...but I want to be cool.

[a moderator]

Maybe Cool is a self-reinforcing additional attribute like Resolve in Keep.

You attempt to devise an additional attribute that will enhance gameplay and add distinctiveness to your gamebook. Test your Cool. If you succeed, you come up with a thematically appropriate addition to the rules that helps give the adventure its own unique style (add 1 point of Cool and turn to 25). If you fail, you create a near-irrelevant mound of waffle that lumbers the player with extra bookkeeping for no good reason (turn to 46). If you roll a double 6, the new stat is incorrectly labelled on the Adventure Sheet, guaranteeing that your book will get brought up every time fans start discussing mistakes in FF books (turn to 51).

[The Editor (Alex B)]

Nov 17, 2014 15:11:21 GMT thealmightymudworm said:

I couldn't find a full list of them on Titannica nor here. Which ones do you think worked best/added something and which ones were misused or would have been better left out altogether?

They are noted on the pages of each book, but, no, there isn't a list as yet. We're working on it!

Alternate stats:

MAGIC (The Citadel of Chaos, Legend of Zagor*)
WEAPONS STRENGTH (Starship Traveller, The Rings of Kether)
SHIELDS (Starship Traveller, The Rings of Kether)
FEAR (House of Hell, Star Strider)
ARMOUR (Space Assassin, Freeway Fighter)
FIREPOWER (Freeway Fighter)
CREW STRIKE (Seas of Blood)
CREW STRENGTH (Seas of Blood)
TIME (Seas of Blood, Star Strider, Slaves of the Abyss, Fangs of Fury, Tower of Destruction**, Night Dragon***, Knights of Doom, Bloodbones)
HERO POINTS (Appointment with F.E.A.R.)
HONOR (Sword of the Samurai, Tower of Destruction, Night Dragon, Knights of Doom)
WILLPOWER (Beneath Nightmare Castle, Night of the Necromancer****)
OXYGEN (Star Strider)
POWER (Phantoms of Fear)
FUEL (Chasms of Malice)
RATING (Sky Lord)
POISON (Daggers of Darkness, Curse of the Mummy)
FAITH (Vault of the Vampire, Spellbreaker, Revenge of the Vampire)
EVIL (Dead of Night)
NOTORIETY (Master of Chaos)
RESOLVE (The Keep of the Lich-Lord)
ALARM VALUE (The Keep of the Lich-Lord)
TRAIL (Spectral Stalkers)
AGE (The Crimson Tide)
FEROCITY (The Crimson Tide)
DAY OF THE WEEK (Siege of Sardath, Stormslayer)
PRESENCE (Island of the Undead)
NEMESIS (Night Dragon)
INFECTION (Spellbreaker)
BLOOD POINTS (Revenge of the Vampire)
CHANGE (Howl of the Werewolf)
DAMAGE (Blood of the Zombies)

*Called MAGIC POINTS here.
**Called TIME ELAPSED here.
***Called TIME TRACK here.
****Called WILL here.

[thealmightymudworm]

Ah cool

I didn’t realise there were so many. Of those I've encountered some are more memorable than others. The ones you roll for are generally memorable but eg Notoriety in MoC is much more memorable than Alarm Value in KotLL imo.


This is as good a place as any to repeat my gripe that the way Ferocity is calculated means that the point early on which acts as a no-dice cheat-check is also one at which you'll probably lose out whatever you rolled up.

[kieran]

Yeah

SPOILER: Click to show

the average Ferocity when you get to that point will be 8.5, giving you a pretty rubbish chance at failing that test. To add to this, to have a low Ferocity, you need a low Stamina, but starting with 2 Stamina will mean the slaver will always kill you. And if you do fail the roll you have to fight a tough enemy that someone even with 6 Skill will have a hard time against if they have low Stamina - which they probably will.

Not sure why the BVP roll gets such a hard time - TCT is far nastier!