Post originally by Eric Tolle at 2004-05-11 14:23:25
Converted from Phorums BB System


Everything looks like a nail. Especially in game systems.

Diceless games or no, if you're going to have a combat system in a game that is supposed to have an emphasis on social stuff, then you damn well BETTER have a system for the social stuff. Otherwise, you're flat out stating that combat is a more important aspect of the game.

If you're going to insist on people "role playing" social acts, then combat and other skill use should be roleplayed out as well. Perhaps you can have a simple description of th echaracter, and adjudication of the character's actions could be based on the keywords a character uses- say, "athletic", "martial artist", "rude girl" etc. It could be something like a combination of Hero Quest and Over the Edge, except no rollng woul dbe involved. If someone has a trait, the automatically succeed if the player wants to- the player simply has to describe the effect.

For contested actions (the only ones that would matter), one would use a pool of "shoujo points"- each point used would give an additional success. The pool would be replenished by either taking on plot complications/personal tragedy, or by succeeding at a personal character arc- i.e. gaining a boost to self image.

And there you go- the basics of a minimalist system, suited to the shoujo metagenre. And it won't give the impression that combat's the only thing worth having a system for.