Tabletop Arcade Dev Diaries #14: Resting
Hey all! Today I'm gonna go over my plans for resting and recovering resources in TA.
The resting system is going to be pretty similar to D&D 5e all in all, the "adventuring day" structure in which the party's resources are steadily depleted by each encounter they face seems like the preferable analogue to JRPG adventuring and combat. Minor encounters perform the war of attrition, with a big boss fight at the end being the potentially deadly challenge. So we're gonna go for short rests and long rests. This should be a pretty simple system to tweak and refine to exactly what each party wants, since there are only really two resources in TA, stamina and health.
However, there are a couple tweaks I want to make to the D&D formula for different reasons. First of all, on short rests in D&D you choose how many hit dice to expend. I don't really vibe with this, hit dice kinda feel like they're supposed to represent your natural healing capabilities, and having how this is used be a choice just doesn't feel right to me. Character's will always recover the same on each short rest.
Additionally, I don't really want to use the length of time as the defining factor between a short and long rest. While that's obviously a factor, I want the biggest difference between short and long rests to be whether or not the party is actively out adventuring. For a long rest, the party needs to be in some kind of safe space. They've checked into an inn, set up camp, or returned to base. If you're taking a break while out in the field, it's a short rest, whether the party is sitting around for a couple hours or taking a brief breather after a tough battle. While this is partially just for the game-like vibe, I'm also hoping it offers up a bit more narrative freedom for the GM.
So now for the details. My current plan is for a long rest to basically recover all the party's resources to their maximum. As for a short rest, I think it will recover half a character's maximum stamina and a quarter of their maximum health, maybe plus some bonus from their attributes. I'm not sure yet whether this recovery will be a fixed amount or based on a die roll. Fixed seems more game-like, but hey variety is the spice of life, and some lads love rolling dice.
Well that's the basics of that. Sorry this post was a bit of a rush-job, as I mentioned on Twitter I spent most of this week working on a draft chapter that I didn't manage to finish. Lots of little details to work out. Should be pretty cool once it's done though, hoping to get it out for next weekend. I hope to see you then!
The resting system is going to be pretty similar to D&D 5e all in all, the "adventuring day" structure in which the party's resources are steadily depleted by each encounter they face seems like the preferable analogue to JRPG adventuring and combat. Minor encounters perform the war of attrition, with a big boss fight at the end being the potentially deadly challenge. So we're gonna go for short rests and long rests. This should be a pretty simple system to tweak and refine to exactly what each party wants, since there are only really two resources in TA, stamina and health.
However, there are a couple tweaks I want to make to the D&D formula for different reasons. First of all, on short rests in D&D you choose how many hit dice to expend. I don't really vibe with this, hit dice kinda feel like they're supposed to represent your natural healing capabilities, and having how this is used be a choice just doesn't feel right to me. Character's will always recover the same on each short rest.
Additionally, I don't really want to use the length of time as the defining factor between a short and long rest. While that's obviously a factor, I want the biggest difference between short and long rests to be whether or not the party is actively out adventuring. For a long rest, the party needs to be in some kind of safe space. They've checked into an inn, set up camp, or returned to base. If you're taking a break while out in the field, it's a short rest, whether the party is sitting around for a couple hours or taking a brief breather after a tough battle. While this is partially just for the game-like vibe, I'm also hoping it offers up a bit more narrative freedom for the GM.
So now for the details. My current plan is for a long rest to basically recover all the party's resources to their maximum. As for a short rest, I think it will recover half a character's maximum stamina and a quarter of their maximum health, maybe plus some bonus from their attributes. I'm not sure yet whether this recovery will be a fixed amount or based on a die roll. Fixed seems more game-like, but hey variety is the spice of life, and some lads love rolling dice.
Well that's the basics of that. Sorry this post was a bit of a rush-job, as I mentioned on Twitter I spent most of this week working on a draft chapter that I didn't manage to finish. Lots of little details to work out. Should be pretty cool once it's done though, hoping to get it out for next weekend. I hope to see you then!
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