METTLE Core update 1.5!

This is a massive update, patch notes are also available at:

https://planariangames.blogspot.com/2023/07/mettle-core-15-revision-notes.html

 The 1.5 edition of METTLE Core marked a long period of reconsidering prior versions and is the most drastic revision since publication. The three major changes I want to ramble on about for a while are the Attack Check, Montages, and Drain.

Attack Check Changes:

The Attack Check originally used in METTLE Core was a sort of grand sum of offensive factors and defensive factors for the target: NATURE + FRAME - target's FRAME. This was nice because it lumped everything together and allowed for any number of damage between one and the maximum. It was also final, in that you handed it off to the target to be applied as damage with no further conversation. This called for front-loaded knowledge of both the attacker's and defender's stats but was no more convoluted than something like THACO in early D&D.

     In practice however this front-loading of all the info into a single roll stilted the conversational flow of combat at the table. It no longer felt intuitive and, worst of all, was different than a standard check. For example, a typical Attack went like this:

Attacker: Ok 5 for NATURE and 4 for damage, I've got 8 dice. Wait what was your POISE and FRAME again?

Defender:  4 for POISE and 3 for FRAME

Attacker: Ok 5 dice then, Difficulty 4... <Checks> Take 2 damage.

     The attacker here has to ask for multiple pieces of info from the defender. It also robs them of the feeling that they can soak any of the damage after the fact (they already did, but this is about the feeling rather than the process).

     The new method was the same as any other check, just NATURE vs. POISE to hit. The Attacker need only know the defender's POISE, and even then they don't really need to know this - as long as the Score ends up being over it they are good. I know that some tables like to conceal defensive values and this preserves that as an option.

Attacker: Ok 5 for NATURE, what is your POISE?

Defender: 4

Attacker: Ok, that hits, 2 Edge plus my weapon damage, take 6!

Defender: Ok I'm soaking 3 with my FRAME so just 3 gets through.

     Long story short, this just feels more like a natural conversation in play to me. Each side concerns themselves with the things that matter to them rather than loading everything onto the attacker's side.

Nixing Montages

I've played all sorts of games with different takes on downtime. Long story short: "No Sir I don't Like it." I have had many bad experiences with waiting for my character to heal up while the others go on a little side adventure without them. Whenever the GM asks "Ok, what is everyone else doing while X gets treatment and Y fixes the tank?" it always leads to a boring interlude or leaves players out. I hate that question.

To avoid this, I thought I would include some rules and procedures to streamline downtime so I could make a game that didn't dwell on it. Unfortunately, setting some Actions aside as long Montages had the opposite effect and made them even more intrusive. Instead of glossing over them, they became a necessity for things like healing drain or resources or whatever. 

This was supposed to be an Action-Adventure game, not a vacation simulator!

So it's goodbye to Montages. Some Actions may still be quite long (Travel, Use for big projects, etc.), so I put in the option for a Downtime Voucher. Instead of boring everyone else to death by describing how they spend their leisure time, you can just spend your voucher later during actual play to have gotten something done. For example, if the party is fleeing the cops on the docks, one of the players could spend their Downtime Voucher to say they bought a speedboat while their buddies were healing up. Convenient and hassle-free.

Nixing Drain

The prior version of METTLE Core had Draining an Attribute as the default Twist. This sort of idea has a good pedigree in similar games and is sensible at first glance. I stopped using it because it lead to an annoying sort of death spiral in play where characters just got worse and worse until they took some required downtime, which I hate anyway. Why make a central, default mechanic insist upon something I didn't want to focus on in the first place?

So it's goodbye to Drain as well. The default Twist is now a consequence that eats up your next Action. This is superior because it is how most games I have been in dealt with botches, informally. It is a solution that is well-accepted by players, and feels much more immediate than kicking a consequence down the road by lowering an Attribute temporarily. This way, the consequence is good and immediate.

Other Notable Changes:

Characters

 FOCUS changed to CONCEPT.

• Avoids the word "FOCI" as a plural.
• Is more evocative of who the player is rather than just a career or interest.
• Some people thought it meant perception.

 Backgrounds changed to Backstories

• Backgrounds was a leftover from an earlier version where they were like sub-concepts.
• These short phrases satisfy the desire for a backstory while keeping tight limits on it.

Backstory (nee Background) selection changed. No more points to distribute, just take a number of them equal to highest Attribute (usually 5).

• Avoids a bug where low-die level Backstories were actually worse than just defaulting to an unrelated Concept.
• Gives a more satisfying number of Backstories overall.

Mettle is now highest Attribute + Motive.

• Basing METTLE only on Motive lead to fairly flimsy adventurers, which is both a bit frustrating for players and not exactly high adventure. 
• Having a low Mettle is now reserved for poor nameless extras and such.

Mettle Surges now apply to any sort of Check during Initiative, not just Attacks.

• There are lots of things adrenaline and impending doom could feasibly fuel.

Engine

Twists now default to Delay instead of Attribute Strain.

• Strain to attributes was a lot of tracking on the sheet, demands a way to relieve it via rules, affects some attributes more than others, overlapped too much with deprivation, and most importantly - puts off consequences for too long.

Teamwork now adds a simple bonus for having a competent leader in a task.

• This replaces a complicated and non-intuitive roll & keep system.
• Players like to make their own Checks, as it turns out. 

Got rid of modifier stacking rules.

• They were interesting but in the end there were so many exceptions that it never really applied. A solution in search of a problem, basically.

Scenes

Montages removed and important montages (travel, recovery/aid) moved into Actions.

• Montages were an interesting experiment but in the end I didn't want an action/adventure game to focus too much on downtime and recovery.

Free Move given its own paragraph header to make it easier to find.

Split Actions extended to all types of actions, not just Attack.

Grapple folded in as a type of Attack

Block and Dodge combined as Defend.

Aid added to account for recovery after 0 or negative mettle status

Hustle, Recover, Relax removed as they are nuisance moves related to downtime.

Perform removed as sort of an edge case rarely related to pulp adventures.

• I have faith you can work out this sort of thing on your own if it comes up.

Persuade is now Parley

• Parley just sounds more fun and emphasizes this is used for tense situations not just yakking.

Rallies can be used on any Action instead of only when passed to.

• The pass-only requirement added a confusing complication to use them that really didn't add much. Being passed to by an ally is now the source of a possible advantage instead.

Rallies now rely on Motive instead of Nature.

• I have no goddamn idea why I based Rallies on Nature in the first place.

Rallies do 1 on fail, 2+ on success.

• nothing on a failure was too harsh, especially if rattled.

Rallies clear the effects of a Rattle

• It was a little depressing to have them stick regardless of personal revelations, courage, etc. This allows them to go away while giving more incentive for teamwork.

Rattles affect Rally Difficulty, +1 on a failure, +2 or more on success.

Resources

Armor Soaks instead of adding to Mettle.

• Matches the intended feel of having armor during play and in the source media.

Vehicle rules overhauled.

Simplified weapon ranges and rules for burst and full auto.

Half damage for "Soft" (less-lethal) attacks like hand to hand, whips, nets, etc.

Guidance 

Factions now use Resources instead of Influence

• No point introducing something entirely new when it was so highly correlated with Resources anyway.