Title: CYOA Mechanics Author: StupidAnon Pastebin link: http://pastebin.com/pyq3JdfA First Edit: Tuesday 11th of August 2015 04:32:44 AM CDT Last Edit: Last edit on: Sunday 10th of January 2016 05:26:51 PM CDT Character Basics   Example of Character Sheet ------- Robustness   z -Tough       x -Buff        y   Smarts       z -Logic       x -Savvy       y   Moves        z -Quick       x -Control     y   Personality  z -Panache     x -Willpower   y   Moxie: n   Skill Group - Skill 1: n - Skill 2: n - Skill 3: n ----- Note: z= (x+y)/2 -----   Robustness (Characteristic): Being robust means being the biggest and (possibly) meanest mother-hubard on the block. -Tough (Attribute): Tough is a measure of stamina and pain tolerance. It is important to anyone who wants to exert themselves for long periods of time, or persevere through rough elements. -Buff (Attribute): Buff is a measure of raw strength, plain and simple. It is import to those who need to physically adjust the world to fit their needs in a unsubtle way. Useful for obvious stuff like pushing and carrying things, but also good for going against the wind (for Pegasus) or swimming against the currents. Don't skip wings day, you'll regret it.   Smarts (Characteristic): Smarts is a general measure of mental and perceptive alacrity. Not to be confused with education, having smarts means being able to figure things out, and spotting the things that others would overlook. - Logic (Attribute): Logic is used to figure out systems, solve maths, and apply knowledge. - Savvy (Attribute): Being savvy means spotting small details, and being able to piece them together to see a larger picture. Solving riddles, smelling a lie, and hearing quiet footsteps all all something the savvy can do.   Moves (Characteristic): Having moves is all about motor control and making your body do what you want it to do, when you want it to. Uses include reacting quickly, making small objects "disappear", and having moves like Jagger. -Quickness (Attribute): Quickness helps you keep up with wild world around you. Not walking into arrows in flight, getting from point A to B before the teacher solves the equation, and generally impersonating sonic are all possible by being QUICK. Can also help with being or dealing with motormouths. -Control (Attribute): Whenever fine manipulation is needed, Control is your friend. Juggling burning pinatas, performing a delicate surgery, and making other people run into your arrows all need control!   Personality (Characteristic): Having personality means making an impression, getting people to do stuff, getting people to not do stuff, and generally getting what you want without actually doing anything. Also helps not being scared, intimidated, or otherwise doing what other people say. - Panache (Attribute): Some people just have flair, a way that their mane glitters in the sun, a way with words that lets them stab their ideas into other peoples brains. Possessed by Bards, scoundrels, bard-scoundrels, fashion designers, and plumbers. - Willpower (Attribute): Strength of will, it helps with keeping your cool in all sort of situations and generally being stubborn.   2-3 is the average Smarts and Personality (and their related attributes) for all ponies, max at 6. 2 is the average Moves (and the related attributes) for Earth-Ponies and Unicorns, max at 6. 3-4 is average for Pegasus max at 8 2 is the average Robustness (and the related attributes) for Unicorn and Pegasi. 3-4 is the average for Earth Ponies max at 8.   Moxie (SPECIAL): Some people have something extra; je nais se quoi; luck; divine inspiration; a magnet for coincidence; the EUREKA effect; the little bit of something that a hero draws out in their time of need. Whatever it is, this moxie marks them as extraordinary. Moxie mechanically determines how many times 10s can explode in a dice pool, and can also be used as a measure of luck or good fortune. In character, it doesn't actually exist and defies explanation. Only the player and important NPCs can have moxie, and it cannot be cultivated or trained. You either have it or you don't.   0 - Average person 1 - A scientist with a light-bulb over her head. An inspired artist. Felling a much stronger fighter than you with a single blow. 2 - A gambler who once won a 1 to 1,000,000,000 bet... Twice in a row. Pinkie Sense. 3 - Breaking a dischord without outside help, mental training, or friendship. Redeeming a person corrupted by dark magic with an impassioned plea. ---   Some interactions require 'checks', those checks are done in the form of CHALLENGE. To complete a challenge, a player rolls a dice pool to try and beat the Drama Challenge (or Dice Check) number (DC). Sometimes the DC is determined by the person running the quest, other times its based on the stats of another pony or group (examples are given further below). --- Dice Pool: A term referring to the number of dice rolled for a challenge.   Rolling: Roll [Attribute] + [Skill] 10-sided dice. Chose [Characteristic] of them to sum. Then compare the resulting number to the DC. If you would roll more then ten dice, instead remove the excess dice and roll ten; you add the excess to the number kept. Remember, the Attribute and the Characteristic used in a test aren't always matched.   Degrees of Success: Every 5 points over or under a DC represents the degree to which someone succeeds or fails at the test.   -15 Terrible Failure -10 Failure -5  Minor Failure 0   Minimal Success 5   Sucess 10  Great Success 15  Astounding Success   Example: Breadcrumbs wants to cook some bread for a fondue party, and has a Smarts of 3, a logic of 4, and a cooking skill of 4. Therefore we roll 8 dice. The results on the dice are 2,3,3,6,7,7,8,8. Out of that pool, we pick three dice because Breadcrumbs has a Smarts of 3. Choosing the top highest outcomes (7,8,8), we sum them together to get 23. Cooking bread was a DC 10 challenge, and we exceeded that by 10, so we had a great success. Breadcrumbs is going to get some compliments for sure later tonight at the party. ---   Untrained Checks: Sometimes a character will need to do something, even though they don't have the right skill. Sometimes this is impossible (If you don't have wings, you can't fly period), in which case the test automatically fails. Other times, you can only get so far without a skill (If you don't have any Arcane Theory, you can still try, but you'll fail all but the most rudimentary deductions). Some skills though you can do without training (Anyone can try and steal something, even if they don't have experience).   Restricted Untrained: For knowledge skills or highly technical checks (like operating a train), if you lack the skill you roll at -1k2.   Example: Dough Dot, a baker, doesn't no much about trains. But he's found himself alone in a run-away locomotive without the engineer. Despite not being an engineer himself, he tries to stop the train. The story teller decides this is a Restricted Untrained test. Train Engineering runs off of Logic(Smarts). With a Logic of 4 and a smarts of 3, Dough Dot is rolling 3k1.   Panicked he looks around and tries to figure out what will stop the train. The GM decides that stopping a train is routine (for an engineer) and gives it a DC of 10. Dough Dot rolls a 7, a 4, and a 2. A minor failure. Dough Dot looks around the engine room and sees a large lever he thinks is the brakes, and slams them on. If he had rolled a ten, he would have figured that slamming them wasn't the best idea. The Train stops, but everyone is thrown around by the sudden deceleration and gets hurt. Dough Dot thinks he isn't well suited for this job.   Limited Untrained: These are skills everyone can do, even without training, but their lack of knowledge makes it harder. Archery, Dancing, singing, and cooking are good examples. The character rolls at -1k1, and has a maximum limit of 20 on the result.   Example: Bright Shine, a jeweler, has gone to a bar with some friends for the evening. Turns out tonight is Karaoke night, and after a few drinks her friends convince her to go up and sing. The storyteller decides that since Bright Shine has no skills in singing, she is making a limited Untrained check. With a Panache of 3 and a personality of 3, she gets to roll 2k2. She gets a 6 and a 5 for an 11. She's a bit shaky, but the singing is decent enough to get applause from he crowd.   Unlimited Untrained: Like the prior, everyone can do these skills, but they are very basic. Things like running, jumping, persuasion and lying are examples. In cases like this, the character rolls -1k0, but there is no limit on how well they can do.   Example: Bluewind is a Pegasus that enjoys flying, a lot. One day however he hurts his wing and gets grounded, in the middle of Everfree forest. While there he has the misfortune of being chased by Timber Wolves. Unable to fly, he runs as fast as he can. Since doesn't have any points in running, the has him make an Unlimited Untrained check. With a Quickness of 5 and a moves of 4 he rolls 4k4. He rolls well, getting a 10, a 7, and two 3s (since he has 0 moxie, nothing explodes) for a total of 23. The timberwolves roll 20, and chase him for a good ten minutes before giving up. Exhausted by the strain, Bluewind thinks he might start doing leg day. --- Over-Ten-Dice: Sometimes a character will have a large dice pool due to their own abilities and modifiers. If a dice pool ever has more than ten dice rolled, the excess over ten becomes dice kept. Should a character ever have more then ten dice kept, the additional dice become +5s to the end result.   Over-Ten-Dice Example: Twilight wants to decipher a complex magical theory. She has a Smarts of 3, a logic of 6, and an Arcane Theory of 5. This means she would roll 11 dice and keep 3 (11k3). However, since she has access to a library the game master decides to give her an addition 2 unkept dice (+2k0), increasing her pool to 13 (13k3). However the rules say she can only roll 10 dice, so the three dice she lost become dice kept (13k3 becomes 10k6).   ---   Non-Matched Tests: Sometimes, the storyteller will alter a skill check to use non-standard skill-attribute-characteristic matchups to represents unusual situations.   Non-Matched Test: Party Popper the clown wants to impress the kids by juggling bowling balls. The Story teller decides that juggling something so heavy is unusual, and makes the test a non-matched test, and has Party Popper roll Control+Juggling[Body]. He's a very skilled juggler, and rolls 7 dice, but since he's a weakling he'll only be able to keep two of them (7k2). Party Popper prepares the bowling balls as he stands in-front of the kids, and suddenly realizes perhaps this wasn't the best idea.   ---   Opposed Checks (Passive): If an action would bring two people in conflict, but one of them is either unaware or only passively resisting, they have a passive opposed check. The active party rolls normally, and the DC is equal to the relevant skill of the passive party (if its a group, its the highest of the group) times 5.   Example: Sweet Lips is sneaking out of a mansion after stealing a large gem, and needs to make her way past two guard who are having a chat with the mailman just outside the house. Neither the guards nor the mailman are aware of her, so the GM decides this is a passive opposed check. The mailman has a perception of 2, and the guards have a perception of 3, so the GM notes that Sweet Lips needs to make a DC of 15 or get noticed (3x5). Unfortunately, Sweet Lips rolls poorly and only comes up with a 14. As she tries to sneak out the side of the house one of the guards catch sight of her.   --- Opposed Checks (Active): If two people are attempting opposing goals (Some one is trying to hide from another who is actively searching for them), rather than being matched against a DC, the two match their results instead. Whomever has a higher result gets the favorable outcome.   Example: Sweet lips is trying to lie to a royal guard after being caught leaving the scene of her last heist. She rolls 10k3, while the guard rolls 8k4. Sweet lips ends up with a total of 24, while the guard rolls 23. With only a 1 point difference, Sweetlips has had a minimal success with her lie. The guard is still suspicious enough to watch her, but believes her enough to let her go on her way.   ----   Exploding: Whenever a dice is rolled and lands on a 10, we roll it again and add the result to the die. Any dice pool can only have a number of explosions equal to a character's Moxie stat. Only notable NPCs and the main character have a Moxie rating   Example: Wheat-Thin is a farmer with a big heart, and seems to have an affair on the side with lady luck. Trying his best to be strong and protect his family from the villainous diamond dog on his porch. Since the diamond dog is clearly bigger and meaner, the storyteller gives him an extra two dice rolled for his intimidate check. This means that the Diamond dog rolls 8k4, compared to the cowardly Wheat-Thin's 2k2.   The Diamond Dog rolls well, for a total of 23. Wheat-Thin gets to roll his two dice, and gets two 10s! Since he has a Moxie of 2, he can have a total of two explosions in his dice pool. So he rerolls both of his dice and gets a 6 and a 10. Since he has already exploded twice (equal to his moxie) the third ten doesn't explode, leaving him with 16 on one dice (10+6) and 20 on the other (10+10), for a total of 36.   Wheat-Thin, desperate to protect his loved ones reaches deep down inside and pulls out the courage to stand tall and look that Diamond Dog in the eye. Since 36 is more than ten points over 23, Wheat-Thin doesn't just stand his ground, but even unnerves the Diamond Dog into 'not wasting his time'. ----- Examples of DCs ----- DC 5: Rudimentary Body - Staying up all night. Smarts - Cooking a simple recipe with good instructions and plenty of time. Moves - Running down stairs while carrying a bunch of books. Personality -Telling a lie that is believable and that the other person wants to believe.   DC 10: Routine Body - Pulling a loaded cart Smarts - Recalling a famous magical theory Moves - Making a penalty kick into the goal, without a goalie. Personality - Keeping your pants on despite being drunk, when hit on by a fairly attractive girl.   DC 15: Difficult Body - Battering down a regular door Smarts - Seeing through a convincing lie Moves - Keeping pace with the bulk of participants in the "Running of the Leaves" Personality - Getting a good deal (10 to 20 percent off) by haggling with a market vendor.   DC 20: Hard Body - Breaking down a regular door in a single kick Smarts - Spotting a speck of blood in an otherwise 'normal' house Moves - Being in the top 10 for the "Running of the Leaves" Personality - Not being intimidated by an armed thug.   DC 25: Extremely Hard Body - Pulling a fully loaded cart all day without rest. Smarts - Solving the junior jumble Moves - Juggling knives while on a tightrope Personality - Convincing a Royal Guard to accept a bribe   DC 30: Amazing Body - Breaking a stone with your hooves in a single kick Smarts - Learning a language in a month Moves - Making a Sonic Boom Personality - Convincing a Royal Guard that you lost your GG Gala ticket, but to let you in anyways   DC 40: Heroic Body - Stay standing after being hit with ten arrows w/ pain inducing poison Smarts - Reciting in chronological order, the entire Apple family tree, from memory. Moves - Steal something in plain sight while being watched by five suspicious guards at various angles. Personality - Intimidating an Adult Dragon   DC 50: Legendary Body - Being burnt alive, tossed into a river, and surviving Smarts - Inventing the Atomic Bomb Moves - Hitting a flying dragon in the eye with an arrow at 100 meters. Personality - Tricking Discord into signing his powers away to you, via contract.