Samsara:Contests

2. Contests

Full Contest Resolution

However a contest is conceived in story-terms, it plays out the same way mechanically: the protagonist adds up his relevant modifiers, subtracts the antagonist’s relevant modifiers, and adds that to the roll of a single, d12. That number that results is compared to the chart below. A total of 7 or greater results in checks beings delivered to the opponent. A total of 6 or less results in checks being delivered to the protagonist.

This means that an actor can, in some sense, hurt himself by acting just as he could hurt his opponent. An action taken in a contest is a gamble: do you win or lose? Move closer to success or failure? This means that the basic roll is not a “to hit” roll, as is more usually seen in RPGs. Rolling low doesn’t mean that you missed. It means that you swung your sword and it was parried and now you’re a little off-balance. Or you hurt your wrist. Or maybe that your execution was perfect, but suddenly your opponent’s man-servant threw himself in front of you. It means something—anything—but always something more interesting than “you missed”.

Contests are goal-oriented, rather than task-oriented and each roll of the die represents an attempt to achieve the actor’s goal. SAMSARA’s system of contest resolution is thus abstract, rather than action-specific. How that goal is furthered or hindered, achieved or not, must be interpreted from the die result. A high result means that the actor has come closer to achieving his goal, while a low result means that his attempt has been hampered. That is all it means, but it means that. The specifics of those meanings must be brought out be player and GM to suit the narrative style and needs of the story being told.

Determining the Actor’s Modifier

1. Add together the two most relevant attributes
2. Add any relevant abilities
3. Add/subtract any relevant motives
4. Subtract temporary checks received in this contest
5. Subtract severe checks in this sphere of action
6. GM applies any relevant situation modifiers

The Contest Roll

The Contest roll is the result of the protagonist’s modifiers – antagonist’s modifiers + d12

Contest Checks Success Roll Delivered Descriptor -2 -3 Spectacular Failure -1 -2.66 0 -2.33 1 -2 Full Failure 2 -1.66 3 -1.33 4 -1 Simple Failure 5 -.66 6 -.33 7 .33 Simple Success 8 .66 9 1 10 1.33 Full Success 11 1.66 12 2 13 2.33 Spectacular Success 14 2.66 15 3

[Lousy table to be replaced with actual table]

Don’t worry about the Success Descriptors right now (see Simple Contests for that). Let’s take the first two columns first.

Extrapolating the Contest Roll

Recall that the Contest Roll is a sum of modifiers and a d12. This means that the result could well be above 15 or below -2, depending upon the stature of the modifiers used in the game. That’s okay since it is fairly easy to extrapolate results: each step increases or decreases by .33. So a Contest Roll of -3 would deliver -3.33 checks, while a roll of 20 would deliver a staggering 4.66 checks.

Variation: Switch the Bones

By changing the type and number of dice rolled, one can change the probabilities of certain result and thus the “fell” of the game.

• One could roll 2d6 instead of 1d12. This would keep the same range of possible outcomes, more-or-less, but due to the shift in probability distribution from flat to bell-curved (well, triangular, actually), the results will tend more toward the middle, with a roll of 7 as the most likely outcome. The effect of this variation would be to favor the more capable actors in a contest as the random factor of the die will be diminished. This would make for a grittier game, with less wild occurrences. On the other hand, that also means that the most likely raw outcome is a success, unless you shift the results table down.

• By rolling 2d8, one would also tend to reduce randomness and favor the more capable, but with a greater possible range of outcomes. This would somewhat counter-act the first effect and allow a greater possibility for wild, unexpected occurrences. This variation is then a mix between grittier and wilder. If you use this variation, you might want to shift the results of the contest roll by two places since the average roll will be a 9. So 9 should result in .25 checks, 10 in .5, and so on. If you don’t do this, then everybody will start doing very much better in contests. Which is fine if that’s what you want.

• 3d6 just increases the variation from above: an even wider range of possible outcomes with a much more pronounced probability curve (a real curve in this case). Again, you might want to shift the results of the contest roll as the most likely result of 3d6 is a 10 or 11.

Tactics and Effect Ratings

Don’t be frightened of the fractions in the Checks column. They are there to provide a bit of variety in the form of methods and weapons. This is where the abstract nature of contests gets a bit more specific. The manner in which an actor pursues his goals in a contest affects his possible results. The broad term for this is tactics and tactics all have an Effect rating. The Effect rating of the tactic employed is multiplied by the amount in the checks column (always round up the final result). The basic range of Effects and calculated checks is provided in a chart in the back for the math-shy (refer to Appendix B). If you want to ignore this aspect of the game, do so. Every action would map onto the Success Descriptors like so:

Spectacular Failure -3 Checks

Full Failure -2 Checks

Simple Failure -1 Check

Simple Success 1 Check

Full Success 2 Checks

Spectacular Success 3 Checks

A core idea in tactics is strengths and weaknesses. Any tactic has a positive and a negative, represented by greater or lesser potential checks delivered. A standard attempt at something has an Effect rating of 1, which is to say, that you read the results of the checks delivered straight off the chart. But an actor may attempt a more aggressive, powerful, or fool-hearty action and so take a higher Effect rating. If he succeeds in delivering checks to his opponent, the number of checks will be multiplied by the effect rating and so increased. However, if he fails and delivers checks to himself, those will also be increased.

Sample descriptors of tactic Effect rating

Fools rush in 4

Overbearing 3

Charge 2

Standard (default) 1

Thus, for example, the mad berserker goes into a berserk. This means he is attacking with an Effect rating of 4. His least successful contest roll would be a 7 (everybody’s least successful contest roll); the chart says that a 7 means .33 checks delivered. So this foaming-mouthed chap multiplies 4 by .33 and ends up with 2 checks delivered. Even his least successful roll isn’t too shabby. If he had a contest roll of 10, he would multiply 4 by 1.66 and deliver 7 checks. A good roll by the berserker could put an average opponent out in one go.

But consider further. If the berserker rolls a 1, he would multiply 4 by -2, meaning that he delivered -8 checks, or delivered 8 checks to himself. Odds are he’s out of the fight with one bad round. It’s easy to get into trouble by blindly charging and going full tilt. This, then, is the essence of tactics in SAMSARA. A larger potential to deliver checks top your opponent is always a larger potential to do the same to yourself.