I keep thinking of the double-edged sword of partial success.
On one hand, they do help move the story forward. On the other hand, coming up with complications every time can be taxing.
That got me thinking: what if we reversed the way we look at partial success?
See, a partial success is usually seen as taking away from a full success. It is a ‘success, but…’.
You start with the assumption that you did the thing, but then you take a step back and inject a cost, a complication, or a choice.
I love it, but it can be overwhelming.After the 6th partial success in a row, you're like: “You convince the prince, but… I don’t know, you twist your ankle or something, I don’t care. Let’s move on.”
I've tackled this problem in different ways. Mechanizing it, hand-waving it, offering prompts and tables… They work, but I kept exploring. And that led me to the idea of looking at partial success from the other end.
What if we did the opposite? What if we started from a failure, and built up towards success with costs? Would it help with narrating partial success if we could pick and choose a few costs to work our way towards success?
So in my current project, I adopted this.
You roll 2d6 and need to get a 10+ (which is hard). If you don't, you can buy your success by spending different resources.
Let's see an example:
With a determined yell, I lunge forward, my blade slicing through the air towards the guard. I roll a 7, not enough for a successful strike.
I spend one Vigor, representing the sharp sting of the guard's counterattack grazing my side.
I also spend one Gear, as my sword hums with a magical energy. Lastly, I spend 1 Resolve. The guard's strength has caught me off guard, a flicker of fear igniting in my chest.
With vigor, gear, and resolve combined, I reach the threshold, turning my near miss into a solid hit.
You see what I see?
It feels like you conquered a hit, instead of having your success tainted by costs, although it is technically the same thing.
Is it just me?
Looking at my resources and spending them as a little puzzle to get to my success threshold made the act of incorporating these costs into the narrative more natural to me.
Perhaps the feeling that you are investing into a success is a more powerful incentive to do so?
Anyway, I thought it was pretty exciting to explore this concept. So much so that it ended up being the core of a new game. And I’m itchfunding it right now!
If you want to see this mechanic (and some of its cool variations) in action, check it out!
