GM sets difficulty = GM decides if things can happen is a trap many games fall into.

I'd be careful with "if the shadow is strong", as who gets to decide that? But overall, it's kinda like how Belief spend worked in Lost Gods (an old, old game of mine) so should work.

Other options to consider (depends entirely what you're going for) might be:

1) difficulty starts at 5, and all other players modify it up or down based on if they think it matches the criteria. Like your method, but less GM centric.

2) GM has a pool of points that represent realities resistance. He spends them whenever he wants reality to be really hard to break (but that means it won't be at other times). Something triggers pool refresh.

3) Same as your method, but the criteria for positive or negative modifiers are decided by the group at the start of play.

-Matt

Realms Publishing

I like three. I think to keep it simple I would keep the list but maybe put in the sidebar that the group could agree other conditions. That reduces the setup you need before you can play, which is important.

Solipsist RPG, on its way ... eventually

If quick prep is an issue, then some kind of "here's options you can use" is definitely a must. Crib sheets or whatever, or a list of possibles.

Players suggesting what works is a simple, but powerful, tool for everybody getting engaged with the game. I'm a big fan of it, and it means each game has its own flavour.

-Matt

Realms Publishing

I agree with Matt.

I also like the idea of fixed target numbers, and I like the idea of the numbers being out in the open too.

I think you should try 3 as a standard difficulty, and 5 as Shadow difficulty (the amke it harder to change reality as it requires you to use more Infestation, on which they feed, or Obsessions, which drive Tears?).

The GM can choose when Shadows are present, but I feel there should be some sort of measure to pace this. I think I have an idea...

...if a player gains a Tear then the GM gains the ability to invoke the Shadows in a scene. The GM chooses when to invoke it. The GM can note this down or mark it with a chip or something.

What about also raising the difficulty by 1 for every Tear a PC has? Is that a possibility? Or even just raising it by 1 if they have a Tear (any number)?

As for prepping the world, I think it's easy and rewarding to say that each player has to pick one element of reality (the game world) that is harder to change. We write it down on a sheet of paper (which can be later used to record subsequent changes). Those elements have a difficulty of +1 to change.

Of course it pretty much applies to any game with a GM, it is their job, after all, to make some arbitration on how hard things are. Games without target numbers and with criticals usually allow some notion that nothing is totally impossible, if you can roll a critical, but even then the GM can always deny you the option to roll at all.

I think, though, that a game without a randomising mechanic makes the problem much more of an issue. I'd love to hear how any of you with deterministic systems have handled this in other games.

I think it would have to be the later, since the number of tears (by the way, that word will change, multiple people have read it as tears, as in crying, rather than tears, as in ripping) can potentially be as high as all your obsessions summed, -1 which would make all changes impossible.

In fact if anything shouldn't tears make it easier, since you are more on your way to your own reality?

Hmmm .... but that is very much like repeating people's limitations, which are by definition the things they find (or want to be) hard to change. If another character is around their limitations already make things hard for you, so that factor exists.

Solipsist RPG, on its way ... eventually

Yes, have we found a better word? For obvious reasons, we want to avoid "Rifts". And to be honest I've always been less than happy with my contribution of "Tears". Damn the English language!

Quite possibly! Anything to encourage players down that slippery slope to Solipsism!

True! I had missed that.

Well I'm still not 100% convinced that using the word Rifts is bad ... but assuming it is I need to hit the thesaurus! :) Rips is actually not so bad, though Rifts sounds better. Flaw? Rent? Fracture? Discontinuity? Break? Lacuna? Breach?

Not Chasm, cleft, cleavage, gash, perforation or crevasse!! :P

The big problem is that Rift is the perfect word. Any suggestions welcomed!

Solipsist RPG, on its way ... eventually

Lacuna is nice but used already for, well, Lacuna. What about 'slash'?

Or...disparity?

I've finally read the rules! I like it and look forward to trying it out.

Per
http://darkplaces.squarespace.com

But slash ... it just has baaad fandom conotations! :) Eitehr that or people will think it's slang.

Disparity ... hmmmm ... I was going for more destructive sounding words, something visceral. One of the people I sent a copy too really objected to the word infestation, because it was too icky ... I thought that reinforced that it was perfect :) Rips, tears and rifts all sound active and dangerous.

Did Gregor send you a playtest copy Per? If not would you like one?

Solipsist RPG, on its way ... eventually

...fracture.

Graham

Yes its got a lot of potential ... pity it sounds so .... solid, when the structure of the universe in Solipsist is supposed to be so fluid.

Dammit, how can it be so hard to find a word! DAMN YOU RIFTS!

...which I why we really need to avoid Rifts.

How about Torrents, Rips or Shears (as in Rip Tide?), just thinking in terms of water.

I think Fracture, Rip and Rent are at the top at the moment.

Solipsist RPG, on its way ... eventually

If the playtest version is different from the PDf I downloaded via a post here somewhere, then I haven't got it, and I'd like a copy, yes, please :)

Per
http://darkplaces.squarespace.com

The playtest version is longer with some content not in the PDF linked here.

Bad Gregor!

Can you send me an email at stranger@teuton.org and I'll send you it back in word format.

Solipsist RPG, on its way ... eventually

Do you know what I'd like?

A randomizer for the GM. Either 1-10, or a deck of cards to generate a random number from 1-13 (Ace being one), or even a d12. And just roll it/pick one randomly for everything that the Solipsist wants to change. And stick to it, even if (especially if) it produces numbers that make no sense, with minor changes being highly difficult and large changes being low difficulty.

Reality is complex, so why shouldn't it be unpredictable?

BTW, my replacement for Tear? Rupture.

I came here by way of the thread on Story-Games regarding the Solipsist ashcan. I want one.

Yes, I am a former Mage junkie, and yes, I was familiar with Heretic from STOCSLite. I may as well cop to Nobilis, while I'm at it. In short, this game is right up my alley.

God I really need to read Nobilis don't I. Mage, check, Hertic, double check (though I seem to have lost my copy which is annoying), but I've never read Nobilis and people keep mentioning it.

If you send an email to stranger@teuton.org I can forward you a copy of the Ashcan, but of course you need to promise to return comments, playtest and so forth :)

As for dice ... if anything I'd want a die on the player's side, and God knows I love dice, but the central diceless mechanic is something I'd like to stick with unless actual play shows it to be unworkable.

Solipsist RPG, on its way ... eventually

Yes, you really do. Not just because of it's similar themes and ideas to Solipsist, but because it's a really, really good, well put together and thought out diceless game about reality-breaking power.

...I can lend you my copy of Nobilis. It's not like I'm more than 1 street away!

Thanks Gregor, I'll happily do so.

Solipsist RPG, on its way ... eventually

Now that I have the ashcan, I take back my original suggestion.

I still like the idea of the GM having the d10 around to generate a random difficulty provided the target number does not suggest itself. Modified, of course, by the proximity to a Shadow area and the Limitations/Obsessions of the Solipsist.

To my way of thinking, a low roll on a supposedly critical scene or a high roll on a supposedly trivial scene may inspire the GM to shift the adventure in novel ways.

I'll try to get a group and playtest that. Given the way that Solipsist is set up, I can't imagine it would hurt.

Reminds me of a certain thread on Story Games :)

To my mind, if you are going to have a narrative focussed game with a GM in it (not all do of course) then it's sort of the GM's job to take the adventure in novel directions and make things fun for the players. Actually I think that's what you have GM's for at all ... appearances in a few games to the contrary :P

As I said before dice are very attractive, but I'm going to be stubborn and try to avoid them if I can, for once. (For the record I've never designed anything without dice in it before ... even my CCGs have dice! :)

Solipsist RPG, on its way ... eventually

If I did use dice in this game, it'd only be when I was stuck for assigning a difficulty.

I like the random injection of randomness, but I agree this may not be the game for it. Besides, setting a high difficulty should be the best way to tell your players to pay attention.

Except that, as proposed, the target number is fixed, rather than being picked by the GM :) There are exceptions where the Shadows are involved though, I've been working on the rules for that, but its not random.

It seemed in the ashcan that the numbers were determined by the GM, and I assumed that guidelines would be given for GMs to rank whatever at what difficulty.

So apparently there are set difficulties in this game? I would like to know more! (At your convenience, of course...)

Yes, in the ashcan the target numbers were just picked by the GM, but initial feedback suggested that this was too vague.

The proposed replacement is in the first post of this very thread .... :)

Solipsist RPG, on its way ... eventually

I assume these are all cumulative, right?

Looks good. A quick suggestion:

+1 for a crowd of 10 or more people in the area of the solipsist when he does his thing. If the crowd is around 100 or so, +2. If there's a live broadcast, +1.

Just some thoughts.

Also, I'd think that Shadow should increase the difficulty as you have in your example. It's a different type of focus, but still a more difficult focus.

I call this the "Mage Rule" and I have it in a sidebar on that page of the rules as an option.

In Mage other people make your magic harder because their version of reality opposes yours (hence the paradox). In Solipsist other people are just window dressing, they are part of your reality.

The sidebar suggests various extra rules for change difficulty that the group might light to add as part of game ssetup. Once of the examples is the rule you are suggesting :)

Solipsist RPG, on its way ... eventually