07-05-2018, 09:47 PM
Ok, long story short: It's way to complicated and pricing seems esoteric.
The purpose of moves, powers, stats, and literally EVERY mechanical part of this site is to give good prompts for writing, and to open up creative avenues for players to do interesting things with, and the current way Moves are generated and priced does not reflect that. The amount of specificity is WAY too high, and the strictness of "variability" costing more is way too much. A Pistol, a shotgun and a machine gun are all fairly different weapons in the real world, but in the OV, they all function essentially the same. You're not gonna get a WILD amount of creative differences in writing when it comes to a fight, and fights are graded based on WRITING.
I feel like most of the irritating things about Moves rules (fatigue, Focus, Damage, exact ranges, extremely precise measurements, by the second refresh times) are metrics that hold next to NO MEANING in an actual fight. They would make sense as things to measure in a tabletop game, but we're not playing by those rules. Those numbers all fly out the window as soon as rubber hits the road.
Trying to focus on how something effects the WRITING of the writer and not the "stats" of the character is something that would help this out a lot, I think. 300 OM per "variable benefit" of a move is a decent way to price things, but when we start pricing an M4 at 900 OM because it has a selector switch with 3 options is completely pointless. Firing a cutting beam laser and firing individual laser "bullets" would be a meaningful difference, so, sure, I can see that being 600 OM.
What does it ADD to the game (meaning, how does it ADD to the writer's potential) to have that many specifics? If a person really wants to include the caliber and the exact range and the refresh time on a Move, that's their prerogative, but it shouldn't be the standard.
It's WAY too convoluted, and I can say with absolute certainty that the complexity of the rules surrounding moves has scared away several of my friends from writing with me here on the site. I quit the site for a year because of the goddamn Moves rules. I know that the only person I HAVE goten to join us here has stalwartly refused to even try to get moves because it's daunting, cumbersome, and irritating. It's not fun, and it doesn't contribute to the system in a meaningful way.
The purpose of moves, powers, stats, and literally EVERY mechanical part of this site is to give good prompts for writing, and to open up creative avenues for players to do interesting things with, and the current way Moves are generated and priced does not reflect that. The amount of specificity is WAY too high, and the strictness of "variability" costing more is way too much. A Pistol, a shotgun and a machine gun are all fairly different weapons in the real world, but in the OV, they all function essentially the same. You're not gonna get a WILD amount of creative differences in writing when it comes to a fight, and fights are graded based on WRITING.
I feel like most of the irritating things about Moves rules (fatigue, Focus, Damage, exact ranges, extremely precise measurements, by the second refresh times) are metrics that hold next to NO MEANING in an actual fight. They would make sense as things to measure in a tabletop game, but we're not playing by those rules. Those numbers all fly out the window as soon as rubber hits the road.
Trying to focus on how something effects the WRITING of the writer and not the "stats" of the character is something that would help this out a lot, I think. 300 OM per "variable benefit" of a move is a decent way to price things, but when we start pricing an M4 at 900 OM because it has a selector switch with 3 options is completely pointless. Firing a cutting beam laser and firing individual laser "bullets" would be a meaningful difference, so, sure, I can see that being 600 OM.
What does it ADD to the game (meaning, how does it ADD to the writer's potential) to have that many specifics? If a person really wants to include the caliber and the exact range and the refresh time on a Move, that's their prerogative, but it shouldn't be the standard.
It's WAY too convoluted, and I can say with absolute certainty that the complexity of the rules surrounding moves has scared away several of my friends from writing with me here on the site. I quit the site for a year because of the goddamn Moves rules. I know that the only person I HAVE goten to join us here has stalwartly refused to even try to get moves because it's daunting, cumbersome, and irritating. It's not fun, and it doesn't contribute to the system in a meaningful way.