I'm watching Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. You ever notice that he seems to succeed through a series of 3 GE rolls? Rolling 3 rolls over and over and over. Is there any game mechanic for something like this?
We call that "plot immunity." I wouldn't call it a mechanic, but the referee is of course free to dictate any outcome he pleases rather than use a GE roll to guide his decision. If, for example, the referee is running a world based on a particular story, and one of the features of this story is that the protagonist always gets the lucky breaks he needs, then he'd be perfectly justified in ruling that whenever he would ordinarily roll a GE for something involving this character, he'll instead pick an exceptionally good result by fiat.
I would call plot immunity a mechanic, for the same reasons that GM fiat is a mechanic: it is an agreed unwritten/unstated system by which events are realized in the shared imagined space.
That said, there are better ways to achieve the Indiana Jones effect within a game context.
One is that I think Indie has a phenomenally good intuition--that means he is rarely surprised, and he has very high chance of success on just about any tech, psi, or mag skill because of it.
He also has a sort of Magyverism skill which enables him to use whatever is at hand to solve a problem. That applies to crashing the column through the wall to escape the snakes in Lost Ark, adapting the life boat for the leap from the plane in Temple of Doom, and probably others that are not coming to mind at the moment.
There are undoubtedly some other skills--heightened awareness, detect traps, that sort of thing--plus a high intellect that all help him.
His luck runs out sometimes, though, so if you were trying to emulate the idea you might need to devise a secondary mechanic. I would suggest that within the story, anyone who attempts a quest for the good side gets "luck points"--maybe about thirty would do--which can be spent any time a roll fails to increase the roll to a success. Obviously they have to be rationed; there would also have to be a way of recovering them, probably by voluntarily losing a confrontation, e.g., agreeing not to roll to escape capture would give you additional points, but never raise you above thirty. That way you don't win all the time, but you can choose to win when it matters, as long as you remember to lose often enough to recharge.
--M. J. Young
I was thinking about doing a character sheet on Indiana Jones, just for the fun of it.
1@10 strength (He isn't that big)
2@2 stamina
2@7 intuition. (I think MJ is right on that count)
2@6 intellect
2@5 charisma
2@4 persuasion
2@2 an mag
1@10 resistance
2@6 agility
2@8 hand-eye
2@10 willpower
3@7 Ed Level, specializing in archeology, as well as several high 2@ scores in related fields.
2@8 general fisticuffs
3@4 bullwhip skill
2@8 gun knowledge
2@9 skill with 38 revolver
1@4 fly airplane
2@6 MacGyver skill.
1@10 live off the land (Assumed, given his line of work)
Weaknesses, fear of snakes, willingness to risk losing a hand to retrieve a piece of dropped equipment.
Anyone else want to contribute? When I was a kid, I used to think he was the perfect man. Of course, what kid in the 80s didn't?
Two Posts
Just a bit of useless trivia. Harrison Ford holds the number 2 spot in the world's record for actor with the most number of action figures made in their likeness. Indiana Jones and Han Solo being the two roles which gave him this record. The number one spot belongs to Arnold Schwarzenegger. (I mean, name 5 Arnold movies that didn't have action figures.....) I just thought that was interesting.
I don't know if this goes this Indy's intuition or what, but I love that scene in Crystal Skull. Indy is playing chicken with a Russian soldier, and the passenger starts screaming "Don't get clever Boris, you don't know him. You don't know him. YOU DON'T KNOW HIM!!! YOU DON'T KNOW HIM!!!!!" And of course, Indy escapes unscathed, and deals a crippling blow to the Russian. I just love that part....
Three points...
1. John, I'd drop some of those stats a bit. I don't see Indy as THAT high a willpower. But you're largely on target.
2. I'm building a Champions adventure for J to run at Constellation. So I google and find a web page that lists superteams and characters and links to other pages that have either the team or the character.
So, I don't have to make up the Fantastic Four and the Black Widow. I modified the Widow a bit, and bam, thats all I needed except to print it off. And if I really wanted to be lazy/efficient I could have done the same thing with bad guys.
In that case, all I'd need would be to sketch up a reason for a superbrawl, draw the map, print the character sheets, make the speed chart (Champions has a turn sequence that really needs a chart), and in an hour or two...presto Adventure.
Obviously having something similar for Multiverser would be nice.
3. MJ, Luck Points or Brownie Points would be given in my game for A) Doing something really cool. B) Pressing your luck and succeeding.
1. John, I'd drop some of those stats a bit. I don't see Indy as THAT high a willpower. But you're largely on target.
Yeah, you're probably right. What stats would you give him?
(Doing Therapy)
Eric, seriously, I wanted to do a realistic character sheet on Indiana Jones.
I'll explain why I did some of these.
2@8 general fisticuffs
Usually wins his fights.
3@4 bullwhip skill
Should be blatantly obvious....
2@8 gun knowledge
I figure he's gotta know at least as much as I do about them, and that's my score....
2@9 skill with 38 revolver
Yeah, that is too high, probably 2@2 would be better. As good as I am with my 9mm.
1@4 fly airplane
"Fly, yes. Land, no." From the Last Crusade.
2@6 MacGyver skill.
MJ pointed out.
1@10 live off the land (Assumed, given his line of work)
A guy that spends months in the jungle HAS to know how to live off the land. I'm giving 1@10 "Live off the land is just about any environment." I figure that's fair.
Seriously, I did want some input on this.
(Doing Therapy)
Not totally my thing, but I'll give it a shot...
1@10 strength (He isn't that big)...ehh, 1@9
2@2 stamina....okay
2@7 intuition. (I think MJ is right on that count)
2@6 intellect....2@3
2@5 charisma
2@4 persuasion
2@2 an mag
1@10 resistance
2@6 agility
2@8 hand-eye
2@10 willpower....Nah, keep in mind that 2@10 is max human. 2@3
3@7 Ed Level, specializing in archeology, as well as several high 2@ scores in related fields....reasonable. I wouldn't have thought of that. Good catch.
2@8 general fisticuffs...yeah, he beat up skilled combatants
3@4 bullwhip skill
2@8 gun knowledge
2@9 skill with 38 revolver.....I thought he was more ordinary, but I could be wrong. 2@5
1@4 fly airplane....1@3.
2@6 MacGyver skill....I dunno.
1@10 live off the land (Assumed, given his line of work)
Second Post...
Speaking of game mechanics....what about a 'Gamemaster Guidance' in the world description for certain specific worlds?
"In Paranoia World, the player should get the feeling that the GM is actively trying to mess with him, because he is."
"In Roles are Rigid World, the first action of the player will determine his Role, and the Worldmind, the ruling deity, will actively take measures to bend him to that role."
"In Plot Immunity World, the Verser, being the Hero may only die at dramatically appropriate moments, or when his quest is finished."
"In Prison Bubble World, the tiny universe of ten yards across disallows death. It is impossible to damage oneself enough to verse out. This makes this universe an effective prison for 'wersers'."
"In Bug World, the arriving Dimensional Visitor is shrunk to the size of a large bacterium."
Now, some of this may be possible with using Sit-Mods or having a Deities' intervention (as I listed in one world). But I have to admit, I find the idea of 'Special Referee Instructions' for a world that change the play style of the GM to be interesting, or ones that change the basic understanding of reality (like the Plot Immunity world.) to be interesting as well.
I would really love to run through an Indiana Jones scenario. He was my hero when I was a kid. Learn how to use that bullwhip.... Can you think of any other high skills that he might have?
As I said, on the gun skills, I figure he's at least as good as I am. Maybe 2@5 with the 38. I wouldn't really know.
(Doing Therapy)
Your "live of the land" is survival; he probably has a 2@ SAL in jungle, which means that it carries to 1@ in adjacent/similar environs but effectively 0@ in less similar ones.
Detecting and disarming traps seems to be one of his skills.
--M. J. Young
Your "live of the land" is survival; he probably has a 2@ SAL in jungle, which means that it carries to 1@ in adjacent/similar environs but effectively 0@ in less similar ones.
Yeah, that's kind of what I was thinking. Most environments are close enough to jungle to merit a 1@10. Arctic and desert being the two where he has limited ability. I bet he still has some skill in those areas though.
Detecting and disarming traps seems to be one of his skills.
Yeah, I'd say that's certain.
(Doing Therapy)