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The flaw with Mark of the Odd games (ttrpg.network)

submitted 2 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hey all, games like Into the Odd, Electric Bastionland, Mausritter, Cairn, etc. All use Chris McDowall's elegant 'stats as health' concept.

It's a great concept: It keeps the character sheet compact, and links a character's prowess to their condition which is very immersive.

However, there's a flaw in this system I cannot ignore: Strength is by far the most important Stat as almost all attacks target a character's Strength. As a result Dexterity and Will/Charisma damage rarely comes into play.

Whenever possible, I try to apply Dex damage from attacks, traps or poisons that hinder movement, or Wil/Cha damage from spells or poisons that don't affect the target physically, but that's just a houserule and it's not always easy to come up with immersive reasons a foe would have these abilities.

How do you get around that at your table? What are your most common ways of targeting these stats?

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Thanks, you make some good points.

Upon reflection, I do tend to approach the game with more combat than it's designed for as my players love combat. And the general lack of dex and wil/cha attacks from sample foes in the various games just exacerbates the issue for me.

I like the Wil damage from casting spells in Mausritter. (If I remember correctly, Into the Dungeon: Revived does it as well.) It makes casting more high-stakes, which is something I love in a game. To me, magic should be scary, even to the one weilding it.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago

I guess the question is whether your goal is to make all three stats equally useful, or to make sure the attribute damage mechanic is used equally on all three stats.

If it's the former then increasing the utility of the other two stats with initiative, magic, dodging, etc. would be a good way to go.

If it's the latter then making sure enemies have a wide variety of attacks works. Psychic/psionics, poison, ensnaring, soul damage, etc. would all help.