I am not a fan of lists. I find writing them is the fastest way to make my inspiration dry up. When I don’t need to create a list I am often fizzing with ideas. Tell me I have to write them down and suddenly I draw a blank.
So it has been all week, creating these d66 lists. I have four lists on the go at once. I am trying to fill in a few a day on each list, rather than trying to focus on one at a time.
In the meantime I have moved on to writing about different aspects of playing Wicked Ones. Today it is about Compelling Impulses.
Normally, the GM would compel you, and in return you can earn a Dark Heart.
Half of me want to create a random method of bringing this situation about. There is nothing to stop you from simply roleplaying when you feel your compulsion takes over, but I fear that if a solo player becomes focused on achieving a task, they may not stop and think of interesting ways of stymying themselves.
My working rule at the moment is to use one dice of a different colour. In this case the Blue die is the special die. If the special die comes up with the same number twice in a row, then you are Compelled, It is then up to you to decide to accept to refuse.
The goal is not to disrupt your game. If only one of the three dice used for a fortune roll is special, it is within your control to roll it or not. When the question becomes a sure thing, or you start to add more dice, the third dice is always going to be the special one. Once you have rolled it, put it to one side and leave it showing the same face upper most.
This idea is not really entirely my invention. The inspiration came from the old WEG d6 system, now called OpenD6. That has one special die, when it comes up six the die explodes and you roll it again adding the second roll to the total. Roll a another six and you add six to your total and keep on rolling the dice until it doesn’t come up six. The exploding die was always a different colour to the rest of your dice pool.
Our special die doesn’t explode, it is just going to prompt you to look at your compulsions and think “How can I use it right now, in this situation?”
If you think of a good one, mark off your new Dark Heart and play out the action. If the compulsion doesn’t seem to fit, there is nothing to trigger it, ignore the roll and carry on.
The chance of a die rolling the same result twice is one in six. That would be way to often for your compulsions to disrupt your plans. The goal is to have something remind you to use them, on a random basis, without having a special dice that is rolled, almost for no reason.
Trying to create tables complete in one day can be creatively difficult.
Yes, so I found. What I have done is move on past the lists, but try and skip back to add entries as I go.
I find the easiest way is to make pen and paper notes on an evening, then flesh them out the next day, rather than stare at a computer screen.