What interesting mechanics exist out there?

I don’t mean just “here’s a new way to roll combinations of polyhedral dice”, or “here’s a new theme overlaid on a standard progress tracker”, or “here’s stress with another name”.

I mean, actual new conceptual mechanics that produce new and interesting behaviours in-game. Things like CoC’s push rolls, or Slugblaster’s Beats/Character Arc, or Blades in the Dark’s Flashbacks (these might not be the first games that those appeared in, but the point isn’t the game, it’s the mechanic).

Interested particularly in what those new mechanics bring to the table in terms of player interactions or story development.

Interesting, GURPS has a couple mechanics kinda like this. You build characters with point buy, and you can “buy” Disadvantages like Cowardice or Alcoholism which have a negative point cost, giving you extra points to spend on other attributes.

There’s also a way to spend points that you earn (you earn points by adventuring like exp) to change things in the world slightly, though I don’t really use it.

Also, there’s a fun attribute called Common Sense, where the GM warns you if you’re about to do something particularly stupid.

i was into gurps before i started with fate and i think i gave the wrong impression because they’re not really similar. fate points are not used during character creation, but are an actual physical token that is actively used during sessions. you can collect them by playing into your characters weaknesses, and pay others to play into theirs, including npcs and the world itself. they’re metagaming coins basically.

the central conceit of fate is that characters are very free-form. there are no fixed skills, quirks, or features. instead, your character aspects, the short descriptions of who your character is and can do, are mechanically relevant. if your character concept is a “brash, handsome rogue with a heart of gold”, you will be able to easily talk your way through situations, but you are also impulsive and prone to selfless heroics. if you’re trying to save yourself escaping a sinking ship, the gm can go “actually i don’t think you’re the kind of guy to leave a beautiful lady behind” and toss you a coin and you either have to go back for that npc without thinking of the consequences, or make a counter offer that costs you points. other players can also compel you to do things by paying you points, and you can compel them, or npcs with known aspects.

this tying of the rp to actual game boons, as contrasted to the vague “you sure roled that play, so you got +1” stuff you tend to get in more crunchy systems. this also results in points trading hands constantly, as the players learn about eachothers characters and lean into the failures.

Oh I know, I was just commenting on conceptual similarity, not mechanical. It does strike me how conceptually similar GURPS and Fate are, despite being mechanically at opposite ends of the crunch spectrum.

What interesting mechanics exist out there?

I don’t mean just “here’s a new way to roll combinations of polyhedral dice”, or “here’s a new theme overlaid on a standard progress tracker”, or “here’s stress with another name”.

I mean, actual new conceptual mechanics that produce new and interesting behaviours in-game. Things like CoC’s push rolls, or Slugblaster’s Beats/Character Arc, or Blades in the Dark’s Flashbacks (these might not be the first games that those appeared in, but the point isn’t the game, it’s the mechanic).

Interested particularly in what those new mechanics bring to the table in terms of player interactions or story development.

i think that’s why i gravitated toward them both. i ultimately didn’t gel with gurps due to that crunch, because even though you can pick and choose what parts you want there’s still a lot of stuff that you really can’t remove or the game feels hollow. FAE still feels meaty even though it’s super stripped down.

I really love Mouse Guards simple skill progression where skills advance when you have succeeded AND failed with them enough times.

Lighthearted has an interesting emotion mechanic.

At the start of a scene, you describe your current emotion. Then, when rolling you choose an emotion based on how you describe the action and the closer it is from your current emotions, the higher dice you roll. However, it’ll make your emotional state shift. And if you roll your current emotion you gain stress.

While it’s pretty interesting, it let a lot of room for negotiation between PC and GM which isn’t always great compared to games with tighter rules

What interesting mechanics exist out there?

I don’t mean just “here’s a new way to roll combinations of polyhedral dice”, or “here’s a new theme overlaid on a standard progress tracker”, or “here’s stress with another name”.

I mean, actual new conceptual mechanics that produce new and interesting behaviours in-game. Things like CoC’s push rolls, or Slugblaster’s Beats/Character Arc, or Blades in the Dark’s Flashbacks (these might not be the first games that those appeared in, but the point isn’t the game, it’s the mechanic).

Interested particularly in what those new mechanics bring to the table in terms of player interactions or story development.

In oWoD’s Hunter: The Reckoning, you can’t advance your Edges (supernatural abilities) with XP.

To do so, you have to gamble Conviction during the session, while using said Edges (those Conviction points gambled add dice to your pool, ideally improving your odds).

If you succeed at the task, you gain Virtues (with which you can later buy points in Edges).

if you fail the task, you lose Conviction points. If you run out of Conviction, you lose your ability to use Edges at all until you rest/meditate/recover for a full week.

Not sure if it qualifies as “conceptual” or non-mechanical to you. But I love it.

How does it affect the feel of the game?

I suppose YMMV, but to me it’s central. You see, the Hunter becomes a hunter because she heard a higher calling, and believing in it is what keeps it going.

You can rename Conviction to Faith, and it probably shows what I’m hinting at. That faith can get you out of trouble (supernaturally so) but it’s also precious. You’re still human, flimsy and prone to errors, susceptible to doubt.

And you’re way out of your league. All the time.

So basically higher stakes, and higher tension? And maybe more believable motivations?

What interesting mechanics exist out there?

I don’t mean just “here’s a new way to roll combinations of polyhedral dice”, or “here’s a new theme overlaid on a standard progress tracker”, or “here’s stress with another name”.

I mean, actual new conceptual mechanics that produce new and interesting behaviours in-game. Things like CoC’s push rolls, or Slugblaster’s Beats/Character Arc, or Blades in the Dark’s Flashbacks (these might not be the first games that those appeared in, but the point isn’t the game, it’s the mechanic).

Interested particularly in what those new mechanics bring to the table in terms of player interactions or story development.