Play Testing Resolute: Session Zero

Let’s make a character! I’m thinking I want him to be the equivalent of an elf from basic D+D with both armor/weapons and magic, to test out a number of things at once… To get magic, I will need to make Focus his tagged ability. I have six points to distribute (on top of the 3 in resolve)... I picture him as a swordsman who supports himself with spells even though Focus has to be the tagged ability… so I go with:

Attack 3 | Defense 1| Focus 2 | Resolve 3

Already I can see that the game is going to penalize me for trying to build a hybrid character. It forces me to choose one pathway or to face the consequences. As is, the spells just won’t be very strong, but because Focus is tagged, I’m not a great swordsman. I can have both sword and magic, but I won’t be particularly great at either one - I don’t know that I would characterize that as a ‘flaw’, but instead as a ‘feature’. I mean, it’s a simple game - how much nuance can it have? Maybe I’ll try this character down the road… but for now…

I go back to the drawing board. The classic elfin wizard warrior is kind of a non-starter (although there’s probably a way to make it happen - will keep thinking). So, let’s go with your standard human fighting man type: the meat and potatoes of gaming.

Attack 4 | Defense 2 | Focus 0 | Resolve 4

The only real decision here is whether to put less in defense and more in resolve… or I could always give up a point in attack and move it to resolve. I want my character to be able to survive after all, and this is a solo game… this ended up being more a decision than I expected. I move this around a little to increase survivability:

Ardent the Red, Common (0) Human Gladiator

Attack 3 | Defense 2 | Focus 0 | Resolve 5

Deals 2 damage on an attack roll of 13+

And that is my entire stat block… I can make up a backstory about him. I know that he wears chainmail (hence the bonus to resolve) and has fast reflexes (hence the decent defense); he wields a pair of short swords, which gives him the solid attack rating and helps account for his tag. The idea is that when he lands the 13+ attack, he hits with both blades that round. He's a wandering sword for hire looking for wealth and fame. Standard.

This is fundamentally different from most games I’ve designed - you don’t keep getting gear to increase your stats, you interpret your stats in terms of how they reflect your gear. This will not appeal to power gamers, but I’m not writing a game for power gamers - I am writing (another) game for me :)