Alternative to Partial Success. Sacrifice

#1

I wanted to share a mechanic my players recently put together that worked out better then I had hoped.

I struggled with Partial Success in other games, even trying to introduce it to ICRPG with little success. Being consistent with it and constantly introducing new and mixed threats on partials didn’t feel right and became a mental exercise I didn’t enjoy though my players really enjoy partial successes.

Our group had a quick round table about the issue and we came up with SACRIFICE.

On a target MISS, the players can sacrifice an item, positioning, their safety, or basically they can choose any GM move against themselves to make their MISS a HIT.

This worked out well because it took the mental leg work from me as GM and gave them choice, if the roll mattered enough to be worth sacrificing something I will accept they can, if not, they can let it slide.

Small thing, I wanted to contribute to the wall. If anyone else has already had this idea, then I’m glad great minds have thought alike.

#2

This does sound much easier than partial success, yes!

#3

I like it! Those kind of open discussions and weighing the costs make for some good stuff at the table.

It also reminds me of PUSHING Gear from Viking Death Squad, but I appreciate that you’ve opened it up to things like safety and positioning too.

#4

The thing to remember about Partial Success is games that use it typically don’t have the GM rolling dice rather all the rolling is done by the players. This means you need a result mechanic that allows the NPCs/Monsters to do something.

If we look at Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) as an example, it is a 2d6+mods system. When you look at the dice math for PbtA’s 2d6 you see that most of the time we hit that sweet sweet 7-9 partial success zone.

All that being said, if you’re tables enjoys the Sacrifice mechanic then rock on! I just think that it is good to know where the partial success comes from and why.

#5

The only issue I see with Partial Success is that it happens way too often. Eventually you run out of things to say! XP

#6

That’s great! Let’s develop this idea further. The concept of sacrifice could become a really interesting mechanic. It would keep the binary outcome but allow players to occasionally sacrifice some of their equipment or other resources to achieve a ‘win.’

That sounds cool, sir! :slight_smile:

Edit : You can create specific SACRIFICES for certain monsters. For example, a monster might offer a cool way for players to make a sacrifice . A weakness of the monster could require the destruction of a particular tool, or a psychic monster might be affected by triggering a mental crisis in a character who suffers from a related illness.

#7

I find that in PbtA and similar games you roll less often than in binary systems, also the moves (player and GM) usually have useful bits