Dec 30, 2022 6:38 pm
THE RULES OF THE LAND
Prince Valiant is a dice pool system, based upon coin flips. In live play, this would be assembling a number of coins, dropping them on the table and counting the heads. Online, we can simplify the coin flips to a roll of 1d2-1 which gives a result of 0 (tails) or 1 (heads), and summing them to get the required "count" of heads on the coins. So if you have 7 in your pool, you would roll 7d2-7, giving results between 0 (all tails) and 7 (all heads). If you roll maximum, this is called a Complete Success and you gain a bonus success (i.e., 7 coins resulting in all heads counts as 8) -- despite the name, this doesn't guarantee you beat your opponent, but it does give you that extra success.
There are two attributes (Brawn and Presence), a number of Skills, and several kinds of modifiers based upon equipment, morale, and environment.
Here is an example from the book that illustrates the Dice Pool system:
Example of Personal Combat: in one famous combat young Prince Valiant fights Prince Arn, his noble foe, for the love of Lady Ilene. The combat is to the death, so Extended Resolution must be used.
At this time young Val has a Brawn of 3, while Arn has a weak Brawn of 2. Val has an Arms skill of only 2, Arn the same. Val chooses not to use his Dexterity skill in this combat, probably because he is too jealous and angry to plan out proper tactics.
Modifiers augment each character's Brawn: Prince Valiant gets +2 for his medium armor and Arn gets +3 for his heavy armor. Arn is armed with the magical Singing Sword which gives him an extraordinary +3 modifier. Val has an ordinary sword, worth the usual +1. Finally, both young warriors are inspired with their love for their lady and their jealous rivalry, each gaining +1 to Brawn.
Thus Val initially throws (3 + 2 + 2 + l + l) = 9 coins, and Arn throws ( 2 + 2 + 3 + 3 + 1 ) = 11.
In the first combat round Arn gets 7 heads, and Val gets only 4; thus Arn wins. 7 - 4 = 3, so Val loses 3 coins, a significant loss. He probably has a bruise or small wound. He throw s only 6 coins next round. Neither opponent did very well this round, given the large number of coins they started with.
In the second round, Val gets 5 heads, but so does Arn. No one wins, and no one loses any coins.
On the third throw , Val gets 6 heads, while Arn does dismally and gets only 3 heads. 6 - 3 = 3, and since Val got a Complete Success (he currently has only 6 coins), his opponent loses another coin, for a total of 4. Arn goes down to 7. He is winded and bruised now, though not enough to stop him from continuing the fight.
On the fourth round, the fighters both get lucky. Val gets 6 heads again, another Complete Success. Arn also throw s 6 heads. Norm ally 6 vs. 6 would be a standoff, with no result. But because Val achieved a Complete Success, Arn loses a coin. 7 - 1 = 6, so Arn goes down from 7 to 6.
Thus the two are down to 6 coins each. At this point in the story they are interrupted. Both tired and bruised, and evenly matched, they decide to stop their fight.
As illustrated above, in an extended, opposed contest such as combat or social conflict, the 'damage' is tracked by a reduction to your dice pool, and when one gets to 0, they're defeated. For the main part, this reduction is restored narratively shortly thereafter, but if it is lethal combat and you go to 0, then these are actual wounds, and healing could potentially take weeks. Death is exceptionally rare, as per norms for the source material.
Prince Valiant is a dice pool system, based upon coin flips. In live play, this would be assembling a number of coins, dropping them on the table and counting the heads. Online, we can simplify the coin flips to a roll of 1d2-1 which gives a result of 0 (tails) or 1 (heads), and summing them to get the required "count" of heads on the coins. So if you have 7 in your pool, you would roll 7d2-7, giving results between 0 (all tails) and 7 (all heads). If you roll maximum, this is called a Complete Success and you gain a bonus success (i.e., 7 coins resulting in all heads counts as 8) -- despite the name, this doesn't guarantee you beat your opponent, but it does give you that extra success.
There are two attributes (Brawn and Presence), a number of Skills, and several kinds of modifiers based upon equipment, morale, and environment.
Here is an example from the book that illustrates the Dice Pool system:
Example of Personal Combat: in one famous combat young Prince Valiant fights Prince Arn, his noble foe, for the love of Lady Ilene. The combat is to the death, so Extended Resolution must be used.
At this time young Val has a Brawn of 3, while Arn has a weak Brawn of 2. Val has an Arms skill of only 2, Arn the same. Val chooses not to use his Dexterity skill in this combat, probably because he is too jealous and angry to plan out proper tactics.
Modifiers augment each character's Brawn: Prince Valiant gets +2 for his medium armor and Arn gets +3 for his heavy armor. Arn is armed with the magical Singing Sword which gives him an extraordinary +3 modifier. Val has an ordinary sword, worth the usual +1. Finally, both young warriors are inspired with their love for their lady and their jealous rivalry, each gaining +1 to Brawn.
Thus Val initially throws (3 + 2 + 2 + l + l) = 9 coins, and Arn throws ( 2 + 2 + 3 + 3 + 1 ) = 11.
In the first combat round Arn gets 7 heads, and Val gets only 4; thus Arn wins. 7 - 4 = 3, so Val loses 3 coins, a significant loss. He probably has a bruise or small wound. He throw s only 6 coins next round. Neither opponent did very well this round, given the large number of coins they started with.
In the second round, Val gets 5 heads, but so does Arn. No one wins, and no one loses any coins.
On the third throw , Val gets 6 heads, while Arn does dismally and gets only 3 heads. 6 - 3 = 3, and since Val got a Complete Success (he currently has only 6 coins), his opponent loses another coin, for a total of 4. Arn goes down to 7. He is winded and bruised now, though not enough to stop him from continuing the fight.
On the fourth round, the fighters both get lucky. Val gets 6 heads again, another Complete Success. Arn also throw s 6 heads. Norm ally 6 vs. 6 would be a standoff, with no result. But because Val achieved a Complete Success, Arn loses a coin. 7 - 1 = 6, so Arn goes down from 7 to 6.
Thus the two are down to 6 coins each. At this point in the story they are interrupted. Both tired and bruised, and evenly matched, they decide to stop their fight.
As illustrated above, in an extended, opposed contest such as combat or social conflict, the 'damage' is tracked by a reduction to your dice pool, and when one gets to 0, they're defeated. For the main part, this reduction is restored narratively shortly thereafter, but if it is lethal combat and you go to 0, then these are actual wounds, and healing could potentially take weeks. Death is exceptionally rare, as per norms for the source material.
