THE CORE OF VISORPG SYSTEM

 

VISORPG system rests on four legs: the Oracles, the Actions, the NPC-System, and the Game Loop. This page, thus, offers a glimpse of each of these legs. Note that this discussion regards the core system at its most basic form: Advanced Options (which incidentally represents more than half of the page-count in the core manual!), would be added on top of these basics.

THE ORACLES

The mission of the Oracles is to answer questions regarding the world, the characters, events, etc, playing the role of the GM as both a 'creator' and an 'information dispenser'. Below, you can find a description of the most basic Oracles.

M8B: For questions that can be answered with a 'Yes' or a 'No'. Maybe with some 'but'/'and' added to the end. It takes the form of 12 cards with a balanced distribution of Yes, No, Yes but, Yes and, No but, No and answers (3:3:2:2:1:1, to be precise).

TEST: For questions with a limited repertoire (two to five) of pre-established answers. It takes the form of five cards, labeled as A, B, C, D, and E.

WHO/WHERE: Two Oracles that (randomly) select a character or a location. They take the form of two decks, with each card representing a relevant character or place in the game.

VISION: A glorified way of saying 'rolling dice and looking at a table'. So, this cover every other kind of question, from the very specific to the more esoteric. There are dozens and dozens of specific cases under this umbrella: case in point, each table in the Book of Tables is one example of the VISION Oracle, and that document has dozens and dozens of pages, so...

THE ACTIONS

Anyone familiar enough with the PbtA system will feel quite at home here, because even if VISORPG doesn't have 'moves', it still has Actions. Which work quite like 'moves' but with other name. Go figure. 

So, each Action is a self-contained bit of rules that summarizes how to resolve an specific situation, playing the the role of the GM as 'rules enforcer'. Many of them are based on rolling 2d6 + Modifiers and checking the result, with (usually) 10+ = success, 7 - 9 = success with consequences, and 6- = failure. I said Actions worked a lot like PbtA moves, didn't I? The main nuance here is that  'bad' (or 'partially bad') results typically include  a specific list of consequences and a method to randomly select one of them, instead of the usual 'GM chooses an option'.

Thus, as examples of the matters covered by Actions...

• A series of Actions describe how the protagonist performs when trying to do (or avoid) something, including asking for something to NPCs, dealing with tense but quick situations, investigating mysteries, starting (or ending) a beautiful friendship (or romance!) etc.
• The short-term and long-term evolution of the relation are controlled by another series of Actions that cover  how the NPCs react to the protagonist behavior.
• The whole 'combat system' (or, more generally, 'conflict resolution') is based on following the instructions of a series of Actions that, in some cases, give you the upper hand (so you choose your next Action) or takes it away from you (so you are forced to use a specific Action to your detriment). So, these Actions cover concepts equivalent to rolling for initiative, attacking, defending, maneuvering, fleeing, standing on your feet, etc. 
• Other mechanical aspects like rest & healing, training, working in long term projects, etc., are covered by their respective Actions.
• Finally,when reaching the end of a storyline, a corresponding Action will determinate the nature of the ending (whether it's good, bittersweet or just a complete downer).

THE NPC-SYSTEM

This leg covers the tricky 'how do I deal with NPCs if I'm wearing the player's hat and the GM's hat at the same time?'. This way, it explains how to manage NPC depending on various factors:

• Their relevancy to the story: Bystanders, One-scene characters, Recurring characters, and Main Cast members.
• Their role in the party: unhelpful Loads,  expendable useful Hirelings, reliable Party Members, and even more reliable Companions.
• Their relationship with the protagonist: mere strangers, just acquaintances, close Bonds, and romantic partners. As an Advanced Option, you can add the hated Nemesis, the loyal Right Hand, the ambivalent Rival, the enthusiast Sidekick, and the (fading?) Remembrance to the mix.

This part also covers the very tricky 'and how does a PC talk with NPCs if I am playing both sides of the dialogue?' part, with the Dialogue rules. To summarize, it takes inspiration of the dialogue-tree system from CRPGs and graphic adventures: to be precise, those where each dialogue option takes the form of a not-very-descriptive word, or even just an icon. Thus, as the protagonist, you draw and play Tone cards to represent how the PC talks to the NPC, and you roll a random Reaction for the latter based on the used Tone, their attitude regarding the PC and (optionally) their current mood.

THE GAME LOOP

Finally, this leg puts everything together and explains how to play the game and when to resort to the other three legs. This can be summarized (and, in fact, it's been done this way in the manual) as:

"You narrate what happens, asking questions when in doubt, and doing Actions when required or fitting, including those that involve tricky situations, fine messes, and conflicts where where you try to avoid defeat. You keep playing the game one Chapter after another, during which you try to complete quests (which usually are part of an overarching plot), maybe sparing some time to advance your character and pursue personal interests until you end the game."

Each bolded concept has its corresponding section in the Gameplay chapter, explaining its meaning and how to play it. Plenty of that information is already condensed in the corresponding Actions, but this leg takes it a step further by explaining when those Action should be used, how to interpret their results, etc.

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THE GAME TEMPLATES: BOOK OF TEMPLATES I

THE GAME TEMPLATES: BOOK OF TEMPLATES II