Tabletop RPG's

Snafu: a Star Wars adventure

SNAFU is a Tabletop system inspired by the Powered by the Apocalypse games. It features a fairly low-power character building system and a fast-paced action combat. Instead of traditional classes and levels, players buy "Feats" when they level, allowing them to take thier character in any direction they'd like. Combat is based on an Action Point system. Instead of initiative, players choose when they want to act, which leads to a dynamic and unpredictable encounter.

Challenges and observations

The biggest challenge with the design of the SNAFU system was adjudicating combat. Since turn order has been thrown out, it is up to the Game Master to do what is dramatically appropriate. The design of the system went through several iterations, with tweaking AP costs and addition of new types of actions. Originally, rolls were done by both players and the GM, which lead to a lot of strain on the GM to keep track of everything. When they system switched to a more Diceless GMing approach, it became drastically easier for the GM to ajudicate a fun and fast paced encounter.

One of the unforseen benefits of SNAFU's combat was how dangerous and fast paced it felt. Since turns weren't in order like a traditional RPG, players always took turns when they were ready, and were always engaged. This combat largely solves the issue of players "checking out" when it's not thier turn or being unprepared. In addition, because AP allocation is chosen by the players, they get to choose how agressive or defensive they want to be in combat. Want to make 4 attacks? You won't be dodging blaster fire this turn. Low health? divert all your attention to deflecting blades.

FUBAR: A World Apart

FUBAR can be seen as the rules-light second edition of Snafu. Instead of levels and rigid sets of skills, players define thier own skills under "Spheres of Expertise". Skills improve as you use them, leading to organic character progression. The mantra of this mechanic is this: your character sheet tells you who your character is now, but not who they will be. I wanted to move away from the classic rigid class system of Dungeons and Dragons and Shadowrun, and allow for players to "discover" their characters rather than "build" them.

As with SNAFU, FUBAR uses an orderless combat system. The difference between the two is the lack of AP in FUBAR, and that encounters can be more than just fighting. Racing to a relic? that's an encounter. Trying to get past advanced security system? That's an encounter. Cookoff? That's also an encounter

Challenges and observations

One of the biggest challenges when designing FUBAR was how skills were to be defined. Originally, skills were just arbitrary, and leveling them up was a slog. In addition, having a sheet with just some skills on it seemed it lack of bit of mechanical "Crunch". This lead to the introduction of the "Spheres of Expertise" which gave players more focus on what they can do. There's not a great deal of other observations that can be made about FUBAR as I haven't had a lot of opportunities to playtest it.