164 lines
7.1 KiB
Org Mode
164 lines
7.1 KiB
Org Mode
#+TITLE: Fate and Fate Accelerated RPG
|
|
#+AUTHOR: Howard X. Abrams
|
|
#+DATE: 2021-08-25 August
|
|
#+TAGS: rpg fate
|
|
|
|
In my quest for a simple, but generic RPG, I've noticed FATE, and the toolbox for crafting your own stuff.
|
|
|
|
* Fate Dice
|
|
Obviously, step one for me in looking at a new game system is to render their dice, which I want to do slightly differently than returning a random number. This function returns both the random number and its /visual aspect/ of a =+=, =-=, or blank:
|
|
|
|
#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp :results silent
|
|
(defun rpgdm--fate-die ()
|
|
"Return a cons of a Fate die and its visual representation."
|
|
(seq-random-elt '((-1 . "[-]")
|
|
( 0 . "[ ]")
|
|
( 1 . "[+]"))))
|
|
#+END_SRC
|
|
|
|
Instead of an even spread (like in many dice ranged from 1-20 or 1-100), we roll FATE dice in groups of four to create a /bell curve/. Sure, the range is -4 to +4, but those edges show up a lot less.
|
|
|
|
The odds are easy enough to calculate, but I like to see the percentage to roll the actual results, but also to see the change of getting the result or lower/higher, as in the final three columns:
|
|
|
|
| | *Odds* | Rolling | Rolling this | Rolling this |
|
|
| | | Exactly | or Higher | or Lower |
|
|
|----+-------+---------+--------------+--------------|
|
|
| +4 | 1/81 | 1.2% | 1.2% | 100.0% |
|
|
| +3 | 4/81 | 4.9% | 6.2% | 98.8% |
|
|
| +2 | 10/81 | 12.3% | 18.5% | 93.8% |
|
|
| +1 | 16/81 | 19.8% | 38.3% | 81.5% |
|
|
| 0 | 19/81 | 23.5% | 61.7% | 61.7% |
|
|
| -1 | 16/81 | 19.8% | 81.5% | 38.3% |
|
|
| -2 | 10/81 | 12.3% | 93.8% | 18.5% |
|
|
| -3 | 4/81 | 4.9% | 98.8% | 6.2% |
|
|
| -4 | 1/81 | 1.2% | 100.0% | 1.2% |
|
|
|
|
Let's have a function that can roll four dice and give a list of the tuples.
|
|
|
|
#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
|
|
(defun rpgdm--fate-roll-dice (&optional number)
|
|
"Return a list of Fate roll results. Each element of the list
|
|
is a cons of its value and its visual representation, see
|
|
`rpgdm--fate-die'."
|
|
(unless number
|
|
(setq number 4))
|
|
(let (results)
|
|
(--dotimes number
|
|
(push (rpgdm--fate-die) results))
|
|
results))
|
|
#+END_SRC
|
|
|
|
So calling the =rpgdm--fate-role-dice= would return something like:
|
|
|
|
#+begin_src emacs-lisp :tangle no
|
|
'((0 . "[ ]")
|
|
(1 . "[+]")
|
|
(0 . "[ ]")
|
|
(-1 . "[-]"))
|
|
#+end_src
|
|
|
|
My UI will collect the roll and figure out how to sum and display the results as a list where the first element is the total and the second is a string that we could display.
|
|
|
|
#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
|
|
(defun rpgdm--fate-roll (modifier &optional number)
|
|
"Simulate a FATE dice roll and return the results.
|
|
Return a list where the first element is the total results,
|
|
and the second element is a user-formatted view of the results. "
|
|
(unless number (setq number 4))
|
|
(let* ((roll (rpgdm--fate-roll-dice number))
|
|
(vals (-map 'car roll))
|
|
(dice (-map 'cdr roll))
|
|
(roll (s-join " " dice))
|
|
(sum (apply '+ vals))
|
|
(total (+ sum modifier))
|
|
(results (propertize (number-to-string total) 'face '(:foreground "green"))))
|
|
(list total (format "Rolled: %s :: %s + %d" results roll modifier))))
|
|
#+END_SRC
|
|
|
|
And we make an interactive version:
|
|
|
|
#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
|
|
(defun rpgdm-fate-roll (modifier)
|
|
"Simulate a FATE dice roll and display the results.
|
|
The total is the difference of the `+' to `-' plus the MODIFIER.
|
|
Note that the NUMBER of dice defaults to 4."
|
|
(interactive (list (rpgdm-fate-ladder "effort level")))
|
|
(rpgdm-message (second (rpgdm--fate-roll modifier 4))))
|
|
#+END_SRC
|
|
* Skill Checks
|
|
First step is the Ladder, which is a simple table containing the numeric ranking (to use in calculations), a key-mnemonic, and a descriptive /skill/ label. The final column is a descriptive label for /challenge/ level:
|
|
|
|
#+name: ladder-table
|
|
| -2 | t | Terrible | Trivial |
|
|
| -1 | p | Poor | Easy |
|
|
| 0 | m | Mediocre | Simple |
|
|
| 1 | a | Average | Average |
|
|
| 2 | f | Fair | |
|
|
| 3 | g | Good | Hard |
|
|
| 4 | r | Great | Daunting |
|
|
| 5 | s | Superb | Extreme |
|
|
| 6 | f | Fantastic | Impossible |
|
|
| 7 | e | Epic | |
|
|
| 8 | l | Legendary | |
|
|
|
|
And use that table as a global variable:
|
|
|
|
#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp :var rpgdm-fate-ladder-values=ladder-table
|
|
(defvar rpgdm-fate-ladder rpgdm-fate-ladder-values "The FATE RPG ladder of challenge levels.")
|
|
#+END_SRC
|
|
Now we can use it to prompt for the
|
|
|
|
#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
|
|
(defun rpgdm-fate-ladder (&optional request-type)
|
|
"Prompt for a choice on the FATE ladder, and return the numeric value of that level.
|
|
The REQUEST-TYPE is an optional string inserted into the prompt to describe the request."
|
|
(interactive)
|
|
(unless request-type (setq request-type "challenge level"))
|
|
(let* ((choices (mapconcat 'rpgdm--fate-ladder-prompt rpgdm-fate-ladder " "))
|
|
(prompt (format "What is the %s?\n%s"
|
|
(propertize request-type 'face '(:foreground "yellow"))
|
|
choices))
|
|
(choice (char-to-string (read-char prompt)))
|
|
(entry (--filter (equal (second it) choice) rpgdm-fate-ladder)))
|
|
(first (first entry))))
|
|
#+END_SRC
|
|
|
|
This assumes that we can create a prompt from one entry in our table:
|
|
|
|
#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
|
|
(defun rpgdm--fate-ladder-prompt (entry)
|
|
(let* ((entry-number (format "[%d]" (first entry)))
|
|
(render-number (propertize entry-number
|
|
'face '(:foreground "#888888")))
|
|
(keyed-prompt (propertize (second entry) 'face '(:foreground "green"))))
|
|
(format "%s) %s %s" keyed-prompt (third entry) render-number))))
|
|
#+END_SRC
|
|
|
|
Let's prompt for both the challenge level as well as the current effort:
|
|
|
|
#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
|
|
(defun rpgdm-fate-challenge (opposition-level effort-level)
|
|
"Return a user message for a FATE dice challenge.
|
|
Given a numeric EFFORT-LEVEL as well as the OPPOSITION-LEVEL,
|
|
this function rolls the Fate dice and interprets the results."
|
|
(interactive (list (rpgdm-fate-ladder "opposition level")
|
|
(rpgdm-fate-ladder "effort level")))
|
|
(let* ((die-roll (rpgdm--fate-roll effort-level))
|
|
(shifts (- (first die-roll) opposition-level))
|
|
(results (cond
|
|
((< shifts 0) (propertize "Failed" 'face '(:foregound "red")))
|
|
((= shifts 0) (propertize "Tie" 'face '(:foreground "yellow")))
|
|
((> shifts 3) (propertize "Succeed with Style!" 'face '(:foregound "green")))
|
|
(t (propertize "Success" 'face '(:foregound "green"))))))
|
|
(rpgdm-message "%s ... %s" results (second die-roll))))
|
|
#+END_SRC
|
|
#+PROPERTY: header-args:sh :tangle no
|
|
#+PROPERTY: header-args:emacs-lisp :tangle ../rpgdm-fate.el
|
|
#+PROPERTY: header-args :results none :eval no-export :comments no
|
|
|
|
#+OPTIONS: num:nil toc:nil todo:nil tasks:nil tags:nil date:nil
|
|
#+OPTIONS: skip:nil author:nil email:nil creator:nil timestamp:nil
|
|
#+INFOJS_OPT: view:nil toc:nil ltoc:t mouse:underline buttons:0 path:http://orgmode.org/org-info.js
|
|
# Local Variables:
|
|
# eval: (add-hook 'after-save-hook #'org-babel-tangle t t)
|
|
# End:
|