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iXe: Solo Journal for a Digital TTRPG

A digital world where you Journal your Solo TTRPG. Inspired by Ironsworn · By Sparuh

Gampelay questions

A topic by cl4yt0n created Mar 01, 2023 Views: 529 Replies: 4
Viewing posts 1 to 4

Every scene is resolved in a single fate check? If this is right...what's the difference between a combat scene and a detailed combat scene? H

There's no enemy stats or advance clocks or something like that? ow can u enter in an advantage scene and why you can ever need it? What's the sense of some traits? By example Frostbite Assault (you spend 1 fallout to do more damage... to what?)...or Icy Blast (you make area damage). It's just flavour?

And...you can die?

In the sentence "Once you've chosen your feature, take the suit assigned to it t and take advantage of any traits that give you a bonus to that particular suit "...what you mean by "take the suit"?

How is determined the rank of the suit? I guess spades > hearts > clubs > diamonds cause is the order of the Features and Resource track but can't find it explicitly.

There's a correlation between the suit and the feature? or you can put, let's say, combat skills in diamonds and mental skills in heart. Or mix different skill types? And how many atributes you can/should put? You should add/remove some with experience/injuries/advancement?

Maybe i'm too used to the ironsworn system and the advantage/disadvantage combat mechanics and my questions seems weird.

Developer

Thanks for asking these questions. Really got me thinking about the more granular and complex part of the game system. I'd like to improve it but in the mean time to answer your questions about the current state of the game.

1. Resolving Fate Check for every scene? (For this part, pg. 28 and pg.29 might be helpful)
iXe is fiction's first game and the mechanics are really there to supplement your stories when you got a question or need to resolve a conflict. So, the Scene Check is really there to act as a resolution/reward/consequence in terms of mechanics. 

The game is designed to seamlessly blend the Narrative and Mechanics, with the Narrative serving as a backdrop for the Fate Step and the Fate Step providing context for the Narrative. The game starts with a Scene, which defines the current situation, what you are trying to do, and the challenges you may face. Depending on the situation, you may then determine whether the Fate Step is necessary, and if so, proceed with the mechanics of the Fate Step to determine the outcome.

So you could run the game without ever using the Fate Check or you might run a session and heavily Fate Checking. To bring the Narrative to life, iXe combines mechanics with creative interpretation. You will have the opportunity to create Scenes and draw cards that represent your character's stats, clock trackers, and traits.

2. Difference between combat and the detailed combat scene? (For this part, pg. 28 and pg.29 might be helpful)
Because the game is heavily Scene based and requires you to envision or encourages you to 'write' your story, the game works by putting your Character in these Scenes and progressing through the story that you've set. As such, the Combat Scene is like an overview or quick combat and could progress to Attack or Defend Scene when you want to zoom into the Story and see how your Character navigates through the Combat. 

Sometimes the game mechanics give your instruction to move to a different scene immediately, that is the game mechanic helping you with part of the narrative. Like during combat, you may be facing a very difficult enemy and you couldn't tell if you're winning or losing. So you head to the Fate Step for a check. All of a sudden you draw a Critical Success and with it, it says, "You successfully attack your enemies with ease, dealing massive damage or a powerful effect."

And you may have a card that gives you a special effect to go into an Advantage Scene where it zooms into the combat in slow-motion and you don't want to just barrel through the story and win everything. So you leave it to the Fate Step. This time you draw a Plot Twist instead, "You gain an advantage, but it's not as straightforward as you thought. There may be a catch or drawback."

So you envision that part of the Story. Maybe it was a trap or the enemy sacrificed himself to set up for a bigger attack? Maybe he had a friend hidden somewhere?
In that case, you just go ahead to the Plot Twist and Backlash Oracle to get an idea of what is happening.

3. Enemy Stat
There are no enemy stats at this moment. I'm thinking of adding just a Clock tracker for each enemy where you can track how much 'HP' left you'd need before defeating the said enemy or encounter. That didn't make it because I thought that players can just resolve it through the Story instead. But I'm open to any suggestion and will observe if it is better to have a clock tracker.

4. Flavour? (the game mechanics is functional but it might be clearer in page. 15 to 20)
I guess some parts of the game mechanics felt like Flavour text and doesn't add much to the game, but maybe that's because the design gave the player so much control or power. But I think the mechanics currently do serve their purpose. Because most of the 'Stats' for your Character are abstract, as such, your 'health', 'and resources' is abstractly represented here. 

In terms of resources/ fallout, we don't track how many 'resources you have but how often you've been using your resources. So for certain Trait Cards, when you used it, it requires you to 'Use' something like maybe a potion, arrow, or battery. This is represented by 'adding' a marker on your Fallout. Once the Fallout is maxed, the next time you look for something, there is the chance of you not carrying it anymore. For the story, it's like you found yourself out of Potion or Arrows. Otherwise, you will always keep these things in stock. (I think this part, page. 15 and 16 - Fallout)

5. Die?
Yes, there's a possibility that your Character is terminated or dies. It happens in stories and you could find other Characters dying too. Thus the Death Scene. But if that happens, pick or create another Character that will continue their legacy and continue their journey. In that case, you might end up in the Argument Scene where the other Character is bickering because they feel inadequate or an Introductory Scene where you introduce a new Character through Flashback Scene.

6. Take the Suit's meaning
This means when you have assigned all the Features to the Feature Boxes in the Avatar Sheet, remember which Features are assigned to the Suits whether it's a ♦ ♣ ♥ ♠. Just keep in mind when you're playing, that your Features are assigned to a Suit ♦ ♣ ♥ ♠.

7. Determining the rank of the suit
Thanks for pointing this out, I think this wasn't properly addressed or mentioned. We will add this in so that it is clearer. The Ranks are ♦> ♣> ♥ >♠. Spade is the highest rank. For reference, you can check the page.31 (Suits Ranks) and page.107 (protocol ranks).

8. Correlation between the suit and the feature.
You are free to add and mix as many types and a number of Features for your Character. We have plans to add an "Upgrade" Oracle where you can upgrade your Features such as Rocket Punch into a Custom Trait Card to give it more relevance. For now, the Trait Card affects the Feature and whichever Suit ♦ ♣ ♥ ♠ that is indicated in the ability. E.g: Such as ♥ Features, gain +1 to your Fate Card when drawing for Montage Scenes.

9. Adding/ Removing with experience/ injuries/ advancement.
So far you can only remove any Features through the Story. As for adding, you can get more with the Story progression or by obtaining Trait Cards.

I think the Advantage/ Disadvantage is different from Ironsworn. The action in this game is mostly replaced by Scenes. What mechanics and story you can make of it are constrained to the specific Scene you are in.

I think I went through all the questions and tried to answer the best I could. I really appreciate the questions as they did shed some light on some of the instruction/ information in the book that I can make clearer. Let me know if you have any more questions.

Thanks for the answers. I think I understand more or less the structure. Maybe the game needs more examples. Maybe it has more in the paid version. I think I'm sold :) 

Purchased the game. I like the system and the art. 

About the enemy stats and clocks...I think I prefer enemy clocks and maybe some weapon/skill stats for damage (some do 1 harm/fill 1 clock section, some 2). . I'm playing that way and enjoying. But maybe is just me :)

Developer (1 edit)

Thank you for purchasing the game and for sharing your feedback with us. We’re delighted to hear that you are enjoying the system and the artwork. Your input regarding the enemy stats and clocks is greatly appreciated.

We understand your preference for enemy clocks and additional weapon/skill stats for damage, such as different harm levels or clock sections. Your suggestion aligns with our goal of enhancing the gameplay experience. Rest assured that we have taken note of your feedback and it has been discussed among our team.

We are committed to continuously improving our game mechanics, and we are pleased to inform you that your suggested changes will be implemented in our upcoming update. Including more gameplay examples.

However, please bear in mind that the update may take some time, as we currently have other games in our development pipeline.

Once again, we truly appreciate your feedback, and we look forward to bringing you an even more enjoyable gaming experience in the future. If you have any further suggestions or questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.