NEW RELEASE: Comae Engine (d100 Ultra-Lite)

[clarence]

20 hours ago, Jakob said:

Here's a short review on my blog:

 

Comae Engine Review

And I'll get around to that space battle thing, too ...

Thank you so much, Jakob! Excellent review. I'm working on the first update this week - cleaning up most of the small stuff - and it's been quicker than expected so far. v0.97 will most likely be available the first week in January. 

EN World also published an interview with me about Comae Engine.

" [...] imagine an action movie from your favourite decade. Then cut out all the combat. The scenes that remain - car chases, skydiving, figuring out alien tech, stalking dark alleys and what have you - are really easy to turn into exciting game play in Comae Engine."

Here's the rest of the article:

https://www.enworld.org/threads/the-comae-engine-an-interview-with-clarence-redd.693930/

[Atgxtg]

Say clarence,

On the off chance that you haven't thought of it yet, you could revamp the ship stats from M-SPACE to match those of the Comae Engine. Ships could be given combat pools (BODY would reflect the structure of the ship, INT the computer system, POW the generators and engines, and CHA the AI and interactive software), tags, lenses, etc. just like characters. The weapons, shields and armour stats could all port over to spacecraft scale as well.  There are even a few tricks like base Speed and Handing off of POW-BODY which might give you similar stats but with simpler math.

I'm just mentioning it in case the thought didn't occur to you yet. 

 

 

[clarence]

Good idea! I've been thinking along those lines, but not that specific. I will keep in mind.

[Atgxtg]

2 hours ago, clarence said:

Good idea! I've been thinking along those lines, but not that specific. I will keep in mind.

It might be good to have conflicts that use multiple conflict pools too. For instance a small fighter trying to dodge a battleship using Speed/free POW as opposed to BODY. 

[Jae]

Comae Engine appeals to me as a BRP/Mythras light system that would be great to introduce non-gamers (or 5e migrants). Any suggestions on a "ready to go" campaign that would work well it?

Edited February 14, 2023 by Jae

[jamiltron]

I wanted to say I am very excited by Comae Engine, it will likely be used for my next campaign. I am really looking forward to its development, and even more so if it happens to be released under an open license!

[Greg]

I am absolutely loving this system, Clarence.

I need some guidance.

Let's say that Gronk and Thag are wandering upon the countryside and they come upon a town. The go in for a meal and meet a wizened stranger whom they find out knows where there's a tomb with treasure. Eventually, they get the location out of him and make a six day trek through the wilderness. They arrive and find the main door to the antechamber open. The go in and are instantly attacked by a tentacled monstrosity. They fight and win! They find a door on the opposite wall, so they set about picking the lock. After a few minutes, the lock springs and the door opens. Their eyes fall on a veritable hoard! However, a mists begins to materialize and a deep moan is heard, "Whooooo dares to dissssturrrb my ssslummmmber?!?" Gronk and Thag each grab an armful of treasure and high-tail it out of there. They are pursued by the malevolent being, but lose it before they get to the distant woods.

What Extended Conflicts do we have here?

1 - Getting information from the stranger - let's make this a drinking contest. Thag outdrinks the stranger after 4 rounds.

2 - The six day journey - let's make this a map reading contest. The hike isn't easy, but the boys get to the tomb before getting lost.

3 - The tomb guardian - a traditional combat... And, it is a horror, so we begin a sanity conflict.

4 - The lock - as suggested in the rulebook.

5 - The apparition of St. Bernard - The sanity conflict resumes and Thag is spooked to 0 points in his pool - thus the hasty exit.

6 - The chase from the tomb - This is an all out speed contest. Seems some wind rose up that didn't effect our solid bodied heroes, but blew the vaporous apparition off course.

Now, my first question - How do you handle different contests that require the same point pool, and may even be "nested." For example, the boys get knocked about a bit in the antechamber. My instinct is to use the same pool when the chase begins as the Body is affected. Maybe the lockpicking contest was won, but it was stressful enough to sap a few sanity points in the form of anxiety. I am looking for a reliable mechanic to handle a bit more complexity. Maybe call the minor contests sub-contests?

My second question - you state in the rules "Lost Conflict Pool points are restored to their full value after a good night’s sleep." - but how does that jive with "round duration?" For example, the six-day journey is one long conflict. We wouldn't want to restore the points each day. Instead - the points are restored when they reach their destination. 

Any thoughts? Just trying to grok it all.

[clarence]

Hey Greg, I’m so happy to hear you enjoy Comae Engine! And good questions : )

Let’s begin with the last one - restoring a Conflict Pool every night. For multi-day journeys, I’ve used a few different versions. My first instinct was that restoring pools every night is a “hard” rule that never changes. This results in more frequent rolls every day, forcing pools close to zero or below. Which means some PCs might need an extra days rest to get a full Conflict Pool again. This option requires more rolls, but keeps the rules consistent. 

Another option is to reduce the BODY pool as normal, but while in the wilderness (under not so comfortable circumstances) a good night’s sleep will only restore the pool to full BODY -2. So, for every day hiking, PCs get wearier, with an increased risk of real damage. The -2 penalty can probably be mitigated with //Survival or staying a night or two at a good inn. I like this version, but it brings in a special rule and that’s not very user friendly (or elegant).  

The simplest solution is to drop overnight pool top up. The entire hike is one long conflict, with a single roll every day. If pools drop to zero, extra rest will increase the pools. This is how I used to run multi-day conflicts. Very intuitive and quick, but it breaks the “pools restore overnight” rule. User friendly overall, but special cases are always problematic. 

Which option sounds best to you?

[clarence]

If it fits with the story I would reduce the same pool when several conflicts follow each other. It’s a bit like old-school D&D, where magicians (or clerics?) had to save spells and POW to make sure they had some left at the end of the scenario. 

This means the GM has to be careful with the number of Extended Conflicts being thrown at the PCs. So, picking the lock might be kept for the thrills. Being knocked around might be a simple opposed skill roll (with a straight -2 BODY for those who fail). And I would probably not use sanity for the stress of picking a lock, but keep that for the terror inside the crypt. 

Being chased by a ghost could probably be a POW or INT contest if you want, to illustrate the courage or wits needed to trick a ghost. Simply because outrunning it might not be possible. 

As for nested conflicts, there’s a sidebar in M-SPACE about that. It should be applicable in Comae Engine as well. In essance, a successful roll makes the dependent (or sub-conflict) roll more likely to succeed - or a failed roll might make the dependent roll impossible. 

[Greg]

31 minutes ago, clarence said:

Hey Greg, I’m so happy to hear you enjoy Comae Engine! And good questions : )

I have a structure for my rpg pdf's wherein each folder is by game or publisher. I used to keep M-Space stuff in the "Mythras" folder. But, with the release of the Comae Engine, I promoted your works to their own "Frostbyte" folder! That's high praise from me! 😆 You'll really know you've arrived when one of your games gets its own main folder. M-Space is close! 😁

1 hour ago, clarence said:

The simplest solution is to drop overnight pool top up. The entire hike is one long conflict, with a single roll every day. If pools drop to zero, extra rest will increase the pools. This is how I used to run multi-day conflicts. Very intuitive and quick, but it breaks the “pools restore overnight” rule. User friendly overall, but special cases are always problematic. 

Which option sounds best to you?

I was thinking along the lines of this third, "simplest" solution. What do you mean by, "special cases are always problematic?"

17 minutes ago, clarence said:

If it fits with the story I would reduce the same pool when several conflicts follow each other. It’s a bit like old-school D&D, where magicians (or clerics?) had to save spells and POW to make sure they had some left at the end of the scenario. 

This means the GM has to be careful with the number of Extended Conflicts being thrown at the PCs. So, picking the lock might be kept for the thrills. Being knocked around might be a simple opposed skill roll (with a straight -2 BODY for those who fail). And I would probably not use sanity for the stress of picking a lock, but keep that for the terror inside the crypt. 

Being chased by a ghost could probably be a POW or INT contest if you want, to illustrate the courage or wits needed to trick a ghost. Simply because outrunning it might not be possible. 

As for nested conflicts, there’s a sidebar in M-SPACE about that. It should be applicable in Comae Engine as well. In essance, a successful roll makes the dependent (or sub-conflict) roll more likely to succeed - or a failed roll might make the dependent roll impossible. 

Maybe I am pushing the mechanic too hard. Call of Cthulhu, for example, has Hit Points and Sanity Points, both of which restore rather slowly. To model this in the Comae Engine, I would keep HP and SAN pools as their own things, and, when using extended conflicts, create standalone pools. I just like the idea that quicker, minor extended conflicts can play a role in what is essentially a drawn out extended conflict. But perhaps that is over-complicating things.

 

[clarence]

1 hour ago, Greg said:

I have a structure for my rpg pdf's wherein each folder is by game or publisher. I used to keep M-Space stuff in the "Mythras" folder. But, with the release of the Comae Engine, I promoted your works to their own "Frostbyte" folder! That's high praise from me! 😆 You'll really know you've arrived when one of your games gets its own main folder. M-Space is close! 😁

Haha, I’m flattered! I will try my best to live up to the responsibilities that come with this : )

I also like the simple conflict resolution for hikes. It seems most intuitive. Regarding special cases, I meant that restoring pools every morning is ignored in this variant. But then, rules aren’t always logical. 

[g33k]

On 6/26/2023 at 6:25 AM, clarence said:

... My first instinct was that restoring pools every night is a “hard” rule that never changes ...

 

...
The simplest solution is to drop overnight pool top up. The entire hike is one long conflict, with a single roll every day. If pools drop to zero, extra rest will increase the pools. This is how I used to run multi-day conflicts. Very intuitive and quick, but it breaks the “pools restore overnight” rule. User friendly overall, but special cases are always problematic. 

I'd drop the "absoluteness" of the overnight top-off; that's how it usually works, but not always...

You've already built-in one exception:  the req for a "good night's rest."  So if the party sets watch, they'll have some or all of the group failing to get a "good night's rest."  And of course one of the things people will do is weaponize the req -- launch a night-time raid to disrupt that "good night's rest" so nobody on the receiving end of the raid gets their rest.

But more broadly -- "universal" game-mechanics can fail to capture the often-messy real-world experiences.  People on extended hikes (Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, Camino de Santiago, etc) will often take a "rest day" or "recovery day."  So too will people on intense exercise regimens, who need occasional rest-days to maintain peak performance.

An intense & unfamiliar workout often leaves people very very sore the next day (non-riders and occasional riders are notoriously sore after all day on horseback), also requiring more than "a good night's rest" to recover.

So... yes, it does make for some exceptions to the general case; but IMHO it's worth it to note those exceptions, and then mitigate the "problematic" nature of them.

[clarence]

15 hours ago, g33k said:

I'd drop the "absoluteness" of the overnight top-off; that's how it usually works, but not always..

Yes, you’ve got a point. The only constant in life is how messy and inconsistent it is. 

[Piotr]

Good morning,
First of all thank you for this new game system which is really elegant (from the layout to the game mechanism). I have a question, how would you envisage adapting the system to a medieval universe (and what to do with the Tech skill for example?)?

[g33k]

For those who didn't know, DTRPG has an ever-changing "Deal of the Day," and today, the deal is for Comae Engine !!!

(Marked down from an already-bargain $3.50 to downright-cheap $2.10)
 

[clarence]

On 10/16/2023 at 8:24 PM, Piotr said:

Good morning,
First of all thank you for this new game system which is really elegant (from the layout to the game mechanism). I have a question, how would you envisage adapting the system to a medieval universe (and what to do with the Tech skill for example?)?

Hey Piotr, I’m happy to hear you enjoy Comae Engine! Updating the rules for a medieval setting should be quite easy. I would rename the Tech Skill to Mechanical and let it cover the simple machines of the age. 

For Mechanical Focuses, I would use something like this: 

//Ship Handling (This might seem like a mismatch with Mechanical, but a ship is essentially a large, complex device to convert winds to motion while staying afloat. Probably the most advanced piece of technology in the medieval era)

// Contraptions (For traps, simple machines, carriages, siege engines)

//Engineering (For large scale constructions: bridges, buildings, mills)

Science Focuses can be kept as is, or simply change Astronomy to Astrology and Chemistry to Alchemy. 

For any religious know-how, I suggest a Knowledge Focus.

I would also rename //Gunnery to //Ballistics.

For magic and beasts, I have some ideas, but nothing to show yet.  

Edited October 19, 2023 by clarence

[Piotr]

Thank you very much for the advice, I will try to do it like that! My homebrew setting is very low magic, so i can wait for additional rules.

 

 

[clarence]

20 hours ago, Piotr said:

Thank you very much for the advice, I will try to do it like that! My homebrew setting is very low magic, so i can wait for additional rules.

 

 

Cool! Don’t hesitate to post any further ideas here. It’s always fun to see what everyone comes up with. 

[ThornPlutonius]

I look forward to being able to buy a printed version of this jewel.

[clarence]

21 hours ago, ThornPlutonius said:

I look forward to being able to buy a printed version of this jewel.

Very soon now : )

[Piotr]

Hello,

I now own M-Space and Comae (with a preference for the latter) and wanted to know if the M-Space range would continue? If so, would compatibility with Comae be possible (in the form of small inserts for example)?

What would you advise me to “cannibalize” in M-space for the Comae engine ?

[clarence]

23 hours ago, Piotr said:

Hello,

I now own M-Space and Comae (with a preference for the latter) and wanted to know if the M-Space range would continue? If so, would compatibility with Comae be possible (in the form of small inserts for example)?

What would you advise me to “cannibalize” in M-space for the Comae engine ?

Hey Piotr, good to hear you enjoy both M-SPACE and Comae! Both product lines will continue, even though I’m a slow writer. I’m also planning for a quick conversion document on how to move between Comae and M-SPACE (and Mythras). 

As for cannibalising, it depends on your setting. For sci-fi, I would bring over the rules for starships, vehicles and robots. For the modern era, vehicles. Most settings benefit from Circles to set up organisations. The Circle rules in M-SPACE works top-down on a bigger scale, while Circles in Odd Soot are more personal and include relationship maps. 

If you want to add Sanity to the mix, both Odd Soot and Luther Arkwright have rules for that, each with a slightly different flavour. 

And for most supernatural powers - from weird aliens to fantasy magic - I highly recommend Destined. While it’s created for superheroes, it’s a really versatile system for building any kind of power. There’s a downsized verion in the free Mythras Imperative, to let you test drive the system before you go all in. 

Edited November 15, 2023 by clarence

[Piotr]

Hi,

(the excellent) Reflux is a standalone product or a sequel (in the same universe) is in the works ?

[clarence]

Hi Piotr, more material is planned, but my slow working pace since covid has wrecked my planning. In short, I can’t promise anything for the time being. But I do like The Weaver setting and I think there is a lot of potential in it.