What are "essential" TTRPG mechanisms?

[GuardianLurker]

I understand that there are many different TTRPGs, many different style of playstyles etc. But in your opinion, what are "essential" (whatever that means for you) mechanisms that your games (usually) have to have?

For me:

• Perception check
• Ability checks
• Skill checks
• Combat mechanisms (Hand-to-hand, ranged, magic, spaceship, etc.)
• Health system (insanity, critical hits, armor etc.)
• Equipment/tools (lock picking tools, magical ingredients, fuel for spaceship etc.) and economy simulator
• Powers/abilities/spells (D&D 4e style daily, encounter and at-will powers, for example normal spells), a bare bones game where the fighter can swing his sword and that's it is boring for me.

I think you're a little fine-grained here, and would benefit a bit by zooming out/abstracting a a little bit. I'll also say that those look more like "what kinds of things need resolving in a TTRPG", rather than a list of mechanics. (Though I suppose that depends on your definition of mechanic - for me, a mechanic is "roll a d20", or "roll 3d6".)

Still it's not a bad list:

• A way for characters to discover details in the fiction; you may also want to add a way to add details to the fiction.
• A way to resolve tasks, or goals,, or conflicts in fiction (ability, skill, combat, spell checks)
• A way to track resources; short term, long term, personal, etc. (HP, SAN, spell slots, items,...)
• The effects of gaining/losing/spending/having those resources; fine-grain effects, larger-scoped effects, per-resource effects, etc.

Equipment, items, coins, hp, sanity, etc, are all different kinds of resources essentially.
Powers, spells, etc. are ultimately meta-resolution mechanics, as well as kind of resource.

Now the actual physical mechanics (remember my definition) to achieve these needs is what distinguishes one system from another - d20 from 3d6 (GURPS, HERO) from dice pools (WoD, Shadowrun) from "keep and drop" (7th Sea, Cortex(?)). I don't know of any purely "resource spend" systems, but I don't see why they wouldn't work.

Now, the choice of mechanic(s) strongly influences the feel of the game, and thus may be more or less appropriate for whatever genre the system is trying to deal with. And though different people have different opinions about which mechanic/system is best suited for which feel/genre, I don't think there's much argument that the choice matters.

 

[Reynard]

Player(s) is fundamental, but you dont need to start with a world - that can be created through the interaction of the players. That “interaction of player(s))” and how it is limited is the mechanics of the game

Every once in a while, a completely clean slate campaign is a lot of fun. Literally start with no details except the game system. When the PCs create their characters, that is the beginning of the world. As play progresses, it is all shared world building and lots and lots of random tables.

 

[pawsplay]

Player(s) is fundamental, but you dont need to start with a world - that can be created through the interaction of the players. That “interaction of player(s))” and how it is limited is the mechanics of the game

That is still The World. You don't have to do extensive world-building, but you do have to say when and where they are, and something about what is "real" in the game.

 

[FrogReaver]

Player(s) is fundamental, but you dont need to start with a world - that can be created through the interaction of the players. That “interaction of player(s))” and how it is limited is the mechanics of the game

That begs the question - what are the players interacting with?

 

[aramis erak]

I understand that there are many different TTRPGs, many different style of playstyles etc. But in your opinion, what are "essential" (whatever that means for you) mechanisms that your games (usually) have to have?

Required:
A resolution system with at least 4 outcome states: Crit Success, Success, Failure, Critical Failure.
A conflict resolution system.
Randomization in resolution.
Character improvement, even if slow.

Strongly preferred
Genre enforcement in rules
Skill system
Attributes
Single resolution mechanic

Conditional Preferences:
If attributes exist in system, mechanical use of all of them. (This is where palladium fails)
if class & level, XP for things other than combat
If class & level, some ability to differentiate between members of the same class. (Palladium is right on the edge)
If class but not level, most abilities not tied to class
If level based but not class based, meaningful improvement.
If not fantasy, no climbing hit points as a steady reward.
If moderns or SF, a .22LR being able to one-shot kill without using the coup d'grace rule!!!
Again, if moderns or SF, it needs to be possible to survive one shot from a .50 cal BMG.

I'll note that certain exceptions apply... I love Tunnels and Trolls, which is Class and Level, attribute driven... but since 5.5, has a skill system, too. What it doesn't have is more HP per level... your HP max is your Con... and it's a dual mechanic system (Saving Rolls and Combat)...

 

[Blue]

I understand that there are many different TTRPGs, many different style of playstyles etc. But in your opinion, what are "essential" (whatever that means for you) mechanisms that your games (usually) have to have?

For me:

• Perception check
• Ability checks
• Skill checks
• Combat mechanisms (Hand-to-hand, ranged, magic, spaceship, etc.)
• Health system (insanity, critical hits, armor etc.)
• Equipment/tools (lock picking tools, magical ingredients, fuel for spaceship etc.) and economy simulator
• Powers/abilities/spells (D&D 4e style daily, encounter and at-will powers, for example normal spells), a bare bones game where the fighter can swing his sword and that's it is boring for me.

Haven't read through the thread yet, but let's take one of my favorite superhero RPGs, Masks: A New Generation by Magpie Games. It's a commercial success, has a bunch of supplements, so we can assume it qualifies as a real TTRPG. It's a PbtA (Powered by the Apocalypse) game focused on teen superteams - the drama, figuring out who you are, and all that while doing super-powered good.

It has next to none of these. There are a set of labels, which is the closest thing to abilities, though they change frequently. It has moves - some of them can be used as combat mechanisms but work just as well in social settings. "Unleash your Powers" is for pushing them, and it could be in combat or to prevent a skyscraper from falling during an earthquake. "Defend someone" works just as well when your teammates high school rival is putting them down that they'll never find anyone to take to prom as it does when Dr. Lobster has his Crustacean Mech attempt to swipe a civilian off a bridge. There are no skills separate from these moves. If you can do it, you can do it. Want to knock out a lone henchman? There's no roll, it just happens - you're a super. Oh, and talking about rolls, the GM never does it. They have their own sets of moves, and it could be that they do a soft move describing the Crustaceanmech picking up a school bus, and if no one does anything about it, then it could be slamming you with it and inflicting a condition. No roll needed. But basically, the same set of moves are available and used regardless if it's combat or not.

Health system... sure, kinda. There are conditions that will affect moves. You can become Insecure, Angry, Hopeless, Guilty, or Afraid. And if you take all of them you're out of the scene, be it knocked out, run away, or whatever fits the narrative best.

Equipment/tools - just like powers, these are just things to justify how you are using your moves to adjust the narrative. If you can fly, it could be because you have wings, because you have a hover disk, a jet back, or can just float through air. There's no equipment lists, you don't collect equipment. There's no mechanical economy at all. But for instance the Protege playbook comes with resources from your Mentor, like a hidden base or a vehicle.

Again, this is a long lasting, commercially successful TTRPG with multiple supplements -- not something to handwave away saying "it's not a 'real' RPG". PbtA is quite a large category of RPGs out there.

Or talke a look at Cortex Prime. It's a generic RPG, but closer to a toolbox to customize your bespoke RPG. Earlier versions of Cortex were Marvel Heroic Roleplay - quite well recieved, major IP since it was during the MCU, Smallville (multi season TV show), Leverage (multi season TV show), Firefly (beloved geek classic show & movie). But Cortex can have abilities or not, depending on what you are going for. Marvel Heroic Roleplay, as a supers game, has no economy simulator nor equipment/tools that exist outside the "I'm a genius inventor". Actually, even traditional supers RPGs usually don't - that's just not essential at all.

Basically, your list has some quite common mechanics for a traditional style RPG like D&D. As a share of the market, it's huge because, well D&D is the 800 lb gorilla. But we can have successful RPGs that don't follow that mold.

If we're looking for essential mechanisms, then it comes down to what's common across all of them. At that point I thnk it's just "a method of determining the results when there is uncertainty". Nothing else, from dedicated combat rules to ability scores to economy are always found. I'd be hard pressed to defend the horror game Dread as a full RPG, but it does have that - picking from a Jenga tower every time you try something risky. Good for building tension as thing progress.

 

[Blue]

okay the only essential mechanism is "Take Turns"

Many (most?) PbtA don't have any mechanism for "Take Turns", even in combat.

 

[Tonguez]

That begs the question - what are the players interacting with?

Themselves, or if a solo game a prompt (a word, a picture, a situation)

Many (most?) PbtA don't have any mechanism for "Take Turns", even in combat.

Um - arent Moves = taking turns?

 

[Blue]

Um - arent Moves = taking turns?

If one player takes four moves and the others take none, and the scene is now done, we did not "take turns". There is no mechanism nor rule that transfers or sets who goes next. The GM should make sure everyone gets equal spotlight, but since PbtA games you can easily split the party that doesn't always mean within a particular scene.

 

[jdrakeh]

For me, the only two real requirements are a mechanically meaningful way of defining characters (this does not mean a mechanically complex way of defining characters) and a way of resolving drama. I am increasingly fond of drama resolution systems that make allowances for degrees of success and failure, as opposed to simple pass/fail systems. I am currently a big fan of (most) PbtA games and FitD games for these reasons.