Game Design Part 5 - Flow of Play

Now that I have a basic idea of how dice work in the game, let’s try to bring game play into a little more focus. I've decided that I don’t like the idea of the GM rolling the dice for the players. Here’s a new approach.

Each round, play moves around the table, with players taking turns. The player, whose turn it is, is the active player. All references to dice, refer to standard cube-shaped dice with six sides.

1. The GM sets the scene.
2. Determine the active player through a method of your choosing. (High roll, for example.)
3. The active player rolls four dice and divides the dice into two sets of two.
4. The dice in the sets defined by the active player are subtracted from each other. The larger die is subtracted from the smaller die in each set. This will produce two numbers in a range from 0 to 5.
5. Using the numbers that they created, the active player will trigger two options from their character sheet and work with the GM and the other players to resolve the effects of these options on the scene.
6. Play then moves to the active player’s left (clockwise) and that player chooses one of the two numbers defined by the active player to trigger a single option. The GM and the other players work together to resolve the effects of this option on the scene.
7. Play continues around the table clockwise, repeating step 6 until all players (except the active player) have triggered one option.
8. The GM provides a scene update, based on the options resolved so far. Unless the GM declares the end of the scene, play proceeds to step 9.
9. The player to the active player’s left (clockwise) becomes the new active player.
10. Return to step 3 and perform steps 3-10 in order. Repeat this sequence until the GM declares the end of the scene (in step 8.)

(This is the flow of play that I am imaging right now, using the die rolling mechanics discussed in part 4.)

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