So You Wanna Make a TTRPG? #6 - The Power of the Metacurrency

[@JACE70736]

In my game I use Morale as a metacurrency. It scales with each character's Charisma and is shared across the party. Anyone can spend it to add 1d6 to any 3d6 roll they make and drop the lowest result, strengthen a heal, or boost damage by 1d6. The catch is that morale is gained only by resting and completing objectives and lost when a party member goes down or dies, and if morale is lost while the party is at 0, they all take a stack of exhaustion instead. I think the system does a good job encouraging players to spend it while also punishing overuseing it. I also think it works well as a narrative mechanic to represent the mental state of the party. No clue which category that fits into.

[@enthurian100]

I think it's representative, based on the definitions used in the video. It's not vital to their play. They can do things without it, but it's definitely useful and important. So, I would imagine it's just an important Representative currency, though I'm not entirely sure either. I mean, these are all made up categories anyway, so it might not technically fit any of them.

[@sonloke1409]

So, in a shounen battle manga, this would be: - Fiat: Plot Armor - Representative: Willpower - Commodity: Whatever juice fuels their powers Did I get that right?

[@yuvalgabay1023]

I once had a dump idea for a meta corency thats let you pull out bullshit real world information to halp you . Whan i mean bullshit i mean its sounds vaigly true but actually its totally not. Which is such a jojo thing

[@joeyjojojrshabadoo7462]

"Luck" almost always the name for metacurrency so it always sticks out when games such as call of Cthulhu or Fallout has luck has as an actual defined stat the same as strength or dex.

[@DareToWonder]

I view meta currency as a way to do thi gs that would make sense in a stylized plot when a game is built with realism in mind.

[@stevemanart]

The only metacurrency I use is a pretty simple luck system that allows players to augment rolls because short of a random death in a narrative focused game, there is very little that takes the wind out of a player's sails more than a a long stint of bad rolls (which feels even worse on a normal distribution curve for the dice mechanic). My usage of luck is based on direct advice I personally got from the guy most often credited as the maker of That Dragon Game™ when he told me at a convention in the late 1990s that if a player ever entertains me personally in a game, "give him some points" and since my game doesn't use that style of XP I had to come up with a different way to give points. But in the end it lead to a fiat currency that rewards players for being engaged in the game, and in the Final Fantasy hack of my own system there's an elemental alignment system where if you can engineer certain scenarions based on your elements you are guranteed to get luck points.

[@nobodyinparticular5639]

My personal favorite useage of fiat currency was in 7th Sea, and that’s largely because it was used before you make a roll thus emphasizing the importance of that roll to the players. You could also share the meta currency with other players.

[@Xararion]

Closest thing my system has for a metacurrency falls into the representative category. My project uses cards as resolution mechanic, but sometimes card is removed from you for extended period of time when used, but characters have small amount of points each day available to recover these lost cards. It is a metacurrency that fluctuates fast, each full nights rest renewing the entire pool, but anything beyond that not influencing the pool upwards, so it is part of the games built in slow attrition. Characters with high Recall attribute suffer attrition out of their strong moves slower with more control, than characters that have low Recall won't have much control of their fall, when they use a card up it's going to be gone.

[@Ramschat]

That deep state fiat metacurrency joke slide made me laugh out loud

[@matthewparker9276]

A good example of a commodity metacurrency is... actions. In pretty much an game that uses actions of some description, they are required, there are set ways to gain actions, and there are set ways to spend actions in order to influence the game. A commodity metacurrency.

[@adzi6164]

hmmm I don't really consider Clash Points from Jackal as a metacurrency - considering they are determined by your stats and determine how many extra actions you do per round, they are just a unit of action economy. I consider the Aiki->Kiai->Karma system from Tenra Bansho Zero a beautiful example of a metacurrency that basically works as all three types of currency; it's: - fiat - Kiai's acquisition depends on GM's fiat (although it can be awarded by other players as well) - representative - while it's aqcuisition isn't in any way determined by character's stats, it actually represents the esoteric ability of heroes and villains to power through problems with the power of love/friendship/passion/ambition/obsession/duty/etc. but at possible cost of sanity. - commodity - Kiai is used both as a boost and as XP, and its transformation into Karma (bad) is a fuel to changing the character's psychological traits and goals - which are also used to gain Kiai. Without the Kiai-Karma mechanic, the system ceases to be.

[@NotepadAnon]

After I had written, recorded, and finished things I remembered TBZ's Aiki Chits. Don't drink and write everyone.

[@sevencoloredmage8726]

The way Aiki is awarded to the players has some pretty good guidelines in the rules that makes it less hand wavey and GM-centric. The amount of Kiai generated by the character out of the player's Aiki pool is pretty much directly tied to the "useless" Empathy stat. Kiai has to then be used to have a chance to win a boss fight and it fuels that whole Fate and Karma engine which again is used by the player as a baseline to harvest Aiki. Beautiful design.

[@TheAxion1]

I’m not sure if he’s gone over this before in the ttrpg classroom series but the topic of metacurrencies has got me thinking about what qualifies a game as rules-lite or crunchy. A lot of self proclaimed rules-lite games I’ve seen tend to have metacurrencies as the big focus and I’ve always felt that they can really bring one out of a game if done excessively. Games ive seen with this are Nine Worlds, Four Points, Fate, and Dust Devils. Contrast that with more “crunchy games,” the metacurrencies in those are usually optional but this is where I hit a dilemma on what makes a game distinctively lite and clearly crunchy. Where’s the line?

[@NotepadAnon]

It is a messy line, as one man's crunch is another man's simplicity. Generally I like to break them apart by the number of "Unique Options" a player has at their disposal. You have the [Do Something Cool] Action and little else? You're probably Rules-Lite, using a Metacurrency to supplement it. You have five pages dedicated to the Farming Mechanics of your 800 page tome? You are probably a bit on the crunchy side.

[@franciscosolanille7397]

I linked the "fate" points to charisma because it was used as a dump stat, and also 1s so when you fail it doesn't feel that bad

[@drewwilson8756]

I want to be in a pretty, little categoryy! Meta-currencies Fiat Currency authority controls value: player/gm for world basic player treat generalized usage Representative Currency character controls value: tied to character for world impacts character interactions should be difficult to acquire for meaning Commodity Currency object or concept controls value currency is the game; game often breaks if dysfunctional high player engagement

[@knaz7468]

Oddly enough, I'd say "rest" (or sleep or whatever gets back character resources like mana/spells/abilities/etc) is also a meta currency. When players are flush with it, they can "dump" resources into a situation. When they are starved they are useless and try to find every opportunity o get it back. It's kind of silly.

[@witchkrieg]

Sadly in my experience elves having low Fate points isn't enough of a mechanical disadvantage to offset their amazing stats. Even factoring in fantasy racism against them isn't enough. Also - FATE points in Fate are an essential part of the game but are meant to be a mutually agreed on deal between player and GM, I quite like it as a suggestion/ encouragement/ incentive for players to take actions that suit their character but would have a poor effect for them, I don't know any other examples of this in a system in my limited knowledge.

[@mistery8363]

6:07 Doesn't the fact that low luck gives you penalties mean it'd literally be useless or downright harmful to use it, thus giving low rollers LESS options?

[@NotepadAnon]

Exactly, but Giantlands is a game made by cretins.

[@PjotrFrank]

Ha! Point-pool-overkill! Here you are again, my old nemesis! IMO it's already a drag to micro-manage hit points, spell slots, ki points, sorcery points, and whatnot. There's no need to add yet another "currency" to the game, just to incentivize players to do awesome things (one could argue that they can't, because of the constant mind-numbing updates to their character sheet). Just let them try anyways, without having to collect good-boy-points beforehand. The only meta-currency needed is consequences (and that goes without point-pool-management).

[@black_flame_studios]

FATAL has the best metacurrencies. Prove me wrong.

[@yuvalgabay1023]

I cant..im too mentally healthy to do it

[@SageMasterRPG]

I hate the concept of metacurrencies, They are micro-transactions in online games. The PC is going to die... nope .. they have a couple hero points and survive against an encounter that he should not have attacked in the first place. They are not allowed in my game.

[@adzi6164]

I disagree with that analogy, but I can see your logic

[@SageMasterRPG]

@@adzi6164 I view them as power-ups. And everything that you give to a PC can be abused. In a different video about hero points, The GM offers automatic success for spending a hero coin. PC is fighting the big bad, uses two hero coins and ruins the epic reveal, plot twist of the game.

[@yuvalgabay1023]

​@@SageMasterRPGya but you need to remember how some system reward you whit them .alot of system reward points for harming your self in way. In following your vices or flaws even though you could've have succeeded..you didn't.. because you took a risk thats makes sence for your character

[@Ramschat]

I see it more akin to 'plot armor' and a reward for active role-playing If you really like in-world realism, then you probably hate it If you need a way to incentivize roleplay, you probably like it