I think 'heat' is a much more fun limiting mechanic than we usually get in RPGs. I wonder if it would work if applied to non-mech games? I could see it replacing spell slots rather well, and even maybe being a 'stress' mechanic for martial classes.
I think 'heat' is a much more fun limiting mechanic than we usually get in RPGs. I wonder if it would work if applied to non-mech games? I could see it replacing spell slots rather well, and even maybe being a 'stress' mechanic for martial classes.
For spells, I’ve seen games where the chance of horrible accidents when casting spells goes up, or the risk of attention from the authorities. Mana reservoirs are also similar to the countdown heat capacity approach discussed as an alternative to countup heat accumulation for mechs.
A microscale heat-alike is the multi-action penalty some RPGs apply. It might be more a d100 thing, but stuff like “every action after the first gets an additional -20% modifier, and this includes any parrying/dodging you do that round” gives a bit of the same calculus to planning your actions each round.
I do think there's a place for "resource management" mechanisms in TTRPGs. A lot of RPG adjacent games (e.g. Tainted Grail, etc.) already have something like this. Spencer at Gila RPGs is doing some interesting stuff with resource management in combat too.
I think 'heat' is a much more fun limiting mechanic than we usually get in RPGs. I wonder if it would work if applied to non-mech games? I could see it replacing spell slots rather well, and even maybe being a 'stress' mechanic for martial classes.
Definitely can go broader than mechs.
For spells, I’ve seen games where the chance of horrible accidents when casting spells goes up, or the risk of attention from the authorities. Mana reservoirs are also similar to the countdown heat capacity approach discussed as an alternative to countup heat accumulation for mechs.
A microscale heat-alike is the multi-action penalty some RPGs apply. It might be more a d100 thing, but stuff like “every action after the first gets an additional -20% modifier, and this includes any parrying/dodging you do that round” gives a bit of the same calculus to planning your actions each round.
Edit: And then there’s the diceless action RPG HEAT (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/heat-ttrpg/heat-high-excitement-action-tabletop). There’s a quickstart up on Itch linked from the description if you want a glance at the mechanic there, but it’s roughly mech heat but for people.
I do think there's a place for "resource management" mechanisms in TTRPGs. A lot of RPG adjacent games (e.g. Tainted Grail, etc.) already have something like this. Spencer at Gila RPGs is doing some interesting stuff with resource management in combat too.