Trophy Dark and mitigating luck

Exploring the push your luck system in Trophy Dark

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Last time we looked at storing information with components, and how a deck of cards can tell us a lot more than just rank and suit.

This week we are exploring the core mechanism of Trophy Dark, a game about “doomed and desperate treasure-hunters” from Jesse Ross.

Trophy RPG

This description of Trophy from the system reference document is just perfect:

Trophy is a collection of collaborative storytelling games about doomed and desperate treasure-hunters entering a haunted forest that doesn’t want them there.

The games explore the physical, mental, and emotional descent of the treasure-hunters as they move deeper and deeper into the forest, encountering ancient ruins, terrible monstrosities, and the greatest horror of all: themselves.

The game comes in two flavors:

• Trophy Dark: A story-focused roleplaying game where a group of treasure hunters enters a dark and dangerous forest. They probably won’t make it out alive, but it’s fun to see how they fail.

• Trophy Gold: An adaptation and expansion of Trophy Dark to make it play more like old school, classic roleplaying games. It supports on-going campaigns.

There is also Trophy Loom which is a “system-agnostic” setting book that provides lore and content for dark medieval games like Trophy Dark and Trophy Gold.

If you backed the Trophy RPG crowdfunding campaign, all three hardcover books were available in an absolutely gorgeous slipcase.

The treasure hunters

Mechanically, Trophy is lighter than some other roleplaying games (e.g. Dungeons & Dragons). There are no characters sheets filled with numbers and stats. Instead, characters have just a few things:

1. Name: I appreciate that the book includes many examples (e.g. Akaleh, Baso, Kel, and Obeha) so it is easier to choose one that fits the theme.

2. Occupation & Background: These provide skills that will provide mechanical benefits when rolling dice in the game. An Astrologer profession grants the darkness, stars, and symbols skills. The Hapless Peddler background grants the trading skill. In general, characters will start with a total of four skills.

3. Drive: Acts as an internal plot hook, and the reason your character is risking their life in a dangerous forest. Examples include “earn the right to your family’s name” and “destroy the work of Ajino the Debauched Painter.”

4. Rituals & Ruin: The magic system of Trophy relies on Rituals that can be used in powerful ways. Players can choose up to three Rituals when starting, but must mark a Ruin for each one. Cross off all six Ruin and you are destroyed.

Players will also track conditions that they acquire, such as a wound being swarmed by tiny crimson gnats.

Desperate characters and risk rolls

I love push your luck mechanisms, and Trophy leans in hard on this style of play:

Games rooted in Trophy are built around characters willing to push their luck. The characters are often desperate, with something driving them to continue against all odds. The system itself encourages risk taking, so if your game isn’t about risks or characters who push themselves, then Trophy might not be the best foundation.

The dice mechanisms in Trophy are adapted from Cthulhu Dark by Graham Walmsley, and are really interesting! In Trophy there are a few different types of rolls (e.g. Risk, Help, Contest, Ruin, Reduction, etc.), but the one I’d like to explore is the Risk Roll.

First you gather your light and dark dice, up to a maximum of 3d6:

1. Applicable Skills: Gain a light die (+1d6) if you have an applicable skill for the situation.

2. Devil’s Bargain: Gain another light die (+1d6) if you accept a Devil’s Bargain from another player or the GM. If you accept, the “bad thing” from the bargain happens no matter what, even if you succeed. A few examples from the book:

   1. Collateral damage or unintended hard

   2. Getting lost

   3. Sacrificing something dear

   4. Betraying someone else

   5. Attracting unwanted attention

3. Rituals: Gain a dark die (+1d6) if performing a Ritual or doing something that otherwise risks your mind or body.

Next, you roll the dice and use the highest value rolled:

• 1-3: You fail, and there are negative consequences

• 4-5: You succeed, and but there is a complication

• 6: You succeed.

That’s pretty standard stuff for tabletop roleplaying games. Where it gets interesting is with Risk, Ruin, and a chance to push your luck…

Pushing your luck

When you do a Risk roll, if your dark die is equal to or higher than your highest light die and higher than your current Ruin, you must mark one more Ruin. Remember that you only get six Ruin total, so each one is a 17% hit. You also take a new Condition (e.g. spores come out of your mouth when speaking).

If, however, your highest die was a light die, you can add another dark die to your roll and try again. All dice are re-rolled, and the results are interpreted the same way.

Here’s an example:

• You use your hunting skill to gain one light die.

• You accept a Devil’s Bargain about collateral damage to gain another light die.

• It’s not a ritual so you do not gain a dark die.

• You roll and get a 1 and a 3. This is a failure and things will get worse… unless you push your luck and roll again.

• You choose to re-roll. This time you will have the two original light dice plus a new dark die.

Of course, with the addition of each dark die, the chance of gaining more Ruin and Conditions increases.

Unhappy that you failed? Want to re-roll? How badly do you want to succeed?

Mitigating luck

A luck mitigation system is one that tries to reduce (i.e. mitigate) the amount or impact of randomness in a tabletop game. The intent is to increase player agency (real or perceived), shifting the game style from one of luck to one of skill.

There are countless ways to implement luck mitigation systems in games:

• Re-rolls: The classic Yahtzee mechanism used in King of Tokyo (Garfield, 2011) and Dice Throne (Chatellier, et al., 2018) is the prime example. You can roll multiple times, locking dice as you go.

• Dice modification: You roll the dice, but then can modify some of them by adding or subtracting values.

• Drawing multiple cards: Mechanisms that allow players to draw more than one card allow the players to choose from cards, rather than getting stuck with whatever they happened to pull.

In those examples, the mitigation system is integral to the game mechanisms. You don’t choose to trigger the mitigation, it just happens every time it is your turn. While it might cost resources, there is no “bad thing” that happens other than possibly ending with a worse roll.

Trophy’s risk rolls use a form of re-roll mitigation system, but one that comes at a cost. Sure, you can re-roll, but you’ll do it with another dark die and you’ll take Ruin every time it doesn’t go well!

This adds an additional layer of interesting choice and agency for players. Rolling three times has far higher stakes than it might in King of Tokyo.

Low/no math system

There is a lot we can explore in this system, but it is also striking how the probability of the outcome can be adjusted without making the players do math.

Many systems use numerical stats (e.g. STR 15) and modifiers (+1 vs. skeletons) that are then mathematically combined with the dice results to determine the outcome. In MÖRK BORG, for example, you might roll 1d20 and gain +1 for some special item ability and compare that vs. a Difficulty Rating of 15. Simple math indeed in this case, but other systems can have multiple positive and negative multipliers.

The Trophy systems removes this burden from the player and incorporates it into the dice. You add and remove dice instead of tracking modifiers. The dice are all d6 and you usually just roll one to three on your first roll. If you have a skill, you add a die.

As someone who loves heavy board games and wargames, I by no means mean games shouldn’t involve math. It is, however, really interesting to see what can be done in a low/no math system.

Decline and decay

It’s worth noting that Trophy is far more than just the dice resolution mechanism described above. It skillfully causes characters to be injured, changed, and broken over time. This slow degradation is an important part of both the theme and the mechanisms.

It’s definitely a topic that will be covered in a future article.

Conclusion

Some things to think about:

• Dice pool systems: It’s fun to throw a handful of dice, and dice pool systems continue to be popular. Beyond the fun, however, they can be an elegant solution to adding chance to a game in a simple way.

• Luck mitigation: Most players appreciate and desire some amount of luck in their games, but deciding how much can be tricky. Adding a luck mitigation system into the game can help balance a game so it appeals to a wider range of players.

• Low/no math: There’s nothing wrong with games that require some math, but it can be an interesting exercise to try to reduce the math to zero.

What do you think of the Trophy Risk Roll system? How do you decide when to add a dark die and roll again? How much luck do you want in your TTRPG?

— E.P. 💀

P.S. Eleventh Beast and Exclusion Zone Botanist deluxe bundles are back in stock at the Exeunt Press Shop! Get one before they sell out.

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