Resources and Abilities #

Just about every game of a certain level of complexity has an “economy” of sorts - a series of numbers that go up and down, advantages that dwindle, and such - that set pacing. I’m going to refer to the tracked things as resources and encourage you to think about them no matter what you intend to make with this framework. Most games also have some mechanical way in which characters interact with the world. Sometimes this is as simple as a kind of roll everyone has in common, sometimes this is an ability that lays out exactly what it does when you use it. These are abilities. These two concepts are often extremely intertwined in a given design.

An explicitly laid-out ability or the ability to spend a resource doesn’t have to be the only way for a player to engage with anything, of course. There’s a whole wide world of things that can happen in a game or story that can’t be defined by coloring within the lines. But at the same time, there are emergent, interesting circumstances that can come from leaning into the outcomes of these mechanics. The interplay of resources and abilities are generally an extremely visible part of the mechanical aspect of the game, and even if nobody uses them in a session, their presence has meaning and frames the situation fictionally. As such, defining these is just as important as “traditional” basic system concepts like how to roll, if not more so.

Resources #

There’s a few axes by which we can define resources.

Passive vs Active #

• Passive resources are expended when something happens to a character.
• Active resources are expended when a character chooses to expend them to achieve some benefit or for some purpose.

Discrete vs Metered #

• Discrete resources are typically one-and-done - when used, it’s exhausted until recovered - and are usually specific to one kind of use case.
• Metered resources are tracked by a decreasing (or increasing) number over time and are often more generalized or can be used for multiple things.

Easy-Recovery vs Hard-Recovery #

Some common time-based recovery periods include:

• Per session
• Per scene/encounter
• Per mission/excursion

And some common conditional recovery methods include:

• Spending a different resource
• Finding more of another resource circumstantially
• Performing a particular action
• Taking some kind of penalty

So based on these, we can add another classification method:

• Easy-recovery resources come back without much effort or after a short period of time.
• Hard-recovery resources come back with greater effort or a longer period of time.

Valiant Horizon #

• Vigor is a clear Passive/Metered resource: it goes down when a character takes Harm. (You could probably argue that some characters treat it as an Active/Metered resource as well via abilities that Harm their own character when used, but it’s decently rare.) It has a recovery period of a scene: fairly quick.
• Powers, Reactions, and Assets are Active/Discrete resources: they’re expended with intention, then they’re gone until the encounter or session respectively passes. Powers and Reactions also have a recovery period of a scene, but Assets recover every game session - a bit longer. You can use Determination to restore use of one of either immmediately, however. Assets can alternatively be exhausted for a greater effect, which means they only recover when the character levels up.
• Determination is an Active/Metered resource: it’s a number that goes up and down that can be used for multiple things. 1 Determination is recovered every session, but you can gain more every session by embracing flaws in your character or performing certain class-specific ations.

NULL_SPACE #

• Much like Vigor above, Health/Endurance are Passive/Metered resources representing durability. Endurance is restored easily (by simple passage of time) while Health is harder to recover (by spending money for medical care).
• Consumables are Active/Discrete resources: they’re expended to accomplish something specific, then they’re gone. A lot of them are used to restore other resources/capabilities as well: Tools and weapons are either charged/loaded or not and can be recharged/reloaded from clip/battery consumables.
• Toughness, Reflexes, and Focus are Active/Metered resources that can either give bonuses or allow certain actions with weapons or tools. They come back between jobs, or some items can restore them immediately.

Passive resources are usually about an ability to withstand risk, while active resources are usually all about ability to act upon the fiction. Not always, but usually. You can certainly mix the two into one resource, but be wary of it: you can often get into a situation where you remove the impact of a decision because there’s simply a correct or negligible answer (i.e. if you have to spend a resource to succeed at something OR it will cost you that resource if you fail at it, it doesn’t really matter and flattens down the game; or one of those two options is on average better and it’s generally the correct choice.) It adds a little depth to have both.

A metered resource is one that a developer is signaling as important to track over time, and that the tracking of it over time is a meaningful thing you care about. However, given that’s the case, expenditures of a metered resource can often feel very anonymous or can be subject to easy comparison on a cost/benefit curve: if you can spend the same resource in two places and one of them usually gets you more, that one is going to come up more and the other is going to come up less, cheapening both as the first becomes a “default” and the second becomes nonexistent. A discrete resource - single-use powers that you have to refresh, for instance - causes less direct comparison and encourages a diversity of tactics. Additionally, multiple resources are a great way to differentiate characters and situations, but if too many of these are metered,

(An example of a passive/discrete resource would be a trait or piece of equipment that is removed or expended under certain external conditions. They’re not as common as passive/metered or active/discrete, but they do exist.)

Hard-recovery resources are going to be much more precious, while easy-recovery resources are going to be used more freely. Both of these can be valuable in certain situations! Adding a level of “comfort” to spending a resource can be empowering or encourage people to spend them while nonetheless limiting them. It really depends the purpose of a resource is. Consider using one, another, or both.

One last note: if every player character has X resources, this means that if there’s 6 instead of 3 player characters, they have twice as many to bring to bear. In games where resources directly lead to results like Valiant Horizon, it does mean a larger group is going to be able to accomplish more without risk of running out, which can put the economy somewhere you’d rather it not be. In this case, consider making some resources common to the group as a whole or encourage situations where everyone has to spend one occasionally.

Abilities #

As with resources, we can define these on several axes.

Active abilities are useful for the same reason active resources are: it provides a way in which you can encourage players to engage mechanically. Reactive abilities, however, provide ways for players to anticipate circumstances and turn around bad outcomes or pile on good outcomes. Typically you want these to feel like something “extra” rather than a replacement for an active ability: in the terms of something like combat with action economies, these should not take the place of active abilities but instead should happen on top of those. Otherwise, they’d likely be better off as active abilities.

Explicit abilities are great at creating tangible outcomes, turning one kind of situation into another, and giving people specific tools. There’s definite value in that: a lot of fun can be gathered either by using something for its intended purpose effectively or using something for an odd purpose. In contrast, abstract abilities give players fewer “verbs” to work with up front, but their scope can be much more broad. I generally encourage developers to make explicit abilities generally work for more heroic games.

Highlighting an ability as not requiring (or not necessarily requiring) resources highlights them as reliable standbys and defaults. They also gives you a baseline by which to introduce abilities that do require resources. A blend of these allows players to decide when they want to stick with reliable outcomes or take risks.

Philosophically, I tend to prefer most abilities to always or usually work. Sometimes it’s fun to include abilities that have associated risks, though.

Examples of Types of Rolled Abilities #

Fairly Reliable Ability #

Reliable Reach Ability #

Risk and Reward #