Cinematic - What does this mean? How does Heirs do it?
Cinematic action was an important design goal of Heirs to the Lost World. Many RPGs describe themselves as "cinematic". This can be problematic for many reasons, the most obvious being that this word means different things to different people. In addition, games make themselves cinematic in different ways. This post lists several of the meanings of cinematic and how Heirs to the Lost World tackles each meaning.
What does "cinematic" mean?
Using lots of good input from this post from rpg.net, here is a short list of "cinematic" elements:
1.a. Major characters can take lots of damage and stay up (or alternately are not hit at all)
b. Mooks/extras/nameless characters go down fairly easily
2. Improbable/Outrageous physical stunts
3. Magic (powerful and/or common)
4. Cut Scenes
5. Fast and lots of action
6. Major characters are especially lucky
7. Characters succeed more often
8. Action movie pacing (intro teaser, building action including win-zone, climax with big bad)
9. Focused on the conflicts that matter (not dealing with small stuff)
10. Dramatic voice-overs
11. High stakes/larger than life
How does Heirs to the Lost World do this?
1. Tough Major Characters / Weak Extras - Wound rules insure that Major Characters can take several hits before going down, Minor Characters can take 2 or 3, and Extras go down with one hit.
2. Outrageous Stunts - In some games, characters can not penalized for attempting stunts. Actions are based on their effect rather than method. If you take out a mook it does not matter if you just punch him or if you do an flying spin kick - mechanically they work the same. To me, this does not mechanically encourage stunts - it only does not discourage them. In Heirs, not only are characters not penalized for doing stunts, the system actually encourages it by rewarding them with Destiny Points.
3. Magic - The spell system is flexible and allows room for creativity.
4. Cut Scenes - Not specifically addressed in the rules
5. Fast - The rules allow tactical choices without requiring any tables and very little bookkeeping. This keeps the players attention on the fiction/story, rather than the rules. Despite this, players still must make difficult decisions (such as where they are spending their Effort dice).
6. Lucky Major Characters - Destiny points give Major Characters that edge they need and provides players a way to shape the story slightly. When a character has run out of Destiny points, they know their luck may have run out. (They better attempt some Stunts to get some more Destiny points).
7. Characters succeed often - Starting Major Characters in Heirs are more powerful and effective than "first level" characters in many games.
8. Pacing - Heirs recommends this type of pacing for adventures, but it is not specifically dealt with in the rules.
9. Focused on what matters - Heirs treats background things (like going shopping) with light rules that do not require much attention.
10. Dramatic voice-overs - not dealt with specifically in the rules, but as a Game Director, I would give out Destiny points for especially good ones (or at least allow a player to use one when doing a stunt).
11. Larger Than Life - While Game Directors can make adventures on any issue, the setting has enough "big" issues. The adventures can involve clear "good guys/bad guys" or can involve some of the more "shade of gray" topics.
What does "cinematic" mean?
Using lots of good input from this post from rpg.net, here is a short list of "cinematic" elements:
1.a. Major characters can take lots of damage and stay up (or alternately are not hit at all)
b. Mooks/extras/nameless characters go down fairly easily
2. Improbable/Outrageous physical stunts
3. Magic (powerful and/or common)
4. Cut Scenes
5. Fast and lots of action
6. Major characters are especially lucky
7. Characters succeed more often
8. Action movie pacing (intro teaser, building action including win-zone, climax with big bad)
9. Focused on the conflicts that matter (not dealing with small stuff)
10. Dramatic voice-overs
11. High stakes/larger than life
How does Heirs to the Lost World do this?
1. Tough Major Characters / Weak Extras - Wound rules insure that Major Characters can take several hits before going down, Minor Characters can take 2 or 3, and Extras go down with one hit.
2. Outrageous Stunts - In some games, characters can not penalized for attempting stunts. Actions are based on their effect rather than method. If you take out a mook it does not matter if you just punch him or if you do an flying spin kick - mechanically they work the same. To me, this does not mechanically encourage stunts - it only does not discourage them. In Heirs, not only are characters not penalized for doing stunts, the system actually encourages it by rewarding them with Destiny Points.
3. Magic - The spell system is flexible and allows room for creativity.
4. Cut Scenes - Not specifically addressed in the rules
5. Fast - The rules allow tactical choices without requiring any tables and very little bookkeeping. This keeps the players attention on the fiction/story, rather than the rules. Despite this, players still must make difficult decisions (such as where they are spending their Effort dice).
6. Lucky Major Characters - Destiny points give Major Characters that edge they need and provides players a way to shape the story slightly. When a character has run out of Destiny points, they know their luck may have run out. (They better attempt some Stunts to get some more Destiny points).
7. Characters succeed often - Starting Major Characters in Heirs are more powerful and effective than "first level" characters in many games.
8. Pacing - Heirs recommends this type of pacing for adventures, but it is not specifically dealt with in the rules.
9. Focused on what matters - Heirs treats background things (like going shopping) with light rules that do not require much attention.
10. Dramatic voice-overs - not dealt with specifically in the rules, but as a Game Director, I would give out Destiny points for especially good ones (or at least allow a player to use one when doing a stunt).
11. Larger Than Life - While Game Directors can make adventures on any issue, the setting has enough "big" issues. The adventures can involve clear "good guys/bad guys" or can involve some of the more "shade of gray" topics.