The basic mechanic of rolling d10s and matching them into sets has been around at least since the One Roll Engine (ORE), but the Lake is subtly different. The brainchild of the brilliant and embarrassingly handsome Arik Ten Broeke, the Lake linked all of a character's actions to this centralized mechanic like a weird hybrid of the d20 system and ORE.
I'll let Arik tell you about it a bit:
The genius of the design is twofold:
- It has the potential to generate multiple actions from a single roll
- It creates characters of broad competency; effectively masters of all mortal endeavor
That second facet has some interesting ramifications.
Like today, I realized that the same character that could reasonably juggle semi trucks or take a casual dip in hot lava could create groundbreaking advances in science and mathematics.
A lot of games... Most, in my experience, and most media too... Don't like this. We tend to write our characters on the Achilles template: super-awesome at one or a few things (fighting, physical prowess) but disadvantaged in other areas (poor social skills, physical weak points).
The reason for this isn't hard to figure out: characters of broad competence are difficult to tell stories about. "They were awesome at everything" doesn't have any in-built weaknesses which can translate into challenges for the hero to overcome: man-vs-self is inaccessible by design.
But characters in martial arts stories enjoy broad competency; the core idea of eastern martial teaching is overall self-improvement. Their character challenges are emotional; about conflicting loyalties, passions and responsibilities.
Physical challenges generally take the form of superior combatants that have to be overcome, and the linear ranking is exactly what we see in those stories. If somebody is a better fighter, they're just straight-up better than you at basically everything.
Weaker foes overcome stronger ones by using unusual (sometimes downright sneaky) tactics, not by being generally stronger, but by being the rock to their scissors. The arc of character growth is tied to mastering these new strategies in the form of unique martial arts powers which thereby, almost incidentally, increase your general competence by bringing you to a new height of enlightenment.
I've had to lean into that vision of encompassing mastery as I've continued to design. Fighting against it in the name of enshrining narrower visions of character proved fruitless; you can't have a design that fights itself. Ultimately I've come to love it; it means I don't have to worry about over-specialized characters the way that D&D 3rd edition had to (at once crippling most characters and over-rewarding the unrealistically focused ones).
I can just relax in the knowledge that any character can engage with any challenge on a mechanical level, which allows players to make whatever kind of party they want without strategically disadvantaging themselves.
A lot of the current design has been like this; just harnessing the latent brilliance of Arik's design. Thanks buddy.
Anyway, here are the Endurance and Intellect re-writes:
Endurance
The skill of resilience, staying power, and toughness.
When characters need to push their limits, resist harmful phenomena, or survive
inimical circumstances, they use this skill. Use Endurance when:
·
Withstanding hardships
·
Prolonging strenuous activities
·
Enduring deprivation
Endurance Effect Chart
Rank 0 / Mortal: Unrolled Withstand extended
exposure to sunlight on a hot day, prolong demanding physical activity for
several minutes, endure hunger or thirst for hours.
Rank 1 / Capable Mortal: Result 10-19 Withstand
the scorching sun or freezing winds, prolong demanding physical activity for
hours, endure hunger or thirst for one day
Rank 2 / Peak Mortal: Result 20-29 Withstand
deadly atmospheric heat and cold, prolong strenuous physical activity for days,
endure starvation for two weeks and dehydration for four days.
Rank 3 / Enhanced: Result 30-39 Withstand being
set on fire or plunged in freezing water, prolong punishing physical exertion for
weeks, endure oxygen deprivation for an hour
Rank 4 / Superhuman: Result 40-49 Survive being
baked or frozen, prolong physical activity that would kill a bull for weeks,
endure a vacuum or the crushing depths of the ocean
Rank 5 / Titanic: Result 50-59 Survive within a
bonfire or immersed in liquid nitrogen, prolong physical exertion equal to a
bulldozer for over a month, endure a caustic chemical or acid bath unscathed
Rank 6 / Minor God: Result 60-69 Survive wading
through molten lava or the cold vacuum of space, prolong the energy output of a
locomotive train for several months, endure any disease no matter how fatal
…
Rank 7 / Demigod: Result 70-79 Survive immersion
in molten steel, prolong the equivalent energy output of a jet turbine for a
year, endure a dynamite explosion
Rank 8 / Major God: Result 80-89 Survive a
nuclear meltdown, prolong the equivalent energy output of a power plant for
years, endure an atomic explosion
Sustaining
Actions
All actions sustained during a scene are typically
released when that scene ends. Endurance actions are an exception to this: they
can remain longer, as exhibited on the Effect Chart.
Additionally, a sustained Endurance action may be
“dedicated” to prolonging any other sustained action. This requires one Focus
slot for the original action, and one for the prolonging Endurance action.
Intellect
The skill of comprehension, intuition and memory. When
characters need to rigorously apply logic, conceive sophisticated thoughts, or
recall a memory with speed and accuracy, they use this skill. Use Intellect
when you must:
· Intuit or engineer complex ideas
·
Solve a logic problem rapidly
·
Recall information quickly and completely
Intellect Effect Chart
Rank 0 / Mortal: Unrolled Perform a practiced or
routine mental tasks, solve a reasonably complex problem within hours, remember
a seven-digit number easily
Rank 1 / Capable Mortal: Result 10-19 Perform an
intricate task which requires concentration (such as repairing a combustion
engine or writing a computer program), solve a difficult logic problem in
minutes, recall a small book from memory
Rank 2 / Peak Mortal: Result 20-29 Perform a
highly detailed and complex task to create something groundbreaking (such as the
great advances in technology throughout history), solve a tremendously
difficult logic problem within a minute, recall a small library from memory
Rank 3 / Enhanced: Result 30-39 Intuit the use
of sophisticated technology through logical deduction and experimentation
without prior instruction or context, solve an inhumanly complex math problem
within a minute, recall a library of detailed information with near-perfect
accuracy
Rank 4 / Superhuman: Result 40-49 Perform a
nearly impossible feat of intellect (such as translating a document from a dead
language through logic and inference, reprogramming a computer using a system
you have newly encountered, or operating an alien and incredibly advanced
technology with no training), solve a detailed problem in seconds, recall a
large library’s worth of complex data
Rank 5 / Titanic: Result 50-59 Perform the mental
work of a cutting-edge team of engineers or scientists (reverse-engineer an
advanced technology from broken parts, create a world-changing engine of magic
and science, make a paradigm-shifting disruption to math and science, etc.),
Rank 6 / Minor God: Result 60-69 Hold multiple
libraries of information within your mind and access it with the speed of a
computer and the reason of a genius. Such processing allows you to leap several
epochs beyond current scientific thought; cavemen could invent sophisticated
combustion engines, or bronze-age philosophers could deduce quantum mechanics
…
Rank 7 / Demigod: Result 70-79 Process and hold
information as quickly and completely as a supercomputer, with all the
intuition and insight of the most brilliant human mind. This allows you to
personally usher in a new civilizational epoch with the sum genius of a
generation’s most brilliant minds; you could personally transform a dark age
into a renaissance, or advance cave-dwellers into the bronze age.
Rank 8 / Major God: Result 80-89 Deduce through
fractal hyper-reasoning the precise past or probable future of any person,
place, organization or natural force of which you have ever learned or
theorized. Using such heights of brilliance, you can create irreplaceable
artifacts of science and sorcery, map the human heart with mathematics, or
create artificial life with a living soul
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