Foraging Mechanic Beta Version
Welcome back to anyone who might be paying attention, after quite a bit of getting no where I finally took my own advice and just sat down and just started doing something. I became quite satisfied once things started flowing and came up with a better than expected result after about an hour. It’s been a struggle to develop a foraging mechanic let alone one that is pluggable with something like weather and climate changes. What I have so far is just a basic idea, however it’s functional and it works right out the door. It’s still quite pliable as the clays not quite dry yet, so there’s plenty of time for adjustments.
I know! Isn’t it amazing? Well, I think it’s pretty cool, and it’s really simple. No, not my usual simple, seriously it’s not hard to follow. You start with no points, and acquire them as you move through the +1 hex’s. When you’ve got enough points, you can pass through one of the red doors (the red lines with a #) if you happen to get the opportunity to move through one, into a green X which marks a success. An X with a circle around it is a partial success and double XX marks a critical success. Points are taken away if you move through a black hex (-1) and you get a Clue (©) any time you navigate into a blue, clue hex. Grey hexes with the O’s are just empty hexes and currently do nothing at all.
Navigation is done by rolling 2d4 and adding the result together. Match the value with the edge of the navigation hex above and move in that direction on the hex flower. On whatever map you’re using to represent the area you’re foraging, you can move whatever direction you like using a standard six-sided die (d6), then roll on the hex flower whenever it’s deemed necessary.
As usual, and in case you don’t know, when you roll and move off the grid, you move back around to the other side, as seen below in Example #1 when I move from point #2 to point #3 after rolling a 2 on the navigation hex, note the yellow line looping back around:
This is a short example where I moved one hex per turn. Normally I’d move 1d6, however, for the purposes of teaching how to use this system I thought it would be easier to give a short example. Larger examples are given below, without a break down. However, if you’re using a map with less details, one hex at a time might just be what you’re after.
Note that the direction moved on the hex flower does not need to be the direction your character moves, they can move whatever direction they see fit.
First I rolled a 4,3. 4 + 3 = 7. On the hex flower I moved in the direction signified by the 7 on the navigation hex to point #2, while Lucy headed off the trail to the north one hex. At this point I also and gained one point according to my position on the hex flower. Points are used to ‘open’ hypothetical doors on the hex flower. You cannot move into a door that you do not have enough points to enter. If your roll results in moving towards that direction and you don’t have enough points, you simply stay in the current hex and gain another point if you’re in a +1 hex, and roll again.
So here I am in Hex #2, with 1 point. Obviously I didn’t find anything here, so I need to keep moving. I roll again and this time the result is a 1,1. 1+1 = 2 so I move off the hex and back around and come in on the opposite side landing at point #3 where I get a Clue (©). Clues tell us that the surrounding areas have a higher chance of resulting in discovering some wild edibles should we be starving, or the much needed herb that we needed to cure our poison status, just in time I might add. Clues can also be helpful by adding benefits as well, see #6 below.
This area looks similar to what you’ve seen previously. You seem to be very close.
Soil.. the soil here is perfect and just what you’d expect to see.
There is evidence of previous growth here. There could be living specimens nearby.
Someone or something has been here prior to you. There is evidence of what you’re looking for, but it’s mostly gone. There must be more nearby.
This is the right type of area, it’ just missing what you want. I bet it’ close by…
You see it just up ahead! +1 movement point towards the nearest success.
In addition, when you land on a Clue (©) there is a greater chance of rolling a direction that leads to success. In fact there are four combinations of dice that will lead to you a success from these hexes.
Lucy decides to move north-west this time, and when she gets there she rolls and gets a 7, (3,4). So we move to Point #4 on the hexflower and add a 3rd point. Not quite enough to go through the red door needing 4 points should we roll in that direction or use a mechanic that allows us to move there anytime we have enough points, and on our way to a partial success should we roll a 5 or a 6. Partial success’s can be checked against a table to see to what degree that success lands within.
There is not as much as you’d like, about half of what you need in fact.
While enough is found, it’s of a lower quality and less effective.
It seems as though animals have been eating it, there is about half of what you need.
What is here isn’t of the best quality, but theres is enough overall.
Growth is slow due to the area, it takes the entire day to gather what you need.
This area has gotten less than adequate nutrition, the plants here are smaller than usual, there is a half of what you wanted.
Lucy thinks she see’s something up ahead and moves north and rolls a 3 (1,2) and so we move down into point #5 the empty (O) hex and obviously find nothing here, but maybe just a ahead, what’s that?
Lucy moves north east thinking she see’s what looks like the plant needed, just over there in the shade of large pine. She rolls and the result is an 8 (4,4). Which moves us onto point #6 on the hexflower with a green X. A Success! A very important quest completed! Lucy was able to discover some mugwort to help with her indigestion. She gathers a handful of leaves and begins to consume them a few a time, the smell of sage and camphor taking over her senses.
How about that? Does it make sense? If it’s still not clear for you, let me know.
Above, are some longer examples of where I used a d6 for movement, i.e. rolling a d6 and moving in whatever direction I like the resulted amount of times. I used the standard navigation level which is set to Easy by default, designed so that you achieve success rather quickly. That is, with the 5,6 heading upward. If you’d like to spend more time foraging, turn the navigation hex upside down (hard mode) to make it quire a bit more challenging. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible to succeed quickly, it’s just a lot less likely, however, success is always guaranteed to occur eventually.
Other directions are yet inconclusive as to whether or not they contribute or take away from the challenge of succeeding, but it’s doubtful that it would change much. I’ll be testing it at a future date just in case.
One method of making a failure available that I’ve been testing is to roll a d6+3, i.e. a six-sided die and add 3 to the result. That value is then accepted as the total number of turns before the foraging is considered a failure and one must either go without, or try another location.
In addition I’ve considered the experience level of the forager, whereas, bonuses such as bonus points (up to 3) that can be utilized on either the hex flower to adjust movement and/or on the map to as an addition to the number of tries one gets. I’m not sure which best suggests experience better so perhaps it’s best left up to the player? I’ll have to see how those ideas play out first.
In the above image is some prototyping I’ve been working on, you can see I made a spinning navigation hex. The top spins independently from the bottom, where I plan on marking different difficulty levels should that testing turn into anything useful. I was using different miniatures in an attempt to track different ideas that I’m working out for example, the ‘tracking’ portion of the hunting mechanic. I would imagine something quite similar is plausible. The other idea is having the hexflower completely invisible. That is, hiding its functionality inside a device or mechanic that simplifies the data.
I’m not really sure how people feel about hex flowers, they do seem complicated until the idea is broken down. But you don’t have to understand the underlying mechanics to gain value from their use.
In any case this is just the beginning of the foraging system, it’s certain to change in some ways and will expand as I plug it into the weather system. So that’s about it for this week. Another short example, but there is a lot going on that didn’t make it into this week’s post.
I hope everyone has an amazing week. Emotions might be a bit high this week with the eclipse, so double down on the kindness, but don’t bend because it’s a good time to also trim some fat.
Stay hydrated everyone, and have an amazing week. Appreciate you all!