devious scheming / strategic deployment / narrative combat
Vis-a-Vis is a fast, modular, and competitive RPG system focused on player vs. player interaction. Designed for Vis-a-Visage, a two-player game in the vein of Face/Off, it’s basic mechanics can be used for a much wider range of play. This system reference document (SRD) outlines the basic mechanics and goals of Vis-a-Vis so that they can be hacked into other games.
Vis-A-Vis is designed for narrative-heavy combat stories. Inspired by cinematic rivalries from Face/Off and James Bond, the system helps players determine and dictate the conflicts most important to them. Vis-a-Vis doesn’t necessarily focus on direct combat—there are no hit points or direct attacks. Instead, players choose tools and create goals to complete plots and thwart their opponent. (This isn’t to say your goal can’t be death and your tools can’t be damage; it’s just not intrinsic to the system.)
explain the systems and mechanics of Vis-a-Vis highlight designer intentions and processes empower designers to use the system present the most adaptable and modular version of the system
Vis-a-Vis has three primary mechanics: Clocks, Character Resources, and Dice Pools.
Clocks track progress towards goals, which means the players need goals. The first player to fill their clock is the winner.
Attacking players activate character resources to add dice to their dice pools. They roll their dice pools and group the results into intended actions that lead toward their goals.
Defending players generate their pools using the same procedures, roll, and decide intentions to oppose.
The round ends and clocks are progressed based on successful actions; then the players switch roles.
Clocks Clocks are subdivided circles used to track progress of character goals. The more subdivisions, the more successful actions are required to complete the goal.
At the start of the game, characters will determine how long they want to play, dividing their clocks accordingly. All players normally have the same division of clocks; a good default is eight divisions, meaning that the first character to complete eight successful actions wins.
Clocks can be used to indicate nearly anything—heath, goals, countdown timers, etc. They are visual tools for tracking successes and advancement.
Designer Thought: Clocks don’t have to have the same number of divisions. You might make a three-on-one asymmetrical game where the lone player has to fill their three opponents’ smaller clocks to win.
Character Resources Character resources are the tools, people, skills that players have access to. A player activates a resource by telling the other players how they have access to it and how they’re using it in the fiction; they gain more dice to roll in their pools (see below). Resources are the things you might find on character sheets on other games. In Vis-a-Vis,, they’re narrative prompts that are mechanically equal—they all add dice to pools.
Character resources need limits on access and use to keep dice pools manageable. For instance, each can only be used once, or each is used up if the die they contribute results in a success or failure.
Example: In Vis-A-Visage, characters swap resources at the same time they swap faces, so resources are limited by not wanting to give too much access to your opponent. Players activate these resources to try by telling stories about how they became attached to their opponent’s friends, gain access to their tools, and sway their lover to their own side. The only requirement for using a resource is a story. Additionally, some resources did more than dice to the pool, i.e. resource theft.
Dice Pools The dice pool is the central resolution mechanic in Vis-a-Vis—the way problems are solved. Players assemble a pool by activating character resources (see below) to gain dice. Vis-a-Vis assumes a six-sided die (d6); using dice with more sides will make conflicts more swingy and random.
Players take turns as the attacker. The attacker assembles their pool, rolls their dice, and then declares their intent. To declare intent, players take any number of their dice and group them together into the actions they want to try and accomplish.
Example: The attacking player rolls 3d6, getting a 2, a 6, and 3. They assign the 2 and 6 to “sabotage a trap,” totalling to 8. They assign the 3 to “plant evidence incriminating my opponent.”
Once the attacker has assigned dice to their intentions, the defender can respond by building their own pool, rolling dice, and assigning the results to each of the attacker’s intentions. In order to successfully thwart an intention, the defender must have a dice total higher than the attacker’s. For each unthwarted intention, the attacker advances their clock by one division.
Players then swap roles and go again. Continue until someone fills their clock.
Designer Thought: Because declaring intention happens after dice are rolled, players can choose how much they want a certain action to succeed. If a player really wants a single intention to happen, they can put all their dice into that intention.
Other rules can be layered on top of the simple resolution system. In Vis-a-Visage, for instance, if the defending player’s total is double the attacker’s on an intention, they don’t simply stop it from happening; they also progress their own clock.
I wanted to make a system where players were free to control how much mechanical power was attributed to each action they took, while the defender might apply a narrative lens in choosing which intention to stop. In other words, it might be narratively important for a defending player to block something the attacker didn’t feel mechanically attached to. In this scenario, both players accomplish something they want, which I don’t see often in games I’m familiar with.
You may publish free or commercial work based on, inspired by, or otherwise compatible with vis-a-vis without express permission from me, the publisher. If your product declares use of this SRD, you must state the following in your legal text and on any websites from which a commercial product is sold: “[product name] is an independent production by [publisher name] and is not affiliated with Max Lander or Huge Boar Games.”
Use of the image below in any adaptations you may make is encouraged but not necessary. We do love a credit, though.
If you have questions about this document or Vis-A-Vis, please reach out to me! I love to talk about this shit. Twitter: @maxwellander Itch: https://maxwellander.itch.io/