The Arcane Manifold Engine (AME, pronounced Amy) is a our game engine which we designed to address some of the issues we had with YZE (Year Zero Engine) from Free League, which we’d written games and supplements for.
These issues were:
- A general dislike of the dice pool proliferation (playing Aliens, a YZE game, one player had to roll 17d6. It looks like Invincible has gone that way too). We prefer to roll a small number of dice, and ideally only once to fully resolve an action.
- Discomfort with the target numbers (6, 10) and so we aligned the target numbers to 5, 10, 15, 20. Easier to remember.
- Pushing slows the whole game down, particularly when rolling a lot of dice. Also players frequently express confusion about whether they’re trying the task again or just getting a re-roll with some risk attached. Also, we prefer to roll once!
- Hit Points seems like a step backwards in terms of game design. AME uses attribute decrease to reflect minor injury, fatigue, pain and distraction. These heal quickly.
As we developed the engine, we added some other key things we felt were important to use as both players and writers.
- Critical Injuries are expanded into multiple tables in AME implementations for the most part. Let’s not ignore Mental and Spiritual injuries!
- Simplified table for combat modifiers. These are very easy to refer to, and ideally will end up with a mnemonic!
- Streamlined “life path” for character generation. Life events are tied to Qualities/Talents so you know when/where you got your skill for horse riding or your underworld contacts.
- Cross-Universe compatibility. A character from Shifters can easily fit into a MAJESTIC or 23rd Letter campaign. The base resolution mechanic and its currency (Successes and Complications) are the same.
- Addition of the d4 for PCs and also including d20 as part of the scale. (In theory if d14, d16 and d18 were readily available, we’d use those too.)
- We built a game (The 23rd Letter, more on that soon!) and then made an SRD. And then rebuilt the game, and had a partner launch their first game with the SRD!
- AME is actually 100% compatible with YZE games and supplements.
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