Torg - Game Mechanics

Game Mechanics

Torg billed itself as a "cinematic" game and tried to emphasize game play in a manner similar to adventure films such as Indiana Jones. Terminology used in the game reflected this fact. For example, adventures were divided into sub units known as "acts" and "scenes". Conflict resolution also reflected the cinematic nature of the game. Actions were resolved by a player rolling a twenty sided die against a difficulty number. The degree by which the roll exceeded the difficulty number of the task influenced how successful the player was at the action. Rolls of 10 or 20 allowed the player to roll again, adding their new roll to the old. This could be continued indefinitely as long as the player rolled 10 or 20, allowing for fantastic feats in a cinematic style. The wound system, which stressed incapacitating damage over lethal kinds, also mimicked the style of adventure films, wherein the hero may often be incapacitated, but is rarely killed.

In addition, Torg used an unusual card based system to augment gameplay. A hand of cards were dealt to each player at the beginning of the game. The rest were stacked in front of the game master. Cards could be used by both players and game masters to influence play. Whenever a combat encounter began the game master would flip over a card which would dictate certain advantages and disadvantages for the players and the NPCs. Players could also use cards to give themselves advantages or even plotlines which could result in extra points.

Players were rewarded with "possibility points." These points could, as in most games, be spent to improve the characters abilities. However, unlike in most roleplaying games, possibility points, or "possibility energy" also existed as an in-game phenomenon, and characters could spend them to achieve certain effects, such as healing, or warping reality.

Character creation was limited, perhaps to allow for people to quickly begin play. Both the basic set, as well as subsequent supplements, provided several character templates based on general archetypes such as "Eidenos Hunter" "Vengeful Human" or "Werewolf". These came complete with a general background story and a pre-set roster of attributes and possessions. Player input was limited to distributing points among an array of skills. Eventually, further supplements allowed for more freedom in designing characters.