The Death of Arthur •

The Death of Arthur

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Multi-Column Attributes

What if “how good are you at X?” involved multiple dimensions to consider?

In Fate

Two-Column Fate was my first exposure to the idea, in Fate Accelerated - and describes the concept and the ways you can play with it pretty well.

In D&D

Technically a lot of rpgs like D&D have “two columns” that modify your roll: Attribute + Skill (or attack bonus or…).

The key difference of a true multi-column approach is that the different combinations are all possible unlike the default (where for instance Perception is always going to be added with Wisdom).

That’s also not entirely unheard of as a modification - whether as a special feature or a general rule1, but it’s not baked into the system.

In Cortex Prime

Adding together multiple columns of attributes is the fundamental building block of Cortex. Theoretically it’s a Three-Plus-More Column game. You typically have three “core” trait sets that you always add together, and then may have some more sources of dice2.

In A Wind Age, A Wolf Age

As a Cortex Prime based game, my earlier design and playtest included three-plus-more columns.

I did break one of the common rules of these trait sets - skipping the default Distinctions trait set3 for a concept of Obligations.

My design was that each roll would ask Why (Obligations), How (Attributes4) and What (Skills) you were doing.

Piecing together the roll was enjoyed in the playtest, but Obligations especially seemed to miss the mark - and the Cortex-ized engine of “this mechanic is a new trait set” had mixed success. I came away feeling this was a success for Multi-Column strategies overall, but not a resounding one for the need of all the support Cortex had for it.

In The Death of Arthur

Thus, the most recent design is a simpler one. We’re back to two columns: Reputations and Skills with a grab-bag Advantage mechanic covering “everything else”5.

Footnotes

  1. The very common houserule here is typically framed as “Why can’t I use my Strength as part of my Intimidation?“. ↩

  2. This can be especially flexible because Cortex’s “Hitches” on rolling any 1s mean that you don’t want to increase your dice pool more than you have to (you’re risking more trouble for no diminishing rewards). There’s a lot fewer reasons to put a limit to the number of different traits that can be called upon. ↩

  3. Distinctions are a key part of Cortex and a major way to make characters, well… distinct. You’re invited to switch out any set of traits, but strongly encouraged to have one of the main ones be a set of Distinctions. I didn’t think this would work with a game where characters die and are expected to be replaced (or even during their life, be switched out on some years) so often - and where players may be exploring the setting more than usual. Distinctions value a clear initial idea of the character (even if they can change) and a thoughtful choice - which can slow character creation more than I’d want. ↩

  4. Closer to Fate’s Approaches - which way you were solving the problem. ↩

  5. But this is a little more bounded - we’ve capped the total amount of dice, since we don’t have as strong of diminishing returns when new dice are added as Cortex had. ↩