Although SHIFT isn't officially released yet, I have had a chance to look at the free teaser that's available (and I've funded the Kickstarter). I have to say that I'm really impressed by it's simplicity!
SHIFT is a narrative, fiction first game that uses Traits to describe characters. By default, there are three Traits, Body, Mind and Soul. And for each of these you assign a specific dice size to each (d6, d8 or d10, no duplicates). There are also two Focus Traits. These are custom defined by you, the player, and with these, you assign two Keywords. One Focus Trait is your Primary Trait, and it gets assigned a d4. The other is your Secondary Focus Trait, and is assigned a d6.
What I really love about this game is that there's no math! A one (1), two (2), or three (3) is considered a Success. Everything else is a failure. If a die lands on its maximum value (a 6 on a d6), then that's a Critical Failure, and you have to Shift Down to the next die the next time you use that Trait (a d6 shifts down to a d8). If you roll a 12 (on a d12), then that Trait is Exhausted, and you can't use it again until you Shift Up that Trait. This means that there's no need to keep track of Resources like Health or Mana-- although you could!
It's easy to create your own World Sparks too. A World Spark is a Campaign Seed. It gives you the Core Traits, Locations, NPCs, and Adversaries so that you can start off running. The cool thing here is that you can design your own, and that means tweaking the core SHIFT engine. Don't like Body, Mind, and Soul? Rename them. Want to add a new Core Trait (maybe Magic?) Add it! Now instead of assigning three dice, you assign four (d6, d8, d8, and d10) If you add fifth Core Trait, add another d8. Simple!
I'm in the middle of taking my CyberPink! setting and writing a Spark for SHIFT with it, so I'm eager to see how it works out. At any rate, the Digital version of SHIFT should be available soon after the Kickstarter ends. Wanna know more? Go check it out!
SHIFT is a narrative, fiction first game that uses Traits to describe characters. By default, there are three Traits, Body, Mind and Soul. And for each of these you assign a specific dice size to each (d6, d8 or d10, no duplicates). There are also two Focus Traits. These are custom defined by you, the player, and with these, you assign two Keywords. One Focus Trait is your Primary Trait, and it gets assigned a d4. The other is your Secondary Focus Trait, and is assigned a d6.
What I really love about this game is that there's no math! A one (1), two (2), or three (3) is considered a Success. Everything else is a failure. If a die lands on its maximum value (a 6 on a d6), then that's a Critical Failure, and you have to Shift Down to the next die the next time you use that Trait (a d6 shifts down to a d8). If you roll a 12 (on a d12), then that Trait is Exhausted, and you can't use it again until you Shift Up that Trait. This means that there's no need to keep track of Resources like Health or Mana-- although you could!
It's easy to create your own World Sparks too. A World Spark is a Campaign Seed. It gives you the Core Traits, Locations, NPCs, and Adversaries so that you can start off running. The cool thing here is that you can design your own, and that means tweaking the core SHIFT engine. Don't like Body, Mind, and Soul? Rename them. Want to add a new Core Trait (maybe Magic?) Add it! Now instead of assigning three dice, you assign four (d6, d8, d8, and d10) If you add fifth Core Trait, add another d8. Simple!
I'm in the middle of taking my CyberPink! setting and writing a Spark for SHIFT with it, so I'm eager to see how it works out. At any rate, the Digital version of SHIFT should be available soon after the Kickstarter ends. Wanna know more? Go check it out!
