Re: [Forge-main] Re: Mecanics

[Ricardo Gladwell]

On Mon, 2002-11-04 at 20:18, Enrique Perez wrote:
> So putting all this together, the ideal system would have an ability + skill 
> + circumstance + die
> roll versus decimal target difficulty. The die roll should be added to make 
> the result curve more
> gaussian and avoid the 10% chance of doing the near impossible. On the 0 - 5 
> system ability
> modifiers go to + 3, skill will probably be similar, also going to + 3, 2d6 
> ranges from 2 to 12
> and circumstance goes to say + 2. Adding this up and saying that near 
> impossible is equivalent to
> saying only a well suited person skilled in the art with everything going for 
> him on a lucky day
> can do this, the target difficulty will range up to 3 + 3 + 2 + 12 = 20. 
> Twenty is still decimal
> and although a zero to ten difficulty would be more comfortable to use, 
> twenty is ok, provides
> more granularity and is necessary by the nature of integer bonuses and 
> integer die rolls.

I've made a slight mistake here: on an open ended system like this
(bonuses to the roll can exceed 10) difficulties have to exceed 10, and
achieving target difficulties of 15+ is possible. Generally,
difficulties in this situation would be between 5-20 (normal
human-feasible tasks). Perhaps the 0-20 decimal system is the best, in
this case, although I wanted to avoid it for obvious similarities
between Forge and another popular open source RPG system :)

A quick analysis of the system as you mentioned it above: For each roll
you select a primary trait, a skill, add the totals and add that to your
roll. External factors increase or decrease the difficulty, internal
factors gives bonuses or penalties to the roll. Difficulties are between
5 (simplest) to 20 (maximum human possible) with 21 to 22 (the maximum
for primary 5, skill 5 roll, no other bonuses) for super heroic tasks.
This means the average success points for an average task (say
difficulty 10) with average stats (primary trait 3, skill 2) is 2
success points, with maximum success points being in the region of
10-15!

This of course, breaks the decimal system for secondary traits. For
example, hitting an opponent with your bare fists you might have to roll
his/her Defense rating (0-10) as a difficulty. Of course, this means
even the most normal character has a relatively good chance of beating a
Defense rating of 10. So, we change the secondary trait range to 0-20.
But then this starts to sound, again, like the d20 system. Also, a 1d10
would work as well, if not better (reducing the range of difficulties
more tightly within the 1-20 range) than a 2d6 here.

> I'm glad we're all talking and working on this game concept. I really hope we 
> can keep going at
> this pace and build a world to start stomping through soon;)

Yes, I'm glad to find people as enthused about this as I am :) Although
world stomping may have to wait until we have a more balanced system up
and ready :) See my reply to Duncan's email for more of my thoughts on
world building.

-- 
Ricardo Gladwell
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a
       little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
             - Benjamin Franklin