[Forge-main] The Ideal Mechanic

[Ricardo Gladwell]

Hi All,

I've been thinking a lot about task resolution systems and I've had some 
ideas about what would make the perfect mechanic. The key to a good 
mechanic is simplicity, flexibility and intuitiveness. A mechanic should 
be simple enough that all outcomes can be resolved in at most one roll 
per participant. It must be flexible enough to allow for a whole variety 
of situations, from combat to social rolls. And, it must be intuitively 
easy to understand.

Therefore, the following bullet points define my ideal concept of the 
perfect task resolution mechanic:

* All elements of the mechanic must share a common numerical range (e.g. 
0-10).

* The common range must be easy to understand (i.e. 0-10, rather than 
5-16, for example).

* Only roll only one dice per action participant to determine the outcome.

* Set difficulty and roll-over mechanic should be used.

* The outcome itself must be variable, not simply success or failure, 
but degree of success or failure.

So, my perfect mechanic for FRINGE would be:

All roll modifiers (Ability + Skill) should be in the 0-10 range. You 
then determine a difficulty 0-10 and roll a 1d10 over the difficulty to 
determine the outcome, giving result points in the 0-10 range.

This may well be an impossible mechanic!

--
Ricardo Gladwell
President, Free Roleplaying Community
http://www.freeroleplay.org/
address@hidden