[Forge-main] New FRINGE Mechanic

[Ricardo Gladwell]

Hi All,

I sent this a while ago but it got buried by the on going discussion 
regarding licensing. Whilst we wait to hear back from the FSF I'm 
reposting it to jump start further discussion.

I've been playing around with a few rules and I came up with the
following, new mechanic. It (nearly) fits my criteria for an ideal
mechanic, although I'm unsure if its any better than the existing FRINGE
mechanic.

* All abilities and skill traits are 0-5. Select appropriate Ability and 
Skill for an action. Difficulty of task is set by GM between 1-10.

* Roll a 1d5 (1d6 where 6 = 0) and add your Skill trait score. If the 
result is over the difficulty you succeed.

* To determine degree of success roll another 1d5 and add the Ability
trait score. This gives you a degree of success between 0-10.

The advantages are:

* More natural, and fairly consistent range (primary traits 0-5; ability
+ skill trait, secondary traits, difficulties, degree of success all
0-10 range).

* Open ended for traits 5+.

* Simple roll-over mechanic.

* Uses common 1d6 die.

The disadvantage is that it requires a minimum of two separate rolls per
action.

I created this after playing around with the idea that it is skill that
allows you to succeed at certain tasks, but raw, innate talent that
determines how well you do actually do. For example, solving a complex
H-space quantum mathematical formula requires a knowledge of Quantum
Physics and Algebraic Mathematics, but how well you actually should be
determined by your actually raw talent at such tasks, or Intelligence.

If this is unsatisfactory, but there is another, slightly more
complicated method: you could add Ability and Skill together and 'fold'
(divide by two, rounding up) the result to determine the basic roll
bonus for both rolls.

Also, I'm unsure of a good way to determine degree of failure. You
could:

* Roll 1d5 and subtract the roll bonus - but this would only give a
degree of failure in the 0-5 range.

* Roll 1d5 and *add* the roll bonus - i.e. the better you are at
something the more potential to mess up. Ugly and counter-logical.

* Roll 1d10 and subtract roll bonus - simple, but requires additional
die.

* Roll 1d5 and add the amount by which you failed the first roll -
Logical but very complicated, requiring further subtraction and then
addition.

Please, let me know what you all think...

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