<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META NAME="Generator" CONTENT="MS Exchange Server version 5.5.2653.12">
<TITLE>Skill resolution mechanics</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>It could be generalized as an overall success mechanic ("effect points") which could be applied to any skill. For crafting, number of EP is put toward creating the object. For hunting, EP apply toward finding food, water and shelter.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>It could even be generalized in terms of combat, where EP apply toward combat damage effects. It does have the advantage that the underlying die-roll system can be swapped around in playtesting, since what we are after is the "quality" of success and if you made it or not.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>I did something sort of like this when I ran Traveller: 2300. In melee combat the default rule was that it was a regular (average) difficulty to hit someone, and then they needed an average melee roll to block. Runequest is similar in this regard.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>What I did was to allow for player determination of risk. If the player was good enough (or felt lucky enough), he could optionally increase the difficulty a step or two (simulating feinting, tricky maneuvers, etc). The "defender" would have to make his competing roll with the same increase. Thus, Joe Hero is pretty good with his blades, and is jumped by a mook for his money. Joe could just duke it out with "average" combat moves, but since he is so butch he can opt to make a "difficult" strike. The mook would then have to make a difficult block which may well be impossible.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>To prevent ranpant abuse with buffed characters there has to always be some risk -- there has to always be some "95-100 = miss" result. This would then key in with the idea of "detriments". In the example above, If Joe went to "difficult" (2 difficulty steps up from "average") and failed on his attack, he could be considered to be out of position or something. As such, any skill rolls he has to make until he has a turn to recover have two points of detriment (in my traveller system, which is very close to my "target-12" system on Wout's site, the detriment might be 1/2 the difficulty difference.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>SO, to clarify, if An average task is 12+ on 2d10+EL, and Difficult is 18+, then his 6 points of attempted effort become a -3 to all his rolls (i.e. defense) until he recovers.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>SUch a system gives players more f a feel for being there, since the decision to play it safe or play it risky is theirs, on a momeent by moment basis as the situation unfolds. It is similar to, but has greater influence than, the ability to shift Weapon EL offensivly or defensively.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>But back to the topic at hand...with this abstracted "levels matters" base, we could playtest with 2d10, or use 3d6, or percentile, or whatever. The meta rules would be relativly unscathed, but we could play with things to find the right fit of player capability vs. mooks.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>BUt you all know my bias here -- I like my 2d10 system, since the ref needs only know difficulty and can adjust from there, without the need for table lookups.</FONT></P>
<BR>
<BR>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>----------------------------------------</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Burton Choinski</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Principal Software Engineer, Quality Engineering</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>email: burton.choinski@matrixone.com</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>phone: 978-589-4089</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>fax: 978-589-5903</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>MatrixOne, Inc.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>210 Littleton Rd.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Westford, Ma 01886</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>www.matrixone.com</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>The First in Intelligent Collaborative Commerce</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>----------------------------------------</FONT>
</P>
<BR>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>|| -----Original Message-----</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| From: Sylverrs_ dragon [<A HREF="mailto:abnaric@HOTMAIL.COM">mailto:abnaric@HOTMAIL.COM</A>]</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| Sent: Monday, January 26, 2004 12:23 PM</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| To: POWERS-AND-PERILS@GEO.CITG.TUDELFT.NL</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| Subject: Re: Fletching Arrows</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| Sounds interesting.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >From: Albert Sales <drite_mi@YAHOO.COM></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >Reply-To: Powers and Perils Fantasy Roleplaying Game Mailing List</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| ><POWERS-AND-PERILS@GEO.CITG.TUDELFT.NL></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >To: POWERS-AND-PERILS@GEO.CITG.TUDELFT.NL</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >Subject: Re: Fletching Arrows</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 16:36:51 -0800</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| ></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| > I've used a slight modification of combat rules to </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| address things like</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >this. Failure would destroy some materials. Simple success </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| would grant 0</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >Work Points. Moderate would grant 1 Work Point. Each extra </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| level of success</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >would double the number of WP up to 8 at impossible. </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| Difficult tasks would</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >subtract points from this award. (When I say difficult, I </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| mean like adding</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >an extra point of fatigue to a weapon, not making a </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| thousand arrows; that</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >would be involved, but not difficult).</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| > More fitting to specific skill is to allow 1 for </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| moderate, 1+EL/20 to</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >difficult, 2+EL/20 to very difficult, and 4+EL/10 for impossible.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| > These "Work points" are then applied to the task. When </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| using this, I</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >replace all instances of "Days" with Work Points. For </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| arrows, I ussually</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >reduce this to 1/2 WP. A common fletcher (EL 20) would be </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| able to average</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >about an arrow every 1-2 days, wasting a little money to destroyed</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >material. If rushed, and if lucky, he could finish 8 (or 6) </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| arrows in one</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >day. An EL 80 fletcher can easily finish 2 (or 5) arrows </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| every day, and if</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >rushed and lucky could finish 8 (or 12) with an impossible. </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| The 8 point</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >limit makes sense with a fletcher, because some steps can </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| not be sped up.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >The EL 80 could also try to make BETTER arrows, by </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| sacrificing 1-3 (1-4) WP</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >per day.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| > Also, if the craftsman is only trying to work on one </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| standard piece,</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >they can pace themself. They would assign a WP level to </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| test for (Either</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >moderate or difficult only), and roll against 1 level </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| easier. If they pass,</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >they get the number of WP they attempted, if they fail, </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| they gain 0. This</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >actually becomes a factor when trying to modify equipment </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| to be better. (-2</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >WP per day for +1 FV is -2 WP on a day 0 is scored).</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| > I've worked out systems of WP and open-ended testing </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| for many skills,</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >if anybody is interested.For hunting, I've found it works </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| quite well at</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >both rewarding good hunters, and detering people from </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| hunting unskilled.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| ></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >Alex Koponen <akoponen@MOSQUITONET.COM> wrote:</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >The skill Fletcher states that the time to make an arrow is one day.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >Similarly Bowyer has specific times to make specific bows, </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| Armorer has</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >specific times to make particular AVs of armor, et cetera.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| ></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >Frankly I think that an EL80 fletcher would be a lot more </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| likely to make a</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >good arrow AND a lot faster at making it than an EL1 fletcher.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| ></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >Further, even the same skill fletcher may take X amount of </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| time to make</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >one arrow, but a lot less than X amount of time per arrow </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| when making a</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >large batch of arrows. Particularly if he has specialized </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| equipment that</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >takes preparation and little more preparation for 100 than </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| for 1 (example:</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >making a pot of glue to glue fletchings on).</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| ></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >Should there be a success roll involved?</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >What happens with a partial success? With a failure?</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >Presumably if it is to be enchanted the roll must be a success.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| ></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >Should the time be variable?</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >If so, what are the variables?</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >How much time for what bonus to the roll?</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >What negative to the roll for going faster?</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| >What modifiers for equipment? For batch processing?</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| ></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| _________________________________________________________________</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| Learn how to choose, serve, and enjoy wine at Wine @ MSN.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| <A HREF="http://wine.msn.com/" TARGET="_blank">http://wine.msn.com/</A></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>|| </FONT>
</P>
</BODY>
</HTML>