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<TITLE>RE: P&Pv2, design questions (to Richard)</TITLE>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>I like the way randomness can generate interesting characters, but you can get the situation where you have everyone with more-or-less average characters, and one person who did well and has a "super" character that owns everyone. Or the alternate where someone rolls poorly and makes a gimp.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>Point based systems provide more evenness between players, but you can end up with eveyone looking the same.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>One compromise I proposed, back when I last ran P&P (short lived game, it was fun enough, but we had two newbish players and all the math drove them bonkers. Priority one has to be to eliminate all the in-game monkey makework math) was a "Karma" system. Basically, when rolling their characters they had the option of taking rerolls for base attributes (unlimited, but you had to take the roll, not take the highest of that new roll and what you had before), for determining multipliers, specials etc. You gained 2 points of Karma if the reroll was a single die (d10, d6, d100), and 1 point of karma if it was a bell-curve die (2d10, 2d6). </FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>The purpose of the gained karma was to screw the character on good rolls...basically, "bad karma" that had to be worked off in play (and you had to take the lumps -- the karma burn would only apply if the roll was meaningful, at my discretion). When karma came into play the player had to re-roll the dice she just rolled. Obviously you only force this on a good roll.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>AT this time I was using my 2d10 system for skills, so to be objective about it a Karma hit came about when you rolled doubles on your skill roll and would have succeeded in your skill. For magic and combat (which still used perecentile), you had to re-roll if your die roll ended in a "1" (i.e. 01, 21, 41, etc).</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>I think one player had about 55 Karma at the start of the game, and after the 4 or 5 sessiones we played had gotten it down to 50. Most of the rerolls didn't hurt too bad (a few cases of deadly/severe hits turned to misses or shield hits), and one skill roll he REALLY wanted had to be sacrificed to the karma god.</FONT></P>
<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>
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<BR>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>-----Original Message-----</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>From: Albert Sales [<A HREF="mailto:drite_mi@YAHOO.COM">mailto:drite_mi@YAHOO.COM</A>]</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2004 5:30 AM</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>To: POWERS-AND-PERILS@GEO.CITG.TUDELFT.NL</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Subject: Re: P&Pv2, design questions (to Richard)</FONT>
</P>
<BR>
<P><FONT SIZE=2> We used a similar house rule. We assigned a</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>set number of multipliers then added 1d10 to</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>(Mult +1)x2 to get a native range of 4-20 that</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>very closely represented the character that our</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>players wanted. It also helped keep the game</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>balanced. We did not allow this with con and</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>appearance. They were as rolled.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>--- Sylverrs_ dragon <abnaric@HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> The thought, right or wrong, was that Con and</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> Ap were things a person was</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> born with and could not alter. Thus the fixed</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> multiplier.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> The rationale with the other eight stats is</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> allowing the player to assign</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> multipliers allowed him to make the character</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> the person he wanted it to be</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> within the limits of its native ability and</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> other factors that I felt have</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> an influence.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> The result makes creating a character more</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> complex but I feel it also makes</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> the resulting person more unique and important</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> to the player.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >From: "Choinski, Burton"</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> <Burton.Choinski@MATRIXONE.COM></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >Reply-To: Powers and Perils Fantasy</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> 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: P&Pv2, design questions (to Richard)</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 10:40:17 -0500</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> ></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >I was playing around with some ideas for v2 as</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> proposals to the list, or as</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >a simpler "house version". I was just</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> tinkering with the very start of</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >things, characteristics.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> ></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >Richard, what was the reasoning behind</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> allowing players to alter the native</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >ability modifier for the existing 8</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> characteristics, but not Con and App?</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >What was the reasoning behind making those two</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> "special" (besides the</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >obvious mechanic in that you have multipliers</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> that you can roll that you</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >cannot allocate).</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> ></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >WHy wasn't the system simply streamlined such</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> that things were normalized</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >for the standard "x1 to x4" range? Or why not</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> Emp as well? Perhaps they</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >all should use a rolled table (which will</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> differentiate the races more),</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >and</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >the players simply "bid" for their rolls by</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> adding native ability points.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >when all are used up you are stuck with what</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> you roll.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> ></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >Example: Joe has 21 Native ability points. He</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> really wants to have a</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >decent</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >S and St, and so bids 5 each (the max) for</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> each of those rolls. He also</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >wants a good con and bids 5 into that. The</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> remaining 6 points are bid as 2</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >into A, 2 into D and 1 each into W and I.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> ></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >Looking at the human table, he rolls a d10 for</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> each characteristic, adding</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >any bid amount, the result being his native</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> aptituce multiplier. The table</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >could go a little beyond 10 (perhaps 11-14 for</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> a tad more, and 15 for 1</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >level higher). Each person would get the same</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> number of bidding points</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >(don't roll the 2d6+14), and go from there.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> ></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> ></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >Are there plans to stick with the standard 10,</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> or will there be some</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >changes</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >there? (more, fewer, or different)</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> ></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> ></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >----------------------------------------</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >Burton Choinski</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >Principal Software Engineer, Quality</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> Engineering</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >email: burton.choinski@matrixone.com</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> ></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >phone: 978-589-4089</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >fax: 978-589-5903</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> ></FONT>
<BR><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>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> ></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >The First in Intelligent Collaborative</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> Commerce</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> >----------------------------------------</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>></FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>></FONT>
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