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Post by logan9a on Jan 11, 2019 8:21:05 GMT
Drive (specify; examples include air car, ground car, heavy truck, etc): Doing fancy stuff, attempting to avoid stupid people who don’t have the skill but are driving, etc. Note that sometimes an accident simply cannot be avoided. In those cases, a drive roll may merely be to try to mitigate damage or keep everyone alive.
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Post by logan9a on Jan 12, 2019 0:58:39 GMT
Clubs/Brawling: If you don’t want to put a lot of points into combat skills, this is a great way to go. High base plus, you don’t need to carry anything around. You will spend a full combat action picking it up but then you have a weapon. Examples include the bottle you were just drinking out of, the chair you were just sitting in and so on. Dodge - you need somewhere to dodge TO. If you are busy climbing a rope, perhaps on a catwalk (or in a narrow hallway) there may not be anywhere to dodge TO hence the skill either can't be used or only at a strong negative, see GM. This skill cannot be used to ‘dodge explosions’. The stuff in an explosion (regardless of what you’ve learned from movies) moves faster than you can. Empathy: “Lie detection’s all about asking the right questions.” - “Lie To Me”, S1E7. This will get you the basic emotion that someone you are talking to is feeling or displaying, possibly with use of microexpressions. According to Dr. Paul Ekman, there are seven universal microexpressions: disgust, anger, fear, sadness, happiness, surprise and contempt. They often occur as fast as 1/15 to 1/25 of a second. You need to be able to see the person's face. Hence if they sit around in darkness, with big sunglasses on and so on, it's an easy way to negate empathy skill. The empathy skill will tell you what general emotion (or, if the GM is feeling fancy, microexpression) the individual is displaying but not why. That is where asking the right questions comes in. If the target has no emotions, it doesn’t work. If the target is an unfamiliar creature, it won’t work or be at a negative. This skill is opposed by ‘acting’. If the actor wins, you get whatever emotion they want you to get. What makes this skill interesting in play is that the right questions must often be asked in order to get the microexpression to display. If you don't know what to ask, this skill is much less effective. Heavy Weapon (fill in the blank): Think ‘mounted machine gun’ or ‘rocket launcher’ as examples. Note that many ‘heavy weapons’ are ‘crew served’ meaning if it’s just you, it isn’t happening. Ask the GM if you are uncertain. Parry/Block notes: If the thing fighting you is man sized or less (assuming you are as well) you can attempt to parry their attack. If you are fighting a giant or some sort of large creature, you can’t really parry them. Imagine trying to parry a mountain lion. Not really happening. But against humans, it’s great. A parry (generally speaking) will negate their attack. There are special rules on ‘fighting offensively’ (attack at full, parry at -30%) or ‘fighting defensively’ (parry at full, attack at -30%). Tactics: Detailed planning, surprise, entry, speed and ‘violence of action’. Read more at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_quarters_combat Within the game, this also allows (assuming everyone has similar weapons and a decent plan) the PC’s not accidentally shoot each other and so on. If one person has a sword and the other two are using shotguns and the sword guy closes to engage while the others stand back and shoot, he is probably fucked and should have bought a shotgun. Or covered the back door. Note - this use to be split into ‘police’ and ‘military’ tactics but they have gotten close enough in recent years I’m happy to have the same skill cover all of them.
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Post by logan9a on Jan 12, 2019 1:34:25 GMT
Armor
If you are wearing some sort of physical armor (furs, chain mail bikini, full plate mail - whatever), one place reduction in damage on the ‘damage track’.
If you are wearing some sort of magical armor (ring, underwear, fake arrow through the head - whatever), one place reduction in damage on the ‘damage track’.
If you have both (or magic physical armor like magic chain mail, etc) two places reduction in damage on the ‘damage track’.
Two places is the max. The minimum damage on the damage table is d3 (unless special damage - see GM).
Why:
KISS. Also, if the armor becomes too effective (like with a straight point reduction) then small attacks are completely ignored.
Example: If someone had physical, magical or both armor that reduced incoming damage by four, the person would be literally immune to daggers unless they scored some sort of critical.
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Post by logan9a on Jan 12, 2019 1:50:53 GMT
COMBAT OVERVIEW AND PHILOSOPHY
Combat
Combat - how does it work?
Well, first you roll initiative, then you do the different phases of the -
No. Fuck that.
Nearly every roleplaying game out there drags out combat. Yes, it is more realistic but I'd rather do story than war gaming - which is what most RPG's are thin covers for.
The GM points at the player and says "You?"
If the player says "uh" or looks confused, generally the GM moves on. Your character spends their time panicking during the round. Perfectly normal, perfectly natural.
[Note - does this discriminate against people who like to ponderously think and come up with ideas slowly? Yes. Combat does too. Those will be the guys standing there with a stupid look on their face getting filled with bullets while everyone diving for cover makes 'loot the dead guy' plans. Generally these kind of people don't last long in my groups. Yes, I've had people get stressed out during combat; imagine how their character feels. If ponderous person says "But I'm roleplaying someone who is cool under fire and great at combat" I respond "Obviously not well."]
If the player asks "How far is it to..." Great - they get to spend their round looking around, trying to figure out where they are and other things in relation to them. Combat rounds are fast.
Answering "Fire pistol at Captain Slash!" (possibly with 'bang bang' noises) while rolling dice is a fast (possibly correct) answer.
While in many RPG's you have the time to look around leisurely, maybe go through a list of possible weapons, maybe take out a weapon, examine it, take out poison, maybe apply it to the weapon then put back the poison via, gauge distances, maybe run through some scenarios in your head (IE discuss with the GM) - this is not that game. That is chess for people who kind of like RPG's.
Combat rounds are only a couple seconds long.
If you want to say something, you get three words - choose them wisely. Other characters may or may not hear over explosions, gunfire and the GM yelling. There is no time to discuss plans. Common sense says if you need to discuss plans during combat, you have fucked up badly and should probably retreat and learn to plan better.
Combat may be entirely over before you have managed to take off your backpack, open it and rummage around inside of it to find an item. Round one - take off backpack, free action drop backpack on floor. Round two - open backpack. Round d6 or more later - find item you were looking for. [For those who say 'but my backpack is arranged' - I was a backpacker for seven years. Fuck off, shit never stays where you want it to and you have the added stress of being in combat.]
Combat rounds are fast and often deadly. Know what is in your character's hands. If you want to jump and grab the rope with both hands, stuff held in those hands is now lying on the floor where you dropped it.
Free actions: These are actions which don't take up any actions. You can generally do one of these and a normal action within the round.
Examples of free actions: Say your three words for the round, drop (not throw) something. At the GM's discretion, perhaps a spot hidden at a negative, etc.
Actions: These are things which take up the entire round. Example: looking around - is the guy you are getting ready to shoot in the doorway your buddy or a bad guy? Taking a weapon out of a holster. Taking the pin out of a grenade. Not throwing it - just removing the pin. Pushing the large red button marked 'self destruct lair'. Honestly, if you are freaked out and don't know what to do 'taking cover' is often a fantastic idea. In this game, one way to spot the amateurs is to see at the beginning of combat who takes cover and who stands there, pulls out a weapon and starts shooting. I blame D&D for that sort of thinking.
Just like combat in real life, you have to make shitty decisions based on partial or no information.
Reasons why combat is simple, brutal and short: There are things TTRPG's do well and things they do horribly. Combat is always done horribly. If you want good fast combat that is remarkably detailed, play computer games. If you want detailed, individualized plot TTRPG's offer an experience a mass produced computer game cannot.
So I'm attempting to focus on the strengths of the medium as I see them while skipping past the weaknesses.
Unlike in most TTRPG's I've seen in the last four decades, within this campaign it is quite possible to skip nearly all combat if you're clever enough. Having said that, sometimes the players enjoy getting their blood fix - take some combat skills for those times.
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Post by logan9a on Jan 12, 2019 2:49:37 GMT
FULL AUTO RULES
Full Auto on multiple targets (expending at least ten rounds of ammo - most clips have 20 or 30 rounds so you can do this two or three times).
One target +2 bump on damage track.
Two targets if the GM deems they are reasonably close, +1 bump damage track - roll separately for each target.
Three targets if the GM deems they are reasonably close, NO bump damage track - roll separately for each target.
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Post by logan9a on Jan 12, 2019 2:55:07 GMT
FUMBLE DECK
Once you get into the fumble deck, spending a Hero Point merely gets you a new card.
If you don’t want any fumble cards, spend Hero Points prior to drawing.
Reason - it’s pretty much like going to a different table, but in this case the table is represented by cards and the ‘roll’ on the table is which ever card you get.
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Post by logan9a on Jan 12, 2019 3:08:24 GMT
HEALING - CURRENT CAMPAIGN
Every night the PC's sleep, the PC can call for a willpower roll. (If they do not, they stay wounded but need not roll - their choice).
Fumble: You stay wounded this week - try again seven days from now. Also, you are back at 'residual self image'. Any sort of implants, plastic surgery, etc - gone.
Fail: You stay wounded - try again tomorrow night.
x5: Heal 1 real HP. x4: Heal 2 real HP. x3: Heal 3 real HP. x2: Heal 4 real HP. x1 OR CRIT: You're fine. Total heal. Also, you are back at 'residual self image'. Any sort of implants, plastic surgery, etc - gone.
(Not sure if these are system or just the current campaign but they do seem to work well - note that NPC’s heal hella slower.)
Note that within the current campaign, usually the above is used. There may be times when ‘regular healing’ is used instead - consult GM.
HEALING - REGULAR
You heal d3 per week.
If first aid is done regularly during that week, bump up one place. AKA having someone look after you.
If medicine is done regularly during that week, bump up one place. AKA being in a doctor’s care.
First aid and medicine stack. Additional things (magic, etc) may also stack, see GM.
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Post by logan9a on Jan 12, 2019 3:22:39 GMT
FALLING DAMAGE
See also 'damage track'.
One story fall/3m: d6 Two story fall/6m: d12 Three story fall/10m: d8+d10 15m: 2d10+d12
Between 20m and 450m, whatever wild unsurvivable shit the GM feels like throwing at you.
A doctor's blog claims that: The median height leading to death is about 49 feet (15 meters), or about 4 to 5 stories. 100% of victims die after falling 85 feet (25 meters), or about 8 stories. Obviously, the 100% figure is incorrect as there have been individual people who survived higher falls. [GM note: Expecting your character to be one of those people is wildly foolish.]
Note that in one combat round (about five seconds) a 100kg person falls roughly 100m. You go splat now.
450m: Congratulations, you have reached terminal velocity!
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Post by Fantômas on Jan 15, 2019 8:13:03 GMT
You've not defined what a crit or a fumble is from a mechanics perspective (as in what roll on the dice). You talk about crit and fumbles but never define them.
Also is a natural '01' always considered a crit?
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Post by logan9a on Jan 15, 2019 12:11:33 GMT
Thinking not on the 01 thing but I would be willing to discuss.
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PotatoJedi
DORA
Alex. Apparently Freddy now.
Posts: 1,823
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Post by PotatoJedi on Jan 15, 2019 12:31:51 GMT
In the regular PDF character sheet, a skill value of 1-9 has no crit chance. Makes sense to me. If you really want to add in the possibility of a crit, have the player roll one extra time if they roll a 1 in a situation where that isn't already a crit. If they succeed (but not necessarily roll another 1), then it turns into a crit. Otherwise it stays as a normal success if they fail/fumble the second roll.
Mechanically this is akin to "confirming a crit" that some other systems use.
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Post by logan9a on Jan 15, 2019 17:35:15 GMT
I'd be happy to make any time a player can roll two '01' in a row a success. Crit, not needed. I figure if someone has less than a 10% skill (which by definition means they are either at huge negatives or have managed to die enough that their easy to raise 'learn' stat has slid down under 10) then they're just unable to crit it.
But if someone wants to do a 'hail mary' and say dive out of a plane with no parachute, fall a couple miles and survive (or even something like 25m which doctors say 'everyone fucking dies' and this is NOT an overly heroic or 'pulp' system), I'd let them roll two 01's in a row. They'd be in critical condition and needing a hospital. If they wanted to 'just walk away' from the crash an additional 01 (for three in a row total) means you can just get up and say "Who needs a parachute?"
I realize that with the 'it's a crit' card it essentially is a 01 and someone could jump out of a plane, play that and two retrieve cards. That's fine. If they set up all that shit and did it, great. They can just create their own crater then scream "Fuck you god!" and wander off. For a fourth 01 I won't even have their clothing dirty or possessions on them smashed up. Four 01's means that (aside from a lot of noisy wind) they have essentially teleported down to the planet.
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Post by logan9a on Jan 15, 2019 17:49:42 GMT
FALLING DAMAGE
See also 'damage track'.
One story fall/3m: d6 Two story fall/6m: d12 Three story fall/10m: d8+d10 15m: 2d10+d12 25m: 4d12 (top of the damage track)
Falling damage - after 25m, humans die. Roll two ‘01’ results in a row two barely survive. Three ‘01’ results in a row mean you can just walk away. Four ‘01’ results in a row means your gear is undamaged, your clothing isn’t even dirty. You just emerge from a crater you made, pick off an invisible speck of lint from your clothing, check your phone for messages and walk away.
Note that you can use the ‘it’s a crit’ card to get an ‘01’.
Note that in one combat round (about 5 seconds) the average human falls about 100m. If you are attempting to use a spell or ability that takes a round (or longer) to reduce or negate your falling damage, try to fall from much further up.
[Note - yes, I know this is not nearly as 'heroic' as D&D - totally different system here.]
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Post by logan9a on Jan 15, 2019 18:03:08 GMT
CRITS AND FUMBLES
Before discussing that, we must discuss what the ‘ones digit’ and the ‘tens digit’ are in numbers as many countries (like the USA) have many shitty school systems and people might not know what these are.
Example: 74.
The ‘7’ is the ‘tens’ digit. The ‘4’ is in the ‘ones’ digit place.
Example: 138.
The ‘3’ is in the ‘tens’ digit, the ‘8’ is in the ‘ones’ digit.
Criticals:
Take the tens digit from your skill and put a zero in front of it (unless your skill is 100% or higher, see below). That is your chance of rolling a critical.
Example: 61% (skill). The ‘6’ is the tens digit. Put a ‘0’ in front of it (lose the ones digit, nobody likes it any way) and that gives you a 06. If you roll a 6% or less, you have rolled a critical.
Example: 128% (skill). In this case (since over 100%) keep the ‘12’. We don’t need to put a zero in front of it. You would roll a critical on a 12% or less.
Fumbles:
Take the tens digit and stick a ‘9’ in front of it. If you have a 100% or higher skill, you always fumble on a 100.
Example: 61% skill. Put a ‘9’ in front of the tens digit ‘6’ and that gives you a ‘96’. Hence you fumble on a 96 or higher.
Example: 98% skill. You drop the 8 and you only fumble on a 99 or higher.
Example: 128% skill. You only fumble on a 00 (or 100).
Note that in both cases, modifiers can affect your critical and fumble range.
Example: 61% is the fist skill. The character is at a +10%. For purposes of crits and fumbles, the character is now at an effective skill this round of a 71%. Hence, they would critical on a 7 or less and fumble on a 97 or higher instead of their usual of critting on a 6 or less and fumbling on a 96 or higher.
Example: 61% is their fist skill but their opponent is stunned giving them a +30% for this round. Their new crit range is 9% or less, fumble range is 99 or higher.
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Post by logan9a on Jan 15, 2019 19:27:19 GMT
HIT POINTS How HP work. Note - this should be the same as before. There are three different kinds of damage. Real, stun and half and half. Half and half is half real, half stun - round to stun.
Example: Mikey takes a club to the head doing 5 points of half and half. Mikey takes 2 real and 3 stun. Unlike real life, there are only two times when you are affected by missing HP.
When you have only one left or when you have zero left. Either way, you are knocked down. If you have zero left and none of the damage is stun, you are dead. If you have zero left and some of the damage you have taken is stun, you will wake up when the stun is healed - unless further damaged. Stun damage generally comes back at the rate of one per hour. Real damage comes back at the rate of d3 per week of rest. Adventuring is not 'rest'. Rest is lying in a bed and having people take care of you. Most adventurers do not rest. They regain real damage at the rate of one per week.
The GM may allow 'endurance/con' rolls to aid in recovery. However, if you are relying on that - in the current game setting - you are probably doing something wrong.
First aid can be used once successfully. If successful, it regains d3 real HP to the target. Required materials include simple first aid supplies - generally wrapping the person's head in a white wrap suffices. Unless a specific other body part has been injured.
Note that if someone tries first aid and fails, the next person is at a -30% to succeed. The next person at a -60%. Better to have the person who is best at first aid actually attempt it. Medicine has the exact same effect as first aid however requires 'doctor' skill and a lot more props. A full doctor's bag, operating room and such.
Successive tries in medicine work in the same way. Because life is unfair, a fumble in either first aid or medicine will not heal any damage but will in fact reduce the target's HP by d6, possibly killing them. If both first aid and medicine are fumbled, 2d6 damage will be done to the unfortunate. At the GM's whim, he may also have them accidentally amputate a limb. Because life is hard. Example: Billy has been shot. He has taken 7 real of his 10 HP and is in a bad way with three left.
Phil attempts first aid, fumbles and inflicts another 2 HP of real damage. Billy is now unconscious. Rather than have someone else attempt first aid on the now critical patient, they take him to a doctor who also fumbles, killing Billy. This is what happens if you let NPC's do the work. Example 2: Phil has been brutally clubbed by Fred for helping kill Billy. Phil normally has 12 HP. He took 12 points of half and half damage. That means that unless someone messes with him, he will lie there in a pool of his own blood for two hours. When he eventually comes around, he will be at 2 HP. After another four hours of rest (assuming Fred does not kick him a few times) all of Phil's temporary damage will be gone, leaving him with 6 real HP of damage.
Bob decides to punish Phil by attempting first aid while Phil is still unconscious at 0 HP. Strangely, Bob succeeds, causing Phil to regain d3 HP. Bob rolls a 3. Phil is now awake and still has 6 stun and 3 real damage but at positive 3 HP. After a screaming match between Fred and Bob, it is decided to take Phil to the same doctor that helped kill Billy. The stars align and the drunken doctor succeeds his medicine and rolls a 3. All of Phil's real HP of damage are gone. His stun damage will go away at one per hour. After six hours of rest, he is again at full (12) HP and ready for a new savage beating.
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