Comments on: Starting Over…

By: Blog Post: Combat… Damage and Critical Strikes… Help!?! | Moebius Adventures

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 19:13:24 +0000

[...] was documented in Starting Over… and Starting Over… Further tweaks, the basic mechanic for the MARPG revolves around these [...]

By: Starting Over… Further tweaks | Moebius Adventures

Starting Over… Further tweaks | Moebius Adventures — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 00:41:32 +0000

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By: Chuck

Chuck — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:16:57 +0000

Sorry it’s taken so long to get back with you. For the next couple weeks, real life is going to be kicking me in the butt.
Anyway. For a static defense, I’d say something like (Attribute+Skill)/2. It’s simple and clean. Go ahead and do an opposed roll for an “all out defense”.
Damage it’s a little harder to offer some concrete suggestions. I have no idea how armor works. And in the example, a character takes 2 points of damage. So how bad is 2 points? It’s just probably my opinion but I think a lot folks like to roll damage. It’s gives them a neat feeling.
And since MARPG is a generic game, please, don’t fall into the High Tech just means more damage trap. It’s one of the things I never liked about GURPS.
.-= Chuck´s last blog ..The Rolpunk Manifesto+Xtreme Dungeon Mastery+The Rule of Gordo =-.

By: forged

forged — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:39:29 +0000

A few comments:

1) You had a typo somewhere in the “For the Tracker, his QoF was 3. He missed the target by 3 (Total Die Roll 12 – Target Number 10 = QoF 3).” I think you were shooting for his total roll was 13 .. .and thus QoF of 3. Either that or it should be a QoF of 2.

2) In the first part of the tracking example, you had rolling exactly on a the target number being a draw. In the contested result though with a target number of now 6, you had it being a success if they rolled a 6 or lower.

So which is it? Is equaling the target number a draw or is it a success? (Answering “yes” to that, won’t make the system any clearer to use.)

3) Addressing Chuck’s comments:

While I don’t think the 3 main attributes (Body, Soul, Mind) lend themselves to it, I do think a passive defense (that isn’t as good as actively trying to parry or doge) does make a lot of sense. At least if they are even remotely aware of the attack coming. (If they aren’t, the passive defense wouldn’t be there.)

As far as damage goes, I think the QoS of an attack should influence how much damage is done, but it shouldn’t be the sole factor in damage. Let’s face it, unless I’m amazing with a letter-opener, hitting them with a baseball bat is usually going to be significantly more effective regardless of relative skill levels.

(It is significantly easier after all to bash someone with an object than stab someone in their eye with a small, sharp, pointy object.)

By: Fitz

Fitz — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 03:26:11 +0000

@Chuck – Thanks for taking the time to respond!

I can see your point about using the QoS as damage. I’ve toyed with the idea of having a fixed damage number for each particular weapon or type of weapon (i.e. 4 pts for a dagger, 6 pts for a short sword, 8 pts for a long sword, 10 pts for a battle axe, etc…), but my issue with going that route is that it seems very arbitrary to assign such values to weapons. Ultimately for me it’s not about the weapons but the wielders, thus the idea of using the QoS to determine damage.

That said, it’s a question of reality vs. playability because all characters will die the death of a thousand cuts this way.

As for defense being a static #, I assume you’re talking about parries and dodges. Again, that goes back to the death of a thousand cuts issue. Not sure how you’d make that a static number or modifier. Any thoughts there?

By: Chuck

Chuck — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:23:04 +0000

Hmm. Seems pretty straight forward and simple. I like that. Just only two notes from what I see so far.
Personally, I never been that fond of systems when the damage equals the QoS. It’s fine to have it modify damage but not just the only source.
Second, I think combat would probably move faster if defense were some sort of static number or modifier rather than an opposed roll.