[Design] Ordinary is relative

[Lev Lafayette]

The problem with d4-d4 and similar sort of games
(e.g., Fudge) is despite having a relative ordinary
level, it does have limits. Quite literally.

Now, I'm not talking whether Superman is 1000 or 1001
timews stronger than the normal human. I'm talking
about situations when a person is just off the scale.

You know, like what's the chance of a person with
Famous Strength wrestling something which is... Well,
about 2 levels above Famous?

Do we have Famous + 2 or is a gorilla the same as a
rhino which is the same as a tank? The obvious thing
to do would be to have "Famous +2" but then players
will want to increase their Strength above the pre-set
limit of the game.

Bloody players ;-)


--- Kyle Schuant <kyle3054 at iprimus.com.au> wrote:

> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: Carl Brown 
> To: kyle3054 at iprimus.com.au ; design at mimesisrpg.com 
> Sent: Monday, October 17, 2005 1:29 PM
> Subject: Re: Fw: [Design] Why random rolls? d4-d4
> 
> 
> of coarse with words your scale has fixed end points
> and if something is off the scale (eg a chimp)...
> 
> ***
> 
> Certainly! But the game assumes that in general,
> characters will be interacting with characters of a
> similar level of ability. This is "league", if you
> like. Another human is in my "league," but a tank or
> a gnat isn't. A tank doesn't have to make a roll to
> crush me - if it hits me, it crushes me
> automatically. I don't have to roll to crush a gnat,
> if I hit it, I crush it automatically. And a gnat is
> beneath the notice of a tank. To the gnat, the tank
> isn't a tank, it's a mountain. The gnat doesn't
> distinguish between a mountain and a tank anymore
> than we non-astronomers distinguish between a star
> 10 light years away, and one 1,000 light years away;
> both are simply beyond our reach. 
>     So "Ordinary" Strength lets me, as a normal
> human character, pick up another human, but it
> doesn't let me pick up a tank. On the other hand I
> can crush a gnat with ease, if I can hit him. So,
> something in one "league" can deal with impunity
> with something in a lower league, and is helpless
> before something of a higher league.
>     A super, it doesn't matter exactly how much
> stronger than a regular person they are. Is Superman
> 1,201 times stronger than Kyle Schuant, or 1,232
> times stronger? It doesn't matter to Superman, he
> flings Kyle aside with ease in any case. What
> matters is whether Superman is stronger than General
> Zod or not! So, Superman would have Strength
> Ordinary, and the question is whether Zod has Poor
> or Excellent or whatever Strength compared to
> Superman. Both Superman and Zod can toss Kyle aside
> with ease, I'm the lower league, and neither can
> move the planet Earth out of its orbit, Earth's in
> the higher league. 
>     But of course, they're not in higher leagues in
> Education, or Confidence, or Piano Playing, or
> Macrame. Just Strength. 
>     So, as I said, what matters is not a character's
> abilities on some absolute scale, but their
> abilities compared to the characters they're likely
> to interact with. So we don't need rules for exactly
> how much damage a tank does to a person when it runs
> them over, it'll just squash them automatically and
> messily. This is because they're in different
> leagues in terms of strength. But we DO need rules
> for the tank's driver to be able to aim it to hit or
> miss the person, because they're in the same league
> in terms of agility, that is, ability to change
> direction to hit or miss something. 
> 
>     This supposes, of course, that you want to deal
> with things in terms of a realistic flavour for a
> game. You might want the PCs to always have a chance
> of success, however small. 
>     GM: "Night falls."
>     Player: "I try to dodge it!"
>     GM: "Okay, if you roll a triple high open-ended,
> 350 plus, you can dodge nightfall."
>     Player rolls... 97, 96, 00, 76: "Woohoo!"
>     GM: "Cool. So from now on, Bob the Super-Agile
> Thief has a little pool of sunlight around him
> wherever he goes. It's always light two feet around
> him, which will kind of hinder his sneaking about at
> night."
>     Player: "Woops."
>     If you want that kind of effect, that's cool:)
> I've had lots of fun with that!
> 
> Cheers,
> Kyle
> Better Mousetrap Games
> home of d4-d4 and other stuff
>
http://www.rpgnow.com/default.php?manufacturers_id=339>
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Lev Lafayette
lev_lafayette at yahoo.com.au
http://au.geocities.com/lev_lafayette


	
		
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