[Terrae Novae] Dice systems

[Kilor Di]

I'm currently trying to use a diceless system for magical/futuristic war based RPG.  While this is interesting, it does provide a few problems.  I'm thinking about changing it to an almost-diceless system (using percentage dice only for battles, magic, etc.), or perhaps changing it to a full on percentages system (I can't remember if the dice used for percentages are called d10s or d100s). I'd appreciate any help on the matter.  My notes on the RPG I'm working on is posted on my website (in PDF format) at www.geocities.com/greginkelaar/projects.html

[Russell Collins]

Heh. I already like the separation of weapon types into ones that offer an advantage in stealth Vs. ones that are used in overt fighting. I was contemplating that as a mechanic just this morning actually. Synchronicity.

The diceless concept seems alright to me after a quick skim. If a task ia beyond your abilities you must suffer fatigue to accomplish it. Fatigue resource management is the order of the day.

What problems do you see specifically?

If the concern is that "spells" need a random element then you could include a die to add to the willpower cost of casting. Say 15+1d8 or whatever.

For large scale battles, I think it's best to break them down into sorties or salvoes, so that the commander with better stats doesn't automatically win. Let the commanders allocate their stats among the ships and have them face off not knowing how their opponent has allocated his points, then resolve different parts of the battlefield at different times. If a commander over-invests in an easy victory on one part of the field, that ship may be out of reach of additional foes and therefore a resource waste.

[Kilor Di]

I never thought about it like that.  I was mostly concerned about things like how to determine whether or not a group of people resist a spell, but by adding more resource management to the game, I don't have to deal with spell resistances.  Thank you.