Solar System 2012

[Per Fischer]

I can only find evidence that TSoY's system is called Solar System on Anvilwerks' front webpage, but if it is still so, I think it should be promoted more. It is a great name. I like it a lot :)

Anyway, I am adapting the Solar System to a modern day private detective game (set in Denmark 2012, but very "now") with a less than satisfying rules system, but great atmosphere and lots of colour and Nar RP potential. Keys in this variant would be called Karma, the rest would be as in TSoY.

It is pretty easy so far, with minor changes to ability categories and so on. I want to keep the splendid damage concept, but what about equipment/weapons? The game in question has next to no magical/supernatural references, so no magical protective clothing and so on.

One road could be this: a +3 equipment/weapon is more dangerous/powerful than a +2. So, knives, knuckledusters, clubs are +1. Guns are +2. Heavy weapons and explosives are +3. Would that work, I wonder. This means skipping the narrowing down onto where/what/when the weapon is effective as in TSoY. This seems so painfully(!) simple that I might have missed something completely obvious.

Per

[sirogit]

I personally would find perfectly workable to have the game's weapons and armor rules as they currently stand in a gritty high-tech setting, just with the understanding that +3's would be very rare.

So knives would get +1 and Guns would get +1, but Switchblades would get +2 Attacking from surprise and Shotguns would get +2 Not knowing what the hell you're shooting at.

[Per Fischer]

I take it from the shattering amount of responses that it might not be the best of ideas to do this, but I am heading on towards the windmills ;)

I guess it's probably best to keep the original intentions of TSoY regarding weapons and accessories, and not apply some kind of pseudo-realistic approach. Who wants realism anyway? I centainly don't :)

Per

[James_Nostack]

Looking at how "weapons" (which actually can be pretty much anything, from a clever insult to a sword to a strong relationship with your boss's wife) work in the game, it appears that the +1, +2, +3 thing is carefully balanced against the "weapon" 's utility.  Something that is specifically geared to this one particular instance would get a +3 bonus; something that's handy every day, no matter how powerful, gets a +1 (though it may have the Secret of Imbuement or something, to give the user some bonus dice).

In a sci-fi game, a regular pistol would be +1.  A pistol with a night-vision sight (at nighttime) would be +2.  A pistol that fires miniature rockets with target-recognition lock would be +3.

This was probably designed with a narrative effect in mind, but I'm too dense to see exactly what it is.

If you want to try a standard +1, +2, +3 scale for weapons of different power, let us know how it goes!

[Per Fischer]

Actually, the rating according to everyday availability makes good sense to me. I guess I read the TSOY rules to narrowly that a +3 item would be powerful but only in very specific circumstances.

Per

[Christopher Weeks]

I guess I read the TSOY rules to narrowly that a +3 item would be powerful but only in very specific circumstances.

I don't get it.  That's how I read them too -- and I don't see anything in this thread contradictory to that notion, so I'm not following what you're responding to.

[Per Fischer]

I don't get it.  That's how I read them too -- and I don't see anything in this thread contradictory to that notion, so I'm not following what you're responding to.

I guess I saw a distinction between a very powerful weapon/device as such and a very powerful weapon/device that works only in darkness/against certain people etc.

I read TSOY as the latter, ie the more powerful the device the more specific its use, and I read James' powerful target-lock pistol as working under all circumstances, but I might have misunderstood, especially after re-reading his last sentence. Sorry.

Per