Mike's Standard Rant #5: The Myth of Opposed Rolls

[contracycle]

Ok, in my "shorthand", BP is:
[1-3]d10 <= dif(skill+stat)

Competence is measured in two forms: number of dice rolled (based on an Aptitude for an area of expertise), and the Stat and Skill levels are numerics, of which stat can be a negative value in the 1-3 range.

Margin of success = diff - roll for comparing opponents

As an initial joust, it seems to me that for opposed rolls, the starting Difficulty (derived from skill + stat) should have a value added to it which represents what would have been the diff modifiers for each party, minus relavent opposed skill+stat.  So it would be:
[1-3]d10 <=diff(base + mods - victim abilities)

What this does not carry through is the use of the targets pootentially multiple dice.

Ah well perhaps this is work avoidance behaviour ratrher than real redesign, or at least redesign to no good purpose.  Reexamning the system last night, it looks like it may be faster than I had feared, and the only other thing that bugs me is big skill lists.  But maybe thats a good thing in such a sim-supporting game.

[Mike Holmes]

This would require some considerable work to redesign, if I read you correctly. Interesting that in this game the dice are variable. Messing with that will very much mess up the outcomes. I'd either use an entirely different system, or just use the one provided. As I've said, fixing damaged systems is often not a real solution. Designing them well fromthe ground up, it's the only option.

Mike