my funky dice pool system needs your attention, please

[Daz Florp Lebam]

Well hello, all! This is my first post, after hearing a lot about this site and these forums over the years, and a wee bit of lurking.

I have a dice pool system I've been working on. Here is the current, editted-down version:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AX2NVwxrSligZGRxZ2p6MjRfOGZkOTVmaGhz&hl=en

I originally posted this over in First Thoughts, but it was suggested that here might be a more appropriate place to discuss it. Here's the First Thoughts Thread:

http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=29129.0

This document is just the bones of the task-resolution mechanic itself, with some notes in brackets [like so], and some text shrunk because I might be dropping it. It's kind of informal, too.

I would love any and all comments, on nay as[ect of the mechanic, it's uses, permutations, implications, etc.

At this point I am particularly trying to figure out whther to have a fixed Target Number, or a variable one (default TNs for different kinds of actions, modified by things like armor or other basic advantages or hindrances). My goal is to keep things simple, but I can't see through to the implications.

The goal in designing the mechanic was to have a way to track things like health, hit points, fatigue, etc, without having to track abunch of numbers. As it is, the dice pool represents not only your options in terms of doing things that require rolls, but the character's current overall health or status as well.

I suspect there are things in the doc that I have assumed in my head and have not explained. Please ask questions, and I will answer as best I can, or at least shrug and say "Huh. I hadn't thought about that", and we can go from there.

Also, I am focussed on the mechanic itself right now. There is a note at the beginning about how characters are defined, but the specifics of that are not something i have ironed out. I know that I like how characters in Wushu and TnJ are defined, and that I like FATE/SOTC's Aspects and what you can do with them, though I would keep the complexity of those options simpler, as well.

Thanks for your time!

[Simon C]

Have you playtested this system?

If not, Playtesting is the wrong forum for it.  Sorry, I think you may have been directed here in error.  Reading your First Thoughts thread, it seems like what you need to do is play this thing and see how it runs.  Does it do what you want it to in play?  Once you've done that, come back here and we can talk about it.

[Daz Florp Lebam]

I have use this mechanic in play, in two different permutations: as the resolution mechanic for a Decipher Star Trek hack, and with my own tiered skill system tacked on. There's a long talents list (adapted from Decipher's ST) and maneuvers list (including info on how they modify dice and TNs), but even if I used them ever again, they would be very trimmed down.

I initially posted in First Thoughts because I was abandoning a lot of that extraneous stuff and wanted opinions on the mechanic and it's implications and possible permutations.