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General Mechanics

Started by redwing, March 31, 2010, 06:23:17 PM

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redwing

I have four stats in my game: Accuracy, Power, Evasion, and Defense. There is a possibility of having a few secondary stats, but I'm trying to avoid this at all costs.

What I'm currently concerned with is Evasion. I have two options.

Option 1: Evasion is only used for movement and initiative. If a character wants to hit another character, a static dice amount of 2d6 is rolled and compared to accuracy.
(lower is better)

Option 2: Evasion is used for initiative and (what else) evasion. If a character wants to hit another character, the attacker rolls the evasion's score in d6 (ranging from 1 to 6) and compares to Accuracy. (lower is better) (movement will fall under another stat)

I had a third option of contested rolls for attacking/defense, but I feel that would take too much time. Option 1 would make things quicker and smoother, with the same value rolled every time. Option 2 would require the player to ask the die amount every attack, but it would also seem more like what its supposed to represent: evasion. This is true for PC's as well. Instead of a standard roll of 2d6, their evasion is taken into account (which is better for PC's, but time consuming for GM).

I'm leaning more towards Option 2. I really wanted a simple game (which option 1 best represents), but Option 2 seems to fit the bill for better mechanics. What do you think?

dindenver

RW,
  Well, it seems like the difference between Option 1 and Option 2 is who is active (i.e., rolling dice). In Option 1, you have the attacker rolling the dice. In Option 2, you have the defender rolling the dice.
  In this case, it is probably better that the Attacker rolls. first of all, it is their turn, second of all, once the dice hit the table, the action is sort of committed. All-in-all, I think we should error on the side of the active player.
Dave M
Author of Legends of Lanasia RPG (Still in beta)
My blog
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redwing

I may have explained it wrong, but the active player (or attacker) is always rolling the dice. It is just a matter of how to determine what dice the attacker rolls.

Option 1 is just 2d6, no matter the circumstance or who the attacker is attacking. It's simpler, because the amount of dice rolled never changes.

Option 2 still has the attacker rolling. But the attacker uses the defender's Evasion score as the amount of d6 that need to be rolled (ranging from 1 to 6). I have Evasion as a stat in Option 1, but it is only used to determine initiative and the number of spaces a character can move. However, Option 2 actually uses the stat to determine how evasive the defender is. The only problem is that each time a Player is going to make an attack, that Player has to ask what the defending character's Evasion score is in order to determine the number of d6 rolled. The upside is that the evasion of a character is actually taken into account, especially for Players wanting to play evasive rogue or ninja characters (they can pump that stat fairly high).

Mobius

I'd go with option 2 or if you use option 1 at the very least rename evasion to speed or something like that.
Mobius a.k.a Charles