ideas towards a resolution mechanic

[AdamG]

I've been working on a system, and a bit towards setting, on a game I'd like to play.  I'm just putting this out there to see if anyone has any comments.  Just basic resolution mechanic for now, maybe I'll post more details, or what I've got of the setting, later.

I'm going for a combination between dice-pools and linear progression.  Resolution mechanics have two parts:  Potential and Proficiency.  Potential is the number of d12 which are rolled; Proficiency is the target number for success on each die.  Difficulty depends on the number of 'successes' rolled.

In addition, a rolled 1 gives a 'success', and is re-rolled.  A rolled 12 is –1 success.

Potential can be from 1-10; however, no more than 5 dice are rolled at any time.  For every potential above 5, add one success to the final tally.

So, with a potential of 1, and a proficiency of 11, there is still a 7.5% chance of succeeding at a 2-difficulty task (chance of rolling a 1, and then a non-12 on the reroll).  I've got a pretty big spreadsheet with all probabilities, including 1-rerolls and 12-subtractions, and I do like the probability curves.

Attributes are rated 1-12, and give the following stats for skills which fall in their domain:

Attribute...Potential...Proficiency
1................1..............-2
2................1..............-1
3................1..............+0
4................1..............+1
5................1..............+2
6................2..............+0
7................2..............+1
8................2..............+2
9................3..............+0
10..............3..............+1
11..............3..............+2
12..............4..............+0

Skills start at 2 - 4 proficiency when first purchased, depending on how hard they are to learn, plus the bonus for Attribute.

So, as a simple example:  with an Agility of 7, the Acrobatics skill starts with a Potential of  2 and a Proficiency of 2 (hard skill) + 1 (from Agility) = 3.  This assumes the points have been placed into a single proficiency level of Acrobatics (defaulting to a skill is handled differently) – so on an Acrobatics check, difficulty 2, roll 2d12 and hope for <= 3 on each.  Or a 1, a failure, and <= 3 on the reroll.

Well, that's the basic mechanic.  Any thoughts?

[Jeph]

The system I'm working on in this thread shares many similarities with what you describe: It's a d6 dice pool, no more than 5 dice are ever rolled at one time. Traits (equivalent to proficiency) set the TN for each die, the amount of Spin (equivolent to an expendible Potential resource) spent determines the number of dice rolled. The number of successes is then compared to a Difficulty number set by the GM.

As for your system: I highly reccomend that Prof and Ptn are determined by different sources--attribute level determines Ptn and skill determines Prof, for example. Otherwise, you end up with some pretty odd probability spikes and dips.

[Matt Machell]

Well, as a mechanic, it's difficult to tell how useful it is out of context. It seems more involved than it needs to be, but that's just an impression.

What does the game focused on, and how do you see this mechanic effecting that focus?

-Matt

PS Welcome to the Forge

[AdamG]

Jeph, thanks for the comments.  I agree that Prof and Ptn are separate..  I guess I didn't make that clear.  What I listed was only beginning stats...  Proficiency continues to increase at a linear rate.  So, in my example, you can continue to increase Proficiency - but increasing Potential is a lot harder.  Additionally, for any skill roll, you can trade in 1 Potential for 4 Proficiency - but only a limited number of times.

[AdamG]

Well, as a mechanic, it's difficult to tell how useful it is out of context. It seems more involved than it needs to be, but that's just an impression.

What does the game focused on, and how do you see this mechanic effecting that focus?

-Matt

PS Welcome to the Forge

Thanks Matt.  I'm actually still looking for exactly the right context..  I came up with the idea for the system before thinking setting.  I know that's not vogue here.  :)  The style of the game will certainly be epic, and increasing Potential for a single skill, while difficult, will not be impossible.

The setting will be fantasy, but technology has its place as well.  I'm still working on this, and don't want to say too much right now, because a lot will probably change in the next couple days.