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Spin System: inspired by The Pool, TROS, and Princess Bride

Started by Jeph, February 07, 2003, 07:22:46 PM

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Brian Leybourne

Another Actual Play report has just been posted here.


With comments, of course.

Brian.
Brian Leybourne
bleybourne@gmail.com

RPG Books: Of Beasts and Men, The Flower of Battle, The TROS Companion

Brian Leybourne

Quote from: JephA good idea. The thing that makes it work is the rapidity with which Fatigue fades. Perhaps, to still make it slightly dangerous, the original rule could also be kept--you take Fatigue equal to the number of Failures rolled, and if your Failures outweight your successes, a portion of that Fatigue is instead damage.

Yeah, that's how we did it. Worked well. This means you can succeed, but still take wounds instead of just fatigue becauser you got 2 suvvesses and 4 failures (for example). The spell works, but you get 2 wounds and 2 fatigue.

Quote from: JephFor convenience, I'd have Fatigue fade at the end of a scene. It's easier than keeping track of minutes until individual points dissipate.

What's what I did. In fact, I had fatigue vanish prewtty quick even within a scene as long as they were resting/doing nothing strenuous.

Quote from: JephI suppose that accumulating huge amounts of Fatigue for using Supernatural Traits for many innaucus things is actually a good thing, keeping the magic level below the DnD fireball-chucking mishmash.

It's a useful limiter.

Brian.
Brian Leybourne
bleybourne@gmail.com

RPG Books: Of Beasts and Men, The Flower of Battle, The TROS Companion

Jeph

I posted some comments in the Actual Play thread. I'll put up v2.1 after another day or two of system smithing.

-Jeff S.
Jeffrey S. Schecter: Pagoda / Other

Brian Leybourne

I had a think about something else for possible inclusion into V2.1 of the Spin system if you like it.

I was trying to think about what would happen with traits above 7. I would never let a player buy a trait to above 7, of course, but there are some situations where a trait could effectively be raised above that (If I have a soaking trait of 6 and am wearing heavy armor +3, for example).

So, I was thinking that for every point above 7 a trait is at, you roll against TN7 but gain the difference in bonus dice (the differently colored, non-refreshing type we discussed for style bonuses earlier). So for the soak 6 + 3 heavy armor example, I roll against TN7, but I have 2 extra non-refreshing dice to add to my roll.

What do you think?

Brian.
Brian Leybourne
bleybourne@gmail.com

RPG Books: Of Beasts and Men, The Flower of Battle, The TROS Companion

Jeph

Good point that I hadn't thought about, and works well. I'm assuming that these would be treated as standard bonus dice, and can't increase a character's Spin Pool. Hmm . . . any other little rough edges that haven't been caught yet?

I was planning on starting a new thread for v2.1, this one's getting a bit long, and a new topic might rope in a couple other voices.
Jeffrey S. Schecter: Pagoda / Other

Brian Leybourne

Yeah, that's what I meant when I said non-refreshing, I probably should have explained that better, but I use that term as "does not refresh/increase spin pool with successes".

I think we got most of the rough edges, if there are others they didn't come out in 2 playtest sessions. And hey, there's always V2.2 if it comes to that :-)

Brian.
Brian Leybourne
bleybourne@gmail.com

RPG Books: Of Beasts and Men, The Flower of Battle, The TROS Companion

Brian Leybourne

Brian Leybourne
bleybourne@gmail.com

RPG Books: Of Beasts and Men, The Flower of Battle, The TROS Companion

ethan_greer

I also am interested in seeing the latest version.

Blake Hutchins


Brian Leybourne

Brian Leybourne
bleybourne@gmail.com

RPG Books: Of Beasts and Men, The Flower of Battle, The TROS Companion

Jeph

Sorry, guys. Nice to know that others are interested in the development of Spin System. I've been playing a lot of DnD/Feng Shui lately, and haven't had much time to work on Spin System or Pagoda. And then there's school. When school starts becoming background and RPing the foreground, I take a break. Well, I'm back. =)

Spin System Version 2.1
Special THANKS! to Brian Leybourne, Glen Beaumont, Tony Hardie, Kurt Sholz, Curran Hoffman, and Michael Brannon.

One: Characters

   The first step of character creation is to write a short (about fifty words) paragraph describing your character. This is not a term paper, nor is it a single sentence. The paragraph should describe what your character is good at, their passions and drives, family, friends, background, and anything else.

   After you have written this paragraph, pick a couple of Traits from the information that you have given. Traits can be almost anything, from Strong to Swordsmen to Loves Jolene. Traits should be narrow and well defined. For instance, Weapons is too broad, as is Passionate. What type of weapons does your character use? Are they an archer? How are they passionate? Do they love deeply, or have strong fits of anger?

   Not all of your character's Traits have to be positive qualities. In fact, none of them do. For instance, you may choose Cowardice to be one of their Traits. This would aid your character in fleeing from danger, and getting the other guy to go see if the dragon's really 'just sleeping'.

   A Trait that has had no points assigned to it has a rating of two. You have twelve points with which to enhance your chosen Traits, although no Trait may have a value greater than seven. If you wish, you may set aside up to five Trait points that go into your Spin Modifier, instead of a normal Trait.

   Now that you know your Traits, you can figure your Spin Modifier. Your Spin Modifier is equal to two, plus any points that you set aside for this purpose. If you have designated six or more points for your Spin Modifier, your Spin Modifier is seven. At the beginning of a session, your Spin Pool is equal to double your Spin Modifier, plus one.

   Example: Alex is creating a new character, Biran. He writes: 'Biran's father was murdered in cold blood by a prince, and Biran has dedicated his life to tracking the man down. He has become a master of the blade in order to dispatch the man, and uses his natural charm and cunning to advance his goal.' From this, Alex distills the traits Swordsman at six, Seeking Revenge for Father at five, Natural Charm at four, and Cunning. He has spent eleven of his Trait points, so Biran's Spin Modifier is three, and his Spin Pool is seven.

Two: System

   Whenever a character attempts to do something difficult, they will make a Roll. When a character makes a Roll, they roll a ten-sided die. They may spend Spin to roll up to four extra dice. Spent spin is immediately subtracted from a character's Spin pool.

   Before they roll, a character may pick a relevant Trait. This may be any Trait that they possess, as long as they can logically relate it to the task at hand. If they can't find a relevant Trait, their Trait value is treated asif it were two.

   When a character makes a Roll, the GM must set a Difficulty for the Roll. This Difficulty should be one for a moderately hard task, two for difficult tasks, three for very difficult tasks, four for a superheroic task, and five for a task that borders on the impossible.

   If the task is being actively resisted by another character, the GM does not set a Difficulty. Instead, both players roll, and the one that gets the most Successes wins. If both characters roll the same number of Successes, the one with the higher relevant Trait value wins. If both characters have the same Trait value, then the roll is a tie. When a character makes an opposed roll, and has multiple relevant Traits, only the highest of these Traits applies. However, in the case of a tie, combine all relevant Traits to determine the victor.

If the player describes their character's action particularly well, the GM may choose to reward them with one or two Bonus Dice. In an opposed roll, the GM can award one character a bonus die to represent an advantage over their opposition. For each Bonus Die awarded, the player may add one die of a different color to their die pool. These Bonus Dice can count as successes, but they can never replenish a character's Spin Pool. Note that Bonus Dice do not count against a roll's 5-die maximum.

   Every die that comes up equal to or under the character's relevant Trait value is treated as a Success. Each die that comes up with a zero counts as two successes. (If a character's Trait is somehow reduced to below two, such as from the penalties for being wounded or wearing heavy armor, a zero counts as only a single success.) If the player rolls at least as many Successes as the task's Difficulty, the y are successful.

   For each Success that does not come from a Bonus Die, a character's Spin Pool is increased by one.

   Example: The thief quietly snuck up to Biron, eyes fixed upon the man's bulging money pouch. A quick slash, and then he'd disappear across the moonlit rooftops and into the night.

   The Thief has a Pick Pocket Trait of six, and a Spin Pool of five. He spends three of his Spin Pool, rolling six, four, eight, seven: two successes, and a current Spin Pool of four. The GM asks Alex to make a roll for Biron involving perception. Biron has no relevant Trait, but Alex doesn't want to be duped, so spends two points of Spin. He rolls zero, four, five: two successes and a Spin Pool remaining at seven. Because the thief has a higher Trait, he succeeds at the task, but the GM rules that Biron is at least aware of the rogue.

   The thief's hand darted in, the dagger twirled deftly, and the pouch fell into his hand. Sensing a slight tug, Biron spun around, but too late: a shadowy figure leapt up onto a barrel, then up a fence, and was now bounding away over the city's shingled peaks. Biron whipped out his sword, roared, and gave chase.

   Biron again has no relative Trait, but wants to get his money back, because he earned it, damn it! He spends four points of Spin, rolling one, two, four, five, five: two Successes, and a current Spin Pool of five. The thief is again ready for this sort of thing, with a Quick Getaway Trait of four. He spends three points of Spin, rolling three, zero, five, nine: three Successes, a current Spin Pool of four, and a victory.

   The thief nimbly leapt over a rooftop, and was gone. Biron stopped, breathing hard, and began casting about in the shadows. There! More distant, but still there. The chase goes on . . .


Three: Combat

   Usually, when characters are engaged in combat, time is not broken down into rounds, as it is in many other Role Playing Games. Instead, characters simply declare an action, state what Trait they are using and give a justification if necessary, and assign a number of Spin to the roll. After they have done this, but before they have rolled any dice, all other characters have a chance to react. They, too, will follow the above process. Then, players either roll appropriate dice, or one or more of them Bolsters their roll.

   When a player decides to Bolster one of their characters' rolls, they must immediately pay 1 point of Spin. After they have done this, they may add extra dice to the roll on a one-for-one basis, as long as the total number or dice rolled does not exceed five. Bolstering can represent extra effort, a feint, a shift of the wind, or anything else. Each player may only Bolster once per roll, but you may Bolster in reaction to the Bolstering of another. After all Bolstering is done, the roll is made.

   Characters with higher traits relating to speed and agility, as well as those that use more light, maneuverable weapons, should be allowed to declare their action more often than slower characters.

   Striking another character in combat is normally an Opposed Roll. However, if the defender is completely unaware of the attacker, this task has a Difficulty of one.

   When a character is actually hit in combat, the attacker figure's the attack's Damage Rating, which is equal to the number of successes rolled in the attack, minus the number of successes that the defender rolled, plus the Damage Modifier of the weapon used. Typical Damage Modifiers are zero for a punch, kcik, or knife, one for a short sword, two for a rapier or pistol, and three for a large axe or rifle.

   The defender may now Soak Damage. If they do, they make a relevant roll. Subtract the number of Successes rolled from the attack's Damage Rating. The defender takes the new, modified damage rating in Wounds. Characters that don't wear armor can only soak damage that comes from impacts, such as a punch or fall. If a character wears very heavy armor, they will gain one or two Bonus Dice when soaking damage, but are treated as if their Traits relating to agility and full-body movement were one or two points lower than they actually are, respectively.

   If a character has at least four Wounds, their Traits relating to physical actions are treated as if they were one point lower than they actually are. When a character has ammassed seven Wounds, their physical Traits are now penalized two points. A character that has sustained nine Wounds is unconcious. If a character takes any more Wounds, they may die. Note that penalties due to Wounds stack with any penalties due to heavy armor.

A character with ten or more Wounds must make a Roll using a Trait that relates to health and toughness. The Difficulty of this roll is equal to the number of Wounds that the character has, minus nine. If the character succeeds at this roll, they are merely unconcious. If they fail, they will die. A character that almost meets the Difficulty will live longer before passing on than one who fails to meet the Difficulty by a long shot.

   Example: As he ran, the thief flipped his knife, so that he held the blade between his two fingers. He wanted to end this chase, end it now: that man looked dangerous. He cocked the blade back, let fly.

   The thief has a Knife Fighting Trait at five, and spends his entire remaining Spin Pool (four points). Alex says that Biron attempts to deftly knock the dagger out of the air with his saber, using his Swordsman skill at six, and also spending four points of his Spin Pool. The thief rolls one, two, two, six, six: three successes, and a current Spin of three. Alex rolls zero, three, six, seven, seven: four successes, a current Spin of five, and a successful maneuver.

   Biron twirls his sword, flicking it like a snake, and the dagger ceases it's flight, clattering to the roof, then sliding off to the street below. The thief pulls another knife as Biron leaps over the rooftops to close and attack.

   The GM rules that this is actually two actions for Biron: one to close, one to attack. Alex spends four points of Spin to catch the thief, using the default Trait of two. The thief, knowing that he'll be caught eventually, spends no Spin points, and uses his Quick Getaway of four. Biron rolls one, one, five, five, six: two successes, and a Spin Pool of three. The thief rolls an eight: no successes, and his Spin remains at four. Biron closes.

   Next comes the attack. Biron's Swordsman Trait at six applies, and Alex elects to spend his entire Spin Pool of three. The thief attempts to catch the blade with the handgaurd of his knife, using his Knife Fighting at five, and also spending three Spin. Alex rolls  one, two, five, five, six: four successes, and a Spin now at four. The thief rolls three, three, five, nine: two Successes, and a curent Spin of three. Biron's attack hits.  It deals four points of damage: four for Biron's successes, plus two for his weapon (a rapier), minus two for the thief's successes. Since he does not wear armor, the theif cannot choose to Soak.

   Biron rushes across the rooftop, leaping over a chimney and using his momentum to aid a quick strike at the thief's shoulder. The saber slashes into flesh, and the rogue cries out in pain. Knowing that he's faced with an opponent of superior skill and drive, he drops the money pouch and flees.


OPTION: COMBAT WITH ROUNDS

If the players and GM want, combat can be carried out in a more orderly fashion. At the beginning of each combat round, have each participant (or group of identical participants) make a Roll relating to awareness, speed, combative prowess, or reaction. Those who roll a high number of successes may state their Action before those who rolled lower, although they may decide to go later if they like.

If you are using the Combat With Rounds varient, everything that a character does will be classified as either an Action, a Reaction, or a Non-Action. Example Actions or attacking and attempting to run away. Example Reactions are parrying a blow, or stopping an enemy from fleeing. Non-Actions include soaking damage and talking.

Each round, a character may take one Action, one Reaction, and as many Non-Actions as they like. After every character involved has taken their Action, any character may spend Spin to take extra Actions. The first extra Action costs one point of Spin, the second costs two, and so on.

Similarly, a character may spend Spin to take extra Reactions, although they may do so even if other characters have not taken their first Reaction for the round. The first extra Reaction costs one point of Spin, the second costs two, etc.

Note that extra spin costs for Actions and Reactions are tracked seperately. So, for instance, a character has already taken an extra Action. If they wish to take an extra Reaction, it will still only cost one point of Spin.

At the beginning of a new round, an initiative roll is made again, and characters may again take one free Action and one free Reaction.

Four: Supernatural Powers

Some players may wish to play characters that can cast magic spells, use psychic powers, or fly around like Superman. In most cases, these mystical abilities will be treated just like normal Traits. However, if a character wishes to possess a less defined supernatural power, they may have access to a broader Trait, at a price.

Before you assign special supernatural Traits to your character, ask yourself this question: How broad is this Trait, really? If if could be seen as a single spell or power, like "Cast a spell that makes me fly," or "Throw a burning energy blast," treat it as if it were a normal Trait. However, if it could be seen as an array of abilities or a school of magic, such as "Mastery of Fire magic" or "Super Spider Powers," it will be treated as a Supernatural Trait.

Supernatural Traits work just like normal Traits, but are more dangerous to use. Whenever a character using a Supernatural Trait makes a roll, and one or more dice do not come up Successes, they take a number of Fatigue points equal to the number of 'failures.' If, in a Supernatural Trait Roll, the number of failures rolled outnumber the successes rolled, a portion of those Fatigue Points equal to the number of failures minus the number of successes are instead normal damage. Neither this Fatigue nor Damage may be Soaked.

Note that Bonus Dice are not factored in when determining weather or not a character takes Fatigue or Damage, or how much they take, from using Supernatural Traits.

Example: The room was dark. Biron could see nothing; nor had he seen anything for days. The shakles bit fiercely into his wrists and ankles, but try as he might, he could not move.

A low rumbling sound set up, followed by a piercing, rusty creak. A vertical slash of light blossomed, burning Biron's eyes. The doorway widened, and Mythros stepped into the cell. "Well, Biron," the greasy man said, in a mockingly conversive tone, "It seems that your usefulness is past. We've already got the girl, I might as well kill you now. I'm a little rusty, so this may take quite a while." Mythros gestured to two burly men behind him, who lifted Biron bodily, and threw him onto the floor, and left.

"Well, I shall set about capturing your soul to live as my puppet in eternal damnation, then. Hmm, how did that spell start . . ?" Mythros flicked his hands and muttered a few words, and a globe of dancing light appeared in front of him. In the dim illumination, he reached inside his robes, drawing forth various viles and arcane objects. Drawing a circle around Biron's prostate form with some greenish, foul smelling salt, and setting a large emerald on the fallen warrior's chest, the wizard began to chant.

Mythros has the Supernatural Trait of Demonic Necromancer at six, and the spell to capture a man's soul is no easy task, with a Difficulty of three. Not wanting to mess up, Mythros spends four of his five Spin dice. He rolls three, seven, eight, eight, nine: one success, and four failures! The spell fails, and Mythros ends up with one point of Fatigue and three points of Damage.

The circle around Biron bursts into greenish, unholy flame, and the gem on his chest begins to burn with a hellish fire. Tendrils of smoke rise from the man's vest. Mythros is shouting now, the incantation rushing through his body like a secnond blood . . . too much! The wizard's eyes bulge as the words keep coming out of his mouth, against his will, the circle of flame burning brighter and brighter, much to intense . . .


Five: Pain Hurts

There are six ways that a character can be weakened: Damage, Non-Soakable Damage, Fatigue, Non-Soakable Fatigue, Trait Drain, and Spin Drain.

Damage is the standard inury. Blunt trauma, such as being hit in the head with a club or falling out of a second story window, causes Damage. Other sources of damage are fire, being struck by an edged weapon while wearing armor, and exposure to strong acids and bases. See Three: Combat for more info on the effects of Damage and how to soak Damage.

Non-Soakable Damage comes from physical trauma that's hard to ignore. Falling out of the twentieth story window, having a bullet enter your skull, being struck by lightning, that sort of thing. Non-Soakable Damage acts just like damage, but can not be reduced with an appropriate Roll (although it can be turned into normal Damage, in some cases).

Fatigue is when your character gets tired, basically. Like damage, it may be soaked with a relevant Trait roll. Running for a long time, staying out in the sun, and keeping awake past your betime can all result in small amounts of Fatigue. Fatigue stacks with damage when determining penalties, but can never result in a character's death. Non-soakable Fatigue is just like normal Fatigue, but is not reduced by a soaking roll. The only common source of Non-Soakable Fatigue is the use of Supernatural Traits. Armor does not assist in resisting Fatigue.

Trait Drain occurs when a set of related Traits are effectively decreased. For instance, heavy armor burdens a character, decreasing Traits related to physical activity. Wounds do the same thing. The amount by which Traits are decreased, and which Traits are penalized, are handled on a case by case basis.

Spin Drain is the most common form of penalty, but by far not the most noticed. Whenever you lose spin, that is Spin Drain, be the cause a bad roll, or extra actions taken during combat when using the varient rounds system.

Each day that a character rests, they may make a Roll to reduce their Wound Total. The Difficulty of this roll is equal to the number of Wounds that a character has, minus divided by two (maximum five). If they succeed, they recover one Wound.

Fatigue goes away whenever a specific criteria is met. For most Fatigue, that criteria is simply a scene ends, or the character spends a while resting. However, Fatigue from some sources may have a different criteria. For example, Fatigue resulting from thirst may fade when the character takes a drink, and Fatigue resulting from cold may fade when the character warms up.

Trait Drain disappears whenever the circumstance limiting that trait is alleviated. For instance, when a character takes off heavy armor, their Traits relating to physical actions are no longer penalized.

Spin is recovered naturally whenever a character rolls well. In addition, between scenes, each player will roll a number of dice equal to ten minus their character's current Spin Pool, with a minimum of no dice. Each die that rolls equal to or under the character's Spin Modifier lets them regain one point of Spin. A roll of zero always lets them regain two points of Spin, instead. At the start of a game session, a character's Spin Pool is always equal to double their Spin Modifier, plus one.

Six: Other Challenges

Guys with big swords (or guns, or Super Ray Atomic Destroyers, or whatevers) aren't the only way to get hurt. There's also starvation, poison gasses, large cliffs, and much much more.

For extended trials that get progressively harder, such as a juant across a burning dessert or going without sleep for a week, penalties should start low, and increase. Lets use the going sleepless example. The first night, penalty might be one point of soakable Fatigue. The second night, it would be two points. The third night would be three points, and so on.

Extended trials that maintain a steady difficulty should simply have a penalty that is applied every so often. For instance, if a character is attatched to the Strength Sapping Device of Doom, they might lose one spin die, take a -1 penalty to all strength related Traits, and take one point of Non-Soakable Damage per minute.

Sudden pain and injury should be given a Difficulty and a Penalty Rating. The character will then make a relevant Trait Roll against the Difficulty. If they fail, the penalty will be equal to the Difficulty plus the Penalty Rating, minus the number of successes scored in the roll. For instance, falling twenty stories might have a Difficulty of three, and a Penalty Rating of ten. If the character fails their roll to grab onto a ledge, they'll take damage equal to thirteen minus the number of successes that they rolled.

Large hordes of lesser enemies are handled a bit differently. Instead of giving each individual opponant their own set of Traits and a personal Spin Pool, each one has identical Traits, and they share a communal Spin Pool. Typically, the size of this pool should be between three and five points per contributer. Each adversary acts seperately, but the Spin gains and losses of each one effect the group pool. Additionally, do not keep track of Wounds for each individual in such a horde. Instead, subtract the defending horde member's successes from the attacker's successes. They take damage equal to this difference times five. (Basically, one extra Success means that they're injured, two indicates that they're out of the fight.)

Seven: Advancement

   Through the course of the game, characters may grow and change. There are two ways that a character's Traits can shift: Redistribution and Experience.

   Redistribution is when a character decreases one trait in order to increase or add another. This should only be done with the Game Master's permission, and only when it makes sense. A character can not decrease a Trait to below two, and they may not increase a Trait to above seven.

   When a character or group of characters have accomplished a long term goal, the Game Master may award them Experience. When the GM does this, each player may increase one of their character's Traits by one point (but not to eight or above), or add a new Trait at three.

   In either case, characters may use a few points to increase their Spin Modifier instead, just as if it were a Trait. However, like normal Traits, a character's Spin Modifier may never increase beyond seven.

   Example: At long last, Biron has found his father's murderer, and put an end to him. The Game Master awards Alex a point of Experience to spend. He puts it into Swordsmanship, increasing that Trait to seven.

In addition, with his target of revenge out of the way, he has three points from his Seeking Revenge for Father Trait to redistribute. He chooses to switch the trait to Long-lasting Hate of Noir, the royal family to which the prince belonged.


OPTION: POINT-COST ADVANCEMENT

If a GM wants, they may award Experience more often, but raise the cost of increasing a Trait or Spin Modifier. If a GM chooses to do so, they should award about three points of Experience per game session. However, the cost of increasing a Trait or Spin Modifier by one point is now the new value of that Trait or Spin Modifier. New Traits at three cost three points of experience.

----------------------------------------

Remarks, questions, comments, etcetera, as always, appreciated.
Jeffrey S. Schecter: Pagoda / Other

Brian Leybourne

Great stuff!

A couple of clarifications.. I thought we had discussed armor adding to relevant trait levels for soaking, rather than adding extra dice (but in both cases reducing physical traits by a like amount). So heavy armor +2 would make my "tough as old nails" 3 become 5 for the purposes of soaking, but I still only get 1 die (plus spin), as opposed to the trait remaining at 3 but I get 1 die plus 2 bomus dice (plus spin). Also, we discussed allowing soak rolls against all damage (because otherwise the system is too deadly, especially in any genre with guns etc being prevalent) which is why armor now gives bonuses instead of the old system where it simply gave you the opportunity to soak lethal damage.

Any reason why you changed those? Just curious.

One other thing I would note for the optional combat rounds.. IMC I was allowing an Action to count as a Reaction if the character wanted, so those low on spin and/or were not terribly good at fighting could use their Action+Reaction as 2 Reactions (for dodging and the like).

There's a couple of spelling errors you might want to check out too, but otherwise, excellent stuff.

Brian.

p.s Good to see you back, been wondering where you were :-)
Brian Leybourne
bleybourne@gmail.com

RPG Books: Of Beasts and Men, The Flower of Battle, The TROS Companion

Jeph

Quote from: Brian LeybourneGreat stuff!

A couple of clarifications.. I thought we had discussed armor adding to relevant trait levels for soaking, rather than adding extra dice (but in both cases reducing physical traits by a like amount). So heavy armor +2 would make my "tough as old nails" 3 become 5 for the purposes of soaking, but I still only get 1 die (plus spin), as opposed to the trait remaining at 3 but I get 1 die plus 2 bomus dice (plus spin). Also, we discussed allowing soak rolls against all damage (because otherwise the system is too deadly, especially in any genre with guns etc being prevalent) which is why armor now gives bonuses instead of the old system where it simply gave you the opportunity to soak lethal damage.

Any reason why you changed those? Just curious.

The reason that I didn't convert armor into strait Trait bonuses, and make all damage soakable, is that I hate making exceptions. If all damage was soakable, then damage from Supernatural Traits would be, too, which means that, if a character had a high Toughness, they'd actually come out on top (more spin dice) by rolling, say, one Failure on every spell. . . Hmm, seems like there's a flaw in my logic somewhere, but I can't pinpoint it.

Quote from: Brian LeybourneOne other thing I would note for the optional combat rounds.. IMC I was allowing an Action to count as a Reaction if the character wanted, so those low on spin and/or were not terribly good at fighting could use their Action+Reaction as 2 Reactions (for dodging and the like).

Good thoughts. Did you put that in your 2nd Actual Play writeup? Ah yes. I was looking at that paragraph as I wrote the option section, not sure how I missed that. Well, it'll be in 2.2, then. :-)

*BING* Found the flaw in my logic: With the current damage system, I'm still making an exception for Supernatural Traits: non-soakable Fatigue.

Quote from: Brian LeybourneThere's a couple of spelling errors you might want to check out too, but otherwise, excellent stuff.

Brian.

p.s Good to see you back, been wondering where you were :-)

Spell errors are expected, I tend to work on this stuff at about 10 PM. My adversity (or bad memory?) to spellcheck doesn't help either. =)

Good to be back!

-Jeff S.
Jeffrey S. Schecter: Pagoda / Other

ethan_greer

Shit!  I'm too busy working on my own game to check this out right now.  I'll just add in my own "welcome back" to the chorus.