CT House Rules for Skills and Combat

[kilemall]

That's Chris Engle, right? I've been meaning to read that for years.

Yep it is.

So you want this or not? I'll tell you up front, it's a bit more complex then yours, but not inordinately so, and for a purpose.

 

[mike wightman]

When I play around with house rules and task resolution I have a few key points:

players matter - they have to have the chance to use their characters' skills, equipment etc. so that stuff has to have an affect on task resolution

roleplaying matters - so a player who describes their actions well gets a small bonus, if applicable

the actual dice rolling is cut to the minimum.

On that last point.

I once liked playing games where you roll to hit, roll for parry, roll for block, roll for hit location, roll for armour absorption, roll grizzly critical effect etc.

All that slows the session down.

Now I keep the dice rolling to a minimum but I can always add complexity if needed for a particular scene or task.

 

[mike wightman]

you are being extreme in your anti-MT hyperbole

He's not.

But I will be. :devil:

MT task system is nice (I used it a lot back in the day) - but it became a game of assembling the biggest task library. A lot of people missed the main point that the ref should make stuff up rather than dig through scenarios, rulebooks, supplements and magazines looking for the 'official' version of a task.

Another thing wrong with the MT version of the task system compared with the DGP was the number of pages needed to explain it - one digest sized page for the CT DGP version and eight or so for the MT version (see the bloat right there).

 

[rancke]

I once liked playing games where you roll to hit, roll for parry, roll for block, roll for hit location, roll for armour absorption, roll grizzly critical effect etc.

All that slows the session down.

I use two D20s thrown at the same time, one for attack, one for defense, with bonuses and minuses for tactical considerations. Comparing two combat throws is fast and easy. If there's a hit, a D12 is rolled for damage, with bonuses and minuses for armor and for how well the attack throw worked (how far below the number needed to hit the actual throw was). Again just a matter of seconds. Hit location is usually ignored in favor of interpreting how serious the wound is (e.g. if you roll a 10, it's probably to the torso).


Hans

 

[salochin999]

When I play around with house rules and task resolution I have a few key points:

players matter - they have to have the chance to use their characters' skills, equipment etc. so that stuff has to have an affect on task resolution

roleplaying matters - so a player who describes their actions well gets a small bonus, if applicable

the actual dice rolling is cut to the minimum.

On that last point.

I once liked playing games where you roll to hit, roll for parry, roll for block, roll for hit location, roll for armour absorption, roll grizzly critical effect etc.

All that slows the session down.

Now I keep the dice rolling to a minimum but I can always add complexity if needed for a particular scene or task.

I used to like complex simulationist type rules and I still do on a personal level but they're simply too slow for what I need nowadays so it's a question of trying to focus in on the most critical part of simulating events which is imo: players should expect to be more successful at things they are skilled at than those they're not so they should plan and act accordingly.

If they only have electronic skill they shouldn't be in a firefight in the first place; they should be hiding behind a wall controlling a remote drone.

 

[hdan]

1) The way I played it, a PC had to beat the Armor Value (get higher than it) to do damage.

Cool, that makes sense. I wanted to make sure I was tracking armor the same way you were, since your players seem to like the balance.

/hdan

 

[creativehum]

Yep it is.

So you want this or not? I'll tell you up front, it's a bit more complex then yours, but not inordinately so, and for a purpose.

I'm already following your IMTU thread (and am delighted and amazed with the detail your putting into your setting.) i'll wait until it shows up there.