Originally posted by Fritz88:
(snip your example)
Hey Fritz,
I received your PM.
OK, let's look at this.
Joe is Skill-1 Attribute-A.
He's rolling an Impossible Task.
He rolls boxcars on his dice.
(An Impossible Task is -10 to the roll...you used -6.)
So, Joe's total is: 12 +1 -10 = 3. (That's the roll, plus one for skill, minus 10 for difficulty). Clearly, it's a failure, but he rolled box cars....which means a SS may have resulted.
We make the SS check (the SS check is not unlike the "possible critical hit" that happens when a 20 is rolled in d20 systems--where roll a second time to see, if indeed, a critical hit was made).
So, Joe's check is: Stat + Skill + Difficulty mod. Roll this or less on 3D.
Joe would roll 3D for this number or less: 10 +1 -10 = 1.
Obviously, Joe can't roll 1 or less on 3D, so no Spectacular Success was achieved.
Joe failed that Impossible roll.
(In fact...that roll is impossible for him to make.)
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Let's look at Joe make a different roll other than the one you used.
Joe needs to make a Difficult roll. He's Skill-2, Stat-7.
He rolls boxcars.
His total is: 12 +2 -2 = 10.
This is a success, but it might also be a Spectacular Success.
The roll is 7 +2 -2 = 7.
Joe would roll 3D for 7-, and if that roll is successful, Joe has rolled Spectacular Success.
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A note on Spectacular Success. As in most official Traveller games, I've not defined what SS or SF means. In Traveller games, SS and SF and typically been left up to the GM (unlike a d20 game where SS in combat typically means double or triple damage).
So, it's up to the GM what the effects of a SS or SF are.
Maybe a SS means an extra die is rolled during combat.
Maybe SS during combat means that damage is normal, but the character who rolled the SS gets to pick hit location on the target.
Maybe SS during combat means normal damage is rolled, but one of the die is applied randomly on the target (this is the one I personally like).
Maybe SS on a non-combat roll means that the task was completed in half the usual time.
Maybe SF means a check is required (Roll DEX or less on 2D or fall off the side of the cliff!)..
...etc...
If you want SS to mean an automatic hit on an Impossible task, then so be it.
It's up to the GM.
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Your example above used an Impossible task--which might not be the best example because Impossible tasks are near impossible with UGM. No matter your skill or stat, Impossible in UGM means, well, "almost-impossible".
I like task systems that clamp down on the upper level of difficulty categories. CTI did this as well--I like keeping the hard difficulty categories very, very hard.
MT doesn't do this near as well, and I wanted to make sure any task system I designed would keep the hard difficulties very, very hard to achieve.
Also note that most Traveller games are played in the Routine, Standard, and Difficult range.
Easy tasks are so easy, I can see a good argument for the GM not even calling for a roll unless the character is wounded or some other special circumstance applies.
And, task difficulties Challenging and above are very hard to obtain--only the really hard attempts at things during a game will fall into these categoies.
I mean, if a player sees that a task is Formidable, he will respect it. He'll know that it is largely possible and most likely that he will fail that roll.
But, the meat of the game lies in the Routine, Standard, and Difficult rolls (pretty much the way it does in MT).
).
