The Universal Game Mechanic (revised)

[Fritz_Brown]

Isn't the UGM based on these difficulty levels?:
Very Easy +6
Easy +4
Routine +2
Difficult 0
Formidable -2
Staggering -4
Impossible -6

I must have missed an edit somewhere...

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Isn't the UGM based on these difficulty levels?:
Very Easy +6
Easy +4
Routine +2
Difficult 0
Formidable -2
Staggering -4
Impossible -6

I must have missed an edit somewhere...

 

[Supplement Four]

Originally posted by Fritz88:
Isn't the UGM based on these difficulty levels?:

LOL, yep, you must have missed one.

Look at the third post of this thread.

Difficulty levels for UGM are:

+4...Easy
+2...Routine
+0...Standard
-2...Difficult
-4...Challenging
-6...Formidable
-8...Insane
-10..Impossible


Or, if you don't want to roll 8+ for every task, you can have MT style difficult levels. It's the same thing.

4+...Easy
6+...Routine
8+...Standard
10+..Difficult
12+..Challenging
14+..Formidable
16+..Insane
18+..Impossible

 

[Supplement Four]

Originally posted by Fritz88:
Isn't the UGM based on these difficulty levels?:

LOL, yep, you must have missed one.

Look at the third post of this thread.

Difficulty levels for UGM are:

+4...Easy
+2...Routine
+0...Standard
-2...Difficult
-4...Challenging
-6...Formidable
-8...Insane
-10..Impossible


Or, if you don't want to roll 8+ for every task, you can have MT style difficult levels. It's the same thing.

4+...Easy
6+...Routine
8+...Standard
10+..Difficult
12+..Challenging
14+..Formidable
16+..Insane
18+..Impossible

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Ahhhh, well that changes the percentages, then.... I will have to revise. Thanks.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Ahhhh, well that changes the percentages, then.... I will have to revise. Thanks.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

I am getting some interesting graphs out of this exercise. I will try to post next week (it will take a while to do one for every attribute level (or even every third att level - for Aramis ), and for every skill level, to go with the ones for each difficulty I already have.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

I am getting some interesting graphs out of this exercise. I will try to post next week (it will take a while to do one for every attribute level (or even every third att level - for Aramis ), and for every skill level, to go with the ones for each difficulty I already have.

 

[mike wightman]

I suppose how easy an impossible task is depends upon your definition of the word

impossible adj. not possible, unable to be done or to exist

To me, such a task is doomed to failure because it can't be done by normal means.

If your difficulty labels are from the perspective of an average character then an imossible task for them is easier for a Doc Savage type.

Is the dificulty scale relative to the average, or is it an absolute scale?

777777 skill level 2 doomed to failure
FFFFFF skill level 6 doomed to failure

it is impossible after all.

Now, should the dice be able to reflect that one in a million piece of random luck? If so a second or even third roll of the dice may be required to model the small probability of success.

We are now in the realm of blind luck rather than any skill or ability deciding the outcome.

Which is a long winded way to get to the point.

If you roll box cars and fail because the task is too hard, reduce the difficulty by one step and roll again.
The task may still be too difficult for you, but you may roll box cars again...

 

[mike wightman]

I suppose how easy an impossible task is depends upon your definition of the word

impossible adj. not possible, unable to be done or to exist

To me, such a task is doomed to failure because it can't be done by normal means.

If your difficulty labels are from the perspective of an average character then an imossible task for them is easier for a Doc Savage type.

Is the dificulty scale relative to the average, or is it an absolute scale?

777777 skill level 2 doomed to failure
FFFFFF skill level 6 doomed to failure

it is impossible after all.

Now, should the dice be able to reflect that one in a million piece of random luck? If so a second or even third roll of the dice may be required to model the small probability of success.

We are now in the realm of blind luck rather than any skill or ability deciding the outcome.

Which is a long winded way to get to the point.

If you roll box cars and fail because the task is too hard, reduce the difficulty by one step and roll again.
The task may still be too difficult for you, but you may roll box cars again...

 

[Pickles]

Oh boy, I can't keep up with this. Where's the PDF?!

 

[Pickles]

Oh boy, I can't keep up with this. Where's the PDF?!

 

[Supplement Four]

Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:

Is the dificulty scale relative to the average, or is it an absolute scale?

Actually, I named the difficulty levels that "intersect" with MT the same as what MT uses to keep UGM compatible with published Traveller material.

The Easy, Routine, Difficult, Formidable, and Impossible categories are roughly equivalent (in terms of probability) to those used in MT. (In same cases, they're exactly equal, and in others, they're off by a DM or two, reflecting the differences between UGM and MT).

So, if someone saw a "Routine task roll" in a published Traveller work, then I wanted them to be able to use the UGM "Routine" category and be confident that similiar results would occur.

Since UGM has more difficulty categoies than MT, I named those categories names that haven't been used in Traveller before so that it would jump out to a Traveller player that they were "different". Standard, Challenging, Insane.

 

[Supplement Four]

Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:

Is the dificulty scale relative to the average, or is it an absolute scale?

Actually, I named the difficulty levels that "intersect" with MT the same as what MT uses to keep UGM compatible with published Traveller material.

The Easy, Routine, Difficult, Formidable, and Impossible categories are roughly equivalent (in terms of probability) to those used in MT. (In same cases, they're exactly equal, and in others, they're off by a DM or two, reflecting the differences between UGM and MT).

So, if someone saw a "Routine task roll" in a published Traveller work, then I wanted them to be able to use the UGM "Routine" category and be confident that similiar results would occur.

Since UGM has more difficulty categoies than MT, I named those categories names that haven't been used in Traveller before so that it would jump out to a Traveller player that they were "different". Standard, Challenging, Insane.

 

[Supplement Four]

Originally posted by Fritz88:
I am getting some interesting graphs out of this exercise. I will try to post next week (it will take a while to do one for every attribute level (or even every third att level - for Aramis ), and for every skill level, to go with the ones for each difficulty I already have.

Cool, Fritz. Love to see it.

I mean, if UGM is broken in some way that I can't see, then I definitely want to know so that I won't use it in my game.

And, if UGM isn't broken in some way I can't recognize or haven't thought of, then it will be cool to see these graphs and how they stack up against plain vanilla MT.

 

[Supplement Four]

Originally posted by Fritz88:
I am getting some interesting graphs out of this exercise. I will try to post next week (it will take a while to do one for every attribute level (or even every third att level - for Aramis ), and for every skill level, to go with the ones for each difficulty I already have.

Cool, Fritz. Love to see it.

I mean, if UGM is broken in some way that I can't see, then I definitely want to know so that I won't use it in my game.

And, if UGM isn't broken in some way I can't recognize or haven't thought of, then it will be cool to see these graphs and how they stack up against plain vanilla MT.

 

[Supplement Four]

Originally posted by Bromgrev:
Oh boy, I can't keep up with this. Where's the PDF?!

Hey Brom,

Check earlier in the thread here:

http://www.travellerrpg.com/cgi-bin/Trav/CotI/Discuss/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=44;t=000277;p=3

On that first post, page three, you'll see a link that Employee did, linking to the UGM Word doc he wrote up.

Page two of that doc has everything about UGM all on one page--you really only need pg. 2.

 

[Supplement Four]

Originally posted by Bromgrev:
Oh boy, I can't keep up with this. Where's the PDF?!

Hey Brom,

Check earlier in the thread here:

http://www.travellerrpg.com/cgi-bin/Trav/CotI/Discuss/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=44;t=000277;p=3

On that first post, page three, you'll see a link that Employee did, linking to the UGM Word doc he wrote up.

Page two of that doc has everything about UGM all on one page--you really only need pg. 2.

 

[Supplement Four]

Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:
Which is a long winded way to get to the point.

If you roll box cars and fail because the task is too hard, reduce the difficulty by one step and roll again.
The task may still be too difficult for you, but you may roll box cars again...

Obviously one way to do it, Sig.

But, as you stated, what you've just suggested is all about dice rolls and blind luck. (Boxcars, then roll again at lower level.)

What I suggested for UGM (Boxcars, then roll check) still includes influence of Stat and Skill and difficulty.

Take a Stat-7 Skill-2 character.

He rolls boxcars on an Easy task, then he rolls 13 or less on 3D (7 +2 +4).

Boxcars on a Routine task means his check is lower: 11 or less on 3D. (7 +2 +2).

Boxcars on a Standard task, even harder check: 9 or less on 3D.

Boxcars on Difficult task: 7 or less on 3D.

Boxcars on Challenging task: 5 or less on 3D.

Boxcars on Formidable task: 3 on 3D.

Boxcars on Insane or Impossible task: SS not possible for this character.


This way, as the Skill level and Stat level changes, different checks are used. And, the check gets harder the harder a task is...

...I've always believed that Spectacular Success should be harder to obtain for a Formidable task than for an Easy task. Likewise, I think Spectacular Failure should be harder to avoid on a Formidable task than for an Easy task.

This little mechanic I've suggested for UGM SS and SF pulls all those considerations into play.

Instead of just being a blind-luck roll, natural ability, skill level, and task difficulty all contribute to the success of SS checks or the avoidance of SF.

 

[Supplement Four]

Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:
Which is a long winded way to get to the point.

If you roll box cars and fail because the task is too hard, reduce the difficulty by one step and roll again.
The task may still be too difficult for you, but you may roll box cars again...

Obviously one way to do it, Sig.

But, as you stated, what you've just suggested is all about dice rolls and blind luck. (Boxcars, then roll again at lower level.)

What I suggested for UGM (Boxcars, then roll check) still includes influence of Stat and Skill and difficulty.

Take a Stat-7 Skill-2 character.

He rolls boxcars on an Easy task, then he rolls 13 or less on 3D (7 +2 +4).

Boxcars on a Routine task means his check is lower: 11 or less on 3D. (7 +2 +2).

Boxcars on a Standard task, even harder check: 9 or less on 3D.

Boxcars on Difficult task: 7 or less on 3D.

Boxcars on Challenging task: 5 or less on 3D.

Boxcars on Formidable task: 3 on 3D.

Boxcars on Insane or Impossible task: SS not possible for this character.


This way, as the Skill level and Stat level changes, different checks are used. And, the check gets harder the harder a task is...

...I've always believed that Spectacular Success should be harder to obtain for a Formidable task than for an Easy task. Likewise, I think Spectacular Failure should be harder to avoid on a Formidable task than for an Easy task.

This little mechanic I've suggested for UGM SS and SF pulls all those considerations into play.

Instead of just being a blind-luck roll, natural ability, skill level, and task difficulty all contribute to the success of SS checks or the avoidance of SF.