Swingy Combat, Dependable Skills

 The latest round of feedback from play-testing Missions & Mayhem has got me thinking. 

 We played with psychic characters from the Cryptids & Conspiracy rules, so I could get an idea how easily they play out. 

The psychic powers have an activation roll (rather than being spell points as in d20 Modern). All the PCs were using lower level psychics, so 2d4 rolls. The psychic powers are all tiered effects, so the higher you roll the stronger the effect you can produce (but you can select a lower level if you want). 2d4 means only the two lowest levels could be rolled. The abilities can be used at will, but if you roll snake eyes the power shuts off for that game day. 

I think the powers worked OK. The players were trying to use them as much as possible, and they were useful, but not overpowered. I'll play test again with higher level (2d6 or 2d8 level activation) later to see how that works out. 

There was some confusion related to the character sheet. I made the pre-gens for this session, and put the psychic powers in with Talents (class/level based special abilities). But the 2dX roll mechanic is the same as for Proficiencies, not Talents. So I think I need to make an official "psychic" character sheet to mark those off separately and make it easier to find/understand. 

There was a bit of discussion of a sheet like Mothership uses, where it basically walks you through character generation right on the sheet. I don't think I want something that cluttered or with that much fine print on it. But the sheet could definitely be reworked to differentiate things. One player did say that they thought the sheet was perfect for the game right now, though.

The other big bit of feedback was a question about why combat uses a d20 (to hit, saving throws) but proficiencies and psychic powers use 2dX. Would it be simpler to have a unified mechanic, as with many popular OSR games out there now? 

That's something to think about. d20 Modern, of course, uses the WAY too swingy d20 for everything. This is one of the reasons I wanted to "OSR" the game to begin with. 

I like the d20 for combat. Will you hit or miss? It's a gamble. Even at higher levels, it's still fairly common to miss or fail a save. That adds uncertainty and excitement to combat. 

General actions (skills/tasks), however, are an area where I generally don't think swingy resolution aids the game. I've been in too many d20 system games over the years (including 4E, 5E, and PF in this) where the GM called for a skill check for something fairly mundane (yes, there's the taking 10 and taking 20 rules, I remember) and low rolls led to a failure. 

Or the DC for a task is ridiculously high because someone's got a +14 bonus to the roll, but no one else has better than a +2 so everyone but that one PC is guaranteed to fail. 

So, I like the 2dX resolution for actions involving the general proficiencies. The bell curve distribution means more consistency with these tasks, at least when the difficulty number is lower. I doubt I'll change any of this, but I can explain it better in the rules. 

I am considering simplifying the list even more, though. Some areas might break down, as distinctions get lost. But do I really need separate proficiencies for Drive and Pilot? Maybe you can only "pilot" at 2d6 or 2d8 level proficiency, otherwise it's just driving? 

For Mechanical (repair/building) and Electronics (repair/building)? And Infiltration is basically picking locks and disarming traps/security devices. All three of these could be folded into one proficiency, if I wanted. It would simplify things a bit, but having granularity of skill between mechanical and electronics makes sense to me.   

So, some food for thought.  

The Boring Math Post

 I've mentioned already that for Missions & Mayhem, I came up with what may not be a novel mechanic for general proficiency checks, but at least one that's fairly uncommon in my experience. Characters all start with Basic level proficiency in all areas. This is both due to action movie logic (everyone has a chance to fly that helicopter), but also for game expedience. One problem with d20 Modern (and other 3E-forward games) is the way feats and skill training can prevent you from doing things that maybe every character should at least be able to try. 

At Basic level, if you want to perform an action covered by a proficiency in combat or other tense situations (usually no or few rolls in non-tense situations), you roll 2d4. 

At Skilled level, you roll 2d6.

At Advanced level, you roll 2d8. 

Difficulties for most tasks range up the odd numbers from 5 to 13. I haven't put anything at 15 yet, but that's still a possibility. There may be one or two things on an even number (an 8, for example), but mostly I've used the odd numbers since that's what the Classic D&D Turn Undead chart uses. 

Certain situational factors may give advantage or disadvantage on rolls. For these general proficiency 2dX rolls, advantage means rolling three dice and taking the best two. Disadvantage is rolling three dice and taking the worst two. I messed around with rolling 2d6 and 2d6 but it's easier to just add one die to the roll than have people roll twice (or roll four dice in two different colors). 

Using anydice.com to calculate these, I have the following percent chances of success for the various task difficulties: 

 

Difficulty:	5	7	9	11	13	15
2d4	62.50	18.75	–	–	–	–
2d4 Advantage	82.81	39.06	–	–	–	–
2d4 Disadvantage	35.94	6.25	–	–	–	–
2d6	83.33	58.33	27.78	8.33	–	–
2d6 Advantage	94.15	80.56	52.31	19.91	–	–
2d6 Disadvantage	64.35	31.94	10.65	1.85	–	–
2d8	90.63	76.56	56.25	32.81	15.63	4.69
2d8 Advantage	97.85	91.80	79.30	58.59	33.78	11.91
2d8 Disadvantage	77.93	53.71	30.08	13.48	4.49	0.78

 

One more factor to consider is that there is a Gamble mechanic.  I came up with this as a way to add some player choice into the chase mechanic (which is best 3 of 5 contested rolls). Then I realized it also works for other 2dX checks. Why not gamble when trying to defuse a bomb, hoodwink the Prime Minister, or land a plane after the pilot passed out from eating bad fish? 

For the Gamble, players can pick one of their ability scores. They roll a d20. If they get their score or less, they get a +1 on the related general proficiency check. If they roll over, they get a -1 penalty to the check. A character can gamble on each ability score once per game session. 

This way, even if you're rolling 2d4, you've got a slight chance to get a 9 if you need it. Or a 13 if you're rolling 2d6.  

Minimalist Sci Fi Gaming

I'm not sure exactly why, but I've had Star Frontiers on the brain the past couple of days. 

I know the game has a pretty bad reputation among many gamers, but it also has its ardent fans. I loved the game as a kid. And while I would probably not say I love the game anymore, I still like it and find it fun to play. Although it's been quite a while since I've tried to run it, I might still brush it off and give it a go some day. 

A few of the common complaints against the system that I find are as follows (not all inclusive, just what comes to mind right away): 

• It doesn't have starship operation/creation rules (until Knight Hawks).
• It's a "muddled" or "incomplete" system.
• It lacks realism in the skills it offers.
• The setting is under-developed and silly.
• It's a game for kids, not serious sci-fi fans.
• The tech in the game is dreadfully outdated.
  

I don't want to answer all of these criticisms in this post, but I may get around to them later. The thing that's been on my mind is the action resolution system of Star Frontiers. 

It's a simple percentile system, roll under your Attribute or Skill number. Easy peasy. 

It's the same resolution system that Call of Cthulhu uses, yet that system is not derided as simplistic. Of course, CoC has a big "comprehensive" list of skills, alphabetized on your character sheet. And having played a fair amount of CoC the past year or so, there are a whole lot of those skills that NEVER get used. In fact, one of my previous posts was basically about how I managed to make my PC's musician background relevant in the adventure, and helped out by making an Art (Jazz) roll at an appropriate time. 

Star Frontiers has a very limited skill list. There are skills for each of five or six weapon groups, martial arts, demolitions, mechanics, robots, computers, medical, environmental, and psycho-social. Each of these has subskills that you automatically gain access to when you take the parent skill. And when you improve the parent skill, all subskills improve. 

It's very minimalist in design. It features skills for things your PCs are likely to be doing (fighting space monsters or the Sathar, exploring planets and meeting alien species, and dealing with technology problems). The lack of starship content is because of the conceit of the setting. It's Aliens, not Star Wars. Starships capable of FTL travel are huge, expensive, and the province of governments and huge corporations. It's not designed to be Traveller with its African Queen style tramp-steamer starships. But that's a discussion for another post, I believe. 

Part of what makes Star Frontiers work well, at least for me, is that the eight Attributes can actually cover a lot of "skills" that aren't covered in the rules. For those not familiar with the game, the Attributes come in four pairs: 

• Strength/Stamina [STR/STA]
  
• Dexterity/Reaction Speed [DEX/RS]
  
• Intuition/Logic [INT/LOG]
  
• Personality/Leadership [PER/LDR]
  

Most of these don't affect skills. Your base weapon attack value is half of your DEX (you can use half of STR for melee/martial arts if it's better than DEX), plus 10% per level in the appropriate skill. The Technology and Bio-Social skills (everything not combat related), plus Demolitions, all have a set base percentage that you start at for each subskill. A few subskills are just set at that base percentage, but most gain a 10% bonus for each level of the skill a character has trained. 

So, people complain that the rules don't cover lots of other actions. But actually, they do. All those other actions, if they require a resolution roll to determine success, can be mapped to one of the eight Attributes. In fact, this makes the game system both rules-lite and fairly comprehensive in its coverage of actions that the system can resolve. 

Below, I've copied the skill list from d20 Modern. I'll note which ones are already covered by a skill or subskill in Star Frontiers, and which Attributes (or in a few cases other rules) could cover the action in a Star Frontiers game. 

Balance  DEX
Bluff    PER
Climb   DEX (there are climbing rules in the game)
Computer Use  Computers already covers this
Concentration  STA
Craft  A few of these are subskills, others could be Attribute checks. Crafting other than robots, or survival gear in emergencies, isn't normally part of the game, but if you wanted it to be, it could be.
     Ct:Chemical  LOG, Environmental, or Demolitions depending on the use
     Ct:Electronic  Technician, Computers, or Robotics depending on the use
     Ct:Mechanical  Technician, or Environmental for simple tools and weapons
     Ct:Pharmaceutical  Medical
     Ct:Structural  LOG or Technician
     Ct:Visual Art  INT or DEX
     Ct:Writing   INT
Decipher Script  LOG or INT, depending
Demolitions  Demolitions are already covered
Diplomacy  PER, but also partially covered by Psycho-Social
Disable Device  Technician, Computers, or Robotics depending on the use
Disguise  INT or PER depending on how it's being used
Drive   already covered by Technician
Escape Artist  DEX
Forgery  DEX or INT, depending
Gamble  LOG or INT, depending on the game
Gather Information  PER
Handle Animal  LDR
Hide   Environmental covers this already
Intimidate  LDR
Investigate   LOG
Jump   There are jumping rules that determine distance depending on local gravity that don't need rolls, but STR if a roll were necessary
Knowledge  Hmm, OK, here's an area that may be hard to cover. Lumping them all under LOG seems too broad. Some, like Arcane Lore, don't really play a part, and some others can be assumed by having other skills. A system like the Language rules (see below) might be imported if a Referee felt these sorts of determinations were important to the game. Otherwise, the closest Attribute or Skill, in my opinion, are listed below.
     Kw:Arcane Lore   not relevant
     Kw:Art   ???
     Kw:Behavioral Sciences  Pscycho-Social
     Kw:Business  ???
     Kw:Civics  ???
     Kw:Current Events 
     Kw:Earth and Life Sciences  Environmental
     Kw:History  ???
     Kw:Physical Sciences   LOG
     Kw:Popular Culture  ???
     Kw:Streetwise  PER
     Kw:Tactics   LOG, or assumed with a Military PSA?
     Kw:Technology  Technician, Computers, or Robotics depending on the use
     Kw:Theology and Philosophy  ???
Listen  I would probably go with INT for this, but it's a bit of a stretch. This is something the game assumes Referees will decide depending on circumstances, rather than requiring a roll.
Move Silently   Environmental covers this
Navigate   Environmental covers this
Perform   DEX or INT, depending on the use
Pilot  Technician covers this
Profession  There's already a system of determining pay per day depending on total skills known, used for hiring NPCs, or for pay offered to PCs for jobs. No need to make rolls.
Read/Write Language  The game contains a system similar to Skills for languages, with each level in a language costing 3XP and granting a +10% bonus to communicate in that language, starting at a 40% base.
Repair  Technician, Computers, or Robotics depending on the use
Research   LOG
Ride   DEX or RS depending on use
Search   I would probably go with INT for this, but it's a bit of a stretch. This is something the game assumes Referees will decide depending on circumstances, rather than requiring a roll.
Sense Motive  Pscycho-Social covers this
Sleight of Hand  RS
Speak Language  The game contains a system similar to Skills for languages, with each level in a language costing 3XP and granting a +10% bonus to communicate in that language, starting at a 40% base.
Spot  INT
Survival  Environmental covers this
Swim   There are swimming rules that don't involve checks, but STA might be used for endurance situations
Treat Injury  Medical covers this
Tumble  DEX

I think the case can be made that Star Frontiers actually can be a robust system, covering a wide variety of checks you might want to make with its base rules, even if they aren't covered in the Skill system. It's also a good minimalist game, focused on less serious sci-fi action, rather than hard sci-fi or more modern Star Wars-influenced sci-fi media. 

While designed and marketed as more of a kids game, compared to Traveller, it's not as bad of a game as many people seem to think.