D100 The Melee Round

Despite a very busy summer, progress continues on D100. Recent play testing reveled some problems, not serious problems, but problems none the less. These issues revolved around movement in melee. The conundrum was how to allow for movement in melee with out have various action types and making it overly complicated. It was a tough nut to crack, keeping it simple and also flexible. We tried several methodologies and ended up with a hybrid of the brighter ideas.

In order to properly explain this I have to give you a bit of background, specifically describing the round. We arbitrarily selected a 10 second round long ago. Later we consider a GURPs style one second round, but found it killed the beauty of the skill level system, so a 10 second round it is. I have not explained skills yet but we already have a well developed melee model based on skill level and number of attacks/defends per round. It is a beautiful system and will be the subject of another entry. The result of the skill system is that a player gets Melee Points. These points translate 1:1 to attack or defense action in the 10 second round. Each action (attack or defend) burns a Melee Point and takes 1 second.

So to solve the conundrum of Moving in Melee, we divided the round in 10 seconds, any seconds remaining after or before actions (Attack/Defend) can be used for movement. This as it turns out solved several other problems with respect to spell casters, charging, withdrawing, free attacks, missiles and many more. Whats best, is its solved with one rule and not one rule for each situation. Very simple, very fluid, easy to remember and it works!

In Conclusion, I need to follow up with a post on Skills and Melee Points. Perhaps tomorrow!

Defining Attributes

Define Attributes for D100

Attributes: Defines the basic physical/mental capabilities of a character.

Background for Attributes

The DnD3.5/D20 Attributes are well done and nicely describe the physical and mental abilities of the character. However I have played many other RPG games and I find that I prefer certain other methodologies. Specifically the 2^nd edition of TSRs Top Secret, named Top Secret S.I. In this system you have a few core attributes and the remaining attributes are calculated from them.

Core Attributes

Strength

Strength determines how much the character can carry, lift and movement. In Melee it may also effect how much damage a blow can do.

Reflex

Reflex determines the character's reaction time to events. In other words how quickly the character responds to events. This attribute will determine how fast the character can move, and aid in Initiative.

Intelligence

Intelligence determines how smart the character is. What is the characters capacity for understanding new things and solving complex problems, not how educated.

Willpower

Willpower determines the character's ability to focus on a task despite fear, pain or other distraction. It is an essential attribute for spell casters.

Constitution

Constitution determines how much abuse your body can endure before you pass out and/or die.

Derived Attributes

Dexterity

Dexterity determines how effectively the character can perform physical actions: climb, fire a missile weapon, dodge a blow etc. Actions or skills that require good reflexes and also intelligence to execute effectively. It is the average of two attributes: Reflex and Intelligence. (Reflex+Intelligence)/2

Charisma

Charisma determines how likable by others your character can be. Do not limit your thinking to just looks, but the total package of looks and personality. This attribute will effect the characters ability to influence people without threat of violence. It is the average of two attributes Intelligence and Willpower. (Intelligence + Willpower)/2

Movement

Movement determines just how fast the character can move in a walk, run or sprint. It is the combination of two attributes Strength and Reflex. (Strength+Reflex)

D20 Ranger Two Weapon fighting

This will be a short post today and not related to D100. In a BB I frequent, there is a greatr discussion by a wanna-be power gamer trying to decide when it is best to use the D20 Ranger & Two Weapon Fighting. The amusing part is that the power gamer comes up with a methodology using statistics and chance to hit, to make some really neat graphs to help make the decision.