Nuclear Beasts

More System Thoughts

Continuing on a DitV theme... I still don't have the game, but there's nothing stopping me from musing on my own system ideas. If I ever publish it, it would be good if my system was significantly different from the normal one.

Stats would be rated in d6s. Emotional ties and special skills are generally rated in a single die, but often a larger one.

Extended contests are resolved by having both sides roll all relevant traits and taking turns putting two dice together and making an action. The opposing side has to discard dice that at least equal that total in order to prevent it from happening... if you have to blow more than 2 dice, you suffer a lingering malign effect, such as an injury, public ridicule, or an item breaking. If you can't stop the action, it's a full success and you are defeated.

Simple contests are resolved by having the PC defend against an action with a set total. If they can stop it with one die, they ace the contest; if it takes two dice, they succeed. If they take 3 dice, they either get a success with lingering effects or fail with no effects, depending on the situation. 4+ means outright failure and may entail serious consequences.

Modifiers generally add to the effective total of the dice you use. For example, if you were trying to resist a strength 7 attack and you were at a -2 due to difficulty modifiers, you'd need to sacrifice dice totalling 9+ to stop it.

In general a d4 is a weak, minor trait. A d6 is a typical and useful one. A d8 is a very strong one. A d10 is an overwhelmingly strong one, and d12 is a supernaturally strong trait. Psychic powers can go up to d12, but most normal PC traits can't.

Cost-wise, is adding 5d4 equivalent to 1d12? Adding more dice lets you deal with more trouble at once... whereas a single big die can blow through most opposition, but only once. They might well be equivalent- I think it would require serious playtesting to be sure.

"Expendable" traits go away when they roll 1s, but can be replenished later. Psychic Powers and Guns (not just ammo, but also gun overheating) are the big expendable traits...

Posted by Kiz at September 8, 2004 11:56 AM