sladethesniper

Spotify has a lot of random playlists if you are up for that sort of online thing. I second the recommendation of Abney Park. -STS

First off, Thank you! This may be the push that my wife needs to run Ravenloft. Her first choice was AD&D, her second choice was 3E (blech), but this may work to have her run it in a GOOD system...(although AD&D was "better-ish" than 3E, now that I can look back on both systems...) -STS

And your efforts are much appreciated -STS

My reference to impairment is roughly analogous to "hit points". How I model weapons damage in my games where players ask for more realism (pretty much only for my military gamers and my son): Probability of Hit/Probability of Kill (pH/pK) Probability of Hit is equal to the skill of the attacker as a percentage. (The normal skill in BRP). Probability of Kill is equal to the chance that an attack will kill the target and is determined by the maximum damage a certain weapon can do divided by the hit points of the target. This will give a number that is converted to a percentage, and if that number or below is rolled on a d100, then the target is destroyed by that attack. Example: a weapon that does 6d6 damage hits a target that has 300 Hit Points. 6 times 6 equals 36 divided by 300 equals .12 which equals 12 percent of a kill. Roll a d100, if less than or equal to 12, then it is a kill. If the roll is 13 or higher, continue as normal. So the 6d6 becomes 33 damage (you rolled great) 300 Hit Points minus 33 equals 267 HP remaining. The next hit by this weapon against that target will be 6d6 vs 279 HP equals 36 divided by 279 equals .1348 which equals 13 percent of a kill. Therefore, as the target takes damage, the chance of a catastrophic kill increase. Also, APPLY Damage Reduction or Stopping Power to the Max Damage of the weapon, so a SP of 25 vs a 6d6 weapon is 36-25=11 damage to be used Against the 300 HP target, NOT 36…otherwise armor would be pointless. Always round down. The "kill" may not actually be literally dead, but it does mean out of combat so if the GM wants they can merely be unconscious and seriously wounded. It is an extra roll (to hit, probability of kill, if no kill, roll damage) and it makes the damage process longer (until you get some practice), BUT it does have the tendency to make combat faster as there end up being some insta-kills reducing combatants. As for "heroism" in RPGs, I have never really bought into the special snowflake idea of PC characters. The heroism, for me at least, is that the PC are choosing to do something that other people will not...the heroism is their choice to BE a hero and risk death or imprisonment in difficult situations as opposed to having more hit points or special powers. Granted, in old school D&D, it was more about home invasion and murder, so maybe their version of heroism is different that mine, since racially based stereotypes of who it ok to murder never really held much weight with me. -STS

One thing that I think some people may be missing is the fact that accuracy/skill plays a larger part in the lethality of combat that the weapons used. Using special and critical successes are what make highly skilled combatants far more lethal than their less skilled brethren, regardless of the weapons being used. http://basicroleplaying.org/topic/1868-special-success-query/ While having a LOT of weapons data is nice, the effects should basically come down to: Hit or Miss; If HIT is the target IMPAIRED or DEAD. A non-Imparing hit is worthless and does not need to be modeled, whereas an Impairing hit has to show how much Impairment the target has (can they still fight?, can they still move?), and a Lethal hit is just that, and the target is dead, or dying and will be dead quickly. -STS

In case it might be useful...Over the years I have built a complete table of weapons and damage ratings that range from fists to nuclear weapons. The damage numbers get big, but the reason for that is that I follow a generally linear damage progression, the damage ratings can be used for BRP, D20 and Palladium (because I love Mega Damage). I have been able to "mostly" rectify two different methods for damage determination: 1. Depth of penetration (primarily used for vehicular weapons) = 1 point of damage per 1/2" of penetration in flesh OR 1/2 mm of penetration in steel 2. The square root of joules of energy/2.4 = weapon damage A lot of the damage ratings end up rather high, but in my experience a lot of BRP combat lasts until someone is hit, which is rather similar to my experiences IRL combat (using a house rule wherein unconsciousness occurs at 0 HP, and death happens at -1/2 HP, and there are no "critical hits" since those are modeled by rolling high on damage). Also, here is a list of bullet types and damage multipliers that I use: Dual Purpose ½ SP ½ damage if wearing armor; if no armor damage x 1.5 Armor Piercing ½ SP, ½ damage, Wadcutter damage x 1.5, armor x 2, ½ range, Semi‑wadcutter damage x 1.25, armor x 1.5, 3/4 range, Reverse semi‑wadcutter damage x 1.5, armor x 2, 3/4 range, Full Metal Jacket standard damage, Total Metal Jacket SP ‑ 1, Solid construction SP ‑ 3, Soft Point Damage x 1.25, armor x 1.5, Pointed Soft Point Damage x 1.1, armor x 1.25, Ballistic Tip Damage x 1.25, High Pressure Damage x 1.1, Very High Pressure Damage x 1.25, High Velocity Damage x 1.25, range x 1.25, Ultra Velocity Damage x 1.5, range x 1.5, Hollow Point Damage x 1.5, armor x 2, Fragmenting/Frangible Damage x 2, will not penetrate any armor or cover, Ramjet ammo AKA "Gyroc" Damage x 2, range x 2, Blended Metal Jacket Damage x 1.25, armor x 1 Tungsten Core Armor x 1/3, damage x1/2 SLAP Armor x 1/4, damage x 1/4 sabot armor x 1/2, damage x 1/2 Tungsten Core SLAP Armor x 1/5, damage x 1/2 "spoon tip" AKA Loeffelspitzung Damage x 1.5 Segmented Bullets Damage x 2, armor x 2 -STS

Well, due to that article my wife is finally (after 20 years) OK with using RuneQuest instead of D&D on a one shot "to try it". Nevermind that I was totally right about Call of Cthulhu and BRP in general.... Apparently my powers of persuasion are less than Sandy's. -STS

Oh...guess I can't like Chaosium anymore...although that leaves me with Steve Jackson Games...and that is just sad -STS j/k

I actually really like how ICE combined % skills and a level/class system into a pretty efficient hybrid system. It makes a nice "bridge" for a lot of different games systems that use D100 mechanics and class/level mechanics. -STS

The thing is I love the setting of Cyberspace, CP 2020 and Shadowrun...each has their own "angle" on the cyberpunk genre. Cyberspace is, IMO a much better game, with a robust set of rules, and a fully developed world that needs no additional material. I liken it to a Delorean, an ambitious game with great staying power, that just sort of died before its' time. CP2020 is a classic, but it really shows it's age...like an old musclecar...strong, but not really in it's prime anymore, like the 1968 Charger. Shadowrun is like the new 2016 Corvette...constantly updated, with more and more stuff added on to it, but still, it's convoluted rules sets and still somewhat cryptic combat pacing makes it out of the reach of many gamers...but the aesthetic still can't really be matched. -STS edit: sorry for being so pretentious.... edit 2: no, I'm not...

Very nice. I like the fact that this is clean system and doesn't add totally new mechanics, it works within the format of the game as established. -STS

By plot armor, I am referring to ensuring that PCs or NPCs survive regardless of dice. When I need to protect the plot (not NPCs) I have the enemy plot on a timeline, so there are specific points that PC actions can influence the enemy, but if they wander off to investigate red herring number 3 and ignore all the clues, oh well...I have never been accused of railroading. -STS

How much plot armor do you provide for PCs and NPCs in your game? Does it vary by genre? For me, I enjoy gritty and noir games and as such am pretty dice centric...I play the NPCs smart so they use tactics, retreat when beaten and conduct recon before attacking. In my games, my players actively avoid combat unless they spend the time to prep beforehand. My wife on the other hand GM's in a very cinematic style where dice are a guideline to how the scenes play out. Plot armor is used as the battles are there for a reason and although Our group thankfully enjoys both types of gaming and the varying levels of plot armor involved, primarily due to the pre-game conversation about expectations, genre, and character creation.