D100-system charter

[peterb]

OK. Here is a suggestion for a very basic d100-charter, based on Simon's post up-thread:

***********

This publication is d100 compatible. That may not mean much to the reader, which is why the d100-Community has created a d100 charter, a document detailing what the community believes is meant by a “d100 game”.

A d100 compatible game contains game mechanics that, at the very minimum:

• Uses a D100 as the prime die when resolving situations,
  
• Uses Characteristics that are based on a Dice Roll but not solely random,
  
• Defines human characteristics as being typically in the 3-18 range,
  
• Uses Hit Points being derived from Characteristics,
  
• Defines damage as being weapon + personal – armour,
  
• Defines previous Experience being Background/Profession based rather than based on a Class,
  
• Uses no Character/Race Classes,
  
• Uses no Experience Levels,
  
• Uses percentage based skills,
  
• Make use of incremental experience,
  
• And resolves skill rolls and task resolutions by rolling below a target number on a D100.
  

[RosenMcStern]

I would rather say "in the 1-20" range. We want to give an idea of the order of magniturde, not the dice rolled to generate a character. The concept of weapon+personal-armor is poorly explained. We should split it in two:

- Defines damage done by a hand attack as the sum of weapon damage and personal damage bonus (or malus) [note that this applies to D&D too]

- Describes the effect of armor as decreasing the actual damage done and not influencing the chance to do damage

[frogspawner]

But AikiGhost's "d100 Rules System" (linked upthread) uses characteristics in the 1-100 range. It doesn't seem right that a system even more d100 than usual would be excluded.

Instead of drawing up regulations dividing (perhaps only slightly different) rules-sets, I'd rather efforts were spent uniting them. Devising mechanisms as easy as possible to convert between systems would be a better use of our time.

Obviously starting with conversions to BRP, because they should be the most used...

[soltakss]

A lot of systems use D100. MERP and Rolemaster use 1D100 but they couldn't really be classed as similar to the BRP family. I've never seen AikiGhost's "d100 Rules System" but it strikes me that a 1D100 Characteristic system isn't that compatible with BRP-style D100.

Going out on a limb, the D100 marker should really apply to games that are similar to Chaosium's BRP-style games, including RQ, Other Suns and various derivatives that I haven't seen but other people have.

Other games that use 1D100 should only be included if they are similar in concept.

However, it should depend on the publisher as to whether they want to include the D100 Logo on their products. What I wouldn't want is some D100 Committee sitting and declaring from on-high that such-and-such a game is not worthy of the D100 Logo.

[Dredj]

But AikiGhost's "d100 Rules System" (linked upthread) uses characteristics in the 1-100 range. It doesn't seem right that a system even more d100 than usual would be excluded.

Instead of drawing up regulations dividing (perhaps only slightly different) rules-sets, I'd rather efforts were spent uniting them. Devising mechanisms as easy as possible to convert between systems would be a better use of our time.

Obviously starting with conversions to BRP, because they should be the most used...

Some adjective-oriented rpgs, such as FUDGE and Mythic do this. Here's the FUDGE conversion for the "typical" D100 game with stats ranging from 3-18. You can judge if this fits BRP well, as I think that's the system they most had in mind.

ADJECTIVE / PERCENTAGE / STAT

Superb / 98-100 / 19+

Great / 91-97 / 16-18

Good / 71-90 / 14-15

Fair / 31-70 / 12-13

Mediocre / 11-30 / 9-11

Poor / 4-10 / 6-8

Terrible / 1-3 / 5 or less

[peterb]

But AikiGhost's "d100 Rules System" (linked upthread) uses characteristics in the 1-100 range. It doesn't seem right that a system even more d100 than usual would be excluded.

Instead of drawing up regulations dividing (perhaps only slightly different) rules-sets, I'd rather efforts were spent uniting them. Devising mechanisms as easy as possible to convert between systems would be a better use of our time.

Obviously starting with conversions to BRP, because they should be the most used...

The idea of a d100 system definition is meant to create a larger compatible body of works. AikiGhost's "d100 Rules System" is quite nice but it actually has a few "non d100" features. Stats in the 1-100 range is one, rolling above a threshold (as in d20 but using a d100) is another. In fact the system system seems to me as a blend between BRP and Rolemaster. Nothing bad about that, I'm not trying to bash AikiGhost's system in any way, but the game system is quite far from what I perceive as the common definition of a "d100-system", and that makes the system quite incompatible with other d100 material.

Again the idea is to create a symbol indicating compatibility and to define what is meant by the statement: "compatible with the d100-system".

[Newt]

Ok being part devil's advocate here and part out of interest

Would SimpleQuest - based on the MRQ SRD with some BRP rules and some commonsense houserules firmly based on the D100 roll, fit the bill? Could I display the logo on the game? Who would adjudicate the decision?

[peterb]

Ok being part devil's advocate here and part out of interest

Would SimpleQuest - based on the MRQ SRD with some BRP rules and some commonsense houserules firmly based on the D100 roll, fit the bill?

IMO - yes.

Could I display the logo on the game?

Yes.

Who would adjudicate the decision?

Well, that's where this charter becomes a paper-tiger. There's not really any way of enforcing it, and as has been said up-thread trying to do so is probably not going to sit well with the community. The idea is to get fans (primarily) to label their publications so that other consumers knows what to expect. So I guess the only possible control is peer-to-peer control.

[soltakss]

Ok being part devil's advocate here and part out of interest

Would SimpleQuest - based on the MRQ SRD with some BRP rules and some commonsense houserules firmly based on the D100 roll, fit the bill? Could I display the logo on the game? Who would adjudicate the decision?

I'd just use the logo, that way you could claim to be the "first D100-compatible game" and wouldn't that be good?

[Dredj]

I heard that Nightlife is D100 and ordered it:Stellar Games Nightlife

Is anyone familiar with it and know how compatible it is with BRP?