Changing the Rules
You know, the discussion we’ve been having lately on the forum has got me to thinking about the character generation/advancement rules. I’m going to lay out some radical new ideas I’ve had which might make things a whole lot better… or they might not. At the moment I’m not seriously planning to do any of this, but it’s something to think about.
Before I start on that, though, here are some of the goals I have for character creation.
- It should be possible to complete the game with a variety of different character types. Not all winning characters should be identical.
- Outside of a basic competency at mecha piloting, no skill or talent in the game should be mandatory.
- Different types of characters should lead to different strategies and result in different playing experiences.
- There should be challenges and rewards for all specialties.
- Nobody can do everything.
What is a skill? A skill is something that a character has trained to do better than natural ability alone would predict. If a character knows a skill, this should be part of their character concept. Consequently, skills should be things that integrate nicely with character concepts.
What is a talent? A talent is something that a character does better (or differently) than their equally skilled peers. It’s a further level of specialization above and beyond a skill.
At the moment, I suspect that there are too many skills in GearHead. Many of them skills aren’t particularly exciting. Almost all of the skills are based on a mechanic rather than a concept. There are so many skills that adding content specific to each one is going to be a hassle. Here are some changes that could be made:
- Reduce the total number of skills. Some skills will be merged, others will be converted to talents, and a few will disappear entirely.
- Skills should be based on concepts, not on mechanics. Individual skills should be fairly powerful.
- Increase the effect of stats on the skill score formula, so stat selection and the Jack of All Trades talent will become more meaningful.
- Delink stat increases from skills. You can increase any stat you have the experience for; the cost to increase a stat is determined by both how many times that stat has been raised and how many total stat points have been raised.
- Delink skills from stats. Most skills will still mostly use a single stat, but certain skills may use different stats in different circumstances. See the skill list below for details.
- Because there will be fewer skills total, there will also be fewer skill slots. The basic combat skills may be exempt from the slot limitation.
- HP, MP, and SP will increase automatically based on experience point total. Certain skills may bestow an additional bonus.
Now, on to the slashed skill list. I’ve arranged these skills into groups; note that these groups don’t have any game effect, they’re just helping me to conceptualize how things should work.
Basic Combat Skills: These will presumably be the most used skills in the game. A character with competency in the mecha skills should be able to complete all mandatory combat in the game; some optional content may require a more combat-focused character.
- Mecha Gunnery: This skill merges Mecha Gunnery and Mecha Artillery into one. Different weapons will use different stats for their attack rolls: small guns will still use Reflexes, and big guns/missiles will still use Perception.
- Mecha Fighting: This skill merges Mecha Weapons and Mecha Fighting. It handles all sorts of close combat attacks and shield blocks.
- Mecha Piloting
- Small Arms: Now covers Heavy Weapons as well. As above, different weapons can use different stats.
- Close Combat: Merges Armed Combat and Martial Arts. As with the missile weapon skills, different weapons can use different stats. Hammers and maces might use Body to attack, while whips might use Speed.
- Kung Fu (Talent): Activates the funky martial arts.
- Dodge
- Acrobatics (Talent) Allows an extra Dodge roll if light armor worn.
Interpersonal Skills: These skills are used when speaking with NPCs. Nearly every character should have at least one item from this list.
- Conversation: The art of persuasion.
- Flirtation (Talent): Gives a +5 Conversation bonus if the NPC finds you sexy.
- Shopping: The ability to bargain and haggle. Useful not just in stores, but also when making bribes or negotiating.
- Intimidation: The ability to make an NPC feel very, very afraid.
Advanced Combat Skills: Most characters should be able to get by on the basic skills alone, but if you plan to create a combat monster you’ll want some of these. These skills exist to differentiate the MILIT and ADVEN characters from the rock stars who also happen to pilot a mecha.
- Initiative: Increases your number of attacks per round.
- Spot Weakness: Increases your chance of scoring a critical hit when using a single-shot weapon.
- Electronic Warfare: Allows the use of ECM defenses in a mecha. and helps to avoid mecha status effects. The causing of status effects will no longer be determined by this skill, but instead by the DC of the weapon used.
- Toughness: Increases the PC’s HP total, and helps to resist personal status effects. This skill combines Resistance and Vitality. As mentioned above, though, HP will increase on its own as experience is gained- this skill merely provides a bonus on top of that.
Craft Skills: The kind of things Red Green would know if he had a giant robot. These skills deal with the repair, maintenance, and modification of equipment.
- Repair: Combines Mecha Repair and General Repair. This skill would still allow a recovery roll for friendly mecha, but would not increase the amount of salvage awarded unless the following talent were taken.
- Tech Vulture (Talent): Allows a repair roll against downed enemies when salvage is being collected. If the entire mecha can’t be recovered, attempts to hack off a limb.
- Mecha Engineering
Medical Skills: Skills known by doctors and nurses.
- Medicine: Merges Medicine and First Aid. To prevent this skill from being mandatory, a new lancemate recovery item should be added- expensive, probably less reliable than a real medic, but there anyhow. Alternatively, lancemates could be revived at the cost of “karma”.
Scientist Skills: Skills known by scientists.
- Science: Knowledge of sciency stuff.
- Robotics (Talent): Seriously, is there any roboticist in the source material who is not also a scientist?
Outdoorsy Skills: The kind of things Aragorn would know if he had a giant robot. These skills are useful to explorers and scouts.
- Awareness: The ability to find secret passages and spot enemies at a distance.
- Survival: Knowledge about navigation, wildlife, and how to make do without modern technology.
- Dominate Animal (Talent)
Thief Skills: Sneaky, underhanded skills for Criminal characters.
- Stealth: Very useful for avoiding detection while robbing a place, and avoiding police patrols afterwards.
- Pick Pockets (Talent): This one wasn’t getting much love as a skill, but might make a decent talent.
- Code Breaking: Useful for thieves who want to steal items from public buildings or open doors without being detected. Everyone else usually just blows up locked doors.
Religious Skills: This is going to be a short list.
- Mysticism: This skill’s main purpose should be to open up special quest paths. It probably needs a new talent to sex it up a bit.
Coolness Skills: Skills taken by performers, celebrities, and other such ne’er-do-wells.
- Performance
- Combat Song (Talent): Use Performance in combat to inspire allies.
- Taunt
Detective Skills: This is another very short list.
- Insight
Questionable Skills: There are some skills I’m not entirely sure what to do with. I could leave them as skills, or change them to talents.
- Biotechnology: I’m not sure about this one; it could be added as a talent for Repair or Medicine instead. Still, I think this could be an interesting skill in its own right, if its role were expanded.
- Cybertech: Instead of making this a skill, I was thinking it could just be a talent. Everyone would have a natural cybertech tolerance based on their Ego stat; you can install this much cyberware and never worry about dysfunctions.
Deleted Skills: Some skills would simply be removed. Here they are.
- Athletics, Concentration: Boring. To compensate for their loss, MP and SP will increase naturally with experience gain.
- Weight Lifting: This one doesn’t need to be boring- I could easily see a weight lifting competition quest. However, this skill is almost mandatory for characters without Acrobatics and I don’t particularly like the mechanics. In its place the basic encumberance limit will be raised.
- Leadership: It doesn’t have much use at the moment, and I don’t like the current mechanics.
There would be 25 to 27 skills in this new system. An average character would likely need 6 combat skills, one interpersonal skill, two concept skills and one free choice- 10 skill slots.
What do you think?
March 1st, 2009 at 3:18 am
Strange.. I must say that despite the fact that I like making Jacks-of-all-trades and I wasn’t sure if changing that would be good but I like this idea quite much. Tho some things I would like to comment more deeply:
Mysticism: If it will indeed serve practically just for getting additional quests, I am not sure if it should stay. Maybe it’s time to improve ‘item examination’ option for things PC finds? Then Mysticism would find it’s use in identifying items of religious or occult theme. Or maybe would also be needed to use such properly?
Shopping: Not important suggestion but still - if it’s now also about bribery, maybe Bargaining or something like that would be better as a name?
Combat song: I am not sure if it really fits. Sure, music can raise one’s spirits but often, in the heat of battle not only it’s distorted by other sounds unless disturbingly loud but can also deconcentrate some people.
Questionable and deleted skills:
I am, to my own surprise, in agrrement with deleted skills. As for questionable:
Biotechnology: I would rather see that as a talent. One needs to know something about human body and it’s treatment (Medicine) if s/he wants to temper with things that affect it.
Cybertech: I like the new idea.
I would ask tho, what’s about talents that aren’t mentioned? For example, ‘Sniper’ would fit new system quite nicely. Also, if number of talents may increase so greatly, maybe players should be able to get one or two more of them?
It will still make them diverse and specialized, yet also able to gain more because of improving skills.
Also, I think that stats improvement should be left as it is. It’s quite realistic and sane to assume you can get stronger by doing things that exercise your body and more wise by studying things. Here, new system would not encourage specialized PCs.
March 1st, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Vair: Combat Song does fit, and in fact I was a little surprised it’s only now being considered. Think of it as Theme Music Power Up. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThemeMusicPowerUp)
Anyway, I like a lot of the changes to the skills, but I think Science and Mysticism should be something more than “open up special quest paths.” Science especially, if Robotics were to be demoted to a talent. I think both could work as modifiers for other skills, like Science for Repair and Engineering, and Mysticism for Martial Arts.
Also, regarding the possible changes to cyberware tolerance, would that be according to the number of cyberware implants or the amount of trauma? Because large/invasive/powerful cyberware should count as more if its the former.
March 1st, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Special ammo for missile launchers: speaker pods. On succcessful hit, contingent on successful performance roll, target is forced to dance, dance, dance!
March 1st, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Nah, theme music is different thing, improvement of allies rolls through rising spirits is more akin to fantasy bard’s magical playing. Here, I thought about it from more realistic viewpoint, where music would be more of a bother than help even if the person listening to it wouldn’t think so. It’s like how it was with battle hymns IRL - nice before battle but surely not performed or helpful during regular rumble. Tho I can understand why someone is more fond of that idea than I am.
March 1st, 2009 at 7:57 pm
I don’t have any particular problem with the general ideas here (aside from “costing more to raise Body because you already raised Charm is retarded”). That’s probably because I’m having a hard time picturing the consequences. Could be good. Could be bad.
I do know that I absolutely hate the “Combat Song” talent, if only for the name. Change it to “Inspiration” or something else more general. Combat Song sounds too D&D Bard-esque, while Inspiration opens the door for, in conjunction with Conversation, Churchill-like speeches and such.
As for the “what do I do with these” skills, I think Biotechnology just needs more content. As it stands, the only use for it is repairing some artifact SF0 armor. Literally, that’s its only use right now. Also, Cybertech may work better as a talent. Any serious cyborg character is pretty much forced to take at least one talent for it as is, and the skill is never practiced or used for quests either. You simply dump XP into it to accommodate your next implant.
I’m not entirely sure I like the idea of linking HP, SP, and MP to XP total. That seems too much like an Experience Level concept. I rather like your skill-based system, as it’s a refreshing change from the ordinary. It’s sometimes fun to simply be highly skilled rather than “Level 30″.
Other thoughts:
I wouldn’t remove Leadership. It has potential, even if you think the current implementation sucks.
Shopping could also affect mission rewards, like the Business talent only more general (also freeing up a talent slot for something actually useful — seriously, talents are a pretty limited resource and I have absolutely no use for one that earns a little bit more cash per mission).
March 2nd, 2009 at 12:19 am
It might be less confusing to not have the new small arms and Heavy Weapons skill called “small arms”, and instead call it, “ranged combat”, “Projective warfare”, or something like that. Though, I can now see the problem with stating that it doesn’t cover boomerangs.
Still, can you really call a skill “small arms” if it refers to firing a bazooka?
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:42 am
“Still, can you really call a skill “small arms” if it refers to firing a bazooka?”
Seeing how the bazooka’s weight is not measured in tons, and length not in meters? I’d say yes, but the term is indeed awkward.
March 2nd, 2009 at 6:36 am
Shopping- name change to Bargaining would be a good idea.
Combat Song- “Theme Music”? Starblast Saber would approve…
Some of the talents would also be pruned. Extropian, for instance, would become the new Cybertech. Speaking of cyberware, I’m thinking of a system whereby the amount of cyberware you can have at any one time is based on the stat/skill bonuses granted. This gets around the clunky Trauma mechanic.
March 2nd, 2009 at 7:04 am
I agree with most of the changes suggested.
Biotechnology should stay a seperate skill imo, but its role should be extended from what it currently does (nothing?). Its pretty much in the same situation as mysticism right now.
Small arms would definitely need a new name of it includes heavy arms; maybe ranged combat (in a similiar line to close combat)?
Theme Music: >:3 I’m starting to like it already. Finaly I can have my own Salva Nos (fiction/regular version) chanting character.
Cybertech… To be honest, its pretty much logical for people to have a natural tolerance towards cybertech. However, maybe keeping it as a skill to represent that some people have learned to raise their tolerance above their natural tolerance? Maybe throw in the ability to make cybertech parts later on or as a talent.
March 2nd, 2009 at 7:18 am
I’d avoid leveling HP, SP and MP based on total XP. It really doesn’t make sense that fixing toasters (General Repair) should make you more resistant to bullets. Instead, why not have a system where every time you naturally recover a Point, you gain a tick, and when you have enough ticks your max level increases by 1 and the tick counter resets. That way, you are gaining points in the areas you are exercising.
March 2nd, 2009 at 9:22 am
“Speaking of cyberware, I’m thinking of a system whereby the amount of cyberware you can have at any one time is based on the stat/skill bonuses granted. This gets around the clunky Trauma mechanic.”
That’s not a bad idea, but you’d have to give each skill its own “trauma multiplier”. A new pair of eyes (Spot Weakness?) probably isn’t as hard on your system as [insert wacky device that increases Resistance].
“Point, you gain a tick, and when you have enough ticks your max level increases by 1 and the tick counter resets.”
May I introduce you to the current system?
This is pretty much what it does if you don’t buy ranks of Vit/Ath/Con directly.
March 2nd, 2009 at 10:43 am
I like the general outline a lot.
Robotics: Building your own robot companions is incredibly entertaining and I wouldn’t like to see it drop in utility or detail. I can see how it would be a tempting to cut it entirely, though.
Science: Extropian should be associated with this if you drop Cybertech.
Mysticism: The question with this is what kind of mysticism? This skill will always be a lame duck until we know more about religion in the Gearhead world. It should be considered an interpersonal skill and give social benefits.
Athletics and Concentration: I would experiment with making their effects larger if you think they’re boring. They’re definitely part of the Gearhead flavour, don’t replace them with D&Disms just yet.
March 2nd, 2009 at 10:48 am
Also: I’ve never liked the skill slot system. Surely with a properly organised and balanced skill list it would be unnecessary. Being a generalist is already a bad idea in Gearhead 2.
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:16 pm
“It really doesn’t make sense that fixing toasters (General Repair) should make you more resistant to bullets.”
Oh really?
http://exterminatusnow.comicgenesis.com/d/20050419.html
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Anime would beg for combat song. It’s like bard songs from D&D, but heavy metal.
Mysticism should allow some awesome sort of bullet time at high levels. Or maybe hints about a place, like in GH1. Or both.
March 2nd, 2009 at 11:52 pm
I’m hoping the new designation of robotics to talent will allow the access of building sentient comrades before I hit 30,000 XP (with almost all that going into robotics currently). Esentially, I’d see Science replacing Robotics in the calculations, but access to this ability is based on the robotics skill. Perhaps you’d need to use a console in order to do this, just thinking mechanic-wise?
As robotics would now be a talent, which is a limiting factor outside the XP scheme, perhaps the target numbers could go down a bit? Say, science 8 or 9 instead of 13?
I’d also like to see Biotech become the robotics skill of Biomonsters! RARG! That’s be cool even without sentient biomonsters!
March 3rd, 2009 at 2:46 am
I like the general idea of lowering the number of skills in the game and revamping the talents to reflect that, but if we strive to keep things on an even balance level to .535 there will be some perverse balancing and design, and if we don’t we’ll discover all sorts of new, unforseen balance considerations.
I am going to have to recoil in horror at the idea of D&D bards making themselves at home in this game, if you want a magical-music type thing to bring into the game perhaps you should look to the noise marines of Warhammer 40k for inspiration instead?
March 3rd, 2009 at 2:55 am
Could you explain what you mean by “if we strive to keep things on an even balance level to .535 there will be some perverse balancing and design”? That’s pretty vague.
March 3rd, 2009 at 7:40 am
Recovery mechanic - With Athletics and Concentration out, and vital statistics increasing with experience, I dread waiting sixteen hours to return to full SP/MP. As an alternative, could the recovery mechanic be converted to a proportional recovery, if it isn’t already planned? I assume it’s not already in place in a meaningful sense, given it’s quicker to return to full X/Y with a 5 body character than a 15 body character with 6 in everything.
Variable stats depending on specific use - Love it.
Vitality/Toughness - Could this not be linked, meaningfully, with Weight Lifting? Do weights, get healthier, bulk up a little…. A skill that does a little bit of everything whilst still being primarily involved with resisting negative statuses. Presumably with specialist talents involved in focusing on one aspect or another.
Biotechnology - I’ve already gone into many ways how Biotechnology could be meaningfully expanded - In a world with biomonsters everywhere, where tissue is grown in vats as a matter of everyday life, and the Talent “Idealist Blood” exists, the fact it’s not currently being used to manufacture yourself some bioterrors or turn yourself into one is a tragedy.
Conversation/Taunt - Why should these two abilities exist separately? Wit compliments and witty insults go hand in hand. If conversation is reduces in value from a must-have, it can still be used for taunting, though intimidate should of course be better. Just make Taunt an “Ego” aspect. Apply a scathing wit talent to make them a better combat taunter (and perhaps offset the penalties associated with not using the intimidation skill).
Cybertech - The current cybertech system is slightly strange anyway, how many people suffer critical heart problems every five hours from a pacemaker? Or a replaced hip? Or, heaven forbid, copious amounts of silicone? In the associated genre, how many people suffer constant, random afflictions from their cyborg natures when those systems AREN’T damaged?
Perhaps cybertech could have DPs even when installed and be vulnerable to damage when the appropriate bodypart is damaged (default torso)? Damaged cyberware WOULD then cause trauma, at 1 point per DP short of maximum every 5 minutes/hour w/e until fixed, and then Cybertech would serve as a Medicine talent to allow Medicine to be used to repair cyberware. Trauma would subsequently decrease only very slowly, at the rate of 1 per day.
Science - As a possible - Any scientist can make robots, but to make “complex” robots over a certain level/value requires the talent? This allows starting roboticists.
Electronic Warfare - Not to make life difficult, but how practical would it be to give the Status Effects themselves numerical statistics? Or some other way to determine status virulence? A low damage electrical cannon wouldn’t deal much damage, but it might be the bee’s knees at Overloading. An EMP wave might do virtually no damage, but at the same time be a beast at Haywire.
Codebreaking/Pick Pockets > Larceny? Stealth is a method of not being seen, Codebreaking is a matter of nimble fingers. Since many pickpocketting attempts occur in plain sight (walking into somebody and liberating them of the contents of their pockets is not an application of stealth), might these two be better suited to one another?
Insight - This may be a silly question, but how is “insight” separate from “awareness”? Scope? Detail? The insight use could just as easily be merged into Awareness, with a talent to “specialise” in it.
Perform - And why not? Delving into the power of ROCK to psych yourself and your buddies up for a bit? Really gives meaning to the “Did you say something? I’ve got the music on.”
Delinking stat increase - I can honestly say I already use Exp near exclusively to increase stats, and rely on trainers for skills. This would just mean even more of my precious Exp would be devoted here.
As a possible alternative to this, what about treating a stat like a skill, thus opening up training to train stats as well? You can currently go to a gym and work on your Athletics/Weight lifting/Vitality…. Why not go there to specifically just work on your Body? Go to school and work on, not specific applications into bio technology or structural engineering, but generally improve your Knowledge in all areas…
The cost should be, of course, extreme, it should cost at least ten times as much to successfully train a stat, and should probably require a greater amount of experience beyond the basic training involved.
Each stat could follow a similar scale along the fibonacci sequence? for example. No raising Charm = Harder to raise body, but a definite “You are going to have a hard time” when trying to improve each stat past about +5.
So for a price, let’s skip to six steps in, 5, 8: 13, where you’d usually start increasing the stat, then multiply it by 200. 2600, 4200, 6800, 11000, 17800, 28800, 46600, 75400, 122000…. By the time you’ve hit +5, that’s enough skillpoints to get you to your fifth and final talent. People might, if they’re anything like me, devote years acquiring and spending the money needed to reach +10…
And, as an offshoot, this would also coincide neatly with training skills, if each skill has an affiliated stat, then actively using (not training necessarily) a skill in such a way as to reward skill exp would give 50% of that amount to the stat associated with the skill application used. This way, someone who legitimately practices a lot on their perform skill benefits from a few points towards their charm stat, someone who learned the easy way at a trainer wouldn’t get anything like such a benefit.
Mecha Engineering - Is this the right time to suggest this be switched into generic “Engineering” and let folks start making their own personal scale gear out of personal scale equipment selections?
Mysticism - For starters, shrines currently provide too little it seems. Giving Exp isn’t valuable; Experience is everywhere, and it competes with the notion of Cyberware’s stat boosting on the opposite end of the spectrum. What about, for starters, making Shrines offer random, and fairly sizeable, temporary stat boosts? Gearhead is not a fantasy, and I assume the divine does not “exist” in an actual, physically interactable state. The effects of belief on the human psyche, however, are well documented and after a good prayin’, Johnny Mcpriesty can enjoy frequent Ego boosts, minor skill bonii (beyond simple mood here, there’s more to the supernatural than what a bar of chocolate can bring)….
The downside would be unreliability and transience of these benefits, and you couldn’t “top up” your prayer, until the first one concluded its benefits.
As for places to pray at? Sure, there’s a religious institution in pretty much every major town for every major religion, why not a dedicated “Church” in each Spinner? You might even join the “Clergy” - the shadowy religious organisation that organises such things as the “Mecha Bake Sale” (could it even BE more exciting than it sounds? I think not!)…
This opens up two possible talents - “Zealotry: Where you normally garner only a single benefit, now you grab two.” and “Divine self - Your faith is a deeply personal matter, you may pray without a shrine once per day.” Perfect for praying for good fortune just before fighting a big nasty.
Since Exp is no longer granted, Mysticism steps out of the shadow of Cyberware to bring out the stat gains.
Talents - 1: Avoid relying on talents to specialise into a mediocre stat. People get five talents, every single one needs to be awesome. Literally awesome, no other character can even hope to do style things. If they’re balanced correctly, talents will, by definition, cause more character variation than any other mechanism you attempt, even if there are only ten skills and everyone has them.
2: On this end, if there are multiple applications of a skill, then there should be an equal number of related talents that reward each application. Some examples:
Close combat probably encompasses the widest scope -
Already has Kung Fu: Deal awesome melee special status causing super attacks all over the place.
“Iron Samurai - You can parry projectile attacks provided you are wielding a parrying weapon (a non-flail weapon that uses the current Armed Combat skill) at a -X penalty.” X would likely be the penalty affiliated with attacking weapon DC - harder to parry a missile than a laser beam. Boom, now armed combat has a talent to spend on it for maximum effect, just like Martial Arts.
In fact, every skill should have a talent associated.
Ropeplay - May parry normally using flail weapons, flail weapons in your hands always benefit from a minor “Overload” special effect (makes it harder to maneuvre when you’ve someone’s whip around your ankle)
Ricochet - Thrown weapons that successfully hit a target have an additional attack roll against adjacent targets (all non-grenade thrown weapons enjoy the Swarm trait).
Small Arms
Gunslinger: When using two small arms (in current definition of small arms, non-heavy weapons) in hands (not mounted anywhere etc), if both guns are Ready, when one gun if fired, the other gun fires at the same time at -X penalty (twin Autoguns and a decent acrobatics skill, suddenly you can enact scenes from the Matrix).
Action hero: Making things explode in an exciting fashion is second nature to you, double the speed of all “Heavy Weapons”. (Watch out for the guy with the T51).
It might be worth changing the definitions to count “Heavy” weapons as those with special delivery systems like Rocket Launchers, Flamers and plasma weapons versus more traditional beamguns and ballistic weapons.
Mecha Fighting -
Low Blow: You’re skilled at landing a hit with your mecha limbs in exactly the right place to mess up your enemy’s ride. - Mecha punches/kicks have the possibility at high skill rolls of causing short lived Burn/Haywire/Blind/Overload….
Lancer: Like knights of old, you’re skilled at putting your momentum behind a weapon when moving quickly. - Speed penalties for melee weapons are halved, end damage/penetration is increased by the same amount. - Obviously doesn’t work with thrown weapons. This helps make melee mecha more viable in a high speed attack, and gives some sense to the constant charges we see happening.
Blowback: Whenever a ranged shot is successfully blocked with a shield, there’s a chance of it being returned at a random, close proximity target.
Mecha Gunnery
Salvo: If more than one of the same weapon is equipped and operational, each fires simultaneously. - Same rules as gunslinger, only both more restrictive and with greater potential - A real Salvo monster would something like an Aerofighter with four linked particle cannons, one in each wing. Perhaps we could call it an X-Wing…
Bunker Buster: If your shots penetrate armour, you really know where to make the hits count. - With heavy weapons, such as missiles, get an additional spot-weakness roll (or bonus to said roll), should the shot penetrate armour, to cause even more internal damage.
As mentioned above, these could be sub-categorised into ordinance type weapons (nukes, missiles, explosive projectiles and things like the flame cannon and, possibly, plasma weaponry), and traditional focus type weapons (beamguns, traditional mass drivers), differentiating based on weapon properties rather than DC for the consideration of this type. Reaver Railguns might be twin-linked, but they’d not be any more likely to cause major internal damage, compared to a lucky missile penetrating the armour and exploding inside a mecha. This all goes hand in hand with using different stats for different weapons, which works out well.
Talents are the things that skills, and characters, should build around, and I’m sure there’s many, many more possibilities for them. With the talents above, and only five talents to choose from, even two melee masters could take a completely different route through Talents.
As for Noise Marinesque weapons, whilst lightweight Sonic Weaponry that disintegrates through sonic resonance waves is awesome in every respect, I regret that it doesn’t actually work too well in a vacuum, and there’s no “non-space only” setting for weapons.
And, by and large, forget balance with previous versions. Come version 1.0, the system needs to be cohesive only with itself, not its predecessors.
March 5th, 2009 at 7:50 am
I’ll second Crucifixes post here, but add another idea to melange:
What about two types of Talents? Skill related talents: which are slightly more numerous and allow for the replacement of many of the old skills as discussed above and “Special” Talents which are very limited but include some of the really vicious characterizing talents(that Salvo talent of Crucifixes comes to mind).
March 5th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
What about a Shadowrun style specialization system?
Allow the player to see and only be confused by a handful of skills, or allow him to turn the slider to the right and breathe in the full complexity at the cost of sanity.
March 7th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
I reccomend you peak at Traveller’s character generation system.
March 8th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
which Traveller char-gen system are you referring to exactly? (note my user name I own some reprints) =D
March 10th, 2009 at 9:11 am
Perhaps a 2 tier skill system, so a fundemental skill level prerequisit for specialised skill? or General skill contributes x% towards a specialised skill?
I was thinking of ‘Science, Mechanics, Athletics, Combat, Social etc’ as basic skills and ‘Computer Tech, Bio Tech, Medicine, Mecha repair, small repair, Lazer gunnery, Rocket Gunnery, Performance, Conversation, Commercial sense’ etc as specialist skills
Although on second looks the general skill looks a lot like your skill groupings (e.g Craft, Basic combat, interpersonal)
I would question need for ‘Conversation/Intimidate/etc’, and instead have one interaction skill but choices influenced by different stats. e.g a charming interaction influenced by Charisma, a blagging interaction using intelligence, Intimidate will be more effective with high strength stat etc?
March 15th, 2009 at 10:38 am
[...] 0.540 (announcement) continues the spate of game rule adjustments. I like it that there’s a lot of thought going into giving the game depth. Share and [...]
July 14th, 2009 at 7:15 am
I think the ideas laid out in this post are fantastic though not perfect. Coming from GH 1.100 i really think the game needs a lot of simplification and merging of different game mechanics.
Mysticism makes a pretty cool mirror-skill of science (”You sense this town is peaceful, it has a relaxing aura”) and I’d like to see it used more eg. sense people in danger or with problems so you can more easily aquire quests.
“Combat song”… don’t know which way this should go! Sounds a bit lame to play music while doing something serious like running and shooting in your mecha, but then again… many action games have some psyching rock as background music, and most players don’t find that distracting. Indeed that music gets you in the mood for blowing up things and doing evasion stunts.
Now imagine a new mecha part: external loudspeakers. Could assist in boosting lancemate morale AND intimidating or taunting opponents, no?