From: WYNNE.C@fs.sciences.WLU.EDU (Colin J. Wynne)
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
Subject: House Rules
Date: 24 Jul 92 13:33:44 GMT
Organization: University of North Texas
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            MECHA ATHEISTS FROM THARKOLD WITH BIG GUNS
            MEET SACELLUM SAMURAI WITH SCIENCE!!!!!!!!
           ============================================

Just wanted to get your attention.

Anyway, this is about H/C in Aysle.  After the short-lived discussion
on this net, I came up with a fix and bounced it around the people in
my campaign.  With their feedback, here is the final system.

OK, the problem with the system in the Aysle SB.  Sure, the way it's
written makes sure that most people have H/C (that's
honour/corruption) 0.  But it is not a strong enough attraction.  In
fact, assume that the people who make it past, say three adds in
honour, are more inclined to perform honourable than corrupt acts.
Since (assuming small bonus acts) there is the same chance that an
add will be gained for an honourable act as an add will be lost for a
corrupt act, what you end up getting is that a character who performs
slightly more h than c acts will just keep gaining adds.  So, you end
up with a tripolar distribution:  lots of people with 0 adds, and the
rest evenly divided between 8 honour adds and 8 corruption adds (or
whatever is the max number before you have to go on a quest for an
additional).

This system that we are going to use forces a Bell curve distribution
on the H/C system.  Most people will be at 0, more will be close to),
and few will have a lot of adds.  As it should be.

Please excuse if some of the numbers in the examples are wrong.  I
didn't have the SB charts here when I wrote them up.  The reasoning,
however, holds for any values.

CJW

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                  HONOUR/CORRUPTION SKILL IN AYSLE
                 ==================================

    To gain the first add in honour/corruption (abbr: h/c), a
character must perform an act deemed appropriate (as per H/C Bonus
Chart in the Aysle SB) during an adventure.  At the adventure's end,
the character generates an h/c check.  The DN is 20, as it is for all
later checks as well.  The value is the character's Spirit + H/C
Bonus + Rolled Bonus.  No cards or p-points may be spent.  If the DN
is achieved or exceeded, the character gains a new SPI-based skill,
with one add.

     EXAMPLE:  A Paladin with SPI 9, after his first
     adventure, achieves an honour bonus of +2.  That gives
     him SPI 9 + 2 (Honour Bonus), and he rolls a 26 for a
     +9.  The value is 9 + 2 + 9 = 20.  Since the DN is 20,
     this succeeds, and he now has the SPI based skill
     'Honour' at one add.

    There are two ways to gain additional adds.  First, an automatic
check is made at the end of an adventure in which the character
performs a sufficiently h/c action.  Sufficient is defined as being
awarded a GM bonus for the act greater than the current number of
adds.  The character generates an add check using his current skill +
Rolled Bonus.  The H/C Bonus is included if it exceeds the current
current H/C category of the character.

     EXAMPLE:  The Paladin has Honour 11, or 2 adds.  On
     the Honour Table, he falls into the 1-3 adds category.
     At the end of an adventure, the GM assign a bonus of
     +3 for an honourable deed.  The Paladin has Honour 11,
     and can try for a new add, but without the bonus
     number.  He rolls a 19 (+7) for a total of 18, which
     fails.  After another adventure, the GM assigns a +6
     for a very honourable act. This time, the Paladin has
     Honour 11 + 6 because the action was very honourable
     indeed (greater than +3, where 3 is the maximum adds
     in the present 1-3 category).  With a roll of 17 (+4),
     he gets a total of 11 + 6 + 4 or 21, and gains his
     third add.

    The second method is as follows.  When a character performs
honourable or corrupt deeds which do not warrant an add check, the
bonus number is recorded on the character sheet.  All such bonuses
are tallied.  When the sum is greater than twice the current adds, a
roll may be made for a new add, using the current skill + Rolled
Bonus.  No H/C Bonus is added to this roll.

     EXAMPLE:  During the next five adventures, the
     Paladin performs some honourable deeds, to which the
     GM assigns bonuses of +2,+1,+2,+2 (he didn't do
     anything worth a bonus in one of the adventures).
     This is a total of +7, which is greater than twice his
     current three adds.  He rolls a bonus onto his Honour
     12, and gets lucky.  +10 gives a total of 22, and his
     fourth add.

    A character may lose adds by performing a deed contrary to his
alignment.  If, at the end of an adventure, the GM assigns a bonus
for Honourable action to a Corrupt character, or vice versa,  the
character checks for an add loss.  The DN is, as usual, 20.  The
total is current skill value + Rolled Bonus + H/C Bonus.  Once your
reputation and character are set, they can be marred by the slightest
misstep.

     EXAMPLE:  After a time adventuring, the Paladin has
     five adds, and Honour 14.  But he is badly taunted in
     one adventure, and, in a fit of rage, lays into his
     opponent without mercy, killing him.  The GM decides
     that the villain needed to be defeated anyway, but
     that the behaviour was dishonourable.  A Corruption
     bonus of +2 is assigned.  At the adventure's end, the
     Paladin checks to see if he has lost an add.  He rolls
     a 19 (+6).  This gives him a total of 14 + 2 + 6, or
     22, and he drops to four honour adds.  Oh, well.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>                                         wynne.c.j@p9955.wlu.edu  >>
==  Colin J. Wynne                                  - or -          ==
<<                                      wynne.c@fs.science.wlu.edu  <<
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