From: ratinox@splinter.coe.northeastern.edu (Richard Pieri)
Subject: Vampire: a new way to roll dice
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Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 01:02:37 GMT

You may or may not have seen a number of arguments about botching
difficulty 10 tasks becomming more probably the *more* dice you have.
Well, I've got a solution that not only makes it *less* likely to
botch the better skilled you are, but makes the whole process of
determining success much smoother:

		A NEW METHOD OF HANDLING ABILITIES, SKILLS
		AND ROLLING DICE IN THE STORYTELLER SYSTEM

        The following is a treatise on a new method of rolling dice to
determine success at a task in the Storyteller System games (Vampire,
Werewolf, etc). These new mechanics are much simpler than the existing
ones, and they fix a gaping hole in how "botches" are currently handled.
This method assumes that a character has a 100% chance to gain a minimal
success *at his level of ability*. That is, if a character's ability is
equal to the task, he will be able to perform that task, with at least
minimal results. This is subtlely different from how things are currently
handled, but I feel it makes much more sense.

        This article assumes some knowledge of successes in the Storyteller
System games.

        Whenever a character attempts to perform a task, there is a
difficulty involved. This table summarizes difficulty levels. It also may
be used as a gague to determine the relative ability of a character.

	Difficulty	What it means
	   0-1		Something anyone can do. No roll is required.
	    2		Raw Beginner: you've taken a course or two.
	   3-4		Novice: most hobbyists are at this level.
	    5		Journeyman: you have a lot to learn, but can get by.
	    6		Competant: you have the knowledge, but lack experience.
	    7		Professional: you've done this for a few years.
	    8		Expert: you're good, very good.
	    9		Master: you're at the top of the heap
	   10		Grand Master: you *define* the top of the heap

        Every character has 9 Attributes which define what the character
is, and what the character has aptitudes towards learning. Every character
also has Abilities, which define what the character has learned.

        When a character needs to perform a task, an appropriate Attribute
and Ability are added together. If the task may be performed using an
Attribute alone, then anyone may perform the task--having a relevant
Ability will increase your ability level at that task, of course. If a
character has *no* relevant Ability when one is required, he has no ability
to perform the task. He just does not know how to do it, so he has no
chance of success: he automatically fails.

        Conversely, if the character's Attribute + Ability are equal to or
greater than the difficulty of the task, he automatically succeeds. For
each dot of Attribute + Ability that is greater than the difficulty, he
gains an additional success.

Example: A character with 0 dots in Medicine has no medical knowledge
whatesoever, regardless of how high his Attributes are. Whenever he tries
to perform any Medical task that has a difficulty greater than 2, he will
automatically fail. He can't perform surgery--he doesn't know how.  But he
can put on a Band-Aid without breaking out in a sweat, because that
requires just raw Wits, and anyone can put on a Band-Aid.

Example: Another character with 4 dots in Medicine and 3 dots in
Intelligence has total of 7. If he performs a medical task with a
difficulty of 7 or less, he will be successful. If the difficulty is 5, he
would have two extra successes.

        Sometimes a dice roll will be required to determine if the
character is successful. These occour when the difficulty is greater than
the character's level of ability, or when the character wants more than his
"natural" succeses. When this happens, the character adds his Attribute +
Ability, and rolls that many 10-sided dice. Each die that rolls equal or
higher than the difficulty counts as a success. If, by some chance, you
manage to roll "1"s on all the dice, you have "botched" the task. When this
happens, something bad will happen to your character. What happens,
exactly, is up to the whim of the Storyteller.

			    *** *** *** *** ***

        I hope you find this useful and playable. As you can see, this will
eliminate quite a bit of dice rolling. You should find that a pool of 5-7
dice becomes quite effective in unresisted tasks in the difficulty 5-7
range, as it should be.

        It also makes it harder for a more skilled character to "botch"
than a lesser skilled character. Botches should be exceedingly rare for
highly skilled characters; but at the same time they should be that much
more spectacular just as their potential for success is.


--Rat
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Northeastern's Stainless Steel Rat          ratinox@meceng.coe.northeastern.edu
The only way to deal with temptation is to yield to it.           --Oscar Wilde
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc