From: Nick_Janow@mindlink.bc.ca (Nick Janow)
Subject: Overview of Legacy
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 07:37:15 GMT

Legacy has finally been released via mail-order (the designer is checking out
distribution channels).  Here's an overview, so you know what it is:

Details

  Character generation:

There are fifteen primary attributes and three secondary attributes.  These
are open-ended and logarithmic: human average is 35-45, and a 50 strength is
twice as strong as a 40, which is twice as strong as 30... The initial levels
of the prime attributes are point-allocated, with a random addition.

To start off with, you generate your major attributes (there are some options
for altering them) and physical characteristics (Ht, Wt, hair colour, etc),
birth  place and nationality, parents' occupations and other background
information.

Then you choose an education path (vocational school, university, no further
education...).  The choices available are similar to present-day options.
For instance, you could choose to enter a university engineering program,
majoring in Mechanical engineering and minoring in Robotics.  This program
would include several other courses as well, such as arts, languages,
sciences, engineering, instruction, etc.  You can go for a bachelors, masters
or doctorate degree in most university programs...if you make the entrance
exam rolls.  Other education options are vocational programs, such as
Information Management, Technologist, Flight School, etc.  You can get a
degree in Philosophy, then go to a trade school to get some real job skills,
just like in real life.  :)

After you've finished your education, you choose a career.  There are
corporate careers, military careers, diplomatic careers, etc.  After the
career training period, you work in the career until you fail a re-enlistment
roll, decide to retire or begin the game in that career. Each year of work
offers you the chance at one or two skill development points as well as money
and promotion. Aging does affect your attributes, so there is a trade-off.
:)

Some skills are mandatory for a specific education or career; others are
chosen from a selection (roughly 200 skills total).  There is also the
opportunity to develop non-career skills, such as sports, fine arts, hobbies,
etc.  There's plenty of opportunity for personalizing the character.

After that, you use the skill development points you accumulated to buy or
improve skills (such as bringing Negotiation from level II to level IV).
Writing a character history fills out the character, and then you're ready to
play.

The character generation system is intended to simulate real life.  You have
no control over many aspects of yourself (parents, eye colour, vision
clarity, etc).  Other aspects, such as your hobbies and interests, you do
have control over.  You can choose to apply to medical school, but you are
not guaranteed of being accepted even if you do have the requisite attribute
levels.

For those who prefer to start with a character concept, it should be simple
enough to design a character from the rules, with the GM accepting or
refusing a particular creation.


 Task Resolution:

Task resolution is based on your skill level, or in some cases, on an
attribute. Skills are percentile, ranging from the opening level (based on
three attributes; 16% is average) to 100% + the opening level.  Having over
100% in a skill does not guarantee success, since a 00 is always a failure,
and the skill is multiplied by a difficulty factor.  For example, a
formidable task is at .1*skill level and a simple task is at 3*skill level;
the GM decides which of six difficulty levels (and thus modifier) represents
a given task. Also, rolling a number that is a multiple of five (eg. 15, 60)
is a critical; success or failure depends on whether it's above or below the
modified skill value.

This task resolution system seems to handle all tasks encountered quite well.
It is also non-intrusive: play does not grind to a halt while several dice
rolls are made and tables consulted.  One roll and reading one skill value
off the character sheet is usually enough.  It's the most flexible and least
intrusive system I've encountered.

 Combat:

I'm not an expert on the combat system, simply because combat has played a
minor role in most of our campaigns.  As a player, I simply tell the GM that
I want to shoot target x with my pistol.  He asks me what my handgun skill
is, how long I take to aim (snap shot, to taking careful aim), whether I'm
running, kneeling or whatever (often obvious in the scene, and thus not
asked) and whether I'm firing at a particular area on the target (head, arm,
etc).  Then he asks me to roll percentile, and if I hit, percentile for
location and severity of damage (one roll).  He consults one simple table
during this--two more if the round hits--and tells me the result.  Again,
it's fast enough that it doesn't disrupt the flow of combat.

The rule for burst and suppression fire seems to provide acceptably realistic
results (deadly) using only one multiplier to the skill rating.

Combat is _deadly_.  If you shoot at someone with a modern (fifty years
advanced) weapon and hit, that person is usually incapacitated and/or dead.
The damage is determined from a table, with results such as "stunned 5
tactical phases and 2 points of bloodloss per phase".  There are also wound
points that accumulate for each area of the body, with certain levels meaning
a task difficulty increase or incapacitation.  Recovering wound points
requires rest and possibly medical treatment.

Hand and melee combat differs from the ranged combat.  The character involved
call their modes of attack and location (ie. "I'll use Karate with a Lunge
Punch at the guard's head."), starting with the character with the lowest
initiative.  The players then roll to hit, and the results are compared on a
small chart, with the character unharmed, dazed, stunned, or unconscious,
with possible wound points.  Some combats last one round; others can last
until the characters collapse from fatigue.

There are six hand combat skills (Karate, Brawling...) and each skill offers
about half a dozen modes of attack or defense.  It allows players to make
tactical decisions.  Melee combat (hand weapons) follows the same rules as
hand combat, with more chance of wound points.

 Character Development:

Characters do gain development points during play, with which they can
improve skills, though this is more a reflection of learning skills in real
life, rather than a goal, as it is in some other systems.

Those are the basics of the Legacy rules.  You can apply them to your own
universe, or use the one that Legacy is based on.  The Legacy rules and
background are designed to support campaigns based on such things as
exploration, trading, politics and investigation, rather than combat (which
all too many other SF rpgs seem to focus on).

The campaigns we've had have included intrigue, space combat, ground combat,
exploration, scientific study, murder investigations, legal difficulties,
delicate negotiation, and family love.  We've had whole campaigns with no
combat and others with intense combat situations.  We've dealt with enemy
agents, vicious bushes, drug-crazed army captains and intelligent enemy
planetoids.  We've had fun.  :)

 Background:

Legacy is set in a moderately near future: far enough to have interesting new
technologies; close enough that those technologies are comprehensible. This
reduces the chance for inconsistencies in technology, something that spoils
some other SF rpgs.  "If technology X is available for weapons, why isn't it
also used for application Y, with the socioeconomic effect of Z?"

Earth is off-limits, due to a bioweapon research accident.  Less than 1% of
humanity survived, in colonies in-system or in a few neighbouring star
systems. There is only one world capable of supporting human life without
artificial support (pressure suits), and it isn't Earth.  :)

FTL transport exists, but it is expensive and tightly controlled by the
government.  Humanity exists in two main groups: The Regency of Man (a
federalist Republic) and the Asian Coalition.  Interaction between the two is
limited, and an uneasy state of peace exists.  No alien races have been
discovered (yet...), but traces of a previous civilization have been found.
Life within the Regency is relatively peaceful, and a growing economy
supports a high standard of living.


The background of Legacy allows players a chance to explore a believable
future.  The rules allow the players to interact with that universe through
role-playing.  For us, it's a chance to live in the future we seek in SF
books and movies.




The release version of Legacy is a 190 pages, perfect-bound.  It contains the
basic rules, basic compendium outlining the Legacy universe, and two annexes:
equipment and small arms.

Support material--presently in the works--will include several modules
detailing colonies, and annexes detailing equipment, ship design, etc.  There
is also a Legacy mailing list.  To subscribe, send mail to:

  mail-server@vsystem.wimsey.bc.ca

  In the body of the text write:

  SUBSCRIBE REGENCY

  and you'll be added to the mailing list.

  All messages should be posted to regency@vsystem.wimsey.bc.ca


Legacy is now available by mail order. The price is CAN$16.00, plus shipping.

Canada Surface:        Add CAN$3.00
Canada Air:            Add CAN$4.00
United States Surface: Add CAN$3.50
United States Air:     Add CAN$4.50
International Surface: Add CAN$4.00
International Air:     Add CAN$8.00

  *** Please make all cheques and money orders payable to J.D. Frazer. ***

If you wish to be notified of upcoming releases, send your name and mailing
address along with a note requesting your name to be added to our database.
Our address is:

                        Discordian Games
                        Suite 101-8391 Bennett Rd.,
                        Richmond, B.C.
                        CANADA V6Y 1N4

--

Nick_Janow@mindlink.bc.ca
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc