[freeroleplay] [fringe] Alternative Fringe combat

[Ricardo Gladwell]

Hi Luther,

On Tue, 2007-04-03 at 23:18 -0400, Luther wrote:
> I've written up the beginnings of an alternative, simplified combat 
> system for Fringe, which I have here attached. I promised Ricardo a copy 
> of this, and I figured I'd post it to the list so you all can do what 
> you will with it.

Thanks for sending this in Luther. Its great to see someone taking our
content and doing something with it. Kudos for using Sam's Yags rules
too :)

I hope you don't mind, I made some remarks on it as follows:

> If you haven't done so yet, please download OpenOffice.org so you can 
> read these files. I swear you'll never pay money for office software again.

I love it too :)

> Chapter 1: Attack Roll
> 
> The attack roll is:
> 
> Attribute + Combat skill + Weapon vs Stamina

This maybe be a little misleading: Weapon is already a Fringe combat
skill. Do you mean 'Damage' here? Also, how do you figure out which
attribute to roll above?

> If the attack is not with a firearm or other fast-moving projectile,
> the defender may add Agility to his defence roll.

Unfortunately, there is no Attribute + Attribute dice pool mechanic in
Fringe (yet?). Also, the ability to dodge is governed by the Melee
skill (which is a general skill for handling yourself in combat, see
page 17 of Fringe) so you should probably roll Agility + Melee instead.

The inability to dodge firearm attacks could also be modelled using an
item trait (see page 24). For example, all firearms could share the No
Dodge item trait (obviously thinking up a better name ;)

> This rating reflects how much damage a weapon can do, and may also be
> influenced by the ease or difficulty of using the weapon.

Interesting, how does this work?

> The numbers in this chart are kept low to emphasize character skill
> over equipment. “S” stands for stun damage, and “W” is for wound
> damage.

Also, roll modifiers should never be greater than +/-3. Please see
Modifiers on page 7. Also, aren't we already modifying the roll by
adding weapon accuracy?

I'd prefer to avoid unclear capitals in Fringe: could we not write
damage as Wound 3 or Stun 1? Maybe we could extend this with exotic
forms of damage such as Fire 2 or Electricity 1?

> Range: This is short range, the distance at which the ranged weapon can
> be used without penalty. Medium range, which incurs a -2 penalty, is
> double short range. Long range is double medium range and has a -4
> penalty.

This is great, and I might adapt it for the existing combat system.
Please note, modifiers can be no greater than +/-3 to medium range
should incur a -1 mod, and long range should incur only a -3 penalty.

> Chapter 3: Damage
> 
> There are two types of damage: stun and wound. Each type of damage is
> kept track of separately. If the attacker wins the attack roll, the
> target gains a number of damage points equal to the net successes.
> Damage type is determined by the weapon.
> 
> Injuries impose a penalty to every dice pool that can reasonably be
> effected by injuries. The total penalty is equal to the sum of the stun
> and wound damage suffered.

This is quite a substantial penalty and can add up to -12, including
maximum wounds and stun. Please see my notes about modifier caps above.

> If your total stun damage reaches 6 or more, all excess stun damage is
> added to wound damage, so your stun damage will never be more then 6.

Instead of success == penalty you could convert stun damage to a simple
penalty score using the conversions in Table 3: Degree of Failure on
page 8 to convert your opposed roll failures into a penalty?

> You must make a Stamina roll (no injury penalty) every turn. If the
> roll fails, you fall unconscious.

I like this, but why not include the injury penalty?

> If your total wound damage reaches 6 or more, you fall prone, unable to
> act. Every round, make roll Stamina x 2 (no injury penalty) vs Wound
> damage – 6.

I like the idea of making a standard stamina check (see attribute
checks on page 7). But why do you is the difficulty equal to the Wound
damage - 6? Why not simply make a stamina check with the injury
penalty?

> On a failure, you die. If you get at least 1 success, you still gain 1
> point of wound damage. With 5 or more successes, you stabilize, and you
> no longer need to roll. Another character may attempt to stabilize you
> by rolling Wits + First aid vs Wound damage. 1 success will stabilize
> the victim. On 4 or more failures, the victim suffers another wound
> point.

I like these stabilisation rules.

> Chapter 4: Healing

Please see the rules for Resting on page 14.

Lastly, how do players determine initiative? Do they use the existing
Fringe system?

Kind regards...

-- 
Ricardo Gladwell
President, Free RPG Community
http://www.freeroleplay.org/
president at freeroleplay.org