Sunday, April 18, 2010

Rules Update

I've been spending time today researching the potential impacts of transitioning my game to the C&C rules. Since I found one or two things that might be detrimental to the existing characters, I've decided I need to discuss Castles & Crusades with my players in more detail before making a switch. In the interim, I'm considering the following changes to 1e/OSRIC:
  • Upward AC. PC base to-hits would equal 20 - THAC0. Monster to-hits could then equal their hit dice. Calculating AC is trivial: just add to (instead of subtract from) the base of 10. Doing this math up front should make attack rolls much simpler, with no ill effects, and eliminate "to-hit" tables.
  • "SIEGE" checks for task resolution. This would replace AD&D ability checks (or the lack thereof) and saving throws with a standard "d20 + modifiers vs. target DC" mechanic. This is the meat-and-potatoes of Castles & Crusades, and seemingly makes task resolution a breeze. No more wondering what to roll, or if you want a high or low result. Of course, a great complement to the SIEGE system is...
  • Standard ability score bonuses. 13-15 = +1; 16-17 = +2; 18-19 = +3. This makes mid-range scores more relevant, and bonus thresholds easier to remember.
For next session, I'll likely implement only #1 (which is purely a syntactical change), and continue to use d20 vs. ability score for ability-based checks.

I also want to develop and print a "cheat sheet" of rolls for my players. For example:
  • Attack roll (high) = d20 + modifiers vs. AC
  • Ability check (low) = d20, less than or equal to ability score
  • Saving throw (high) = d20, greater than or equal to saving throw value
  • Initiative (high) = d6, result determines combat segment on which opponents act
  • d% (low) = d10 for tens digit, d10 for ones digit; succeed by rolling less than or equal to a target percentage; "00" = 100
That's all for now.

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