The Unseen Servant forums

Welcome sirravd!

I'm looking forward to seeing how you get incorporated into the gang.

So, what’s a rough guesstimate for how much money we’d need to buy a house?

Zhym wrote:So, what’s a rough guesstimate for how much money we’d need to buy a house?

To build the house NEW would cost between Cr 16,000 and Cr 23,000 ... so that would represent the absolute upper boundary on the cost of the house.
(800 sf interior plus a 5' porch wrapping around all 4 sides)

So some of us definitely have enough credits to buy the house at auction. Or multiple houses.

Sorry for the delay in responding. I keep trying to explain the importance of RPGs, but those clients just don't get it.

I'll post for the group at the mason next.

I think I mentioned a "land shark" in a PM to a player a while back. Here it is:

It was a large, multi-legged aquatic reptile with a dark, knobby hide. At the front was a short fat head that was ringed with rhinoceros-like horns forming a protective star. In the center of the horn star, a beak-like snout projected forward and snapped open and closed revealing a row of shark-like teeth on the top and bottom. Past the ring if horns, a thick body continued for another ten feet with six pairs of short thick legs ending in webbed claws. Occasionally, the creature would rear up on the back four pairs and pounce forward attempting to strike with the toothed beak before landing on its stomach and running again on all twelve legs. Dragging on the ground behind the last pair of legs was a 6 foot long tail that was at least as thick as the chest of a large man. A vertical fin ran along the top of the tail for its entire length. The creature had no obvious eyes and likely hunted using a different sense.

Wow!

atpollard wrote:I think I mentioned a "land shark" in a PM to a player a while back. Here it is:

It was a large, multi-legged aquatic reptile with a dark, knobby hide. At the front was a short fat head that was ringed with rhinoceros-like horns forming a protective star. In the center of the horn star, a beak-like snout projected forward and snapped open and closed revealing a row of shark-like teeth on the top and bottom. Past the ring if horns, a thick body continued for another ten feet with six pairs of short thick legs ending in webbed claws. Occasionally, the creature would rear up on the back four pairs and pounce forward attempting to strike with the toothed beak before landing on its stomach and running again on all twelve legs. Dragging on the ground behind the last pair of legs was a 6 foot long tail that was at least as thick as the chest of a large man. A vertical fin ran along the top of the tail for its entire length. The creature had no obvious eyes and likely hunted using a different sense.

Tasty !

You are familiar with your HP which are as follows: wounded = 8 points of damage (STR); unconscious = 16 points of damage (STR + END); dead = 22 points of damage (STR + DEX + END).

Just an explanation for other players. I find it way too fussy to ... split damage dice among attributes and adjust scores in-game based on current STR or DEX, unless it was the "first blood" exception where all dice are applied to one random attribute ... all per the Rules as Written. So I just simplify it by adding STR+DEX+END to get a HP total and use that. A character dies at EXACTLY the same amount of damage as Rules as Written, but we get to play instead of become accountants.

For the "wounded" and "unconscious", you are still "wounded" when one attribute reaches zero and unconscious when two attributes reach zero. For NPCs, I typically just use 7-14-21 for wounded-unconscious-dead to make my life simple. For players, I want you to have a slight edge, so use your highest ability for "wounded" and your highest two abilities for "unconscious" (from STR, DEX, END). This could give you an extra point or two before you are wounded or unconscious than just dividing HP by 3 (like an NPC).

Interesting—both the Traveller rules (which I hadn't seen before) and your modification.

One thing, though—from my reading of the Traveller Book, it looks like the rules-as-written have unconsciousness coming when the first attribute is reduced to zero and a "serious wound" when the second attribute is reduced to zero. Your system seems more forgiving, so I'm certainly not saying that you should change it, but it does seem like another difference between your method and the RAW.

Taking Mercutio (STR 5, DEX 11, END 5) as an example, 21 points of damage would kill him. But under the RAW (as I read them), an attack that does 5 or more points damage will knock him unconscious two times out of three. A first attack that does 10 points of damage would have an equal chance of leaving him (1) awake with only a minor wound (if applied against DEX), (2) unconscious with a minor wound (STR or END, then DEX), or (3) unconscious with a serious wound (all points to STR or END). Under your system, 10 points won't even wound him. Nice!

At least, I think it is. I'm not sure how the ordering of major injury and unconsciousness might affect in-game actions. Having unconsciousness come first (and more easily) might help avoid more serious injury. And it would take people out of fights more quickly. That might be good (by de-escalating) or bad (by making it easier for a murder-minded attacker to finish the job).

Of course, re-ordering unconsciousness and injury would benefit Philip at the moment, since whatever he's fighting would be now be unconscious...

The RAW are more complex. The FIRST attack in a combat is applied to a single attribute chosen at random. So let us say that a gun shot does 2D6 [roll=4,2] damage against you. If it was the FIRST attack against you in that combat, then 6 points of damage (4+2) would be applied to STR, DEX or END randomly. If you had even 1 point of damage from a punch before guns were drawn, then it is not the first attack. In that case YOU get to decide which attribute (STR, DEX or END) you want to apply the roll of "4" to and which attribute you want to apply the "2" against. You might choose to apply both against the 11, reducing you to [555xxx] or you might want to keep your DEX high for Gun Combat and apply them to STR and END for [1B3xxx]. So it was a system that involved a LOT of fussy record keeping and math.

As far as unconsciousness goes, the RAW made a distinction between "light wounds" (one ability reduced to zero) and "serious wounds" (two abilities reduced to zero). I found people 'fainted' too much in combat for player fun, so I just restricted the unconsciousness to the "serious wounds". If you lost consciousness because of a gunshot, you probably need more than just an aspirin, you need a Doctor.

Note that animals from the Animal Encounter system basically are seriously wounded at 2/3 HP (they get 2XD/XD for hits), so your system is close to the simplified wounds for animals.

BTW, the way I read the rules, the effects of reduced attributes don't come into play until after the combat.

ffilz wrote:Note that animals from the Animal Encounter system basically are seriously wounded at 2/3 HP (they get 2XD/XD for hits), so your system is close to the simplified wounds for animals.

BTW, the way I read the rules, the effects of reduced attributes don't come into play until after the combat.

Right, but then recovery can take a while so it becomes a bookkeeping issue to track healing over time.

atpollard wrote:The RAW are more complex. The FIRST attack in a combat is applied to a single attribute chosen at random. So let us say that a gun shot does 2D6 [roll=4,2] damage against you. If it was the FIRST attack against you in that combat, then 6 points of damage (4+2) would be applied to STR, DEX or END randomly. If you had even 1 point of damage from a punch before guns were drawn, then it is not the first attack. In that case YOU get to decide which attribute (STR, DEX or END) you want to apply the roll of "4" to and which attribute you want to apply the "2" against. You might choose to apply both against the 11, reducing you to [555xxx] or you might want to keep your DEX high for Gun Combat and apply them to STR and END for [1B3xxx]. So it was a system that involved a LOT of fussy record keeping and math.

Yes—I was talking about the effects of a first attack under the RAW. I wouldn't have thought that tracking three numbers instead of one would be that much bother. But then, I've never played under these rules before, so I'll take your word for it. And, hey, I'll happily take a 10-point first hit being something Doc Routledge can shake off versus having a 2/3 chance of knocking him unconscious.

atpollard wrote:As far as unconsciousness goes, the RAW made a distinction between "light wounds" (one ability reduced to zero) and "serious wounds" (two abilities reduced to zero). I found people 'fainted' too much in combat for player fun, so I just restricted the unconsciousness to the "serious wounds". If you lost consciousness because of a gunshot, you probably need more than just an aspirin, you need a Doctor.

Hah! It is sort of strange to think that people would fall unconscious before being seriously hurt, as opposed to the other way around.

Zhym wrote:

atpollard wrote:The RAW are more complex. The FIRST attack in a combat is applied to a single attribute chosen at random. So let us say that a gun shot does 2D6 [roll=4,2] damage against you. If it was the FIRST attack against you in that combat, then 6 points of damage (4+2) would be applied to STR, DEX or END randomly. If you had even 1 point of damage from a punch before guns were drawn, then it is not the first attack. In that case YOU get to decide which attribute (STR, DEX or END) you want to apply the roll of "4" to and which attribute you want to apply the "2" against. You might choose to apply both against the 11, reducing you to [555xxx] or you might want to keep your DEX high for Gun Combat and apply them to STR and END for [1B3xxx]. So it was a system that involved a LOT of fussy record keeping and math.

Yes—I was talking about the effects of a first attack under the RAW. I wouldn't have thought that tracking three numbers instead of one would be that much bother. But then, I've never played under these rules before, so I'll take your word for it. And, hey, I'll happily take a 10-point first hit being something Doc Routledge can shake off versus having a 2/3 chance of knocking him unconscious.

It isn't so much tracking the three numbers as the fiddly part about worrying about where each individual die of damage is going to be applied ... especially in later versions of the rules where Armor starts subtracting dice of damage.

I can also see where it would break your attempt to abstract away all this stuff and focus on the game. It's harder to make everything happen behind the scenes if you have to stop and ask players where they'd like each point of damage to be applied (although I suppose the choices will often be obvious).

I never have liked systems that specify where the damage happens. I've seen cases where that sort of thing actually makes the injuries worse.
In all things, a game system should be as transparent as possible. I'm all about the roleplay, so anything that pulls me out of the immersion is a bad thing. (YMMV)

I've never had an issue with Traveller's system, but then I don't care how the Referee allocates injury in his own games. If you want them to be a pool, so be it !
I'd be fine even if you wanted us all to have a 7/14/21 "HP pool". Of course, it has to be pointed out that 14 damage is the average of a 4d6 swordstrike .

atpollard wrote:"Are you able to move?" said Doc Routledge to the patient just as Doc Linkletter joined them. Both doctors silently cursed the darkness that inhibited their work.

The man concentrated on the doctors and nodded slowly. "Thnk so" he hissed through obvious pain. Inhaling deeply and grimacing "Hurts like a b*tch" he added, holding onto his side.

I'd had Doc Routledge lighting his cabide lamp to add some light. Does he not have it with him?

Zhym wrote:I'd had Doc Routledge lighting his cabide lamp to add some light. Does he not have it with him?

I probably just missed the reference to it in your post.

I don't actually have a detailed list of what everyone has in front of me, so if you mention it then I know it is in use and anything not mentioned is simply not yet in use.