[swaghauler]

It has come to my attention that there are so many new members that you may not be aware of how my modified V2.2 system works and that this may cause some confusion with my posting (especially skill use postings). So here it is again. Please note that I have been steadily playtesting this system for about 20 years but it is still evolving as I type this.

ESTABLISHING SKILL ASSETS:

I use experience points to set Skill levels during character creation. I have posted in this thread above how I do skills. What needs to be discussed is how those skills are combined with ATTRIBUTES. I remove the concept of the "Controlling Attribute" introduced in V2 and will set the needed Attributes according to the Task being attempted. It may require either a single Attribute to be combined, or you may combine MULTIPLE ATTRIBUTES together to get the second number for your Skill Asset. For example, my MELEE COMBAT skill combines STR & AGL together to get the Attribute total for the Asset. The Skills of CLIMBING & SWIMMING combine STR, AGL, & CON together to get the Attribute total for your CLIMBING ASSET. I just find it more realistic to give more influence to Attributes as a group than to single out an Attribute for each skill.

I can also CHANGE Attributes for different Tasks during play. For physically climbing something a PC combines STR, AGL, & CON with their Climbing Skill number. But, what if the PC needed to fabricate some climbing gear from items found in a supply shed? In this instance, I would combine their Climb Skill with INT (for creativity), EDU (for their understanding of what the gear they are improvising actually does), and WILL (for a measure of patience and perseverance). Thus, I'm able to "customize" Tasks just like in TRAVELLER (where this originates from). When combining Attributes together, I always average them and then ROUND DOWN. I do this because I believe that "natural talent" (as depicted by Attributes) should not trump a Skill Rating.

For Unskilled Tasks, I use the TW2K13 approach of having PCs/NPCs roll TWO D20s and take the higher roll. This is the functional equivalent of taking a BANE(see below).

For speed of play, I set out the various Skills a PC has on a Skill sheet (part of their character sheet) and have them figure their Skill Difficulty Levels for each skill ASSET using the most commonly used Attributes. These are recorded horizontally across the sheet after the Skill is listed and the RAW Skill LEVEL entered into a box on that line. That way, the players simply have to look at that Skill's line on their character sheet to see their chances of success. This GREATLY speeds up play!

TASK DIFFICULTY LEVELS:

I expanded the RAW Difficulty Levels because they were simply a little too "coarse" for my tastes. Initially, I used TRAVELLER as my guide, but I have since expanded them even more. The Difficulty Levels displayed below will be shown with a perfectly Average Skill Asset of 10 multiplied for a reference example. Those Levels are:

VERY EASY TASKS: Skill Asset X 3. 10 X 3 = 30 or less.
EASY TASKS: Skill Asset X 2. 10 X 2 = 20 or less.
ROUTINE TASKS: Skill Asset X 1.5. 10 X 1.5 = 15 or less.
AVERAGE TASKS: Skill Asset X 1(as figured). 10 X 1 = 10 or less.
FAIRLY DIFFICULT TASKS: Skill Asset X 0.75. 10 X 0.75 = 7 or less.
DIFFICULT TASKS: Skill Asset X 0.5. 10 X 0.5 = 5 or less.
VERY DIFFICULT TASKS: Skill Asset X 0.33. 10 X 0.33 = 3 or less.
FORMIDABLE TASKS: Skill Asset X 0.25. 10 X 0.25 = 2 or less.
IMPOSSIBLE TASKS: Asset X 0.1. 10 X 0.1 = 1 or less.

Any roll of a 20 is always a failure and any roll of a 1 is always a success.

The Italicized Task Difficulties are used if you start with a ROUTINE Task and the regular bolded Difficulties are used if you start with an AVERAGE Task. Please note that BOTH end up with IMPOSSIBLE Tasks at 0.1. Thus you can use this table to halve or double your Difficulties just like in RAW V2.2.

Lately, however, I have been engaging in the concept of the DIFFICULTY SHIFT. Whenever conditions require me to halve or double my Difficulty (target moving or obscured, wounded, poor visibility, etc...) I will on occasion, SHIFT my Difficulty Level by a step on the chart above instead. So instead of going from AVERAGE to DIFFICULT, I will go to FAIRLY DIFFICULT. I do this for situational modifiers during play. I leave SKILL DIFFICULTIES unchanged (the Difficulty to hit based on RANGE BAND, or the Halving a Difficulty for using a related Skill are examples of things I do not change).

BONUSES TO THE ROLL:

Sometimes the PCs/NPCs will gain the benefit of a good quality device (like a well-made pair of binoculars or a really good toolkit) to help with a Task. They may also receive expert advice or have a tech manual to reference. In these instances, some bonus is warranted but a whole Difficulty Shift may not be the best solution. I will award a bonus (or penalty) in these situations. A bonus SUBTRACTS from the Task roll and a penalty ADDS to the Task roll. I limit my bonuses & penalties to a range of 1, 2, or 3. any larger, and a Difficulty Shift would be more appropriate. I also ALWAYS MODIFY THE ROLL with such bonuses & penalties. Why?

Two reasons. The FIRST REASON is that my Millenial players HATE doing math and want things simple. Instead of changing the Skill Asset and redoing all of the Difficulty Levels, they simply need to add or subtract the bonus from their roll. What can be faster and easier than that?
The SECOND REASON is for PC challenge assistance. A pair of very crisp binoculars isn't very important when you can see the item you are observing clearly with the naked eye (say an EASY Task roll). However, trying to find that camouflaged sniper at 1,000 meters (an IMPOSSIBLE Task) is a different story entirely. There, that +1 for those binoculars DOUBLES your chances of success. Thus I do it as an INTENTIONAL boost to help more difficult Tasks succeed. The name of the game here is for everyone to enjoy the game and having your good binos "save the day" will create a memorable session at the gaming table.

Expertise & Expert Systems: Following the vein above, sometimes a source of knowledge like a shop manual, YouTube tutorial (for my fellow MERC2000 GMs), or a SKILL the PC possesses in addition to the one being used can also provide a bonus to Task resolution. This is handled as a bonus or penalty to the roll just like above. To facilitate this, I assign a total SKILL LEVEL to the Expert System or Reference Work. I then compare this Skill level to the chart below to see how much of a bonus the item (or PC's secondary skill) gives.

TASK BONUS BY SKILL LEVEL:

1-5 = (-)1 bonus
6-8 = (-)2 bonus
9-10 = (-)3 bonus

For Books, Manuals, and Videos where the info may be difficult to find or there is nobody "looking over your shoulder" for problems; I will subtract the Item's Skill Level from the PC's/NPC's Skill Level and use any "surplus Skill" on the chart above. If there is no "surplus skill," the PC/NPC knows more than the manual can tell them! Thus, there will be no bonus.

Thus, Griffin is hunting for parts to fix a broken radio. The radio is a Scarce Item (it's a DIFFICULT Task to find Scarce Items). But, in addition to his SCROUNGING of 8, he has an ELECTRONICS Skill of 3. The GM rules that Griffin's Electronics skill will give him a bonus to his SCROUNGING roll because it enables him to identify unlikely places to find electronics and spot components that could substitute for the needed parts. Griffin's total Scrounging Asset is 15 and his Task probability is 7 (a DIFFICULT TASK). Each 4-hour period Griffin searches, he must roll an 8 or less to succeed (7 with a bonus of -1).

OUTSTANDING, EXCEPTIONAL SUCCESS, & CATASTROPHIC FAILURE:

Sometimes you just get lucky and other times your just "that good" at something. I was intrigued by Modiphous Games CONAN 2D20's bonus system for awarding Momentum. I wanted a similar skill-based system for Twilight2000 V2.2. So here it is.

OUTSTANDING SUCCESS: I set OUTSTANDING SUCCESS at the PCs RAW SKILL LEVEL (the 1-10 number, NOT the Asset) for an AVERAGE Task. If the PC/NPC rolls equal to or under their skill, an Outstanding Success has occurred. So Joe with a MELEE COMBAT Skill of 6 and an Asset of 12 will score an Outstanding Success on a roll of 6 or less. James, who has an Asset of 12 but a Skill of only 4, does so on a roll of 4 or less. Skill matters here. These chances are reduced by the Skill Task's Difficulty. IF James needs to roll against a DIFFICULT LEVEL, his chance of an Outstanding Success is reduced to 2.

EXCEPTIONAL SUCCESS: This is done EXACTLY like an Oustanding Success but Exceptional Success is achieved IF the PC/NPC rolls under HALF of their RAW Skill Score (the 1 to 10 score again). So Joe would need to roll a 3 and James would only score an Exceptional Success on a roll of 2 for an AVERAGE Melee test.

CATASTROPHIC FAILURE: This occurs far too frequently with Impossible tasks and I also wanted Skill Level to influence the chance of a Catastrophic Failure too. I eventually settled on the formula of 10 + Raw Skill Level (the 1 to 10 Level again). So a perfectly average PC (Asset of 10) would suffer a Catastrophic Failure on an AVERAGE Task if there was a modified roll of 25 or more. That same character would suffer a Catastrophic Failure on a DIFFICULT Task if they roll a 20. This helps cut down on the number of Catastrophic failures you will see during the game.

Special Effects and Special Combat Maneuvers: I have added a number of Special Effects like TRIP, DISARM, STUN, OUTMANEUVER OPPONENT, REDIRECT OPPONENT, and various damage enhancements. In addition, my Martial Arts Qualifications of the HTH Skill allow certain Special Maneuvers like THROW OPPONENT WHILE MAINTAINING GRAPPLE (Judo), INFLICTING DAMAGE WHILE GRAPPLING (BJ Jujitzu), STUNNING BLOW (Karate, Mui Tai), COMBO ATTACK (boxing), SPIN KICK (Karate), etc... Many of these are triggered by either an Outstanding Success or an Exceptional Success. I will post these in a later session.

A final word about these is needed. Don't worry about being stingy with these Successes. They should be rare, memorable events that the PLAYERS will talk about long after the session is over.

BOONS & BANES:

Mongoose Publishing decided to add Wizard's D&D5e mechanic of ADVANTAGE and DISADVANTAGE to their remake of TRAVELLER. I saw some value in the D&D5e ADVANTAGE & DISADVANTAGE system myself and adopted Mongoose's BOONS (Advantage) and BANES (Disadvantage). It works just the opposite of D&D because TWILIGHT2000 is a D20 ROLL UNDER system. IF you receive a BOON, you roll TWO D20s and take the LOWER SCORE of the two. IF you receive a BANE, you roll 2D20 and take the HIGHER SCORE of the two. I mostly use these as "transitory modifiers" when a person is intimidated, surprised, stunned, or otherwise outmaneuvered. They work well for PCs using inappropriate SKILLS too. Are you trying to shut down that sub's nuclear reactor with a combination of Ship Handling Skill and Mechanics? Roll with a BANE!

Those are the basics of my Modded V2.2 System. I do use other things like TW2k13's Incremental Tasks but this should give you a better understanding of my other posts.

Swag.