TW2013 with TW2000 task resolution

[Michael Lewis]

I'm thinking of using Twilight 2000v.2 task resolution with the Twilight 2013 rule system. I really like TW2013 but not a fan of the use of multiple d20's with high skill characters. I guess I would use TW2000v.2 careers because TW2013 gives too many points.

I guess I would have to look at the modifiers of different tasks too.

Anything else I need to be thinking about?

[Tegyrius]

The first thing that comes to mind is the interaction between attack margin of success and damage.

- C.

[swaghauler]

I had been thinking about a modified skill system with 2013 and a little MegaTraveller thrown in. Some changes I have considered are:

1. Removing Characteristics from the skills (no more Assets). You would assign Characteristics to a skill based on the task you were doing. For instance, Shooting a rifle would be a task; AVE: Small Arms (rifle) [AGL+INT] just add your Small Arms skill to the total of the above Characteristics to determine what you need to roll under on D20. MOS would be the difference between your roll and the TN (I'm using 2.2 as my base, so this doesn't apply in my game). To service that rifle; the task could be EASY: Gunsmith, or AVE: Small Arms (rifle) [INT+EDU]. This selecting of Characteristics according to the nature of a task will allow flexibility in task resolution.

2. To determine a task resolution, you would always assign a Characteristic and usually (but not always) a skill. The characteristics used would vary by task. To assign a Characteristic; you would use the following formulas to keep the Target Number in a D20 range.
A Single Characteristic is multiplied by 2 (X2)
Two Characteristics are not modified. This is the general default for most skills.
Three Characteristics are multiplied by 0.66 (X2/3). this is a rarer use.
Four Characteristics are multiplied by 0.5 (X1/2). I made this my limit for Characteristics. it is rare, but it does happen. For example: To scale the cliff is a task; AVE: Climbing [STR+AGL+CON+WILL/2]
Characteristics could also be subtracted. For instance; to sneak past the guard is; AVE: Stealth [INT+AGL+WIL-STA]. This system is very flexible in use.

3. I would rate skills from 1 thru 5 based on their difficulty/complexity. This would be the skill's COST per level. Skills start at 0 (which provides no bonus to a skill check but does allow the check to occur). Each skill level bought costs it's level TIMES it's cost. Zero skill levels cost 1 Times the skill's cost . Small Arms (cost of 2) purchased at zero would be 2 points. To bring it to level 1 would cost 2 points FOR EACH LEVEL (for 4 skill points). To bring Small arms from level 4 to level 5 would cost 10 skill points. A PLAYER MUST BUY EVERY LEVEL OF A SKILL. You cannot buy skill level 3 in Small Arms without buying ALL of the lower levels FIRST.
Initial Skill points need to be spent on every level of a skill during the career phase of character generation. If you don't have enough skill points to buy a complete level; the partial skill points become "Experience Points" for a future increase of that skill.
Experience points would work IDENTICALLY to initial skill points. They accumulate until the skill can increase in level. It would take 10 Experience points to bring Small Arms from level 4 to level 5.

4. Cascades & Qualifications would still be used as per 2013. Degrees would not. A Qualification costs the same as it's base skill and starts at 0. Qualifications increase as the base skill increases (If a Qualification is bought after the base skill is already known; it's level will be different from the base skill's). You could complicate your life by keeping track of experience for Qualifications separately. Think of a Qualification as a "Skill Within a Skill."

This is just the rough outline of the skill/task system I'm building for my game system. Let me know if it helped.

[Michael Lewis]

Originally Posted by Tegyrius

The first thing that comes to mind is the interaction between attack margin of success and damage.

- C.

Forgot about that one. It would be a high number wit adding skill to attribute, giving high damage numbers. You could just use margin of success vs. your attribute without adding skill.

[swaghauler]

I know your not keen on using multiple dice, but what about modifying the Reflex System to a simpler level. This idea is sort of Shadow Run like but it could work. Just make each level of skill equal to 1 die rolled for success. The number of successes rolled is your MOS. You can still use Characteristics for target numbers but now your only using one (or the average of multiple Characteristics together). I would use D10's instead of D20's (most gamers have more D10's than D20's). You would also have to change the Target Numbers and Margins of Success to a lower set of numbers (your MOS will be lower with each (skill) die roll equaling only 1 success). Every 1 (on D10) you roll (Outstanding Success) could add 1 MOS to your total. You could also use the version 2.0 rules making it an outstanding success when you roll a 1 with a target number of 5 or more. Rolling ALL 10's could be a Catastrophic Failure. Under this system, more skilled characters would not be subjected to a Catastrophic Failure (due to the odds of rolling multiple 10's) as much as lower skilled characters would. I would use the standard 2013 auto fire rules with this system.

[Michael Lewis]

Your suggestions seem a little over complex Swaghauler, although I do like how 2300AD does point buying for skills.

At the moment, I'm making up some characters for TW2013 to see how long character creation takes.

[swaghauler]

Originally Posted by Michael Lewis

Your suggestions seem a little over complex Swaghauler, although I do like how 2300AD does point buying for skills.

At the moment, I'm making up some characters for TW2013 to see how long character creation takes.

This is the problem of trying to keep the 2 key features of Twilight 2013; Margins of Success/Failure (hereafter called MoS) and the use of Characteristics as Target numbers.
The first system allows you to roll a single die (unlike 2013's multiple dice for each skill roll) but you must increase the base Target Numbers by using 2 or more Characteristics to get a reasonable MoS.
The second system is almost identical to the base Reflex system. The only difference is:
-That each successful dice roll equals 1 MoS (2 for Outstanding Success) instead of rolling a number of dice equal to your rating; Subtracting the Lowest Successful Die from you Target number and then adding +2 to your MoS for each additional Successful Die Roll.
-you roll 1 die per Level of Skill instead of treating Skill Levels like "Experience Points" to determine your Skill Rating (which determines the number of dice).

This does point out the basic problem of the Reflex System. It's complexity in play. This is the reason I really like the good old Percentile System used in Twilight 2000 Version 1. There really isn't a simpler system to use. I agree with you about the Traveller 2300 Skill system. The Traveller 2300 system was an "enhanced" V1 skill system.