Addicted to Classic Traveller
- Thread starter robject
- Start date
I want to hear more. Can you expand? Lots of things that this might point to.
Do you mean how die modifiers worked -- e.g. armor was a DM to the to-hit roll, or characteristics could be a DM to the to-hit roll? Or that it uses D6 instead of percentiles? Or something else?
Yes. My way of thinking is -- the bigger a target is to shoot at, the easier it is to hit. The rules work differently though. And exactly what is it that we are "to-hit"ing?
The 'To hit' roll in CT simply determines whether an effective ('personal characteristics can effect combat', etc.) hit may have occurred... with resulting damage representing a single wound or 'a group of hits' per damage dice.
Thus it is a simple abstraction of whether an attack may have been successful - based on simple odds provided by 2d6.
CT accounts for endurance limits and weakened physical attacks; advantages of shotguns against flying targets; better chance of defending than attacking using untrained weapon (all PCs are 'trained' at level 0 in all the weapons in the book); reload times; gravitational effects; etc.
Animal size has DMs... and, of course, there is no real problem adding a DM to account for tinier or larger than human scale targets...
Thus it is a simple abstraction of whether an attack may have been successful - based on simple odds provided by 2d6.
CT accounts for endurance limits and weakened physical attacks; advantages of shotguns against flying targets; better chance of defending than attacking using untrained weapon (all PCs are 'trained' at level 0 in all the weapons in the book); reload times; gravitational effects; etc.
Animal size has DMs... and, of course, there is no real problem adding a DM to account for tinier or larger than human scale targets...
Scarecrow
SOC-14 1K
Do you mean what's the To-Hit target number? If so, it's 8+ on 2D6+modifiers
If you mean what physical object are you trying 'to hit' then I would say any part of your opponent's physical being as a whole. Classic Traveller didn't go in for individual body parts or organs.
Interestingly I only discovered recently (and there is another thread on the subject) that nowhere in classic Traveller is a base target number given for skill rolls! I think the concensus was that like the to-hit roll it was 8+
Crow
If you mean what physical object are you trying 'to hit' then I would say any part of your opponent's physical being as a whole. Classic Traveller didn't go in for individual body parts or organs.
Interestingly I only discovered recently (and there is another thread on the subject) that nowhere in classic Traveller is a base target number given for skill rolls! I think the concensus was that like the to-hit roll it was 8+
Crow
A vital organ via a weak point in their armor
... for a human, through the flexible neck joint, under the chin and up into the brain would be ideal, but that is a tough shot to line up.
... Under the armpit and into the aorta or heart is another good goal.
Luck (rolling a 12) helps.
pendragonman
Absent Friends Margrave
Shonner, your question is annoying people. In CT, the target number for any target that you are shooting at, regardless of living being or not, regardless of animated or not, regardless of moving or not, regardless of weapon type, regardless of combat type (HTH or Ranged) is an 8+ on 2D6 plus or minus any modifiers for skill, range, cover, and armor.
Rolling in an RPG is about indicating unplanned - and 'not to plan' - aspects. Roleplaying with 2d6 assumes the application of creative intelligence to extrapolate from game mechanic abstractions and random die rolls into storyline.
In the case of CT combat, the interpretation of the outcome of the 'to hit' roll is up to the Referee. All it says is that a damaging hit occurred to the stated target. Simple - and elegantly powerful.
What part of the anatomy and to what extent is left to roleplaying and the Ref's determination based on the damage roll and the nearly unlimited state of any given roleplay situation. If the Player stated he was aiming for the throat - and the damage and the situation supports the notion - then the Ref might describe the hit as succeeded as planned.
The Ref can easily factor in such things as whether the target actually has a throat, and its throat was reasonably exposed or vulnerable, or unreasonably so, but the roll was great and the Ref decides to exercise his dramatic license. The Ref can account for the 'believability' of a Player's stated intent, the level of skill and background of the PC, and the NPC's and combat scenario he has set up in interpreting the rolls. Trying to have the dice do all this with the limited range of 2d6 - i.e. a simulation akin to a computer that requires no intelligent application nor interpretation - will never succeed as effectively.
If a Ref is incapable of dealing with this level of abstraction - which I find hard to believe, given children do it naturally - then his games will suffer. <shrug>
If you want the dice and mechanics to do more so you don't have to, and/or to emphasize the gaming aspect, then CT's combat rules and use of 2d6 will come up short. I've tried a number of different systems, but, in practice, I find CT's simplicity amazingly powerful - a prime example of the KISS principle. YMMV.
Combat rules are for intelligent application to combat situations, not just any used of a weapon or physical force. Ex: combat rules don't apply to target practice - i.e. hitting an inert object from twenty paces and such. That is simply a skill check, if a random element is deemed needed at all. In CT, skill check roll targets are left to the Ref - so he can make the roll target match the situation including PC's skills, background and the current environment like unfamiliar lighting from multiple stars, dense atmo hampering slug throwers, odd gravity gradient or Coriolis effects, etc., without looking up and adding 8 different DMs and saturating the 2d6.
Coup De Grace covers special situations and may be extrapolated to non-combat encounters.
Coup De Grace covers special situations and may be extrapolated to non-combat encounters.
CosmicGamer
SOC-14 1K
Not sure what you are getting at as far as the game goes, but with this real life example, there are too many possibilities to answer this question. This is situational. For examples:
Is the person behind cover, what parts of them can I see?
How far away am I; the farther away, the less likely I'll hit what I'm aiming for and the more likely I'll just "shoot to hit".
Is there even time to line up sights, take wind into consideration, breath properly, predict the opponents movement... in other words, sometimes you have more time to aim and shoot accurately and some times you are just trying to shoot the person.
Am I using a sniper rifle, a flintlock, a shotgun?
A sniper rifle at 150 yards or 15 feet away?
Does the person even know I'm there?
Last edited:
