T5 task rolling

[Wol]

G'day all. Just a question. I have never been a great fan of dice rolls generating bell curves against which modifiers are added (it obviously moves the odds varying amounts depending on the base numer to roll against) I kind of liked d20 but (sigh) that takes you with too little room - better still percentage dice which are too small to read... Anyway Could we not have a few less to roll?

Anyway I wondered what frequency of dice rolls you see with the T4/5 system. It seems you are likely to die from hastily done mundane activities never mind real critical rolls under fire. I have dreaded visions of my character breaking his neck as he leaps out of bed in a hurry when the red phone rings. Seriously though, there seems to be an intention or suggestion of rolling for just about anything (and all the risks entailed). Second, I worry about the over-specification of skills (Oh my God I don't have pre-TL9 tin-opening skills - I am gonna starve in a cave full of canned food) I hoped with T5 we might move to more generic skills to avoid some of these issues.

Not trolling but very curious

cheers

Wol

 

[pendragonman]

IMO, the increasing level of specificity of skills is due to many (if not most) new RPers having the impression that if they don't have the specific skill, they cannot do the task and the resultant new GMs being very detailed as to what skills do exactly. This is leading to more dice rolling in almost every game I have been part of. (laments about the lack of good old fashioned RP skills of the players). This level of specificity could be a byproduct of all of the computer and online games out there, or just the general lack of actual BOOK reading by newer players.

 

[Wol]

Thanks for the response...You may be right. I have been playing traveller since gosh Ct days with LBB. I vcacnnot help but think MT started the trend, certainly TNE was bad and I keep wondering why the skills "evolve" so much through the various iterations of the rules.

cheers

 

[aramis]

The T5 task system also is very much dice intensive.

It is VERY stat intensive (making taking stat gains a mathematical bonus), and has no mathematical reason why a non-rolled-skills player would ever have a character with skills above a 6, and given that a 15+4=19, that makes up to 4D (formidable) tasks fall well under the sweet spot, and 12+4=16, top end of the flat spot, and about 60% success rate...

So, since MWM hasn't made the skills themselves that much narrower (about 2x the number of skills), is giving 3x as many, and has a system which provides no major benefit for skills above 6, expect to see characters far buffer than other editions, with broad skill competencies, and high stats.

 

[ditzie]

...unless he decides the detail isn't worth the effort...