A curious aspect of RPG's is that even though the mechanics for resolving
attempts to use (non-combat) skills are (hopefully) used more than the combat
mechanics, the majority of the discussion erupts over the combat mechanics,
and this posting is no exception:)
But I'll try to use the combat mechanics and the way they relate to the
rest of the skill systems in MegaT and T2k2 to analyse how their skill systems
work, and if they are (the dread word) realistic.
'Realistic' is a very misused and undefined word in RPGs. Some people
mistake gore or high character lethality for realism, in which case Rolemaster
or Call of Cthulhu would be the most realistic systems repectively. Some people
mistake complexity for realism and they probably think that Aftermath or
Rolemaster are the most realistic systems. What I mean by realism is that the
system should *seem* to work similarly to reality in the most basic respects:
Higher skills make it easier to succeed and things like that.
MegaTraveller has, as opposed to many other games, a relatively integrated
skill and combat system. Combat and non-combat skill resolution both use
difficulties, skill means the same and stats are used in the same way.
The above paragraph also holds true for T2k2, so at the first glance their
skill systems appear similar, but there is a big difference in how they work:
MegaT use difficulty levels that one has to reach with the dice, modified by
skills, stats and special circumstances. T2k2 on the other hand use the skill
directly, halved or doubled according to the degree of difficulty.
This leads to that no skill in MegaT is much superior to skill zero (or even
skill one in the d20 system) in T2k2, since you will still have a chance with
a low difficulty skill in MegaT while in T2k2 zero is zero no matter how many
times you double it.
With the default skills and the automatic success in the d20 system, this
has been partly rectified, but it is still not perfect, especially with the
combat system: A strength stat of 10 will give you a 10% chance of hitting
a man-sized target at short range (About 55m for assault rifles, 30m for SMGs
and 12m for pistols. Personally I wasn't sure if this was resonable or not, so
I had to consult an expert: My dad, who has spent a significant part of his
life teaching people to shoot everything from 7.62 to 105.
His answer was that even if we account for firing range vs real combat
(military studies of tank crews say that a person will shoot three times better
on the range than in combat, make that four times for infantry out in the
uncomfortable environment, so if you hit with 10% of the shots at 100m at the
range, you will hit with 10% at 25m in combat) it sounds way too low. The
number he mentioned for an average green enlisted with a weapon that have had
its sights adjusted right and absolutely no weapons experience was more like
50% from prone and 25% from standing.
Modifying the skill system to account for this by doubling the default skill
values isn't good either, since it would make the lower skill values worthless.
I have two suggestions to solve these problems:
The small modification: Let everybody have skill 2 (4) in all weapons
(small arms rifle and pistol, heavy weapons, archery, unarmed and armed melee)
if somebody have briefly told them how they work ("That's the safety and that
is the trigger"). If they put skill points on these skills during character
generation or put experience points on them during a campaign they will
add to this 'default level' of 2 (4).
The big modification: Use the default skill value as a level of skill that
can be increased as above. In the d20 system this would mean that a character
with Strenght 10 would have skill 2 all the strenght related skills and
if he gets small arms rifle 1 during character generation he would have
skill 3 in small arms rifle. (Each skill step in the d20 system is equal to
5%, naturally)
This is a modification, I agree, but IMHO it isn't bigger than the
change from the d10 system to the d20 system, and it will only be noticed
during character generation which means that it will be even less disruptive
than the change to the d20 system.
- -bertil-
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