Fantasy Trip Tiny Bits of Chrome

[Chris Rice]

Originally Posted by JLV

I think the British RPG Dragon Warriors (published originally about the same time as TFT, and subsequently republished a few years ago by the original authors) did something of the same -- both armor and weapons stopped/inflicted variable amounts of damage...

Frankly, it feels kind of odd to me in some ways. I can see inflicting variable amounts of damage, which TFT already does, but the variable amounts of protection struck me as a bit strange -- possibly simply because I was playing TFT long before I ever ran across DW...

It makes perfect sense actually. Let's say a character is wearing just a breastplate and a helmet-that means some areas have heavy protection and some none or very little. That can be simulated by something like 1d8 or 1d10. The high rolled numbers simulate a weapon hitting on the well armoured portion. The low numbers mean a hit on the edges of protection or even unprotected areas. On the other hand, full platemail might be simulated by something like 3d4; there are still weak points but overall you get higher protection.

I quite like it. Armour becomes more characterful without going the whole hog of specific hit locations and armour pieces.

[Oneiros]

Originally Posted by Chris Rice

It makes perfect sense actually. Let's say a character is wearing just a breastplate and a helmet-that means some areas have heavy protection and some none or very little. That can be simulated by something like 1d8 or 1d10. The high rolled numbers simulate a weapon hitting on the well armoured portion. The low numbers mean a hit on the edges of protection or even unprotected areas. On the other hand, full platemail might be simulated by something like 3d4; there are still weak points but overall you get higher protection.

I quite like it. Armour becomes more characterful without going the whole hog of specific hit locations and armour pieces.

One could also argue the variable weapon damage is already reflecting that. An especially good hit (rolling 3, 4 or 5) with double or triple damage, or even just a high damage roll on a regular hit, simulates hitting those lightly armored/unarmored areas.

Your post does make a good case for variable armor values, but not necessarily variable armor and variable damage.

[Chris Rice]

Originally Posted by Oneiros

One could also argue the variable weapon damage is already reflecting that. An especially good hit (rolling 3, 4 or 5) with double or triple damage, or even just a high damage roll on a regular hit, simulates hitting those lightly armored/unarmored areas.

Your post does make a good case for variable armor values, but not necessarily variable armor and variable damage.

I agree that both are probably a bit too much and I probably wouldn't adopt it for TFT but it's a nice idea.

[JLV]

Originally Posted by Chris Rice

It makes perfect sense actually. Let's say a character is wearing just a breastplate and a helmet-that means some areas have heavy protection and some none or very little. That can be simulated by something like 1d8 or 1d10. The high rolled numbers simulate a weapon hitting on the well armoured portion. The low numbers mean a hit on the edges of protection or even unprotected areas. On the other hand, full platemail might be simulated by something like 3d4; there are still weak points but overall you get higher protection.

I quite like it. Armour becomes more characterful without going the whole hog of specific hit locations and armour pieces.

That's not the way I'd simulate partial armor. If someone is only wearing a bit of armor, then I'd lower the amount of damage it stops. Much simpler. Also, in my mind, variable damage reflects this to some extent. Why make a complex new rule for something easily covered by a simple adjustment, or already factored into the game?

[larsdangly]

The old Chaosium game about the Young Kingdoms, Stormbringer, used variable weapon and variable armor damage. It was actually pretty great and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a very efficient way to encapsulate a range of properties of different armors. For example, a complete, head to toe mail suit and a 17th century Cuirrasier armor might have the same average value but very different distributions - one always providing moderate damage reduction and the other spanning a huge range from nothing to excellent. E.g., a full mail suit might be 1d3+2 while the partial plate is 1d10-1: Close to the same average but a greatly different distribution. And, from a game play perspective, it takes no extra time because the target and attacker can roll at the same time.

[CJM]

I don't know if this is the place to post it but I have used a mechanic that other games have used in some form or another. But works if you don't want to use a bunch of modifiers. Lets say that a hero has put themselves in a good position to make an attack. I would have them roll 4 dice and keep the three they want. This increases their chance of success and the game runs smoothly along. You could increase the dice rolled as you see fit. On the other side, let's say the player puts themselves in a bad situation and finds themselves at a disadvantage then I would have them roll 4 (or more) dice and I would take away their best dice and leave them with the worst three. I did use it for players that treated the others players in the game poorly by screwing them over during the game, like letting them die for the fun of it. I would mark their bad behavior down and when they really needed to make a roll then I would give them an extra curse dice or two and watch them squirm as I take away their best rolls and leave them the worst three. Kinda fun actually;-) I also award a positive dice for good play that they can use (anytime) when they need to make a roll and they keep their best. Anyway I don't know if this is of interest to anyone but I found it a lot of fun.
I used this before 5E came out with their advantage/disadvantage rule, so people don't think I got it from them. But this mechanic can clear out extra rules you might not like to use and keep the dice rolling. The more dice rolled the better for me as rolling one die is like throwing a rock in mud, plop...I like the clatter of the dice as they roll across the table:-)

[EbilSteebi]

I liked the rules in Pendragon that gave different weapon types a bonus:
Flails ignored shields, but on a fumble (16-18) you hit yourself;
Axes did bonus damage to shields and on a critical (3-5) could split the shield rendering it useless;
Swords being of a better quality than other weapons did not tend to break;
Maces did more damage to those wearing chainmail, scalemail, etc (and there were more types of those and more readily available);
Mostly because it gave more meaning to "why use a sword instead of an axe?"

Damage was also based on Strength rather than a particular weapon.

It also had rules for how wounded you are (and associated penalties) which could be simply incorporated.

[KevinJ]

I split Fatigue and Hits. Both are based on ST, but you have two pools that are used for different things.

Hits are hits. As you take physical damage, you lose hits. At 1 you are Unc, at 0 you are dead.

Fatigue is used for extra effort (like woking hard, carrying a heavy load, or holding a bow drawn while you wait for someone to walk through a door), and spell casting.

[KevinJ]

Originally Posted by EbilSteebi

Damage was also based on Strength rather than a particular weapon.

This I very much agree with, but never actually incorporated. It is how GURPS does it, but I didn't want to GURPSify my game that much.

[KevinJ]

I added two close combat Talents for 'dungeon' combat that are actually historical.

HALF SWORD IQ9 (1): This Talent allows a two handed weapon to be used in an alternate grip for close quarters combat. This is normally used with swords, but any two handed weapon with a thrusting component like a spike can be used. Slashing attacks are -2 Damage, but thrusting attacks do normal damage.

SHORT HAFT IQ9 (1): This Talent allows a pole arm to be used in an alternate grip for close quarters combat. Normally used with weapons like glaives and Halberds, but can be used with any thrusting pole arm. Slashing attacks are -2 Damage, but thrusting attacks do normal damage.

It's hard to swing that 8ft Halberd or 6ft Great Sword around in a 3-5ft wide hallway, this gives you a way to still use your two handed weapon in conditions where it would otherwise be useless.

If you don't like this then you could always assign an extra die or 2 for the to hit roll for close combat conditions.