Make Attacker AND Defender Part of Every Roll Without Dodge/Block/Parry

[flankspeed]

The Fantasy Trip plays quite enjoyably just the way it is, yet some players might enjoy a hint of GURPS flavor without all the complexity.

One can achieve some of the feeling of Defense Rolls such as Dodge, Block, and Parry without adding these to the game. Whenever a standard 3d roll would normally be made to determine the success of an action, begin by calculating all DX adjustments as normal to get the final adjusted DX to roll against.

Then have the player whose character is attempting the action roll half the dice required by the throw, rounding up. In the case of a standard 3d roll, the player rolls 2d, while in the case of even numbers, the player rolls exactly half of the total dice required.

At the same time as the acting player/attacker rolls, the defender/opposer -- the player most directly involved in opposing the roll, or the GM standing in for the opposing NPC (or for Fate itself) -- rolls the other half, rounded down, of the total dice. In the case of a standard 3d roll, this would be 1d.

Total all the dice as normal -- including both the attacker's and defender's rolls -- and compare to the attacker's adjusted DX to determine the success of the roll. The result is exactly what the original rules achieved by having the acting player roll ALL of the dice, but by giving control of some of the dice to the opposing side, it FEELS as if the defender has made a defense roll.

The opposition would be hoping to roll high on the dice under the defender's control, while the acting side would be aiming to roll as low as possible on the dice under the attacker's control. Each side gets to feel as if the roll was partially under its influence, but the end result is no different than having one player roll all the dice.

When a figure chooses the Defend or Dodge action, or any other circumstance causes the rolling of 4d or more, then the opposition to the attack or action is effectively gaining extra dice to roll with the goal of obtaining higher numbers.

This easy method of involving both sides in every dice roll gives a flavor similar to Defense Rolls without all the complexity and extra time required for separate Dodge/Block/Parry actions.


Alternative Success Rolls Using Two d10s

If the uneven number of dice is a bother, then consider having the Attacker and Defender each roll 1d10. The Attacker reads the result as 0-9 because low numbers are desired, and the Defender reads the result as 1-10 because high numbers are desired. The average of 0-9 plus 1-10 is 10 while the full range of the total is 1-19.

Treat 1 as Triple Damage, 2 as Double Damage, 3 as an Automatic Hit, 17 as an Automatic Miss, 18 as a Dropped Weapon, and 19 as a Broken Weapon. If rolls equivalent to 4d or higher need to be made, the Defender rolls extra six-sided dice equal to the total dice minus three (a 4d roll equals 1d10 for 1-10 plus 1d6). Only refer to the total of the two d10s when checking for the special successes or failures; the extra d6 are just added to the two d10s to make missing more likely.


Adding Fatigue Points to the Game Without Adding a Fourth Attribute Like Health

One can even achieve some of the effects of a Fourth Attribute without adding Health to the game by simply declaring that ST creates two equal-value sub-attribute totals: Hit Points and Fatigue Points. For details, please see the following thread:


Using ST-Based Hit Points & Fatigue Points Instead of Fatigue-ST

http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=159605


Have fun!