Modiphius 2d20

[Water Bob]

Question about the Modiphius house system, 2d20:

What is to stop a player from maxing out his extra dice buys every time he rolls a task?

Yes, I understand that DOOM or whatever it is called in a specific game is built up with the GM, but does that really matter?

Conceivably, could a player, or multiple players, just keep throwing as many dice as they can on each task test until the adventure is over, therefore having an excellent chance of never failing a dice toss?

Is there something built into the system to prevent this? Or, is it a flaw with the system?

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Do you expect the GM to go easy on you, and let you win, only using the DOOM to increase tension? If the GM can't invoke DOOM to actually kill you when you least expect it, then the mechanic doesn't quite live up to its name.

 

[Water Bob]

Do you expect the GM to go easy on you, and let you win, only using the DOOM to increase tension? If the GM can't invoke DOOM to actually kill you when you least expect it, then the mechanic doesn't quite live up to its name.

Yeah, I got that. But, this is a serious question. What's to stop a player from maxing out his dice rolls every time he tests for a task?

I do understand that the GM will have more DOOM points to increase the bad guys and obstacles. But the player controls how powerful the character is, right? The player can decide to throw 2d20 or 5d20, depending on how much DOOM he wants to create.

If a player just automatically maxes out the number of dice he can use for every task, he's a super-human character, correct?

And a character like that should be able to deal with anything the GM throws at him, I would think.

So, I am curious if there is some other limit on how many dice the player can use on a task.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Yeah, I got that. But, this is a serious question. What's to stop a player from maxing out his dice rolls every time he tests for a task?

As I understand it, if you go through the entire session and just max out everything at every opportunity, then eventually the DOOM will be so overwhelming that you just end up surrounded by a million monsters and all of them also have maxxed out out dice. There's a limit to how much the mechanic can help you at any given moment, and the GM doesn't have the same limit in how much DOOM they can spend to oppose you. No?

 

[Water Bob]

As I understand it, if you go through the entire session and just max out everything at every opportunity, then eventually the DOOM will be so overwhelming that you just end up surrounded by a million monsters and all of them also have maxxed out out dice. There's a limit to how much the mechanic can help you at any given moment, and the GM doesn't have the same limit in how much DOOM they can spend to oppose you. No?

I don't know. That's what I'm asking.

 

[alfarobl]

If you max dice every roll you will probably die soon... GM Doom will allow him to win you on initiative and add lots of damage to you.
You only want to use Doom when you really need it. You are better using Momentum when you can. If you give Doom on every roll to add up to 5 dice you will probably add lots of 20s to your roll that means complications that added to GM infinite supply of Doom will make you blind, lose weapons, all bad things you can imagine are up to the GM to do and you are giving or asking him to do it as you provide those points.

GM can just add Difficulty to your rolls and make you roll 5d20s every turn too. It will balance and you only add chances for 20s. Even using another tactic like not giving Doom to the GM will be bad for you... I had players only use Fortune Points to regret doing so and end up giving me Doom points to generate more 20s which give 2 Doom points.

You really need to test and play on table a game system RAW for some 5 to 10 times before you understand how it really works. It is really good system for Conan 2d20.

 

[Water Bob]

Are any of the play groups having the problem of players never running out of Momentum?

 

[alfarobl]

Are any of the play groups having the problem of players never running out of Momentum?

That is weird as Momentum goes away after a scene one by one and you can only store 6 points. If they never run out is because they don't use it and keep all they can generate or because Difficulty is really low. In my experience players wanted to use more dice to generate more success and Momentum but at the same time they get more chances of generating 20s on the roll.
Master can also use Doom to increase dice on NPCs rolls and generate opposing Momentum that cancels each other.

 

[aramis erak]

Mechanically, at least with STA A1.36, I can legitimately dump a pile of threat to do damage each round for the entire location...

I used non-lethal this time... it was damned near a wheaton's law violation. 5 CD per 10 minutes, no save, non-lethal, and a +2 threat rating. And that's with almost no post-roll empty player momentum pool, and the climbing costs for additional dice.

Looking at pages 55-56...
Player was attempting to interphase temporarily the shuttle so as to grab a warp pod. I dumped 5 threat...
and the Engineer said, "I'm pulling all the safeties and making it so it will work." He did. He hit the needed roll to make the mod, but I had a pile of threat...
So, his complication on success was me dumping the accumulated pile-o-threat - 5 CD per 15 minutes, non-lethal, from the radiation, while on board. Was 5 threat (Area, non-lethal, 5 CD). I also made everything aboard more risky - 4 more spent to increase threat range.

No one complained - it made a particularly hard task MUCH MUCH harder.

If I'd been willing to violate Wheaton's law, I could have, RAW, gone to 6D lethal area and pretty much instakilled two PCs.

Session ended with 1 momentum in the pool, and 3 in the threat pool.

So, yes, the GM can turn threat into a lethal situation, and simply kill the offender pretty much outright.

And yes, that IS a flaw in the system, as well...