Azurecrusader said:
I'll have to see how it plays out, but it is a lot more book keeping and a lot less transparency to the players. My impression of the stock system is that players never really know how many successes they have or are trying to get, with this system that is vital information which in my opinion pulls them out of the game.
Hm, not to come off pedantic but I believe you mean a lot MORE transparency to the players. When a system is transparent, that means its inner workings are freely observable to everybody (hence the term 'transparent', ie, 'you can look inside').
If you want to keep the players from knowing the rules, I believe you are looking for a LESS transparent, more 'obscured' system.
By the way I run my games with 100% transparency, which is to say the players are aware of every single rule in play, every DC, every complexity, and every die is rolled in the open in front of everyone including mine. If you think that pulls players out of the game, think again. Nothing creates engagement like the knowledge that it's all out on the table and it
really could go either way. This is not my opinion but my experience. I really recommend you try it.
But anyway, I don't mean to derail the thread, just pointing out that when you say 'transparency' as 4e undesrtands it, Stalker0's system fully promotes and eases full transparency rather than hinder it.
PS, I have posted a play-test result of the 1.0 system for anyone interested in how that system served us in our game.
Here it is (contains spoilers for KotS).