d6?!

[thzero]

I'll admit I finally got around to looking at this.

After all the first thing I was struck with out of the box when reading the starter kit was, "hey this is WEG's d6 system without the pips". Which was actually an exciting thought! I have 1st and 2nd Ed WEG SW and love them, all the 'generic' d6 stuff although never could figure out why different set of rules for the same genres, and somewhere that I can't find the d6 MiB which if memory services introduced successes.

Ok, so positive impression thus far. But then I was struck with the second thought (universal laws only allow me so many thoughts per hour)... Why d6? Yes, I realize they are plentiful and easy to get a hold of for new to gaming folks, for folks that have gaming ew have tons of them, etc. but for exactly that reason so damn boring. Why not d10s (hey use these for something other than a percentile system!)? Or d12s? Those roll as well as d6s or d20s, and much better than d4s and d8s.

And treading the limit of thoughts per hour... why not use a 'successes' mechanism rather than adding everything up? Sure everyone and their brother (like with the d6s) have done this... but really, doesn't that help the speed of the game. Look at 10 dice and determine quickly how many successes does play faster than adding the 10 dice up. Heck I've even seen folks color code dice using crayons to get the success numbers a non-white color which makes it even easier.

Speaking of d6 system... why not a wild die?! Hey its always nice to blow up and keep rolling more and more d6s (or whatever) and really succeed at something you might not have otherwise.

So I realize these are probably focused on 'heroic' games, but why go with the binary 'alive or dead' D&D health? Again drawing inspiration from d6 (or even stuff like d20 M&M), why not reduce effectiveness of characters/monsters as they get injured by subtracting dice or given them a disadvantage? Maybe if you get to half way, you now need an additional success (or a +3 bonus, i.e. median on a d6) to succeed at anything, 25% is 2 successes, etc.

Dunno, maybe its in the worlds, but at least for now/new why not a build a background system like the old GW games, Traveller, or even the BattleTech RPG?!

Thanks

 

[Morrus]

I'll try to go through all your questions in order! I'm glad you liked what you saw, and I love your excitement! Feel free to keep asking questions!

I will note that the Starter Kit is a *very* stripped down, simplistic expression of the rules. It introduces some basic concepts, but the full games are substantially larger and more in-depth.

After all the first thing I was struck with out of the box when reading the starter kit was, "hey this is WEG's d6 system without the pips". Which was actually an exciting thought! I have 1st and 2nd Ed WEG SW and love them, all the 'generic' d6 stuff although never could figure out why different set of rules for the same genres, and somewhere that I can't find the d6 MiB which if memory services introduced successes.

No, it's not WEG's d6 system. The only real similarity is that they both use d6s. There's some more info on it here.

Ok, so positive impression thus far. But then I was struck with the second thought (universal laws only allow me so many thoughts per hour)... Why d6? Yes, I realize they are plentiful and easy to get a hold of for new to gaming folks, for folks that have gaming ew have tons of them, etc. but for exactly that reason so damn boring. Why not d10s (hey use these for something other than a percentile system!)? Or d12s? Those roll as well as d6s or d20s, and much better than d4s and d8s.

And treading the limit of thoughts per hour... why not use a 'successes' mechanism rather than adding everything up? Sure everyone and their brother (like with the d6s) have done this... but really, doesn't that help the speed of the game. Look at 10 dice and determine quickly how many successes does play faster than adding the 10 dice up. Heck I've even seen folks color code dice using crayons to get the success numbers a non-white color which makes it even easier.

There aren't currently any plans to completely revise the system into a different system, I'm afraid. There's been two years of solid playtesting - the full games are in layout now. However, bear in mind that the starter kit is a very simplified version of the full rules.

I don't personally find one type of dice more or less boring than another, although YMMV! During playtesting, other dice were experimented with, but d6s provided the right level of randomness for the system.

Speaking of d6 system... why not a wild die?! Hey its always nice to blow up and keep rolling more and more d6s (or whatever) and really succeed at something you might not have otherwise.

In the full rules (which are considerably larger than those in the starter kit), LUCK dice pools explode, and some exploits allow characters to use exploding dice. A very early iteration of the playtest rules a year or so back had all dice exploding, but that was way too swingy for the system. So the exploding dice got pulled back a bit.

So I realize these are probably focused on 'heroic' games, but why go with the binary 'alive or dead' D&D health? Again drawing inspiration from d6 (or even stuff like d20 M&M), why not reduce effectiveness of characters/monsters as they get injured by subtracting dice or given them a disadvantage? Maybe if you get to half way, you now need an additional success (or a +3 bonus, i.e. median on a d6) to succeed at anything, 25% is 2 successes, etc.

Well, again, suggestions to completely change the game are a year too late! But the starter kit rules were very simplistic. The full game has a whole bunch of status tracks you move along.

Dunno, maybe its in the worlds, but at least for now/new why not a build a background system like the old GW games, Traveller, or even the BattleTech RPG?!

The game does, indeed, use a full life-path system. Here are the sci-fi careers, for example. It was, indeed, loosely inspired by Traveller and WFRP, although it is not the same as either.

I'm guessing you've only seen the starter kit? My suggestion would be to check out the Rules Reference Document on the official website (www.woinrpg.com) which will give you more of an idea of the full scope of the rules. It's substantially larger than the starter kit. Not everything is on there yet, as it's not the focus of work right now (the main focus is on layout of the full games) but I add to it whenever I have some spare time.

The full rules (the hardcover books) are in layout at the moment. No release date yet announced, but NEW isn't too far off.

 

[thzero]

Thanks for the reply...

Well, there is always 'alternate mechanics' and 'house rules' I suppose.

Is space combat 2d or 3d (or psuedo-3d)?

 

[Morrus]

Thanks for the reply...

Well, there is always 'alternate mechanics' and 'house rules' I suppose.

Is space combat 2d or 3d (or psuedo-3d)?

I am very, very supportive of you hacking the system or producing material for it. That said, I'd always suggest playing the default version before changing it. In my experience, games rarely play like you think they will from just reading them. A lot of the changes during playtesting reflected exactly that.

The basic space combat in the core rules is 2D. I do have plans for a full standalone advanced space combat book (which will be sold as a full tactical space combat game in its own right) which includes 3D, but that's a long way away.