Alternity - from TSR

[Felnar]

For the most part, Awareness and the two specialty skills are "passive." The heroes don't call for checks (unless the heroes need a nudge of some sort after coming to a complete dead end).

Awareness is used to determine who gets the drop on whom to initiate a surprise phase before action checks are rolled. If there is ample evidence of danger present (say, the heroes walk into a brightly lit warehouse full of gun-toting thugs) then you use -perception. (indoors, +2, Several attackers, -1, Good lighting, -2 for a total -1 step bonus to the heroes' Awareness-perception check)

If, however, the warehouse is dark, quiet and appears empty, when the thugs attack from the shadowed catwalks above, I would call for -intuition checks just before the thugs spring their ambush. (indoors, +2, moderate lighting +2, several attackers -1 for a total+3 step penalty to the Awareness-intuition check.

The advice in the GMG pg 42 (along with modifiers for Awareness checks) and the "Skills" chapter, pg. 78 are both pretty good guides.

Rob

this is exactly my problem
when there's good lighting you use perception to notice an ambush, but if the lighting is only moderate then you can't use perception??? is that how its supposed to work?

when i get a chance i'll look at the GMG

Most Alt players I know use optional rules 2A and 2B, sometimes throwing in 2C. I would highly recommend your GM and group at least use 2A&B. They can be found here: http://alternityrpg.net/viewonline.php?rid=962

i'll show these options to my GM, but for my first use of the system i'd want to try it as RAW as possible

 

[RobJN]

this is exactly my problem
when there's good lighting you use perception to notice an ambush, but if the lighting is only moderate then you can't use perception??? is that how its supposed to work?

Lighting is simply an element of the overall environment that can help or hinder a check, be it -perception, -intuition, or Ranged-pistol. Really good lighting will give you a bonus, poor lighting a penalty.

In the dark room example, if the thugs were still scrambling for position rather than lying in wait, then the heroes could have still had a chance to hear the thugs, perhaps getting another two-step bonus to the laundry list of modifiers. The check would shift from "I have a bad feeling about this" (gut-feeling, intuition) to "Ah ah! Hear that?" (something to hear, that you can percieve)

Clearer than mud this time, I hope?

 

[Felnar]

Lighting is simply an element of the overall environment that can help or hinder a check, be it -perception, -intuition, or Ranged-pistol. Really good lighting will give you a bonus, poor lighting a penalty.

In the dark room example, if the thugs were still scrambling for position rather than lying in wait, then the heroes could have still had a chance to hear the thugs, perhaps getting another two-step bonus to the laundry list of modifiers. The check would shift from "I have a bad feeling about this" (gut-feeling, intuition) to "Ah ah! Hear that?" (something to hear, that you can percieve)

Clearer than mud this time, I hope?

thanks for trying to help me grasp this

i still have a problem with why i cant have a gut-feeling when the ambushers are noisy.
(i.e. why the ability to perceive something, whether its actually heard or not, precludes being able to have a gut-feeling)

say my character has rank 3 of intuition and no ranks of perception, and on top of that i have the danger sense perk. I'd be really hard to ambush... unless the ambushers are noisy which forces me to use perception, so the fact that they're noisy makes me easier to ambush. (And with no ranks in perception, i may or may not hear the ambushers. And if i dont hear them, why can't i have a gut-feeling like any other time i dont hear anything?)

i hope that all made sense

 

[RobJN]

thanks for trying to help me grasp this

i still have a problem with why i cant have a gut-feeling when the ambushers are noisy.
(i.e. why the ability to perceive something, whether its actually heard or not, precludes being able to have a gut-feeling)

say my character has rank 3 of intuition and no ranks of perception, and on top of that i have the danger sense perk. I'd be really hard to ambush... unless the ambushers are noisy which forces me to use perception, so the fact that they're noisy makes me easier to ambush. (And with no ranks in perception, i may or may not hear the ambushers. And if i dont hear them, why can't i have a gut-feeling like any other time i dont hear anything?)

i hope that all made sense

Usually when running a game, I only call for broad skill checks -- a hero can step up to any specialty skill appropriate (that he has ranks in, of course), and the outcome is ultimately determined by that. So, while the ambush may call for an Awareness check, a hero with ranks in -perception would rely more on his eyes-and-ears, whereas the hero with more ranks in -intution (and the added bonus of the Danger Sense perk as you note above) would react not to what the others had sensed but instead his gut reaction telling him that something there wasn't right.