Anybody remember c.a.b.a.l. ?

[JimAde]

So the threads about "worst system" and "most surprisingly good system" got me thinking about various games I've played over the years. I suddenly remembered something I played only once or twice, many years ago. I believe the game was called Cabal. I seem to remember that it was actually a long acronym: C.A.B.A.L. but I'm not sure about that.

It had a fairly standard high fantasy setting, but the system (IIRC) involved long division to calculate your chance to succeed and had lots of other wonkiness.

Anybody remember this game? Remember who produced it?

Am I just hallucinating?


Again?

 

[kenobi65]

I think I remember seeing ads for it in Dragon in the early-to-mid 80s. I never played it, or even really looked at it.

Edit: I looked for it in Pen & Paper's RPG database, and couldn't find it, but that doesn't necessarily mean much.

 

[zanarchist]

Hi, I had a copy long ago. Here is a little information I found on the web about it:

"The title is an acronym for "Knights and Beserkers and Legerdemain". It uses a percentile system. Character creation is random-roll attributes (6d20 for eight attributes). The boxed set includes four booklets: player's guide, rules, magic spells, and creature catalog."

The game system is spelled with a "K" instead of "C".

 

[HellHound]

I actually posted up some of the rules in the thread about worst RPGs. I'll go get what I posted and paste it here in a second.

 

[HellHound]

But really...

K.A.B.A.L. (Knights and Berzerkers and Legerdemain).

Your stats are percentiles, and your stat modifiers are the square root of your stats.

To determine your chance to hit something in combat, you take your attack stat, modify it for whatever special stuff you have going on (magic weapons, two weapon fighting, etc), then take the square root of the modified stat. (Hmmm combat skill of 83, 32 points of bonuses, 19 points of penalties... total of: 9.798)

Now do the same thing for the opponent (combat skill and mods = 71 = 8.426)

Now set the two numbers as a ratio... 9.798 : 8.426 = 53.76 : 46.24

Now you know your percentage chance to hit the opponent (54%) and their chance to hit you (46%). Roll to hit!

 

[JimAde]

But really...

K.A.B.A.L. (Knights and Berzerkers and Legerdemain).

Your stats are percentiles, and your stat modifiers are the square root of your stats.

To determine your chance to hit something in combat, you take your attack stat, modify it for whatever special stuff you have going on (magic weapons, two weapon fighting, etc), then take the square root of the modified stat. (Hmmm combat skill of 83, 32 points of bonuses, 19 points of penalties... total of: 9.798)

Now do the same thing for the opponent (combat skill and mods = 71 = 8.426)

Now set the two numbers as a ratio... 9.798 : 8.426 = 53.76 : 46.24

Now you know your percentage chance to hit the opponent (54%) and their chance to hit you (46%). Roll to hit!

That's it! Thanks to all. No wonder I couldn't find it, since I had the name spelled wrong!

I was going to submit it in the "worst system" thread but apparently HellHound beat me to it.

The weirdness of the system meant that you always had at least a 1% chance to hit anything if it was within your maximum range. And the weird math extended to the magic items, so a friend of mine got hold of a bow with a maximum range of hundreds of miles. He made money as a messenger. He'd just make a bunch of copies of the message and shoot them at the recipient's house. One time in a hundred he'd hit.

Very silly campaign, obviously.

 

[Garnfellow]

But really... [SNIP MUCH NUTTINESS]

I remember your old post, but thought you were just goofing. Those were the actual rules?

It wasn't a joke game?

 

[HellHound]

Yep. Real game. Honest to goodness.

Usd to be advertised HEAVILY in Dragon magazine circa 1982. Full page ads.

I bought it.

My goddess, it is bad.

It is one of my truly prized RPGs.

 

[thalmin]

I remeber someone once mentioned that the game used logarithms. I don't know if that's the case, but it sure scared off a lot of customers.