Byrons_Ghost
First Post
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20modern/fb/20030624a
I'm curious whether anyone is planning to use this variant. I can definately see why it was written up, but it seems awfully cumbersome to me- especially with a roll every round (which is more often than many people, myself included, roll initiative).
The author mentions CoC's SAN system as a comparison, and I can see using a SAN check the first few times a character gets involved in combat. SAN checks are one-time affairs, usually, but if you blow it you're generally out for the scene. So this seems to be the other extreme from rolling every round.
Personally, there's only certain games I'd implement this in (and Cthulhu or other horror type games seem most appropriate). I usually run pretty cinematic games, and I want the PCs to keep their cool. If I were to use them, I'd probably make it so that they only have to save once, and those who fail get chances to "snap out of it" eventually, since I don't want someone out the entire time.
Another possibility that occurs to me is changing the reactions. Typically, people talk of a "fight or flight" reaction under stress. It makes a certain amount of sense to me that a person might just as easy run down the hall at the guards firing as they would dive around a corner. But then, that's sort of typical PC behavior, and the rules do seem geared toward putting a stopper on the "Biff Hardslab" types. I definately could have used something like this in my last Cyberpunk game, but then again, a TPK put a stop to things just as well...
I'm curious whether anyone is planning to use this variant. I can definately see why it was written up, but it seems awfully cumbersome to me- especially with a roll every round (which is more often than many people, myself included, roll initiative).
The author mentions CoC's SAN system as a comparison, and I can see using a SAN check the first few times a character gets involved in combat. SAN checks are one-time affairs, usually, but if you blow it you're generally out for the scene. So this seems to be the other extreme from rolling every round.
Personally, there's only certain games I'd implement this in (and Cthulhu or other horror type games seem most appropriate). I usually run pretty cinematic games, and I want the PCs to keep their cool. If I were to use them, I'd probably make it so that they only have to save once, and those who fail get chances to "snap out of it" eventually, since I don't want someone out the entire time.
Another possibility that occurs to me is changing the reactions. Typically, people talk of a "fight or flight" reaction under stress. It makes a certain amount of sense to me that a person might just as easy run down the hall at the guards firing as they would dive around a corner. But then, that's sort of typical PC behavior, and the rules do seem geared toward putting a stopper on the "Biff Hardslab" types. I definately could have used something like this in my last Cyberpunk game, but then again, a TPK put a stop to things just as well...
