Sir Brennen
Legend
So this is probably going to be a very niche thread, as I don't know how many people are going to be familiar with both systems, but here it goes anyway.
Lately I've gotten into the the steampunk zombie horror game Unhallowed Metropolis. (Search RPG.net for some good reviews/explainations of the system.) The setting is great, with lots of amazing detail and thought put into it. The same can't be said for the mechanics, however. Not that they're bad. In fact, they're pretty simple and streamlined and help the game move along fairly quickly: Roll 2d10 and add either your skill or attribute score (both of which are on a scale of 1-5).
However, there are a couple of issues which nag at me:
1) Rolls are Skill or Attribute. A character's Co-ordination stat has nothing to do with his Acrobatics or Rifle skill, for example. His mental stats have no impact on his knowledge skills. Also, UnMet is somewhat inconsistant about whether a roll is vs. Attribute or Skill, and in some cases, it does use the two added together. I'd prefer a system which consistently uses Attribute + Skill to determine overall effectiveness.
2) The damage system is a flat Weapon + Str (minus target armor) vs. a set of static values. The higher the static number damage exceeds, the worse the wound inflicted. The player knows exactly what wound he inflicted by what they rolled. No room for the GM to fudge for an important NPC. Usually, if a group of 4 PCs all attack 1 target, the target will be dead in a single round or two, no question. Same thing for attacks on PCs. I'd like a little more leeway as GM to be able to keep important NPCs around, and be also give PCs (and players) a little more power over the damage they take, like a Save vs. Damage system, which would also allow players to take advantage of UnMet's re-roll mechanic.
There are many things in the UnMet mechanics which seem very similar to many d20 game systems. With its static modifiers for weapon damage and using wound levels (instead of hit points), it reminded me of True20 in particular. So right now I'm thinking very strongly about an UnMet/True20 mashup.
The main difference in the two systems is UnMet does not use levels. Advancement is achieved through spending XP on skills and attributes individually. Not a big deal. I can stick with the UnMet rules for this, including Attribute and Skill caps. XP would be given out as per the UnMet rules. BAB is not used; instead, characters have combat skills.
Feats: one of the cool things about UnMet is, for each rank in a skill you have, you get a "Stunt" or "Specialization". Stunts are easily mapped to combat oriented Feats in True20. This means that Dex +2 with a +2 in Gun skill is more desirable than +4 Dex and no skill, even though the chances to hit would be the same. The existing "Specialization" system for UnMet skills could be used (gain +1 on rolls related to Speciality), plus the Challenge Feat, and any other Feats related to a particular skill (Acrobatic Feint for the Acrobatics skill, for example.) The only problem I see here is Feats in True20 which would not map to a skill. I don't know how many of these there are, as I haven't mapped all the feats out yet, but these could be "at character creation only" feats. I'm also hoping the True20 Expert's Handbook will increase the options for this Skill/Feat pairing mechanic.
Wound System: Really seeing a hybrid here. Basically, take from True20 just the Toughness roll mechanic, the threshold numbers and cumulative effects of the lesser conditions (Hurt and Wounded). Ditch the additional conditions (dazed, stunned, etc.) and the Non-Lethal track (UnMet would basically double Armor and Toughness against unarmed attacks.) UnMet allows - even depends on - a hit location mechanic (gotta go for the head for a zombie), so keep that.
Qualities/Impedments: This is the Advantages/Disadvantages system on the UnMet side of things. It's point based, ranging from 1 to 12 or more points. I'm thinking just leave this as is, and adding in the Feats which do not map to any skills here (after assigning them an appropriate point value.)
Classes: UnMet uses "Callings", which are closer to regular d20 classes than the generic classes of True20. Easy enough to take the Calling abilities and treat them as variants of the generic classes. So a Doctor is an Expert with some additional starting abilities.
Other than that, I'd use the True20 rules. I may adjust DC's a little to account for the fact that the PCs will never really rise above the equivalant of 3rd level.
So, any thoughts, comments, suggestions?
Lately I've gotten into the the steampunk zombie horror game Unhallowed Metropolis. (Search RPG.net for some good reviews/explainations of the system.) The setting is great, with lots of amazing detail and thought put into it. The same can't be said for the mechanics, however. Not that they're bad. In fact, they're pretty simple and streamlined and help the game move along fairly quickly: Roll 2d10 and add either your skill or attribute score (both of which are on a scale of 1-5).
However, there are a couple of issues which nag at me:
1) Rolls are Skill or Attribute. A character's Co-ordination stat has nothing to do with his Acrobatics or Rifle skill, for example. His mental stats have no impact on his knowledge skills. Also, UnMet is somewhat inconsistant about whether a roll is vs. Attribute or Skill, and in some cases, it does use the two added together. I'd prefer a system which consistently uses Attribute + Skill to determine overall effectiveness.
2) The damage system is a flat Weapon + Str (minus target armor) vs. a set of static values. The higher the static number damage exceeds, the worse the wound inflicted. The player knows exactly what wound he inflicted by what they rolled. No room for the GM to fudge for an important NPC. Usually, if a group of 4 PCs all attack 1 target, the target will be dead in a single round or two, no question. Same thing for attacks on PCs. I'd like a little more leeway as GM to be able to keep important NPCs around, and be also give PCs (and players) a little more power over the damage they take, like a Save vs. Damage system, which would also allow players to take advantage of UnMet's re-roll mechanic.
There are many things in the UnMet mechanics which seem very similar to many d20 game systems. With its static modifiers for weapon damage and using wound levels (instead of hit points), it reminded me of True20 in particular. So right now I'm thinking very strongly about an UnMet/True20 mashup.
The main difference in the two systems is UnMet does not use levels. Advancement is achieved through spending XP on skills and attributes individually. Not a big deal. I can stick with the UnMet rules for this, including Attribute and Skill caps. XP would be given out as per the UnMet rules. BAB is not used; instead, characters have combat skills.
Feats: one of the cool things about UnMet is, for each rank in a skill you have, you get a "Stunt" or "Specialization". Stunts are easily mapped to combat oriented Feats in True20. This means that Dex +2 with a +2 in Gun skill is more desirable than +4 Dex and no skill, even though the chances to hit would be the same. The existing "Specialization" system for UnMet skills could be used (gain +1 on rolls related to Speciality), plus the Challenge Feat, and any other Feats related to a particular skill (Acrobatic Feint for the Acrobatics skill, for example.) The only problem I see here is Feats in True20 which would not map to a skill. I don't know how many of these there are, as I haven't mapped all the feats out yet, but these could be "at character creation only" feats. I'm also hoping the True20 Expert's Handbook will increase the options for this Skill/Feat pairing mechanic.
Wound System: Really seeing a hybrid here. Basically, take from True20 just the Toughness roll mechanic, the threshold numbers and cumulative effects of the lesser conditions (Hurt and Wounded). Ditch the additional conditions (dazed, stunned, etc.) and the Non-Lethal track (UnMet would basically double Armor and Toughness against unarmed attacks.) UnMet allows - even depends on - a hit location mechanic (gotta go for the head for a zombie), so keep that.
Qualities/Impedments: This is the Advantages/Disadvantages system on the UnMet side of things. It's point based, ranging from 1 to 12 or more points. I'm thinking just leave this as is, and adding in the Feats which do not map to any skills here (after assigning them an appropriate point value.)
Classes: UnMet uses "Callings", which are closer to regular d20 classes than the generic classes of True20. Easy enough to take the Calling abilities and treat them as variants of the generic classes. So a Doctor is an Expert with some additional starting abilities.
Other than that, I'd use the True20 rules. I may adjust DC's a little to account for the fact that the PCs will never really rise above the equivalant of 3rd level.
So, any thoughts, comments, suggestions?
