Cutthroat: the Shadow Wars RPG -- system questions

[vgunn]

Hello All,

Its my first post here.

I've been trying forever to get a copy of Cutthroat: the Shadow Wars RPG. It sounded like it had a promising d20 type of a system. But all I've got are bits and pieces from three reviews on rpg.net. Not much at all to go on.

Here are links to the three reviews:

http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_2803.html

http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_521.html

http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_2675.html

I am interested in the system, not the setting. Here is what I can gather:

Core Mechanic:

Roll high: Skill + d20 vs. TN. Somehow attributes ties into skills in a nifty way.

So are there margins of success or is it simply beat the TN? What would work better here?

What ties the attributes to the skills?

Combat Mechanic:

I've got no information on how initiative works or for actual fighting. The reviewer says it is simple, fast and deadly.

Again what would work best here?

"Each hit has a chance of killing it's target, regardless of weapon used or the target's toughness. Naturally, the bigger the weapon the more likely death will occur. Just as the bigger the target, the less likely death will occur. "

"The combat is straight to the point...no "hit points" to confuse or slow down realism...If you're wounded...you're WOUNDED..."

Without knowing more, how do you think the actual resolution would work?

Somehow Luck points factor into the equation: maybe to reduce the severity of the wound?

I have even little less to go on with the magic system. All we are told is "The game does not use pre-made skills or spell lists. The players are given "Spellcrafting" rules on how to design custom spells based on a list of various spell effects. I think this was simply an attempt to skimp on the magic system."

or "As far as the magic system goes...nothing (and I mean NOTHING) compares to it. Never have I seen such a fluid and workable spell system on the market...not even ARS MAGICA..."

So what can you make if this?

I'd like to see what y'all can come up with based on the limited information provided.

PS -- if anyone so happens to have the game, maybe you could give a detailed account of the system.

Thanks in advance!

 

[vgunn]

Let me rephrase.

I would like to come up with a combat system that:

1.) Skill + d20 (roll high vs. TN). The TN could be a Defense Score or a Weapon Threshold.

2.) Non-ablative approach to damage. No hit points, if you are wounded, you are wounded.

3.) Each hit has a chance of killing it's target, regardless of weapon used or the target's toughness.

4.) Luck Points can be used to reduce the severity of the wound and/or save off death.

So how would you do it?

 

[newt_42itus]

came across this and thought I'd bump

I'm not really a member here but I came across this an thought I'd answer some questions since I owned (i say owned because I sold all my pen/paper rpg stuff a couple years ago) copies of Cutthroat in pretty much all of its incarnations from the late 80's to the late 90's.By todays standards the system in all is pretty standard...it's a typical d20+skill+attribute bonus vs. difficulty number....your basic d20/OGL. the thing that made it special for it's time was that it was the *first* (that I know of) to incorporate such a system in that configuration way before wizards "introduced" the d20 system. I think the game became obsolete when d&d 3.0 came out. cutthroat was an awesome game that was underfunded and underpromoted and as such eventually got lost in obscurity. r.i.p.

 

[newt_42itus]

combat...cutthroat's Sudden Death system

Also for those interested, here's a quick breakdown of how Cutthroat's sudden death system worked worked:

when a character hits his opponent (successful skill check with weapon used vs opponent's evasion rating), the target needs to make a damage resistance check (armor+resilience) check vs damage rating of weapon (affected by level of success of attack). If the check failed the target is killed (or incapacitated) outright. If the check suceeds, they are simply wounded (receives a "wound"). The more wounds accumulated the more likely death/incapacitation will occur (each wound applies a penalty to damage resistance checks as well as other checks). But since the're always a chance of sucess or failure on any given check, the was no limit to how many wounds a character could get before they fell (theoretically). There's more variables, but thats the gist of it. Luck only play a part in that a target can spend luck points to succeed checks if the want to avoid death. I never used luck as it was an option rule for people that wanted more control over their character's fates. can't remember how initiative was handle though...s'been a while.

 

[vgunn]

Thanks for the necro!

Can you remember anything about the magic system?

"As far as the magic system goes...nothing (and I mean NOTHING) compares to it. Never have I seen such a fluid and workable spell system on the market...not even ARS MAGICA..."

Also somehow attributes ties into skills in a nifty way. Any luck there?