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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ralts Bloodthorne" data-source="post: 6168154" data-attributes="member: 6390">Well, I've finally decided to get off my butt and put out a new version of Year of the Zombie. Unsurprisingly and somewhat unimaginatively I've decided to list it as "Reloaded" when I finally do it.The big thing I've decided to do is rework a lot of d20 Modern. I'm going to be getting rid of the things that don't apply to the setting, change the firearm rules, the way armor works, how called shots work, how talents, feats, and AP all come together.First to address is the problem of the base stats. With the exception of Strength (and maybe CHA) the stats themselves are never used except for the bonuses, and they've got the even number 'dead space' in them. This means I need to figure out a way to make the stat scores relevant to the game in a way that feels natural and doesn't take over for the saves or skills. Strength is easy with carrying capacity and lifting, but the rest are going to prove challenging.The next thing I'll be taking on is the feats. Some of them will be going. The armor feat chain is completely stupid and needs redone. Some of the bonuses don't even make it worth taking the skill bonus feat, so that'll have to be redone. Feat bloat is something I'll need to watch out for, so I'll be taking the feats that were in the YotZ supplements and adding them in and checking the entire list.Skills will need looked at. Of course they, like feats, will have to be tailored to the setting. Having "Profession" without mentioning the kind of Post-Rising professions makes no sense.Then on to character classes. Luckily I've already done a lot of work on these. Replaced talents, added talent trees, and made them useful beyond just "+2 to BAB" crap. Of course, anything to do with psionics or shadow will be ditched.It's a big undertaking, and I'll probably talk about what I'm doing, why, and how in here.So far my thoughts on the stats are:Str: Carrying capacity, lifting, draggingCon: How long you can hold off bite infection, how long you can stay awake, max negative HP, max distance you can run before Fort ChecksDex: This one's tougher. It's requiring a lot of brainstorming, but I'm pretty sure I'll figure something out eventuallyInt: Well, I'm thinking of doing Int * 10 = I.Q. score for starters, but that doesn't really matter for the zombie apocalypse. Have to come up with something. Well, nobody said redesigning a game system will be easy.Wis: Mental Endurance is going to come into this. Sure, there's the bonus to Willpower Saves/Checks when it comes to insanity, but the number needs to mean something beyond the stat bonus. Another difficult bit.Cha: This one is tough. Of course it's going to matter to the amount of followers, it's going to affect your rep score, but how, and what else does the Charisma score matter to? Looks don't matter too much in YotZ, since everyone has scars, most people are dirty, and the latest fashion is heavy coveralls, a hockey mask, boots, and leather gloves.Action Points: Not really a stat, but I need to decide what kind of mods are going to be done for expenditure, earning, replenishing, and the like. In all the playtests people burned through AP like there was no tomorrow. Being able to permanently blow an AP point to avoid a bite was a huge lifesaver.Rep: It definitely matters now. How you gain it, what the score is, determines a lot on how you are treated. You got a bad rep people just might shoot at you rather than allow you to trade.Wealth: Completely ditched. Part of YotZ is resource management, and it can't be done abstract like that.Part of it is that Stats are almost legacy. I mean, without them the game just feels weird, but they should mean something beyond their bonuses, but I don't want to use them to create another type of 'currency' that the player just hates to deal with. A lot of people feel that ability scores should be done away with all together, but the majority of the ones I've talked to admit that the feeling comes from the fact that the stat itself does nothing and could simply be replaced by their own bonuses.Modding d20 Modern to YotZ:R is going to be a huge chore, but one I'm looking forward to.</blockquote>

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