WayneLigon
Adventurer
You can download both the d20 Version of BESM, and the Tri-Stat system book for free from the Guardians of Order website; give 'em a try and find out.
Tell me about Tri Stat Games?
- Thread starter PCD
- Start date
I'm going to add my inconsiquential voice to the others - tri-stat is very good. Very very good. The only reason I stick with the d20 system is because there's so much stuff that's pregenerated, and I can have the players scale up in power alot faster, and start off lower. But the tri-stat system as always been, in my opinion, one of the single most elegent systems out there, one of the simplest and easiest to use, allow with being one of the hardest to break (Right up there with the latest marvel game). It fuctions fairly well on all levels, and if you need the pregen stuff, it doesn't take long to whip it up - or much money to buy the fantasy beasitiry.
The only problem I;ve ever had with it is limitations - when you want to play a game that guarentees a low array of many stats (like d20) that builds on all of them, unless you create progression paths for your players, this one won't do it. You're more likely to run into characters who do a couple of things, but do them very well indeed.
The only problem I;ve ever had with it is limitations - when you want to play a game that guarentees a low array of many stats (like d20) that builds on all of them, unless you create progression paths for your players, this one won't do it. You're more likely to run into characters who do a couple of things, but do them very well indeed.
Well, as a general rule, power level works diffrently. The GM I have for Tristat games insists that after a while, he's going to increase our die sizes from d6 to d8, which is a fairly stupid rule... One of the things we tend to debate when going over the rules (for some reason, he seems to want to house rule the rules in all the wrong ways, makeing certain things either stupid good, or stupid to take...). But, anyways, with dX, power level isn;t really an issue - you're not looking at a lineir power scale. Instead, after char gen, you recive a small amount of character points once in a while (My GM gives them out every session - he's quite generous). You can spend these points to improve just about anything. Characters of various point totals can compete with each other reasonably well, so long as the diffrence isn't imense, which it shouldn't be, if useing the rules as designed - die and CP levels go like this:
Since we're at it, the basic mechanic is as follows. Roll two of the game dice. Get under your attribute. If you manage to do so, success is yours. The game is rather specifically scaled, like so:
Where Talent Threshold is the highest a character can have without being a paragon in the game, and Maximum Value is as high as an attribute can go.
- when there's an additional difficulty to a challange, it stays the same, across the levels. So moveing a mountain might mean you take a +20 penalty to your roll. Still something that the god-like could accomplish, but some sub-human grunt? No way.
Now this is pretty much the basis of the system (the generic, mulit-genre scaleing system, anyways - most dX games with a specific genre just pick a die level and stick with it.
Code:
Power Level Character Point Game Dice Genre Example
Value
Subhuman 25-50 d4 Animals, Stone Age or Cartoons
Human 50-75 d6 Middle Ages, Old West orLaw Enforcement
Posthuman 75-125 d8 Cyberpunk, High Fantasy, Occult/Horror
Superhuman 125-200 d10 Super Hero or High-powered Soft sci-fi
Inhuman 200-300 d12 High powered Super Hero or.... Rifts at Uber Strength?
Godlike 300+ d20 You tell Me...Since we're at it, the basic mechanic is as follows. Roll two of the game dice. Get under your attribute. If you manage to do so, success is yours. The game is rather specifically scaled, like so:
Code:
Game dice Talent Maximum
Threshold Value
d4 6 8
d6 8 12
d8 10 16
d10 12 18
d12 14 20
d20 18 40- when there's an additional difficulty to a challange, it stays the same, across the levels. So moveing a mountain might mean you take a +20 penalty to your roll. Still something that the god-like could accomplish, but some sub-human grunt? No way.
Now this is pretty much the basis of the system (the generic, mulit-genre scaleing system, anyways - most dX games with a specific genre just pick a die level and stick with it.
Oh...I like what I am reading 
The point about TriStat not being linear in progression appears to be true. For a lack of a better way of saying, it almost appears to be 'sectional'. As in, this section is for this genre/use etc. Yet, conceivably; it could all run together a bit neater than other Game Mechanics attempts.
Hmmm...definitely worth getting the rules and looking over them more carefully.
If I have any further questions, I know who to ask
Again, thanks for the help and info!!!
Pete
The point about TriStat not being linear in progression appears to be true. For a lack of a better way of saying, it almost appears to be 'sectional'. As in, this section is for this genre/use etc. Yet, conceivably; it could all run together a bit neater than other Game Mechanics attempts.
Hmmm...definitely worth getting the rules and looking over them more carefully.
If I have any further questions, I know who to ask
Again, thanks for the help and info!!!
Pete
Alzrius
The EN World kitten
Tri-stat is the only game mechanic I've seriously run games with besides d20, and I must say, I like it a lot (bear in mind most of what I say about it will be in juxtaposition to d20).
It's a refreshing change because, as you noted, it takes a more sectional approach. This gives tremendous freedom in character design. In d20, characters are basically defined by their class (and somewhat less so by their race), and then by what feats and skills and spells they pick. A Tri-stat character makes their three attribute scores, and then picks their various ranks in various powers (and skills, if you use them). You define what your Tri-stat character does, instead of his class doing so.
Also, there is a lot more room for GM control over the rate of character advancement. Instead of a progressional step-pattern in character power, the GM basically grants additional character points after an adventure in small doses, if at all.
Given that, characters basically stay relatively the same over the course of a campaign. Most character points a GM hands out (in my experience) tend to improve existing powers by buying more ranks in them, instead of buying a rank in new powers entirely. It's for this reason (and the one in the above paragraph) that Tri-stat is, IMHO, a lower-powered game, but in a way that makes it more down to earth.
I think the Tri-stat system has great flexability, not so much despite its simplicity as because of it. If you're looking to run a campaign where, as in an anime or TV series, the characters don't change and power-up much over time, and where the players' probably won't be eagerly trying to earn another "level", Tri-stat is an excellent choice.
It's a refreshing change because, as you noted, it takes a more sectional approach. This gives tremendous freedom in character design. In d20, characters are basically defined by their class (and somewhat less so by their race), and then by what feats and skills and spells they pick. A Tri-stat character makes their three attribute scores, and then picks their various ranks in various powers (and skills, if you use them). You define what your Tri-stat character does, instead of his class doing so.
Also, there is a lot more room for GM control over the rate of character advancement. Instead of a progressional step-pattern in character power, the GM basically grants additional character points after an adventure in small doses, if at all.
Given that, characters basically stay relatively the same over the course of a campaign. Most character points a GM hands out (in my experience) tend to improve existing powers by buying more ranks in them, instead of buying a rank in new powers entirely. It's for this reason (and the one in the above paragraph) that Tri-stat is, IMHO, a lower-powered game, but in a way that makes it more down to earth.
I think the Tri-stat system has great flexability, not so much despite its simplicity as because of it. If you're looking to run a campaign where, as in an anime or TV series, the characters don't change and power-up much over time, and where the players' probably won't be eagerly trying to earn another "level", Tri-stat is an excellent choice.
I'll throw in what I've heard as a common complaint about Tri-stat: Relative lack of detail. People who like D&D's six stats, or White Wolf Storyteller's 9 stats often find that tri-stat characters lack definition and detail by comparison. YMMV.
That's a weak argument. It isn't as if the class reaches out of the book and mind-controls the player The player gets to choose the class (and skills, and feats, and spells), and thereby defines what the character can do. There's an extra level of abstraction in D&D, yes, and some restriction with it. But with 3e's easy multiclassing, the restrictions aren't all that nasty.
Alzrius said:
That's a weak argument. It isn't as if the class reaches out of the book and mind-controls the player
The player gets to choose the class (and skills, and feats, and spells), and thereby defines what the character can do. There's an extra level of abstraction in D&D, yes, and some restriction with it. But with 3e's easy multiclassing, the restrictions aren't all that nasty.
Wombat
First Post
Umbran said:
Yeah, that always was my problem ... that and being tied to BESM, mainly because I am not an anime/manga fan, per se. And the additions/limitations available in the system to the stats didn't really make up for the Mind/Body/Spirit threesome. Count me amongst those who find the system limited, indeed.
Actually, if I am going for a simple system, I prefer Over The Edge -- fewer traits, but at least you define them all in context of your character, which means you can run anything from Very High Power Super Heroes to real world hero-wannabes. Again, personal tastes.
Alzrius
The EN World kitten
Umbran said:That's a weak argument. It isn't as if the class reaches out of the book and mind-controls the player
The player gets to choose the class, but that pigeon-holes the character, all the more so because multiclassing does penalize the character (which encourages players not to multiclass), both in terms of an experience point penalty (though there are a few ways to avoid that), and in that a character who multiclasses has to deal with the fact that that's going to not advance any of his class abilities. Hence why a Wizard 5/Cleric 5 is always less of a favorable character than a Wizard 10.
The arguement isn't absolute, but it isn't weak either. d20 favors single-classed characters, with the only exceptions being prestige classes that add a narrower focus to a base class (and that's not really an exception at all then, since it's not broadening a character so much as defining it by making it narrower). Hence, class plays a large part in saying who a d20 character is; a restriction Tri-stat characters don't have to deal with.
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