[MUD-Dev] Re: Systems you use

[J C Lawrence]

On Thu, 23 Apr 1998 15:02:30 -0500 (CDT) 
Katrina McClelan<kitkat at the486.bradley.edu> wrote:

> Not that it's all too different from anything listed, but one thing
> I've devised (and for the record, am not currently using since my
> game is not such) was a system for generating numbers comprable to a
> Final Fantasy type game - and really does require a computer run
> game, although I suppose a calculator would suffice to run it by
> hand, along with some pre-calculation.  Basically a roll has a base,
> a relavent stat, a relavent skill, and a modifier.  The formula.
> The formula is:

> [ (stat + skill) * base ] / 100 + (modifier).

> An example in work: Geofram has a strength of 25, a skill with
> swords of 30, and swings a rapier at an imp.  The rapier has a base
> damage of 50 and a modifier of 1d10.  The damage would be:

...deletia...
> (100+100)*50/100 = 100+1d10 = 101-110 damage for a "master"*
> (10+0)*50/100 = 5+1d10 = 6-15 damage for the "novice"

> * (and of course the notion of master above assumes a max of 100 on
> skills and stats, which is totally arbitrary.)

The thing I explicitly don't like about this, and which was a major
guide line in my own system, is that there is a finite chance that
that above master may be able to inflict 110 units of damage in a
single blow, but is it quite impossible for the novice to ever do
that.

I wanted curves where the base range of pssible values stayed the same 
(moderated slightly by stength and other physical stats), but the
center of the bell curve would then vary across that range.  Thus it
may be reasonable for the master to make that 110damage stroke every
so often, but equally utter novices will (rarely) *ALSO* find
themselves doing 110 damage.

Thus the range of possible value for the sword might be 0 to 100
(we'll ignore physical stats for now), and the probabilities of a 110
damage blow might be:

  For a master swordsman:  5%
  For a novice swordsman:  0.01%

This was part of my implicit balancing to ensure that high level
characters are never safe from low-level.

--
J C Lawrence                               Internet: claw at null.net
(Contractor)                               Internet: coder at ibm.net
---------(*)                     Internet: claw at under.engr.sgi.com
...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...

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MUD-Dev: Advancing an unrealised future.