Modeling Multiple Shots for Skilled and Unskilled Combatants in a Science Fiction Setting

Skill using the logo, even though I will
likely change it.

Wow. That is a wordy title for a simple idea: "How are combat skills applied?" 

In this game, we have established that a target has a defense of 2-12 and an attacker must match this number on 1, 2, or 3 six sided dice. 

Technology in a science fiction game permits a character a ridiculous amount of attacks with a weapon. In a 10 second combat round, someone with a six shooter can shoot six times, no matter their ability or skill. Without any applicable skill, that person gets one shot with 2 six-side dice and 5 shots with only one die. They are shooting fairly indicrimatly, they aimed with the first shot then switched to random blasts. Without any skill, the aimed shot MUST come first subsequently followed by random shots. This is the penalty of not having a skill. 

When a person has a skill, they are entitled to more aimed shots at a rate of one attack per level of skill. When attacking one target once, they get to roll all 3d6. However, if they attack more than once or at more than one target, they may only use 2d6 per attack. Skilled persons may mix aimed and indiscriminate fire in the same round at will.  

For example, a marine with 3 ranks of skill is guarding 2 hatches with a 6 shooter. He sees 3 robot drones approaching from his front and engages them. He rolls 2d6 for the first attack. Then rolls 2d6 for the second. Before he can shoot at the third drone, the hatch on his right opens and he indiscriminately fires a shot at the person opening the door. He rolls a single 1d6. The hatch slams closed. 

He still has 3 bullets and one aimed shot, so he returns to shooting at the drones. He aims with the first shot using 2d6. Since he has 2 more bullets, he fires them indiscriminately at the robot drones for two more attacks made with a single die each. 

In the image, shots are numbered in order.
Red is for aimed shots and green is for indiscriminate.  

This combat does not describe damage resolution as it would occur in the game. It is merely an example of a single person shooting. In later examples, we will see that this marine would have plenty of time to reload and/or move.

Modeling Combat for a New Science Fiction Game

I had a science fiction game on the back burner of my brain for a while. The working title was Accretion Disk. I liked the style of the logo, but fell out of love with the mechanics and perhaps the title.

Based on my last post about Star Smuggler, I have been thinking about game mechanics with 2 and three six siders. Probably the most common or useful scenario is to consider a single combat roll. In order to do that, I need to think of a way to compare defensive skills vs. offensive skills. How big do I want my numbers and what does each number mean.

It's funny, but most games have a mechanic to strike a stationary object with a die roll. My game will have that too, but I think that hitting a bullseye painted on something is far different that hitting an active opponent.

How do I roll to hit? 

In order to hit a target, you have to overcome its defenses. In order to explain an attack, let’s look at a target’s defense. 

Every target has a situational defense. Is it close or far? Is it moving faster than the weapon you are using? Is it cloaked or obscured? And so on. Those situational defenses change from moment to moment and are worth 1-6 points of defense. A target may have a different situational defense for different attackers, even in the same combat round.

Next, every active opponent has a set of physical and mental attributes, also rated from 1-6. This is a person instinct for danger or a device's preprogrammed defensive measures. The player determines which attribute is used for defense, which will likely be their highest. Since each attribute can only be used once per round, there are consequences for picking the highest attribute. Devices don't get to pick.

These two numbers are added together to generate the target roll number. For stationary targets, that will automatically be a number from 1-6 for a situational defense. For people or creatures, it will more likely be 2-12. 

This number, 2-12 is compared to a roll made by the attacker.

The attacker receives one six sided die for simply making the attempt. They receive a second die for having an attribute which is applicable to the roll. Attackers who not have an applicable attribute of zero do not get this second six sided die. An attacker can also receive a third six sided die for possessing an applicable skill, such as marksmanship. This will generate a number between 3 and 18, depending on how many dice are rolled. No more than 3 dice can be rolled for each attack. 

In order to hit the target, one must match or roll higher than the target’s defense. 

Higher rolls are not necessarily better as the goal is to match the target’s defense exactly to be most effective. An exact match does damage, prevents the target from taking an action during that round, places them flat on ground and might cause them to lose consciousness. 

While every number over the target’s defense value is a hit, all pairs or triples which are higher the target’s defense are nearly as good as a matching roll. A pair (6 and 6) will do damage and stop an action. A triple (such as 3, 3 and 3) will do damage, stop an action and put the person on the ground. Neither will automatically knock the person out. 

Let me know what you think either in the comments below or by taking a survey. You can also go back and answer the first survey or poll here.

Strictly (Duke) Springer - Day 073 – March 13th.

We are going to continue rolling at the Casino/Gambling Establishment. In 3 hours, we get the e071, which is a gambling mini-game which takes the rest of the day.

You put your money on the table and roll two dice. Doubles will win back whatever you bet (Break Even). 5 or 9 doubles your money while 3 or 11 triples it.

There is also a game called jackpot in which the only winning roll is a 12. That will net you 30 times your initial bet.

Jackpot has a 2.78% chance of winning, which a bad deal. In the other game you have 16.7% chance of breaking even with doubles. There is a 11.11% chance of rolling a five or a nine. There is also 5.56% chance of rolling a three or eleven. A little math helps here. Believe it or not, there is almost a 50-50 chance of not losing.

Emily and Duke both bet 5,000 in two independent games.

Emily rolls an 11 while Duke gets an 8 (a 6 and a 2). Duke loses 5,000 while Emily wins 15,000. We are up 10,000. We do it again, this time with 10,000 each. Duke rolls a 5 and Emily gets a 9. We doubled our money each. Third round. Duke decides to have a drink and hands out 9,000 secs. to the crew to play. I haven’t listed the crew in a while.

Crewman	Bet	Die 1	Die 2	Total	Results
Ratchet	1000	1	5	6	Lose 1000
Doc	1000	4	5	9	Win 2000
Lefty	1000	1	4	5	Win 2000
Deadeye	1000	6	1	6	Lose 1000
Bones	1000	5	1	6	Lose 1000
David	1000	2	5	7	Lose 1000
Lucy	1000	2	4	6	Lose 1000
Michael	1000	2	2	4	Break Even
Jonathon	1000	5	3	8	Lose 1000

Well, six of the crew lost, so Duke throws issues another 6,000 secs. to the losers so they can try again. Michael broke even, so he tries again, too. The winners each ante up another 1000 from their winnings and Emily and Duke join them with another 5,000 each.

Duke loses 5000 while Emily breaks even.

Crewman	Bet	Die 1	Die 2	Total	Results
Ratchet	1000	2	2	4	Break Even
Doc	1000	6	3	9	Win 2000
Lefty	1000	6	6	12	Break even
Deadeye	1000	2	2	4	Break even
Bones	1000	5	4	9	Win 2000
David	1000	5	4	9	Win 2000
Lucy	1000	1	4	5	Win 3000
Michael	1000	6	3	9	Win 2000
Jonathon	1000	5	5	10	Break Even

Duke foolishly drops 1000 on the Jackpot game and loses again. One last time, Duke tries his hand at the first game with a 5000 and rolls a 9. He doubles his money.

Crewman	Winnings
Ratchet	1000
Doc	4000
Lefty	3000
Deadeye	1000
Bones	2000
David	2000
Lucy	3000
Michael	3000
Jonathon	1000

The crew is pretty happy now. They all have cash in their pockets. Collectively they took in 20,000.

Duke and Emily did worse, but managed to score 9,000 secs. Walking home with our winnings, we roll a 5 and nothing special happens. Isn’t that ominous?

I have 54,183 secs. We are wanted in the Palatek system.

Strictly (Duke) Springer - Day 072 – March 12th.

I still need Stasis Units, Fuel, Life Support and Hypercharges. Let’s try again.

I get the last three on the first roll… then nothing. Sigh. That’s another 2013 secs. gone. I also do a bit of RRR, the engineer installs the boat’s guns. If you look at the ship’s pictures, I have added HSA for “heavy side arms”, U for “U-suits”. Anything else I messed up is gone.

You'll notice I am getting short on space. The Antelope has 18 free spaces in the hold, while the Alicorn has 28 free spaces. I am sure you can see the point of playing "Russian stacking doll" and loading stuff into the ship's boat or other crew spaces.

I won't be doing that any time soon.

1 Antelope starship with TL-5 Guns. I owe nothing.
1 Hopper with boat guns, TL-3.

Cargo of note:
1 Boat guns, TL-2,
4 CU Status Unit (e103),
7 Side Arms TL-1,
2 TL-4 heavy hand weapons with explosive effects,
5 TL-1 Heavy Hand Weapons,
4 Doses of pheromones (e009) in Duke’s pocket,
and the ship is fueled with 6 hypercharges.

1 Alicorn starship with TL-1 Guns. We owe nothing.
1 Hopper with TL-2 Boat guns,

Cargo of note:
5 Military U-suits (e044)
5 TL-1 Heavy Hand Weapons,
and the ship is fueled with 6 hypercharges.

I have 47,183 secs. We are wanted in the Palatek system.

Another Assassin Post - The Swindle Pig

Here is another look at assassins. You can download the full file here as a pdf.

I generally don't do single page character sheets, but this assassin popped into my head fully formed.

The Swindle Pig is an atypical assassin. His real name is unknown, but he goes by “Patch”, “Plug” and “Paully”. Sometimes, in the same conversation.

He specializes in information gathering. He is able to provide the player characters with many useful details.

From the DM side, The Swindle Pig excels at spycraft so he knows what the party needs. He is horrible at negotiation,  so he doesn’t bother. He offers his information for “free” at the outset and explains that people should repay him according to their means once the information proves useful.

This sort of indebted exchange rubs a lot of people wrong, but they still pay accordingly. 

Many player characters will realize that The Swindle Pig is an excellent assassin and fighter but he sees no value in killing people if he doesn’t have to. On the other hand, people who try to cross him or the people he networks with will end up very dead. He will never double cross honest people and won’t work with honorless people.

The Swindle Pig has two journals or notebooks. He is very educated and has excellent penmanship. When he gives out information, he writes it on a page in the red book and tears it out. When someone gives him a reward, he places their names in the black book, no matter the amount.   

There is a story about him rescuing someone who came to harm from his information. It’s an ugly tale, but also proof positive that he is honorable.