gulremal's RP system for events

Hello folks,

In this and subsequent posts I'll be putting some basic rules and options for people participating in my events. Main idea is to get more background and general understanding for the rolls we often use during the events to gauge success of a certain action.

1. When to roll?
Unless specifically stated by GM, players should not roll anything on their own initiative – it's up to GM to decide whether action requires the roll or not. You will usually be told in tells or OOC line when to roll.

2. What do I roll for?
Usually, players roll to check whether their characters succeded in an action they wanted to perform or not. You usually need to „beat“ a certain number, and this „difficulty“ depends on multiple factors, and most important one is usually the character's skill. I'm not going to invent hot water here so we'll be using @kipstermick's system, with some small changes.

3. Skills
In order to keep it simple, there are 6 skills in total. Each skill covers quite a lot of areas of expertise, but adding more stuff is contraproductive and slows the pace of the RP.

COMBAT – covers both the ground combat (energy weapons, projectile weapons, explosives, melee, ground vehicles and hovercraft) and space combat (piloting all kinds of starships, shooting starship weapons and distributing shields). Ground forces cannot use space part of the skill, but they do gain +10 to ground combat.

TECHNOLOGY – or knowing how things work. Advanced use, maintenance, repairs and creation of all kind of technological gadgets, from a communicator to a starship. In combat, it covers the use of all kind of drones, beaming in or setting up holographic turrets and shields, disabling enemy weapons or overcharging your own etc, boosting ship's system(s), managing repair teams etc.

SCIENCE – or knowing why things work. Covers a wide array of science skills (astronomy, geology, biology, chemistry, xenology, warp theory, gravimetrics, computer sciences etc). In combat, you can use this skill to hack enemy computers or devices, use all kind of energy/radiation fields to make enemy day miserable, rip holes in space and time etc.

MEDICINE – skill of keeping your crewmates alive and well, both physically and mentally. In combat, you can patch wounded allies (bringing them back into fight), distribute combat drugs to make them more efficient, or use harmful compounds or nanites on your enemies etc.

DIPLOMACY – skill of persuading someone to do what you want, and make them feel like they got a good deal. Art of compromise and evading blunders in social situations. While not directly useful in combat, it can be used to either diffuse heated situation, or lull enemies in false sense of security before a sneak attack (We come in peace, shoot to kill!)

SCOUNDREL – art of knowing the criminal scene, how to get „that“ contact or find yourself some „friends“ in low places, how to lie and not get caught, skill of slight-of hand, breaking and deco- erm entering etc. In combat, it is used to fight as dirty as possible, detect or make ambushes, insult enemy to make them lose their cool etc.

Each character starts with 11 skill points:
- Each point gives +5 to relevant skill on d100 roll
- Players can earn additional skill ranks through time and effort. This does not include just participating in an event, but also being proactive outside of events - investigating clues given by GM, presenting their own ideas of how to deal with the situation. Most of these things will be dealt off-screen by sending me a PM with describing what your character wants to do, and depending on your character skills, I will reply to you with the results.

Each player willing to participate in this system should pm me their character's skills, for example:

Player: gulremal
Character: Sadia
Skills: Combat – 6, Scoundrel – 3, Diplomacy – 2


4. Leader bonus: at the start of the event, one character will be assigned as a team leader. During the event, once per non-combat scene and once per each combat round, leader can give a bonus to a skill roll to other team member. Only caveat is that said team member is sticking to previously decided combat plan or direct leader's order. Ignoring the plan or leader's orders will forgo the bonus.

5. Re-rolls: they say that dice are a fickle mistress. In that case, STO's dice roller is a cold-hearted bitch that just wants to see you suffer and die. Therefore, every character has a right to re-roll one dice roll per event. However, they must stick to the results of the second roll, even if it is lower. Players can earn more one-use re-rolls (meaning you use it and it's lost) by writing AARs (After Action Reports). Those players who show outstanding dedication will earn an additional permanent re-roll per event, but they are still limitied to one re-roll per action (so, they cannot re-roll same roll twice).

6. Combat rounds: in order to keep combat situations, well, order-ly, combat is fought by utilizing system of combat rounds. Every player has one action per round, and so do the members of the opposing force. Action order will vary depending on the situation, but in space, smaller and more agile ships usually act first, and on ground, people with higher combat skill usually act first.
This system allows every player same amount of participation and allows GM to keep the track of the situation.

7. Equipment: unless otherwise stated, characters are expected to be prepared for the task ahead. Every character has at least one weapon, personal shield generator, and a tricorder. Combat specialists are expected to wear a body armor and have additional weapons or explosives, techs and scientists may have additional gadgets as support drones, medikits, hacking tools, beam-in turrets, etc.
Each character may start with one weapon or tool of better quality, which gives them a bonus to dice roll regarding that item's function (so no bonus to attack roll if you decide to throw your heavily-modded medical tricorder at an enemy). Player can earn additional quality gadgets through roleplay.

8. Ships: different ships have different qualities. Raiders/frigates are fast and agile and therefore harder to hit, but won't be able to take on as many hits as a cruiser. Destroyers/raptors are focused on frontal attacks but are not as effective when fighting enemies on their flank/aft. Cruisers are solid all rounders, while dreadnoughts posses devastating firepower but are slow and turn like molasses.
Bigger ships usually mean more crew, but are also bigger security risk regarding infiltration and sabotage.
Keep in mind that there's big separation of RP ship capabilities and those seen in STO. Alpha strike from single Bird of Prey, even if executed perfectly, will not destroy a dreadnought. Also, ships in RP are not limited to abilities/BOFF layouts seen in game - I suggest you consult me firsthand before attempting to simulate a skill from the game.
5 Likes
I'm not interested in this system, but I still wish to participate in the events.

Players can always opt out from using this system. All the mechanics will be done off screen by the GM (any necessary rolls through use of the department-related skill set template). Players can also opt out from rolling the dice, but still create the character sheet with the rules explained in point 3 in the previous post.
I understand if people want to be unburdened by rules, but I myself require at least a basic way to adjudicate success of the certain actions. If there is no chance of failure, there is no challenge, and no sense of achievement.
4 Likes
A very interesting system, I shall say :) Also, I like the way you wish to differentiate between ship types and classes (something that sometimes lack).
2 Likes
It is well thought out and I applaud that work even though I'm in the group of people that isn't a fan of this kind of RP. I would not condemn it though, for people that enjoy this more game based RP it is great.

In defense of myself though it isn't that I want to have absolute power over my actions (I actually don't, I trust people to know when they go too far and work together to get results), I just want to RP my characters like those in the Star Trek shows. In every series characters rarely achieve things by luck or accident like other shows do but because they are all people with a high level of competence. They succeed in a scan because they know how to do one and the computer works. They wouldn't be in Starfleet otherwise. I know the modifiers in this system are supposed to account for that technically but it still boils down to chance and I prefer story and player agreement in the moment to take precedence.

Again, I'm not admonishing this, just elaborating why I don't really get involved with it. A lot of people can have some good fun with this I'm sure.
6 Likes
Wow. I have completely missed to timely respond to this.

@Timoreev: I don't go deep into mechanics or do I have anything more complex developed. It's more a rule of a thumb - if player ship suffers good attack from a raider, they might lose a portion of shield facing. Same attack roll from a cruiser would drop that shield facing down etc. Of course, PC ships have the "hero bonus" to their stats. Good roll from a cruiser would cripple or destroy NPC raider, while PC raider would suffer moderate damage but would still be in the fight. Things like that.

@Master_Dex: PCs usually roll only when it's necessary - when they are either opposed by NPC actions (for example, sensor roll to detect cloaked/hiding ship) or when success on standard (51 roll on dice) is not guaranteed (like maneuvering a fat cruiser through an asteroid field). If there is no chance of failure, where's the challenge? Failure itself can be good RP tool - in the end, being able to weather the consequences and move forward is important trait, especially for those in command positions. Being very competent is not guarantee of success, it's mandatory for survival in cold and uncaring depths of space.

Note that I'm not being defensive here, just trying to explain my outlook. Being almost exclusively KDF player, I'm used to more gritty PC mentalities and ways of dealing with things. On KDF side, crewmen dying in combat is a given and losing ships under your command is expected part of the experience. This is a faction where "walk it off" is sound medical advice and counselors are bartenders in your favorite watering hole. Universe looks far more dangerous and challenging from red side, and you have to make best of it or die trying. Your mileage may vary :)
3 Likes
I fully understand, and have no issues with it. Though I do wish to point out I am not interested in removing chances of failure either. As much as I don't care to leave success to chance, and I don't care for failure to be random either. It is harder without a system like yours to determine when something fails unless it is prescribed by the GM; That is a legit tactic, the GM can decide in my mind what works best to tell the story, as long as they keep in mind what the characters playing are capable of doing. In my mind, the type of society you are in is not really a factor, the KDF is capable clearly. If things are cut throat that's just an affectation of RP, not a factor on outcomes. They'll succeed or fail as much as Starfleet, it is what they do during those events that is the magic I am there to see.

It's great to have differing styles and interests though. Like you are not being defensive, I am not being offensive. I consider this a friendly debate at most with no intent for either one of us to change our minds as it were. I'm perfectly happy with you et al continuing of with this and enjoying it. So thanks for detailing it, it's a fun examination.
4 Likes

This is freaking awesome, is this still a thing?

So two years late to the party here, but the system we use on the other side is chance based as well, this just helps make sure your more likely to succeed when your character is supposed to be good at something, and less likely when they are supposed to be bad at something.