Replacing melee damage d6es with Skill dice

[stubby]

The Stun rules were too much added complexity, not enough added fun, and they ended up being too anti-mayhem in effect to be an aesthetic fit in any case.

It's true that they would be useful in certain scenarios, but I think it's best to leave players to house-rule non-lethal weapons as needed rather than give them any attention in an official way.

[Tzan]

A water kannon might also be able to push people when they hit by a strong jet of water.
Jet vs spray
Jet stuns and pushes
Spray is better to put out a fire

[Valiant]

That water cannon would be great for the various police forces when "calming" riots.

[Zupponn]

One thing about all these funky new die sizes being used is that one of the original points of using d6s was to make sure that the game was easy to pick up and play. Most people have easy access to the d6 die, but how many people have d8s and d10s laying around, and in multipes at that. I'd really find it a pain to have to keep track of rolling numerous d10s if I only have 1. Writing them down or adding them in my head as I go could be a lot more work and a lot less fun than just grabbing more d6s and rolling those.

[Gungnir]

Stun rules made easy:
If you hit a target, it gets knocked prone.

[stubby]

One thing about all these funky new die sizes being used is that one of the original points of using d6s was to make sure that the game was easy to pick up and play. Most people have easy access to the d6 die, but how many people have d8s and d10s laying around, and in multiples at that. I'd really find it a pain to have to keep track of rolling numerous d10s if I only have 1. Writing them down or adding them in my head as I go could be a lot more work and a lot less fun than just grabbing more d6s and rolling those.

Very true. In practice, though, your units are going to end up all d6es with a single d10 most of the time anyway. It's only the officers who bring in d8s in a big way, and I can add in an "if you don't have a pile of d8s" optional rule (If you don't have a pile of d8s, then the squad receives a +1 Skill Bonus instead).

[stubby]

Stun rules made easy:
If you hit a target, it gets knocked prone.

This used to be part of the Dismemberment rules (10.2), but it looks like I removed it for some reason. A minifig who took damage that exactly matched its Armor didn't die, but instead either lost a limb (for cutting or blasting weapons) or was disrupted (for all other weapons).

[Silent-sigfig]

Stun rules made easy:
If you hit a target, it gets knocked prone.

This used to be part of the Dismemberment rules (10.2), but it looks like I removed it for some reason. A minifig who took damage that exactly matched its Armor didn't die, but instead either lost a limb (for cutting or blasting weapons) or was disrupted (for all other weapons).

I don't like the whole dismemberment thing, especially when you take apart figs to show that they're dead.


Anyway, I'd like to report that this system works great in play, and I would recommend making it part of the official rulebook.

[stubby]

All right, I'm pretty satisfied with what we've got here. So here are the new changes to implement.

• 6. All standard CC and thrown weapons now do generic "dice" of damage instead of d6es, determined by the unit's Skill.
  
  7. In order for Shielded effects to work properly with the new system, OverSkill dice now add one Damage die of whatever type (or types) of dice the weapon already has, rather than a standard Bonus d6. Standard damage does more standard damage, explosives are more explosive, fire is fierier, etc. Critical successes on the Damage dice still just earn regular d6 Bonus Dice.
  
  8. "Parry and Riposte" is removed from Close Combat. The flow of Close Combat will be simplifed to a chain of attack-parry resolutions, which will work almost exactly the same in practice but will be much easier to explain and keep track of - particularly for Squads. (In addition, this will probably will allow me to add Parry and Riposte as a named Specialty for elite swordsmen later, where they can parry and strike with the same sword.)

[stubby]

Oh, and just a couple of concerns:

6. We should make sure this is extensively playtested before implementing sweeping changes to a system that isn't broken.

7. Maybe before retooling a chunk of the game that already is in working order, we should get chapter 11 finally finished? I'd love to have official, updated rules for Armies, Squads, and all that other stuff teased art in the Table of Contents instead of having to kinda Frankenstein it from the 2005 edition.

So let's get that shit done already. It's 2015 and that chunk of the 2010 rules is still unfinished. Tell me what I can do to help out and I'll pitch in.

I know it doesn't look like it, but this is what working on chapter 11 looks like - these changes are all getting done because I'm working on unifying Squad combat. With the old system there are too many edge cases where Squad combat breaks down in ways that are hard to work around, so I need to do a bunch of massaging to the underlying systems to get everything consistent.

If you do want to help out, independent playtesting and play reports is always the #1 thing I can use more of. Especially if they're accompanied by nice photos I can thieve for rules illustrations.

[RedRover]

So if damage is skill role but you have augmented damage I.e 1d6 +1, does that mean skill has to be 1d6 + 1, or do you just role skill and then add the one when calculating damage?

[stubby]

The table of contents hasn't been updated to reflect the final assortment of specialists yet.

Heavy Infantry: uhh... a regular fig with heavy armor and a Heavy Weapon? A Heavy in Heavy Armor with a Squad-level weapon? I dunno, do we wanna make 'em beefier with like a d10 AR? Was there something conceptually differnet you had in mind than meatshieldy damage-dealer/sponge?

Heavy Infantry are mainly about the Shield Wall ability, like hoplites, vikings, or riot police. They also resist Shoves and KnockBack as a group rather than individually.

The Sniper: You can't swing a dead wamprat around here without hitting somebody's homebrew variant on what a sniper could be like. IVhorseman has the sharpshooter. Silent-sigfig has his Marksman.

The Marksman and the Sniper are separate units. The marksman is just better at shooting, and may get lumped under a generic Weapon Specialist category for guys who are experts at a specific type of weapon. The Sniper is about stealth and automatic hits.

The Assassin: We already have the ninja. Or were you intending something more Assassin's Creed-y?

The Assassin (or sapper / saboteur)'s special Tunnel Vision ability is to ignore squads and redshirts to hit specific targets - essentially an anti-Hero / Officer / Leader unit. He may also be getting an Infiltration skill (revealing that he was "disguised all along" as a neutral object, animal, or minifig) and a Can Opener ability to bypass Shielding. This will take a whole bunch of balancing to get right, obviously; unlike Ninjas, he should be comparatively useless in regular non-assassination combat.

The Kamikaze:... ughm, cannon fodder with an explosive strapped on him? I'm not sure why we need to make a whole new unit for this.

Yeah, Kamikazes are gone; they don't have anything unique to offer.

So if damage is skill role but you have augmented damage I.e 1d6 +1, does that mean skill has to be 1d6 + 1, or do you just role skill and then add the one when calculating damage?

You roll Skill and add the one. If your Skill is 1d8, then Damage 1d6+1 becomes Damage 1d8+1.

[stubby]

The Marksman and the Sniper are separate units. The marksman is just better at shooting, and may get lumped under a generic Weapon Specialist category for guys who are experts at a specific type of weapon. The Sniper is about stealth and automatic hits.

So the Sniper is a guy who's good at shooting... + Stealth Ability?

The Marksman is general-purpose good at shooting. The sniper shoots perfectly (Automatic Hit on any size target at any range, with the usual OOR penalties to Damage), but only from concealment, and then he has to move and re-conceal himself before he can snipe again.

The Assassin (or sapper / saboteur)'s special Tunnel Vision ability is to ignore squads and redshirts to hit specific targets - essentially an anti-Hero / Officer / Leader unit. He may also be getting an Infiltration skill (revealing that he was "disguised all along" as a neutral object, animal, or minifig) and a Can Opener Man Opener ability to bypass Shielding. This will take a whole bunch of balancing to get right, obviously; unlike Ninjas, he should be comparatively useless in regular non-assassination combat.

So like the Orc Berserker with the torch from the Battle of Helm's Deep who took a bunch of arrows but set off that bomb anyway?

More like John Wilkes Booth or Olenna Tyrell.