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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: P Ward <P.Ward@**.CF.AC.UK>
Subject: Re: defaulting
Date: Fri, 5 May 1995 13:27:05 BST
Robert Watkins wrote :-
> When you concentrate, you have the general skill at (Level -2). When you
> specialise, you have the concentration at (Level -2) and the general skill
> at (Level -4).

BTW, that means if you put six points in at the start, you get
Specialistaion +2 = 8
concentration 0 = 6
General -2 = 4

I beleive there is a minimum of 1 for the General, though I don't
remember actually reading it.

Mostly I find it's not worth the time specialising in most skills,
maybe only the wierd skills. Never specialise ina combat skill if
you can helpt it, Concentrate maybe..

Phil (Renegade)
Message no. 2
From: Wafflemeisters <evamarie@**********.NET>
Subject: Re: Defaulting
Date: Wed, 20 May 1998 16:44:50 -0500
> Re: Defaulting (was Summer Time) (David Buehrer , Tue 12:16)
>
> Ereskanti wrote:

> / Actually guy, the "Defaulting through the Web" already has penalties. +2
per
> / dot already, -AND- 1 die removed from the "defaulting skill".
>
> Were do you get the "1 die removed" from? Is that in the SRC?

The "1 die removed" aplies to bonus dice from the adept power
"Improved
ability", andis mentioned in thatpowersdescription. It does not apply
to normal skill ratings when defaulting.
The SRC's "partial default" or "default from concentration"
rules are
useful in certain situations, and can affect the dice you use. Its
typical for skill one or two characters to "partial default", in order
to avoid botches.

-Mongoose X
Message no. 3
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Russ Parker)
Subject: Defaulting
Date: Mon May 20 20:30:01 2002
A couple of other things to think about defaulting...

There is a rule on Partial Defaulting that, if generalized works quite well.
It does lead to a definite incentive to get Rank 1 or 2 in a bunch of
things. However the main objections to defaulting have been that someone
can just get a very high skill in a couple of things and be set. This
certainly mitigates that!

With that, here is our Defaulting House Rule, largely based off of Partial
Defaulting. For a straight Default you suffer the Book TN penalties, but
get half the value you are defaulting to. Essentially we use the Partial
Defaulting rule of (Skill A + Skill B)/2 with Skill A being = 0. If you
actually have at least a rank in what you are trying to use then the TN
penalties are halved. Also, if you have a skill of 0 then you do not get
any benefits (Reach Bonus, Smartlink, etc... basically anything that would
lower your TN) of the item you are using since you are completely unfamiliar
with it.

Some examples of a Character trying to use a baseball bat:

A) Club 0 Edged 6 - Roll 3d w/ a TN + 2. Up to 3 Combat Pool. No Reach.
B) Club 1 Edged 6 - Roll 3d w/ a TN + 1. Up to 3 Combat Pool. Reach.
C) Club 2 Edged 6 - Roll 4d w/ a TN + 1. Up to 4 Combat Pool. Reach.
D) Club 0 Edged 4 Katana 6 - Default to Edged and get 2d + 2d CP at +2 TN
or Katana and have 3d + 3d CP at a +3 TN. No Reach with either.
E) Club 2 Edged 4 Katana 6 - Default to Edged and get 3d + 3d CP at +1 TN
or Katana and have 4d + 4d CP at a +2 TN. Reach with both.
F) Club 0 Strength 8 - Roll 4d w/ a TN + 4. No Combat Pool when DF to a
Stat. No Reach.
G) Club 1 Strength 8 - Roll 4d w/ a TN + 2. Up to 4 Combat Pool. Reach.
H) Club 2 Strength 8 - Roll 5d w/ a TN + 2. Up to 5 Combat Pool. Reach.
I) Club 0 Edged 4 Strength 8 - Default to Edged and get 2d + 2d CP at +2
TN or Str and get 4d + 0d CP and +4 TN. You would not get Reach with
either.
J) Club 2 Edged 4 Strength 8 - Default to Edged and get 3d + 3d CP at +1
TN or Str and get 5d + 5d CP and +2 TN.

The net result of this is that it is beneficial to have a number of low
ranked skills to compliment your specialties. Under the standard rules it
is almost pointless to have a skill of 1 or 2 in something if you have a
high skill in something similar. It also gets rid of the desire to just
Default to the high skill and ignore the low value that you have in the
skill you are using.

Note: I think the loss of a Reach Bonus is easy to see, the loss of the SL
benefits is perhaps harder. Compare the Shotgun and the AR that the issue
was initially about. You are intimately familiar with the AR (skill of 6),
but totally unfamiliar with a Shotgun. Until you get a Skill of 1 you do
not get the -TN since, while you are getting the data, the gun behaves
differently. You would not get the ability to modify a CyberChoke since
there is nothing like it on an AR. You would be able to switch between
SA/BF/AF since those are common. Likewise if you picked up an SMG you would
be able to use the SL to eject the clip.

Russ

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Defaulting, you may also be interested in:

Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.

Thwap!