From:	gurth@******.nl (Gurth)
Subject:	SR4 Conversion
Date:	Wed, 27 Jul 2005 11:08:45 +0200

According to Pace, on 26-7-05 20:04 the word on the street was...

> Hrm. Well, I've not played it, but I had assumed that success
> Threshhold could be altered.

That's a more serious alteration -- only one in three dice is going to
succeed, on average (since you need a 5 or 6 on the die), but you _can_
get more than that. However, it means that increasing the threshold by 1
basically requires the player to have three more dice in order to
succeed. Not to mention it can put success completely out of reach if
the threshold goes up too far (2 dice vs. threshold 3 = automatic
failure, after all).

> Regardless, that sort of imperfect
> information is not my style. I'm always clear about the TNs and so
> forth, even when it reveals information like you mention.

Different GM style, I guess -- I hardly ever tell my players what they
need to roll even if it would be fairly obvious.

> It promotes
> rules knowledge and OOC discussion of IC reality. Your method is
> valid, but it can mystify new players

Which is why I tell new players more than I do veterans :) But I still
don't mention _everything_ to new players (partly because it confuses
them, partly for the same reason I keep TNs etc. away from players in
general).

> and some GMs might use the
> hidden mechanic to railroad the players into failing when they
> shouldn't. That's just my observation, though.

That requires an honest GM who knows when to fudge things and when not
to. The other GM in my group has a habit of letting things happen almost
regardless of dice rolls (which is why we don't let him be GM all the
time :) but I think I'm pretty objective -- I only really fudge rolls in
order to save players' skins, but I don't tell them about that, either.
(Leading to the occasional accusation that I'm out to kill PCs, because
I don't obviously pull punches.)

--
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