| From: | tevel@******.com (Tevel Drinkwater) |
|---|---|
| Subject: | SR4 Conversion |
| Date: | Thu, 28 Jul 2005 18:19:10 -0700 |
-0700 (PDT)
>>Another option: just have your players roll multi-colored dice. I
>>know
>>I have red, green and white d6s readily available. If I had every
>>player roll 1 green, 2 red, and the rest white, then I can just
>>mentally
>>subtract the green sucesses (-1 pool), red (-2 pool) or green and
>>red
>>(-3 pool).
>>
>>
>
>Uh, no. I am sorry but this seems horribly unfair to me. Just as I
>don't like the idea of taking dice from a player before they roll, I
>don't like the idea of letting them roll dice that don't matter.
>That seems far more cruel than simply keeping the target number
>secret.
>
>
Perhaps I've played too much Paranoia. The group I game with will
probably own at least three collective copies of the new Shadowrun
within a week if we "upgrade" or start a new campaign under the new
edition (the majority however do essentially agree with you Korishinzo,
in that they are reluctant to purchase the new Shadowrun edition,
especially sight unseen).
I'm sure that the above idea would not be seen as cruel by my group,
simply more evidence that even the nicest guys morph into twisted,
vicious misanthropes when hiding behind the gamemaster's screen.
Seriously, I would only use the above convention with the players' full
knowledge of the rule. Since most of us run a campaign of our own at
some point (I just happen to be the Shadowrun guy), everyone would be
aware of the problem of effectively hiding target numbers in certain
situations. As such, they would be perfectly aware that some of their
successes could potentially not count, and I am sure that they would
attempt to infer how many successes weren't counting from the dice
colours. This would be a little more awkward than simply not telling
them target numbers, but should have approximately the same effect .
Now that I am revisiting the topic, another possible solution would be
to "oppose" their successes by rolling an imprompu test behind the
gamemaster's screen. Your hidden successes subtracting from their
rolls. Again the ominous clatter of unseen dice from behind the
gamemaster's screen should serve to fuel their dark delusional fantasies.
Of course, I assume that this issue will be adequatley dealt with in the
new edition by some other mechanic, and my above ideas are purely
academic. They are both rather clunky, essentially trying to cludge a
possibly obsolete mechanic into an as yet unseen new game system. As
someone else pointed out, the first method I proposed and even the
second require some extra thinking time as it were. I suppose we can
start adding house rules to the new edition after it comes out, when we
can actually see where the tweaks might be useful.
-Tev
