tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2750858425589737642.post6168509322252253384..comments2024-03-18T07:17:23.871+00:00Comments on Known World, Old World: RuneQuest 6 for Free! (and some thoughts on player competency)Andy Bartletthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06683770320671028815noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2750858425589737642.post-79555520680163036132014-06-19T10:26:22.893+01:002014-06-19T10:26:22.893+01:00"D&D is heavily dependent on player compe..."D&D is heavily dependent on player competency, especially with oldschool gamers - because your skills and decision making have absolutely no mechanical basis."<br /><br />For me, and the sorts of people that play with, that is a good thing. I rarely game with players who read the rules, basically, so I need them to being able to make competent decisions by reference to the fictional world rather than the inter-workings of a number of different mechanics. But I find most d100 games are good at this too - when I'm GM-ing D&D I simply reference the character background and invent a x in 6 or x in 8 etc. chance of success for skill-like actions (which I normally tell the players before they make a decision - most characters would be aware of their in-world competency and chances of success) - either that or I just say 'yes', in d100 games even a total novice can look at their character sheet and see their characters relative competencies expressed as percentages. Couple that with the 'what skill levels actually mean' table from MRQII/Legend, and a quick quide to difficultly modifiers clipped to the player-facing side of the GM screen and the players, even complete beginners, have a really clear idea of what their character is capable of, and so can make meaningful decisions without any deep system mastery.<br /><br />The 'problem' I have with RQ6 (and this goes for my players - not for all groups) is that the granularity on the combat system demands, far more than any other d100 game, that the players have quite deep system mastery. Their Combat Style % is not as reliable a guide to their character's skill in combat as the % scores in, say, 'Insight' or 'Influence' skills are guides to character competency in those domains. Of course player competency still matters - as it should - but in the non-combat areas (magic excepted) the player competency springs from the interaction of their general wits and the knowledge of the game world that they have acquired through play (and paying attention). In RQ6 combat, player competency is dependent on system mastery in a way that reminds me - in a bad way - of what little I am familiar with later D&Ds. I say this even as I say that the combat system in RQ6 is an absolute masterpiece.Andy Bartletthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06683770320671028815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2750858425589737642.post-70773530937224076072014-06-18T21:14:28.954+01:002014-06-18T21:14:28.954+01:00D&D is heavily dependent on player competency,...D&D is heavily dependent on player competency, especially with oldschool gamers - because your skills and decision making have absolutely no mechanical basis. It's a matter of description and thinking of the right thing to solve puzzles.<br />RuneQuest simply takes the 'player competency' aspect away from skills (which are generally well defined) and puts it into combat and tactics.<br />RuneQuest is _more_ of a simulation than D&D in that its characters are rather tightly bound into their community and property, having lives outside of 'I was on a farm, now I kill things'. Aside from domain play I almost never see D&D characters with real property, which is ridiculous to the point of stupid.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com