Experiance in Judge Dredd

[charliebananas]

I know it's a bit of a thorny issue with Traveller, in all the years I’ve played (black box edition early 80's) it's been the one thing that has bugged my group about the system. All three GM's in my group including myself have tried to tack on an experience system; it's never been fully satisfactory.

Whilst I read Judge Dredd, I came to the experience section, and thought it's probably realistic but not that much fun, we've tried the whole time = experience thing and people just gave up keeping track, even with Travellers huge amount of down time as you jump through space. We've used training before, but Judges would have huge resources to train but little time, so I asked myself what defines a Judge? The answer came as THE LAW, or more precisely arrests...

So here are early thoughts, each time a Judge makes an arrest he gets AP (Arrest Points), these equal 1+ the minimum sentence for the crime committed, with anything less than a year being equal to 1AP (50 AP for Life or Execution, whilst fines of any sort would only be worth 1 point to the arresting Judge only). A single arresting Judge gets full points; Judges who assist each other in the arrest get half these points. Once the judge has amassed 100 AP he gets to convert the 100 AP into 1 skill point, he can save this or spend it. I have also considered that if a perp gets off on a technicality or the sentence just doesn’t stick for some reason, instead of gaining AP they lose it equal to 1 + the maximum sentence for the crime , halved if the judges were working as a group, not sure on that yet.

It’s just an idea for those whose players expect some kind of experience system, other than the passage of time.

Cheers
Mike

 

[dreamingbadger]

I know it's a bit of a thorny issue with Traveller, in all the years I’ve played (black box edition early 80's) it's been the one thing that has bugged my group about the system. All three GM's in my group including myself have tried to tack on an experience system; it's never been fully satisfactory.

Whilst I read Judge Dredd, I came to the experience section, and thought it's probably realistic but not that much fun, we've tried the whole time = experience thing and people just gave up keeping track, even with Travellers huge amount of down time as you jump through space. We've used training before, but Judges would have huge resources to train but little time, so I asked myself what defines a Judge? The answer came as THE LAW, or more precisely arrests...

So here are early thoughts, each time a Judge makes an arrest he gets AP (Arrest Points), these equal 1+ the minimum sentence for the crime committed, with anything less than a year being equal to 1AP (50 AP for Life or Execution, whilst fines of any sort would only be worth 1 point to the arresting Judge only). A single arresting Judge gets full points; Judges who assist each other in the arrest get half these points. Once the judge has amassed 100 AP he gets to convert the 100 AP into 1 skill point, he can save this or spend it. I have also considered that if a perp gets off on a technicality or the sentence just doesn’t stick for some reason, instead of gaining AP they lose it equal to 1 + the maximum sentence for the crime , halved if the judges were working as a group, not sure on that yet.

It’s just an idea for those whose players expect some kind of experience system, other than the passage of time.

Cheers
Mike

I would probably divide by the total number of players, e.g. 200 arrest point and 4 PC's equals 50 arrest points each. Also bear in mind that an individual perp may be guilt of more than one crime or multiple counts of the same crime, this could add up quite quickly.

Rather than a whole "skill point" I would suggest that you need 100 x the level of skill that you are trying to get. e.g. Drive (lawmaster) 2 to improve it to Drive (lawmaster) 3 requires 300 arrest points?

Or 100 arrest points is equal to 1 week of study as per Page 59 Traveller Core Rulebook, which will make skill advancement more difficult as characters progress?

 

[charliebananas]

I think we are at cross purposes, I'm using the term skill point but I meant points as used by a seasoned Judge for experience in Judge Dredd, with the point costs to buy and increase things being the same.

Think I may just split the arrest points as you surgest though.

 

[dreamingbadger]

I think we are at cross purposes, I'm using the term skill point but I meant points as used by a seasoned Judge for experience in Judge Dredd, with the point costs to buy and increase things being the same.

Think I may just split the arrest points as you surgest though.

ah ok yes that does make sense you might want to allow them to add new skills though

 

[charliebananas]

Yeah cheers, I'll play test it and then post how it turned out thanks for the input.

 

[dreamingbadger]

pleasure it did start me of in a direction for core traveller experience

 

[charliebananas]

Isn't that the great thing about games, even if someone posts an idea thats no good for what you want, it can lead you in another direction that can be helpful, it's just cool.

Cheers
Mike

 

[Rex]

Isn't that the great thing about games, even if someone posts an idea thats no good for what you want, it can lead you in another direction that can be helpful, it's just cool.

Cheers
Mike

True that.

Myself, I'm running on a slightly more flexible plan. I use both, Traveller Core training, And the Dredd Seasoned Judge time passage, and when they do something that impresses me, I toss them a few "Seasoning Points" here and there to spice things up a bit.

Remember though even without going into Seasoned Judges during creation, Judges tend to start rather powerful, and you don't want to toss out tons of points in a game system where less means more.

~Rex, The Black Hand, Mongoose Infantry.

 

[charliebananas]

yeah i agree, i may put up the arrest points to a ratio of 200 per Seasoned point. This would leave some leave-way for those truly big events that can rock the city, allowing me to hand out more points.

 

[Rex]

*nods* Always keep in mind though. Every little advance in the Traveller system, is hugely Impacting. It's not like d20 where folks can be made to feel better by you handing them 4K xp, which doesn't move anything anywhere at mid levels, where as in Traveller, 5 Seasoned Judge Points moves the character forward exponentially.

When everyone in your play group has one big Mega City One shaking event, and they suddenly sprout 5 new skills or other skills go from good to great, or now EVERYONE, has Combat Acuity and Rapid Aim, you can tank a campaign pretty quick.

OR, Johnny Alpha shows up, drops a Temporal Grenade on everyone and you strip skills. Ain't Time Travel fun?

~Rex

 

[charliebananas]

LOL Yeah less is more, at a 200 ratio that equates to 1000 ap for five Seasoned judge points to spend, do you think that models four years of arrests.... I think its too lite, looking at it like that, maybe a ratio of 1000 per seasoned point? The thing is I'm not trying to let the players get mondo real quick and I don't want to break the game, it's just my players get bored of tracking time, but they love XP.

 

[Rex]

LOL Yeah less is more, at a 200 ratio that equates to 1000 ap for five Seasoned judge points to spend, do you think that models four years of arrests.... I think its too lite, looking at it like that, maybe a ratio of 1000 per seasoned point? The thing is I'm not trying to let the players get mondo real quick and I don't want to break the game, it's just my players get bored of tracking time, but they love XP.

I'd say, check out a major crime ridden city's arrest level records, then, Multiply that untile you hit the same population density of Mega City One, and see how it compares.

If you use, Just Homicides, and look at say, Detroit for a given year (we'll use the one year when they hit 396 KNOWN homicides, for a population of 1.5 Million) so, 396x266.67=105,601 known homicides for that year if there were 400 million people in Detroit. Now, that doesn't factor in the Dredd Material (MUCH higher unemployment, leads to more crime almost as a direct multiple, hence, 90 percent unemployment = 90 percent more crime of that type, and that Judges, are much better at catching criminals then current police are). You can find numbers for a lot more other things as well and when you scale it all out to Mega City one levels, you can end up with a Judge having to do 289 Homicide arrests a day, if it were 1 AP per Arrest, at those numbers......

Always got to keep scale in mind, when awarding XP effectively to people that focus on that sort of thing primarily.

~Rex

 

[dreamingbadger]

LOL Yeah less is more, at a 200 ratio that equates to 1000 ap for five Seasoned judge points to spend, do you think that models four years of arrests.... I think its too lite, looking at it like that, maybe a ratio of 1000 per seasoned point? The thing is I'm not trying to let the players get mondo real quick and I don't want to break the game, it's just my players get bored of tracking time, but they love XP.

I'd say, check out a major crime ridden city's arrest level records, then, Multiply that untile you hit the same population density of Mega City One, and see how it compares.

If you use, Just Homicides, and look at say, Detroit for a given year (we'll use the one year when they hit 396 KNOWN homicides, for a population of 1.5 Million) so, 396x266.67=105,601 known homicides for that year if there were 400 million people in Detroit. Now, that doesn't factor in the Dredd Material (MUCH higher unemployment, leads to more crime almost as a direct multiple, hence, 90 percent unemployment = 90 percent more crime of that type, and that Judges, are much better at catching criminals then current police are). You can find numbers for a lot more other things as well and when you scale it all out to Mega City one levels, you can end up with a Judge having to do 289 Homicide arrests a day, if it were 1 AP per Arrest, at those numbers......

Always got to keep scale in mind, when awarding XP effectively to people that focus on that sort of thing primarily.

~Rex

sure, but, you should only get benfit for the things that you role play rather than the statistical maximum that is possible.

 

[Rex]

Right, but what I am saying, is that if you have, an XP focused player, and you set up a system where in fact, it still takes extraordinary amounts of realistic time, to advance, they aren't going to see that, as XP. It's still going to be time, and something they have to keep track of.

So as a middle ground, you can do what I do, which is Use the XP set up basically from HERO (the only system I've played continuously since 82, other then some little beloved sci fi game in little black books ), and BEND it to fit, the seasoned Judge protocols.....So, you bend it, by looking at what you are running, mix in a little storyteller system (my previous demo gig), and POOF. Something you don't have to think about, that the GM can control, and the XP orientated players, think they are getting the XP gold.

Player shows up for duration of Event. Not that SESSION, but your whole story arc at that time. 1 point.

Players does something AWESOME! in the event. 1 point.

Players RP well for the Event. 1 Point

Players pull off all goals in the event. 1 Point.

1 point left for Random BS such as, Players remember to bring the GM beer and Pizza. 1 point.

Retain advancement via core rules (training), and Time passage. Combine with the above and you have it all.

~Rex