New GM - Some Rules Queries

[Cuediin]

Hi there,
I used to play RQ1 with some friends. After a 12 year gap we have decided to start playing again, this time with me GM-ing.
I have some questions:-
1. in MRQII does AP ever get removed, or are they always there? Or does it depend on the nature of the hit? eg. If using leather, its going to take alot of hits to destroy the leather, not one heavy hit which may seriously wound the arm.

2. I understand the opposed roll rules, I like them, but, I cannot seem to convey the advantages to a player (who used to GM the RQ1). He is stating that everything in RQ1 states that the lower the number (but >0) the better, so why would opposed rolls go against that? I try to tell him that the success/failures are the same, but, if both are a basic succeed, then it is the greater of the two. He wants me to think about changing it so it is the lesser of the two that wins, but, I know from a mathematical view point that would diminish the advantage of having a greater skill. Because if the lesser skilled player wins, he has a much greater chance of winning the opposed roll, but my friend cannot seem to grasp that.

3. Why have SR's changed from RQ1 to MRQII? Before, the lower the SR, the better, as you would be able to act multiple times in a single CR of 10 SR's. Now, you have CA's within a CR, but once again, the higher the SR the better, for initiative purposes?

I am trying to use the MRQII core rulebook, and I ran a test fight after we created the characters. (no one has gone for magic yet, except common magic. It seems to be difficult to get the details for grimoires and such from this number of sources)

I have rolled a character, is it worth seeing if someone else can play my character, incase I dont GM all the time? (As for instance, a NPC type character)

I plan on running "The Initiation by Ken Walton in white dwarf" scenario tonight to see how things go, but, would like to see more magic.
I think I will be using the optional rules for NPC handling because handling the NPCs in the test fight was "interesting".

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[R Arceneaux]

In re to weither the success is to the high or the low side it makes no difference from a stastic POV...the pure math POV.

The odds of rolling any given number be it a 1, 20 or any given number targeted on a proper balanced D20 is 1 in 20.

So for a crit 20 or a crit 1 whichever one uses the stastical odds for a non bias die is one in 20 for every roll of the die.

NOW THAT IS TO SAY that some die when they are molded at the die factory are not predisposed to a certain number range, this does take place outside of the control of the player. And in fact I, myself use this fact. See below example.

We roll 4 d6 dropping the lower dice to roll charistics. I purchased several cubes of D6 dice. Prior to rolling a character I roll all the dice selecting out all the dice that roll 5 or 6--that would be about 35 dice in total being rolled. I then roll the high rollers 5 and 6 over and over eliminating all those that roll lower than a 6 until I get 4 dice of out of the 35 or so dice that rolled 6 consistantly. Without saying that SOMETIMES these 'lucky dice' do not roll a 6 in actual character building, they still consistantly roll to the higher side of average thus building the stronger character points far more consistantly.

But IF IF IF all the D20 dice are not biased the math of stastics says that the chance of any dice rolling a desired number is 1 (the desired number) in 20. Thus it makes absolutely no difference on a fair unbiased die if one says higher the better or lower the better.

 

[PhilHibbs]

In re to weither the success is to the high or the low side it makes no difference from a stastic POV...the pure math POV.

That is not correct, it makes a big difference.

If you have 40% skill and I have 80%, and we both succeed, then if I rolled anywhere in the top half of my skill, you win. That's half the time, if we both succeed, you beat me. If I rolled in the bottom half, then it's 50-50 again. So if we both succeed my skill roll, you have a 75% chance of winning the tiebreaker.

The other way around, the MRQ2 way, the chances are the other way around. I have a 75% chance of winning the tiebreaker. Approximately. I'm ignoring crits for this purpose just to keep the numbers easy.

I have a spreadsheet that shows all this, if you want I'll link it and explain how to use it.