kintire said:
Bell curve systems tend to have smaller "playable" ranges and begin breaking down once the stats hit a certain point.
I did quote this in my original post, to make it clear I was replying to it... My point is that actually linear d100 systems have just as small a useful range, or smaller, and break down at low levels, which is actually more serious than high, especially in Glorantha.
No necessarily ture. It depends on how the % sclae is used. If you star eveything off at 5-15% (like RQ2) then, yes, you are oing to have some problems with beginning characters. RQ compensated for this with it's experience and training system. Skills that a character used would get out of the "breakdown" range fairly quickly.
Another overlooked section of the RQ rules is the part of modifying skills rolls. Essentially the success chance is supposed to be modifed based of the difficulty of the task being attempted. For example, a character might have Clim 25% on the sheet, but if that chatacter has climbing gear, and is climing up a familar slope, with help, and under ideal weather conditions, the chance of success should be significantly increased.
Again, the BOND RPG's Ease Factor System was fantastic for this. Generally, if you chance of success in that game was really low, you were either attempting something that you had no idea how to do, or doing it under very bad conditions. The latter was somthing that my last group never quite understtod. They would hear the Ease Factor and then try to make the low percentage roll rather than stop and think of what they could do to improve thier chances of success (aiming certainly would have helped).
Also, some % systems can calulate the chance of success based on the levelof the oppostion. An example of this is the old RQ resistance chart (which, BTW is the mechanic behind the nw D20 system). On that chart, you would have a 50% base chance, shifted up or down 5% per point of difference in ability. While RQ used this exclusively for comparing vlaues against attributes, the chart was actually a lot more versitle.
For example, if you used RQ2 skill percentages (in 5% increments) you could have shifted a % chance of success up or down based upon the skill of the oppoition. Say you had acharacter with a 55% shield skill, and are blocking a foe with a 45% attack skill, you could add the difference (10%) to you block chance. If you opponent had a 65% skill, you'd have to subtract 10% from you skill.
Note that this makes skill ratings relative to the difficulty. So a character with a 25% climb going up a difficulty 5% slope could add 20% to his success chance.
It isn't that D100 is bad per say, it is how it is being used. Bell curves have most of the same problems (the break down at low skill percentagesis worse in GURPS and HERO system, both of which use a 3D6 bell curve. But both games set default skills fairly high, and thus avoid the low % chance problem. Run a GURPS game and give characters skills requiring a 4 or 5 to roll and you get the same thing).
