Strength, weapons, effects and the 3d6/d100 split.

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One of the main carryovers from RQ's ancient roots is the 3d6 Attribute range.

It does mean that the game has two sets of mechanics that have not always meshed entirely well, but they are also an essential part of the RQ feel. Converting Attributes to percentages would just be weird. So, after that entirely sunjective choice, what can be done to embrace the two sets of mechanics and synergise them, or are they fine just the way they are?

• What are attributes for?

In RQ/BRP, they are basically telling you how you effect the world in different ways. Str tells you how much power you can exert, siz how much mass, etc. The ways this has been expressed is either as a percentage modifier (skill category mods, etc) or an effect in specific subsystems. (hit points/ wounds systems, sanity, spell systems, initiative/strike rank)

They have traditionally been the raw measure of simpler subsystems as well (encumberance, magic points)

• Scales

The attributes are also used for scaling, particularly siz and Str.

• They are also the two that scale way beyond human norms the most.
• Dex is implied to have an absolute max of 28 in RQII.
• A similar max for int is hard to establish, though if you stick to mortals you'd top out with 28 again [elves and some dragonewts/mistress race trolls]
• Pow is a tricky one. for mortals it tends to hover in the 3-18 range (mainly through game mechanics), but spirits, divine enities, etc can have pow in the hundreds of points.
• Con tends to sit in the 3-18 range, with odd wanders up to 21.
• Cha/App is, once again odd. It sufferes racial mods, but is also a measure , seemingly, of how the race views itself. (Some races have low innate Cha). It is also treated as a byproduct of 'awakened'intelligence.

Thinking currently is to establish a correlation for scaling between the attributes (and any subsystem used by them) and skills (using an open ended d100 system). Use that to map out a more consistent connection amongst the subsystems (while keeping as much of the original structure as possible)and extending that correlation to make it easy to create situational systems on the fly.

• Strength and weapons.

Strength currently does a damage bonus, if big enough and tied to a large enough size. I'm thinking of turning that into a damage/power/effort scale, where you have a base die you access based on str and siz. You can apply this as damage through strikes, or as damage points or physical effort in other situations. A DPE scale for creatures well outside the normal range of humanity [mice, elephants]would need to be as simple as possible, but probably modified depending on which effect of strength, siz or both is being represented. I'm actually going to go poke around at Gulliver for some inspiration here.

Weapons really do boil down to a number of choices and compromises in their construction. RQ traditionally has weapons that do damage by dice roll, have a length or siz or strike rank, have a damage 'type', a chance to do a special type of damage, and a minimum requirement for use, normally str or dex or both.

I'd like to scoop through the weapon types, look at the choices made across OGL rq and other sources and see if it's easy enough to establish a pattern that makes each weapon a unique combination of choices. In doing so, rather than giving the weapon a damage dice, it functions as an enabler of the characters own str. Each weapon would also have a range of other attributes that might be called on as well.

To put down a simple example. The club/mace.

Clubs do +2 Crushing damage, are sturdy (+hp), slow and short (-SR), heavy (+enc) and good for bashing (special attack).They need reasonable str and some basic dex. A light club might do +1 or base crushing damage, but be lighter, quicker, longer... A heavy club or flanged mace might be heavier, sturdier, slower, need more strength not to be slower,do more damage (+3) or change their special damage (Armour breaker).

Smaller or weaker creatures use smaller weapons with reduced effects based on siz. A spear used by a siz 5 critter loses long (+sr) at human scale.