Results 1 to 9 of 9

Thread: New User with some Questions

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Honolulu HI
    Posts
    23

    New User with some Questions

    Hi all, I'm a new user to the game system. I started..well..a bit late, it terms of collecting ST RPG stuff, though amazon.com allowed me to get a PG and NG, and theoretically my Starships book should be here shortly. Why they didn't send all 3 at once, I dunno, but that's not an issue for here :P

    Skimming through my PG and NG, I've got some questions, mostly looking for some house rule suggestions or directions to appropriate threads.

    Has anyone come up with a house rule for Resistance in the special abilities section of the NG? Invulnerability is pretty straightforward, but Resistance seems a bit unclear

    As written, it seems that resistance is not so much 'you're harder to affect by it' as it is, "you take less damage but are pretty much just as susceptible to it as a normal dude"

    Things like Toxins, Disease, etc seem to be the most easily noticed for this. Unless I'm reading it wrong, being resistant to Toxins, in this case means that you're just as likely as anything else to be affected by a toxin/disease/etc, just that it 'kills you a little slower/less' if you make your stamina check. Or am I reading it wrong?

    Or is it, that in this case, the 'ignore secondary effects like stun/sickness' on a successful Stam 7 check mean you're otherwise unaffected?

    Specific Example:

    Lets say my creature is "Resistant to Disease", and comes in contact with Correllium Fever. Would this be the outcome:

    First check Stamina reaction test, TN 7 plus 3 for the potency of the disease. I make the test, I ignore the thing completely. I fail the test and my Resistance kicks in, where I need to just make a base TN 7 Stam check to half damage or (as questioned above) ignore the secondary effects like stun/sickness.

    If I make that TN 7 check, how would that effect (-1d6 strength and agil per day, reach 0 and you die) be affected? Would it be negated entirely meaning by resistance got lucky and lets me ignore it, even though I caught it, or does it mean I lose 1d6/2 in strength agil per day, meaning I just die slower?


    Jumping over to radiation, which has in general even higher potency mods to that initial TN check. If I have resistance to Radiation, and step into an area with thermionic radiation, with an onset of 1 round, and a +10 potency, and a whole mess of effects wound, -str and -vital...what happens?

    Do I roll Stam reaction vs TN 17 per round I'm there. Assuming I fail, and make my TN 7 Stam reaction check for being radiation resistant, do I take half wound damage and no strength/vitality loss, or half wound dmg and half strength half vitality loss until I die?

    Overall, I was just wondering if I was reading this right. Or was mistaken. If its a "basically you get a second chance to ignore stuff like radiation/toxins/disease, at a much better rate than trying to defy initial onset" then I can see it being well worth the effective 'pick costs' for the special abilities.

    But if its a "you take half damage on a success" which means you just die a bit slower, then the pick costs seem a bit high. In this case, it would seem that having the special ability of resistance would be more expensive (effectively) and less useful, than putting my creature in an EVA/Hazmat suit.

    Thanks for any help! I'll have more questions later, most likely when my Starships stuff gets here

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Honolulu HI
    Posts
    23
    I have a couple new questions, one addition to my previous question, and one separate. I'll try to make this a bit more presentable than my first post, which ended up being a little of an eyesore.

    Back to resistance, if resistant to energy weapons, and someone blasts my creature with a Setting 10 disruptor or phaser, which just has 'kill' listed in its damage heading, would my resistant creature roll a Stam reaction vs TN 7 to ignore the Kill results? Or they still get killed if they get hit, regardless of Resistance roll?

    Also, what do you guys consider the default settings for phaser/disruptor use as indicated by the tv series? What I mean I suppose, is what would be the equivalent "Standard Operating Procedure" for phaser/disruptor use that would best fall in lines with what we see on screen. Stun is pretty easy, as all that you have to worry about is how long you want the guy unconscious, but damage or kill effects seem a bit more nebulous. With a generic type 2 phaser, you've got 1000 charges to fiddle with. What would be appropriate setting to use to indicate "I want to threaten the PCs with possible mortality, but I don't want to nuke them in one shot" or "I want them (the PCs) to get into trouble if their Starfleet types are running around using setting higher than <X> willy nilly"

    Would Setting 7 be about what we see for 'kill' results on various NPCs on the TV screen? When DS9ers shoot and kill Jem Hadar, are they using setting 7 cause they kill them, but don't vaporize them? What would be Starfleet Operating 'law' on this? I can imagine Starfleet holding to a thinking of 'reasonable force' where in general you warn, then try to stun, then up the damage, unless you're in a full combat setting where killing is allowed.

  3. #3
    You got me. Hmm. I'm gonna go read the rules and see what's up with that.

    Anyone encounter this question in play?
    Portfolio | Blog Currently Running: Call of Cthulhu, Star Trek GUMSHOE Currently Playing: DramaSystem, Swords & Wizardry

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Voran View Post
    Would Setting 7 be about what we see for 'kill' results on various NPCs on the TV screen? When DS9ers shoot and kill Jem Hadar, are they using setting 7 cause they kill them, but don't vaporize them? What would be Starfleet Operating 'law' on this? I can imagine Starfleet holding to a thinking of 'reasonable force' where in general you warn, then try to stun, then up the damage, unless you're in a full combat setting where killing is allowed.
    As for this question, I think Starfleet would generally advocate heavy stun even in most combat settings (I mean, they have whole planets to store POWs on); but things like Klingon or Cardassian body armour might render it less than effective and if you have an immediate threat you need to counter killing would be allowed. The Jem'Hadar, especially, are immune to stun, so you end up with Starfleet officers being put into a situation that requires lethal force. The Federation, at least the political and economic administrators, would like its face as a non-coercive, friendly power preserved, especially in situations where they could otherwise be perceived as a just a hypocritical version of the Romulans or Cardassians.

    What we see onscreen is probably not 'tactically sound' considering what the stated capabilities of a phaser is. Why face off at high noon when you can snipe-explode someone from twelve km away? I'm personally leery of taking tech manuals at their word, even if they're written by background crew; they kind of create a weird double standard of canon–what you see on screen being 'less real' than someone's ideal of what phasers can do.

    Anyway, setting 7 is probably the standard upper limit when you're not facing down tanks and hunter-killer drones. If you roll max damage, vapourization might result at that stage anyway due to thermal reactions within the humanoid body. Setting four and five would be settings we see when they shoot someone and their uniform doesn't get melted off, but they die (or are injured) anyway.
    Portfolio | Blog Currently Running: Call of Cthulhu, Star Trek GUMSHOE Currently Playing: DramaSystem, Swords & Wizardry

  5. #5
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Honolulu HI
    Posts
    23
    Heh, there were a couple of times I wouldn't have minded Troi's uniform getting 'melted off', but that's neither here nor there.

    Thanks for the feedback!

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Voran View Post
    Heh, there were a couple of times I wouldn't have minded Troi's uniform getting 'melted off', but that's neither here nor there.

    Thanks for the feedback!
    You and Roddenberry...

    I looked at the Resistance situation, and it looks like the description is a first draft of what should be a more complex description. The chart telling us that the TN 7 test isn't necessary doesn't help (or maybe I just have first printing books?).

    Anyway, what I'm reading implies that 'die slower' is the intended effect.

    Things like "Kill" might downgrade to the half-highest setting (taking 'half damage' creatively : P) or half-Kill them (cut wound levels in half) or just Kill, since it's Resistance, not Invulnerability.
    Portfolio | Blog Currently Running: Call of Cthulhu, Star Trek GUMSHOE Currently Playing: DramaSystem, Swords & Wizardry

  7. #7
    In response to the resistance thing, I go with the "die slower" aspect. But it is true that the book is vague about it. The way I see it, the affected person/creature takes less damage per round (hence the dying more slowly) and has longer time to get to definitive medical care, first aid, antidote, cure, etc.

    Secondly, welcome to the game! I am also new, having started playing this 3 months ago. If you plan to get all the books, I went with FRPGames.com, because they sell at face value or below. When I looked on Amazon, they only sold the books in Amazon Marketplace, which had 3rd party sellers selling new books wth an out-of-print markup. Anyway, my two cents on that. =)

    Anyway, you have found a great resource as everyone here on the boards has been phenominal at giving advice and resources.

    Take care!

  8. #8
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Honolulu HI
    Posts
    23
    Thanks for the replies. Hm. If so, I find it a little disheartening, as it makes the resistance qualities rather underpowered for the pick cost for creature development. I think I'm going to consider a bonus to sta check to resist rather than the "Yeah, you just get a little cancer, a little slower" for some of the effects.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Voran View Post
    Thanks for the replies. Hm. If so, I find it a little disheartening, as it makes the resistance qualities rather underpowered for the pick cost for creature development. I think I'm going to consider a bonus to sta check to resist rather than the "Yeah, you just get a little cancer, a little slower" for some of the effects.
    Actually, I don't recall 'damage' being specified as to whether that covers attribute loss. It could mean that the creature takes wounds but the secondary effects (attribute loss) are ignored.
    Portfolio | Blog Currently Running: Call of Cthulhu, Star Trek GUMSHOE Currently Playing: DramaSystem, Swords & Wizardry

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •