CODA to D20-Conversion rules?

[Argyle]

Every class has a defense bonus progression (analogous to the base attack bonus progression) that a character uses as a bonus to her AC when she's not wearing any armor. This is how our high-level heroes can run around getting into fights with squads of stormtroopers and elite bounty hunters while wearing just their civilian clothes and have a chance to walk away from it.

[Sawyer II]

Originally posted by AndorMan
Since the systems are similar enough in theory, has anyone tried a conversion of CODA to D20? With the new Traveller D20 rules available, this may not be difficult at all.

In case you haven't looked, there are 2 YahooGroups on the same topic:
trek_d20@yahoogroups.com
and
trekd20@yahoogroups.com

Plus, there has been some discussion on Wizards.com's forum.

As to CODA better than d20 or vice versa, to each his/her own.
Just consider how many d20 products there are on the shelf versus how many CODA products in existance. I'd guess at over 100 to 1, taking into account Decipher two Star Trek releases and LOTR single release.

And boy aren't those three items setting sales records.

[AllenS]

I like the D20 system; it's fast, reasonably understandable, comes in a large variety of "flavors" and is awesomely easy to get people to play. Ryan Dancey talked a lot about "network externalities" when the whole Open Gaming thing kicked off and my experience is that he is absolutely correct; a game is only of value if a lot of people want to play it, and D20 (and D&D in particular) is never difficult to find people to play. I have been able to get dedicated D&D players who have never touched anything but D&D to try genres such as espionage (Spycraft) and science-fiction (Traveller), and many of them have found that they like them. Does the system have problems? Depends on how you define "problems". It has things about it that some people don't like, sure. But that's a matter of taste, not an objective flaw of the system itself.

I was a playtester on D20 Traveller. (My name is in the front under "Additional Playtesters"). I am a long-time fan of the Traveller Universe and a long-time detractor of most of it's game systems (I actually liked TNE). T20 is quite possibly the best system yet associated with Traveller. It captures a lot of the feel of the original rules but with much smoother combat and task resolution rules. Like it's predecessors, however, it is keyed to Traveller, and in my opinion would not convert to Trek very well. I play Traveller when I want a break from the "gee whiz" science and space opera feel of Trek. Traveller is grittier, more "literary" style Sf than Trek.

Having said all of that, there is a place in this world for non-D20 games. I get bored playing the same system all the time. I recently ran Lord of the Rings and had a very good time, and I do like the CODA rules very much. They do some things very differently than D20, and this is a good thing. Yes, it's slightly harder to get people to play it...until I say "Well, it's kinda like D20 but uses 2d6". Once they DO play it, they find out that I fibbed to them, but they also enjoy it so they forgive me

Allen

[KillerWhale]

Good points Allen!

Does the system have problems?

Only ONE true problem IMO: variability. The fact that I am almost as likely to succeed magnificently and fail miserably... It's frustrating not to have a good idea of what you character is able to do. That is a real flaw IMO.

To be back on topic: I believe the first step in making a conversion from Coda to D20 would be to study the differences of probability between 1D20 and 2D6, so as to "linearize" Coda.

[Lancer]

Originally posted by KillerWhale
To be back on topic: I believe the first step in making a conversion from Coda to D20 would be to study the differences of probability between 1D20 and 2D6, so as to "linearize" Coda.

Just use 3d6 instead of 1d20 and this task should become quite easy. About the only part of the game that would need some math to be done would be an adjustment of the critical threats from the d20 scale to the 3d6 range of possible outcomes.


And just to get this off my chest:
I love the variability of the 1d20 roll, at least in the context of heroic fantasy adventures like your typical D&D. While I have seen some very good roleplaying in D&D games, many of the ones I played in have been more of the "beer and pretzels" kind played for some lighthearted fun.
And hey, being told by your GM "you need a natural 20 to pull this off", taking the die in your hand and just rolling the 20 is something that's hard to beat for pure drama and fun.

Sure, the probabilities of a d20 aren't for everyone, but OTOH with the result of the dice being so very variable isn't there an even higher emphasis on the skills and abilities of the character? After all, what else is there to guarantee your success if you can't rely on statistics to provide you with a certain result most of the time?

[KillerWhale]

Just use 3d6 instead of 1d20 and this task should become quite easy.

Yes, but in this case you profoundly modify the mechanics of D20: you take a linear statistic in the case of 1D20 (as many chances of rolling 1 than 10) and make it a binomial one (much more chances of rolling 9 than 3 or 18). In essence, in Coda it becomes increasingly difficult to hit higher TNs, while in D20, the difficulty increases in a linear way (ugh, I hope I'm making some sense here?! )

After all, what else is there to guarantee your success if you can't rely on statistics to provide you with a certain result most of the time?

Exactly my point In Coda, if I have +4, I can rely on my character to hit most of the time a 7, making it 11. In D20, I cannot dare to make such gambles.
I agree, that's okay for the swashbuckling DD type. For any other RPGs, that doesn't cut it - hence making D20 IMHO a flawed generic system (for generic uses). For fantasy or Toon, I think it's okay, but it's not suitable as a generic system. Enough of my ramblings on the subject, I'm wayyy off topic.

[Argyle]

Originally posted by KillerWhale
Yes, but in this case you profoundly modify the mechanics of D20: you take a linear statistic in the case of 1D20 (as many chances of rolling 1 than 10) and make it a binomial one (much more chances of rolling 9 than 3 or 18). In essence, in Coda it becomes increasingly difficult to hit higher TNs, while in D20, the difficulty increases in a linear way (ugh, I hope I'm making some sense here?! )

Using a the sum of multiple dice (I'd use 2d10, less tweaking required, see my previous post) doesn't really make things harder, it just means that the results you roll are more likely to be in the middle of the possible range. This emphasizes your character's skills and lessens the whims of fate in favor of more predictable probabilities.

Besides, you can't complain about profoundly changing the mechanics of d20 if the change fixes exactly the thing you hate about it!

[KillerWhale]

I'm not complaining, on the contrary Actually I like this change and if I was to GM with D20, I'd do it.

I was merely pointing that this was not bona fide D20

But what this does is change the way difficulties or TNs are calculated...