[VDS] Penalties for failing Reactions?

question

#1

There’s smoke and you fail the roll against it. Then what? Choke to death? Bitter cold? Do you freeze to death? An explosion? Insta-death? In some cases, it seems things like fire and explosions would hit armor, thus damaging it. However, smoke and cold (unless REALLY cold!) do what on a failed roll?

Did my brain just block out a section on modifiers or something? :grin:


#2

For this kind of thing, my go-to (now that I’m hacking the system and got to learning its innards but more intently) is the Zealot skill.

“Ignores best die” is POWERFUL, more than you realize in most cases. Another possibliity (and a cruel one at that) is draining RESOLVE, chipping away at resources that could come in handy afterwards.

Straight up narrative effects are also a good call - “you begin choking, coughing and coughing endessly as air flees your body and the smog enters it, you better get out of there fast!” and dropping a timer is a GREAT pressure push on the players that lights a fire under their butts to act.

There are many options, most of which are completely up to you. Experiment with these, or some others you come up with (“can they use Sharpshot as they shiver violently in the icy cold?”) and have fun with your players. That’s the most important thing.


#3

My issue is that it’s a cornerstone mechanic that’s arbitrary. I don’t need a rule for every, little instance, but if there’s going to be a mechanic it should interact more consistently. Otherwise, it can very easily come across as capricious and snowball into a mess of off-the-cuff house rules you need to remember each time.


#4

I mean, all of Runehammer embraces DIY quite heavily. The mechanic interacts consistently (dice roll vs. target), but being a catch-all situation limiting whatever results of failing the roll would be really tricky.

That’s precisely why I’m using things explicitly already present in the text of the game. By doing so, I’m basically telegraphing to players who’ve read the book “I’m choosing how this goes down, but I’m not just going wild with it”.


#5

That’s a good point concerning DIY and I wasn’t trying to seem overly critical. I tweak all kinds of things in RPGs, but I’m more fond of a solid structure I can tinker with and I just don’t see those tasks as such. It’s about a mechanical intent I’m just not getting, but it doesn’t make it bad.


#6

What’s the purpose of the smoke or the cold? If it’s meant to be deadly, then players roll GUTS vs death. If it’s meant to make other things more deadly, then players roll GUTS, and if they fail, +1D to your target rolls. Really the effect can be anything, just be clear what the roll is gonna do for the players.

There is a section where SPEED rolls are modified by environmental factors. If you have surprise, if you have cover, if you’re pursuing or being pursued. I don’t remember how it goes, but you can get +/-2D to your SPEED roll based on your narrative position.

I think digging into the skills for insight on how to run the game is a brilliant idea, I’ll be doing that myself.


#7

Thank you! I haven’t “memorized” the book yet so that helps.


#8

Happy I can help! I haven’t even read most of the book honestly, but I’ve studied the basic mechanics fairly obsessively. I had a brother in town recently and I wanted to run a game based on the Demon Slayer anime and use VDS as the base system.

I didn’t use the base stats much. I didn’t plan enough for environmental challenges or cool non-combat mechanics. All my mental energy went into hacking the combat to work in a setting with no armor to speak of, so the roleplay aspects fell pretty flat. I think everyone had fun though, and I’m excited to run more games with the basic ideas.

Also I love seeing your questions about the system. I want to get more info about how people are playing, but I’m awful at coming up with questions.


#9

Thank you very much. I hope my questions are constructive and help. I really like the game and it’s a brilliant piece of work. My only true gripe (as with ICRPG) is that the loot tables aren’t alphabetized! :wink:


#10

From my experience, that’s to even out the power level of the LOOT. Extremes get cooler pieces overall.


#11

Well, that makes perfect sense!