(TFT) Other alternative rules...

[raito@raito.com]

that I've tried and discarded... 

I've tried sliding damage scales. I based it on the fact that a D6 
averages 3.5 pips per roll. I also based it on the idea that a figure 
might make a safer, high-percentage damage shot, or a riskier shot with 
a higher maximum. 

So say that you're character is using that standard 2d6 broadsword. He 
could choose to do 2D6, with an average of 7 and a min of 2 and a max 
of 12. Or he could do 1D+3, with an average of 6.5, a min of 4, and a 
max of 9, or 3D-3, with an average of 4, and min of 0, and a max of 15. 
I don't think I allowed 0D+ attacks, on the theory that doing fixed 
damage didn't allow for the other guy's action to affect anything (not 
that TFT does that well, either). I also don't think I allowed moving 
the dice around to where the minimum damage was negative, because that 
gamed the system too much. 

I dropped it because it slowed things down a bit, and didn't get used 
much. Still a neat idea, though. 

I also tried do do some stuff with using ST as fatigue in weapons 
combat. If it's good enough for a wizard, it's good enough for a hero. 
I think I allowed a figure to bump DX down a point per ST, or bump 
damage up a point per ST. I think I also allowed the opposing figure to 
do the same (though bumping damage down with fatigure had limited 
usefulness). And combined with the above rule, if you bumped damage up 
by 3, you could convert that into a die's worth. 

Again, it slowed things down, but is still interesting. 

I think I had an advanced shield talent at one time. It seemed odd to 
me that a shield could either stop some hits, or could be used to 
defend, which added a die to the attackers roll. So, in theory, if you 
were completely ambidextrous, you'd be able to defend with your shield, 
which is usually better than just stopping hits, and still make an 
attack. And everything else had a higher level skill, either Missle 
Weapons, Fencing, or the like. I remember this skill as working like 
Two Weapon (another talent that doesn't work like the real world) a 
bit, and allowing the figure to defend with a shield while attacking, 
probably with some sort of DX penalty. 

I've never liked how Two Weapon worked, but never found a satisfactory 
solution. Then again, I'm promarily a two weapon fighter in what passes 
for real life. I may have modified it to allow for the defend with one 
hand attack with the other. 

I also experimented with various ways to affect combat from the 
opponent's side. It seems very odd that the only thing that affects 
whether a figure hits is his own DX. How good the other guy is reallt 
doesn't matter (guys with UCV don't really count). I think I did 
something where you could use some of your DX points in a turn to 
coutnreact attacks made against you. So if you had an adjDX of 20, you 
could adjust the other guy's DX by 5 and still have an adjDX of 15, 
which is really the maximum. So high-DX guys were on equal footing, but 
much, much better than low-DX guys, which is more realistic. It also 
gave a reason to pile on the DX after reaching the maximum. 

But DX is already too important. And the higher DX figure acts first, 
which is advantage enough. But mostly, there wasn't anything 
corresponding for St and IQ. 

I also did something with a higher level dagger talent, but I don't 
recall the details. 

Some of the changes I kept, like allowing Fencing to be used with any 
of the basic weapons, and the Shield Wall talent. 

Neil Gilmore
raito@raito.com
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