Riversnake
Topic Author
Posts: 54
Joined: Fri 01 Nov 2024, 22:11

Room by room delve instead of LOTR travel mechanics

Sat 16 Nov 2024, 02:47

How it would look:

Say the party has to start climbing down a particular nasty steep well-like tunnel with half destroyed ladders. Described spokily.

The delver leads the way. He has cheap climbing gear, partly mechanised and powered, cheap as they are inexperienced and starting out as s team. It gives him +1 dice but with the precarious nature of the setting, the roll is at -1. If he succeeds, he gives the rest of the team +4 dice and automatic successes on the way back. If he fails, he could fall. A pushed success leaves him hanging, and in need of a strength roll. He needs two successes to get all the way down, and if he falls it is because a slippery crevice or a misjudged fastened hook.

The +4 could even be stated in general climbing rules, with automatic success once a success has happened, unless the scenario states otherwise or circumstances change.

Of course, on the way some weird blight effect could force a second roll with a higher disadvantage. And it could affect later climbers so the bonus is much less. Perhaps he can use every extra success beyond 2 to give the rest of the team +2 dice.

Either way, this specific type of problem sounds amazing to me. It is roleplayable.

The way down costs one supply per attempted success. However, a fall would deal damage to him, and cost him extra supplies. If the damage was more than say 3, a critical injury happens and 2 extra supplies are lost, forcing a roll on the d66 supply disaster table: results vary from different types of equipment damaged or destroyed, to extra supplies lost, even armour damaged or lost, or vital functions of the suit or gear: light, oxygen, speaker function, internal headphones, climbing gear, and if a function or gear is not there on a character in the table, often extra supplies are often lost instead as suggested by the result. For example: Scanner damaged (or 1 more supply), simply stated as Scanner -1 (1). Or But some results have no effect. These gear disaster rolls are not always made on taking damage. A supply disaster roll cannot force another supply disaster roll.
Losing more than 1 supplies when having less than 10 always forces a supply disaster roll. Obviously, find s better name than “supply disaster table”.

As I suggested in another thread, supplies can be used to repair a piece of gear. 1 to reduce damage one step(die), 2 for broken, but it risks failure.

Once down, they are at a room and they hear sounds. The scout uses a scanner for close scans. Finds a life form behind a door in a tunnel nearby. But they can also burrow further down for more immediate access to the next floor.

Or maybe there is a faulty AI system 2001-inspired, is disrupting their equipment here, or maybe even the success if their bird. Should they stay and try to hack in. Or detonate it or try to fire at it? Or continue? If they meddle with it, the AI activates security drones. But they could also try to reason with the AI, who has learned their language from a blight affected madman. Consequences. And of course, delaying costs one supply. Of course, a spooky mysterious description is missing from this.

Then a simply corridor of 3 markers (markers are say between 15-30m) leads down that costs 3 supply. No event except creepy description and holes (vents) that blow gas of some sort on their helmets (no effect).

Spooky descriptions are missing here. But on their way back it is often easier, some rolls are instead automatic successes now, but new problems could happen after their stealing of an artifact now caused an acid gas leak or blocked a corridor with a quake that would require burrowing or detonations, or require a very long way back. Bad decisions.

The huge advantage to this is immersion.
Last edited by Riversnake on Sat 16 Nov 2024, 14:49, edited 1 time in total.
 
Riversnake
Topic Author
Posts: 54
Joined: Fri 01 Nov 2024, 22:11

Re: Room by room delve instead of LOTR travel mechanics

Sat 16 Nov 2024, 10:26

Note how tangible and interesting the choices become in different environments.

Will you let the delver go first when he has suffered quite a bit of damage? Will someone else take over climbing down first when the deep hole comes up further down? Will the new character take over some climbing gear?

Or at another stage, will the guard of the best with Perception go first? Of course, usually you shouldn’t need to plan this much, who goes first. But it makes sense the delver leads when it makes sense only.

A stunt costing might be to reduce armour dice or damage a weapon or damage supply on a roll at the table, the latter something the opponents could choose (at random).

Another benefit with this approach is that some of the descending won’t need a roll. Or some roll - completely - different from a regular delve roll to get all of the party involved and save time.

It also allows the ones at the front or back be affected by scenario events, rather than roles. Roles make sense if there is a warning of some sort, and maybe roles could be used to an extent. For example, a guard role gets perception +2 on listening and spotting intruders. A scholar role would get +2 on perception noticing inscriptions and technology. However, the guard still have to be near the front to be the one doing the perception roll.

I like it that supplies represent backup for items as everything else like air and batteries. So they can spend it on repairs.

All of these ideas don’t need implemented.

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