Working on the system mechanics for Galaxy's End, and decided last weekend was the right time to play test a few of the rules. I'd have to say, this test run when exceptionally well. I've analysed the dice rolling mechanics with a brilliant website called
anydice.com to ensure the best spread of variables that are robust, with the right amount of 'realism' in the expected results. That is, the difficulty of the same task performed by different characters of different skill levels.
The test was primarily combat related, which is the most important part of a new system to get right, but I also wanted to see what the core mechanic looks like.
I've broken the ability scores into five categories - Strength, Hardiness, Action, Reason and Personality. They are graded as Terrible, Low, Average, High and Exceptional. Depending on what grade your ability is, you roll different dice. All die rolls are performed on d6's.
Terrible - roll 4 dice and drop the highest roll.
Low - roll 4 dice and drop the lowest roll.
Average - roll 4 dice.
High - roll 5 dice, keep 4
Exceptional - roll 6 dice, keep 4.
Here is how the probabilities look:
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| Image provided by anydice.com |
The combat was fast, with a good level of deadliness that I love in a combat system. There was very few of the rules that I'd established already that needed much adjustment. I got a lot of data from the play test and I'm ready to move onto more systems that are needed to support the game - character generation, advancement, equipment, powers etc.
Just got to find the bloody time!
