So, last month I talked about a fairly simple d10-based roll-under mechanic, a blackjack system using margins of success. This month, I’ve got another blackjack-inspired roll-under system. This one is percentile-based, but could actually be reduced to a d10 scale, if you wanted. This one’s a little more developed than the last, and is kinda-sorta playable as it. Enjoy!

Basic Task Resolution

Throw Percentage Dice (1d100, with “00” representing 100). The goal is to roll as high as possible while still rolling less than or equal to your Trait rating. So if Bob's “Climbing” Trait is 75%, his player will want to roll as high a roll as possible without exceeding 75.

A roll of “100” is an automatic failure, even though Legendary characters can have Traits of 100, and Superhuman characters can have Traits above that (those levels help out when you have a difficulty penalty, see below).

If the test calls for Margin of Success, the TENS digit of a successful roll will determine Effect (the level of success) of the action. In practice, higher degrees of success will be more common in Unopposed Tests than in Opposed Tests, but I think that's unsurprising. It's hard to do one's best when someone else is actively trying to stop you.

What the Number of Effect Successes Mean:

• 0 Effect, but a Successful Test = Marginal Success – you just barely got it, by the skin of your teeth
• 1-3 Effect = Basic Success – you did what you needed to do
• 4-6 Effect = Special Success – great job, more than you needed, extra-special
• 7 or more Effect = Exceptional Success – top notch, above and beyond the call of duty

Difficulty Modifiers

If you have a task that's significantly easier or harder than normal, you can add a bonus or penalty.

• Hard: -10%
• Harder: -20%
• Hardest: -30%
• Easy: +10%
• Easier: +20%
• Easiest: +30%

Traits, Skills, and the Like

The default level for most Traits is Average (50%). Technical skills (like flying a plane or hacking a computer network) default to Bad (30%). Highly technical skills (like brain surgery or theoretical astrophysics) or supernatural abilities are not usable without the appropriate trait.

Traits can be rated at any number (51%, 93%, etc), but we could use these general benchmarks.

Due to the scale, I've added two extra levels around "Average:" Mediocre (just below it) and Competent (just above it).

• Feeble: 10%
• Very Bad: 20%
• Bad: 30%
• Below Average/Mediocre: 40%
• Average: 50%
• Above Average/Competent: 60%
• Good: 70%
• Very Good: 80%
• Outstanding: 90%
• Legendary 100% (but really 99%, since "100" is an automatic failure).

Resolving Tests

Tests are divided into Four types: (With examples)

• Unopposed Tests: Climbing a tree, Picking a lock, Lifting something heavy
• Unopposed Tests With Margin of Success: Building or creating something, Performing
• Opposed Tests: Sneaking past someone, Spotting a lie
  
• Opposed Tests With Margin of Success: Resisting poison, Social interactions, Combat

Unopposed Tests: Just roll % dice: Less than or Equal to your Trait Rating is a success.

Bob is trying to climb his gym's climbing wall much more quickly than usual, mostly to impress the new yoga instructor (who's fresh out of college and just his type). His Athleticism Trait is Good: 75% (and that includes Climbing). He rolls a 32, which is well below 75. He succeeds in climbing the wall, though whether the object of his attentions is impressed by meat head showboating is an entirely different question.

Unopposed Tests with Margin of Success: Roll % dice as above. If you succeed, roll a number of Effect Dice equal to the tens digit of your roll.

Julie has a 64 “Singing” Trait, and she's rolling to see how well she did in a performance. Her player rolls percentage dice first to see if she succeeds or fails (a failure would be a just plain bad performance). She rolls a 52, a success! Taking the tens digit as her Effect total, she gets 5, a Special Success! The performance is a real winner, and if there are any talent scouts in the audience, they'll surely notice.

Opposed Tests: Both parties roll % dice. If only one succeeds, she's the winner. If both succeed or both fail, the one that has the higher roll wins. If both fail, that's usually a stalemate or delay, rather than an outright success.

Julie is trying to sneak into the Goth Topic Cosmetics labs to free the subjects of their animal testing (bats and ravens should never have to wear white facepaint and black eyeshadow). But first she has to sneak by the security guard, Earl. Julie's “Sneaking and Hiding” Trait is 53%. Earl's “Perception” is 34% (he's somewhat hard of hearing. Good help is so hard to find these days). Julie rolls a 33, which is a success. But it's lower than Earl's skill, so there's still a chance he'll spot her. He rolls a 89, a failure. Oops . . . looks like he's asleep on the job. (Julie succeeded and Earl failed, so she wins. It's that simple).

If, say, he had rolled a 34, Earl would have won the test and noticed her, because they both succeeded, and his die roll was higher than hers. In that case, they'd both have been on the ball – Jill would have been quiet and Earl would have been alert, and he just did a better job than she did.

If Julie had rolled 99 and Earl had rolled 53, Julie would have won – they both failed, but her roll was higher. In that case, she'd have clumsily made noise, but he'd have been asleep or distracted.

If Earl had rolled a 33, it would have been a stalemate. The GM could decide that Earl didn't notice her, but thought he heard something, so he's going to check things out more thoroughly. Or, he could have called for a tiebreaker roll (just rolling a die – Even, Earl wins. Odd, Julie wins), or he could have made them roll the test over.

Opposed Tests with Margin of Success: Both parties roll % dice. Anyone who succeeds gains a level of Effect equal to the tens digit of his or her roll, then adds any bonuses to Effect from equipment, special abilities, and so on. The character with the higher total Effect wins. The winner's Margin of Success is equal to the difference between his Effect Total and his opponent's Effect Total.

Dolph and Razor are having a staredown, trying to intimidate each other before a fight. This is an opposed Presence (Intimidate) test. Dolph, a massive brick of a man, has an Intimidate of Very Good: 80%. Razor, being the small, crazy type, has an Intimidate of Above Average: 65%.

Dolph rolls a 77, giving him 7 Effect. Razor rolls a 49, giving him 4 Effect. Subtracting Razor's 4 Effect from Dolph's 7 Effect, we get 3 Net Effect. Looking on the “What the Margin of Success Means,” we see that 3 Net Effect is merely a Basic Success. Razor is Intimidated, and will have a small (-10%) penalty to attack Dolph, but a bonus (+10%) to run away.

(This is using the same “Opposed Tests with Lingering Effects” mechanic I posted elsewhere. I find it very helpful for this kind of thing, since it gives game effects without declaring what a PC will or won't do. Razor could choose to fight, and with the right Trait levels, weapons, and rolls, he might send Dolph to an early grave, but he will have the penalty).

Combat

Each pairing off in combat is handled on a “one test per round” basis, with the Test being an Opposed Test with Margin of Success. Combat rounds are (for the record) about 3 seconds long, but the GM can alter that if she needs to without significantly affecting the rest of the game.

Both characters roll the relevant combat Trait (Fighting, Guns, Archery, etc.). Any characters who succeed roll their Effect Dice as usual. The character with the most successes on her Effect Dice is the winner, and her Net Effect is applied as Damage to the other character.

Sir Gareth of Camelot and the Puce Knight have squared off in a field. Gareth is set on rescuing his lost love, the Lady of Lyoness. The Puce Knight is intent on – well, Mallory never really makes his intentions clear, but he's in a fighting mood. Sir Gareth is the most underrated of all the Round Table Knights, and even fought Lancelot to a draw once. His Fighting score is Outstanding (93%). The Puce Knight is basically a throwaway villain, but just to keep things interesting we'll give him Good (72%). Gareth's player rolls 82, which will give him 8 Effect. The Puce Knight's player rolls 44, which will give him 4 Effect. Gareth has the higher Effect, so he hits he Puce Knight.

Weapons increase the Effect only after you have scored a hit on your opponent.

Gareth has 8 Effect from his roll of 82, and is wielding a great sword (+4), so his actual Effect will be 12, most likely splitting the skull of that low villain, the Puce Knight. The Puce Knight's 4 Effect is subtracted from this, leaving 8 Effect, an Exceptional Success for Gareth. Ouch.

Armor decreases the Damage that an opponent inflicts upon the armored character, reducing the lethality of a hit. It doesn't actually do anything until after you've been hit. In other words, Armor doesn't make it harder for you to be hit, nor does it help you to hit your opponent.

Gareth hits the Puce Knight for Damage equal to the Net Effect of his attack. The Net Effect is Gareth's Total Effect of 12 minus the Puce Knight's Total Effect of 4, or, in this case, 8 Net Effect. Looking at the Wounds chart below, that would deliver an Extreme Wound. However, the Puce Knight is well armored (heavy chain armor with plates, rating 4), so he'll subtract 4 from the incoming damage. That drops it back down to 4 Damage, just enough for a Basic Wound.

Damage:

Damage is divided into two parts: Wounds and Fatigue. Wounds represent serious injuries, and Fatigue represents bruises, exhaustion, etc.

Wounds:

Wounds are delivered by getting a certain number of successes in one attack.

• 3 Damage: Basic Wound: -10% to all actions
• 5 Damage: Serious Wound: -20% to all actions, bleed at 1 "Fatigue" per minute, may bleed to death
• 7 Damage: Extreme Wound: -30% to all actions, bleed at 1 "Fatigue" per turn, may bleed to death
• 9 Damage: Splat. "You are the weakest link: goodbye." "There can be only one." "Goodbye to you."

Gareth inflicted 4 Damage to the Puce Knight. 4 Damage is a “Basic Wound.” This means that the big Knight sheared through his Puce enemy's chain armor and inflicted an actual injury, rather than just a few bumps and bruises. The Puce Knight will suffer a -10% penalty to all actions until the wound heals.

A character who suffers a wound must make a Toughness check to stay conscious. The wound penalty of the wound he just suffered (not any other wounds he may have) applies to the Toughness check. A success means he can keep fighting. A failure means he passes out.

Since the Puce Knight suffered a Basic Wound, he has to make a Toughness Test, modified by the Basic Wound's -10% penalty, to stay awake. Luckily, his Toughness is 76%, so even with the penalty, he's just short of 2/3rd's: 66%. He rolls a 47, so he's still in the fight.

Only the penalty of a character's worst wound applies. Wound penalties aren't cumulative.

However, all the bleeding does add up. A character with Two Extreme Wounds and Three Serious Wounds will lose 2 Fatigue per turn, plus 3 more each minute from the bleeding.

Fatigue:

For every 5 Toughness, a character has one "Fatigue,” so a character with 50% Toughness would have 10 Fatigue. Each Effect that's applied as Damage in the Combat Opposed Test will do one "Fatigue" point. When a character runs out, he's been beaten down/worn down/are bleeding out, etc, and he's out of the fight.

The Puce Knight has Good (76%) Toughness, which means he has 15 Fatigue. The 4 Damage from Sir Gareth's Attack is subtracted from this total, dropping the Puce One's Fatigue to 11.

If a character's Fatigue reaches 0, he passes out (and don't wake up until it reaches 1 again).

If a character's Fatigue reaches (Negative Toughness), he's bled to death.

Since the average character's Toughness score is between 50 and 90, it's not so likely that he'll bleed out unless he suffers an Extreme Wound. Turns are about 3 seconds long, so an Extreme Wound will cost him 20 Fatigue per minute, which adds up quickly.

First Aid and Healing:

Once the bleeding is stopped (First Aid roll modified by the wounded character's worst wound modifier), a character regains 1 Fatigue per half hour of sleep (or 1 per hour of restful activity, such as eating, reading, or traveling in a cart or other vehicle). Double this if she's under the care of a qualified physician. (Or, GMs can just have character recover it all between scenes, between days, or between adventures, whatever works best).

Wounds heal at a rate of one "level" per week (That’s a little faster than “reality,” but still pretty slow in game terms. You can make it a day if you want to really speed things up, or a month if you want to slow things down to a more realistic level).

Other Combat Rules

Optional Rule (Melee Combat Only): Defensive and Offensive Stances: Before making the Test, both players (or the player and GM) declare “offensive or defensive.” If both declare “Offensive,” then neither will get any defense, and if both succeed in their to-hit rolls, each will suffer (as Damage) the Full Effect rolled by the other character. If both declare “Defensive,” neither will be able to attack, as they're both circling, looking for openings. You may recognize this rule from The Riddle of Steel, which is the first place I saw it.

If Gareth and the Puce Knight had both declared “Offensive” in the above example, Gareth would have suffered 7 Damage (modified by his armor) from the Puce Knight's total Effect (including his Arming Sword, which gives +3), and the Puce Knight would have suffered 12 Damage (modified by his armor) from Sir Gareth's total Effect (including his Great Sword, which gives +4). With the heavy armor they're both wearing, Gareth would have taken a Wound and 3 Fatigue, but the Puce Knight would have taken an Extreme Wound and would be in danger of bleeding to death.

If they'd both declared “Defensive,” they'd have spent the round circling, looking for holes in each others' defenses, and getting nothing accomplished.

If one had declared Defensive, and the other Offensive, regardless of which was which, it would have played out just the way it did in the example above.

Optional Rule (Melee Combat Only): Defensive and Offensive Stances, Take Two: A character can attack in a berserk fashion, which is, in game terms, called “Full Offense.” This means that Damage will not be based on the Net Effect generated on the Combat Test, but that each character will take (as Damage) the Full Effect the other character generates.

A character can go into a “Full Defense” mode, which means that he cannot attack that turn, but gets a +10% bonus to his relevant Combat Skill for the purpose of defending and two extra “Armor” for that turn (representing defensive action, not actual armor). Full Defense also cancels “Full Offense.” Full Defense is the only way a character can avoid taking the Full Effect generated by a berserk “Full Offense,” but the price is that the character cannot attack.

Ranged Combat: I'm going to handle this fairly subjectively.

• Melee – close enough for melee combat: Easy +10%
• Short Range – too far for melee, but not too far away. Across a room or hallway: Normal +0%
• Medium Range – across a gym, cafeteria, clearing, parking lot, or street: Hard -10%
• Long Range – across a field, stadium, down a street, big parking lot, etc: Harder -20%
• Extreme Range – some kind of sniper shot: Hardest -30%

If the defender can physically lay hands on the person who is trying to shoot him, he can use melee skill for defense instead of dodge, if he wishes.

Strength in Combat: For each level above Average, you gain 1 bonus Effect that you can apply ONCE per fight. This only applies to traditional melee weapons (including unarmed combat, but excluding stun batons, laser swords, psi-swords, monofilament whips, and so on). This is a “pool” of extra Effect Dice that you may spend whenever you want during a fight, as long as you have scored a hit against somebody in melee combat.

Gareth also had “Good” Strength, which gives him 2 bonus Effect he can use during a fight. If he'd used them on that first pass with the Puce Knight, he could have raised the Damage from 4 back up to 6, which would have inflicted a Serious Wound on old Puce-ifer. But he chose to save them for later, possibly to help deliver the coup de grace to that knavish villain.

Weapons and Armor: Weapons add to the total Effect of an attacking character

• Unarmed or Tiny weapons (box cutters, razors, broken bottles, pocket knives, etc.) +0 Effect
• Weak Weapons (knives, small-caliber (.22, .32) handguns, saps, improvised clubs, etc): +1 Effect
• Average Weapons (dagger, hatchet, club, pepper spray, Taser, most defensive handguns): +2 Effect
• Strong Weapons (arming sword, ax, mace, big (10mm, .44 Magnum) handguns: +3 Effect
• Very Strong Weapons (great sword, halberd, assault rifle, full-power rifle, shotgun slug): +4 Effect
• Extreme Weapons (grenades, laser swords, monofilament whips, buckshot .50 BMGs): +5 Effect

Ridiculously powerful attacks, like getting hit by an antitank round, stepping on a claymore-style land mine, etc. could be higher than +5, but that should be pretty rare (one hopes).

Obviously, "less-lethal" weapons won't kill instantly (not often enough to be counted in this game), and don't cause bleeding. Otherwise, determine wound, knockout, and fatigue as usual. Less-lethal weapons include unarmed attacks, pepper spray, tasers, and the like.

Armor reduces the number of Damage "Effect" by its rating.

• Very Light Armor (studded leather, hippo hide, etc) 1
• Light Armor (most chainmail) 2
• Medium Armor (light breastplate, heavy/doubled chain, concealment-style Kevlar vest,) 3
• Heavy Armor (heavy breastplate, standard Kevlar vest) 4
• Very Heavy Armor (SWAT or Military-style Kevlar vest, Knight's Full Armor) 5
• Super Heavy Armor (the stuff the bomb squad wears) 6
• Extremely Unusual Armor (Magic or Force Fields or Power Armor) 7+

In addition:

• Medieval style armor gives no protection against firearms
• Concealment and Standard Kevlar vests give no protection against full-powered rifles
• Automatic Weapons Fire gives +1 Effect & uses 5 bullets (3 if the gun has a 3-round burst setting).

Optional Combat Approaches

Wounds Only (more deadly, faster combat)

In this case, ignore Fatigue. The winner's Net Effect is compared on the standard “Basic/Special/Exceptional” chart (Net Effect of 1/4/7), with Basic being a Wound, Special being a Serious Wound, and Exceptional being an Extreme Wound. Toughness checks to stay conscious still apply.

If the attacker gets a Net Effect of 9, it's an instant kill.

Serious Wounds cause bleeding, knocking the victim out in 10 minutes and killing him in 15. Extreme Wounds cause severe bleeding, knocking the victim out in 1 minute and killing him in 5 (unless first aid is applied).

Toughness plays a different role in this mechanic, mirroring Strength's bonus. For every level above “Average,” the character gains 1 point of “armor” that can be added once during the battle to reduce incoming wounds.

Fatigue Only (slower, less deadly battles) In this setting, the emphasis is purely on the amount of Fatigue damage done. When a character reaches 0 Fatigue, he's unconscious and in danger of dying.

He'll bleed to death at a rate of 1 Fatigue per minute until he dies, unless First Aid is applied (no penalty). At negative Toughness, the character dies.

Using a Class/Level System

You could use this for a “class/level” system in which starting characters get the standard number of Fatigue, and each “class” or “type” (Fighter, Thief, Magician, etc.) gets an additional number of Fatigue per level (say, 5/3/1 per level? Or 10/6/2 if you want higher rates of advancement).

For this, you could have a few basic classes

• Fighter – Primary: Fighting & Fatigue. Secondary: Other physical abilities or Stealth/Perception. Tertiary – Social. No Magic
• Thief – Primary: Stealth/Perception. Secondary: Social or Fighting/Physical Abilities. Tertiary - Knoweldge No Magic
• Magician – Primary: Magic and Knowledge. Secondary: Social or Stealth/Perception. Tertiary - Fighting
• Bard - Primary: Social and Knowledge. Secondary: Stealth/Perception or Other Physical abilities. Tertiary - Fighting

Magician includes the spells used by Mages and Clerics in most games. A magician can advance one school per level, so if he focuses on one area he can be very strong, or he can be very versatile, but less able at any one thing. Schools include elemental magics, holy magic, necromacy, divination, etc.

If you want characters with combinations of abilities, you can switch “classes” at each level-up. For example, let's say you're making a level 3 character, and you want a Paladin. Pick 2 levels of Fighter and 1 level of Magician, with the school “Holy Magic.” There you go.

Final Thoughts

Well, this one is more in-depth than last month’s. I don’t really know what else to say other than, what do ya think?