Quote:
Originally Posted by Rurik
You don't NEED to use opposed rolls, just use simple Spot and Sneak rolls for new gamers if you think they are too complicated to grasp at first. Honestly though, I think opposed rolls may be easier to accept for a new group of players who have not been conditioned by 20 or more years of BRP to think lower is always better. However the fact that people have been playing for almost 30 years without opposed rolls shows the system works without them.
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I'm going to chime in here, largely agreeing with Rurik. Opposed resolution is hard for people to grasp who already know how skill rolls work in (say) Runequest.
Opposed rolls come from Pendragon; with the exception of the fact that it's based on a 1d20 rather than 1d100 roll, Pendragon opposed resolution works the same way it does in BRP (1). Pendragon was one of the first RPGs my wife played, and still her absolute favorite. While an enthusisastic roleplayer, she doesn't read rulebooks (ever) and makes little effort to memorize rules. Pendragon with its "highest successful roll wins" was a snap for her.
When I ran a Pendragon-based game for a group including a long-time Runequest player, he had difficulty grasping the mechanics... but this was someone who really understood the rules of Runequest and had to discard some preconceived notions about how BRP-based games work. The other new players didn't have any trouble with it.
(1) Okay, there is the fact that Pendragon doesn't have special success, and criticals happen when you roll your skill or characteristic exactly (e.g., if you have Sword skill 12, you get a critical hit on a roll of 12). This might make it marginally easier to remember that "higher is better", although a critical success still beats a higher successful roll by your opponent, so it isn't best all the time.