Starvation, Thirst and Endurance

[Mithras]

Thanks, Jason. That will do me fine for the game I have in mind. I take it that Difficult tasks are % skill rolls at half chance?

[Jason Durall]

Originally Posted by Mithras

I take it that Difficult tasks are % skill rolls at half chance?

Yep.

Automatic tasks always succeed, no roll required, no experience check.
Easy tasks are at double chance, no experience check.
Normal tasks are at normal chance.
Difficult tasks are 1/2 chance.

[badcat]

Really? I thought it had all that stuff about survival in the wilds of the solar system...sorry, it's been a loong time since I read it. Probably had it mixed up with some other rpg I've read, there have been too many...

Maybe it was a supplement, anyway sorry about the false lead.

[Kloster]

RQIII rules are a bit too much bookkeeping, but are running fine, and give a good simulation.


Runequestement votre,

Kloster

[Mithras]

Well, well ... I've just picked up Sailing on the Seas of Fate for Elric!, and Mark Morrison has his own simple rules, but I'm not sure I buy the 'timing'; for example,

Thirst - After 7 days without water, lose 1D4 HP per day

Hunger - After 15 days, lose 1D3 HP per day.

In both cases HP lost in this way can only be replaced by eating and driking.

Its a bit of a brutal, simple system, but I don't agree with the long period of leeway given. And no effects of hunger, etc. Of course we are looking at something playable versus a complex simulation.

I do like the reduction in HP. BUT, having two types of HP reduction would get very .. messy. I propose a system where death is reached at ever increasing levels. So normally, death occurrs at 0 HP. Take 3 points of HUnger or Thirst, means that now, you die at HP 3. Three days later you suffer 4 more points of Hunger, and now you will die at HP 7. Its a bit like 'Hit Points taken off from the opposite end. So a guy fighting to cross the desert, battling cliffs, monsters and sandstorms, as well as hunger and thirst, is effectively 'burning the candle at both ends.'

This seems simpler, and moe realistic.