Traveller: The New Era
TNE: Rules Enhancements for realism
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From: Joel Lovell <jwlovelx@ibeam.jf.intel.com>
Date: Thu, 9 May 96 10:02 PDT
Subject: TNE: Rules Enhancements for realism
My name is Joel Lovell. I've tried posting this before, but I
hadn't seen a single response to it, and have never seen it show
up on the digest. So, if it has posted, and you are tired of seeing it,
please let me know!
What you will find below is an ascii "Summary" of the combat mechanics of
the GDW house d20 rules, with my changes...
I've written some simple enhancements to the TNE rule system that can be
incorporated very smoothly into the existing frame work without complicating
the system. The GDW d20 house rules system with these modifications allows
for a very reasonable simulation of real world fire fight combat. I've
talked to the Frank Chadwick on the combat mechanics and he admitted
basically "toning down" the lethality because "too much realism" didn't sell
- - a philosophy I find distasteful. If anyone is interested in my military
and gaming credentials, I'd be more than happy to talk about it off line.
One of the things I did was create a spreadsheet (because it makes nice
forms) using Excel 5.0; This spreadsheet is about three pages long and is
simply a summary of the house rules tasks for combat, wounds, etc. If you
are interested in this spreadsheet, in Excel or some other format, contact
me at....
jwlovelx@ibeam.intel.com
If someone wanted to put the formatted version of this in an ftp site, I
could mail it to them.
I have gone through the trouble of creating an ascii version in a simple
outline format, and have tried to limit the line length so
as to not have this get all skewed in the formatting for the plethora of
mail readers out there, but you might still have to select the entire text,
copy it, then paste it into a word processor and choose Courier text...(when
I tried mailing it to myself it became strangely formatted) and clean up the
carriage returns...
joel
______cut here_____
GDW d20 HOUSE RULES SUMMARY
RANGED COMBAT
1.0 TASK DIFFICULTY SUMMARY
Easy: Asset x 4
Average: Asset x 2
Difficult: Asset x 1
Formidable: Asset / 2
Impossible: Asset / 4
1.1 SMALL ARMS ASSET
Small Arms Asset: Skill + (Str+Agil/2)
[The averaged attribute, if greater then the skill,
will have only half the value of the points that exceed
the skill added to the skill.]
1.2 SMALL ARMS RANGES
(SR)Short Range: Modified Base Range x 1
(MR)Medium Range: Modified Base Range x 2
(LR)Long Range: Modified Base Range x 3
(XR)Extreme Range: Modified Base Range x 4
1.3 AIMED DIRECT FIRE
[Assumes 1 action spent aiming]
[Also see modifiers below]
(SR)Small Arms Asset x 2
(MR)Small Arms Asset x 1
(LR)Small Arms Asset / 2
(XR)Small Arms Asset / 4
1.4 RAPID DIRECT FIRE & AUTO/BURST FIRE
(SR)Small Arms Asset X 1 - (Skill-(#shots/bursts)X(recoil value))
(MR)Small Arms Asset / 2 - (Skill-(#shots/bursts)X(recoil value))
(LR)Small Arms Asset / 4 - (Skill-(#shots/bursts)X(recoil value))
[Autofire Notes]
[Suppressive Fire Chance to hit is 1/4 normal at given range]
[A 1d20 is rolled for the total number of shots in the burst(s), modified as
follows:
ROF(3) lose 1d20 per range beyond short (Danger Zone = 1m)
ROF(5) lose 2d20 per range beyond short (Danger Zone = 2m)
ROF(10)lose 3d20 per range beyond short (Danger Zone = 3m)]
[Danger Zone (effective for entire turn for all fire, including suppressive)
where 1/2 of all missed dice, (including dice lost from above table) are
applied against targets in that area at 1/4 normal chance at a given range.]
[For Shotguns at Medium & Long range, treat as a 10 round burst. Each hit
does 1d6 dmg. If an automatic shotgun, each burst is treated as a 10 round
burst.]
1.5 SMALL ARMS MODIFIERS
Small Arms EXPERTISE
[Note: Recoil Skill Bonus applies to SMALL ARMS SKILL, but only for the
purpose of calculating the recoil penalty.]
Base
XP Auto Recoil Range
Level Cost Miss Bonus* Bonus** Description
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
None - 17-20 - - Normal Small Arms Skill
I 10 18-20 1 15m Level I Exp. w/weapon skill
II 12 19-20 2 20m Level II Exp. w/weapon skill
III 14 20 3 25m Level III Exp. w/weapon skill
* Recoil needs to be calculated as normal, but against the Small Arms Skill
(Not Asset) INSTEAD of basing it against the STR. (Strength has nothing to
do with marksmanship in real life, you
can't strong arm recoil! You can only learn to re-acquire your sight picture
really fast)
** Range Bonus applies to Aimed Direct Fire Shots only.
1.6 ADDITIONAL FIRE MODIFIERS
OBSCURED TARGET: If target obscurred +1 DIFF
MOVING TARGET: See page 294 of the rules.
OUSTANDING SUCCESS: Doubles Damage (Accumulative w/Shrt Rng)
SHORT RANGE: Doubles Damage (Accumulative with OutstndSucss)
TWO HAND HOLD: Reduces recoil value by 1 of Handguns
BRACING: Adds 10m to Base Rng for all direct weapons fire.
PRONE: Adds 10m to Base Rng. Can be added to bracing.
ELECTRONIC SIGHTS: All direct fire within 20m is -1 DIFF;*
SMART LINK: If Smart Link all direct fire = -1 DIFF*
SCOPE: Add 10m per x1 power to Base Rng for Small Arms Aimed Fire.
ENHANCED ROUNDS: Add 1 to Dmg & 2 to Pen. If Pen is equal or greater than
damage, then Pen = Nil
AUTO KILL: PC or NPC. Chest/Head Dmg = or < 1d20 roll means instant kill.
INITIATIVE: If at 0 or less - character cannot perform any actions.
*Electronic Sights and Smart Link are not accumulative with each other.
1.7 INDIRECT FIRE COMBAT
Conventional Forward Observer Asset / 2
Hand-Held Grenade Launcher Asset / 4
[or appropriate weapon asset - whichever is lower]
1.8 PERSONAL HIT LOCATION
Die Biped Multiped
~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~
1 Head Head
2 Right Arm Forequarter
3 Left Arm Forequarter
4 Chest Forequarter
5 Abdomen Chest
6 Abdomen Chest
7 Right Leg Abdomen
8 Right Leg Hindquarter
9 Left Leg Hindquarter
10 Left Leg Hindquarter
1.9 DAMAGE & WOUNDING
Wound Level Init Penalty If Damage is:
~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SCRATCH N/A Less than 1/2 Base
[First Scratch Wound in 24 hour period, lose next Action.]
SLIGHT Total Init Adj= -1 From 1/2 Base to Base
[Referee may penalize task rolls using limb.]
SERIOUS* Total Init Adj= -2 From Base to Base X 2
[Strength is halved. To remain Conscious is a
Difficult task --> CON x 1 or less on d20]
CRITICAL* Total Init Adj= -5 Damage > Base x 2
[Knocked Out & bleed to death 10 min. Chance to awaken = CON.]
*Broken Bones: If a character takes a Serious or Critical injury from an
attack, and fails CON x 1 roll on 1d20, injury involves broken bones.
MISC Notes On
Head Injuries Effect
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DMG+1d6 > CON Target is K.O.
[To Awaken: If DMG < or = CON x 2 then CON x 1 or less on d20]
DMG+1d6 > CON x 2 Target is K.O.
[To Awaken: If DMG > CON x2 then CON /2 or less on d20]
SERIOUS Wound Target is K.O.
[If DMG > CON x2, DIFF: Form, CON]
CRITICAL Wound Character is Instantly Killed.
2.0 NPC STATS
Level Init Att Asset Dmg
~~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~
Elite 5 8 15 5
Veteran 4 7 13 4
Experienced 3 6 11 3
Novice 1 6 9 1
[See page 58 NPC details in TNE rule book.]
jwlovelx@ibeam.intel.com
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