Hacking the Surprise Mechanic.

I really like the surprise mechanic.  Though I’m not normally one to tinker with mechanics too much I’ve been thinking about tone appropriate mechanics for my Space Trash TM setting.

Uh-oh!  Someone rolled a '1' for surprise.

Normally each party in an encounter has a 1-2 in 6 chance of being surprised; easy. (I love it when both parties are surprised, it leads to some great comedy). It’s a really simple way for determining how encounters begin and is easy to modify to get a sense that one’s character is a perception ninja without having to get into skill systems as I will describe.

Things that significantly enhance your ability to detect foes before they detect you decrease your chances of being surprised by one step. Due to his experience and keen senses the ranger will notice opponents before they notice him therefore he has a smaller chance of being surprised than they do.

Things that make you harder to detect (but not undetectable) increase the chances of the other party being surprised by one step.  The Ranger is good at sneaking around unnoticed so is more likely to surprise foes.

How the f$%k did we not see them standing there?

These conditions stack, and cancel each other out as appropriate.  E.g. If you’re about as good at sneaking as a ranger*, but the other party is a warborg with amplified hearing, these cancel each other out, back to 1-2 in 6. 

In most cases the basic chance of surprise for both parties is 1-2 in 6.  The Ranger is well skilled at both noticing the tell tale signs that there are foes nearby which reduces his chance of being surprised to 1 in 6.  His skill at escaping detection by being stealthy increases foes chance of being surprised to 1-3.

Other conditions may modify this, which may be magic, tech or skill. For example a Chem Ranger wearing motion-detecting goggles further increase his chances of detecting foes first, which reduces his chances of being surprised one more step from 1 in 6 to 1 in 8.

The same Chem Ranger wearing a stealth cloak increases his chances of surprising his foes one more step to 1-4.  A ranger wearing both elven boots and an elven cloak has a 5 in six chance of surprising foes, whereas a normal dude wearing elven cloak (harder to see) and boots (quieter) would have a 4 in 6 chance of surprising foes.

This idea can be applied across all situations.  For example as a reskin of the ranger surprise skill a hotshot smuggler pilot may have the same modifications to surprise chances while piloting a spacecraft **.  If the craft also has active camouflage then the chances of sneaking up on another vessel increase so the other party’s chance of being surprised increases and if the vessel has advanced sensors then your chance of being surprised decreases.  The presence of gas on a battlefield might increase both parties chance of being surprised.

Other conditions may negate the need for a surprise roll.   If a thief was moving silently in total darkness, in a breezy room then there is no need to check for surprise IF the move silently check succeeds, otherwise do a surprise roll if it fails (you might want to pretend to roll for surprise anyway if the move silently succeeds). 

*I’m considering a new house rule that assassins get the same ability to surprise opponents as a ranger (this does not change he assassin’s chance of being surprised however).  Combined with the d6 hit points it may be time to step their xp up to the next bracket.

**This would potentially be an improvement on the WhiteStar Pilot, the abilities of which are too similar.

We're playing Old School, so leave your library at home please.

Why we're playing Old School and what that means for you, the victim player.

"How was D&D last night?"
"Well we refused to run away so we all got eaten...   ...again."

About twelve years ago I ran away from my home city to a life of adventure on the seas. Not long after that my old D&D gaming group went over from 2nd edition to 3rd to 3.5 and eventually to 4th edition.  From the outside what I saw was an evolution away from the imagination based games I had played, to a more balanced, rules intensive, board game feel.

Now these are all very good at what they want to be.   I'm not going to get into that debate, but let's just say, it was the very un-tolkien-like psychedelic-otherness and sense that anything could happen of 1st edition AD&D that sucked me in.  We used to do all the combats in our heads and miniatures were rarely used for anything other than showing marching order.

Now that I know more about the earlier editions I see that they too had that feel without being so complicated players spent all their time looking at notes, or sanitized for kids like 2nd edition on appeared to be.  So I've decided to go Old School, I work too hard for D&D to be work as well so we're using Labyrinth Lord and some of the Advanced Edition Companion rule sets, but we are keeping race as class to avoid no one wanting to play a human fighter or thief. (My favorite classes by the way).

To understand how the old school style differs from more modern character-centric RPGs, it is helpful to read The Quick Primer for Old School Gaming (go on, read something).  You'll learn why less rules means more options, faster play, and more fun.  You'll also learn why your PC being very squishy also means more fun; sneaking up on that ghoul really is scarier if you know your PCs next moment could be their last.  

This isn't cinematic.  This isn't super-heroic.  It is only even heroic in the sense that you will sometimes survive doing things most people would consider foolishly brave.  It is rough and ready men and women coming together in a world that doesn't care to make of it what they can.  

Read the primer, it's not long and might just save your PCs life.