Re: Duelmasters : luck factor (LONG)

From: 900667c@ace.acadiau.ca (GERALD RICHARD CAMERON)

Date: Wed, 11 Mar 1992 22:25:31 +0000

In article <DAO.92Mar10103216@d62iggy.mitre.org> dao@d62iggy.mitre.org (David A. Ondzes) writes:

>        How can you tell if a warrior is lucky ? I just read the
>article about the latest skill theory, it mentioned something
>about a warrior being lucky.

>        I would appreciate a email response as well as something posted
>to this group. I often post from this address (work) but I read mail
>and news mostly from my school account ( picasso@bu-pub.bu.edu ). My
>school account is slow, about 2 weeks behind, and alot of the messages
>never make it.

>Wizard of Oz

Hokay, one last crack at this posting on my own thing...
	And for my next lecture: luck factor.

Like skills, luck factor has resulted in a number of theories
kicking about to deal with different parts of the game.  What's bellow is,
unlike the stuff on skills, mostly my own opinion, so take it with whatever
grains of salt you think appropriate.
	RSI has admitted to the existance of a luck factor in the
Duelmasters game for quite a while now (it's mentioned in the DM Handbook,
which dates back a few years), but they have, of course, not divulged
anything on how it works.  Some of the areas that I think it affects include:

1. number of Wit comments on overview
		2. number of initial skills a character has
		3. a character's endurance
		4. a character's quickness & activity
		5. who gets the jump in a fight
		6. whether or not a blow lands or not
		7. whether or not a character will get desperate/die when hit

You'll notice that this includes pretty much everything in the
game.  The way in which some of these work, as I understand it, is as
follows.

1. THE NUMBER OF WIT COMMENTS ON A CHARACTER'S OVERVIEW
On a character's rollup, under the comment that says how intelligent the
character is, are between 1-5 comments that give the character a bonus or
penalty in different skill areas, plus maybe a comment stating that the
character burns endurance at a lower rate than normal.  The number of these
statements appears to be totally random, although geared to be 3 or more.
A "lucky" character will get more of these comments.

2. THE NUMBER OF INITIAL SKILS A CHARACTER HAS
This is what I mentioned in my skills article.  While a certain base level
of skills is determined by the character's stats being at or above certain
breakpoints, all non-breakpoint numbers are checked for a chance of giving a
skill like a breakpoint does in the areas that the stat affects.  This is
determined by a random roll.  I don't think that some characters are
actually luckier than others because they have a higher chance of geting
these skills.  Instead, some characters are luckier than others because they
happen to get more of these skills than others.  This check is the
difference between two characters with the same stats not having the same
initial skill levels.

3. A CHARACTER'S ENDURANCE RATING
A character gets a certain base enurance rating, based on his ST, CN, and
WL, and then this factor is multiplied by a randomly generated factor in
order to get the character's actual endurance.  I imagine that the factor
remains the same for any givin character throughout his career, giving him
his own, more or less unique, endurance stat breakpoints.

4. A CHARACTER'S QUICKNESS & ACTIVITY
Basically the same as endurance, except using different stats.

5. WHO GETS THE JUMP IN A FIGHT
At the beginning of a fight, the first warrior to act is determined by a
number of things, such as the character's DEC rating, what weapon he is
using, what his strategy is, and, in all likelyhood, a randomly generated
number.  The sum of these factors is compared between characters, and the
higher one gets the jump.

6. WHETHER OR NOT A BLOW LANDS
Same as no. 5, as are whether ripostes are successful, whether a character
keeps the initiative, etc.

7.  WHETHER A CHARACTER GETS DESPERATE/DIES
When a charcter gets hit he must succeed a WL check to see if he goes
desperate.  The difficulty level is determined by the amount of damage taken
relative to his damage taking capacity, and then a target number is
generated by whatever is needed for a character of WL x to pass a WL check
of difficulty factor of y.  The computer then rolls a number, and if the
check succeeds, the character does not become desperate.  If he fails, the
character becomes deperate.  Once a character is desperate, including the
blow that makes him desperate, another WL check of a lower difficulty is
made to see is the character dies.  Infirmary deaths are the result of one
of two possibilities.  Either the character just barely blew his last WL
check, or else a final WL check of even lower severity is made, and if it
fails, then the character dies in the infirmary.  I lean towards the second,
and the level of success/failure determines what, if any, infirmary comment
appears.

Hope that was informative to everyone out there.  You newbies probably know
more about this game than many managers who have been playing for a year or
so.  Once more, this is just my opinion on how things work, so don't take it
as gospel.

Take 'Er Easy.

References

Duelmasters : luck factor
dao@d62iggy.mitre.org (David A. Ondzes)
Tue, 10 Mar 1992 16:32:16 +0000

Referenced By

Duelmasters : luck factor
dao@d62iggy.mitre.org (David A. Ondzes)
Tue, 10 Mar 1992 16:32:16 +0000