Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[screenmonkey]

The rules for area effect deviation (re: "Area Effect Attacks" SWEX65) are too complicated in play for what they accomplish, or maybe it's just me.

Rather than rolling a d6 or a d10 and multiplying by 1, 2 or 3 (but no more than half the distance to the original target), why not just say the missile deviates a random amount ranging from 1" to half the distance to the target?

That way there's no consideration of thrown or fired and which die to use, or whether it was a short, medium or long shot. Just roll a random direction and roll a distance.

Thoughts?

[77IM]

Sounds fine to me.

Rolling the distance could be weird though. If your target is 14" away, do you roll a d7? Or maybe it deviates 1d50% of the distance, requiring a calculator. Or 1d4/8 of the distance. I think there's probably room for improvement here but am not sure how to phrase it.

-- 77IM

[Clint]

[screenmonkey]

Well, there's a fair amount of fudging in SW for the sake of simplicity and fun, so if the target is 14" away, then roll a d6. In other words, just add the caveat, "round down" in there somewhere and that would work.

As for eliminating the "half the distance" bit and just going with a flat 1d6, 2d6, 3d6 based on range - well even d4s may give odd results. For example, alchemical thrown goodies have a range of 3/6/12. So you could have a missile deviate farther than you were trying to launch it in the first place - not very heroic.

In any event, it's just a thought. Our session seems to bog whenever an area effect attack deviates, so that's what made me think of trying a simpler method that yielded simlar results.

[Sherman]

Deviation is weird and I almost am never happy with how it looks in game. There are so many elements including intervening terrain, elevation differences, type of weapon being used, etc. that will make what "should" happen totally not happen.

Take for example someone trying to shoot a panzerfaust at a tank. If they're shooting down onto a street from the third floor they're not likely to miss by much. However, if they're trying to hit the side from lower or even equal elevation they might "miss" by a hundred yards even if the missile came within inches of the tank.

Also, throwing grenades in hallways is frustrating. They might roll around a bit and arrive in weird places, and I think anyone who's ever played with a ball inside has had it hit a protrusion and come straight back at them, but in general it's hard to miss by too much.

I almost wonder if their is an abstract system that could be created. Miss by 1 such and such happens, miss by 2 this happens, etc. Bigger things happen at bigger numbers which accounts for range and lack of skill... I dunno.
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[77IM]

What about:

You roll the direction die, and the thing deviates 1/4 the distance (round down). Then do it again, deviating from THAT point, by the same distance.

For example, firing at a target 14" away, 1/4 the distance is 3". So you roll the direction die, and it says 4, so go 3" in that direction on the clock facing (to the right and slightly towards the thrower). Then roll again, and it says 8, so from the current position, you go 3" in that direction (left and slightly towards the thrower). In this example the deviation winds up about 1.5" directly towards the thrower.

The most you could deviate is 1/2 the distance (if both directions are the same), and the least is 0" (if the two directions cancel out exactly).

-- 77IM