Victory Point House Rules

Initiative

Instead of the current Initiative system, we are using this system:

Roll under the character Wits+[skill being used]. A critical double successes. If the roll is failed negative successes are possible (ie if the goal is 10 and 15 is rolled then the initiative is -5). A critical failure results in automatically going last. Ignore automatic failures, treat them as a normal roll of 19.

Wyrd

Inspired by Star Wars Force Points and Boss Smiley’s take on Wyrd, I’ve decided to adopt a more heroic approach to Wyrd point use, and to Fading Suns in general.

According to the 2nd Edition rulebook, pg136, Wyrd may be used to:

1. Activate Occult powers
2. Incite Passion or Steady one’s hand
3. Accent rolls

In addition I will be adding a few more uses (some what gleaned from Boss Smiley’s page):

• Wyrd may be used to re-roll failed Goal rolls at a dramatic moment. However, a 20 is always a fumble and cannot be re-rolled, nor may successful rolls.
• Wyrd may also be used as a “Life Point” to reduce damage. If a character takes enough damage to be considered dead, instead the player may spend a Wyrd point to save his ass. The damage is then reduced to the -2 Vitality level and the player in unconscious until healed. This is just blind liuck redirecting the shot to a less lethal area, or the blow away from the vitals.   It’s up to the GM and/or the player to come up with a dramatic reason for the “miracle”.

Regaining Wyrd
Sleep  allows the character to regain 1 point of Wyrd per night, instead of 1 per hour. Astrological or religious events, and the use of meditation remain as they were previously. Wyrd may still be regained through meditation, as represented by the use of the Focus skill. However Focus is a rare skill which characters may only learn as part of a structured philosophy either in a Psychic coven or Church order. It is very rare for a charcter to learn Focus without a mentor or spiritual teacher of some kind.

Official Damage Rulings Update

By Bill Bridges

Slug guns and energy weapons (blasters, flux swords, etc.) and special tech weapons (wireblades): victory points are used directly as damage points (rather than damage dice, as in the current system). Thus, three victory points = three damage points, which are then added to the result of the weapon’s normal dice roll (7 for a blaster…). Thus, guns are tougher and tend to activate shields more often (although, as always, the attacker can choose how much or how little of his victory points apply as damage). Of course, critical successes still double the amount, but that amount is now in points rather than dice.

Melee weapons and muscled-powered ranged weapons (bows, thrown rocks, etc.): victory points = damage dice (as usual).

ARMOR: Constant protection points become dice. In other words, half-plate is normally 3 + 3d; now, it is 6d. I should mention that one of the reasons I initially used dice for armor is to give the defender something to do while someone pounds on him, because, as a player, I hate just sitting there taking it. This way, with its unpredictability, seems more appealing to me.

So far, these rules are working for us. We may try implementing different protections for armor (x amount of dice against melee, x amount against slug guns, etc.), as with polymer knit, but I don’t want too much bookkeeping or too lethal a system.