 December 5, 2007 - 8:14pm | (Not sure where the best place to post this is, so I'm going to try Open.) What do you think of replacing Leadership with an attribute named "Willpower?" It basically functions like most other games, providing checks for fear, persuasion, mind control, etc. Also, it serves as a mental Stamina. The idea is that various effects can reduce your Willpower, and when it reaches zero, you're knocked out. Leadership is now basically a function of Personality. To command troops, use diplomacy, oratory, etc. is now under Pers. |
 December 5, 2007 - 9:22pm | FYI... There is a House Rules project. You might want to join that. |
 December 6, 2007 - 12:32am | LOG covers mental stamina. The game is well established, and I don't think changing a fundamental core ability would go over very well. |
 December 6, 2007 - 11:55am | I see where you're coming from. By the core definitions of LOG and INT, there really isn't an ability score designed to approximate mental fortitude. LOG isn't really meant for that... it's all about deductive reasoning and ability to learn. INT is basically for perception and gut instincts. Willpower simply isn't covered. Whenever I've had to have players roll against their character's mental fortitudes, I've always used LOG, even though it's not specified by the rules I interpret it that way. Removing LOG isn't a good idea - it does have a place for problem solving and learning. If you really must add a new ability score to govern mental endurance, you have to ask yourself: What is Willpower? Mental fortitude, faith, stubbornness, etc? Is there a similar ability that would make a good pair for it the way INT is a pair for LOG and STR is a pair for STA? In what context would Willpower be used? I'd agree with adding another ability pair for a houserule... but what could be paired with it? In Star Frontiers, all abilities have a matched pair. In a campaign where mentalism exists, perhaps a WIL/POW combination representing standard willpower paired with mental power reserves. Afterthought: Another thought to add to the discussion is that Leadership can be seen by some to represent willpower. What draws people to others as leaders? Good looks? Sometimes. Good ideas? Yes, but that's covered by INT and LOG. Usually a leader is just someone with unshakable ideals who steps up and has the mental fortitude to take the abuse that being a leader entails, taking a cause by the horns and wrestling it to the ground through a battle of ideas and principalities. That sounds an awful lot like Willpower. I doubt you could find a really good leader who lacked mental fortitude, and many people would be attracted to the convictions of someone with a strong willpower. 3. We wear sungoggles during the day. Not because the sun affects our
vision, but when you're cool like us the sun shines all the time. |
December 6, 2007 - 1:37pm | "In a campaign where mentalism exists, perhaps a WIL/POW combination representing standard willpower paired with mental power reserves." I like the idea of a fifth pair for Mentalists, which would leave LDR as-is. I see two possible approaches: 1. PSI/POW: Only Mentalists need worry about the fifth pair. They roll PSI to see if their powers work. Each power costs points, which are subtracted from POW. Once POW reaches zero, they are exhausted. In the spirit of your afterthought, targets use LDR to resist PSI powers; they are basically "leading themselves" not to follow the Mentalist's influence. 2. PSI/WIL: Everyone assigns points to the fifth pair. Mentalists roll PSI to affect people, and targets resist with WIL. One potential problem I see is that for non-Mentalists, PSI is useless, which means that players will shift as many points as possible to WIL. Another potential problem is a character could use PSI powers all day. Maybe if they fail a roll, then a certain amount is temporarily subtrated from their PSI. Anyway, this is now moving into the subject of a full-fledged system for Mentalists. |
December 6, 2007 - 1:39pm | Another idea: Maybe Mentalism doesn't need a fifth pair. Maybe it works with exsiting ability scores, so a frendship power is based off of PERS, a mind control power based off LDR, and telepathy based off INT, etc. You could still use LDR for a target's defense, and the idea that failure makes subsequent rolls harder. |
December 6, 2007 - 5:11pm | I agree that Willpower would not be a replacement for something that exists... but perhaps an addition of some stat that people may or may not want to use. One of the keys in implementing any decent houserule is to make it work easily within the existing framework. Seems you're thinking more along those lines now... :) |
 December 6, 2007 - 7:01pm | In the last issue of the Frontiersman I contributed an article which deals with making morale checks for wounded NPCs in combat. The basic check was a simple LDR test, based on the idea that good leaders have strong willpower and that you can turn "leadership" qualities on yourself to psyche yourself up. I did include alternate options based on different concepts of willpower, but I like using LDR. It also gives LDR something more to "do" in the game. If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe. -- Carl Sagan |
December 6, 2007 - 7:50pm | I am thinking along those lines now (giving LDR more to do.) Just read through the Mentalist rules in the remastered Alpha Dawn; they are solid. Now I need to tackle all seven Frontiersmen. Probably a good idea to catch up on those before I post more house rule ideas, simply becuase something might already be covered. |
December 6, 2007 - 9:30pm | Actually - to date there hasn't been any Frontiersman article to deal with any further mentalism traits, although there could be... a campaign which used them would find the rules in the Remastered book a great start but insufficient for a Frontier where it's commonplace. 3. We wear sungoggles during the day. Not because the sun affects our
vision, but when you're cool like us the sun shines all the time. |
