Re: Sources for factual combat statistics, was Re: Modern Close Assault

On Thu, 23 Nov 2000 02:32:22 +0000, David Brewer <david@brewer.to>
wrote:

>I think Allan misremembers about stats, a little.

Yep, I did.

You had it right. What I was remembering, sort of, is the Living Steel
system.
The character generation system gave you a skill from 0 to 20. What I
was
remembering was that you could map the skills onto a 3 - 18 system
rather
easily (or a D100 system, too). 

>Old Dungeons and
>Dragons hands should recognise the "level" idea... not only does
>your level influence your to-hit rolls, it is multiplied with your
>Will stat to provide a Knockout Value, against which your
>cumulative damage point total is compared to determine if you are
>hors de combat. In other words, a Level 10 character will have
>twice the "hit points" he had at Level 5. Also, the melee
>supplement had an exact analogue of D&D Armor Class.

I would disagree with this part. You are right about the knockout value.
However, this was a value against which you could fall unconscious.
Physical
damage was still determined based on a model of the human body
(supposedly).
So, technically, hit points had nothing to do with the skill level of
the
figure/character.

Okay, so why was I able to enjoy this when I was younger, but now find
it
silly that the knockout value is based on the skill level? 

>As for non-arbitrary stats, I recommend a look at Greg Porter's
>CORPS. I think a freebie 2-page version of the rules is available
>as a PDF file somewhere. 

It is available online. I think CORPS is also available as an e-book
(actually
just a PDF file that you have to print yourself, but only about $10). 

There are just as many tables, more in fact, for creating your own
weapons,
but the game system looked reasonably straightforward.

I've also seen a gun combat version of Harnmaster. If you're going that
route,
though, you might as well just use GURPS.

Allan Goodall		       awg@sympatico.ca
Goodall's Grotto:  http://www.vex.net/~agoodall

"Surprisingly, when you throw two naked women with sex
toys into a living room full of drunken men, things 
always go bad." - Kyle Baker, "You Are Here"