Which Difficultly is best?

"Hand-of-Omega" <handofomega.DeleteThis@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1135842025.870832.41120@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> The various Storytelling systems used by WW have often had a key
> difference: How they determine difficulty for dice rolls. Some use a
> "sliding" difficultly number, entirely determined by the Storyteller,
> while the others use a "fixed" number that is always the same.
>
> Which of these two do you prefer? Does one work better for certain
> games than for others? And for completion's sake, does anyone have a
> list of which games use which?
>
> Dex
>

Sliding all the way. It allows for a greater degree of flexibility over
things than a fixed system, especially with weapons & maneuvers in combat.

A fixed system means that difficult weapons/maneuvers are even more
undesirable than simple ones, because dodge & parry work on opposed
successes-the last thing you want to see is someone canceling out your
to-hit suxx with dodge/parry suxx if you're already "fighting" your 2-handed
sword with the +1 difficulty it has, or "fighting" the +2 to diff you've got
from facing multiple opponents at the same time. Additionally, there's no
good way to distinguish "easier" weapons in a fixed system. Adding extra
dice to them won't make them *consistently* easier to use (unless you add a
silly amount), you can't lower a difficulty that starts at base 1, and
saying it grants lowered difficulty in situations where the diff is higher
than 1 makes it conditionally easier to use, not consistently so.

I've recently read the Aberrant rules and I'm willing to play a fixed system
now, but I still think they lose flexibility in order to favor simplicity.
Frankly IMO, if your players have trouble remembering/dealing with the
target number changing from roll to roll because it's "too complicated (to
remember)", maybe they shouldn't be playing :p
 >> Stay informed about: Which Difficultly is best? 

Well, the original system was one of both sliding difficulty and
variable required successes. I much prefer that one. For the majority
of the time, it could be reduced to a set roll of difficulty:6 with 1
success for ease of play. In other instances where it was desired, the
difficulty could be changed related to the coditions of the action or
the minimum number of successes increased for needed skill. It never
needed many dice and worked quickly or was detailed as required.

The fixed difficulty system isn't robust and all you can do is change
the number of dice rolled. That system plus the "one roll combat" is
the reason my group hasn't switched to WoD 2.0.
 >> Stay informed about: Which Difficultly is best? 

Hand-of-Omega wrote:
> The various Storytelling systems used by WW have often had a key
> difference: How they determine difficulty for dice rolls. Some use a
> "sliding" difficultly number, entirely determined by the Storyteller,
> while the others use a "fixed" number that is always the same.
>
> Which of these two do you prefer? Does one work better for certain

Personally, I love the new WoD fixed number system. I just find it
much more streamlined. In the old WoD every time I (or my players, if I
was ST) picked up dice, the first question was always "what's my
difficulty?" Most of the time I just ended up saying 6 anyway. I like
that there's only one factor that needs to be adjusted before dice hit
the table.
Although the chances of a dramatic failure occurring seem much less
than the old system, I guess that's all the more excuse to make them
truly dramatic when they do happen. I thought the Revised botch system
of only botching if you rolled no successes was reasonably balanced.
 >> Stay informed about: Which Difficultly is best?