EDRulebook: 15 Gamemastering Earthdawn

RUNNING THE GAME

The Earthdawn game system gives gamemasters a great deal of decision-making power. Many roleplaying game systems make every action and reaction a numerical equation: if you do this, then that happens, every time. Earthdawn lets the gamemaster control how hard a character must try to accomplish an action, and to reward him for making that action with extraordinary style or finesse.

Running the Game explains how to use the Success Level Table and the Perception Test. These two areas provide the gamemaster with the greatest flexibility and degree of control over his game.

SUCCESS LEVEL TABLE

The Success Level Table is the Earthdawn gamemaster’s most important tool because he uses it to make two vital decisions: judging the quality of a test, or the success level (see Game Concepts), and determining how difficult a task is to perform. The following pages explain how to determine a given task’s Difficulty Number, as the first step in determining the success level of a test.

CREATING DIFFICULTY NUMBERS

Difficulty Numbers usually derive from an opponent’s Attributes or talents. However, characters often want to perform actions or tasks that do not involve another being or use of magic or a skill. These situations offer no obvious Attributes or values on which to base a Difficulty Number. This section explains how to create Difficulty Numbers for these situations.

The key to the system for creating Difficulty Numbers described below is deciding what type of person would normally perform the activity being attempted. Might an ordinary person take this action? Would a low level of skill or talent suffice to accomplish it? Is it a task that only a highly skilled practitioner would dare try? This system sets up 5 levels of expertise by assigning Difficulty Number Ranges to five classes of characters: Ordinary, Class 1, Class 2, Class 3, and Class 4.

[A ship on the Aras Sea] An Ordinary character has no special skill or talent with which to perform the task.

A Class 1 character possesses some skill or talent particularly suited for the task, though not at an outstanding level. Class 1 includes those characters with beginning to mid-level skills and talents (from Circle 1 to Circle 4).

A Class 2 character is a seasoned veteran who knows the ropes and has climbed more than his share. Tasks that seem nearly inconceivable for an Ordinary character, a Class 2 character considers merely difficult. The Class 2 category includes characters of Circles 5 to 8.

A Class 3 character enjoys a reputation as one of the best in his field, maybe even in the history of his field. His prowess has made him famous; others in his area of expertise speak with awe of his deeds. The Class 3 category includes characters of Circles 9 to 12.

A Class 4 character is legendary. Ordinary people know tales of his deeds, and tell them in awestruck whispers by the hearth fire. He is an example of the best that is, was, and ever will be. Tasks that he accomplishes with ease every day are the stuff of dreams to lesser characters.

Once you choose the class of character that would normally perform a task, you decide how hard that task would be for the player character actually attempting it: Easy, Average, Hard, Very Hard, or Heroic. The Difficulty Number Table below lists the five classes of characters in the Acting Character column and the 5 levels of Difficulty in the Difficulty Row across the top of the table. Each entry gives a range of Difficulty Numbers appropriate for a given class of character and Difficulty level. From the appropriate range, choose the Difficulty Number that you think best fits the situation. If you are worried about making the task too difficult, choose the lower end of the range.

DIFFICULTY NUMBER TABLE

	Difficulty of Task
Acting Character	Easy	Average	Hard	Very hard	Heroic
Ordinary	1–2	3–5	6–9	10–12	13–15
Class 1	1–2	3–7	8–12	13–16	17–20
Class 2	3–6	7–12	13–18	19–22	23–27
Class 3	6–8	12–16	18–24	25–29	30–35
Class 4	8–11	17–20	25–28	29–34	35–41

A character makes his first visit to the city of Jerris. He wants to find a Weaponsmith, but decides to reduce the chances of anyone remembering him by not asking for directions. To determine the Difficulty Number of finding the Weaponsmith, the gamemaster reasons that many newcomers to Jerris need to purchase goods or services. Most of them would eventually find the appropriate shops, but would also ask directions. The gamemaster decides that finding the Weaponsmith is usually an average task for ordinary folks, made a hard task by refusing to ask directions. Consulting the Difficulty Number Table, the gamemaster reads across the Ordinary row to the Hard column, which gives a Difficulty Number range of 6–9. The gamemaster decides to set the Difficulty Number at 7.

A ship sailing on the Aras sea is caught in a fierce storm. Blinding spray, howling winds, and crashing waves make travel across the deck dangerous. Of course, player characters love to take dangerous actions. The gamemaster considers that the ship’s captain would not expect passengers or new recruits to make their way across the deck under these conditions, and so the gamemaster decides that Ordinary and Class 1 characters are not capable of performing this task. The gamemaster decides that the captain would only send experienced sailors out in such a storm, and that experienced sailors are Class 2 characters. Even for them, the storm’s fierceness makes the task hard. Consulting the table, the gamemaster sees that a Hard task for a Class 2 character has a Difficulty Number range of 13–18. To reflect the full impact of the hellish weather, the gamemaster assigns a Difficulty Number of 18 to crossing the deck.

As the examples show, assigning a Difficulty Number is an art, not a science. Remember that your most important job is to come up with a reasonable number quickly. Getting a number wrong might create a small ripple in the flow of your game; agonizing over the correct number for too long can stop it cold. Don’t agonize. Pick a number you feel is reasonable, explain your reasoning if appropriate, and have the players roll the dice. You have our official permission to make an occasional mistake:

FASA Corporation hereby gives you, the gamemaster, permission to occasionally pick the wrong Difficulty Number. We’ve all done it. Welcome to the club. Now get on with the game.

USING SUCCESS LEVELS

In order for a character to perform most actions, the player must make an appropriate test. For example, if the character is trying to observe something, the player makes a Perception Test; if the character wants to attack an opponent, the player makes an Attack Test. If the test produces a successful result, then the gamemaster uses the following procedure to determine the success level of that test result.

Determine (or Assign) the Difficulty Number

Most tests use established Difficulty Numbers, such as an opponent’s Physical Defense or Spell Defense, or the Dispel Difficulty Number of a spell. The Talents, Combat, and Spell Magic sections of the rules supply the majority of Difficulty Numbers needed during a gaming session of Earthdawn. Use the method described above to assign Difficulty Numbers for other types of actions.

Keith declares that his character, Poorht the windling Thief, intends to stab a ghoul. The ghoul has a Physical Defense Rating of 7. This gives Poorht a Difficulty Number of 7 when attacking the ghoul.

Consult the Success Level Table

The left-hand column of the Success Level Table lists Difficulty Numbers. Find the Difficulty Number for the test in this column. The rows of numbers across from the Difficulty Number represent the Difficulty Numbers needed to achieve the various success levels for each test. The numbers in these rows correspond to the Success Level line, the second line at the top of the table.

Poorht’s ghoul has a Physical Defense of 7. Consulting the Success Level Table, the gamemaster finds the 7 in the Difficulty Number column. Reading across, the row for that Difficulty Number shows the following figures for each success level:

Poor Average Good Excellent Extraordinary

2 7 12 15 19

Find the Success Level

If the test result equals or exceeds the Difficulty Number, the character successfully performed an action (you knew this already, right?). Now compare the test result to the numbers across from the Difficulty Number. If the result equals or exceeds any of these numbers, the character achieves the corresponding success level. Because the Difficulty Number for an Average success level equals the Difficulty Number of the test, any test result below Average means the character failed to accomplish his intended goal.

Keith rolls an Attack Test result of 13. Because 13 exceeds the Difficulty Number of 7, Poorht succeeds at his task and stabs the ghoul with his dagger. Because the result of 13 also exceeds the 12 listed across from Difficulty Number 7 in the Good success level column, Poorht achieves a Good result. If Keith had rolled an Attack Test result of 15, Poorht would have made an Excellent hit against the ghoul and possibly defeated its armor.

Unlike Average to Extraordinary success levels, the Poor success level column rates a degree of failure rather than the degree of success. Though failure at some tasks may mean your character simply doesn’t affect the situation, a failure that produces a Poor result (or worse) often has serious consequences.

An intrepid band of adventurers decides to try to cross a rickety bridge in a hailstorm. Crossing each third of the bridge requires each character to make a successful Dexterity Test against a Difficulty Number of 6. A successful result means the character crosses that span safely. Simple failure (a test result of 5 or less) causes the character to slip, leaving him dangling precariously from the bridge. A Poor test result (2 or 1) means the character falls, hurtling down to the crevasse below.

Situation Difficulty

In addition to measuring levels of success, the gamemaster also uses the Success Level Table to determine how difficult a task is to perform depending on the current conditions or situation. To do this, the gamemaster finds the Difficulty Number of the task under normal circumstances using the method described above, then determines the revised level of Difficulty he wishes to assign to the task. A task may be Easy, Average, Hard, Very Hard, or Heroic. Once the gamemaster has chosen one of these levels of Difficulty, he finds that level on the Difficulty of Task line (the top line of the Success Level Table) and reads down the appropriate column until he reaches the row for the base Difficulty Number. The number at the intersection point of the column and the row is the modified Difficulty Number for the task at hand.

While trying to pick a door lock, Poorht the thief has triggered a trap which is pouring hot water down on him. Under normal circumstances, the Difficulty Number for picking a lock is 9. However, because of the extreme discomfort and distraction caused by picking the lock under a shower of hot water, the gamemaster decides that the task is Hard. Consulting the Success Level Table, the gamemaster finds 9 on the Difficulty Number column, then finds Hard on the Difficulty of Task line. Reading down and across, the gamemaster finds the modified Difficulty Number—in this case, 14.

SUCCESS LEVEL TABLE

Difficulty of Task	Easy	Average	Hard	Very Hard	Heroic

Success Level	Poor	Average	Good	Excellent	Extraordinary

Difficulty Number
3	1	3	6	8	10
4	1	4	7	10	12
5	1	5	9	11	14
6	2	6	10	13	17
7	2	7	12	15	19
8	3	8	13	16	20
9	4	9	14	18	22
10	5	10	15	19	24
11	5	11	17	21	25
12	6	12	18	22	27
13	6	13	20	24	29
14	7	14	21	26	32
15	8	15	22	27	33
16	8	16	24	29	35
17	9	17	25	30	37
18	10	18	26	32	38
19	11	19	27	33	39
20	12	20	28	34	41
21	13	21	29	35	42
22	13	22	31	37	44
23	14	23	32	38	45
24	15	24	33	40	47
25	16	25	34	41	48
26	17	26	35	42	49
27	18	27	36	43	51
28	18	28	38	45	52
29	18	29	40	47	56
30	20	30	40	47	55
31	21	31	41	48	56
32	22	32	42	49	58
33	23	33	43	51	59
34	23	34	45	53	62
35	24	35	46	53	62
36	25	36	47	55	64
37	26	37	48	56	65
38	26	38	50	58	67
39	27	39	51	59	68
40	28	40	52	60	70
41	29	41	53	61	71
42	30	42	54	62	72

PERCEPTION TESTS

In Earthdawn, as in most roleplaying games, much of what happens in adventures depends on what the player characters notice around them. The adventure may hinge on the thief waiting to ambush the characters, a clue left behind by an assassin, or the scent of a creature or person.

When the gamemaster needs to know whether or not a character notices something, he asks the player to make a Perception Test for his character. Characters use their Perception step to make Perception Tests, unless they have a talent or skill appropriate for the task.

A group of adventurers is cautiously exploring the entrance of a kaer. The gamemaster wants to see if they notice the trap ahead in the corridor, so he asks each player to make a Perception Test for his character. Most of the characters use their Perception step, but the thief wants to use his Detect Traps talent. Because this talent is appropriate to the situation, the gamemaster agrees.

The Difficulty Number for a Perception Test derives from the object of the test. For example, for a Perception Test made to determine whether or not the characters see a thief hiding in ambush, the Difficulty Number is the thief’s Dexterity step number. The Difficulty Number for spotting traps is the Detection Difficulty of the trap in question (see Adventuring in Earthdawn). The table below lists common situations requiring Perception Tests and the typical Difficulty Number for the different tests. The gamemaster should adjust these numbers to fit the situation at hand.

PERCEPTION DIFFICULTY TABLE

Situation	Typical Difficulty Number
Target hidden	Target’s Dexterity step
Locating traps	Detection Difficulty of the trap
Spotting secret doors	8+
Noticing clues	5+
Noticing anything unusual about surroundings	6

Perception Success Levels

Perception Tests allow characters to notice things. The success level of the test result determines how much the characters notice. The amount of information a Perception Test reveals depends on the success level of the test. An Average test result simply tells the observing character that he can see something. A Good test result means the character notices something, and has some idea of what it is. An Excellent test result means the character knows what type of object or person he has noticed, and can guess at its exact nature. An Extraordinary test result means the character knows precisely what he is looking at. Until he can examine the object or meet the person, however, he does not have any more specific information about it.

Perception Test Modifiers

Of course, not all Perception Test Difficulty Numbers are as clear-cut as the examples given above. The above Difficulty Numbers assume that no distracting sights, sounds, or other environmental conditions make it more difficult for characters to make observations. In reality, many factors can affect a character’s physical ability to see or the likelihood of their noticing any given person or object. Though characters can make Perception Tests for any of the five senses—sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste—environmental conditions can modify the Difficulty Number of any Perception Test. The Perception Modifier Table below suggests ways for gamemasters to take various environmental factors into account when players are making Perception Tests. Apply all suggested modifiers to the step number used to make the Perception Test.

PERCEPTION MODIFIER TABLE

Environmental Condition	Step Modifier
Sight
Dusk/dawn	–2
Darkness	–5
Light rain/precipitation	–1
Heavy rain/precipitation	–3
Target concealed:
25%	–1
50%	–2
75%	–3
95%	–5
Target camouflaged, same color as surroundings	–3
Target color contrasts with surroundings	+3
Target uniquely shaped compared to surroundings	+2
Viewer knows what to look for, i.e., has seen specific object or character before	+2

Sound
Soft background noise	–1
People talking	–2
Boisterous talk/singing	–3
Loud noises/battle sounds
10–19 yards away	–1
20–49 yards away	–2
50+ yards away	–4
Sound is lower in pitch than background noise	–2
Sound is higher in pitch than background noise	+2
Sound has steady rhythm that contrasts with background noise	+2
Listener has heard sound before and recognizes it	+2
Listener trying to identify the only audible sound	+3

Smell
Odor obvious	+2
Other odors present	–2

Touch
Extreme temperature (hot or cold)	+3
Perceiver is wearing gloves	–3

Taste
Taste is obvious	+3
Perceiver has a cold	–3