[SR3] Difficulty Number Table - A Variation Options

[Stumps]

Firstly; let me be clear here:
This is a matter of preference, and not an outright absolute.
Nothing in this post is intended to suggest that this method is inherently superior to the standard method; again, this is a matter of convenience and streamlining preference.

The Difficulty Number Table is incredibly simple and intuitive.
The shortcoming of it is that conditional modifiers are scattered so much across various books that collecting them all into one giant catalog is by no means a simple task (I've done this in the past - and still didn't succeed in collecting every modifier written).

I wanted a simpler method that was faster for the GM than tracing down wide ranges of TN modifiers for various conditions; an alternative which gives a general guideline to the GM, but ultimately lets the GM wing the difficulty by their impression of the challenge, while remaining consistent with the logic already extant in SR presented in the Difficulty Table.

To build this, I took the same concept displayed in the Difficulty Number Table and crossed it with a Condition Table (which I made up, but modeled after the Difficulty Table in the book's style of language).
The Difficulty Number Table is then broke into two considerations: TASK DIFFICULTY & CONDITION DIFFICULTY.
Average on both Task and Condition will land you a TN of 4.

The first is just the TN's alone, while the second chart is an additional variation which includes probability of first success using 3D6 and 6D6 (in case the GM wants to eyeball a reference point in figuring out the TN on the fly).

https://sites.google.com/site/myjunkfolders...20Variation.png

https://sites.google.com/site/myjunkfolders...obabilities.png


So when you look at something in SR that says the given task has a given TN as the baseline; that would be in AVERAGE condition line that you look, as the AVERAGE condition is exactly the Difficulty Number Chart found in Shadowrun 3rd Ed core book.

Then, under varying conditions (let's say it's raining, it's windy, the character is on top of a roof - and the task involves something from this rooftop position to the next one over) you scale down (higher) or up (lower) the chart as applicable to account for the general TN impact of the condition.

What the player has as gear or helpers unto their own self, such as using techniques to help them out - those shouldn't be accounted for as "Condition".
Those should augment the Task + Condition TN you gave them.
The same is true of wound modifiers; those are added AFTER the Task + Condition TN is selected.
These add-on's are what I refer to as "Character modifiers" (for clarity when going about these things).

So:
Task - how easy/hard is that task in and of itself
Condition - how good/poor are the conditions the character is in for the task
Character - any further modifiers from the character (or possibly another character) that help or hinder the final value (most players have these tracked on their sheets)

And that's it.

Again; this leaves it at the GM's discretion more often rather than flipping for where wind modifiers are, or rain, or low visibility, you're shooting while repelling, shooting while falling, melee while leaping off of a moving vehicle, et. al. nearly endlessly.

Just sharing around.

Cheers,
Stumps