Dice Pools and Glitching, Old topic with a new perspective Options

[GrinderTheTroll]

I am a fan of the glitch. My problem is, I don't like when a dice pool gets reduced down to 1-2 dice because your target took Good Cover or the Lights are low. The whole "ammo explosion" increasing for no legitimate reason troubles me deeply. Same argument could be made for a mage casting a spell under smiliar conditions.

Here's my idea: Instead of actually removing dice from your dice pool, replace them with differently-colored "placeholders" that are considered only for glitching.

Some examples:

[ Spoiler ]

Your 10-dice pool is reduced to 2. You use 2 dice pool red dice, and 8 "placeholder" blue dice. You are still rolling 10-dice, but only the 2 red count for hits, while all 10 are considered for glitching.

#1 You roll: reds-> 1 1, blues-> 1 1 2 3 3 4 5 5 (4 of 10 are 1's, no hits) = no glitch [Per SR4 = critical glitch]

#2 You roll: reds-> 1 5, blues-> 1 1 1 1 1 3 4 5 (6 of 10 are 1's, 1 hit) = glitch [Per SR4 = glitch]

#3 You roll: reds-> 1 3, blues-> 1 1 1 1 3 4 5 5 (5 of 10 are 1's, no hits) = critical glitch [Per SR4 = critical glitch]

A variation on this idea is the pool-dice would be counted for a regular glitch, but only a critical glitch would occur by considering the "placeholder" dice.

Some variation examples:

[ Spoiler ]

Your 10-dice pool is reduced to 2. You use 2 dice pool red dice, and 8 "placeholder" blue dice. You are still rolling 10-dice, but only the 2 red count for hits, while all 10 are considered for glitching.

#1 You roll: reds-> 1 1, blues-> 1 1 2 3 3 4 5 5 (2 of 2 are 1's = glitch, 4 of 10 are 1's, no hits) = glitch [Per SR4 = critical glitch]

#2 You roll: reds-> 1 5, blues-> 1 1 1 1 1 3 4 5 (1 of 2 are 1's = glitch, 6 of 10 are 1's, 1 hit) = glitch [Per SR4 = glitch]

#3 You roll: reds-> 1 3, blues-> 1 1 1 1 3 4 5 5 (1 of 2 are 1's = glitch, 5 of 10 are 1's, no hits) = critical glitch [Per SR4 = critical glitch]

While the original idea makes glitching less probable, the variation make a regular glitch odds similiar to SR4 (by reducing the dice pool) but the critical glitch becomes less probable once modifiers pile on.

Any comments are welcome!

~GTT

[James McMurray]

Ammo doesn't necessarily explode because you had a critical glitch, that's just one of many options. But yeah, having bad luck happen more often when your enemy hides behind a wall is kinda odd. Your system would definitely seem to fix that. If it becomes a problem in our games we'll definitely give it a whirl!

[mintcar]

It is unfortunate, the thing you describe. But generally speaking, the fact that catastrophic faliure is more likely when doing something difficult is all well and good right? You'd have to be a right believer in fate to think screw ups are nothing but bad luck. I'm going to say this is more trouble than it's worth, as most of the time I have glitches mean some goof up on the players end, and not just circumstancial bad luck.

[Aaron]

I can see justification for glitches happening more often when your dice pool has been reduced. In the example above, the character is shooting at a target behind cover and in the dark, ne? In real life, adding cover and darkness adds variables to the situation that just wouldn't be there if you had a clean, well-lit shot: the bullets can ricochet off the cover, or do some nasty damage to it, it's easy to mistake things for other things in the dark, like a gas can for your target's head, or what-not. In real life, anyway, sometimes it's just way too risky to take a shot. So yeah, I can see it.

[TBRMInsanity]

I like the idea of hitting something you should hit when you glitch.

Eg/
As taken from above you 10 dice are reduced to 2 dice and you roll 1 ones. Instead of hitting the target you miss him/her completely and hit a tank behind him/her. It now starts leaking gas into the air.

[Edward]

The most obvious problem related to glitching is EX ammunition. When you get a glitch the ammunition explodes (or was it critical glitch).

This means your EX ammunition is more likely to explode in the dark.

The chance of a glitch going up in the dark makes sense, the chance of EX ammunition exploding dose not.

My solution would be to have the GM role a secret logic + gun smithing for the person that maintains the weapon the first time it is fired in a fight. The result * X is the number of ex (or incendiary when they come out) rounds that can be fired safely without allowing the gun to cool down. Exede that number and your ammunition cooks off.

X would vary buy type of ammunition.
EX X=4
EXEX X=3
Incendiary X=3

Edward

[The Jopp]

Take the easy approach instead. The target gains X dice (where X is the modifier for cover) to their dodge test. If someone hid behind a bench I would still be able to see the table and still use my full pool for shooting, hitting the target would still be a lot harder since they got between 2-6 extra dodge dice.

If the target was fully behind the table (ie I cannot see him at all) it would be blind fire unless I elect to shoot at the table with the hopes of the bullets penetrating the table and hitting the guy behind it. In that case they would get bonus for hard cover since he’s moving around behind the table AND the barrier rating of the table as extra armour for calculating stun/physical and to soak damage.

[James McMurray]

I don't have a book handy, but does it say that the only glitch that can happen with EXEX is an explosion?

[Dashifen]

[NightHaunter]

You are aware you can spend edge to Ignore the (Critical) Glitch.
Therefore making it harder to glitch means you can save all your edge for killing!
Not the way luck behaves in my book.
It occurred in my last session the Ork sam blew all his edge doing "stuff" early on and when he glitched a demolitions test he was shit out of luck!
Brings a smile to a GM's face don't it.

[Waltermandias]

*shakes fist at EXEX ammunition* Ooh how I hates it! Damn straight it explodes in the dark! In my games it also explodes in the morning, evenings, and at supper time. Plus, it goes off if you use harsh language around it or whenever the stars align in certain common formations. It fills me with rage.

[James McMurray]

Wow. That's an extreme reaction to a fictional concept. :)

[GrinderTheTroll]

Just another approach to consider 'tis all.

[Waltermandias]

You think that's bad? I get absolutely apoplectic about Hobbits. How I hate those furry footed little bastards...

[James McMurray]

Looking for an early blood pressure induced heart attack I take it? :)