Basic Fantasy RPG Forums

So to reiterate what you guys said (and what I will use)

Listen at Doors:
1 in 6 for Humans, Dwarves
2 in 6 for Elfs and Halflings

Or the thieve's percentage whichever is higher.

1 in 10 seems kinda low to me. I know the thief is only 30% but that's at level 1 and it will get better with experience.

dymondy2k wrote:So to reiterate what you guys said (and what I will use)

Listen at Doors:
1 in 6 for Humans, Dwarves
2 in 6 for Elfs and Halflings

Or the thieve's percentage whichever is higher.

1 in 10 seems kinda low to me. I know the thief is only 30% but that's at level 1 and it will get better with experience.

That's more or less how Moldvay Basic D&D does it, which is the main source of inspiration behind BFRPG (although Moldvay also gives a dwarf a 2 in 6).

1E AD&D uses 1 in 10 (actually 2 in 20) for humans and dwarves, and 3 in 20 for elves and halflings.

It's all rather arbitrary - I suppose you just take your pick ...

SmootRK wrote:Another way to deal with (specifically) thief abilities done by non-thieves, is to load the Thief Ability Table with a row (or 2) before 1st level. Call it/them either "Non-Thief" or "Zero" Level and set the numeric values accordingly.

I would be inclined to utilize 2 'pre-levels'; one for rogue-like characters of non-leveled types (such as something like a Scout Man-at-Arm, or zero-level human beggar), and one for completely non-roguish characters. The exact figures are debatable.

I think I'd just like to see a single paragraph in the Adventure section of the rulebook, under 'Doors' on page 37, that deals with listening. No need to tinker with anything else in my opinion.

JoeCarr28 wrote:

SmootRK wrote:Another way to deal with (specifically) thief abilities done by non-thieves, is to load the Thief Ability Table with a row (or 2) before 1st level. Call it/them either "Non-Thief" or "Zero" Level and set the numeric values accordingly.

I would be inclined to utilize 2 'pre-levels'; one for rogue-like characters of non-leveled types (such as something like a Scout Man-at-Arm, or zero-level human beggar), and one for completely non-roguish characters. The exact figures are debatable.

I think I'd just like to see a single paragraph in the Adventure section of the rulebook, under 'Doors' on page 37, that deals with listening. No need to tinker with anything else in my opinion.

Put pointing out alternative ways to address the situation... either method works.

dymondy2k wrote:So to reiterate what you guys said (and what I will use)

Listen at Doors:
1 in 6 for Humans, Dwarves
2 in 6 for Elfs and Halflings

Or the thieve's percentage whichever is higher.

1 in 10 seems kinda low to me. I know the thief is only 30% but that's at level 1 and it will get better with experience.

Using 10s, I'd actually go 2 in 10 for low (Human) and 3 in 10 for high (Elf). But only if you were using 10s (or 20s) for a bunch of other stuff anyways.

Keeping to the d6 version fits the theme and inspiration better.

Secret Doors gives a +1 for high Intelligence (15+). Would something like that be appropriate here as well?

JoeCarr28 wrote:I think I'd just like to see a single paragraph in the Adventure section of the rulebook, under 'Doors' on page 37, that deals with listening. No need to tinker with anything else in my opinion.

I'm inclined to agree with this. It's not natural to these rules to provide a bunch of options. Keep it simple.

Incidentally, on the 1d6 mechanic:

In the last version of my Project 74 rules, I often use a 1-n on 1dx rule. It works like this: A normal roll is 1 on 1d6, plus your character's ability score bonus; so a 16 score gives 1-3 on 1d6. If you have a penalty of any sort, I raise the die size (so an 8 score gets you 1 on 1d8, a 5 gets you 1 on 1d10, etc.). Likewise, if the difficulty goes up materially, I raise the die size (so you try something kind of hard, I make you roll 1-n on 1d8 or 1d10 instead of on 1d6).

This mechanic works amazingly well for things that are heavily controlled by ability scores, such as opening doors. Experience has little to do with it... it's all about being strong enough.

That might be a good inclusion for the optional rules section, under ability rolls. It lays out a system for attempting feats or tasks based on raw ability, but not favoring by experience.

...okay, maybe we need some good non-strength examples before going there. It's hard for me to pull "raw Intelligence" or "raw Wisdom" examples where experience wouldn't reasonably come into play.

Are there any semi-concrete plans yet for a (compatible) Basic Fantasy RPG third edition?

Yeah, possibly. My plan, as it stands now, is to apply the existing errata (at least, whatever gets posted in this thread), and to add a few monsters and magic items. The monsters added will be, for the most part, monsters in the Field Guide which are truly old-school but did not appear in previous BFRPG editions. The magic items I'm planning to add will be similar, along with one or two items which have not, as far as I remember, appeared in any old-school game as yet. But still, following my standing rule, the new edition will not make the old one obsolete.