Core Rules Errata

[SmootRK]

What I like about B/X is how few rules there are. What I dislike about BFRPG is how the page count will likely grow significantly if there ever is a 3rd edition. I would rather see someone write a guide to DMing bfrpg rather than making the core rules an instruction manual on how to be a better DM.

I agree, the rules are fine as they generally are. Any additions to the core rules should primarily consist of MORE. More monsters, more magic items, more spells, etc. and not changes or unnecessary rule additions (although there could be a few places where a little more show up).

Perhaps a Supplement might be created that is a Game Master's Review and Guide to the BFRPG Core Rules. Basically a page by page review and commentary of the BFRPG game offering "best practices", Advice, and considerations for expansion of some topics or how to resolve various issues when they pop up. This would make a great way to offer additional advice for "learning game masters" to ease them into mastery of the whole system, and all the while not gumming up the core rules with too much "how to stuff".

[Cloaker]

Regarding;

"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."

I am greatly intrigued on this vs. the current D20 style skill check mechanic... plus it uses different dice that we love (I can actually use a D12? HELL YEAH!) although the simplicity of the D20 is easier for my kid to understand... Wondering how the probability curves are different at 1st/5th/10th level, and how the difficulty plays out? In what case would you use a D12, and how would that equate vs. the D20 style system?

[Solomoriah]

You're overthinking it. The mechanic is not level-adjusted, and should only be used for things for which level is irrelevant. Opening doors, for instance.

[Cloaker]

I suppose I am looking for a better way to have skill checks resolved more successfully--it seems that the experiential target number can be too high for what I am assigning as I try to amalgamate this version with my experiences from 3E and 3.5. I think using the skills system can help, but a 25% chance of typical skill success for levels 1-3 seems to be a bit challenging for my son's characters to get through when it comes to checks.

I do believe in some sort of mechanic--so this increased difficulty option interested me. The secondary skill supplement is good enough for those who want that aspect, but I don;t want to go into that much detail. I was initially seeing what you mentioned like this---with ability scores acting as modifiers and skill ranks if they have an applicable skill;

Easy task 1d4
Average task 1d6
Challenging task 1d8
etc etc

Now I see what you mean, you just use this for situations where experience or skill doesn't matter--which makes total sense.

I am still going to look into houseruling something like the above though--because it uses different dice in a fun and simple way...

By the way, not as much errata as I feared after reviewing this thread. Bought my copy of core rules today spiral bound!

[Solomoriah]

Honestly, I so rarely need a "skill roll" that I have no particular method for implementing it. I think you may be carrying too much D20 with you.

[Cloaker]

Okay, have another thing that maybe you can help... when I download the open office version of the core rules part 1, unlike the actual printed version the table of contents is separated on the page and missing 2/3rds of the listings. Any reason why that might occur? A few other formatting issues;

Title page breaks up the credits onto two pages

Clerics vs. undead table showing up in the middle of the spell listings for regeneration?

mercenary page showing up in the knock entry for spells

there's alot more issues with the formatting... what am I doing wrong?

[Solomoriah]

You may not have the correct fonts, or, you may be running into "new version flow issues" where updated OpenOffice/LibreOffice versions don't flow the document the same way. It's something I have to deal with every time I start on a new edition.

[SmootRK]

Pdf for casual reading. Odt for tweaking rules, copying of text into other docs, etc. The editable docs never look alike from computer to computer, different OS, slight variations in fonts, kernnaling, offfice versions, etc.

[Solomoriah]

Actually, and sadly, the flow issues are because of the fixes for platform variation. Early versions of OOo had a lot of platform-to-platform variability, and each change made to fix it has resulted in changes. If you think about it, you can see that it would have to.

If I ever put out a new edition, I'll have to resolve the flow issues again, and they'll probably stay fixed for a while at least. But it's a lot of work.

[Cloaker]

No worries, I can get by. Was just trying to tweak some stuff for my house rules!