These alternative rules are based on first edition rules. I attempted to keep the rules simple and avoid complication. It is not a very realistic game so "realism" is not an excuse for complicated rules. Sometimes these rules will no doubt give strange results, but that is something we have to live with.
"Additions, no matter how brilliant, cannot improve a novel as much as reductions."
Leo Tolstoy (my translation of a translation to Swedish so it is probably not what he said literally).
These alternative rules are based on first edition rules. I attempted to keep the rules simple and avoid complication. It is not a very realistic game so "realism" is not an excuse for complicated rules. Sometimes these rules will no doubt give strange results, but that is something we have to live with.
We use 2d10 instead of 1d20, when rolling the normal characteristic+skill roll. This gives less extreme results. Critical results and fumbles occur when two "ones" or two "zeroes" are rolled. However, damage rolls (roll 13 or below), are made with normal 1d20. Critical results means twice the effective skill in victory dices. for instance if someone has 8 in skill and rolls a critical success that results in 16 successes that translates into 5 victory points or 5 effect dices.
The table for difficulty on page 73 is a bit too harsh I think. The normal unmodified roll represents a difficulty when a well-trained but fairly green professional (skill 5 relevant characteristic 6) has roughly 50-50 of succeeding in getting a barely adequate or better result (in the old system that is with 2d10 instead of 1d20 the odds are different). Therefore someone who was trying to sing a well-known song would, for instance, receive more than a +2 modifier.
Accents optional rule as described in page 74 is not used in our campaign. It will make the player think more of rules and numbers, game mechanics, and less of what is happening in the game.
The rule on second tries page 75 does not apply when you are extremely motivated, such as in combat.
If you end up with a goal number of more than 20, you still fail on 20 (two zeros), but you get to add (goal number minus twenty) to your number of successes. For instance, if you have a goal number of 25 and you get five more successes than the dice indicates, unless you roll 20 in which case you have fumbled.
There are only two "convince people to like you or do what you want them to skills" in our campaign. If you talk to a few (up to 3 people) you use the skill charm. If you want to talk to many people, you use Leadership. The skill Leadership also includes the ability to put the right man at the right job. The skills Knavery, Impress, Debate and Oratory does not exist in our campaign. They are covered by Acting, Charm or Leadership depending on the situation. Etiquette skill still exists. In high society functions, your Charm or Leadership skill cannot be higher than your Etiquette skill. If the player causes his character to do something clumsy in a high society situation, a skill roll will give you the option of "changing the past" and refraining from your clumsy action. Etiquette also include the basics of dressing up and social dancing. The Inquiry and Acting skills remain as described in the rule book.
Read and write works like in Ars Magica. Read and write Latin allows to read and write all languages that you can speak and are written with Latin letters.
Remedy no longer exists as a separate skill. The medicine skill is Physick and it includes first aid. Typical first aid actions are easy and have large positive modifiers. It is not something that a trained doctor regularly fails with.
Bows and crossbows are no longer separate skills. These weapons are treated with Shoot.
The Fading Suns Player's Companion provides three new skills: Acrobatics, Forgery and Teaching. neither Acrobatics nor Teaching exists in our campaign. They are covered by Vigour and Leadership.
Raising a characteristic with experience cost four times current level rather than three times like the rules state.
Creating a character is done with experience points using the exact method you use when you buy things with experience points later in the game. This way you cannot make a bargain by buying in a certain way.
You have 400 points with which to buy characteristics, 300 to buy skills, 20 to buy blessings (additional points can be received by taking curses) and 250 to buy whatever you want with. Money and equipment is provided by the game master without any point cost to the players.
I do not allow the characters any other Psi paths than Soma and Farhand. Omen and Sixth Sense are far too destructive to a detective-type story, for my tastes. For the same reasons I do not allow the players to begin with Avestite rituals. Of the new psychic paths in Player's Companion: bedlam, visioning, cloaking and turning I allow all but cloaking. I have had bad experiences with invisibility in my Ars Magica campaign.
The Alien/Human trait is removed in second addition and in our campaign.
Concerning initiative I would like to make these clarifications:
All participants state simultaneously what they intend to do, by writing it down. The following changes are allowed after statements:
1. One can always abstain from doing something one has declared. If the character was doing multiple actions, the multiple action penalty will be reduced for all actions not performed when the player stated he would abstain from the action. Example: a player has stated that his character will empty his clip, dodge and reload. He gets a -6 modifier for 3 actions during the round. However, the gun jams during his first action. Reloading is not meaningful now. He cannot change actions and say he will try to unjam the gun. What he can do is to say that he will abstain from reloading. Thus he only performs two actions during the round and he gets only a -4 modifier to his dodge action. That he choose to abstain from his third action does not change his attempt to empty the clip since that action has already been resolved.
2. One can change exactly which one of several incoming attacks one will parry, dodge or block. One must do so before the attack is rolled.
3. You can always abort dodge as stated by the rules. This means that the action counts as an extra action in the next round. I will analogously allow abort parry and abort block.
4. Delay your actions until later in the turn. If the action is not done at initiative zero, however, the action is lost.
5. Since you do not have to state exactly what attack you dodge, block or parry you can change that if you did state it. Once the attack is rolled however, it is too late.
All other changes after statements are forbidden. However, to clarify I explicitly state that the following changes are not allowed:
1. Doing something completely different from what was stated.
2. Attacking another target than you stated you would attack.
3. Attacking the same target with a different form of attack than you stated.
4. Adding more actions to your statement, other than abort dodge.
Also note that initiative is based on the skill you have in the action you intend to do, not counting the action parry, block and dodge. If you take multiple actions, the lowest skill applies and so does the multiple actions penalty and any initiative modifiers to the combat action you are performing. Modifiers due to difficulty, however, does not effect initiative. All actions that you undertake in the same turn take place simultaneously, at the same initiative. That is not exactly realistic, but it works and keeps things simple. Exception from this rule is dodging, blocking and parrying that always takes place immediately after the attack it is meant to counter. It does not have an initiative. Even if that skill, Dodge for dodge, Melee for parry and Fight for block, is the lowest it will not slow down other actions. Example: A character with a machine pistol in one hand and a rapier in the other decides to make a pierce attack, a 3-round burst and dodge. Pierce has an initiative modifier of -2 and a goal modifier of -3. 3-round burst has an initiative modifier -1 and a goal modifier of -1. The character has a Dx of 6, a Dodge of 1, a Shoot of 10 and a Melee of 9. Thus, the initiative for the Pierce is 9-2 (initiative modifier for Pierce)-6(multiple actions penalty for 3 actions)=1, the 3-round burst has an initiative of 10-1 (initiative modifier for 3-round burst)-6=3. As a result both actions have an initiative of the lowest of these actions, that is 1. The dodge does not have an initiative.
You are under no circumstances allowed to make a combination of manoeuvres that any manoeuvre ends up with an initiative of less than zero. An initiative of zero is allowed, but not less than that. In the example above, the action described would therefore not be possible if the character had a Melee skill of "only" 7. That would put the pierce at an initiative of -1. Once again the block, parry and dodge are exceptions since they do not have an initiative.
If a player does choose actions that end up with an initiative of less than zero, he loses that action but still suffers the multiple actions penalty as if that action was performed. In the example above, the player would only get to shoot and dodge but still suffer a -6 multiple actions penalty as if he was performing three actions.
Concerning combat actions I have some different ideas from the makers of the game.
Parry and block does not work as described in the game. A block parry or dodge is successful if you score more successes than your opponent. In that case you avoid damage altogether. Otherwise you can reduce his successes. One exception from this rule is if you block an attack without adequate protection for your arm. In that case you take damage from the attack even if you score more successes than your opponent, but you reduce his victory dices according to normal rules. Example: If the attacker scores 4 successes and the blocker scores 7 the attack is normally ineffective. If the blocker was blocking a sabre with his arm only, however, he would take damage from the broadsword 6, but his 3 surplus successes translate into one victory dice and allow him to reduce this to 5.
The block and parry manoeuvres also have +2 goal modifier. Each of these blocks or parries only one attack. The dodge manoeuvre however, counts as a dodge against an infinite number of ranged attacks or against a single melee attack. The dodge manoeuvre does not have +2 goal modifier.
There are also some combat actions that allow multiple actions without the multiple action penalties. Some of these require clarifications:
Snapshot allows you to shoot and dodge in the same turn. You can combine the snapshot with 3-round burst and 6-round burst but not with spread or empty clip.
Parry and riposte can be combined with other actions. If you make the parry and riposte manoeuvre you can for instance state that the riposte is a slash. This is one action.
Disarm is harder than these rules make it seem. In the roll of Dx+melee+victory points vs. target's str+melee the attacker must have at least 3 more successes than his opponent in order to disarm effectively.
Feint can be combined with any attack.
Cloak cannot be combined with parry and riposte. Please note the changes to the disarm manoeuvre that is part of the cloak manoeuvre.
The martial arts version of parry and riposte, block and strike, on the other hand, is stricter than parry and riposte. The strike performed with this manoeuvre must be martial fist and martial kick, no other.
Double strike can be combined with parry and riposte. The effect is that you wait for your opponent to strike, parry it and can attack him and only him twice in return. There is no multiple action penalty. You can also combine with other fencing attacks. For instance you can use double strike and attack with two slashes. There is no multiple action penalty.
The Graa manoeuvres drox and throx allows you two respectively three actions each turn. However, the actions must be such that they can be performed with one hand or foot. All kicks and all strikes are allowed. all blocks and parries with one-handed weapons are allowed, but parries requires that the practitioner has melee 6 or 9 (for drox and throx respectively). Attack with one-handed melee or ranged weapons are also allowed but requires melee or shoot 6- or 9. All throws, chokes, dodges and holds are not allowed.
All manoeuvres that allow you to do more than one action without multiple actions penalties: cloak, parry and riposte, block and strike, snapshot, double strike, drox and throx may not be taken as multiple actions. If you make multiple action in the turn, you may not use any of these. (This is my own rule.) Feint, however, is not considered a manoeuvre that allows you to do more than one action without multiple actions penalty. Therefore you may use feints as part of multiple actions.
Several new combat actions are provided in the Player's Companion. None of these apply in our campaign. Keep it simple, stupid.
The only new manoeuvre that I have created is draw and parry it works exactly like draw and strike /level goal modifier etc.), but it allows you to parry instead of striking.
Ranges for two-handed guns are ridiculously low, in our campaign, the ranges are five times longer than indicated in the tables.
To switch batteries for your energy shield is a sustained action. Assuming that batteries are easily available (in your pocket or combat webbing) and you have two free hands, you roll Dx+Tech (yes, two characteristics instead of characteristic plus skill) each turn. This is a sustained action and you need 9 successes to change batteries and reactivate shield. This action will suffer heavy penalties if the character wears heavy gloves, is terrified or is trying to switch batteries with one hand.
"Making a deal with the devil" as described on page 139, does not allow you to use urge instead of psi, it allows you to add your urge to your psi
"Additions, no matter how brilliant, cannot improve a novel as much as reductions."
Leo Tolstoy (my translation of a translation to Swedish so it is probably not what he said literally).
These alternative rules are based on first edition rules. I attempted to keep the rules simple and avoid complication. It is not a very realistic game so "realism" is not an excuse for complicated rules. Sometimes these rules will no doubt give strange results, but that is something we have to live with.
We use 2d10 instead of 1d20, when rolling the normal characteristic+skill roll. This gives less extreme results. Critical results and fumbles occur when two "ones" or two "zeroes" are rolled. However, damage rolls (roll 13 or below), are made with normal 1d20. Critical results means twice the effective skill in victory dices. for instance if someone has 8 in skill and rolls a critical success that results in 16 successes that translates into 5 victory points or 5 effect dices.
The table for difficulty on page 73 is a bit too harsh I think. The normal unmodified roll represents a difficulty when a well-trained but fairly green professional (skill 5 relevant characteristic 6) has roughly 50-50 of succeeding in getting a barely adequate or better result (in the old system that is with 2d10 instead of 1d20 the odds are different). Therefore someone who was trying to sing a well-known song would, for instance, receive more than a +2 modifier.
Accents optional rule as described in page 74 is not used in our campaign. It will make the player think more of rules and numbers, game mechanics, and less of what is happening in the game.
The rule on second tries page 75 does not apply when you are extremely motivated, such as in combat.
If you end up with a goal number of more than 20, you still fail on 20 (two zeros), but you get to add (goal number minus twenty) to your number of successes. For instance, if you have a goal number of 25 and you get five more successes than the dice indicates, unless you roll 20 in which case you have fumbled.
There are only two "convince people to like you or do what you want them to skills" in our campaign. If you talk to a few (up to 3 people) you use the skill charm. If you want to talk to many people, you use Leadership. The skill Leadership also includes the ability to put the right man at the right job. The skills Knavery, Impress, Debate and Oratory does not exist in our campaign. They are covered by Acting, Charm or Leadership depending on the situation. Etiquette skill still exists. In high society functions, your Charm or Leadership skill cannot be higher than your Etiquette skill. If the player causes his character to do something clumsy in a high society situation, a skill roll will give you the option of "changing the past" and refraining from your clumsy action. Etiquette also include the basics of dressing up and social dancing. The Inquiry and Acting skills remain as described in the rule book.
Read and write works like in Ars Magica. Read and write Latin allows to read and write all languages that you can speak and are written with Latin letters.
Remedy no longer exists as a separate skill. The medicine skill is Physick and it includes first aid. Typical first aid actions are easy and have large positive modifiers. It is not something that a trained doctor regularly fails with.
Bows and crossbows are no longer separate skills. These weapons are treated with Shoot.
The Fading Suns Player's Companion provides three new skills: Acrobatics, Forgery and Teaching. neither Acrobatics nor Teaching exists in our campaign. They are covered by Vigour and Leadership.
Raising a characteristic with experience cost four times current level rather than three times like the rules state.
Creating a character is done with experience points using the exact method you use when you buy things with experience points later in the game. This way you cannot make a bargain by buying in a certain way.
You have 400 points with which to buy characteristics, 300 to buy skills, 20 to buy blessings (additional points can be received by taking curses) and 250 to buy whatever you want with. Money and equipment is provided by the game master without any point cost to the players.
I do not allow the characters any other Psi paths than Soma and Farhand. Omen and Sixth Sense are far too destructive to a detective-type story, for my tastes. For the same reasons I do not allow the players to begin with Avestite rituals. Of the new psychic paths in Player's Companion: bedlam, visioning, cloaking and turning I allow all but cloaking. I have had bad experiences with invisibility in my Ars Magica campaign.
The Alien/Human trait is removed in second addition and in our campaign.
Concerning initiative I would like to make these clarifications:
All participants state simultaneously what they intend to do, by writing it down. The following changes are allowed after statements:
1. One can always abstain from doing something one has declared. If the character was doing multiple actions, the multiple action penalty will be reduced for all actions not performed when the player stated he would abstain from the action. Example: a player has stated that his character will empty his clip, dodge and reload. He gets a -6 modifier for 3 actions during the round. However, the gun jams during his first action. Reloading is not meaningful now. He cannot change actions and say he will try to unjam the gun. What he can do is to say that he will abstain from reloading. Thus he only performs two actions during the round and he gets only a -4 modifier to his dodge action. That he choose to abstain from his third action does not change his attempt to empty the clip since that action has already been resolved.
2. One can change exactly which one of several incoming attacks one will parry, dodge or block. One must do so before the attack is rolled.
3. You can always abort dodge as stated by the rules. This means that the action counts as an extra action in the next round. I will analogously allow abort parry and abort block.
4. Delay your actions until later in the turn. If the action is not done at initiative zero, however, the action is lost.
5. Since you do not have to state exactly what attack you dodge, block or parry you can change that if you did state it. Once the attack is rolled however, it is too late.
All other changes after statements are forbidden. However, to clarify I explicitly state that the following changes are not allowed:
1. Doing something completely different from what was stated.
2. Attacking another target than you stated you would attack.
3. Attacking the same target with a different form of attack than you stated.
4. Adding more actions to your statement, other than abort dodge.
Also note that initiative is based on the skill you have in the action you intend to do, not counting the action parry, block and dodge. If you take multiple actions, the lowest skill applies and so does the multiple actions penalty and any initiative modifiers to the combat action you are performing. Modifiers due to difficulty, however, does not effect initiative. All actions that you undertake in the same turn take place simultaneously, at the same initiative. That is not exactly realistic, but it works and keeps things simple. Exception from this rule is dodging, blocking and parrying that always takes place immediately after the attack it is meant to counter. It does not have an initiative. Even if that skill, Dodge for dodge, Melee for parry and Fight for block, is the lowest it will not slow down other actions. Example: A character with a machine pistol in one hand and a rapier in the other decides to make a pierce attack, a 3-round burst and dodge. Pierce has an initiative modifier of -2 and a goal modifier of -3. 3-round burst has an initiative modifier -1 and a goal modifier of -1. The character has a Dx of 6, a Dodge of 1, a Shoot of 10 and a Melee of 9. Thus, the initiative for the Pierce is 9-2 (initiative modifier for Pierce)-6(multiple actions penalty for 3 actions)=1, the 3-round burst has an initiative of 10-1 (initiative modifier for 3-round burst)-6=3. As a result both actions have an initiative of the lowest of these actions, that is 1. The dodge does not have an initiative.
You are under no circumstances allowed to make a combination of manoeuvres that any manoeuvre ends up with an initiative of less than zero. An initiative of zero is allowed, but not less than that. In the example above, the action described would therefore not be possible if the character had a Melee skill of "only" 7. That would put the pierce at an initiative of -1. Once again the block, parry and dodge are exceptions since they do not have an initiative.
If a player does choose actions that end up with an initiative of less than zero, he loses that action but still suffers the multiple actions penalty as if that action was performed. In the example above, the player would only get to shoot and dodge but still suffer a -6 multiple actions penalty as if he was performing three actions.
Concerning combat actions I have some different ideas from the makers of the game.
Parry and block does not work as described in the game. A block parry or dodge is successful if you score more successes than your opponent. In that case you avoid damage altogether. Otherwise you can reduce his successes. One exception from this rule is if you block an attack without adequate protection for your arm. In that case you take damage from the attack even if you score more successes than your opponent, but you reduce his victory dices according to normal rules. Example: If the attacker scores 4 successes and the blocker scores 7 the attack is normally ineffective. If the blocker was blocking a sabre with his arm only, however, he would take damage from the broadsword 6, but his 3 surplus successes translate into one victory dice and allow him to reduce this to 5.
The block and parry manoeuvres also have +2 goal modifier. Each of these blocks or parries only one attack. The dodge manoeuvre however, counts as a dodge against an infinite number of ranged attacks or against a single melee attack. The dodge manoeuvre does not have +2 goal modifier.
There are also some combat actions that allow multiple actions without the multiple action penalties. Some of these require clarifications:
Snapshot allows you to shoot and dodge in the same turn. You can combine the snapshot with 3-round burst and 6-round burst but not with spread or empty clip.
Parry and riposte can be combined with other actions. If you make the parry and riposte manoeuvre you can for instance state that the riposte is a slash. This is one action.
Disarm is harder than these rules make it seem. In the roll of Dx+melee+victory points vs. target's str+melee the attacker must have at least 3 more successes than his opponent in order to disarm effectively.
Feint can be combined with any attack.
Cloak cannot be combined with parry and riposte. Please note the changes to the disarm manoeuvre that is part of the cloak manoeuvre.
The martial arts version of parry and riposte, block and strike, on the other hand, is stricter than parry and riposte. The strike performed with this manoeuvre must be martial fist and martial kick, no other.
Double strike can be combined with parry and riposte. The effect is that you wait for your opponent to strike, parry it and can attack him and only him twice in return. There is no multiple action penalty. You can also combine with other fencing attacks. For instance you can use double strike and attack with two slashes. There is no multiple action penalty.
The Graa manoeuvres drox and throx allows you two respectively three actions each turn. However, the actions must be such that they can be performed with one hand or foot. All kicks and all strikes are allowed. all blocks and parries with one-handed weapons are allowed, but parries requires that the practitioner has melee 6 or 9 (for drox and throx respectively). Attack with one-handed melee or ranged weapons are also allowed but requires melee or shoot 6- or 9. All throws, chokes, dodges and holds are not allowed.
All manoeuvres that allow you to do more than one action without multiple actions penalties: cloak, parry and riposte, block and strike, snapshot, double strike, drox and throx may not be taken as multiple actions. If you make multiple action in the turn, you may not use any of these. (This is my own rule.) Feint, however, is not considered a manoeuvre that allows you to do more than one action without multiple actions penalty. Therefore you may use feints as part of multiple actions.
Several new combat actions are provided in the Player's Companion. None of these apply in our campaign. Keep it simple, stupid.
The only new manoeuvre that I have created is draw and parry it works exactly like draw and strike /level goal modifier etc.), but it allows you to parry instead of striking.
Ranges for two-handed guns are ridiculously low, in our campaign, the ranges are five times longer than indicated in the tables.
To switch batteries for your energy shield is a sustained action. Assuming that batteries are easily available (in your pocket or combat webbing) and you have two free hands, you roll Dx+Tech (yes, two characteristics instead of characteristic plus skill) each turn. This is a sustained action and you need 9 successes to change batteries and reactivate shield. This action will suffer heavy penalties if the character wears heavy gloves, is terrified or is trying to switch batteries with one hand.
"Making a deal with the devil" as described on page 139, does not allow you to use urge instead of psi, it allows you to add your urge to your psi