Avianmosquito

Got A Weapon or Armor Question?

1) A stupid and silly comparison because in deadliest warrior weapons are often shown as weaker than they are, i.e. a crank based crossbow failing to go past lamellar armour in one of their tests.

@Andreyich

Way to miss the point, dude. Specifically the point that in Deadliest Warrior and other such programs they use cheap butted mail.

1a) People had much worse steel then than now, with far worse methods of purification and such and it would often be too brittle or soft, irregularly shaped, much worse maintained and weathered, etc.

Historical steel is not automatically crap because it's old. Historical steel was of fairly high quality, especially by the renaissance, and while we do HAVE better steel today, we don't usually USE better steel. Even the linked video's mail was made with steel worse than historical steel, because the guy making it is an idiot.

2) If that were true than fencing manuals and schools would not teach one to go for a slashing movement for the armpits that are typically protected with mail. Unless of course you are of the meme "European swords kill people with blunt impact" school of thought.

Except they don't, they tell you to grab your sword by the blade and thrust with it. Alternately, it tells you to reverse your weapon and strike with the guard and pommel, but not with a zweihander. Swords are also terrible against armour just in general, which is why they were, with very few exceptions, sidearms. The zweihander was a primary weapon, but it was also a specialty weapon for defeating pike formations, as it was capable of knocking multiple polearms aside to the soldier could get past their points. It also only worked because the soldiers wearing them had plate armour and you can't stab through plate.

3) Yeah and I can post a video of a man using grorious nippon still slicing through plate armour, videos mean shit.

Oh yes, surely people actually trying things and them not working is less evidence than your completely unbacked word.

4) Perhaps not renaissance era cuirasses and such which were much thick and designed to take on firearms, but more traditionally medieval ones you most certainly could. Thus weapons like the tuc were formed. "...As armour improved, so did the methods of attacking the armour ... long tapered swords could also be used as a lance once the lance was splintered..." lances and many polearms being notorious for being able to give plate the old stab.

Except that's not true. The tuck was designed for half-swording, it's an unsharpened, puncturing blade and it was used to thrust between plates, as it STILL couldn't penetrate them. Polearms can also be used this way, but the weightier ones were just used to bludgeon the target. As for lances, those are cavalry weapons. While I don't doubt that in some instances a lance might penetrate lighter plate, that's because it was being used from horseback and has an immense amount of power behind it, and even then it's likely the lance shaft will snap.

Further, all full plate was made to resist firearms, firearms predate full plate. It also isn't that hard to resist them.

Also not wholly true, many soldiers were found without daggers and those that did often brought knives along to be tools, weapons as a last resort and not really brought for that purpose.

I have never found a single source that ever mentioned soldiers without daggers. Not only are they invaluable tools, but grappling was common and daggers outperform other weapons while grappling.

Aelsif

This thread is related to a D&D campaign setting that comes with a modified ruleset. I ported this thread over from GiantITP in hopes of getting some feedback on one aspect of these templates, which are all redone age templates. The feedback I was hoping for was a second opinion on the speed penalties for the very young and old ages, which I think may be too harsh. Beyond that, I'll just be porting over anything I post on GiantITP I think could use some feedback into this one thread.

Infant:
Stats: -6 Str, -6 Fth, +6 Cha
Special: Size decreased by 2.
Speed: 10ft
This is an actual infant, anywhere from birth to two years. The stats above are based off an infant of around one year old, a fast crawler but unlikely to be walking or talking much just yet. This age category is not meant to be playable. They're weak, they're slow, and while they're certainly cute it doesn't make up for the burden they place on the party. It's hard to even say their experience bonus is worth much, as the negative level adjustment doesn't lower level below 1 and at first their experience gain is entirely normal. Give mom some maternity leave, you don't want baby in the party.

Toddler:
Stats: -4 Str, -4 Fth, +2 Dex, +6 Cha
Special: Size decreased by 1.
Speed: 15ft
This is a toddler, anywhere from two years to four years. The stats are based off a toddler of about two years. A toddler may be an underpowered party member, but they make an adorable mascot. Unfortunately, that's about all they're good for early in the game. They aren't as much of a burden as an infant because they can walk at a decent-ish speed and have better stats, their experience bonus takes a bit to kick in and until then they aren't good for much. That charisma bonus does have some uses, though, especially with a few particular classes like sorcerer and favored soul.

Child:
Stats: -2 Str, -2 Fth, +2 Dex, +4 Cha
Special: Size decreased by 1.
Speed: 20ft
Children are about what you'd expect, ranging from four years to ten years. The stats are based off a child of about six years. These characters are competent enough, but you may consider giving them adult supervision. Their movement speed is reasonable, in the sense that a halfling's movement speed is reasonable, their stats are overall balanced and unlike other small, slow-moving party members they're unlikely to be offended if you have to carry them. The problem early on is their low starting level, though they do level up faster due to their negative level adjustment and eventually they'll be just as competent as the rest of the party.

Adolescent:
Stats: -2 Fth, +2 Cha
Speed: 30ft
Adolescents are in the awkward years between ten and sixteen. The stats are based off a 12-year old preteen. These characters may be considered children or adults depending on jurisdiction. The fact that age of consent and age of majority are frequently 12 or below says some really unpleasant things about Aelsif, but it's important to keep in mind when you go travelling. They are also definitely competent enough not to need you to hold their hand. Their stat adjustments are all fairly negligible, they have no speed penalty and both their decreased starting level and level adjustment aren't overly large.

Young adult:
Starting level: 5
Stats: Default.
Speed: 30ft
Young adult is also exactly what it sounds like, ranging from sixteen to twenty-six. The stats are based off somebody around age 20. This is the default age for a reason, it's the most common age for new soldiers, mercenaries, couriers, missionaries, explorers and just about everything else. Very few of the adventurer professions hire older than this, if you're just starting out you're probably a kid.

Adult:
Stats: -1 Str, -1 Dex, -1 Con, +2 Fth
Speed: 30ft
Adult is one of the largest age groups, ranging from twenty-six to thirty-six. Its effects are fairly simple, a -1 on all physical attributes, but +2 faith. While this is simple, a lot of variables will determine if that's worth it. Like whether you care about all three of those stats, and how long the campaign is. In the short-term it's definitely a strong starting point, but in the long run those stat penalties may be more significant than level difference, especially once you get up high enough that most of the time you're the same level as your younger compatriots.

Middle Age: (42)
Stats: -2 Str, -2 Dex, -2 Con, +4 Fth
Speed: 30ft
Middle age is the dreaded years from 36 to 50, where you're not as strong, as spry or as tough as you used to be, men lose almost all of their testosterone, women go into menopause, your hair starts falling out, you're sick half the year and you're ALWAYS tired. At the very least, it's better than what happens next. Sure, you're still good to go your job, but it won't take long before everybody surpasses you in the fighter and specialist classes, so maybe play a caster.

Elder: (56)
Stats: -3 Str, -3 Dex, -3 Con, -2 Int, -2 Cha, +6 Fth
Speed: 20ft
As an elder between fifty and sixty-five, you know being old really, REALLY sucks. Take all the issues of middle age and add on "performance" issues and incontinence, a rapidly degrading mental state and even worse physicality than you already had. This is the point where your body is out of warrantee, and predictably you're falling apart. Age is definitely a net negative by this point, but in a faith-based class you may still be useful, so if you think you still have it in you grab your cane and start walking.

Venerable: (72)
Stats: -4 Str, -4 Dex, -4 Con, -4 Int, -4 Cha, +8 Fth
Speed: 15ft
This is the senior citizen zone, from sixty-five to eighty. The stats above reflect pretty well the collapse of one's mind and body, as there's very little worthwhile left within you. But you do have one thing, you're stubborn and your faith is stronger now than it's ever been. Granted, that's because the smart part of your brain is failing and the dumb part is trying to compensate, but the people around you will mistake your animalistic ritualism for wisdom and it does genuinely make you a better caster in a few classes.

Ancient: (90)
Stats: -4 Str, -4 Dex, -6 Con, -6 Int, -6 Cha, +8 Fth
Speed: 10ft
This is the age class for people who really should be dead by now. Year-wise, it ranges from eighty on up. There's no true maximum age in this game, but suffice to say the record holders haven't made it far above 100 (or equivalent). You've degraded too far now, senility is in full swing and you can barely walk. It's about time to quit. This age category is not meant to be playable. Stop pushing the wheelchair and put grandad in a home.

Adjusting age for the 16 player races is easy, though they adjust much less than in other settings.

Lizardfolk, Sahuagin, Orcs & Kobolds: -25%
Humans, Hobgoblins, Goblins & Halflings: Listed ages
Dwarves, Gnomes, Korobokuru & Nezumi: +25%
Elves & Spirit Folk (bamboo, sea and river): +50%

This does not affect starting level.

If your race has a listed speed of 20ft, than:
Fast ages move at 20ft
Medium ages move at 15ft
Slow ages move at 10ft
Very slow ages move at 5ft

If you are a barbarian and at a load that makes you subject to fast movement:
If your speed was 30ft, it is now 40ft.
If your speed was 20ft, it is now 30ft.
If your speed was 15ft, it is now 20ft.
If your speed was 10ft, it is now 15ft.
If your speed was 5ft, it is now 10ft.

Armor:
Encumbrance:
If you take an armor penalty (medium or heavy armor) to base move speed, than:
If your speed was 40ft, it is now 30ft.
If your speed was 30ft, it is now 20ft.
If your speed was 20ft, it is now 15ft.
If your speed was 15ft, it is now 10ft.
If your speed was 10ft, it is now 5ft.
If your speed was 5ft, it is still 5ft.
The heavy armor penalty to run speed still applies, characters in heavy armor can only run 3x speed, 4x with the run feat.

Encumbrance:
If you take an encumbrance penalty (medium or heavy load) to base move speed, than:
If your speed was 40ft, it is now 30ft.
If your speed was 30ft, it is now 20ft.
If your speed was 20ft, it is now 15ft.
If your speed was 15ft, it is now 10ft.
If your speed was 10ft, it is now 5ft.
If your speed was 5ft, it is still 5ft.

And if anybody comes in and complains about how anything I make is automatically broken because there are broken templates like phrenic and shadow creature out there, that's THOSE templates fault and you can eat me. I'm not using them.

Got A Weapon or Armor Question?

@JaceBeleren
*clears throat with just a little too much hacking*

first off, dark souls has proportions just a bit wrong with them being just a bit too thick and long but that's not too much of a problem. One thing considered in any type of sparring be it fencing or unarmed is reach. A zweihander not only has considerable reach like a spear, but it is useful throughout (where as the shaft of the spear can at best be used as a staff which despite the shaolin monk meme was not actually a very good one) because it is a long blade. Now, many vidya have two handed swords as weapons that pierce armour simply because it is two handed. This is just stupid. The blade would definitely cleave apart mail...

@Andreyich

And like that you've lost me. No, no they would not cut through mail. This isn't Deadliest Warrior, people aren't running around in butted mail made of low-grade galvanized steel. They'll be using at least soldered and more likely welded or riveted mail, and you aren't going to cut those with any kind of sword. Here's an example of an idiot with a claymore trying to cut through crappy soldered mail. This mail is one step up from butted, and he barely damages it, much less "cleaves it apart". Welded mail was both more common and stronger, and the top of the line riveted stuff was stronger still.

youtube.com/watch?v=p_I_fkRngNM

There's more tests like this out there. Mail is by far stronger than people think it is.

And also no, you can't stab through plate. Not even with a zweihander.

The regions of Aelsif (D&D campaign setting)

Aelsif is my resurrected D&D campaign setting, and I figured I'd run through the basics of the campaign setting's singular world.

Aelsif is a relatively earth-like planet in most ways. The gravity is slightly lower, the atmosphere is much more oxygen-rich and it has three moons (a single large one and two much smaller ones), but those are the main differences that affect daily life. Geographically, it bears no resemblance. It has four continents, one large one in the centre, another large one in the west, a small one to the northeast and an enormous one in the south surrounded by so much ice it is impossible to tell how large the actual continent is. These are best known as Marakiz, Boreas, Seiho and The White Unknown, respectively. The continents are separated by thousands of miles of ocean, but island chains connect them all to one another, which are known as the Chainlink Islands.

Marakiz:
Marakiz features a large desert in its northern reaches and dense jungle in its southern reaches, with plains and grasslands between them. It is the origin of humans and goblins, though both are common elsewhere in the world. The former dwell primarily along the eastern coast, the latter primarily along the western coast. Most of these groups' contact with one another is in warfare over the grasslands. Additionally, kobolds originate near the northern coast of Marakiz and now inhabit the coast and the islands between it and Boreas, and lizardfolk originate from the jungles in the south.

The grasslands are the homeland of the human races, but they abandoned it when it when volcanic activity rendered it inhospitable and the goblins settled there after the volcanoes died down. Both have an extremely solid claim to ownership of the grasslands, the humans are willing to kill the goblins to take their homeland back and the goblins are willing to kill to keep the lands they've held for centuries.

An additional human-goblin conflict comes from a 500 mile stretch of the northern coastline, both claiming the elves sold them the land for trade purposes. The truth is, the elves never owned the land in the first place. The land belongs to the kobold tribes that inhabit it. They both have an equally invalid claim to the land, because the elves ripped them both off. The elves are also now selling arms to both sides of the conflict, and don't care who wins as long as they have somebody on that land who makes a better trading partner than penniless primitives.

Boreas:
Boreas is a large continent divided by a large mountain range. The Boreal Mountains stretch across the north of the continent dividing the arctic coast from the southwestern coast, bending south as it goes east to also separate the west and east. The elves originate and still live in the temperate southwestern forests, orcs live in the east, gnomes live in the southeastern mountains, dwarves in the western and northern mountains.

The elves in the south run a mighty trade empire that has made them immensely wealthy. They own and operate the world's most powerful navy, and have a near-monopoly on intercontinental trade, travel and shipping. And while it's not a true monopoly, it's still a position they are constantly trying to strengthen and regularly commit atrocities to protect. In particular, they have slaughtered entire island tribes to establish trading ports on their land.

The dwarves and orcs run industrious nations and are the main source of competition for the elves. However, the elves have an advantage in position over the dwarves, technology over the orcs and naval power over both of them. As a result, the dwarves and orcs have to fight dirty. Dwarven privateers raid elven ships headed to Seiho while Orcish privateers do the same for elven ships headed to Marakiz. The dwarven and orcish navies attack elven island ports and destroy the natural resources of islands nearby to make them more expensive to operate. They arm the natives of the islands around elven ports and anywhere they think it likely the elves will try to set up shop next, promote slave rebellions and support separatist movements in elven colonies.

The gnomes are a strictly neutral party in the conflicts of their continent, and a wealthy trade nation in their own right as the source of advanced weapons and machinery. They run a very powerful and technologically advanced defensive military in a strong central position that is naturally protected and well fortified. They trade with the dwarves, orcs and elves, and even trade with humans and goblins from cliffside ports on their southwestern border. Their principle exports are motors and firearms, things that can be made elsewhere but are made best by gnomes. In particular, gnomes are the inventors and principle manufacturers of the gatling gun, the final nail in the coffin for the era of massed infantry. (Because eventually, people realised that when one guy turning a crank can fire 300 rounds per minute, grouping up and marching towards them is a pretty dumb idea.)

Sohei:
Sohei has not been very well fleshed out at this point, we never did a campaign in Sohei. I will add a post detailing it later, because I need to dig up old notes and do a lot of work adding details to a place we never got to actually see.

The Chainlink Islands:
The Chainlink Islands are the islands between the continents. These are the Central Chainlink Islands between Marakiz and Boreas (primarily inhabited by kobolds), the Eastern Chainlink Islands between Marakiz and Seiho (primarily inhabited by halflings), the Western Chainlink Islands between Boreas and Seiho (primarily inhabited by hobgoblins) and the Southern Chainlink Islands between Marakiz and The White Unknown (primarily inhabited by sahuagin).

The Chainlink Islands are primarily home to primitive tribals and port colonies from the trading empires. They are often of great strategic importance due to the services settlements there can provide trading ships and the resources sometimes found on them. The natives are sometimes friendly and sometimes hostile, but usually exploited and always looked down on by the colonists. Most slaves in Aelsif are Chainlink Islanders, and most genocides in Aelsif are committed against Chainlink Island tribes, but yet the most primitive societies on Aelsif are those on the Chainlink Islands, so they both stand the most to lose and the most to gain from interacting with the colonists.

As adventurers, expect to spend plenty of time interacting with Chainlink Islanders. And expect them to have an extreme reaction to your presence, whether it is positive or negative.

The White Unknown:
The White Unknown is a vast expanse of ice surrounding the continent on the southern pole of the planet. As its name suggests, there are no settlements of any of the civilized races and no records of what lies within. What can be found by expeditionary sailing south from Marakiz are the spears of sahuagin who attack any explorers who sail too far south with an uncharacteristic desperation decidedly unlike them.

While most write this off as just sahuagin savagery, sailors ordinary have few issues with the sahuagin in the north and scholars will note that they become markedly more hostile the further south you go. Sahuagin do not approach The White Unknown except to kill explorers and destroy their encampments. Survivors note that they work quickly and sloppily, killing everyone they find and departing as quickly as they can without taking anything. When defeated they refuse to flee and commit suicide to avoid capture, neither of which is normal sahuagin behaviour, and even if captured alive they will continue to attack their captors or attempt suicide whenever they have the opportunity. This is not normal sahuagin behaviour. Neither is sending more attackers over and over again with increasing numbers and ferocity until the explorers are wiped out or forced to leave. Even coming in from directions where there are few or no sahuagin settlements only delays this.

Whatever there is to find in The White Unknown, it seems pretty clear the sahuagin know what it is and don't want us to find it. It's also pretty clear they're terrified of it.

More information to follow.

Poll: Setting and supplement selection

As some of you may know, I'm making a tabletop RPG called Change, and this thread is about that. In this thread, I'm asking the readers to vote on one of three settings (which are going to come with an entire supplementary rulebook) you would like best for me to make first. The order I do these in is going to be descending order by number of votes, and the poll will close when the core rulebook (which will be made before any of these) is finished. The three choices are Duat, Anineyah and Mayta.

Duat
Technology type: Conventional
Technology grade: 0
Titles: The Forgotten Wastes, The Lonely Death
The afterlife for worshippers of a dead religion. Duat was formed nearly five thousand years ago, and was host to an evolving pantheon of deities in its heyday. For thousands of years Duat thrived, able to control the decline of its citizens so that its population as a whole wouldn't meet the same fate, and able to mine and build fabulous cities and mighty fortresses that kept them safe from the natural dangers that haunt any afterlife. But this did not last. The pantheon of Duat never managed to spread far in the living worlds, and through conquest and conversion the people found different faiths. Duat broke down slowly as its population aged and dwindled, and today there are few people and even fewer sane. The gods themselves are dead, with no worshippers to donate to them they lost their powers and perished. The mighty rivers cutting through Duat's core now flow by crumbling ruins inhabited by hollowed spirits on their way to fading out entirely, ancient buildings bleached by the burning desert sun.

Anineyah:
Technology type: Magitek
Technology grade: 0
Titles: The Realm of a Million Gods, Miscellopilis
Anineyah was the first afterlife, and the first to fall apart. Anineyah is where worshippers of gods who lack their own afterlives go. A vast and diverse realm filled with warring states and deities, always unstable and unpredictable, nations forming and folding on the drop of a hat. And more fold than form, more so every day and more so now than ever before. The realm is too populous and its population is too divided, too many people flow in with nobody there to show them which way is up, too many fail to work together and too many go hollow with nobody there to take care of them. Many of them even become monsters, like the wendigos in the temperate north, hollowed cannibals who transformed into beasts when they should have faded away. This leaves the realm flooded with monsters and hollows, and more come in with every new religion the living realms fabricate. A few nations hold out in Anineyah, but even these are unstable an their days are numbered. And so, every person has to ask themselves if they want to cling to society, or if they're willing and able to accept its loss and move on.

Mayta:
Technology type: Biotech
Technology grade: 0
Titles: The Wild Garden, Nature's Palace
Mayta is the realm for worshippers of nature. There is no scarcity of shelter or sustenance, nor is there a scarcity of danger and strife. Mayta is a chaotic and violent realm, filled with vicious predators, virulent diseases and violent storms. Terrible lizards roam the plains, feathered hunters stalk the forest, rain floods the valleys, wind fells the trees and earthquakes topple the mountains. The land shifts and warps, fuelling conflict as it drives people and animals into eachother in one place and separates them in another. Beasts that belong in different places and times are thrown into the mix, and creatures that belong together and torn apart and forced to adapt. Mayta has plenty for you, but it'll make you fight tooth and nail for every scrap. And in their hearts, that struggle is what the people sent here were really worshipping all along.

Pre-planning vs Spontaneity - Which Are You?

I'm definitely a planner. But then, I usually GM, so it might just be a force of habit at this point.

Mahz's Dev Journal

It'd be great to have an ignore button or command in chat. So you have a response to harassment less extreme than somebody getting banned.

Dice-less Role-playing Games

Well, I've had everything written up on my laptop so far, character sheet wise. I can PM you copies of what those look like, if you want, since our last campaign ended so abruptly. And actually, we should probably be having this conversation through PM. I don't want to hijack this thread. As for improvising, we *used* to have rules for that, but since I changed how crafting works, the rules for improvised weapons haven't been updated, so we effectively don't have any right now.

Dice-less Role-playing Games

@Alamantus
Frequently, it does come down to GM input, when I didn't think of something. That's true of every game, though. You can't play an hour of any tabletop game without the GM having to decide if something the party did works or not because the game designer didn't think of it.

Okay, so I'm going to use a single example. Something very basic. Somebody is trying to evade getting stabbed by your halberd. Which they tend to do. It looks simple at first. If your attack is equal to or higher than their evasion and you're close enough, you stab them. If their evasion is higher they evade it, if you aren't close enough you can't reach (and shouldn't be trying in the first place). However, there's actually a lot of depth here.

So, what if your attack is lower, and you can't hit them? Then what? Well, obviously you need to raise your attack or lower their evasion. Raising your attack can be done in a number of ways. The simplest is to aim, which makes the attack take more action points but also raises your attack massively. But there's other options. You could change weapons, use something that's either smaller or is of a different weapon type with better attack. If your halberd isn't hitting, both a knife and a spear might have a better chance. You might also try shedding some weight, since encumbrance penalizes attack (amongst other things).

The other option is to lower their evasion. The simplest way is to change attack types, and use something harder to sidestep. If you switch from thrusting to swinging, you'll face half the evasion and be much more likely to score a hit. Sure, swings are (usually) less lethal and (usually) more hindered by armour than thrusts, but they're a LOT easier to hit with. Otherwise, you could try having your mate help, because evasion has a limit on the number of people it can defend against per round, and that starts at 1, so if you and your mate both attack, one of you can't be evaded. Or, you could chase them into a place where they can't move as easily. Evasion is lower on slopes or stairs, and it's lower if up against a wall and especially in a confined space. This also helps keep theme in you reach, too. Attacking by surprise would also help, because by default evasion only kicks in *after* somebody has taken their first turn, and if you attack by surprise you go first in the first round regardless of initiative. You might also try attacking them from behind, as evasion doesn't work on enemies behind you by default. Lastly, attacking during their turn also works, since people don't get evasion during their own turns, and this can be done as a reaction to their actions, which is a whole other system for another time. (Basically, I'm talking about what D&D calls "attacks of opportunity", though they work differently here.)

On the other side, what if an enemy is trying to hit you and their attack is higher than your evasion? Well, if you would rather not be stabbed, then you can try moving away from them. Reactionary actions here can include movement, so moving backwards as much as is allowed will force them to either follow and take an attack penalty for movement and possibly miss, or stay still and almost certainly not be in reach anymore anyway. Another option is to move into a place where they simply can't use their attack, like going into a narrow corridor or between a pair of trees or something if they're trying to swing. Alternately, get behind something. You can also try hitting them first, if their attack is big enough to allow a reactionary action of that size, in an attempt to impair their attack. And another easy one, you can just get closer. You might try stepping inside their minimum range, so their swing or thrust can't connect. They'll try to move away, though, so this doesn't always work very well and should be reserved for enemies with a long minimum range you are already close to. Grappling is also an option, though that takes just as long as attacking, as if it works it gets you very close to the enemy and if it doesn't it still wastes a LOT of their action points. Or, you can just guard. It costs an action point, but if your guard is higher than their attack you can intercept their weapon before it reaches you. (Just don't do it without a weapon, that's an easy way to lose a hand.) And once again, you can ask your mate for help, since they can guard attacks for you, and even if their fail their attempt will make yours easier.

These are very basic examples, of course, but ones that are very important since combat is often a big part of the game and a part of the game that's about as forgiving as a stand-up gig at the Nuremberg Trials and good luck completing a campaign if you're bad at the combat. If those aren't good enough examples, though, you'll have to clarify because I don't know what you're looking for.

Dice-less Role-playing Games

I'm actually making a diceless RPG, right now. And it gets around the issue of chance by just having a lot of possible bonuses and penalties, so you work things out in combat through planning, tactics and technique instead of sheer dumb luck. In fact, that's the reason why it's diceless. So it can be all about skill, where a game involving dice is often more chance than anything else.