Difference between revisions of "ExMod/LiteDramaDriveSystems"

Revision as of 08:06, 5 April 2010

Driving a Vehicle

This system is meant to be a (mostly) original standalone rules-light stunt-able system. It is written with the purpose of being a modular answer to the problem of having no extant Drive systems in the Exalted setting - if you like it, perhaps it can even be used to describe more medieval concepts, such as chariot races and such. I tried to keep it short and sweet; in the interests of that goal, on to the system...

An Example vehicle...\

 Name          Acc    Res    Mob    Frm   Spd    Cap    Cnd               Cost
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Ford Explorer  +2     +2     +3     8L     F      M    3 x -0, 3 x -1,    ***
                                                        4 x -2, 6 x -4,
                                                        Totaled

The various vehicle statistics...

• Acc - Acceleration; this statistic is added to a Dexterity + Wits pool to determine vehicle initiative. Additionally, it is the measure of how many speed factors a vehicle may translate to in one turn when speeding up or slowing down.
• Res - Response; this statistic is added to all Dexterity + Drive rolls involving maneuvering a vehicle in question. This statistic is speed-based, and increases or decreases relevant to which speed the vehicle is presently at.
• Mob - Mobility; the Drive Ability (and only the Drive Ability) is added to this statistic in order to determine the harshest sort of terrain the vehicle can cross. Each terrain is rated from 0 up, with a well-paved highway being a Terrain 0 surface. If the Terrain exceeds this Drive + Mobility total, the terrain is too difficult to pass. If the terrain matches or exceeds the Mobility of the vehicle, but not the paired Drive + Mobility total, subtract -2 from all Dexterity + Drive rolls involving the difficult terrain.
• Frm - Frame; This statistic indicates both the soak of the vehicle and the damage it deals in collisions. The bashing soak of the vehicle is always double its lethal soak granted by the Frame statistic.
• Spd - Speed; the five basic speeds common in the Modern world are: VS = Very Slow (0-10 MPH) / S = Slow (10-30 MPH) / A = Average (30-60 MPH) / F = Fast (60-100 MPH) / VF = Very Fast (100-150 MPH). The statistic listed on the vehicle's stat block is its maximum speed - a vehicle may freely move through as many speed brackets per turn as it has points of Acceleration. Speed modifies a vehicle's Response, Mobility, and damage dealt by the Frame stat. Generally, bonuses are given for these stats at low speeds, and penalties (usually larger) are given for high speeds. Damage is an exception - at low speeds, momentum reduces damage from collisions; at high speeds, it increases it. Storytellers are invited to add in more speed brackets if they wish faster vehicles in their games. The table is fairly linear - just increase the penalties and bonuses by two each speed factor.
• Cap - Capacity; S = Single (one driver, no passengers or equivalent cargo) / L = Low (one driver, one or two passengers or equivalent cargo) / M = Medium (one driver, three to seven passengers or equivalent cargo) / H = High (one driver, no more than eleven passengers or equivalent cargo) / C = Commercial (one driver, anywhere from eleven passengers in a small bus to forty-one passenger's worth of cargo in a semi). Vehicles may carry extra cargo over this limit, but for every individual over the limit, the vehicle's maximum speed factor goes down once.
• Cnd - Condition; These are the health levels of the vehicle. They represent its general upkeep and performance. As a vehicle is damaged, its performance decreases by way of the penalties normally associated with health loss. Once a month, if a vehicle is not taken care of, it permanently loses a level of Condition which may only be replaced by tuning it up and engaging in a few minor repairs.

Speed Table\\

 Spd        MPH    Res    Mob    Dmg
 -----------------------------------
  VS       5-10     +2     +2    -2L
   S      10-30     +1     +1    -1L
   A      30-60     +0     +0    -0L
   F     60-100     -2     -2    +2L
  VF    100-150     -4     -4    +4L

Vehicle Combat\\ There are a few simple points to illustrate for vehicle combat. Unless otherwise noted, vehicle combat is treated exactly as other forms of combat between characters. There is an initiative, the players take turns, damage is dealt and recieved, and so on. The key differences are listed below.

• Every time a vehicle does damage with its Frame statistic, it takes damage equal to the soak of the surface it hit. If this is another vehicle, the damage taken is from the opposing Frame stat. The speed table modifies damage only - impacts at F or VF speeds tempt fate.
• Drivers must split their pools to include a Drive action in order to stay on the road and out of any accidental harm, in addition to any attacks they make. This means that if a driver wishes to slam into the vehicle next to him, he must first make a roll to keep driving, and then make a roll to drive into his target.
• Midtraffic (and other thick terrain) navigation/evasion is Dexterity + Drive; this is also the basic dodge roll for vehicle encounters.
• If a vehicle takes damage, and the post-soak dice are equal or greater than the defender's Drive + Mobility, vehicle veers off-course. In order to return to combat, the defender must make a roll to regain control. This is a Wits + Drive roll, difficulty equal to half the raw damage.
• If a vehicle takes damage, and the post-soak dice total more than double the defender's Drive + Mobility, then the vehicle veers so off course that it crashes into a nearby stationary surface. All passengers must soak lethal damage dice equal to what the vehicle took, in addition to any damage from the impacted stationary surface that exceeds the vehicle's frame. Passengers and drivers both may make a Wits + Dodge roll to reduce damage dice. One damage die is lost for every success made on this roll.
• Just a reminder: whenever damage is dealt, it is also taken. Both parties of a collision must take damage. If a wall or other solid surface is hit, it does its lethal soak in damage to a vehicle - and any damage that exceeds the vehicle's frame must be soaked by all passengers of the vehicle.
• Extras in crashes die if they fail the Wits + Dodge roll.

Other Complications...

• Tailing involves a Wits + Drive roll each turn to maintain stealth, and a Perception + Awareness roll each turn to keep sight. If the tailed party suspects they are being followed, they may make a Perception + Awareness roll to oppose any stealth attempts.
• Chasing involves opposed Dexterity + Drive rolls; both subjects much match speed (Perception + Drive to determine what speed factor someone is at). If the pursuer cannot match their target's speed, the difference between velocity factors is subtracted from the pursuit successes each round.
• Repairs involve making a Wits + Crafts (Mechanics specialty applies) roll, difficulty equal to the condition levels the mechanic is attempting to return to the vehicle - each success counts for one level returned. Generally, the price to pay professionals to do this is Resources * per two levels of condition. In the instance of totaled vehicles, it's usually cheaper to just buy a new one.

Point Based Vehicle Creation

Resources Cost

• 1: 10 points,
• 2: 15 points,
• 3: 20 points,
• 4: 25 points,
• 5: 30 points.

Points may be spent on a 1-for-1 basis for...

• Acceleration,
• Response,
• Mobility,
• Frame (lethal; bashing is automatically calculated from this),
• Each factor of Speed except VS; VS is free,
• Each factor of Capacity except S; Single is free.

For every point of bashing frame (twice the points spent on lethal frame) on the vehicle, it gains one condition point. Condition points may be spent at the following rate:

• Two points for every -0 level; -0 levels may never exceed -1 levels,
• One point for every -1 or -2 level; -1 levels may never exceed -2 levels; -2 levels may never exceed -4 levels,
• One point for every two -4 levels.

Comments

I really like ExMod (at lot) and so was starting work on some Artifact vehicles, thinking it'd go well with the initial work on Artifact Motorcycles I saw recently. Thing is, I went through, and figured I'd populate this system with some more examples of mundane vehicles first, to get an idea of where things stand. I was gonna do things like "Chevy Cavalier (old)", "Humvee (Military, not the Civilian H2)", and "Lamborghini". Thing is, I started by loading up an Excel spreadsheet that calculates the resources cost for a car, given it's statistics, and loaded up the Ford Explorer example - which came out at a low-low 5.2 resources vehicle. I checked the math by hand, and it was right - the Ford Explorer example comes out at 32 creation points the way it's statted. Can the author of this system comment on what happened, or what I'm missing? - GregLink

I mean, the health levels alone cost about 16 creation points, for a total of like 2+ resources just for the body... - GregLink, adding an example.

I see your problem... let me help you out and show you what Balth meant (since I know his mind pretty well). Ok, two points for the acceleration. Then we have another 2 for response, 3 for mobility, and 8 for the frame. So far this is 15 points. Speed is another 3 points and capacity is another 2. Where the problems come in is the condition. You missed how you buy it (with a seperate pool based on the frame). You have twice the frame rating in points to buy condition "health levels". I hope this helps. - haren

Oh. I think I see now. That's weird. I haven't re-checked the math yet, but I can see why my design would be overly priced, then. Hmm.. Well, I'm still gonna plug my system, simply because I've got like 8 sample vehicles. I'll check out the pricing of the Explorer later tomorrow, if someone doesn't beat me to it. - GregLink

Could be a typo, could just be that making your own is far more expensive than factory design. Not sure of the intent there. Jaelra

Due to the lack of response on this, and the need for it to be 'fixed' such that the "Make your own Vehicle" charms can be balanced, I'm gonna take it upon myself to clean the system up. Please forgive the 'messiness' that's about to appear here until I get it all sorted out. - GregLink

Alrighty, here's what I've got so far:

GregLink's Revised Cost System

Speed Chart\

Rating 	MPH		Damage	[[ResponseExMod/LiteDramaDriveSystems/Mobility]]
0	0		0	-Inf ([[NExMod/LiteDramaDriveSystems/A]], really)
1	up to 20	0	0
2	20-40		+1	0
3	40-60		+2	0
4	60-80		+4	-1
5	80-110		+6	-2
6	110-150		+8	-3
7	150-200		+10	-4
8	200-250		+12	-5

Cost-to-Make: All vehicles start with Spd 1, Acc 1, Res 0, Mob 0, Frame 2, Cap 1, and 1,2,4 health levels. Additional points are bought

with "Build Points" (BP), in a manner much like XP, in which things get more expensive the higher they are. While this makes designing new vehicles a bit more of a hassle, you very rarely have to do it, as we've got sample vehicles for you, and if you're making your own vehicle, you've got the time to figure it out. The "Basic Used POS" vehicle costs 10BP, and costs Res 1. You get 15 more BP for every additional resources spent.

Build Point Table\

Value		Cost for Next Level (min 1 BP)
-----		-------------------
Speed		1*Current
Accel.		2*Current
Response	1*Current
Mobility	1*Current
[[FrameExMod/LiteDramaDriveSystems/Soak]]	1*Current
Capacity	1*Current
Condition 	1*Current (Must have -2 >= -1 >= -0 HL)

Sample Vehicles\

Name          		Spd	Acc	Res	Mob	[[FrameExMod/LiteDramaDriveSystems/Soak]]	Cap	HL (-0)	HL (-1)	HL (-2)	BP COST	Res Cost
4 Wheel Base Case	1	1	0	0	2		1	1	2	4	10 BP	1
2 Wheel Base Case       2	2	1	0	0*	        1       1	1	2	10 BP   1
Chevy Cavalier		4	1	0	0	3		4	2	2	4	25 BP	2
Honda Accord		5	1	0	0	5		5	2	2	4	40 BP	3
Audi A6			6	2	1	0	6		5	1	3	4	55 BP	4
BMW M5			6	2	1	0	6		4	2	4	4	55 BP	4
H2 (Chevy Tahoe)	4	2	0	2	6	        6	3	3	4       47 BP   4
Aston Martin Vanquish	7	3	2	1	6		4	2	4	4	70 BP	5
Hummer (Military)	3	2	0	3	8	        6	3	5	5       71 BP   5

* Note that a vehicle purchased using the 2-wheel base case does not add it's soak value to the passenger's soak values, as with a 4-wheeled vehicle.

While I'm here, I may as well add artifact vehicle rules too. An artifact 1 vehicle starts at 55 BP, and increases by 15 BP for every additional point of artifact. This gives a range of 55 BP to 115 BP. In addition, they receive cool powers are per artifacts of their level would normally get, such as identified by the power ratings in Savant and Sorceror. This means artifact 5 cars can have automata-like sentience, and that artifact three cars can replicate an Essence 3 charm, or three Essence 2 charms, et cetera. This gives fun things like cars that have Monkey Leap technique to jump things, or lightning speed for 'high speed chase mode'.

Sample Artifact Vehicles\

Name          		Spd	Acc	Res	Mob	[[FrameExMod/LiteDramaDriveSystems/Soak]]	Cap	HL (-0)	HL (-1)	HL (-2)	BP COST	Art Cost
The A-Team Van	        5	2	2	3	8	        6	4	4	4       70      2
Knight Industries 2000  8	4	3	2	11	        2	4	4	4       118     5

The Knight Industries 2000, or KITT, as it is commonly known, is an artifact 5 construct, with a top speed of over 200 miles per hour. With a fully functional onboard sentience, KITT is able to drive itself, and has a number of onboard sensing and analysis features to enable it to better perform its primary duties. I chose to represent KITT as an artifact 5 vehicle, both due to its superlative nature, and to account for the onboard sentience, as automata are classified as artifact 5 in canon Exalted settings. The only thing I'd like to see changed in the stats is a specification that the car be made of Orichalcum, painted black, as in my opinion, Orichalcum is the MM most likely to result in a top-speed and soak bonus, both of which I think could be higher for this car. (KITT was never really damaged in the entire show, and is claimed to have a top speed of 300 MPH [9 to 10 speed] in the show's canon)

So while I'm at it, how about MM bonuses for vehicles?

• Jade - Spritely and more agile than other vehicles, Jade vehicles gain +1 acceleration and response
• Moonsilver - Flowing over terrain and through traffic, these vehicles gain +2 Mobility
• Starmetal - With a light frame, and the strands of fate flowing around the vehicle, starmetal provides a +2 response to the vehicle
• Orichalcum - Somehow just plain stronger and better than others, Orichalcum provides a +1 speed and +2 soak/frame
• Soulsteel - While similar to orichalcum in that its resilience provides +2 frame, Soulsteel vehicles are dangerous even at low speeds, dealing an additional 2 damage to the opponent in any collision.