Guidance on assigning a degree of difficulty?

[shadd]

CL 10.4 talks about assigning a degree of difficulty for a maneuver, but doesn't give much guidance on how to choose an appropriate difficulty. I realize a lot of this is probably subjective and up to GM discretion, but I'm not exactly sure where to start.

There are already modifiers for skill rank, stat, light level, wounds, etc. This is pretty straightforward and I'm familiar with modifiers from other systems. Degree of difficulty is a new concept to me, and it appears to have a large impact on the final result. I assume I shouldn't take things like light level into account when determining difficulty, because there are already modifiers for that, right?

Take stalking for example. Terrain is probably one factor that would contribute to difficulty. A wide open plain will be more difficult to stalk in than a dense forest, but is a dense forest routine? Medium? Then you have to combine that with other factors like, say, a noisy ocean nearby.

Do you guys have any suggestions for identifying these factors and rating them on the difficulty scale? Not sure if there is a resource with examples and suggestions online somewhere. Something where I could at least start getting a feel for how to assign difficulty.

Thanks!

[Ardem]

The School of Hard Knocks which is a FRP book it has all the skills and the good thing it has is the difficulty rating of what the writers determine is easy, medium or hard, etc.

Here is a link for you, for a PDF copy of it.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/101143/RMFRP-School-of-Hard-Knocks-The-Skill-Companion

[shadd]

Interesting, I'll check it out. Thanks!

[Majyk]

There are already modifiers for skill rank, stat, light level, wounds, etc. This is pretty straightforward and I'm familiar with modifiers from other systems. Degree of difficulty is a new concept to me, and it appears to have a large impact on the final result. I assume I shouldn't take things like light level into account when determining difficulty, because there are already modifiers for that, right?

Probably don't need this any longer but lots of the difficulty ratings have built-in MODIFIERS based off of Medium(+0).
For every +/-1 of other systems that you may be more familiar with, multiply the result by 5.
From there, the columns on the tables for MM, etc. can be moved along based on close approximations of the result:
Light(+10 or +2 based off of D&D * 5)
Hard(-10 or -2 based off of D&D * 5)

That makes it easier to start, and from there you can increase the difficulty and/or just input extra die roll mods on top of this while still using just the Medium(or "harder" chart columns) rating.

[shadd]

Ah, good tip, thanks!

[JohnD]

The percentages for success/failure can also be looked at as what percentage of the desired activity is accomplished in the round.

So someone trying to run 60' up a muddy and slippery hill in full chain, shield, greaves, festooned with weapons and enough miscellaneous equipment has a more difficult time of it than the person in light leathers with a dagger and spiked boots. Maybe the guy in chain trying to move those 60' has a Very Difficult time of it, while the other guy has just a Medium challenge.

This is before you take into account any skills or magic that might be applied. If the dude in chain has a ring that gives him +20% to all MM rolls, perhaps everyone watching marvels at his prowess.

Maybe both have exactly the same number after the roll and their miscellaneous adjustments. Maybe this gives the guy in chain a 30% chance of complete success and the other guy a 90% chance of complete success.

Or, maybe it means the chain guy accomplishes 30% of what he tried to do - so instead of moving all 60' up the hill, he only gets 18' this round, and has to spend a good portion of the next round still trying to get up the hill. At the same time, the other guy gets 54' up the hill and is clearly putting his advantage to good use.