Quote from: Dan Davenport;572187How does the game handle skills beyond thief abilities and the like?

The game covers this (Players' Manual p.199-200).

There are two principal (but not sole) means of resolutions of actions in the game with the help of dice: the "nonstandard action", and the "attribute check".

The nonstandard action involves a chance-in-6 to succeed at a particular task. The referee decides on the difficulty of the task and the player rolls a d6 to see if he rolls under and succeeds, or not. A moderately difficult task succeeds in 4-in-6, a difficult task in 2-in-6, and so forth.

The attribute check is involved when a character attempts a task that is directly (or even solely) related to a particular inherent physical attribute. Like bending bars is really the province of Strength, running a marathon is Constitution. Those kinds of things. Strength, Dexterity and Constitution each involve two statistics reminiscent of the "bending bars" stat of AD&D in their description at the very beginning of the Players' Manual. A Test value, which is expressed in chances-in-6 to succeed and represents moderate, mundane stressful tasks attempted by the character, and the Extraordinary Feat of (attribute), which is expressed using percentiles, and reflects the chance for the character to perform truly extraordinary tasks with his attribute (like breaking free from steel manacles, running on a tightrope, those kinds of things).

Now that doesn't mean that whatever you attempt should walk all over the province of another character's "niche", so to speak. The basic idea in those corner cases is that anyone can attempt anything, but at a 1-in-6 chance instead, to not overshadow the specialist in the group. Like you could possibly remember something relevant to the carvings on the temple's walls, but the Cleric has a far better chance to have heard about the legends pertaining to a particular dark cult of Hyperborea. This is a default assumption, but isn't always the case - the referee uses common sense, and the rules provide some pointers too. For instance everyone can detect secret doors with a 2-in-6 chance, but the thieves are particularly astute, and receive a 3-in-6 chance instead.

Quote from: Dan Davenport;572187Come to that, how does it handle someone other than a thief trying to climb something, for example?

Everybody can climb, but you need equipment to do so: ropes, pitons, etc. The thief can climb sheer surfaces without the need for such equipment. His skills are expressed in chances-in-12 to succeed, and increase with level as you might imagine.

Ben does an excellent job of addressing the question, Dan, and that is much appreciated. Thanks Ben!

I would like to add that the d6 task resolution adequately allows for anyone to try anything. In the traditional game that inspires AS&SH, there is a consensus opinion that a well-rounded party should have a thief, should have a cleric, or the party is screwed. Not so with AS&SH. Any man (with the proper tools) can pick a lock or search for a trap on a 1-in-6 chance of success; of course, the basic thief is a superior specialist, and even at first level is at a 3-in-12 chance of success at trap finding.

Furthermore, the cleric as walking paramedic is also not necessary, and this, too, is by design. When a character rests for the night (6-10 hours, typically), the character regains hp according to his HD type, so a thief rolls a d6; also, he may apply his con bonus, if applicable.

What this does, essentially, is allow for the type of S&S action that has one hero: the intrepid fighter who steps into the yawning mouth of the dungeon labyrinth. He can fight, search for traps and secret doors, climb, and if he is wounded, he can take rest and shake off some or all of his aches and pains come morning.

These things were important while designing the game, to subtly provide an opportunity for a game play experience that in some fashion emulates a yarn by Howard or Leiber.

Quote from: Akrasia;574433Just got the PDF.  Looks great so far.  Digging Baggley's art...

I'm happy to hear you find the game favorable -- means a lot to me! Thanks.

I like that, so you are saying that a fighter type is likely to heal faster. Makes total sense to have a person in great physical shape heal quicker as compared to a studious person even if they have a good natural constitution.

Quote from: The Butcher;574369I know, Jeff. As an overseas gamer I'm using to increasingly ridiculous shipping charges. All it does is give me something else to look forward when I travel: the local game stores.

Speaking of which, do you have a distribution deal in sight for these beauties?

Well, there is no distribution deal in the cards right now. This is a small hobby business run from my home, and I'm not sure what the future entails, but who knows? So far I'm receiving some great feedback, and thus far the response has been very positive and encouraging.

Quote from: Marleycat;574798I like that, so you are saying that a fighter type is likely to heal faster. Makes total sense to have a person in great physical shape heal quicker as compared to a studious person even if they have a good natural constitution.

Yes. Let's say a 3rd level magician has 10 hp (at full) and a 3rd level fighter has 22 hp (at full). Now let's say they both have been reduced to 5 hp. If they both received 1 hp for a night of rest, the magician would have regained 10% of his or her total hp back, while the fighter would have received less than 5%. Using the AS&SH system, the magician regains 1d4, while the fighter regains 1d10.

There are many, many subtle tweaks like this throughout the rules. I loved the rules for casting spells you haven't memorized directly from the spellbook, for instance. You can do that, but you run the risk to see your entire spellbook burst into flames in the worst case scenario! Something to keep in mind in desperate situations where that one spell you have not prepared could save you from a  TPK, certainly. Or the rules regarding weapons and armor. Favored weapons are those weapons you manipulate without penalties. You can use any type of weapons - your magician can hold a sword and fight with it, he'll just do so with a penalty to the roll unless he becomes skilled with it as he gains levels. Fighters favor all weapons, with the differenciation coming from those they choose to master, which gives them increased accuracy and damage, superior attack rates, etc. You also may cast spells in armor, with a chance of spell failure. Those kinds of little details that add up and give you a different game play experience from the game(s) that spawned it.

As I said this game has my interest and hopefully I can get it soon.

Quote from: ghul;574152Indeed. Packages over 4 lbs. (this game weighs about 4 lbs., 4 oz.) must be shipped Priority International. To your country it thus costs $47.95 to ship using the flat rate shipping in a medium sized box.

That's pretty freaking expensive, and I could certainly understand if you were reticent to send it my way.

Question: if you sent it without the box or the dice, would that bring it down under 4lbs? I would still be willing to do the review in that case; also, the lack of the box and dice would probably make it less likely to grab the attention of the local customs officials, who are forbidden from "taxing" (ie. demanding a bribe) for books, but with a box with dice in it might try to demand a "tax" for it as a game.

If you like, feel free to continue this conversation via PM.

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