News from AH

[Larry D. Hols]

Hallo,

        I sent a message to AH about the percentile mechanics to see what
their response was......

>>          The question they have is this:  does AH think that a significant
>>  market share of players could be had with using a percentile system?
> There
>>  are not many percentile systems survivng on the market, and at question is
>>  the viability of the approach.  They think the game works best with
>>  percentile mechanics, and they think a market niche would be found.
>
>Actually, you came up with the same conclusion that the designer's of the new
>RuneQuest came up with (which, of course, was a percentage system). Most new
>players don't like percentiles, and prefer the simple mechanic of adding
>dice.
>
>>          I have thought the matter over, and I think it would be possible
>to
>>  build a system that uses scale of 20, for use with a d20 or 2d10, and also
>>  have optional percentile systems to accompany them.  The 1:5 ratio makes
>>  using the two more a matter of dice than any changes in mechanics, and I
>>  think this could be perfectly viable.
>>          The players are anxious to begin playtesting, and I'm excited
>about
>>  pursuing the rest of the project.  I would like to put a full manuscript
>in
>>  playtesters' hands in February.
>
>We're still considering your proposal. We'll let you know in the next few
>weeks.

        That's the AH response to percentile systems.  They didn't rule out
the possibility of an optional percentile thing, but it looks like the new
RQ won't be percentile because they don't find many gamers liking it.

Larry