[JustADude]

Savage Worlds uses progressively larger dice for the characters.  That's one.

Larger dice you say?

[Patrick Goodman]

re: Spidey dice pic -- I want one of those! Don't know where I'd store it or how I'd transport it, but I want one.

re: Savage Worlds -- It's been around for seven or eight years, I think, maybe a little longer. It's RPG predecessor, Deadlands, used a similar system. Each of your attributes was set at a particular die type (you could have a Strength of d6 and a Guts of d12, for instance). Situational modifiers could change the die type for that attribute.

TSR/WOTC had the late, much-lamented Alternity system, which had some similar dice-shifting mechanics. Very interesting system, but D&D3 and the D20 license caused it to be a casualty of war; to the best of my knowledge, there are no plans to revive it. More's the pity.

[_Pax_]

Have the mechanics changed at all, or is it still the same?

The mechanics have changed.  Drastically.  SR4 is, aside from the setting and backstory, just about completely unrecognisable compared to SR1.

Let's take just one thing ... combat with firearms.

First off, your damage tracks weren't attribute-dependant; you had 10 boxes for Physical, and 10 boxes for Stun.  Period.

Secondly, damage wasn't measured in a set numbr of boxes; they were measured in Wound Levels.  Light was 1 box, Medium was 3, Serious was 6, and Deadly was 10.

Thirdly, staging ... that is, modifying damage up (attacker) or down (victi- er, defender).  For every X successes in favor of one side or the other, the damage shifted by one category:

(none)<-->(L)<-->(M)<-->(S)<-->(D)<-->(D+1)<-->(D+2)<-->(etc)...

Fourthly, and this was dropped for 2E: ]b\not all weapons staged the same.[/b]  Weapon damage was listed as (power)(damage)(staging) ... for example, "6M2" for the Ares Predator IIRC.  The power of the weapon, possibly reduced by armor, would be the defender's Target Number (TN).  The Damage level was where it all started.  And the Staging number was how many Hits you needed, to shift things one step in your favor.

And fifthly: Target Numbers.  In SR4, the TN is always 5, and it's the die pool that gets modified by things like Smartlinks.  In SR1, 2, and 3 the die pool was largely static, and the TN got modified.  Starting TN for shooting people was a 4.  Smartguns lowered that by 2.  Hitting a TN of 7 or higher, meant you had to roll a 6, then roll that same die again (and add the new number to the total) ... the original "rule of six".

So, sometimes that 4L3 gun, might be better than a 5M2.  You're going to get lots of successes, and if your foe isn't wearing much armor, he's NOT.

[Mirikon]

In other words, 4e is a HELLUVA lot simpler, which makes it easier to play.

[Gideon]

First I love SR4

But a small guilty pleasure of mine in SR1-2 was making the little node maps for my Decker.  I would pull out the graph paper, my ziploc baggie with the color coded sharpies and my d6s to roll up a few data havens and what have you.  I think my Azzie Archology map  was 6 pages (for reference purposes only I would never MAKE a player navigate that...really)

But the simplicity of the mechanics in SR4 are easier to pick up and make for more of a team play in AR.  CP suffered from the make the team wait syndrome early on too.

[hobgoblin]

Heh, had forgotten about that generator.