The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games - Michael J. Tresca [127]
RANGER • The ranger in True Dungeon is primarily defined by his twoweapon fighting, sliding two pucks at the same time. Interestingly enough, rangers receive a bonus against undead (perhaps a variant of the “favored enemy” of rangers from the third edition). There is no parallel to the tabletop ranger’s tracking ability, likely due to the difficulty of reproducing tracking in a live action environment.
Darkon, on the other hand, features an elaborate system for adjudicating ranger abilities. They have access to the tracking skill, which performs in much the same way as it does in tabletop games without requiring the player to actually identify tracks—all the information is determined by an Elder. Rangers also get a small selection of spells, like the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons ranger. At higher levels rangers can scout an area, learning key information shared on behalf of his region. Using their exploration ability, rangers can even roll twice on a random monster encounter table and choose the more beneficial of the two.
ROGUE • Rogues in True Dungeon have a sneak attack ability, inflicting +10 damage per encounter. They also can disarm traps and locks via a stylus mechanism reminiscent of those used in the board game Operation.
In Darkon, thieves can appear like any other character, but must carry a skeleton key on their person to symbolize their class. All thieves have the ability to quickly loot a body, presenting their skeleton key to the dead character’s player and searching each body part.
At second rank, the thief gains the ability to pick pockets, which allows him to loot living characters. This is tricky, as the diegesis of the situation requires an Elder to be aware of the attempt but the player to not be. After informing the Elder of what he plans to steal (presumably out of earshot of the intended victim), the thief must put his hand on the object to be stolen and remain in contact for 15 seconds if the thief is under tenth level, 10 seconds from eleventh to nineteenth level, and just five seconds for twentieth level thieves and up. Once that time has been fulfilled, the Elder signifies that the task is complete. The Elder then notifies the victim and retrieves the item from him, to be given to the thief.
At third rank, Darkon thieves can climb walls. Like picking pockets, this act is simulated. The thief can climb any wall by lying flat ten feet away from the wall and crawling to it. This obviates athletic ability on the part of the player, but mimics the character climbing the wall. Assuming the thief makes it to the wall, he may the enter the structure by passing through it (removing the rope, tape, or whatever represents the wall). Thieves caught climbing the wall may be attacked by missile weapons or polearms. A prone person makes a much larger target, in the same way that a person climbing might. A thief who is struck while climbing falls, suffering a light wound to both legs.
Third rank thieves can also backstab. They must quietly approach a victim from behind and attack with a dagger to his torso. It inflicts a considerable amount of damage depending on the character’s armor, usually resulting in death.
At fourth rank, a Darkon thief can open locks. Each lock has a rating (1 to 15), and the thief places his hand on the lock he is attempting to open for three minutes. For every difficulty level above the thief’s rank, an additional minute is added, up to a maximum of ten minutes; more than ten minutes means the lock is beyond the thief’s ability to open it. If the thief is of higher rank than the lock’s ranking, the time to open it is reduced by 30 seconds for every difficulty level below the thief’s rank.
Disguise allows a thief to pass as belonging to another country, but not as a specific character. The thief must actually wear some physical representation of the disguise; by doing so, he can exceed the armor and shield restrictions of his character. In exchange, he cannot use any of this