Comments on the Matrix D6 Legend Game

Though I adapted this game from West End Game's DC Universe, there are some significant differences between the two.  As always, I invite you to take what you want from either game.  If you prefer WEG's DCU version, use it!  They've certainly playtested their material more than I have and it's probably better.  I decided on the rule changes to make it more coherent with my D6 Classic version and because there are some things that don't quite make sense to me.  As always, I encourage you to tweak the system in any way you can.

Here is an outline of some of the differences:

1.  Brawling and Martial Arts.
In DCU, you receive +1 to your BDV for each three levels in Brawling and +1 action in combat for each three Martial Arts levels.  In this version of the Matrix, you get +1 to your BDV for each three levels in Brawling or Martial Arts (you must be using those skills to reap the bonus!).  There are no extra action bonuses from Martial Arts.  The main difference between the two is that Brawling has a base difficulty to hit of Easy (2 successes) and Martial Arts has a base difficulty of Moderate (3 Successes).  Furthermore, Martial Arts can gain Special Moves and Brawling cannot.

2.  Base Difficulties
You might have noticed that I increased the Base Difficulty for both Brawling and Martial Arts.  This is because the D6 Legend system gives you a lot of successes fairly easily (I think).  Each die you roll has a 66% chance of success, meaning every 3 out of 4 dice you roll will come up with successes.  Even if you only have 2 dice to roll, you still have a better than 50% chance for success.  Because most characters will have their main skills well above 4 Dice in no time, I think it's better to raise the Base Difficulties a bit.

Hand-to-Hand Combat:
    Martial Arts:  Moderate (3) if no special moves are used.
    Brawling:  Easy (2).

Ranged Combat:
    Point Blank:  Easy (2)
    Short: Moderate (3)
    Medium:  Difficult (4)
    Long:  Very Difficult (5)

Melee Combat:
    See individual weapons.

3.  Passive Defense Value
I decided not to include PDV in the Matrix D6 Legend.  Basically, it's one more thing everyone needs to keep track of during combat.  It can make life especially difficult for the GM, who has enough to think about without tracking everyone's PDV.  Besides,   think if you don't Dodge, too bad!

I can see why PDV might be more appropriate in the DC Universe.  It kind of evens the playing field a little bit and offers guys without super powers (like Batman and Robin) a chance in a fight versus some super-powered thug.

Furthermore, PDV probably came out of playtesting and was seen as needed.  If you find you need something like this in your system, it's easy to add.  Just take the character's Dexterity or Dodge or Acrobatics skill and divide it by 2 (rounding up).  This is the standard difficulty for anyone to hit your character.  If the character decides to Dodge, then a Dodge roll is made and that becomes the Active Defense Value, replacing the PDV even if the Dodge roll is lower than the PDV!

Finally, I haven't included a PDV for inanimate things.  Instead, I have given them Armor Values.  Again, WEG likely decided that PDV's work better for inanimate objects, but it seems counterintuitive to me.  So, I've decided to scrap it (right now...perhaps I'll figure out how necessary it is as I use the system!).

5.  Speed
Just to let you know, I have given Speed values in meters, not feet.

6.  Skills
The skills given in the D6 Legend version are pretty much the same as those in the D6 Classic version.   I didn't go through the DCU rulebook and transcribe any of them.  You may find that some should be altered for the D6 Legend.
 

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