Driving

The driving skill score is a combination of the vehicle’s handling level and the persona’s driving skill. Every inatmo vehicle created has a handling level. If a persona has no driving skill, the skill score is entirely dependent on the vehicle’s handling level. A persona’s dexterity has no role in driving skill score. The driver’s dexterity comes into play if they need to regain control of their vehicle.

Like all task rolls, the more difficult the task, the more difficult it is to succeed. The degree of difficulty (DD) is maneuver-specific for driving. The base degree of difficulty increases with increasing speed.

Thus a player with a DEX of 10 could travel at ten h/u (36 km/h) without having a speed penalty. For every ten h/u (36 km/h) over this driver’s maximum speed, any maneuver increases by 1DD. A persona with a 10 DEX is cruising at 40 h/u (144 km/h). The degree of difficulty has a speed penalty of +3DD. Even trying to drive straight can be dangerous at high speeds.

The target roll can be calculated or tabulated. The table is included here for quick target roll checks. The tables below are connected copies from the section on task tables.

The target roll can be tabulated or calculated. A tabulated target roll employs a table comparing the degree of difficulty to skill score. A calculated target roll employs simple maths to determine the target roll. Very high skill scores and very high DDs require calculation.

No calculations are required. Compare DD to skill score to get the target roll. For example, skill score 5 intersects with DD 5 to yield a target roll of 66. The player must roll 66 or higher on a 1d100 to win her task roll. The higher the persona’s skill score, the lower the player’s target roll. Very high skill scores and very high DDs exceed the Target Rolls Table’s limits and require calculation.

Players can calculate the target roll using some simple maths and a tiny table. The higher the skill score, the greater the impact on the target roll.

A persona with no aptitude indicates that a persona is attempting a maneuver out of her vocation. For example, a mercenary trying to identify an alien flower would have no aptitude.

If the player rolls the target number or higher, they have won the driving roll. A successful driving roll indicates the driver has maintained control and exits the collision checklist. No one in the vehicles notices anything at all. If the player fails the driving roll, something has gone wrong, and the persona must rally the vehicle. The vehicle and passengers are one step closer to a collision, and the player now has to win a rally roll. Tension mounts.

The loss of control of the vehicle will last for 0 to 3 units (1d4-1). The driver loses control of her vehicle for that duration of time.

If the vehicle is travelling ten h/u and loses control for three units, the vehicle will travel for 30 hexes out of control.

Deceleration and deviation simulate the vehicle careening out of control every unit. This period is when everyone in the vehicle is screaming in fear, especially the nothing personas.

This speed loss can be from sensible braking, mad deviations, or both. While the driver is trying to regain control of the vehicle, the most common reaction is to brake. Swerving around also wastes energy, and a vehicle out of control always slows down.

The vehicle will decrease its speed by 0%-50% (1d6-1) each unit of lost control. A 0% deceleration indicates no loss of vehicle speed. A 50% deceleration indicates that the vehicle will be travelling at half its original speed.

The deceleration can be quite hazardous to the passengers if they lack proper restraints (aka seat belts). The decelerated speed is the one that determines the damage if an accident should result.

The struggle to control the vehicle is real. Once control is lost, the vehicle careens in a random direction. The last one, deviation, is left to the discretion of the referee. The ref must decide whether the vehicle-deviates left, right, up or down.

The speed at which the vehicle collides determines the severity of the accident. The vehicle should use its decelerated speed as the collision speed. If there are multiple vehicles in the collision, the speeds of both vehicles come into play. The vehicle speeds are combined to inflict damage to both vehicles.

Speed indicates the energy delivered by a collision, but that is not the whole picture. The relative wates involved in the collision also affect the damage delivered. If the referee ignores relative wates, the referee can expect strange results. For example, a moped could ram an 80-ton military tank at high speed and kill the tank crew. Or a jet plane could crash into a convertible, and the car driver could escape injury. There are some faux Newtonian solutions to these potential problems.

If a 1200 kg vehicle collides with a 400 kg vehicle, the larger vehicle will take 1/3 damage. The smaller vehicle will take three times damage. The referee should round the damage multiplier to the nearest manageable number (1, 2, 3, 4) or (1, 1/2, 1/3. 1/4). The damage factor cannot be increased more than four times greater or be reduced by less than 1/4.

A deceleration of 50% will damage unrestrained passengers. Being savagely thrown about in a vehicle could happen without a collision. For instance, a vehicle that decelerates to 50 h/u from 100 h/u will throw unrestrained passengers around inside the vehicle. Personas can hit the interior bulkheads at 50 h/u. Bright explorers wear their seat belts!!

A roll on the Location of Vehicle Damage table must include an Extent of Damage roll. The location of damage determines which vehicle function is affected by the damage.

The extent of the damage roll indicates the decrease in efficiency of the damaged part. Major damage would decrease the system to 60% of the previous function. Major damage to the speed system would reduce the vehicle’s speed to 60% of the previous function. The vehicle’s maximum speed of 30 h/u drops to 18 h/u. Vehicle system damage is cumulative.

The Collision Wate Modifier should modify the extent of the damage. The referee may multiply the extent of damage roll by the multiplier. If the player rolls 50 on the Extent of Damage Table, this could be multiplied by as much as 4 or 1/4.

There are further complications that may interest the referee. Passenger entrapment equals 1% per HPS of damage inflicted on the passenger. Post-collision fire is dependent on fuel type and damage to the fuel system. A Sphincter Roll is required to determine if there is a fire complication. Whether the vehicle is drivable depends on the damage to systems during the collision. The final vehicle resting position is entirely up to the decision of the referee.