Torg Player Rules

EVIDENCE ANALYSIS CHART
Physical evidence Difficulty
Object is familiar or evidence is fairly clear (a knife at a 8
murder scene, lock picks near an open door)
Object is somewhat familiar or evidence is only partly clear 10
(a bloodstain near a closet where a body is hidden)
Evidence is reasonably obscure (water stains on a carpet 12
forming a faint trail from the door to the window)
Evidence is unusual or not obviously related (humming 15
refrigerator indicating that someone opened it recently)
The success level of the evidence analysis check should be used
to gauge how much useful information the character receives from
analyzing the evidence.
If the detective receives minimal or average success, she can
identify all of the objects or physical evidence by generic type:
automatic pistols, nylon rope, a poison, blood. If she gets a good
Chapter Three: Attributes and Skills
success, she knows precise information on the origin of the object,
substance, or evidence, and specific information on its type: a
Colt .45 automatic of rare manufacture; the rope has evidence of
microstranding common to Nippon Tech materials; the poison is
a hemotoxin derived from venomous reptiles found in the Living
Land.
If she gets a superior success, she knows to what use all of the
objects in the room were put. With a spectacular success she can
accurately reconstruct events from the evidence, fitting in all the
evidence to the explanation.
Good players may be able to discover this information on their
own through roleplaying and solid induction. The gamemaster
Find versus Stealth
The stealth skill says that the difficulty of sneaking past
a character is that characters find skill value. The find skill
says that the difficulty of detecting a stealthing character
is that character’s stealth skill. Which character makes the
skill check, the one trying to be sneaky or the one trying
to be observant?
In situations where the skills are being used as macro
skills, it’s easiest to let the player character be the one who
makes the skill check with a difficulty number equal to the
opposing skill value of the non-player character. So if a
player character is trying to sneak by a guard, she makes
a stealth skill check against the guard’s Perception or find
value. If a non-player character is trying to sneak past a
player character, the player character makes a Perception
or find skill check against the non-player character’s
stealth skill.
When events are in round play, such as when a character
tries to hide from someone actively searching for him, it
should be treated in the same manner as a combat situation.
A character can choose to actively or passively “defend”
with their appropriate skill against the “attack” being made
by the other character.
Example: Yukitada is being pursued through a research
facility in the Cyberpapacy by one of the Cyberpope’s
Inquisitors. Becky informs Barbara that Yukitada has the
initiative. Barbara declares that Yukitada is going to find
a place to hide and hope that the Inquisitor will pass by
without seeing her, so she generates a stealth total for
Yukitada. Becky, without telling Barbara, knows that the
Inquisitor is more interested in shooting at Yukitada than
searching for her this round so the Inquisitor will passively
“defend” against Yukitada’s stealth skill. The skill total
Barbara generates is compared to the Inquisitor’s find skill
to see if Yukitada is successful. She is, so the Inquisitor
passes right by Yukitada without seeing her.
In the next round, Barbara announces that the Inquisitor
has the initiative. Because he has lost sight of Yukitada, the
Inquisitor will actively search for her with his find skill.
Barbara says that Yukitada will actively “defend” and try to
remain out of sight. Becky generates an “attack” total with
the Inquisitor’s find skill and Barbara generates an active
“defense” total for Yukitada. The Inquisitor’s total is higher
and he spots Yukitada hiding in the shadows.
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