Torg Player Rules

DIFFICULTY NUMBER SCALE
Description Difficulty Odds Modifier
Very Easy 3 80% -5
Easy 5 75% -3
Average 8 50% 0
Complicated 10 30% +2
Difficult 12 20% +4
Hard 13 15% +5
Very Hard 15 5% +7
Extremely Hard 18 — +10
Incredible 22 — +14
Nearly Impossible 25 — +17
how much more difficult it is based on the circumstances and then
apply an appropriate modifier.
Many of the skills listed in Chapter Three have sample difficulty
numbers and modifiers provided in their descriptions. Those numbers
are all based off of the Difficulty Number Scale.
Values and Measures
At the heart of the Torg system is the concept of values and
measures. A value refers to a quantity measured in a way which
can be used in the game, such as a weight value of 11, a time value
of 9, a distance value of 4 and so on. A measure is a measurement
from the real world, such as 150 kilograms, one minute, six meters
and so on. Values and measures can be converted back and forth
so that real world values can be expressed in game terms and so
that players will know what a particular value in the game means
in terms they can easily understand.
Alternate Scale Descriptions
Chapter Four: The Rules
In the first edition of the Torg rulebook, the Difficulty
Number Scale used some different labels to describe the
various difficulty levels. Since some products published
for Torg use those labels, their equivalents in this rulebook
are provided here:
First Edition This Book
2:1 Against Complicated
10:1 Hard
Heroic Very Hard
100:1 Extremely Hard
1000:1 Incredible
Never Tell Me the Odds Nearly Impossible
Most game systems use either a consistent scale for their
attributes—each point of an attribute represents a specific amount
of real-world measure—or they have no scale at all. The problem
with such systems is that while they work fine in a limited setting
(fantasy, horror, etc.) they either fall apart when bigger things
(like technological weapons) are introduced, or they require huge
numbers to represent the top end of the scale. For example, if a
dagger does “one die of damage,” how many dice do you roll for
the main cannon of the Death Star?
Torg solves this problem by the use of a logarithmic scale. A
logarithmic scale is one like the Richter scale, or the Decibel scale,
where each point represents a greater proportional amount than
the point before. For example, a level four earthquake is far more
than twice as powerful than a level two earthquake, because each
point on the Richter scale is 10 times as large as the point before.
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