System
Cyborg Commando introduces the d10x system. This is a dice rolling system where players roll two ten-sided dice and multiply the numbers together. A single roll of d10x is used to determine both whether an attack hits a target and how much damage it does. d10x rolls are also used with a character's skill levels to determine if the character succeeds at tasks he attempts.
Whereas a system that rolls a number of dice and adds the result produces a smooth bell curve distribution, multiplying the dice together as above produces a scattered distribution that favours lower numbers. This bottom-heavy distribution (which resembles a reversed Exponential function, exp(-x)) is used in the game to incorporate Critical hits (lucky shots that by chance hit a vulnerable spot and do an unusually large amount of damage) directly into the combined attack and damage roll.
The use of d10x as a skill roll builds diminished returns on investment and promotion into the skill/task system: only a relatively small investment of skill points is needed to purchase competency in a skill, while meaningful improvements require increasing investments. To illustrate, a skill with a percentile rank of 20 rolled with d10x gives a character a 46% base chance of success at a task, while a rank of 40 only increases the base chance to 72%, and a rank of 60 to only 81%.
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