Topic: Sneaking up on an opponent

[gandalf970]

How do you handle this in RMSS?  Two schools of thought here, I have done it with roll stalk and hide and see how much you make it by and the opponent rolls Alertness, whoever makes it by more wins.  The other way I use it is the alertness ranks vs the stalk and hide ranks to determine how hard the maneuver is based on the chart in School of Hard Knocks.  GM assign a difficulty and then adjust.

0- or less Equal Difficulty
1-5 +1 Difficulty
6-10 +2 Difficulty
11+ +3 Difficulty

[jdale]

I would use the former, since that takes into account the stat and professional bonuses of both characters. However Alertness vs Stalking gives the advantage to the sneaky person, as they have different progressions. An appropriate Situational Awareness would be better if they have it.

[Hurin]

One other way I use in RM2 is to import the DnD concept of 'passive perception' (or Alertness in this case). The character trying to spot the stalker doesn't roll, but just adds 50 to his Alertness skill. This is the target number the Stalker needs to beat on her Stalking roll.

The advantage of this is that you only need one roll, and you don't have to tip your hand to the players regarding what is happening (I find that players start acting differently/metagamey when you ask them for a roll).

[Ruffie]

I like the solutions given in this thread. The difficulty would be dependent on the situation. If a character was trying to sneak up on a guard who is already a bit more alert it would be harder to do.

I would work with a Sneak vs alertness for most situations.

[Aspire2Hope]

I like the solutions given in this thread. The difficulty would be dependent on the situation. If a character was trying to sneak up on a guard who is already a bit more alert it would be harder to do.

I would work with a Sneak vs alertness for most situations.

Not really as you can add more to the "roll" for alertness. The 50 is just a nominal value of awareness. If you want your guard to be more alert add 10 to make it 60 plus the awareness to make the target score.