Traveller 5: QREBS as a rules agnostic tool

Of course, being a developer, this translates as a "loosely coupled service" to me. Meaning we can use this concept in pretty much any game.

First, the definition for those who may not have the T5 rules (and sorry if I'm repeating myself - I seem to recall I may have already posted something like this before)

Objects. Any item which is subject to QREBS is called an object (or a device, a piece of equipment, a machine, an item, or an apparatus). QREBS is primarily concerned with devices and machinery, but it can also be used (judiciously omitting some parts of the system) with plants and animals, artwork, even books, drama, or music.   

Multi-Component    Objects. Where several objects are combined into a larger item (for example, components combined to become a ground car), the proper use of the QREBS system is to treat each major subsystem separately.

And the actual acronym stands for and how T5 calculates it:

As noted in the rules, this is not something you would use a lot, just as necessary. For instance, you go to the junkyard to pick up a cheaper replacement part. The quality may be the same, but perhaps the safety factor is lower. There are also rules for checking for things breaking down based on the reliability  and quality, and how often you need to check. But for most items, the following applies:

 The most common roll for any of the QREBS values is zero (or 5 for Quality). If values have not been created or calculated, the standard values apply. The most common roll for any of the QREBS values is zero (or 5 for Quality). If values have not been created or calculated, the standard values apply.

 Hopefully within the fair use rules: 

Quality is a measure of the consistency of workmanship, merit, value, or worth of an object. It directly reflects the time period between reliability downgrades. Quality is a measure of the consistency of workmanship, merit, value, or worth of an object. It directly reflects the time period between reliability downgrades. 

The other aspects have their similar definitions. The point is the application of these very optional rules. For me, I can see this translating into a fantasy game as-is.

A well-crafted sword will have a higher-than-average quality, meaning it is also less likely to break down in the middle of a battle, and you check less often for that. How that would translate in game mechanics is that I'd do one of two things. As most games give "excellent craftsmanship" a +1 generally to hit, I'd do that. Or adjust the critical fail so that, if the game mechanic such as in The Fantasy Trip where your weapon breaks, I'd give a saving throw. 

The Reliability score is how often you check for the thing to break down basically, so there is overlap in that the reliability can be adjusted by the quality. 

Anyway - let's create 3 swords and apply these rules to them to see how that could work in a game.

Our barbarian Snorg goes to the bazaar, and there is a weapons dealer hawking his swords. TFT has a sword at 8 gold, OSE at 10 gold. We'll average the 2 for our discussion, so that 9 GP is the "standard" price of a sword. And I'll grab 3 random swords from Dyson's Book of Swords, which I backed on Kickstarter (because I like to use what I get, and it can also be some more game prep!). Having 50 swords, D100 works for every 2. 

• Sword 1: Shadowcutter. +1, +2 for all creatures that live in the darkness.
• Sword 2: Lament's Edge. Forged on a distant plane. On the primary plane (which is all we'll stat out to begin with), it is a +1 and +2 against magic users.
• Sword 3: Krakenguard. +1, +4 against sea monsters (and something our pirate Elf would really want, so perhaps she has a bounty on that)

And while my original intent was to do all 3 swords, it makes this into a much longer post. So we'll just stick with first. And also note that, as per the usage description, this type of thing is really only for extraordinary circumstances. It is not something to be done with every usage, but something that can add flavor beyond just a basic mechanical adjustment.

Shadowcutter

Quality: 8. An above average sword, hence the +1. Though technically the Quality Mod is Q - 5, or +3. And huh, if we share that +1 between normal foes and then the +2 for creatures that live in darkness, this actually works out (and yes, I did actually roll that). This also determines the period for how long that item is good for. While this certainly applies to technical things, it can also apply to everyday items, even swords. This sword should last at least 3 years before having to check the reliability. I'd go with 3 years of actual use - not just sitting in a scabbard. So it should last quite a while.

Reliability (flux roll): 2. Better than many, Shadowcutter will indeed consistently give you the +1/+2 DMs when attacking. 

Ease of Use (flux): -3, hard to use. Shadowcutter was created by the Gahe for a one-armed Drow, so the balance is off for most people (unless you've lost an arm). 

Bulk/Burden (flux): 1, slightly unergonomic. See the note above. It requires a custom scabbard.

Safety (flux): 1, better than some. Unless you are a creature that lives in darkness of course!

Shadowcutter QREBS 8 +2 -3 +1 +1

+1 against regular foes, +2 against creatures that live in darkness. On a critical fail, rather than having the weapon break, its reliability and quality is reduced by 1. When the quality gets to 5 (average reliability) the +1 goes away, and the +2 gets reset to +1. 

So hmm, not sure it really brings anything actually useful to the game like this. Though it does allow you to age weapons when badly used perhaps. But I can see this as a potential thing when looting: roll a quality check (2d-2) and based on that curve, establish the quality of the sword. The other attributes may be useful or not, and honestly, possibly adjusted based on who the weapon was made for vs who is using it. For instance, a great sword made for an Orc is going to have really bad ergonomics for a Gnome trying to use it. The Fantasy Trip sort of handles this via the minimum strength required to use a weapon, which is a simple abstraction. But we're Traveller players: we love crunchy bits! 

Anyway, it was a way to re-read some of my Traveller books, try & bring in stuff I've got, and explore some possible mechanics for additional chrome. 

Software update (for those interested)

I've finally managed to get some tests in for my Traveller world explainer. For personal projects, this is pretty much overkill. But I really wanted to learn more about testing in .NET programming as I may have to start doing some of that at some point. In Rails, we used Rspec and just ran the tests, either the whole set or specific tests. What's cool about Visual Studio is that, if I name the tests correctly, it knows which method is getting tested! And I can run just those tests, and in the editor, can see the results. It is pretty cool actually, and a lot more developer friendly once you get it started.

I'll finish my method for "is this a valid (Classic) Traveller planet" then add in the actual trade codes. Then I may think about a trade roll as well. 

And yes, as you may have gleamed (and I may have mentioned already) I did get another job. Interestingly, I have three tech stacks they use: .Net, Rails, Filemaker. Which is a fairly odd combination, so it seems this job is custom made for me. While the benefits package is pretty bad, the pay is actually better than I was making. It is a hybrid job, meaning that I'll be in the office 3 or so days a week, and home 2 days. Though the 1st couple of weeks I am going in everyday to get used to things. And they honestly need more developers, so hoping I can get the developers from my previous company to be able to come over and work there. There is oddly a lot of shared domain knowledge between the 2 jobs, though the new one actually has a factory they own vs using ones in other countries as partners. It has been a surreal experience so far in how things overlapped like that.