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Odd Mechanic

May 30, 2011 /

I was working on a random way to give my kids some very simple addition subtraction problems. I will admit that I am thinking a bit far in the future as we really haven't covered subtraction yet.

That being said, I am a fan of the d4-ized d6 featured at the Dice Creator store. I am saving up for one of these. I love the possibilities that come the fact that it has more than one number on its face.

When I first saw it, I realized that it could make a great randomizer simply by concatenating the numbers rolled. Last night, though, I had some crazy idea to combine the d4ized-d6 with a Fudge die and an LCR die. (It kept me awake for half the night.) The Fudge die would tell you to subtract, concatenate, or add. The LCR die would tell you what other number on the face to compute with. For example, if you rolled a 6 (meaning that the 6 is on the bottom), the Center number would be the upside-down 1 above the 6. The Left and Right numbers would vary, but let's say for the sake of argument that the Left number is a 2 and the Right number is a 5. Left+Add would produce 8. Right+Add would produce 11. Center+Add makes 7. Left+Subtract gives you 4, Center+Subtract gives you 5, Right+Subtract produces 1. Left+Concatenate makes 62. Center+Concatenate makes 61 and Right+Concatenate makes 65.

You get the idea.

Yes, you can get negative numbers. The range produced goes from -5 to 65. Believe it or not, the median roll is a 7. In a roll-under system, the chances of rolling a 7 or less are about 55%.

Here is the spreadsheet with my analysis.

If, by some odd stretch, someone decided to use this mechanic in a roll-under system. It does allow for a natural "diminishing returns" feature.

Say for example that a system has a skill system rated by points. A Skill score of zero still gives you a 16% chance of success. Once you get up to a 7, you have a better than 50-50 chance of success. You're above a seventy precent chance of success at 15. After that, though, it's slow going to get a lot of progress. You break an 80% chance of success at a score of 34. To get above a 90% chance happens at a skill score of 52.

Critical successes? Roll a -4 or -5. Critical Failure? 61 or better.

Would this work in an RPG? Maybe not. It requires some getting used to. I think it might be better for a sports simulation sim, like American Footbal, for example. These kind of fiddly rolls happened in Paydirt. The results can emulate all kinds of tables, like Second Season Football. (I own both of these, by the way.)

Anyway, there's my odd mechanic idea that kept me awake last night. Enjoy!

Use of Dice in my OSR-ish project

May 21, 2010 /

Dice

Players use dice are used for three primary purposes: to determine damage, to determine success at a task, or for combat resolution.

d4 - Used to determine damage for smaller weapons like daggers, caltrops, brass knuckles, etc.

d6 - Used to determine damage for simple weapons, arrows, bolts and other hazards (like falling)

d8 - Used to determine damage for crafted weapons like swords. It is also used to determine success for tasks not covered in the rules.

d10 - Used to determine damage for large crafted weapons like halberds and two-handed swords.

d% - This refers to using two 10-sided die to determine success with certain tasks, usually special abilities such as Pick Locks or Catch Object. One die is treated as a tens-digit, the other as a ones digit. Results range from 01 - 99.

d12 - Used to determine damage for unusual monster attacks and for psionic combat.

dB% - This refers to using two 12-sided die to determine success with certain tasks for higher-level players for advanced abilities. The result of one die is multiplied by 10 and added to the other die. Results range from 11 - 132.

d20 - This die is used specifically for melee, missile, projectile and magic attacks.

The GM uses these die for mostly the same uses. At his or her discretion, other die may also be used. These other die are predominantly used for random generation purposes, for example, generating a random monster, etc. These include, but are not limited to:

d66 - Using two six-sided dice, multiply the result of one die by 10 and add the result of the other die.

Others include d3, d14, d16, d24, d30 and d100.

Notes

dB% is something I used to do for Thieves with high ability scores or for thieves at high levels. I added a bunch of abilities available only at level 12 and above like ventriloquism, throw voice, climb sheer surfaces, etc. I think Mr. Gygax himself suggested an arrangement like this at some point, but I don't recall seeing anything more concrete.

Since special abilities are open to any class generated, I plan on using dB% to represent characters that have high ability to perform one of these tasks - a 16 or above. Since the core mechanic of the system will consistently be a roll-over mechanism, some of the scores will be listed as >100.

Next post, I should include the Skill Tables.

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