I have come up with an idea about how to eliminate the Action Result Table (ART) from the game. I am somewhat fond of the ART but I am also fond of this idea. I can not take full credit for this idea because I came up with it after reading the latest post over at Back to the Dungeon! about a D6 - D6 resolution mechanic. I liked the basic idea but put my own twist to it; details below.
Most of the ideas I have brainstormed for a 2D6 chart based game system will still work with these changes; it should only require minimal tweaking. How about a 2D6 task resolution system with one positive die and one negative die? You roll the two dice together, subtract the negative from the positive, add in any modifiers from attributes/skills/etc., and get a total. If the final result is 1 or above, the attempted action is a success. If it is 0 or below, the attempted action fails. That would be for any standard difficulty tasks under the ART. Do you want to simulate a Hard difficulty task? The negative die is now a D8 and you roll with a positive D6. Do you want to simulate a Very Hard difficulty task? The negative die is now a D10 and you roll with a positive D6. The necessity of the ART is now eliminated.
It seems pretty easy and elegant to use to me. Of course, that is just a first impression with no play testing whatsoever. Any suggestions? What would you do - keep the ART or switch to 2Dx?
Well I would just use percentile dice since that is the most intuitive to me, but that's not an option ;)
ReplyDeleteIn regards as to what is best for you, you need to do two things:
1. Decide if you want players to look at a chart, or just know by looking at the dice if they succeed or not. The 2d6 has the option won't require a chart.
2. Run the probability of the dice in the 2dx system. This means with a 2d6, d8, d10, and d12. You need to see the distribution. Intuitively, a 2d6 would give a 50% chance of success or failure. However, the math might show something different.
In my experience, there are some nice sounding systems on paper, but the math never works out right. For example, the Cortex system has increasing dice for improved scores. It seems good because a higher die means the chance of an overall higher number (which you want). However, by altering the dice you alter the probability and it does weird things. For example, getting a 4 of a d4 is a 25% chance. Getting it on a d6 is a 16.67% chance. This combined with multiple dice results in a weird, and to me, a poor distribution of results.
Now, if you are in search of mechanics, I can give you plenty of links to look at. However, I really suggest you go download FUDGE. It lists multiple ways to determine success by dice. I don't like FUDGE, but it is good in terms of using different dice set up to generate values from -4 to +4. It is something anyone that is going to be messing with probabilities should look at.
Start around page 25:
http://www.fudgerpg.com/goodies/fudge-files/func-finishdown/5/
After you have read that and computed the probabilities to see if you get the distribution you want, you will know what system you prefer.
lol...percentile dice actually crossed my mind. I decided to stick with 2d6 for no other reason than "just because". I may have to revisit a percentile based system in the future...
DeleteYeah, that was the problem I was wondering about with different dice. Again, you step up with the nice, solid advice about this situation. I have always wanted to check out FUDGE and this gives me a reason. I will see what happens to my design then.
I meant the 2dx option won't require a chart.
ReplyDeleteYour newest proposal is very much like the FAST system used by Dave Bezio for his Wild West Cinema (out of Spectrum Games).
ReplyDelete"In Wild West Cinema, you will almost always roll two standard six sided dice, to resolve any action. This is called rolling the Luck Dice. The two dice should be of a different color, one representing a positive number (+) and the other representing a negative number (-). Red for positive and black for negative are the most obvious choices. Roll the two dice together and total the results. If you only have one die, or dice of the same color, you could roll one die first to represent the positive number, and then roll another die and subtract it from the first. This gives you a total of -5 to +5 with 0 being the average"
Hmmm....interesting. I was just throwing it out there and looking at other methods for a moment. I am pretty fond of the chart so I may just stick to it. Besides, it's small enough to fit nicely on every character sheet like I planned.
DeleteI got a way better name than 2dx. "Eldrad is the Greatest" RPG!
ReplyDeleteThat was actually my first choice but I could not use it. After a little bit of research, I discovered someone else was using that name already! The underlying game rules was called the 2D6-y+3x/4.5=-2.75. I don't know about you BUT that sounds a little complicated for my tastes....
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