#dice mechanics

[prima-materia-ttrpg]

Resolution Mechanics and You

Last post, I promised to talk about the dice mechanics in Prima Materia and why they exist the way they do. I also promised this would be a shorter post, so let's get this road on the show.

There were a few things I kept in mind when designing the resolution mechanics. Firstly, it had to involve dice, and a respectable amount of them. I enjoy rolling the click clack rocks quite a bit, and rolling more dice for me seems like a fun time. Secondly, it had to feel right. Feeling right is unfortunately very ambiguous, but I knew I wanted the dice system to feel like Attributes and Skills both mattered and contributed to a roll. I also wanted the system to be able to account for someone being abysmally bad at something, as well as very competent; with measurable steps along that path that feel distinct.

At the start, the only reference I really had was DND, so I researched different dice systems, what their pros and cons were, and branched out to play some other games. It's partially thanks to this that I got introduced to Star Wars D6, Warhammer Fantasy, and LANCER (excellent games, all of them).

After a month or so of this, I decided that no dice mechanics were up to snuff with the image in my mind of the dice system that struck the "correct balance." I didn't want to use a d20 system because there wouldn't be much variety in dice, and it's too swingy. I've never particularly liked d6 dice pools, partially because of the lack of dice variety. Other than that, I just don't subjectively like d6 dice pools in the games I've played that have them. d100 systems seemed interesting to me, but I felt they didn't allow for the kind of nuance I was looking for between the Attributes and Skills.

Regardless of whether or not my assumptions were correct, I decided to make my own dice system. Ironically, it turned out being fairly similar to d6 dice pools with a twist. This also ties in with how the Attributes and Skills work; but the simple version is that every roll comes down to what kind of dice you're rolling, and how many you're meant to roll. Attributes have a dice assigned to them; d4, d6, d8, d10, or d12; that represent how honed that attribute is. Skills have a number of pips that tell you how many dice to roll. For example, someone with a Vitality of d8 and endurance of 3 will roll three eight sided die when rolling endurance.

I think this system, if nothing else, is at least interesting. I'm in the process of playtesting to make sure it's actually fun to engage with and to see how much I need to tweak the math (particularly now that Character Creation mechanics exist), but so far it seems to be working nicely.

Thanks for reading, next time I'll post about some lore. I don't want to overload the blog with mechanics; the setting is just as important to this project (and I have art in the works for it!)

[passerkirbius]

#and - due to prev - wondering what imploding dice are#like you roll a 1 and then#you have to subtract other dice from the pool?#lee help

Figured I should break this out for @tellmeayarn...

Okay, so, in the context of a Vampire-style dice pool, "exploding dice" are where you roll a result that both gives you a "success", but also lets you reroll the dice again (thus, giving you the possibility of more successes). So, like, you roll a bunch of d10s, and every dice that rolls 7 or higher counts as a "success", but if you roll a 10, then you get to keep that success and roll again.

Imploding dice in this system are an opposite concept. If you roll below the imploding threshold or lower, you not only subtract a success from your total, but you reroll again, potentially losing more successes.

To be clear, it's a terrible mechanic. Don't do this. but as a mathematical idea, it's pretty fun. Also, if you combine the two types of rolls, you start having to dabble in mathematical dark arts to figure out probabilities of specific scores, because, if your dice can implode and explode with no limit, then for any given score, there is literally an infinite number of combinations of dice that can give you that score, which messes up the usual way you'd figure out the probabilities...

[roleplayolyhedrons]

Unified Core Mechanics

Hint: Having a bunch of core dice mechanics is counterintuitive and hard to master for all involved.

In the early days of Dungeons & Dragons, the core mechanics were something to be desired (some still cherish these earlier mechanics—see this fascinating article for more). These were the days of D&D’s non-unified core mechanics. Some classes required a d100 or percentile die to perform certain checks. The d20 was used for combat and checks, but there are more esoteric rules, tucked away in the earlier rulebooks, that required a d6 to be rolled to determine success or failure, something referred to in the above-linked article as the Rule of 2. This seems confusing to those of us who started with the third edition (and 3.5).

With each new edition of D&D, the esoteric and, if we’re honest, confusing rules were cut away, replacing them with something a bit more crunchy and uniform. It was the third edition, and the 3.5 edition, that unified the core mechanics within D&D. You rolled a d20 for almost everything. Other dice became secondary or tertiary to the almighty d20. The system became the d20 system, which was an impactful and business-savvy move by Wizards of the Coast in making the core mechanics of their cash-printing game more appealing to newer or even returning players.

While many folks despised the overemphasis on rules, procedures, and content bloat of the third edition, it was an important step in wrangling legacy roleplaying games like D&D. The unified approach made games like D&D less esoteric and easier to comprehend, especially if you were coming to the game a young teenager years ago, like myself.

Now, we have come to expect unified mechanics, even from the bigger names. Unified mechanics simplify the overall game, cut away the arcane, almost unusable rules, and make tabletop roleplaying a bit more approachable—although the designer in me wants to build a more manageable non-unified system: I look at early D&D rulebooks and decide against it.

[zephyraes]

STIM - LAIKA

[ x x x - x 🌌 x - x x x ] - [ not requested! ] > custom requests: None!

[threetrenchcoatsinatrenchcoat]

Never Stop Blowing Up theories:

boy group battle-royale-to-the-death of all the boy groups

trench warfare, everyone's attacks are only bombs

everyone is bombs

gritty live action yellow submarine reboot set in the cold war

gritty bomberman reboot set in the american war

minesweeper meets minecraft meets chris angel mindfreak

chasing stardom in the post-zombie apocalypse

series of lightly themed keep talking and nobody explodes minigames

the only hope against the kaiju is untested size-shifting technology

the aliens invade from a planet with much higher atmospheric pressure

a day in the life of shakerston: the nightvale but for natural disasters instead of conspiracy theories

the oregon path: the unliscensed ill-advised game show. only on quibi

automotons from the clockwork/time bomb workshop find their way home

kids on bikes? nah volcanoes on surfboards

welcome yon traveler to balloon animal country where oxygen is expensive and balloon life is cheap

we can't be superheroes we're too busy being the best lawyer, detective, doctor, senator, spy, and journalist in the city respectively

madame millington's barely haunted manor for wayward rising nashville country starlets

prospector gold rush for the dragon's hoard

medical procedural following the onsite staff at the youtuber mansion

constant pc deaths, everyone has three backup characters minimum

lou dms (i the viewer am the one who blows up)

[trollstims]

Sotha Sil

o.o.o||o.o.o||o.o.o

[apatura-iris-atelier]

The One and Only Ashes O'Reilly, quatermaster on the Aurora and pyromaniac extraordinaire.

If you don't know the Mechanisms, go check them out, they have great stuff !

[seawitchkaraoke]

Listen the battle episodes of junior year are simply some of my fave battle eps ever, I'm rewatching the last stand right now and man I'll never get over how ridiculously competent each and every one of them are, they're so hot for real for real

[talos-stims]

fidget spinner dice | source

[sensoryeen]

✦ | Anakin Skywalker Stimboard

✧ ✧ ✧ | ✧ ✧ ✧ | ✧ ✧ ✧

[vorestarr]

the saves for persuasion rolls when you're trying to convince a companion to use the astral tadpole:

Astarion: 15*

Gale: 18

Karlach: 7, then 14**

Lae'zel: 18

Minthara: none lol

Shadowheart: 15

Wyll: 18

*Astarion doesn't require a persuasion roll. you have to talk him into it through multiple dialogue choices instead of a persuasion check, and then it requires either wisdom or intimidation at 15 for him to finally agree

**Karlach requires one persuasion roll at 7 and then a second persuasion or intimidation roll at 14

(note these are all from my games, not any meta data, so i don't know if there are conditions that may change the rolls, but the numbers have seemed consistent through multiple games)

[cyanomys]

Hey TTRPG Nerds

I’m back on my bullshit again. What are some indie games with unique systems that aren’t D&D, PBTA/FitD, or Fate-based?

How do they use unique mechanics to accomplish cool stuff?

Story games, OSR, you name it — all welcome!

[hamelinsnightmare]

The Duck Shuffler

🎰 🎲 🎰 🎲 🎰 🎲 🎰 🎲

[unexpectedbrickattack]

Thinking plotting scheming of pt, but make it diceyd/ungeons. I think it fits so well; the plot of dd is so cute and its easy to smush existing characters into that universe.

Peppino wishes for his debt to be cleared and for his shop to be successful. Pman wants him and his art to be famous and revered beyond his wildest dreams. Vigi wants Justice or whatever (but hes actually here to be nosy about the ins and outs of the show itself). Noise wants MONEY and FAME. Mysterious man who looks like peppino wants his own shop :). All the pt bosses are dd bosses before going ‘hey, u know what? This gig kinda sucks ass. If u think u can take on the big cheese im jumpin onboard w you’.

Thats all i got LOL i am debating if i still want lady luck to be the boss or let pizzaface be the big bad and just remove the existing dd characters entirely. Pizzahead would always be the jester, and therefore, always be your last die/teammate, which i think is cute heehee hes tired of being a silly little guy no one takes seriously! Hes got silly dreams too!!!! Hes a silly guy w dreams!!!

[octastims]

Self care kit with plushies, Fidget toys and other cute stuff in rainbow/ bright colours for @sunnibits!! I hope you love it!!

🔴 🟠 🟡

🟢 🔵 🟣

🔵 🔴 🟠

[homebrew-a-la-traumaverse]

The Way of the Granite Guardian - Homebrew Monk Subclass by Nines

Always was a fan of the "Medusa was actually blessed by Athena to protect her" interpretation. It kinda falls to pieces when you realize that Athena was also the one that sent Perseus to kill her, though. Just like Perseus falls to pieces in this image. I guess you could write it as an attempt to fake her death?...

The idea of the Granite was actually inspired by a game called Slice and Dice. Not exactly a lot of story to it, but it's a pretty fun little dice-rolling roguelike.

The nature of this subclass gives you an unusual combination of durability and mobility, making you a frontliner and defender unlike any other in D&D. If you want to be particularly cheesy, you can use your mobility to run away from your allies, forcing enemy combatants to redirect their melee attacks far away from the rest of the party.

The 3rd level abilities of this subclass are definitely extremely loaded; half of Granite's Blessing just makes you immune to Petrification's downsides - though, notably, not advantage on attacks made against you, which helps to further redirect attacks towards yourself. You give up a lot of things for this powerful protection, though. While you can redirect as many attacks to yourself as you want per turn, you're still a bit less bulky than a Barbarian just by virtue of the difference in hit dice, and being attacked by every single enemy on the map can be rough even with the resistance afforded by petrification. You also give up nearly all of your action economy for these defenses, so you won't be throwing out nearly as many Flurries of Blows or Stunning Strikes, which might be a better use of ki in some encounters.

The "unintended side effect" bit of the 6th level feature is just because I thought it would be funny. You petrified your face too many times and now you're literally too stony-faced to laugh.