Lvl 2 Expert
2017-06-11, 03:19 AM
(The part until the bold is semi-skippable if uninterested in background.)
I'm working on a system (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?526115-101-things-you-d-want-to-do-in-an-extreme-outdoor-racing-sports-RPG), and one of my design principles is that as much of the crunch as possible should be pretty much behind the scenes. You should get to build a character as if it's D20, and play it as if its FATE, ideally. One of the tools I plan to use for this is a sort of dice pool system where you throw a bunch of small dice and add their values up. I'm absolutely in love with the probability curves I'm getting in Excel. The idea is that when you strap on your parachute and get on that plane (it's an extreme/outdoor/racing sports system, by the way) you can already figure out how many and which dice you need to throw in each of a small number of different situations. You write that down on a cheat sheet, and now each time when you throw the dice, which happens ones or sometimes twice per turn, you quickly glance over, throw the right number of dice and add up the numbers. In the current incarnation it looks like I there will be two different types of dice, and at most three dice pools on the cheat sheet that will let you do anything related to the sport you're currently doing, with on top of that a simple plus or minus one die for situational bonuses, similar to the how the D&D 5 advantage system works in that you never need to add up bonuses and/or penalties, at least one bonus circumstance and no penalty circumstances gets you a bonus and vice versa, anything else is neutral.
If that went a little fast, it will be much clearer when explained by a proper rule book or a person, especially since they'll fill in the blanks I left open for now. But the question I'm here for is this:
When you're trying to run a smooth game, how many small dice, let's say D3's, would you be comfortable with throwing and adding up to each other every turn before it became annoying?
I figured the limit would be at around 5 or 6 dice, but it looks like I might need it to be a little higher, around 8 or something for higher level play, to really let the probability curve I've got shine.
So if you're willing to shoot me a quick estimate of how much you would roughly put up with before say houseruling that everyone rolls a D8 with simple bonuses or dropping the system altogether, that would really help me in prioritizing. It's better to have a less realistic curve but a playable game than the other alternative.
I'm working on a system (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?526115-101-things-you-d-want-to-do-in-an-extreme-outdoor-racing-sports-RPG), and one of my design principles is that as much of the crunch as possible should be pretty much behind the scenes. You should get to build a character as if it's D20, and play it as if its FATE, ideally. One of the tools I plan to use for this is a sort of dice pool system where you throw a bunch of small dice and add their values up. I'm absolutely in love with the probability curves I'm getting in Excel. The idea is that when you strap on your parachute and get on that plane (it's an extreme/outdoor/racing sports system, by the way) you can already figure out how many and which dice you need to throw in each of a small number of different situations. You write that down on a cheat sheet, and now each time when you throw the dice, which happens ones or sometimes twice per turn, you quickly glance over, throw the right number of dice and add up the numbers. In the current incarnation it looks like I there will be two different types of dice, and at most three dice pools on the cheat sheet that will let you do anything related to the sport you're currently doing, with on top of that a simple plus or minus one die for situational bonuses, similar to the how the D&D 5 advantage system works in that you never need to add up bonuses and/or penalties, at least one bonus circumstance and no penalty circumstances gets you a bonus and vice versa, anything else is neutral.
If that went a little fast, it will be much clearer when explained by a proper rule book or a person, especially since they'll fill in the blanks I left open for now. But the question I'm here for is this:
When you're trying to run a smooth game, how many small dice, let's say D3's, would you be comfortable with throwing and adding up to each other every turn before it became annoying?
I figured the limit would be at around 5 or 6 dice, but it looks like I might need it to be a little higher, around 8 or something for higher level play, to really let the probability curve I've got shine.
So if you're willing to shoot me a quick estimate of how much you would roughly put up with before say houseruling that everyone rolls a D8 with simple bonuses or dropping the system altogether, that would really help me in prioritizing. It's better to have a less realistic curve but a playable game than the other alternative.