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Celestia
2018-08-31, 01:32 PM
I'm currently designing an rpg, and I'm planning to base the core mechanic on dice pools. I've done some research on popular methods, but I thought it would help to poll the fine people here to get further information. Thus, I would appreciate it if you would be willing to answer the following questions.

1. What size die do you prefer?
It seems like d6s and d10s are the most popular options in other rpgs. Which do you like better? Or do you prefer another die entirely?

2. Do you prefer large dice pools that roll many dice (>10) or more constrained ones with lower caps (<10)?
Does rolling lots of dice make things more fun or just more of a hassle?

3. Do you prefer rolling against target numbers or making opposed rolls with the GM?
Do opposed rolls make things more dynamic and interesting or just slower? Do you like mixing both styles based on circumstances, and if so, what circumstances?

4. Do you prefer additive pools or counting successes?
I've seen games that add the results of all dice to get a total and others that add one for each die that rolled above a certain threshold. Which do you like more and why?

5. For counting successes, what side threshold do you prefer?
Do you like an even 50/50 split (rolling 4-6 on a d6)? Or is it better to have thresholds that are larger/smaller? In addition, do you like having 1s count as negative successes or not?

6. For either rolling method, do you like mixing static bonuses in with your dice pools (roll 5d6, total/count successes, then add 2)?
And if you do like static bonuses, how large and how frequent should they be?

7. For either method, do you like exploding dice?
Does it work better with one method over the other? Is it better exploding only once or chaining multiple times?

Again, I appreciate if you would answer any or all of these, and if you have any other comments to make, those would be great, too. Thank you for your time.

Knaight
2018-08-31, 02:37 PM
There's some obvious caveats about how dice pools are a particular set of tools for a particular set of jobs, and as such I can't give particularly good answers without knowing the design goals. That said:

1) I'll use either, but I had the necessary dice for d6 long before I had the necessary dice for d10. Dice of other sizes would be an issue, mostly because the lack of dice pool systems for them translates to a lack of bulk dice - 50d10 is a pretty standard bag of dice to buy, I've never seen 50d8. Still, that isn't too big a deal.

2) I'm good with either, but tend to favor systems where the number of dice rolled usually lives in the 4-10 range, with very exceptional cases pushing it out on either side.

3) I generally favor target numbers, but the use of opposed rolls can allow for successes that are otherwise impossible, and if that's a design goal I'm all for opposed rolls. Still, in my experience they slow the game down, and exploding dice pools fill that niche just as well anyways.

4) Definitely counting successes. It's far faster at the table, and that counts for a lot for me - particularly once a lot of dice start getting thrown around.

5) I can work with any threshold, but do tend to favor 50/50. Again though, this is a design problem first and foremost, and I don't know what's being designed. 1s counting as negative is a bit of a different case; it's something I can respect as a valid tool but that I still viscerally hate.

6) Generally no, though if they're used in a more niche manner I'm fine with them. There's also pseudo-static bonuses built in to systems where you can trade multiple dice for guaranteed successes, and I'm fond of those.

7) Exploding dice are fine, as are chained explosions. If anything I favor the chained explosions, less because they tend to actually happen much and more because I know that it's theoretically possible for them to chain arbitrarily high, which is nice to see.

Honest Tiefling
2018-08-31, 02:46 PM
1. What size die do you prefer?

D10s and d6s, since a lot of gamers are going to have a pool of those anyway for various systems and you can get them readily without having to bother with the other dice.


2. Do you prefer large dice pools that roll many dice (>10) or more constrained ones with lower caps (<10)?
I have itsy-bitsy teeny weeny hands, so I prefer smaller...But you just can't argue that rolling a large group of dice for an awesome roll just feels right. So normally smaller, but with the ability to score higher pools for dramatic and awesome rolls. I don't really expect it, but you did ask.


3. Do you prefer rolling against target numbers or making opposed rolls with the GM?
Opposed rolls bog the game down. Target numbers for most rolls, opposed for boss fights/plot climaxes in my opinion.


4. Do you prefer additive pools or counting successes?
This is going to sound stupid, but successes. Less addition, and when part of your group is potentially stoned or just plain bad at math, it matters for pacing. Of course, if you are rolling 4 or less dice this matter is far more moot.


5. For counting successes, what side threshold do you prefer?
I feel like negative successes should be limited to really dangerous rolls or something, just so you don't have your gunman shoot themselves in the face. I think some of my dice are cursed. As for the number which is a success, I think that should be dependent on the game math. Threshold doesn't really matter to me.


6. For either rolling method, do you like mixing static bonuses in with your dice pools (roll 5d6, total/count successes, then add 2)?
Again, I think this depends a lot on game math and expectations of the genre. But if I had to hazard a guess, bonuses for RP/Backstory/Dramatic stuff wouldn't be bad.


7. For either method, do you like exploding dice?
I do, because it can lead to interesting situations, but for the love of Pelor, put a limit on it before the gunman manages to kill Cthulu with a pistol. Unless it is meant to be that type of game.

Celestia
2018-08-31, 03:13 PM
There's some obvious caveats about how dice pools are a particular set of tools for a particular set of jobs, and as such I can't give particularly good answers without knowing the design goals.
Ah, good point. So, the game I'm designing is one that is set in a Medieval fantasy world but one that is (hopefully) more realistic than things like D&D or WoW tend to be. I'm also hoping to make it more story focused with combat being a secondary or even tertiary option for problem solving (though, I'm not quite sure how to do that just yet). I chose dice pools seems to favor average results without reducing fun or enjoyability. I want it to be a fairly rules light and simple game that is more about roleplay while still having plenty of rollplay because dice are fun.

Thanks for your response. I am considering your replies and waiting to see if more people post, though I do have one more question about exploding dice: is it better with d6s or d10s? I'm wondering if it might be too common on d6s, and if that would detract from their charm. Oh, and also, you mentioned trading dice for guaranteed successes. How would that work? Is it, like, trading two dice for one success?


@Tiefling: Thanks for your response. It seems like you both prefer successes and target numbers. Those were the answers I was expecting for that. I do like your idea of bonuses for backstory stuff. That sounds like it would work well to help differentiate characters without significantly altering the game functionality.

Knaight
2018-08-31, 03:38 PM
Ah, good point. So, the game I'm designing is one that is set in a Medieval fantasy world but one that is (hopefully) more realistic than things like D&D or WoW tend to be. I'm also hoping to make it more story focused with combat being a secondary or even tertiary option for problem solving (though, I'm not quite sure how to do that just yet). I chose dice pools seems to favor average results without reducing fun or enjoyability. I want it to be a fairly rules light and simple game that is more about roleplay while still having plenty of rollplay because dice are fun.
That's vague enough to still be pretty unhelpful here, though the aim for rules light and simple does suggest that you might particularly want to avoid additive dice pools, routine explosions, and modifier use.



Thanks for your response. I am considering your replies and waiting to see if more people post, though I do have one more question about exploding dice: is it better with d6s or d10s? I'm wondering if it might be too common on d6s, and if that would detract from their charm. Oh, and also, you mentioned trading dice for guaranteed successes. How would that work? Is it, like, trading two dice for one success?
Exploding d6 works just fine, but your aim for "more realistic" does make an exploding d10 likely to be a better fit. Also it is exactly like trading two dice for one success, though the ratio varies a bit. Often it's used as a way to shrink dice pools, where instead of rolling 50d you're roll something like 20+10d, sometimes it's just a way to provide a guaranteed floor.

Unfavorable trades can particularly help here. If you can trade 3:1 Dice:Success but your success chance is 1/2 it becomes a way of raising guaranteed success while doing worse, and gives a way to play things safe that is really useful in certain extremes.

Take a look at Shadowrun and Hollow Earth Expedition here, as two major ways this happens.

MoiMagnus
2018-08-31, 03:51 PM
1) d20 for single-die roll, d6 for multiple-die roll. d12 is fun too.

2) Smaller, except for one-in-a-session rolls, where I like huge pools

3) Fixed difficulty. (or semi-fixed, i.e the DM roll a secret dice and fix an arbitrary difficulty from it)

4) Additive, with 2 exception:
- I've tested a star wars system where the dices had 2 different kind of success (success and advantage), and that's one of my favorite dice system.
- I've tested a system were it was a "max of the dice". It works quite well too.

5) 50/50 is boring. I quite like the "success on 5-6 in normal situation, 4-5-6 if advantage, 6 if disadvantage". Anything that has better success than 50% is wrong, because it is penalising "not being lucky" instead of rewarding "being lucky".

6) Yes. However if there is more than one bonus at a time, your system become "technical", and expect me to take significantly more time to play my turn because I will check if I've not forgotten any bonus.

7) Exploding dices. Have them with chaining, or not at all. I don't like them if they are systematic, they are just a lot of trouble for nothing. I like them if they are exceptional, for example, after rolling the dice, you can expand an "hero point" to trigger an explosion, and your action is given a miracle-like description.

Celestia
2018-08-31, 04:06 PM
That's vague enough to still be pretty unhelpful here, though the aim for rules light and simple does suggest that you might particularly want to avoid additive dice pools, routine explosions, and modifier use.
Well, what sort of information would be more helpful to give?


Exploding d6 works just fine, but your aim for "more realistic" does make an exploding d10 likely to be a better fit. Also it is exactly like trading two dice for one success, though the ratio varies a bit. Often it's used as a way to shrink dice pools, where instead of rolling 50d you're roll something like 20+10d, sometimes it's just a way to provide a guaranteed floor.

Unfavorable trades can particularly help here. If you can trade 3:1 Dice:Success but your success chance is 1/2 it becomes a way of raising guaranteed success while doing worse, and gives a way to play things safe that is really useful in certain extremes.

Take a look at Shadowrun and Hollow Earth Expedition here, as two major ways this happens.
I see. Thanks.

MoiMagnus: Thanks for the response. I like your idea of expending a narrative resource to gain the exploding. I think if I do that while using d6s, I can keep them rare and exceptional while allowing for easier chaining when they do happen.

Doug Lampert
2018-08-31, 04:40 PM
1. What size die do you prefer?
Depends, d6 if I want simple, d10 if I want more granularity.

2. Do you prefer large dice pools that roll many dice (>10) or more constrained ones with lower caps (<10)?
3-7 dice for routine tasks. Counting dice prior to the roll and counting successes after the roll both need to be fast and almost effort free.

3. Do you prefer rolling against target numbers or making opposed rolls with the GM?
Opposed rolls tend to be mathematically identical to adding a bunch more dice, and then requiring more successes. So it's more random (on a mechanic that is already pretty random) and less influenced by skill.

I prefer to have a set difficulty. The exception is hand to hand combat, where I can use difference in successes is how much damage you do.

4. Do you prefer additive pools or counting successes?
Counting successes. Addition takes time. It doesn't matter that any one individual instance is fast, you can end up with a lot of rolls in a game, and adding bunches of dice together is mental effort on something that's NOT playing your character or running the world.

It's a distraction you don't need, that doesn't add much to the game.

5. For counting successes, what side threshold do you prefer?
I like the system to default to roughly 2/3rds successes and for skill/talent to give the number of dice, but difficulties that can be overcome by luck give an increase to the the threshold; difficulties that can be overcome by skill give an increase in number of successes to accomplish much.

So for example range penalties at archery would be an increased threshold, the arrow is in flight long enough that the target is likely to move some before it hits, it takes some luck to hit regardless of skill. But size penalties would be in more required successes.

The die pool allows you an extra "dimension" in terms of how you apply difficulty or modifiers. Use this.

6. For either rolling method, do you like mixing static bonuses in with your dice pools (roll 5d6, total/count successes, then add 2)?
Nope, a penalty is identical to increasing the required number of successes, a bonus is identical to giving the effect of a couple of extra successes for free.

You're adding terminology to do something the system can already do. KISS. Success number (aka what you roll to succeed) and a required number of successes is all you should normally need. For that matter, if I get extra successes for free, and a success means anything like "success", why am I rolling at all?

7. For either method, do you like exploding dice?
Exploding die slow things down every time it happens, "Oh, I got two sixes on my 8d6, I need to find two more d6 and roll them now, whoops, another six, more time spent on something that's not actually role-playing.

And with small dice and large pools you'll almost always explode. As few as 4d6 explodes one or more dice over half the time. 7d10 explodes one or more dice over half the time.

If you're using my "difficulty is sometimes in the threshold for success" then you can use d10 with a 0 treated as zero, and on a difficulty of more than 9 you need to reroll and add for any die of 9 or more. That still slows things down, but it only comes up with a difficulty of 10 or more which should be pretty rare.

Since other people have mentioned penalties or lost successes on a "1", I'll add, if you have any, they should only happen if you completely fail. Otherwise, it's way too easy to get cases where rolling more dice actually gets you more likely to botch.

Mordar
2018-08-31, 06:41 PM
I'm currently designing an rpg, and I'm planning to base the core mechanic on dice pools. I've done some research on popular methods, but I thought it would help to poll the fine people here to get further information. Thus, I would appreciate it if you would be willing to answer the following questions.

1. What size die do you prefer?
It seems like d6s and d10s are the most popular options in other rpgs. Which do you like better? Or do you prefer another die entirely?

Depends...but mostly if they have to explode, d6. If not, d10.


2. Do you prefer large dice pools that roll many dice (>10) or more constrained ones with lower caps (<10)?
Does rolling lots of dice make things more fun or just more of a hassle?

Generally I think a 10-die cap is a good plan.


3. Do you prefer rolling against target numbers or making opposed rolls with the GM?
Do opposed rolls make things more dynamic and interesting or just slower? Do you like mixing both styles based on circumstances, and if so, what circumstances?

Both. Target number, compare successes.


4. Do you prefer additive pools or counting successes?
I've seen games that add the results of all dice to get a total and others that add one for each die that rolled above a certain threshold. Which do you like more and why?

Counting successes. If additive, needs to be a small number of dice, and that probably limits the range of skill at which an objective is achievable, or a roll-keep system (roll X keep Y).


5. For counting successes, what side threshold do you prefer?
Do you like an even 50/50 split (rolling 4-6 on a d6)? Or is it better to have thresholds that are larger/smaller? In addition, do you like having 1s count as negative successes or not?

Variable success - easy tasks are X, moderate are y, hard are z, superhard are z+1. Assuming using d10, 1s can only count as negative successes if 10s give me another die to roll or count as 2 successes. Otherwise it is too easy to punish high-skill characters.


6. For either rolling method, do you like mixing static bonuses in with your dice pools (roll 5d6, total/count successes, then add 2)?
And if you do like static bonuses, how large and how frequent should they be?

I think that can be a good idea, but I'm not sure. I'd almost rather circumstances increased or decreased the number of successes needed for the action.


7. For either method, do you like exploding dice?
Does it work better with one method over the other? Is it better exploding only once or chaining multiple times?

On d6 pools I've not had a problem with it...it allows for target numbers to grow beyond the top side on the die, but that kind of also requires larger and larger pools. For d10s I don't like the idea.

Again, I appreciate if you would answer any or all of these, and if you have any other comments to make, those would be great, too. Thank you for your time.[/QUOTE]

Unlike some people, I like dice pool games. Even if the numbers don't bear it out, I like the feeling of having a handful of dice instead of just one (d20) because I feel it minimizes luck swings. I also like the combination of skill and attribute (like oWoD, or L5R). I was not a fan of the d20 everything (or of Savage everything) if only because I like the variety of resolutions systems.

In any event, good luck!

- M

Knaight
2018-08-31, 06:53 PM
It might be worth establishing variable target numbers as an actual poll question. Personally I strongly dislike it. Varying difficulty numbers is just generally more elegant, and altering both at the same time tends to get messy. I've seen it used well (Burning Wheel, "shade"), but varying it by task and not character seems to pretty consistently fail.

Nifft
2018-08-31, 06:57 PM
1. What size die do you prefer?
It seems like d6s and d10s are the most popular options in other rpgs. Which do you like better? Or do you prefer another die entirely? I like weird dice. Having only one type of die is a demerit.



2. Do you prefer large dice pools that roll many dice (>10) or more constrained ones with lower caps (<10)?
Does rolling lots of dice make things more fun or just more of a hassle?
Too many dice is a hassle, yeah.



3. Do you prefer rolling against target numbers or making opposed rolls with the GM?
Do opposed rolls make things more dynamic and interesting or just slower? Do you like mixing both styles based on circumstances, and if so, what circumstances?
You can roll against the DM even with a target number (i.e. opposed success count) so I don't see this as a valid distinction.



4. Do you prefer additive pools or counting successes?
I've seen games that add the results of all dice to get a total and others that add one for each die that rolled above a certain threshold. Which do you like more and why?
Counting successes seems good except what little I've seen of Cortex+ seems even better. But I haven't played that enough to know if it remains better over the longer term.



5. For counting successes, what side threshold do you prefer?
Do you like an even 50/50 split (rolling 4-6 on a d6)? Or is it better to have thresholds that are larger/smaller? In addition, do you like having 1s count as negative successes or not?
The best experience I've had with that sort of system was Exalted 2e -- success on a 7, double success on a 0. That meant the expected value of each die was .5, but with a higher total variance.



6. For either rolling method, do you like mixing static bonuses in with your dice pools (roll 5d6, total/count successes, then add 2)?
And if you do like static bonuses, how large and how frequent should they be?
It can work, sure. In the Exalted example, spending on one of the Excellencies would give you guaranteed successes; an external penalty would reduce total successes.



7. For either method, do you like exploding dice?
Does it work better with one method over the other? Is it better exploding only once or chaining multiple times?
Nope, don't like exploding dice.

LibraryOgre
2018-08-31, 06:58 PM
1. What size die do you prefer?

d12s, both because I am contrary and because I find 12 more mathematically interesting than 10


2. Do you prefer large dice pools that roll many dice (>10) or more constrained ones with lower caps (<10)?

If it's an addition-based dice pool (q.v. the D6 system (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/20447/D6-Space?affiliate_id=315505), L5R (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/3552/Legend-of-the-Five-Rings-3rd-Edition-Revised?affiliate_id=315505)), I prefer for it to be more restrained... less than 10 dice. If it's a success-based system (World of Darkness (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/168428/Chronicles-of-Darkness?affiliate_id=315505), Shadowrun (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/115985/Shadowrun-Fifth-Edition-Core-Rulebook-Master-Index-Edition?affiliate_id=315505)), it can have a larger dice pool... it's a lot easier to just sort "Failure/Success" than to add a bunch of numbers quickly.

3. Do you prefer rolling against target numbers or making opposed rolls with the GM?
Depends on the circumstance. Static TNs make things a lot easier for quick play, but opposed rolls make sense when someone is actively opposing things.

4. Do you prefer additive pools or counting successes?
Either is fine. However, I prefer the new style when dealing with successes... the TN is always the same, but the dice pool varies in size according to the difficulty.

5. For counting successes, what side threshold do you prefer?
50/50 is too generous for me, generally, but SR's 5-6 on d6 is fine. I don't like 1 to count as a negative success, though a mechanic where "If no sucessess, a 1 counts as a complication is fine". Even "If 1s exceed successes, there is a complication" is fine. 1s as negative successes are REALLY annoying on smaller die sizes.

6. For either rolling method, do you like mixing static bonuses in with your dice pools (roll 5d6, total/count successes, then add 2)?
A lot depends on the rolling method. If we're counting successes, then static bonuses are best as successes, and I don't like that. If it's an additive dice pool, a bonus is just fine.

7. For either method, do you like exploding dice?
If dice explode, I want them to always explode, but I do like some level of limit on explosions... maybe limited to a single die (as with d6s wild die), or only dice in certain circumstances (like Shadowruns Edge dice)

Celestia
2018-09-01, 12:34 AM
It might be worth establishing variable target numbers as an actual poll question. Personally I strongly dislike it. Varying difficulty numbers is just generally more elegant, and altering both at the same time tends to get messy. I've seen it used well (Burning Wheel, "shade"), but varying it by task and not character seems to pretty consistently fail.
Maybe I'm just tired, but I'm not sure what you're saying here. Could you maybe explain that a bit further?

@Other posters: Thank you for your responses. I know I'm not directly replying to your answers, but I am taking everything you've said into consideration, and I've already made some changes. I think it already looks better than it did before. Thanks again. :smallsmile:

Tanarii
2018-09-01, 12:48 AM
If you want a rules light game, do not include dice pools. They slow the game down, and are always more rules intensive.

Maat Mons
2018-09-01, 01:09 AM
1. What size die do you prefer?
It seems like d6s and d10s are the most popular options in other rpgs. Which do you like better? Or do you prefer another die entirely?

I'm inclined toward d6's, partly because you can buy 36 of them in a neat little box.




3. Do you prefer rolling against target numbers or making opposed rolls with the GM?
Do opposed rolls make things more dynamic and interesting or just slower? Do you like mixing both styles based on circumstances, and if so, what circumstances?

I like opposed rolls, where successes of the defender cancel out successes of the attacker. So you roll to hit, they roll to dodge, getting at least 1 success (above and beyond those canceled by the defender's roll) means you hit, and each success beyond that gives you +1 to your dice pool for damage. You roll damage, the defender rolls toughness, and each success you roll (above and beyond those canceled by the defender's roll) is one point of damage dealt.

I can understand if you'd want to avoid opposed rolls, but I would not require some target number of successes. If you want something to be more difficult, you can just assign a dice-pool penalty. If each die has a 50% chance of being a success, -2 dice on your roll averages about the same as requiring a second success. And it does that without undermining the whole "success = success" thing. That is, the base mechanic that getting even one success on a roll means the roll was a success.

You know, I might have just talked myself out of opposed rolls.




success on 5-6 in normal situation, 4-5-6 if advantage, 6 if disadvantage

You're not the only one who has suggested this, but you're the easiest one to quote.

I don't really like this mechanic. Dice pools necessarily alter the chances of success for a roll by altering the number of dice rolled. That's an inherent part of the whole notion. Or, at least, I think it is. Has somebody made a dice pool system where you always roll the same number of dice? Under what definition of "dice pool system" would that even count?

Anyway, that's already there, and we can work with it without adding any substantial complexity to the game. But varying what number you need to roll on a die for it to be a success adds a whole 'nuther axis to your chances of success. Adding some, variable minimum number of successes is also another axis.

I feel like adding mechanics for this is necessarily going to raise the level of complexity, and I feel that extra complexity should only be allowed if it adds something vital. In these two cases, these extra mechanics would only be adding more ways to influence the likelihood of a rolls success. Chance of success can already be changed by changing the number of dice rolled. So why make things more complicated just to gain the ability to do something that can already be done anyway?




4. Do you prefer additive pools or counting successes?
I've seen games that add the results of all dice to get a total and others that add one for each die that rolled above a certain threshold. Which do you like more and why?

Counting successes, definitely. I'd elaborate on why, but it's already been covered pretty well.




5. For counting successes, what side threshold do you prefer?
Do you like an even 50/50 split (rolling 4-6 on a d6)? Or is it better to have thresholds that are larger/smaller? In addition, do you like having 1s count as negative successes or not?

A big NO to "botches," or whatever, canceling out successes.




7. For either method, do you like exploding dice?
Does it work better with one method over the other? Is it better exploding only once or chaining multiple times?

Another big NO to exploding dice.

Success cancellations and explosions would each require adding new mechanics. And what do you gain from adding them in. More randomness? Is randomness something you want? The entire reason I like dice pools is that rolls for high-skill characters tend to be predictable. If you want rolls for high-skill characters to be all over the place, why not use a base rolling mechanic that you don't have to fight against to get the result you want?

Lorsa
2018-09-01, 04:42 AM
I'm currently designing an rpg, and I'm planning to base the core mechanic on dice pools. I've done some research on popular methods, but I thought it would help to poll the fine people here to get further information. Thus, I would appreciate it if you would be willing to answer the following questions.

Polling is fine, and I will try to answer each question from my own perspective.


1. What size die do you prefer?
It seems like d6s and d10s are the most popular options in other rpgs. Which do you like better? Or do you prefer another die entirely?

The size doesn't matter that much in itself. Sometimes I've been wishing for a system that uses d12s, just because they are clearly underused, but other than that, it's all about how the different die sizes interact with statistics.

A larger die size is a safer bet in that regard, as it allows you more leeway to fiddle with the probabilities.



2. Do you prefer large dice pools that roll many dice (>10) or more constrained ones with lower caps (<10)?
Does rolling lots of dice make things more fun or just more of a hassle?

I like rolling lots of dice. It has a nice feeling to it. Though if the dice pool is so large that it's hard to fit in your hands, it gets troublesome. Pools of, say 30 dice are difficult, but 10 is fine. You put your cut-off limit at 10, but I would say that 10 +-5 is probably a good number. Less than 5 is kinda boring, but more than 15 a little bit hard to roll. Also, now we are just talking about fun, not about statistics, right?



3. Do you prefer rolling against target numbers or making opposed rolls with the GM?
Do opposed rolls make things more dynamic and interesting or just slower? Do you like mixing both styles based on circumstances, and if so, what circumstances?

I tend to think dynamic rolls make things slower. Rolling against target number makes it, psychologically speaking, feel like the power is in my hands, not the GMs. On the other hand, I can certainly see a use for mixing both styles, but one that was always opposed rolls with the GM would just be tedious. Circumstances would be, for example, if both a PC and an NPC was trying to influence the same person. That would require an opposed roll. So dynamic has its use, though it is mostly more time consuming.



4. Do you prefer additive pools or counting successes?
I've seen games that add the results of all dice to get a total and others that add one for each die that rolled above a certain threshold. Which do you like more and why?

Counting successes is a lot faster, and then I am good at counting. If you add the result of all the dice, I wouldn't say you have a "dice pool" system anymore. Then you get the same system as, for example, D&D, just with a very strong bell curve instead of linear probability. So if you are going to roll lots of dice, counting successes is the way to go imo.



5. For counting successes, what side threshold do you prefer?
Do you like an even 50/50 split (rolling 4-6 on a d6)? Or is it better to have thresholds that are larger/smaller? In addition, do you like having 1s count as negative successes or not?

Then we get into maths. Most dice pool systems I've seen tend to be around 33% chance of success per die. But it really depends on your target numbers. This is the bit I have no real opinion on, but it is up to the designer to figure out.

Generally speaking I've never liked negative successes. They make things too swingy. I like when there is some randomness involved, but not too much.



6. For either rolling method, do you like mixing static bonuses in with your dice pools (roll 5d6, total/count successes, then add 2)?
And if you do like static bonuses, how large and how frequent should they be?

I really don't mind static bonuses. They are equivalent to a change of target number, but in some cases it might make more sense to give a bonus. For example, when you are attacking with a weapon, different weapons might give bonus damage, rather than changing the health boxes of your target.

There is no hard rule on how large and frequent they should be, it all depends on the rest of the system.



7. For either method, do you like exploding dice?
Does it work better with one method over the other? Is it better exploding only once or chaining multiple times?

I think exploding dice work better with the success method rather than the adding method. I've seen added method using exploding dice, and the results can be... interesting. And verisimilitude-breaking. Also boring. For example, if a random peasant can insta-kill your well-trained knight simply by rolling tons of exploding dice, it's not very fun.

Exploding dice also depends on what die type you use. There's a big difference between exploding 6s on a d6 compared to exploding 10s on a d10. So basically, the higher die type you use, the more "safe" it is to use exploding dice (which can be quite fun, when you roll it yourself) without the end result being far too swingy.

Whether or not you have then explode only once or chain multiple times depends on how high your probability distribution should go. If they chain multiple times then in theory you can reach an infinite value (though it rarely happens except for chaining exploding added dice).



Again, I appreciate if you would answer any or all of these, and if you have any other comments to make, those would be great, too. Thank you for your time.

I think the exact system used matters less than the underlying design goal. What is the average number of hits a PC or NPC should take before going down? How competent should a standard PC be? Do you roll for everything or only extra-hard "special" tasks? What is the probability of accomplishing certain tasks?

Basically, you need to answer those questions first, and then work backwards to figure out how large dice pools you need, what the target number is and the difficulty level you need to reach to succeed. Starting with "I'm going to use these dice and these target values" will most likely end up somewhere you don't want the game to be. So first figure out how you want your game to be run, and work backwards from there.

Knaight
2018-09-01, 06:12 AM
Maybe I'm just tired, but I'm not sure what you're saying here. Could you maybe explain that a bit further?
Basically: In addition to your seven questions it might be worth adding an 8th about whether you like the number you need to roll on a die to be roll-specific. I come strongly on the side against it (if you're using a d6 system it can be always 4-6 is a success, or always even is a success, or always 5-6 is a success, but not some mix of 4-6 and 5-6 being successes depending on the roll), but other people come in in favor.


If you want a rules light game, do not include dice pools. They slow the game down, and are always more rules intensive.
In my experience they're often faster than a roll and add system, especially when you want a curved probability distribution and you'd thus need to be adding multiple dice. Success counting is pretty fast.

Anonymouswizard
2018-09-01, 06:15 AM
I'm currently designing an rpg, and I'm planning to base the core mechanic on dice pools.

Same here, although I'm also heavily considering percentiles and d20 roll under.


1. What size die do you prefer?

d6s, followed by d10s. It's more common for people to own a bunch of six siders than anything else, and thanks to WoD d10s are the second most common type for people to have 10+.


2. Do you prefer large dice pools that roll many dice (>10) or more constrained ones with lower caps (<10)?

Small dice pools. If I'm routinely rolling more than ten dice it's too much, and IMO rolls outside of my specialty shouldn't exceed six dice.


3. Do you prefer rolling against target numbers or making opposed rolls with the GM?

Target numbers, opposed rolls should be rare because they bog the game down. Combat's the worst, three/four rolls per attack isn't that uncommon (attack, dodge, damage, soak), to the point where in some systems I ended up replacing the damage and soak rolls and used a system of 'weapon value+attack successes-armour vaule' with slashed weapon and armour values. Opposed rolls should only happen when there's direct competition.


4. Do you prefer additive pools or counting successes?

Counting successes. As other people have said it's faster, especially if you aren't numbers-oriented.


5. For counting successes, what side threshold do you prefer?

Threshold size is somewhat dependant on pool size. If I'm likely rolling 2-10 dice in any given pool than the chance of a success on any die should be 1/3 or more, but no more than 1/2. If I'm rolling 10+ dice for everything than I could see 1/5 or 1/6 chances of a success working, but at that point I'd just shrink the pool and increase the chance of successes appearing. There are some rare weird cases I'll except even though they're outside what I normally like (such as CoD having a 3/10 chance).


6. For either rolling method, do you like mixing static bonuses in with your dice pools (roll 5d6, total/count successes, then add 2)?

They're okay, but should be infrequent. Multipliers I'm somewhat better with, e.g. dragons multiplying all damage by 3 when fighting human-sized creatures, but additions should be limited.


7. For either method, do you like exploding dice?

Yes, because they allow the occasional great success from people with only a little skill, while keeping it rare.


The other thing I like is the idea of 'bad dice'. Basically instead of representing difficultying by varying the number of successes required you add extra dice of a different colour to the pool. Any successes on these cancel out normal successes.

DeTess
2018-09-01, 09:23 AM
I'm currently designing an rpg, and I'm planning to base the core mechanic on dice pools. I've done some research on popular methods, but I thought it would help to poll the fine people here to get further information. Thus, I would appreciate it if you would be willing to answer the following questions.

1. What size die do you prefer?
It seems like d6s and d10s are the most popular options in other rpgs. Which do you like better? Or do you prefer another die entirely?


I prefer d6's. They roll well, unlike smaller dice-sizes, but they're still easily readable at a single glance



2. Do you prefer large dice pools that roll many dice (>10) or more constrained ones with lower caps (<10)?
Does rolling lots of dice make things more fun or just more of a hassle?

Rolling lots of dice is nice, but it should be reserved for special occasions, I think. Rolling 40 dice to execute a special maneuver that involves the entire party working together to hit the final boss is really nice, but doing the same to jump over a waist-high wall isn't. I'd say about 10 dice is nice if you're only looking for one thing (such as dice being a 5 or more). If you're looking for several results that do different things (such as dice being 1-2 or 5-6), i'd have your usual pools not exceed 6 or so dice.



3. Do you prefer rolling against target numbers or making opposed rolls with the GM?
Do opposed rolls make things more dynamic and interesting or just slower? Do you like mixing both styles based on circumstances, and if so, what circumstances?

I'd use both, depending on the circumstance. If I'm doing something that isn't opposed by something with stats (ie: climbing a tree, researching some creatures weaknesses, climbing a mountin in a blizzard), a target number is my preference. If I'm doing something that is being actively opposed, rolling against them feels better.




4. Do you prefer additive pools or counting successes?
I've seen games that add the results of all dice to get a total and others that add one for each die that rolled above a certain threshold. Which do you like more and why?

If you're rolling dicepools, I prefer looking for successes (or successes and failures) rather than counting everything together. This keeps the game going, while having to sum the results of 8d6 takes time.




5. For counting successes, what side threshold do you prefer?
Do you like an even 50/50 split (rolling 4-6 on a d6)? Or is it better to have thresholds that are larger/smaller? In addition, do you like having 1s count as negative successes or not?

For this answer, I'm assuming a d6 is used. I prefer a 5-6 range. I'd only use 1's or 1-2's as negative if you're adding a significant bonus to the dice. If you're not adding bonuses, but instead translating your skill to a the number of dice rolled, I'd not have anything count as a negative (or at worst use the Shadowrun 5e case where rolling more than 50% 1's has a negative effect)




6. For either rolling method, do you like mixing static bonuses in with your dice pools (roll 5d6, total/count successes, then add 2)?
And if you do like static bonuses, how large and how frequent should they be?

This depends on the size of the dice-poll and other mechanics in play (aw I talked about in my answer to 5), as well as your design goals. If you want to emphasize character skill and de-emphasize luck, then you can have relatively large bonuses with small dice-pools, but if you want to keep chance more in play, I'd keep bonuses to a minimum, or use extra dice instead of adding numeric bonuses.




7. For either method, do you like exploding dice?
Does it work better with one method over the other? Is it better exploding only once or chaining multiple times?


Exploding dice are nice, but should be something special. IF you're using D10's, then exploding on a 10 is fine, but if you're using d6's and large dicepools, I wouldn't have the dice explode under normal circumstances (but maybe add a limited resource that would allow exploding dice to be used). I'd also avoid exploding dice in a system that has the possibility of 1's reducing the amounts of successes, as that could result in a roll that would have passed without exploding dice turning into a failure because you proceeded to roll a couple of 1s.

I hope this is of some use to you, and good luck with designing your system.

Tanarii
2018-09-01, 10:00 AM
In my experience they're often faster than a roll and add system, especially when you want a curved probability distribution and you'd thus need to be adding multiple dice. Success counting is pretty fast.
Adding numbers is close to instant, and can be done at a glance. Counting is much slower, and can't. Ie comparing each die in a pool to a TN / success value inevitably requires dividing the pool in two (success / failure) then counting dice in the success pool. Players can't just glance at 8-10 dice and say "three successes".

LibraryOgre
2018-09-01, 10:02 AM
Adding numbers is close to instant, and can be done at a glance. Counting is much slower, and can't. Ie comparing each die in a pool to a TN / success value inevitably requires dividing the pool in two (success / failure) then counting dice in the success pool. Players can't just glance at 8-10 dice and say "three successes".

This is the opposite of my experience. While lots of people can fairly quickly sort out their few successes, they labor over addition of more than a few dice.

Tanarii
2018-09-01, 10:29 AM
This is the opposite of my experience. While lots of people can fairly quickly sort out their few successes, they labor over addition of more than a few dice.
One die. Maybe two, but standard resolution is one. Very few people I know can't add two (one die plus fixed value) to three numbers (two dice plus fixed value) at a glance. Whereas comparing a large handful to target numbers and determining if each one was successful or not, then counting? Universally takes a long time for everyone imx.

Edit: more importantly, the resolution rules that come along with dice pool mechanics are almost universally more complicated.

Nifft
2018-09-01, 11:42 AM
This is the opposite of my experience. While lots of people can fairly quickly sort out their few successes, they labor over addition of more than a few dice.

Yeah.

As another data point, people are able to sort or categorize faster than they can add. This seems to have been the insight which underlies both threshold-success (e.g. WoD) and the add-top-N (e.g. Cortex+) systems.

People can also sort quickly by visual shape rather than number. System with custom non-numeric dice pools (e.g. WFRP 3e) were able to be recognized as quickly or faster than threshold-success systems, but that system in specific did add a layer of subtraction which seems to cost time, and secondary effect triggers which also added time (but in that case the time was well spent because the secondary trigger effects were cool).

Velaryon
2018-09-01, 01:01 PM
As a primarily D&D player, dice pools aren't my preferred way of doing things, as a general rule. So please take that into account when weighing how much if any attention you want to give my opinion.

1. What size die do you prefer?
I think d10s work better, because they let you approach the desired chance of success more specifically.

2. Do you prefer large dice pools that roll many dice (>10) or more constrained ones with lower caps (<10)?
I think large pools have their place, since we all know how awesome the feeling is when you get to bust out 40 dice for your big epic moment of awesome. But that's too much for every standard roll. Save it for rare moments and special situations.

3. Do you prefer rolling against target numbers or making opposed rolls with the GM?
For me this depends on what the roll is for. If I am pitting my abilities directly against those of an opponent, I prefer an opposed roll. If I am trying to do something that primarily interacts with the environment, that should be a roll against a target number.

4. Do you prefer additive pools or counting successes?
Additive pools seem counter-intuitive to me when using dice pools. If you're going to be adding numbers up, why not just do 1d20 (or whatever kind of die) + bonus? Counting successes seems like the whole point of using dice pool mechanics to me.

5. For counting successes, what side threshold do you prefer?
50/50 split sounds good to me, but I've never played that way. Every dice pool game I've played has used d10s and counted only results of 7+ as a success, and I generally find that I have a hard time accomplishing tasks as well as my character looks on paper like they should be able to. As for 1's counting as negative successes, do you mean that every 1 removes a success from my pool? Because if so, I hate that.

6. For either rolling method, do you like mixing static bonuses in with your dice pools (roll 5d6, total/count successes, then add 2)?
For a dice pool system, at least as I understand the term, no. Again, it seems like unnecessary mixing of different mechanics from different systems.

7. For either method, do you like exploding dice?
I don't really have an opinion on this.

Honest Tiefling
2018-09-01, 02:37 PM
7) Exploding dices. Have them with chaining, or not at all. I don't like them if they are systematic, they are just a lot of trouble for nothing. I like them if they are exceptional, for example, after rolling the dice, you can expand an "hero point" to trigger an explosion, and your action is given a miracle-like description.

Can I second this? I don't know if it would work within the intended setting, but in general, I think this is a good idea in general.

Minty
2018-09-01, 03:40 PM
1. What size die do you prefer?
d6. Not least because you can get smaller d6s than most other dice, and small dice make handling large pools easier.

2. Do you prefer large dice pools that roll many dice (>10) or more constrained ones with lower caps (<10)?
I think 5-15 works best for the type of system I like. Below 5 is a bit swingy, and above 15 is a bit cumbersome. But no caps - let escalating XP costs handle the upper limit.

3. Do you prefer rolling against target numbers or making opposed rolls with the GM?
Opposed rolls under all circumstances (although sometimes the GM dice pool may be zero dice). All actions to be resolved in a single opposed roll (including combat actions, so no separate damage/soak rolls).

4. Do you prefer additive pools or counting successes?
Counting successes. Additive pools are a terrible idea.

5. For counting successes, what side threshold do you prefer?
5-6 as success on a d6 for all rolls, no negative successes, no critical fails/botches, no exploding dice or other fancy mechanics. Just roll the dice pool and count 5s and 6s, that's it.

6. For either rolling method, do you like mixing static bonuses in with your dice pools (roll 5d6, total/count successes, then add 2)?
No static bonuses under any circumstances. Adding or removing dice to/from the player or GM pool as the only means of altering the challenge of a roll.

7. For either method, do you like exploding dice?
No.

Lorsa
2018-09-01, 03:49 PM
Ah, good point. So, the game I'm designing is one that is set in a Medieval fantasy world but one that is (hopefully) more realistic than things like D&D or WoW tend to be. I'm also hoping to make it more story focused with combat being a secondary or even tertiary option for problem solving (though, I'm not quite sure how to do that just yet). I chose dice pools seems to favor average results without reducing fun or enjoyability. I want it to be a fairly rules light and simple game that is more about roleplay while still having plenty of rollplay because dice are fun.

So, uh, you are trying to make Burning Wheel?

Or rather, how does your game differentiate from Burning Wheel? Is that too rules-heavy for your taste?



Adding numbers is close to instant, and can be done at a glance. Counting is much slower, and can't. Ie comparing each die in a pool to a TN / success value inevitably requires dividing the pool in two (success / failure) then counting dice in the success pool. Players can't just glance at 8-10 dice and say "three successes".

Looking at a die and registering if it's a success or failure is quicker than registering its number.

Adding 1+1+1+1+1+1 is way faster than adding 5+8+4+1+2+3+5+7+9+10+4+3+2. If that's not true for you then you are an exception to the norm.

Minty
2018-09-01, 04:03 PM
Adding numbers is close to instant, and can be done at a glance.

Not for pretty much everyone I've ever played with, it hasn't been. People in my group rejected 3d6 systems for having too much tedious addition.

When I started playing, it was a homebrew system where the GM liked to give out experience at the beginning of each session by having each player roll 20 or more dice and tally them up, and people took AGES.

Cealocanth
2018-09-01, 08:20 PM
1. What size die do you prefer?
d6, d8, or d10 in a dice pool, d20 for single die. I dislike d4's because you can't get a good roll on them and they are pointy and uncomfortable, and more than one d20 is too much math.

2. Do you prefer large dice pools that roll many dice (>10) or more constrained ones with lower caps (<10)?
Less than 10. A good sized handful of dice is 4-6. This is a fine balance between having to own a ridiculous amount of obscure die types and not having enough randomization.

3. Do you prefer rolling against target numbers or making opposed rolls with the GM?
Target numbers. Systems that use target numbers tend to be noticeably more precisely and mathematically balanced than systems that use opposed rolls. Although the GM should roll against your target numbers if he's attacking your character and you should roll against his if you're attacking his monsters. "Whichever player rolls a 10" is a boring system IMO. Opposed rolls from the GM makes for an odd bell curve that is hard to build a system around.

4. Do you prefer additive pools or counting successes?
Depends if on practical dice or on a digital randomizer. Additive pools for digital randomizer, counting successes for real dice.

5. For counting successes, what side threshold do you prefer?
Get more successes than the other guy. If he gets more, he wins. If you get more, you win. If you get the same, you tie. No need to overcomplicate these things. Although I am actually not that big of fan of thresholds in counting successes games.

6. For either rolling method, do you like mixing static bonuses in with your dice pools (roll 5d6, total/count successes, then add 2)?
VERY STRONG no. Raw additives are less fun than rolling more dice, in my opinion, but I've also ran through the numbers and bell curves of several games that use dice pools and static bonuses and have found that they almost always end up becoming broken and unbalancing the game something fierce, doing dumb things to your advancement and skill system. *cough* Savage Worlds Super Powers Companion *cough*

7. For either method, do you like exploding dice?
Exploding dice are fun, but no, I don't like them from a game design and mathematical perspective. Some dice don't explode the same way as others, and in games that rely heavily on them, it becomes better to be lucky than to be actually good at your job. In Savage Worlds, for example, it's actually not worth having a d10 (tier 4) in a skill because a d8 (tier 3) will yield a higher result in general because 1d8 explodes more often than 1d10. If you're going to use these, you better simulate the hell out of your die results or have a degree in Applied Statistics before implementing them.*

*However, in the kind of game where you only ever use one kind of dice, and add up huge racks of numbers that just keep going, like Champions, exploding dice can be crazy fun.

Knaight
2018-09-01, 09:56 PM
One die. Maybe two, but standard resolution is one. Very few people I know can't add two (one die plus fixed value) to three numbers (two dice plus fixed value) at a glance. Whereas comparing a large handful to target numbers and determining if each one was successful or not, then counting? Universally takes a long time for everyone imx.

Edit: more importantly, the resolution rules that come along with dice pool mechanics are almost universally more complicated.

In my experience I've never seen success counting take a long time with fewer than 14 dice in play, and the resolution rules for dice pool mechanics can be just as simple - to the point where I've generally seen them be simpler.

Nifft
2018-09-01, 10:15 PM
In my experience I've never seen success counting take a long time with fewer than 14 dice in play, and the resolution rules for dice pool mechanics can be just as simple - to the point where I've generally seen them be simpler.

Take a gander at some of the oWoD games where the TN can change on the fly.

It's much easier to train yourself to recognize a static TN.

Large pool + variable TN = slow.

Knaight
2018-09-01, 10:39 PM
Take a gander at some of the oWoD games where the TN can change on the fly.

It's much easier to train yourself to recognize a static TN.

Large pool + variable TN = slow.

Like I said, "in my experience". nWoD was bad enough, and just seeing how oWoD worked was enough to convince me not to try it. Meanwhile HEX (the dicepool system I use most often) has consistently been fast, largely because it uses a static TN - or more specifically avoids TNs entirely, per-se, instead using even/odd which is if anything faster.

Maat Mons
2018-09-01, 10:59 PM
just seeing how oWoD worked was enough to convince me not to try it.

That was my very first role-playing system. I remember if you tried to garrote someone, the number you had to roll over for each die to count as a success was a function of the victims stats. ... It could be more than 10... on 10-sided dice. ... But that didn’t mean success was impossible! You just needed an ability that added automatic successes! ... And to make sure you rolled as few dice as possible, to minimize the chances of rolling 1's that canceled out your automatic successes. ... But hey! If you build just right, it's an irresistible auto-kill on anything. Even things you couldn't scratch with your best possible rolls combined with their worst possible rolls.

Tanarii
2018-09-02, 09:42 AM
Adding 1+1+1+1+1+1 is way faster than adding 5+8+4+1+2+3+5+7+9+10+4+3+2. If that's not true for you then you are an exception to the norm.
And 17+5 is much faster than 7,8,2,5,8,1 count 5+ only.

DeTess
2018-09-02, 10:49 AM
And 17+5 is much faster than 7,8,2,5,8,1 count 5+ only.

Right, but this poll is abour dice pools. Obviously a system with only one or two dice is generally simpler.

Cluedrew
2018-09-02, 10:49 AM
Most of this is pretty standard but it is a poll so I will put them out there for more data.

1. What size die do you prefer?
The "die" is my favourite die size in general. Others can be used to good effect but my favourite dice is a cube with sides numbered 1 to 6. This also applies with special numberings or symbols on the sides. Those are easier to experiment with, with look up charts.

2. Do you prefer large dice pools that roll many dice (>10) or more constrained ones with lower caps (<10)?
In generally lower caps. Makes resolution faster.

3. Do you prefer rolling against target numbers or making opposed rolls with the GM?
In general target numbers. Makes resolution faster.

4. Do you prefer additive pools or counting successes?
... Is it still a dice pool if you add the faces? I thought counting successes was what made it a dice pool.

Given the same amount of dice in each case, counting successes. Makes resolution faster.

5. For counting successes, what side threshold do you prefer?
Never actually thought about it. In my own system (dice pool- err counting successes) I went with an unusually high success rate to force the number of dice down.

Variable thresholds are something else. But if they very to often remembering where you are can make it harder no know what to count and that slows down resolution.

6. For either rolling method, do you like mixing static bonuses in with your dice pools (roll 5d6, total/count successes, then add 2)?
Adding: Its just another number to add and feels rather seamless. At least in resolution, where the separate number comes from it a different matter.

Counting: That just feels weird. I suppose it could work but... I haven't seen that in action. Also resolution vs. where the numbers come from.

7. For either method, do you like exploding dice?
Never played a system that made use of exploding dice. But in general no, slows down resolution.

Final note: I promise you that there are other things I care about besides resolution speed, but in the general case that is the only one that applies.

Tanarii
2018-09-02, 10:58 AM
Right, but this poll is abour dice pools. Obviously a system with only one or two dice is generally simpler.
Which was my point. Given the OP saying they wanted a rules light system, a dice pool isn't the route to go.

Anonymouswizard
2018-09-02, 12:02 PM
Like I said, "in my experience". nWoD was bad enough, and just seeing how oWoD worked was enough to convince me not to try it. Meanwhile HEX (the dicepool system I use most often) has consistently been fast, largely because it uses a static TN - or more specifically avoids TNs entirely, per-se, instead using even/odd which is if anything faster.

If using pipped d6s then 4+ works really well, just count the squares. Discounting the possibility of making special dice, which is more than most people have time for (but would be required if I would ever play nWoD again, d10s with seven blanks, two 'success' symbols and one 'explode' symbol).


Tanarii 'rules light' and 'quick to add' are not the same thing. Sometimes you're willing to take the extra time to count successes to get the different probability mechanics.

Maat Mons
2018-09-02, 02:36 PM
Which was my point. Given the OP saying they wanted a rules light system, a dice pool isn't the route to go.

Okay, well question #4 was, "given that a dice pool is being used, should the faces be added, or the successes totaled." Your comments sounded remarkably like an attempt to answer that which, for no adequately explained reason, assumed different sizes of dice pools for the two different cases.

If you're not directly addressing any of the numbered questions, and your position is "don't use dice pools, use a different system that doesn't involve so many dice," then the things you've said make sense.

Yddisac
2018-09-03, 09:17 AM
1. What size die do you prefer?
I can't say it matters much to me. D6 is easy to find, but that's the only real advantage it has. I don't like d4, though.

2. Do you prefer large dice pools that roll many dice (>10) or more constrained ones with lower caps (<10)?
Constrained ones with lower caps. They take up less space on the table, and they're easier to find/assemble.

3. Do you prefer rolling against target numbers or making opposed rolls with the GM?
Rolling against target numbers, generally. Opposed rolls can be used well, of course, but if the GM rolls well, it can make even good rolls succeed, while if the GM rolls poorly, even bad rolls can succeed in an anticlimactic fashion. Besides, as a GM, I'd much rather balance around a target number than an opposed roll; things are a lot less swingy.

4. Do you prefer additive pools or counting successes?
Additive pools. I can't really explain why. This isn't a strong preference, though; the current campaign I'm in counts successes, and it's working just fine.

5. For counting successes, what size threshold do you prefer?
The only counting-successes system I've used uses stats to set the threshold. That seems to me like a much more modular way to do things than a fixed success threshold from where I sit. That said, my experience is limited. (If you're using halfway decent stats, by the way, you're likely to have a >50% success threshold in the game I'm playing.)

6. For either rolling method, do you like mixing static bonuses in with your dice pools (roll 5d6, total/count successes, then add 2)?
Mixing in static bonuses works fine with additive pools (so long as you can keep track of how many bonuses there are easily [i.e., it's not D&D 3e]), but should be very, very rare in a counting-success system.

7. For either method, do you like exploding dice?
No. It tends to blow up how many dice you need on hand. This still isn't such a strong preference that I'd refuse to use a system because of its exploding dice, though.

Tanarii
2018-09-03, 09:58 AM
If you're not directly addressing any of the numbered questions, and your position is "don't use dice pools, use a different system that doesn't involve so many dice," then the things you've said make sense.I did start out with "do not include dice pools". :smallwink:

Otoh I def should have made it clear that I was suggesting 1-2 dice + modifier as the alternative for rules light. Brevity is the soul of confusion.

Blaede
2018-09-06, 03:30 AM
1. What size die do you prefer?
d10 and d20

2. Do you prefer large dice pools that roll many dice (>10) or more constrained ones with lower caps (<10)?
small dice pools

3. Do you prefer rolling against target numbers or making opposed rolls with the GM?
Against target numbers

4. Do you prefer additive pools or counting successes?
additive pools

5. For counting successes, what side threshold do you prefer?
Thresholds. I don't like automatic fails.

6. For either rolling method, do you like mixing static bonuses in with your dice pools (roll 5d6, total/count successes, then add 2)?
Yep static bonuses are needed imo.

7. For either method, do you like exploding dice?
No idea what that means...

Incorrect
2018-09-06, 06:07 AM
1. What size die do you prefer?
d6 is fine.
d10 is like WoD, and that just makes me upset.

2. Do you prefer large dice pools that roll many dice (>10) or more constrained ones with lower caps (<10)?
<10.
More than 10 dice is just ridiculous

3. Do you prefer rolling against target numbers or making opposed rolls with the GM?
Against static things like walls, I like target number.
Against people I like opposed rolls.

4. Do you prefer additive pools or counting successes?
I prefer additive pools.
But for more than 3-5 dice I would prefer counting successes.

5. For counting successes, what side threshold do you prefer?
Approximately 33% chance of succes pr dice.

6. For either rolling method, do you like mixing static bonuses in with your dice pools (roll 5d6, total/count successes, then add 2)?
Yes I like that.

7. For either method, do you like exploding dice?
I dont like exploding dice.


The main thing is make it relatively simple
The other thing is, dont make WoD.