A different dice system

[Duff]

Hi folks. I've been writing a game system for the last 20 years* and I'm wondering about my dice system...

To succeed at a task you need to roll within a "window" between the target and the difficulty on 2d10
Your target is your stat plus skill (typically starting at about 7 or so for a moderately specialised character)
The difficulty is set by the GM and will often be "0"

That's the bare bones.
I see it as simple to use like that. But also there's a few ways to modify it...


Some character advantages or disadvantages can modify your target. I see those as long term changes, so you'd write them on your character sheet.

Being cautious or risky lets you add or subtract from the roll (5 seems like a nice round number)

If you specialise within a skill, you get to roll an extra dice and choose whether to add or subtract it **


Opposed rolls are simply "highest successful roll wins"
In combat, your succesful hit roll is also a damage roll. Armour is subtracted from damage


* No, you won't see it in bookshops any time soon...
** I've been thinking you'd just use a d10 of a different colour or roll it separately, but maybe it would be better as a different type of dice.
Maybe a d12 (and allow the option to ignore it?)
Maybe d6 so it's less likely to be too big to be useful?

[Dienekes]

I’m having some difficulty understanding this here. It may be more clear if you gave an example to demonstrate.

But I think what you’re saying is:

You have your stat+skill this is called your Target (took me a second to realize Target and Difficulty are different things because you did not specifically say that stat+ability was called Target). Presumably this number is less than 20 as that’s as high as 2d10 can be.

While your Difficulty is how difficult the task is.

So Target > 2d10 > difficulty must be between these two numbers. This is a bit odd, since it feels weird to me that you can roll too high and too low. But since you’re rolling 2d10 you will naturally roll closer to 11 naturally.

My first thought is that after 11 your stat+skill gives less benefit per point. From 17 to 20 is only a 10% increase in probability. And all Difficulties over 10 really reduce your probability of success.

So long as you account for that there’s no reason why this system couldn’t work. It does push your players toward going wide with their stats and skills rather than focusing on a select few. But that’s fine so long as the system is intended to function that way.

[olskool]

Hi folks. I've been writing a game system for the last 20 years* and I'm wondering about my dice system...

It's Stat plus Skill, roll under your target on 2d10
Difficulty is added up and you need to get over.

So, success is your window between your own ability and any complication (Your Target and the Difficulty)
That's the bare bones.
I see it as simple to use like that. But also there's a few ways to modify it...


Some character advantages or disadvantages can modify your target. I see those as long term changes, so you'd write them on your character sheet.

Being cautious or risky lets you add or subtract from the roll (5 seems like a nice round number)

If you specialise within a skill, you get to roll an extra dice and choose whether to add or subtract it





* No, you won't see it in bookshops any time soon...

So you're using Game Designer's Workshop's house rules system for Twilight2000 V2.2 and Traveller the New Era from the early '90s?

Under GDW's system, you add an attribute (STR, DEX, CON, etc...) rated from 1 to 10 to a Skill which is also rated from 1 to 10. The two scores added together become an ASSET. This Asset is the target number [or lower] that a character would need to roll equal to or under on a 1D20 for an AVERAGE task to succeed. An EASY task would be double this number and a DIFFICULT task would be half this number. It is a fast and intuitive system I've been playing for years.

[Duff]

Thanks Dienekes - yes you've understood correctly. Apologies for the poor explanation. I'll edit my OP for clarity
I see the main advantage to high levels of stat+skill as letting you be more confident with high risk rolls so you can get a high success or get over high difficulties.

olskool - I'd forgotten that was how Twilight worked. 2000 was still well in the future when I played it!
But the difference is, as Dienekes noted, difficulty adds up from 0 and you aim to roll within "the window"



So for example...
Jorge is shooting at Sprave with a slingshot.
Jorge has a Physical stat of 6 and Archery skill of 7. Target is 13
Sprave has Pysical 5, dodge 4

For this example, say Jorge rolls 2 and 3 = 5. Sprave gets 3 and 4 (7) and dodges behind cover


Later in his career, Jorge is shooting at a demon...
He now has Physical 8 and Archery 9 (Target 17)
He's also now a slingshot specialist
The Demon has a defence of 13 (physical 7, dodge 2 and magical defence of 2) and 5 points of armour

Jorge rolls 2d10, getting 4 and 5 getting 9. On his specialty dice he gets 6. He adds the specialty dice, getting to 15.
Demon gets 15 - their defence failed
That's a hit for 15 damage. - 5 is still 10 damage and a demon that's having a bad day

And at the peak of his powers, the mighty St Jorge takes on a dragon...

He now has Physical 11 and Archery 12 (Target 23) and hasn't lost his specialisation.
He's now using bullets that cause mild (2 points) of acid damage on a hit as well as the normal damage

The dragon has defence of 3 (it's big so it's easy to hit) and armour of 20

Jorge knows he wants big hits to get past the armour, so he chooses a risky shot "I'm going to aim at it's eye, adding 5 points of risk to my roll"

He rolls 5 and 6 (11) + 5 risk (16) and 8 on the risk dice. By adding the specialty dice he gets to 24. A miss. So he subtracts it instead, going down to 8.

The dragon rolls 8 and doesn't dodge effectivly

So we have hit, but the dragon's armour stops all the damage except the acid. It's going to be a long day for Jorge...

The same principle can be used for other tasks.
For climbing, being beaten by the difficulty means you are unable to proceed, not making the skill check means a descent - maybe a slide, maybe a fall.

Junko is a very good climber with physical 10 and athletics 10 (Climbing)
She's heading up Mount Doom and reaches a sheer cliff (difficulty 12)

Her first attempt, she tries to do it cautiously(-5).
Rolling 14 on 2d10, minus caution. (9) and with only 2 on her specialisation dice (11) - She makes some progress, but gets to a point where she can't continue.
Next roll, she decides to push harder and isn't cautious. On 2d10 she gets 11, but the specialisation dice of 10 means she can either allow the difficulty to beat her by subtracting, or fail the skill entirely (21). She wisely sees that the path she was following is unsafe and doesn't press on.
The GM warns her she's getting fatigued and the difficulty will start going up if she fails again.
She decides to risk it, adding 5 to her roll.
This time she gets only 6 on her 2d10. +5 for risk (11) and specialty dice of 6, getting her to 17 and up the cliff