PDA

View Full Version : Original System Weird Dice Mechanics



JBPuffin
2016-12-14, 11:56 AM
I've read quite a few RPGs in my day, and seen a cornucopia of dice mechanics that define the game and often the publisher; Wizards and TSR are "the d20 guys," while ORE and White Wolf's Storyteller ask you to roll piles of d10s and Shadowrun demands mountains of d6s. However, there are always new, unexplored ideas (some of which may be better off NOT explored, admittedly), and I want to hear about some of the ones other people have come up with.

One I'm considering right now is a roll-over 2d12 mechanic with an "exploding die" variant: whenever you roll doubles (no matter the number on the dice), you roll a third d12 and add it to the total. There won't be any exploding after that, so the maximum in the system is a 36 and the minimum a 3 barring modifiers. Can't recall seeing this before.

Anywho, what dice mechanics have you seen in a game that took you aback, made you cringe, or otherwise struck you as odd?

JNAProductions
2016-12-14, 12:09 PM
Most things from FATAL. Including, I believe, a 1d100,00,000, with four possible results.

AvatarVecna
2016-12-14, 12:33 PM
Most things from FATAL. Including, I believe, a 1d10,000,000, with four possible results.

Five possible results...but essentially, yes.

Jormengand
2016-12-15, 04:03 PM
Most things from FATAL. Including, I believe, a 1d100,00,000, with four possible results.

Don't forget the ((4d100)/2)-1 roll for your stats!

JeenLeen
2016-12-15, 04:10 PM
I was designing a homebrew game, trying for simplistic rules for younger players. Base idea was you have three stats (Strength, Dexterity, and Wisdom) and you assign them a d8, d6, and d4. You roll the die when you use the stat.

I had two mechanics for buffs/debuffs. One was advantage/disadvantage from 5e. The other was to up or down the die, like turning a d8 into a d10 (upping it) or into a d6 (downing it). I figured out both mechanics together was a bit too much, so dropped the up/down.

(I posted here asking about the mathematical difference a while ago, and it was neat. Depending on the base die, sometimes a bigger impact was made by advantage/disadvantage and sometimes by up/down.)

Jormengand
2016-12-15, 04:53 PM
I also remember me and a friend talking about making a system where you have a different die size depending on what you're good at, a different number of dice depending on how good you are at it, then each skill has a range for success. So, say you were good at a thing with a range of 15-17, you would be using d20s, and if you were good at a thing with a range of 3-3, you might be using d4s. You then add or subtract dice in any combination to see if you can get the value you're looking for. So if you roll 9, 14, 7 on 3d20 then you would pass in the range 15-17 (9+14-7=16) and if you roll 1,4,2 then you would pass on the 3-3 check (4+1-2=3). I never made the system and I'm pretty sure he never did either, though.

Sariel Vailo
2016-12-15, 07:43 PM
the dradon age rpg system uses only three d6's and eclipse phase is complexx and evil

Amechra
2016-12-15, 09:59 PM
Eclipse Phase is percentile, last I checked - meaning it's the least evil of dice systems (since your probability of success is right there).

In Nomine had the good ol' d666 (you roll 2d6 vs. difficulty, and have a third d6 that determines how well you did - you can take penalties to one to boost the other, if you want). There's another variation on this with La Sistema Sombra, a Spanish system that does it with 3d10s.

There's Cthulhutech with poker dice, ORE with the whole "count the sets" thing it has going, L5R and 7Sea1e with roll and keep (roll X number of dice, then add up the Y highest)... This isn't even getting into games like Fantasy Flight's Star Wars that use custom dice.

Or how about diceless games? You have your point-bidders, your card-users, a few narrative-based shindigs... Heck, there are games that resolve stuff with dance-offs, Jenga, and pulling runes out of bags (no, not all in the same game - points to anyone who can find the name of the dance-off one, though).

Malfarian
2016-12-15, 11:08 PM
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and the New Star Wars games use their own dice, d6 d8 d10s I think, they have symbols on them that tell you about success and failure, but also accumulate multiple symbol types. I don't know them well enough to comment further.

Arcacius
2016-12-16, 01:07 AM
With The Song of Ice and Fire RPG they use d6's in the abilities, which are either the equivalent of attributes and skills, and the totals are added up. Specialties add extra dice to the pool, but also mean that you have to drop the same amount of dice at the end of the roll.