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Hello, I have heard a tale from a friend that there has existed a DnD branded RPG that used only 6 sided dice, would anyone here happen to know what that is? I've never heard of it before. Thanks.
In Unearthed Arcana for D&D 3.5 there is a variant rule that uses 3d6 in place of the d20 for most roles. It's an interesting variant, though not one I'm too fond of.
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"It wasn't me who was wrong, it was the world!"
In Unearthed Arcana for D&D 3.5 there is a variant rule that uses 3d6 in place of the d20 for most roles. It's an interesting variant, though not one I'm too fond of.
I like games with a two dice set up because extreme roles are less common but still happen decently whereas three dice is overly predictable. Like, 2d6 is good in systems that use it. 2d10 is a little more predictable, though, and the edge of what I would like. A 2 is less than half as common in 2d10 than in 2d6, for example. But this is only loosely related to the OP so I'll finish.
I like games with a two dice set up because extreme roles are less common but still happen decently whereas three dice is overly predictable. Like, 2d6 is good in systems that use it. 2d10 is a little more predictable, though, and the edge of what I would like. A 2 is less than half as common in 2d10 than in 2d6, for example. But this is only loosely related to the OP so I'll finish.
regardless of what type of dice system you like or is better, D&D is made for a d20, and changing the die rolled has a lot of consequences. D&D is balanced so every +1 and -1 changes your probability of success by 5%, when you change the dice types it changes the math, which may make some things more powerful, and some things less powerful. It has far reaching consequences that are near impossible to foresee.
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"It wasn't me who was wrong, it was the world!"
Burning Wheel is effectively a love letter to fantasy RPGs, and it uses a d6 dice pool.
Ummmm, methinks you might be a little confused. Burning Wheel is kind of like the anti D&D. It's a system made by someone who wanted to try to do everything as different as possible from how D&D does things. There is no love or fond remembrance of game systems past in Burning Wheel.
Not to say it's bad, but if your looking for D&D-ish systems, you'll be sadly disappointed. Now if you want fantasy but don't want D&D, you may be in luck.
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"It wasn't me who was wrong, it was the world!"
Ummmm, methinks you might be a little confused. Burning Wheel is kind of like the anti D&D. It's a system made by someone who wanted to try to do everything as different as possible from how D&D does things. There is no love or fond remembrance of game systems past in Burning Wheel.
Not to say it's bad, but if your looking for D&D-ish systems, you'll be sadly disappointed. Now if you want fantasy but don't want D&D, you may be in luck.
Burning Wheel is by no means the anti D&D. It's very similar in a lot of ways, it just tends to focus inwardly upon the characters in the party, their relationships with each other, and their relationships with the setting. Still, in many ways it is quite similar - the magic, the few monsters, the races, the focus on subsystems, so on and so forth. It's closer to one persons D&D style fantasy game that is actually very good than anything else, and the drastic differences in underpinning systems doesn't change that.
Now, Houses of the Blooded - that is the anti D&D. It laughs at adventuring, it laughs at dungeon crawling, it laughs at slaying monsters. It laughs at the very concept of a party, where Burning Wheel just doesn't indulge it quite to the extremes D&D does. It is also very much on the rules light end of the crunch spectrum, where Burning Wheel is even crunchier than D&D 3.5.
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Fudge Assistant in the Playground.
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canon: I am running a 2e adventure series starting with the Tomb of Horrors. this will be open RPG and Skype. This game is Sunday morning at 9am PST running to 1-2pm PST. After Tomb is finished we will play another shorter game (2-4 sessions).. I need a couple more players
elyssian: What kind of slots are you trying to fill? Healbot, Tank, ect...
canon: It's the Tomb of Horrors. All the slots are labeled 'Victim.'
Burning Wheel is by no means the anti D&D. It's very similar in a lot of ways, it just tends to focus inwardly upon the characters in the party, their relationships with each other, and their relationships with the setting. Still, in many ways it is quite similar - the magic, the few monsters, the races, the focus on subsystems, so on and so forth. It's closer to one persons D&D style fantasy game that is actually very good than anything else, and the drastic differences in underpinning systems doesn't change that.
Yeah, this. (See also: the Burning THAC0 hack of the game.) To clarify my statement, Burning Wheel is a love letter to the D&D experience, meshed with traditional fantasy. A bit old-school, too, in what it focuses on. But I digress.
Also, the note on Chainmail is interesting--I hadn't realized it used d6s. Then again, I suppose the d20 came about thanks to D&D...
I don't think 2d10 works poorly at low levels, really, and if the party aren't big into optimizing. Especially with lower AC, maybe armor as DR. It means the top 1 percent of strongest men alive are more than 35 percent more likely to win a grappling check against the average 75 year old man. And things like weapon focus might actually be useful. I still think d20s should be used on saving throws, but for attack rolls or skill checks I don't mind it.
Alternatively, and I have never done this but I think I like the sound of it, people could have the option of rolling 2d10 or a d20. Like, if they are using a more reliable tactic or are they going all out and risking more. I think it could be fun and makes sense.
But Chainmail didn't have saving throws, so even under that system, D&D saving throws were d20.
True, true.
Really, the old-school fantasy game that is all d6 and popularly played that way is Tunnels and Trolls.
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canon: I am running a 2e adventure series starting with the Tomb of Horrors. this will be open RPG and Skype. This game is Sunday morning at 9am PST running to 1-2pm PST. After Tomb is finished we will play another shorter game (2-4 sessions).. I need a couple more players
elyssian: What kind of slots are you trying to fill? Healbot, Tank, ect...
canon: It's the Tomb of Horrors. All the slots are labeled 'Victim.'
Last edited by ken-do-nim : 07-15-2012 at 06:45 PM.
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Six Sided DnD?
