Torque2100
Legendary Pubber
- Joined
- May 7, 2020
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I had a thought, and I think that thought might be a good springboard to a game design discussion. It has been many moons since my Intro to Statistics course in college so it might be fun to consider the reasons why certain dice mechanics are used and why.
My thought was this, there many RPG systems. In some systems rolling lower is good, some systems rolling higher numbers is good. Both come with their own set of problems. For instance, if the goal is to roll as low as possible, how do you handle an opposed Static or Skill check in an RPG?
One compromise mechanic that I wish we saw more often is the "roll as high as possible without going over your skill/stat" mechanic or as I like to call it "Blackjack Rolling."
To me it seems like a decent compromise that's simple and straightforward to use. It both means that more adept or skilled characters have a higher range of success and if the system uses "degrees" of success, can get better results. It also makes opposed rolls very simple "Did both parties succeed? If no, the party that rolled a success wins. If yes, then the party that has the highest result on the die wins."
I am surprised I don't see this more often. The only games I know of that really use Blackjack Rolling are Eclipse Phase and the Tabletop Wargame "Infinity."
My thought was this, there many RPG systems. In some systems rolling lower is good, some systems rolling higher numbers is good. Both come with their own set of problems. For instance, if the goal is to roll as low as possible, how do you handle an opposed Static or Skill check in an RPG?
One compromise mechanic that I wish we saw more often is the "roll as high as possible without going over your skill/stat" mechanic or as I like to call it "Blackjack Rolling."
To me it seems like a decent compromise that's simple and straightforward to use. It both means that more adept or skilled characters have a higher range of success and if the system uses "degrees" of success, can get better results. It also makes opposed rolls very simple "Did both parties succeed? If no, the party that rolled a success wins. If yes, then the party that has the highest result on the die wins."
I am surprised I don't see this more often. The only games I know of that really use Blackjack Rolling are Eclipse Phase and the Tabletop Wargame "Infinity."