It has been my experience that the longer one plays RPGs, the less one leans on dice rolls. Doubly so if your lucky enough to have a veteran, long-term group. For me personally, I started looking at how a character is put together, and also the group dynamic - i.e., how the characters cover each others weaknesses, and found that many rolls we 'used' to do were either redundant or not really needed. For example: Someone wants to climb a tree. When I was a kid, like most folks, we would have rolled for it. Now, I figure that unless the character is under threat, rather it's physical, mental, or time related, an experienced character should have no issues climbing a tree. No need to roll. Common sense aids the theater of the mind
Thanks for the podcast shoutout. I am really enjoying your videos and looking forward to your follow-up. I'm not as gifted as you at expressing my thoughts - hopefully you enjoyed the listen. Thanks for the inspiration either way :)
Thanks man it takes time. I enjoyed listening to your stuff as well. I looked back at some of my old videos and cringe. It takes a while to really develop your own style and rhythm and express yourself the way you want to. One day I will get there!
Brilliant! As usual, I agree on everything you have stated. Related to this topic, Heath and Heath's Geekverse (UA-cam) is currently developing a game called Fated Edge. The primary resolution mechanic is currently focused on larger static numbers to represent proficiency rather than larger random number generators (dice). Just as you state here, situations that create duress such as danger, time limits, or other circumstances determine if dice should be rolled. The range in the static proficiency number may be lowered by a smaller range generated by the dice. For instance, the character has an Attribute of 5 and a Basic Training for a skill of 5 would be a total of 10. Under normal circumstances any trained skill or task with a difficulty below a 10 is an automatic success given the time and resources. Under duress, that ability would be a 5 with a dice roll generating numbers from 0-5. So it is 5 + 0-5 (Die Roll) or 5-10 outcome. He proposes the dice range is roughly demonstrated as half of a bell curve so to get a 0 might be 30% chance, to get 1 is 25%, a 2 is 15%, 3 is 10%, 4 is 5%, and getting a 5 is 3%. In some ways this makes just as much sense as GM determination. From what he has stated, he hopes to achieve a mechanic that uses less randomness (AKA luck) and use more solid ability represented by a number to put more control in the hands of the players than the dice. This way there is little guess work if a character needs to roll or not. It also inspires more creativity by players is a character needs an advantage in position (sneak up, high ground, ect.) , better equipment (such as a better alchemy lab), or assistance from another to accomplish a task in some situations.
It has been my experience that the longer one plays RPGs, the less one leans on dice rolls. Doubly so if your lucky enough to have a veteran, long-term group. For me personally, I started looking at how a character is put together, and also the group dynamic - i.e., how the characters cover each others weaknesses, and found that many rolls we 'used' to do were either redundant or not really needed. For example: Someone wants to climb a tree. When I was a kid, like most folks, we would have rolled for it. Now, I figure that unless the character is under threat, rather it's physical, mental, or time related, an experienced character should have no issues climbing a tree. No need to roll. Common sense aids the theater of the mind
Thanks for the podcast shoutout. I am really enjoying your videos and looking forward to your follow-up. I'm not as gifted as you at expressing my thoughts - hopefully you enjoyed the listen. Thanks for the inspiration either way :)
Thanks man it takes time. I enjoyed listening to your stuff as well. I looked back at some of my old videos and cringe. It takes a while to really develop your own style and rhythm and express yourself the way you want to. One day I will get there!
Excellent ~
Brilliant! As usual, I agree on everything you have stated. Related to this topic, Heath and Heath's Geekverse (UA-cam) is currently developing a game called Fated Edge. The primary resolution mechanic is currently focused on larger static numbers to represent proficiency rather than larger random number generators (dice). Just as you state here, situations that create duress such as danger, time limits, or other circumstances determine if dice should be rolled. The range in the static proficiency number may be lowered by a smaller range generated by the dice. For instance, the character has an Attribute of 5 and a Basic Training for a skill of 5 would be a total of 10. Under normal circumstances any trained skill or task with a difficulty below a 10 is an automatic success given the time and resources. Under duress, that ability would be a 5 with a dice roll generating numbers from 0-5. So it is 5 + 0-5 (Die Roll) or 5-10 outcome. He proposes the dice range is roughly demonstrated as half of a bell curve so to get a 0 might be 30% chance, to get 1 is 25%, a 2 is 15%, 3 is 10%, 4 is 5%, and getting a 5 is 3%. In some ways this makes just as much sense as GM determination. From what he has stated, he hopes to achieve a mechanic that uses less randomness (AKA luck) and use more solid ability represented by a number to put more control in the hands of the players than the dice. This way there is little guess work if a character needs to roll or not. It also inspires more creativity by players is a character needs an advantage in position (sneak up, high ground, ect.) , better equipment (such as a better alchemy lab), or assistance from another to accomplish a task in some situations.
Yep, nothing like a pick up game of rock, paper, scissors to determine if which player's arrow was the 'one'