RPTools.net

Been playing with MT for a few days now and I had a couple of questions I hope can be answered.

1). I created a token, populated the fields with my characters info (STR, INT, etc) and then saved it. When I attempt to load what I've saved, I keep getting the following error "Could not execute the command: null. What do I need to do to properly save and load a tokens info once I've saved it?

2) Is it currently possible to do open ended rolls? My skill system is based off of MERP and you roll % dice for skill rolls and if you roll a 05 or less or a 96 or higher you roll again and add(subtract) the result to the first die roll. If you roll a 96 or higher and then roll a 96 or higher for the second roll you keep rolling for a result. Is this possible? I know you can use the explode command, but this seems to only work for the highest number on the die, not a range.


That's it for now.

Thanks.

Alarian

Hi, Alarian. Welcome to the forums.

You'll need to specify which version of the program you're using. The current stable release is 1.2b32, which is what you're supposed to use if you want utmost stability.

If instead you want the latest wizbang features (and who doesn't!?), then you want something in the 1.3 development trunk. Most people here use 1.3b18 for leading edge stuff, then play with whatever the most recent build is in order to help with testing (that would be 1.3b20).

I've just recently gone from 1.2b32 to 1.3b14 because I wanted some of the neat features, but b14 has a couple of snap-to-grid bugs, so I'll probably move to b18 soon. However, campaign file formats are not compatible between 1.2 and 1.3...

Find the token file you saved and use WinZip or some other archiver to extract the contents (.rptok files are zip archives). There should be two xml files and thumbnail file plus an assets folder with the actual image(s) for the token.

If it extracts correctly check the properties.xml for anything weird.


Not currently supported. Would be pretty trivial to add that support however.

Trivial as in unnecessary or not difficult? Just wondering. Another game system that uses open ended die is AEG's d10 L5R (d10's can "explode"- if you roll a 10, you get to roll again and if you get another 10, you can roll again, etc.).

Exploding die rolls are already supported. 1d10e

It would be trivial to add support for MERP rolls where:

1-5: reroll & substract
6-95: as is
96-00: reroll & add

I was just in dicelib adding Fudge and Ubiquity dice, I could probably get to this in the next day or two. Couple of questions.

1) Does it continue to explode. If I roll 97 and then 98 do I get to roll a third time? What if I roll a 97 and then a 02?

2) Should this be a new syntax (1d100m) or the behavior for 1d100e? 1d100e seems kind of silly without something like this, so I'd be inclined to use that.

Thanks,
Steve

My memory of MERP rules are that the roll is open-ended and thus can keep going. But it has been a long time since I looked at them and couldn't tell you for sure.

I would go with {1d100m} for the roll.

I had thought about {1d100l5u96} even. That way you could do any variation on it you wanted.

It sounds like you are saving the token by itself ? If so, could you email me the token and I'll take a look at it.

If its open ended what happens if it explodes up and then you roll low. Do you roll again and subtract or just stop?

Steve

Gonna have to get Alarian or someone who has the rules handy to answer that. Been too long since I've seen the rules.

[quote="shammond42"]If its open ended what happens if it explodes up and then you roll low. Do you roll again and subtract or just stop?

Yes the rolls keep going if you roll 96 or higher more than once. Once you roll high though say on your first die roll, then you would ignore low rolls after that. Same is true if you roll low on your first die roll. I.e. if you roll 03 on your first roll followed by another 03 you would just subtract 3. If you rolled 03 on your first roll then rolled 97 on your second roll, you would roll again and keep subtracting. If you rolled a 96 or higher again, you would keep rolling and so on.

Hope this helps.

If there are any other questions, feel free to ask.

Alarian

Are there other systems that use variations on the exploding dice mechanic? If so, it might be useful to come up with a way to account for all the variants when coding the new dice behavior. It seems like the main differences between the existing exploding dice and the merp dice are the extended range, high and low "exploding", and repeat explosions. Rather than using a unique suffix for each combination of variations, could these be strung together as options?

For example: [d100er5] might be a d100 roll that explodes repeatedly if the result is in the top five possible.

This would make the dice system more flexible for those using more obscure or even homebrew systems.

My inclination would be to do both. Create a generic syntax that can handle different explosion variations and then specific ones for the merp case, etc. In the code the specific ones would simply call the correct generic.

Steve

Could it be done by tying the dice rolling into the table syntax?

The user defines a table that has 1-5, 6-95, and 96-100 as three separate entries. Something in the table indicates that 1-5 and 96-100 should roll again and the middle range should not. Perhaps something like this:


would mean to roll a d100 and check against a table named DieChain. The value would be looked up in the table and the value would be the next die to roll. So the entry for 6-95 would be empty (don't roll again) while 1-5 and 96-100 would contain the exact same string as the original (as shown above).

The table name could be any string of characters except punctuation (+, =, *, etc). This means that any other modifiers to the roll would need to appear before the letter "t", but this isn't that strange as far as language syntax rules go.

The Rolemaster series uses this same system (both from ICE). 01-05 are critical failures - roll again and subtract the roll. If the second roll is 96-100, keep rolling and keep subtracting until you roll 01-95. Critical successes work similarly, 96-100 and keep rolling and adding until you roll 01-95.

There is one additional fluke here though. You can get multiple levels of Lucky or Unlucky (not exactly sure of the names). 2 levels of luck makes a critical success 94-100, 2 levels of unlucky makes a critical failure 01-07. I'm not sure if luck reduces the potential for continuing rolls on a critical failure.