Dice rolls I have known

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timpart
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Dice rolls I have known

Post by timpart »

While playing various RPGs I've come across die rolls that aren't covered by #d# + #.

Other forms of d notation
Can subtract from a roll result e.g. 1d6-2. What happens if result is zero or negative depends on rules system. GURPS 4th Ed may have zero or one as the result depending on circumstance (page 378).

Can multiply the roll by a number E.g. 1d10 * 10. These tend to be in specialised circumstances like treasure and massive damage.

May add together different die types Earthdawn step 9 is d8 + d6. Step 40 is 2d20+d10+d8+2d6 (page 36)!

I have played several non-d20 games. Here are some of the ways of dice rolling I've encountered.

Successes
Rolling against a target to determine succeses. Each die is individually compared against a target; those that reach it are deemed a success. E.g. d10 against target 7 in Adventure! (pages 111 - 112). (I recall something similar in world of darkness) d6 against target of 4 in Albion and Legends Walk!. The dice may also explode (see below) granting extra dice to test against the target.

Exploding dice
If the highest result on the die is obtained, then another die is rolled. If summing dice then it is added on to the original result and counts as a single roll. If the highest result is obtained on the extra die then another extra die is rolled etc.

If counting successes against a target then extra dice are individually compared against the target and may give extra successes.

Spycraft 2.0 (d20 based) - in a dramatic scene the GM's action dice also explode if a 1 is rolled (page 424).

Kept dice
A particular number are thrown , but the player can only keep a certain number; the rolls of the chosen dice (almost always the best ones unless the player is trying to pull a blow) are added together for the final result . 7th Sea only uses d10s so it has a notation of 5k2 roll five keep two. The dice can explode as well in this system. The explosions are done individually and are treated as a single roll before selecting which ones to keep (pages 17-18 ).

Notation
d% is a common alternative notation to d100.

Systems that only have one type of dice often omit the number of sides and just use d, e.g. 6 sided in Gurps.

d is used in English because it is the fisrt letter of die/dice. In Germany w is used for the same reason, so 1d6 is written 1w6.

Amber avoids all these problems of notation :-)

Some systems use playing cards froma standard deck with jokers. E.g. Deadlands and 50 Fathoms. (The former uses them to form poker hands to see who wins!)

What others are there out there?

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Post by Phergus »

Of course there is the body damage from attacks in Champions. The six sided are summed normally for stun damage but body is also determined from the same roll. IIRC, it's 1 pt of body damage for a roll of 1, 2 pts for a roll of 2-5 and 3 pts for a 6?

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Post by Steel Rat »

PErsonally I don't think it's necessary to account for every single game system out there. I mean, is it really that hard to add +1 or +2 or +10 to a die roll in your head? Or to just roll more dice because you received a certain result? I think trying to account for all these things will make Dicetool bloated and confusing.

Just make it so the GM can enter formulae if needed to achieve most of the result they need.
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trevor
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Post by trevor »

I believe, and giliath can correct me, that DiceTool allows for arbitrary arithmetic.
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Post by Phergus »

Steel Rat - if a dice rolling program doesn't do the rolls for the system you are playing is it of any use at all? Isn't the point to reduce the amount of trivial bookkeeping tasks for the GM?

I think that DiceTool already comes close handling most game systems and can be extended with JavaScript so not really an issue as far as I can see.

That said I can't really say that I see how DiceTool would actually help me during GMing.
PErsonally I don't think it's necessary to account for every single game system out there. I mean, is it really that hard to add +1 or +2 or +10 to a die roll in your head?
Scary to think it but there are a couple players in our group who pretty much have to use calculators for anything beyond reading a basic die roll. :shock:

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Post by Steel Rat »

The purpose of a die rolling program is to achieve the randomness without actual die being present. And to allow for large-scale rolling, again without the need for handfuls of dice.

Speaking from a PbP perspective, all I need form the players are the base die rolls, I can add the modifiers myself with no trouble.

If Trevor or whomever is programming DiceTool wants to account for every game system that's ever been, I feel sorry for them, that will be a LOT of tedious work. I think they'd do better to allow for basic die rolls, customized die rolls, and formulae. I think they already do this.

As for things like exploding die, can't you tell just by looking at the roll whether the player gets to roll additional die?

I look at DiceTool as a GM tool anyway, not a player tool, unless the tool allows the player to send unalduterated rolls to the GM.
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trevor
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Post by trevor »

Giliath actually wrote and maintains DiceTool.

My understanding is that you can use javascript to write game rule specific extensions.
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Post by brisingre »

http://personalpages.tds.net/~huntergre ... ice111.zip is a dice roller that might cover all of these other sortsof dice rolling.
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Post by Steel Rat »

trevor wrote:Giliath actually wrote and maintains DiceTool.

My understanding is that you can use javascript to write game rule specific extensions.
If adding those extensions means the interface doesn't become cluttered and confusing, then go for it.
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Post by Phergus »

SR - the extensions are already there as is DiceTools capability to do much of what has been talking about.

DiceTool is not in any danger. :)

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Post by timpart »

Steel Rat wrote: If adding those extensions means the interface doesn't become cluttered and confusing, then go for it.
I wouldn't want a confusing interface.

However the interface I do want can vary from game to game. If I'm playing something that only uses d10s then all the other dice are clutter. If I'm playing a d20 based system they are essential. It would be nice if things could be configured and configurations savable by name.

I must admit that these dice rolls are something that I would like to be available in maptool, but I hope that dicetool and maptool will be able to talk at some point. I only put this in the dicetool thread since that tool is more specific to dice rolling.

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trevor
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Post by trevor »

timpart wrote:I hope that dicetool and maptool will be able to talk at some point.
Most certainly :)
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Post by Emryys »

trevor wrote:
timpart wrote:I hope that dicetool and maptool will be able to talk at some point.
Most certainly :)
And it will be a most interesting conversation... ;)
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