Dice System Creation

[Reinhardt]

This past months, I've been slowly constructing a dice system for a rp I plan to conduct here. Since, I am not quite experienced in the field of dice rp and its way of doing things, I'd like some help in doing and possibly finishing this goal of mine.


The link is here: Vaestine Chronicles


Yes, I know, it's unfinished but I'd like it if you'd give me some suggestions, and reviews on errors and whatnot. If anyone would like to help me build this, it'd be a great pleasure to have them on board, since I'm currently doing this alone.

 

[Grey]

Looks like a simple D20 clone.


Do you really want my help, before I give it? I will not be gentle and will suggest you do a lot of reading.

 

[Reinhardt]

Do you really want my help, before I give it? I will not be gentle and will suggest you do a lot of reading.

Yes, of course.

 

[Grey]

Right, it's a simple d20 clone; it is therefore not terribly exciting to use and somewhat limited with a comparatively flat probability curve. I wouldn't use it, but that's largely personal preference. The system is so light the classes are basically meaningless beyond flavour.


The biggest problem I see is scaling - why do stats go to 100 when only increments of 10 are relevant? Smaller numbers = better, typically. You may as well have a 1-1 ratio of stat to result.


Also, not even close to enough setting info. That's where the bulk of work needs to be done.

 

[Reinhardt]

Right, it's a simple d20 clone; it is therefore not terribly exciting to use and somewhat limited with a comparatively flat probability curve. I wouldn't use it, but that's largely personal preference. The system is so light the classes are basically meaningless beyond flavour.

I see. D20s seemed to be the easiest to use a 40-60 success-fail rate with a Reroll chance. Do you have any suggestions in making it more, as you say, exciting?

The biggest problem I see is scaling - why do stats go to 100 when only increments of 10 are relevant? Smaller numbers = better, typically. You may as well have a 1-1 ratio of stat to result.

Well, I thought of it first as a 'grindy' kind of system, which led me to having such high numbers.

Also, not even close to enough setting info. That's where the bulk of work needs to be done.

That is a section that I am yet to finish, but I do have plans to add more details to it.

 

[Grey]

Grindiness is really not desirable in a tabletop or forum RPG. You could probably transplant what you have wholesale into Unity or Unreal4, though.


Using two to three dice is still relatively simple while giving you more control over the curve. 2d10 seems superficially similar to 1d20, but it has - most importantly - a reliable average of 11. Alternatively, if you need broader scaling, you can make the first die the ten and the second die the ones, so that a roll of 2d10 with a result of 4 and 5 is 45 instead of 9. If you really want, you can add a third, bonus die to further skew results in the players' favour.


Is this meant to be dark or light, in tone? Should we expect to see player characters defeat hordes of evil foes, or die ignobly and unmourned with one false step?

 

[Reinhardt]

Grindiness is really not desirable in a tabletop or forum RPG. You could probably transplant what you have wholesale into Unity or Unreal4, though.

Ah, I see. In that case, I will have to rethink the stat distribution and leveling. It was supposed to be grindy to ensure that certain class skills would be only attained at a certain level, mainly because I planned to give each class a number of skills at their disposal.

Using two to three dice is still relatively simple while giving you more control over the curve. 2d10 seems superficially similar to 1d20, but it has - most importantly - a reliable average of 11. Alternatively, if you need broader scaling, you can make the first die the ten and the second die the ones, so that a roll of 2d10 with a result of 4 and 5 is 45 instead of 9. If you really want, you can add a third, bonus die to further skew results in the players' favour.

That does sound good. If that will be used, should the roll bonuses be removed? Or should it be altered into a more manageable way, like an unchangeable class or race bonus?

Is this meant to be dark or light, in tone? Should we expect to see player characters defeat hordes of evil foes, or die ignobly and unmourned with one false step?

I did think of making an open-world approach once, but I believe such would be difficult to pull off, so I'm putting that idea aside for now.


It's more of a light tone, though I do have some plans to shift it from dark and light. It will focus mostly on adventure and exploration, with a few political and religious elements to add flavour.

 

[Grey]

Every special ability you hand to players is an option. Gating their options behind an XP barriers serves two purposes - it allows you to better predict their actions and control the pace, enabling obstacles that might be made trivial by later skills, or it provides a gentle learning curve where more powerful effects interact with the system in more complex ways. It also encourages players to rush for the new options, to find the first opportunity to test them, and where possible to find the optimal choice. The optimal choice typically ends up being mandatory.


If you do decide to go with any multi-dice option, keep the bonuses but consider scaling them back. The bonuses are meant to weight the roll in the players' favour where their stats would suggest an advantage.


Open world would be very tricky, unless you're willing to write up and control all the factions and powerful individuals in the setting until the players stumble into a plot - although it sounds like they'd be more likely to remain split apart, forcing you to essentially run a series of 1x1s. I'd suggest picking an area of your setting and a rough plotline into which you drop the players - if nothing else, it'll force you to fill in details you hadn't thought of when they start asking questions.


Okay, so this works reasonably well for a lighter system, but I'd say give players a limited number of narrative control tokens. Call 'em what you like, they'd basically be something the player characters can cash in at dramatic moments to cheat death or automatically succeed at something.


How do you intend for class skills to interact with your core mechanic?