Author Topic: Ways to add to the dice mechanics  (Read 2849 times)

Offline elberon

  • Lurker
  • Posts: 9
    • View Profile
Ways to add to the dice mechanics
« on: December 07, 2010, 01:16:23 AM »
I am thinking of putting together my a set of dice (rather than normal Fudge dice) so I can incorporate an idea from Warhammer fantasy of having an 'attitude' to your roll, e.g. are you going in full tilt, you might throw your opponent off guard or they may read you totaly and you crash  and burn.

To do this I was going to add a little minus sign to one of the plus faces and a small plus to one of the minus sides and then the player would declare his attitude when rolling (the default is standard) and consult the following table:

                 Dice Face
Attitude    +    +/-    blank   blank   -/+     -
Cautious      1     0        0        0       0      -1
Standard     1     1        0        0      -1      -1
Aggressive   2     1        0        0      -1      -2
Reckless      2     1        0        0       0      -3


I'm still in two minds over Reckless, I think it is slightly better to do than the others stats wise.

What do you all think?

Chris

Offline Richard_Chilton

  • Posty McPostington
  • ***
  • Posts: 2400
    • View Profile
Re: Ways to add to the dice mechanics
« Reply #1 on: December 07, 2010, 01:24:26 AM »
It might be easier to use a D6 rather than adding to the dice.

Richard

Offline TheMouse

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 733
    • View Profile
Re: Ways to add to the dice mechanics
« Reply #2 on: December 07, 2010, 01:46:48 AM »
I don't like Reckless, because each die is more likely to produce an average result. It just seems off to me.

Offline Quazar

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 183
    • View Profile
Re: Ways to add to the dice mechanics
« Reply #3 on: December 07, 2010, 03:10:44 AM »
Why not:

                 Dice Face
Attitude    +    +/-    blank   blank   -/+     -
Cautious      1     0        0        0       0      -1
Standard     1     1        0        0      -1      -1
Aggressive   2     1        0        0      -1      -2
Reckless      3     2        0        0      -2      -3

Big Pay Off or Big Loss

EDIT:  This would give a similar spread to the other system the book suggests, aka 1d6-1d6.  +5 => -5
« Last Edit: December 07, 2010, 03:12:53 AM by Quazar »

Offline JesterOC

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 109
    • View Profile
Re: Ways to add to the dice mechanics
« Reply #4 on: December 07, 2010, 09:06:04 AM »
How about this, don't mark up the dice and do the following.

Need three colors for dice.
Cautious dice: Plus = 1/2, Minus = -1/2 (Round down after all dice added)
Standard dice: Read these as normal
Wild Dice: Plus = 2, Minus = -2, Blank = -1

Let the player decide which dice to use for each throw.

For instance they can use 3 standard and 1 wild, or 2 cautious and 2 standard. What ever they feel like and have them roll the dice.

Ranges:
All Cautious:  +2 to -2
Standard: Normal  +4 to -4
All Wild:  +8 to -8

That way you can use the system with anyone's dice (I don't like the idea of marking up my Fudge dice).

BTW the math of this is not my forte so I wrote a little program to sort this all out (spent too much time on this.. must sleep)
If anyone wants to tinker with this idea and wants a quick and dirty little java tool with no UI here it is.

Bottom line, is that wild in this incarnation, will likely hurt you more than help, but it can pay off big if you are praying to the gods of chaos to save you.

Code: [Select]
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Random;


public class test {

/**
* @param args
*/

protected static HashMap<Integer, Integer> theMap = new HashMap<Integer, Integer>();
static Random randomGen = new Random();
public static void main(String[] args) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
double result =  0.0;
String dieUsed = "WWWW"; 
for(int i=0;i<100000;i++){
int dieResult =getResult(dieUsed);

            // Check if word is in HashMap
            if (theMap.containsKey(dieResult)) {
                // get number of occurrences for this word
                // increment it 
                // and put back again 
            theMap.put(dieResult, theMap.get(dieResult) + 1);
            } else {
                // this is first time we see this word, set value '1'
            theMap.put(dieResult, 1);
            }
}
ArrayList<Integer> values = new ArrayList<Integer>();
values.addAll(theMap.values());
        int last_i = -1;
 
        for (Integer i : values) {
            if (last_i == i)
                continue;
            last_i = i;
            for (Integer s : theMap.keySet()) {
                if (theMap.get(s) == i)   
                    System.out.println(s + ":" + i);
            }
        }
System.out.println("Done");
}
protected static int getResult(String dieUsed){
int result = 0;
double temp = 0.0;
for(int i=0;i<dieUsed.length();++i){
if( dieUsed.substring(i, i+1).contains("S")){
temp += (double)getStandardFudge();
}else if( dieUsed.substring(i, i+1).contains("C")){
temp += (double)getCautousFudge();
}else if( dieUsed.substring(i, i+1).contains("W")){
temp += (double)getWildFudge();
}
}
result = (int)temp;
return result;
}
protected static int getStandardFudge(){
double next = Math.random();
int intResult = (int) (next*3)-1;
return intResult;
}
protected static double getCautousFudge(){
return getStandardFudge()/2.0;
}
protected static int getWildFudge(){
int standard = getStandardFudge();
if( standard == 0){
standard = -1;
}else if( standard == 1){
standard =2;
}else{
standard = -2;
}
return standard;
}
}

Offline elberon

  • Lurker
  • Posts: 9
    • View Profile
Re: Ways to add to the dice mechanics
« Reply #5 on: December 07, 2010, 04:26:04 PM »
I remember what I was going to do with Reckless

+ +/- Blank  Blank  -/+    -
2   1   +/-    +/-     -1   -2

the result +/- means if the net outcome on the other dice are positive then they would add to your successes and vice versa. if the net out come is balanced then they count as 0.  Things will tend to having an extreme outcome (and as you probably wouldn't be being reckless if you fancied your odds other ways a neutral result will probably still be bad news, just not a disaster)

Chris

Offline JesterOC

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 109
    • View Profile
Re: Ways to add to the dice mechanics
« Reply #6 on: December 07, 2010, 11:30:03 PM »
BTW the method I mentioned (3 types of dice) would work well with the new dice they are selling.

White = Cautious
Green = Normal
Red = Wild

Just saying... :)

Offline elberon

  • Lurker
  • Posts: 9
    • View Profile
Re: Ways to add to the dice mechanics
« Reply #7 on: December 08, 2010, 12:11:05 AM »
BTW the method I mentioned (3 types of dice) would work well with the new dice they are selling.

White = Cautious
Green = Normal
Red = Wild

Just saying... :)

Yeah but being in the UK means that would cost around $40 per player + $30 shipping - as much as I like Dresden Files and Evil Hat that's a tad rich for my tastes.  Though should be more doable if DIYing but sorting out 12 dice per player pushes fluffy GM side to breaking point..  (sorting dice is a price I'll probably have to pay to get my group to play)


Offline zerogain

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 109
    • View Profile
    • Dresden Files: Seattle
Re: Ways to add to the dice mechanics
« Reply #8 on: December 09, 2010, 07:27:41 PM »
First, what about polyhedrals?  Using the d6-d6 method you get +/-5, you could change that up and say d4s for cautious, d8s for reckless, etc.

Another option would be to simply add or subtract from the number of dice in the pool.  An especially cautious person might choose to use only two dice, while a very reckless roll might be six or more.

Offline JesterOC

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 109
    • View Profile
Re: Ways to add to the dice mechanics
« Reply #9 on: December 10, 2010, 07:59:47 PM »
First, what about polyhedrals?  Using the d6-d6 method you get +/-5, you could change that up and say d4s for cautious, d8s for reckless, etc.

Good idea. That should work well and be easy for most anyone to experiment with. Perhaps you would want to cap the + level to 4, that way you have a better chance of getting a +4 without getting crazy high results.
« Last Edit: December 10, 2010, 08:01:40 PM by JesterOC »