Being a fan of pen & paper RPGs and eventually plan to put together a system of my own, one thing I study often is probability. Figuring the probability of an event and measure the percentile of an success (or fail) of an die roll is important for mechanic design. However, don't knowing the exact math of the more complex die mechanics ('exploding' dice for example) I found my interest in programming to help figure the probabilities. Sometimes, I'll program a quick flash document to be a die roller or browse the internet for more indepth and customizable systems. Found Anydice.com to be a great program with programmable dice output to a simple graph display.
I've often filled pages in my notebook with mechanic concepts and examples. Most drawing on bits of experience with systems I've played or read about, from percentile systems to die-pools and common d20 to more obscured Fudge. Each time I look at systems, often pick out the concepts I enjoy and admire, and take notes on the flaws.
No matter the system basis, one have to understand the odds behind the rolls. Take a comparison between a 1d12 and 2d6. Both have a max of 12, however the two dice will always have a better chance to get a higher score. Add 3d4 to the mix, the 3d4 will always have a chance to roll greater than the 2d6. However, the more dice added, the less deviation in the results, and that too must take account when designing a system.
Game statistics have always been an interest for me, and always curious in learning new things that involve with it.
Yep, the more dice the higher the minimum result and the higher the die side count the bigger the variation. 3d4 is 3-12, 3d20 is 3-60, etc.
ReplyDeleteI'm more concerned about granularity of data without having to roll a bucket of d6s.
True... making a system with high variation with little dice is important. It's one reason why I like Traveller's d66 concepts.
ReplyDeleteBig thing though is the desire to keep it simple. Using only a few dice the entire system has a great perk over a system that uses every type of die.