Precinct Omega Podcast - Design #4 - Random Number Generators
Added 2021-01-08 12:00:03 +0000 UTCI spend an hour mostly talking about dice. I spend as little time as possible looking at the numbers and probability curves (but have to spend some time talking about them) and then go on to talk about how those apply, how dice can strip agency from players and how to avoid that happening. I also do a big breakdown of what you can do with playing cards and why, sometimes, you shouldn't.
I touch upon a lot of games, including Under Falling Skies, Warhammer 40,000, Savage Worlds, Dystopian Wars, D&D in its various incarnations, Aristeia!, Infinity Defiance, and Malifaux.
These unscripted episodes get long. Hope you're all cool with that.
Comments
I'm still catching up on podcasts, finally got round to listening to this one today. A couple of points from me: 1) 2D6 does not technically create a bell curve, it's actually two straight lines. That said I think 2D6 mechanisms are a fantastic choice for introductory wargames. New players have probably played games like monopoly many times and, even with zero knowledge of probability, they will be immediately familiar with the concepts that 7s are common while 2 and 12 are rare. 2) It is much better/more exciting if the player can roll dice and immediately know the result was good or bad. Establishing a target number and applying modifiers prior to the roll helps the player make an informed decision. I think this is where custom dice can have an advantage, the symbols give an instant view as to how good the roll was. 3) While I like the death slide dice mechanism in HW, when it comes to how it works with F rolls I have mixed feels. On the plus side it cleverly blends firepower and range into a single mechanism and avoids the artificial break points that having fixed weapon ranges leads to. The downside is it frustratingly blends firepower and range into a single stat that leads to less variety in unit designs.
Jonathan Lupton
2021-01-21 14:11:17 +0000 UTC
