RPGaDay Challenge 2023 - Day 9

 

Ah yes, the kind of hard-hitting, deep thinking, challenging-the-status-quo type prompt I've come to expect from RPGaDay. Wait...no...the opposite of this. 

OK, so favorite die: The D6. The cube. The lowly, Six-Sider. Ta-da! 

That's it for tonight folks, you've been a great crowd! Please tip your droid before you go. Safe travels!

What? You want more?

Well...hmm...I don't really have more. 

I don't really share the typical dice fetish most gamers have. Sure, I like pretty dice as much as the next RPG fan but I don't really have a favorite set. I will often use my black D6s with the little white dots on them for space games like Star Wars or Traveller and I do love my custom ALIEN and Ghostbusters dice but I only use them for ALIEN and Ghostbusters. For most of the games I run and play, I just grab some dice from my collection and go. 

I will say, I prefer rolling real dice vs. using online die-rollers. I do use them, fairly regularly, but my preference is for the real deal. 

OK? We done?

Cool.

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Barking Alien

Paranormal Activity

Of the many pet projects I'm currently working on, the one that is furthest along is my [ongoing] update of the system I use for running Ghostbusters games.

Ghostbusters 'No Ghosts' Logo Variant

By Justin Gammon

For some years now I've been using a rules set I put together combining the original West End Games Ghostbusters RPG and Memento Mori's InSpectres. Honestly, the system I use is primarily InSpectres but since that game owes a lot to the Ghostbusters game I feel the latter is worth mentioning. It's DNA is clearly visible in the final product. 

I've decided to add something new to the mix with the Stress Dice/Panic Chart mechanic from Free League Publishing's ALIEN RPG. To this end, I had Nice Dice Customs (who I highly recommend!) produce a dozen 'Ghost Dice' with the No Ghost emblem in place of the 1.

The idea is that you would roll one or more of these Ghost Dice as you would the Stress Dice from ALIEN, along with your appropriate Action Dice for the Tasks Attribute and Skill combination. 

A 6 on any of the dice, Action Dice or Stress/Ghost Dice, indicates a Success. Ghost Dice would be added to the mix in stressful, frightening, or obviously dangerous situations. The more stressful, the more Ghost Dice you would add to the roll. A player may also request the addition of one Ghost Die to their roll as a gamble to increase ones chance of Success. 

If the No Ghost symbol comes up, that is considered Panic. The player than makes a Panic Roll. Take a count of the number of Ghost Dice/Stress you rolled, add the number of dice that came up Ghosts and add the total to a single standard/Action Die roll. That final Panic number is checked against the chart below (still a work in progress). 

Example:

A particularly perturbing Poltergeist presents a problem for veteran Ghostbusters Ray Stantz and Winston Zeddemore.

The duo tries to surround their formidable fortean foe in the atrium of an abandoned building. Ray is on the North East side of the area while Winston is on the South West. Ray fires off a stream from his Proton Pack hoping to ensure the ghost while Winston tosses a trap underneath it. 

Ray rolls his Action Dice; adding his Technology Attribute (say 3 Dice) and his Neutrino Wand Talent (Adding +1 Dice) for a total of 4 Dice. In addition, the GM (Ghostmaster like in the ol' West End version?) declares that this is a 2 Ghost Die situation (more on how I see this working in a future post).

Ray is therefore rolling four Action Dice and two Ghost Dice for a total of six (6) Dice. His results are: 6, 6, 4, 3, and two Ghost symbols. Uh-oh.

Now according to the original system by Free League, I believe that rolling Panic negates the action the PC is attempting to take. I could be wrong here. My house rule is that you do accomplish what you were attempting to do if indeed the roll includes Successes. The effect of the Panic Roll also happens.

Based on the situation, as well as GM and player input, the Panic Effect may occur during or immediately after the Success result. If the Success and Panic are incompatible for any reason, the Panic supersedes and the Action fails regardless of Successes rolled. 

Optionally, if you roll more Successes than you need you may spend one to prevent your Action from being negated. I kind of like that. What do you all think? 

Where was I? Oh yes, the Panic Roll. With 2 Ghost Dice rolled and 2 Ghost symbols popping up, Ray rolls 1D6 and adds+4 (2+2). He gets a 6; which along with the +4 is a 10. The GM then consults the Panic Chart. 

Apparently the piercing green eyes and transparent rib-cage thing is too much for Ray once he takes a good look at it and he freezes in place (It's Right Here. It's Looking at Me.).

Winston wasn't really looking at the ghost so much as waiting for Ray's que to drop the Muon Trap he was prepping. He suddenly realizes Ray isn't moving and starts to get nervous himself (tacking on +1 to his Stress Dice as noted). 

Obviously still a work in progress and this is one of many notes I need to go through but what do you all think so far? I'm really liking it. 

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Barking Alien

Hot Fudge

There's been some talk across the blogosphere about Fudging Dice and since I am a big fan I thought I would take some time out from the RPGaDay Challenge to add in my two credits.

Now, Fudge...I mean, who doesn't love fudge, am I right? And Fudge Dice? Come on! As a gamer what could be cooler than that?

Wait a second...that's not what we're talking about? Then what...?

On Fudging The Dice

To Fudge or Not To Fudge

Disagreement on Every Level

Ahhh. OK.

Here we see some very different viewpoints analyzing this very serious...giggle..sorry, this very serious issue. It is of the utmost importance...giggle-snort...ahem. My apologies. It is of the utmost importance that the sanctity of the rules and the results of dice rolls...snicker...be...heh...Bwahuahahahaha!

Sorry. I just couldn't keep a straight face through that whole daffy business.  

Let's take a look at what all the hubbub is about. 

First, allow me to give you my definition of Fudging. It might not be the same as yours and it behooves us to be on the same page in order to have an intelligent conversation, does it not? So glad you agree. 

Player 1 - Playing a Starfleet Science Officer: "I scan the moons of the planet to see determine their general composition. Do I need to roll for this? I mean, I am a Lieutenant in Starfleet, the Chief Science Officer of a ship on an Exploration Mission and I've already scanned the planet itself twice."

GM: "Good point. No need to roll. You find that the moons are..."

This is not Fudging.

No roll was necessary and therefore nothing needed adjusting in any way. The outcome was pre-determined and agreed upon by all involved.

Player 2 - A Dwarven Fighter: "I appreciate you giving Burngold Half-An-Axe a Notice Roll but I am going to say he shouldn't get one or that he'd automatically fail. We've established he was born and raised in the city, knows nothing of the Elven Forests, and doesn't look kindly on things Elves think are important."

GM: "Understood. I in turn appreciate you being true to character."

This is not Fudging. 

No roll was necessary and therefore nothing needed adjusting in any way. The outcome was pre-determined and agreed upon by all involved.

Player 3 - A Skilled Based Superhero: "Superspy launches an explosive cartridge at Obvious Threat using his Mini-Grenade Launching Pen. *Rolls the dice which bounce over some books and one lands in a space between two hardcovers. It is on an angle between the books and while it looks like a failure it could be construed as not wholly on that number*. Dang it. Can I roll that again? It got caught in the crevice here."

GM: "Sure why not."

This is not Fudging.

This is known as a Re-roll and happens when the visual accuracy of the roll is in question.

Sometimes a die rolls off a table or falls into the crack between the cushions of a sofa. More often than not, the GM will just have the player re-roll. The outcome of a second roll is no different than the outcome of a first roll. Both are randomly generated numbers. Remember that you are people, often adults, playing a game for fun. No money is on the line. It isn't going to effect anyone's physical health or topple a major cultural institution. It's a f***ing die roll. Calm the f*** down.

Player 4 - Doesn't matter: "I attack and get a...*rolls dice - gets a 10*...a 15! I hit him!"

GM: "Are you sure that was a 15? You kind of covered it. It looked like a 10."

This is not Fudging. 

This is cheating. This person is likely a child, probably raised poorly by ruffians and thieves. Maybe wolves. OK, perhaps just a normal child. If this person is not a child than do not play with them. They are untrustworthy scallywags of the worst sort. 

Now, check this out...

Player 5 - A Great One: "I noticed the opponent has feature X on her person. Your description of X seems similar to the pictogram we saw in the sunken temple five sessions back. Also, I believe Player 1 discovered this opponent's 'Source of Power' is the key to unraveling this whole affair. I want to swing my sword as if to injure the opponent but I am actually just trying to separate the X feature from her forehead."

GM: "Very interesting!. Go for it!"

Player 5 rolls and gets a failure but misses the target number only by one or two.

The GM knows that the Player has finally put clues together that will lead not only to defeating this enemy but saving the world in the long term. It is a major feature of the campaign. If the Player just misses, the narrative doesn't change much and there is no reward for her clever realization. So the GM decides, right then and there with no pre-determined outcome planned before now, to Fudge...

GM: "Damn. While you fail to remove feature X, you do get the tip of the blade under it a little and it becomes slightly dislodged. You can see this causes the opponent great distress. You're on to something.

This is Fudging.

Fudging, IMHO, is when an RPG participant - nearly always the GM - sees a die result and weighs the outcome of that roll against the logical progression of the events in the session, what has gone before and is established in the campaign, and the overall enjoyment of the players and themselves, and determines if the result should stand as is or be modified in some way. 

What Fudging is not:

The End of Days

Something against which a Higher Power will judge you such that you can't enter Heaven

A Big Deal

These are games and yes, games have rules. We are also not talking about traditional games. I don't really enjoy traditional games. There is a reason I have a blog dedicated to RPGs and not Chess, Monopoly, or Chutes and Ladders. There is a narrative experience possible in RPGs found no where else. I like the 'R' and 'P' in RPG. The 'G' is considerably less interesting and important to me. Not unimportant but compared to those who seem to forget the other two letters come first, I don't hold sacred the inarguably word of the holy 'DICE'.

Finally...

You out there who have never Fudged a dice roll...I call you out. I call BS. You're lying. Unless you are some sort of robot...you aren't are you?...or have only been playing RPGs for a very short time, I am nearly 100% certain who have Fudged a roll at some point. It might have been for a PC or against one, it might have been very minor or fate sealing but every GM I have ever met has at one point or another. 

Perhaps the dice just wouldn't land on the number needed to set off that special power the monster has and you REALLY wanted the PCs to see it. Maybe it was to make someone feel better when their real life had been dumping on them lately and they just couldn't score a hit to save their PC's life all session. I guess you could also be a heartless, uncreative, cruel-minded pit of darkness but I'm giving you all the benefit of the doubt here and saying that probably isn't the case.

Listen, I'm not here to tell you how to run your game. My goal is to suggest other points of view. Run things the way you want to run them and determine what works for you. I'm not your parent. I'm more like your Fun Uncle.

There are elements of the article by Cavegirl I did not address directly. She goes a bit far and I am not sure that even I am comfortable doing things the way she suggests but now I am aware of that way and it gives me something to consider. That's why I like blogging, reading blogs, and listening to other people's ideas.

You never know what it might inspire.

Peace Out,

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Barking Alien

RPGaDay Challenge 2016 - Day 23

I don't have any best 'worst luck' stories. I mean, not of my own. 

I could tell you about the occasionally hilarious bad luck some of my players have had over the years, but that doesn't really do anything for me at this moment. Not in that particular mood today. I simply can't drum up the energy to wind up the humorous pitch needed to get a strike dead center over the funny zone that is home plate.

Luck. The weird double edged sword of table top gaming.

On the one hand, gaming really isn't quite the same without the element of random chance. Some form of randomizer, dice, cards, or whathaveyou, is a key component of the mix that makes gaming so enjoyable IMHO.

At the same time, I hate it when a brilliant idea the player puts forth, is ruined by a bad roll. If the player puts real thought and depth of feeling into an action, why leave it to the arbitrary roll of a piece of plastic?

Hmmm. This entry was intended to be humorous, but has become ponderous instead.

Oh well. That sort of day.


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Barking Alien

RPGaDay Challenge 2016 - Day 1

First up...

Real dice. Physical polyhedrons. Roll them bones.

Yeah, while not as much of a dice-o-phile as some friends of mine are, or as I used to be, I prefer to roll honest-to-goodness plastic objects whenever possible.

It's funny to me too because I have a very strong preference for D6s, the most mundane of the various die types we gamers use. I dislike the D20 for a variety of reasons, chief among them the fact that they seem to dislike me. My luck with D20s is bad to the point of diminishing all the studies ever done on how probability is supposed to work mathematically.

I do use Dicestream pretty often these days for my online games, but if given the choice I prefer to kick it old school.

One down, thirty to go.

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Barking Alien

RPGaDay Challenge - Day 9

Day 9 - Favorite Die/Dice Set

I don't know that I have a favorite set, although I use to. I don't know what became of it.

I had this black dice with white numbers, where the black was speckled with tiny dots of red, blue, yellow and white. Mostly white. They looked like outer space, as outer space appears in Sci-Fi.

My favorite die though, that's simple. A D6.

Aside from being the easiest of all dice to come by, the simple, classic, seemingly mundane D6 powers most of my favorite games.

Classic Traveller, Champions, West End Games' Star Wars, and LUG's Star Trek all use D6 and only D6.

Another reason I like the six-sided die is that, defying all logic, I roll better with it than with any other die. I know, that doesn't make sense. I understand percentages and probabilities for the outcomes of rolls. Doesn't matter.

My D20 rolls are, more often than not, very poor.
My D6 rolls are, more often than not, pretty darn good.

Go figure.

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Barking Alien