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Alien Rope Burn posted:On a completely different note, here's something I was thinking the other day: what's folks' favorite dice rolls from games? This can be resolution mechanic, an effect mechanic, a really cool way to roll on a table or matrix (remember those?), whatever. What's the funnest or most satisfying ways to use dice? I've always enjoyed the combat mechanic from Axis&Allies, particularly when compared to RISK..
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Apr 6, 2014 21:04
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OK, well, if we're going the easy way and judging board games too, Alien Frontiers and Quantum have pretty great dice mechanics.
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Apr 6, 2014 21:11
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I dig the Cortex+ pool o' dice, especially MHR's version. The dicepool and benny economy come together quite nicely.
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Apr 6, 2014 21:24
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Math problems aside, I have a soft spot for Savage Worlds.
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Apr 6, 2014 21:31
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Thanks to MSW we now have both sessions of Island-Crash on youtube now! Island-Crash full playlist! As a note its so weird to actually hear one of our games after the fact. We really are a big bunch of dumb nerds. 
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Apr 6, 2014 21:51
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If I must use dice I prefer using a specific small set of dice to create a curve, stats conferring additive bonuses to the roll, and static target numbers. Basically how PBTA games work, but not necessarily 2d6 = 6- > 7-9> 10+
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Apr 6, 2014 23:20
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Asymmetrikon posted:e: Least favorite is any RPG where you roll a thing and add a thing and compare it to a thing Tollymain posted:If I must use dice I prefer using a specific small set of dice to create a curve, stats conferring additive bonuses to the roll, and static target numbers. I think you are my mechanics evil twin.
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Apr 6, 2014 23:35
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I like the way ORE's dice look on paper. I've never played with them, but I like the way they look. I dislike systems where there's a lot of swing. I've seen an amazing number of lovely rolls in PDQ, which really doesn't help when failing rolls leads toward worsening your modifiers. The worst, frankly, are systems like Shadowrun where target numbers increase on a linear scale, but the exploding rolls you need to make them become more difficult at a much faster rate. On a related note, Old Storyteller's sliding TNs and dice pools made for some amazingly awful math, too. Percentiles? Meh. One of the many reasons I disliked Eclipse Phase, and one of my biggest annoyances with Call of Cthulhu. GURPS' 3d6 roll-under has always worked for me, for some reason. I'm used to d20 and its relatives. FUDGE feels like an interesting approach, after the frustrations of PDQ, but I haven't played with it enough to really get a feel for its benefits and shortcomings.
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Apr 6, 2014 23:48
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WFRP3, ORE, Danger Patrol, basically anything where your results come with "ands" or "buts". Ways to put extra oomph into rolls you really care about are also good (which all three of those have).
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Apr 7, 2014 00:19
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Bieeardo posted:I like the way ORE's dice look on paper. I've never played with them, but I like the way they look. Well latest version of Shadowrun does the same thing as nWoD with a static target number and variable success requirements. This gets rid of the exploding dice problem but I can't say I like the way they redid damage for this system. As for other systems my favorites are GURPS and Fate, I do particularly like how the average roll on Fate is actually equal to 0 + modifiers, so you have a reasonable way, right off the box, to know if you have a good shot at success. GURPS of course uses a bell curve. Although I will admit enjoying diceless systems and Tenra.
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Apr 7, 2014 01:15
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WHFRP3 hands down. I like the narrative aspect of the dice, these dice are you, these are your adversity, these reflect the environment etc. I like it because even players who don't get that into roleplaying will start making interesting decisions in the pursuit of certain dice types, and I find the whole group gets really invested in every roll.
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Apr 7, 2014 01:39
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Edge of the Empire. For the exact same reasons people love WHFRP3. It's exactly the same, with different symbols (I've been told EotE is a little better, but never played Warhammer)
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Apr 7, 2014 01:55
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EotE is kind of a mixed bag; you get more symbols to work with in a roll, 'cause there's often 2 to a side, and pretty much every skill is gonna have a unique pool to roll, but I feel like getting rid of the action cards and lumping in results reading into a table made the game a lot more samey (mostly because the bonuses you get for advantage have to be very general to cover any roll); additionally, I liked the way Conservative and Reckless dice had their own unique symbols in WFRP3e.
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Apr 7, 2014 02:21
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WFRP3 and Danger Patrol are also great because the rolls provide so much feedback. In WFRP3 you get to see exactly how much your innate strength vs your your weapon training helped hit that dude, and in Danger Patrol you know whether it was your plasma rifle exploding or failed derring do that caused your aircar to do all those backflips. Much more engaging than a whole bunch of anonymous +1s.
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Apr 7, 2014 02:33
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In general I avoid games that have custom dice but a number of years ago I played a demo of a Mutant Chronicles miniatures game and I remember really liking the dice mechanics (and not much else) it had different colored six sided dice that represented range and power, and they had various numbers of hit symbols on them. The details are kinda fuzzy but I think it might have been a precursor to the EotE system.
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Apr 7, 2014 02:54
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Bucnasti posted:In general I avoid games that have custom dice but a number of years ago I played a demo of a Mutant Chronicles miniatures game and I remember really liking the dice mechanics (and not much else) it had different colored six sided dice that represented range and power, and they had various numbers of hit symbols on them. The details are kinda fuzzy but I think it might have been a precursor to the EotE system. I remember those too, but they probably weren't a precursor, a lot of minis games in the late 80's and 90's used custom 6 siders.
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Apr 7, 2014 03:04
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Ya know, after looking at an admittedly-well-made Borderlands hack for Apocalypse/Dungeon World, I can see why some people really like ApocWorld over Dungeon World. A system as relatively crunch-light as ApocWorld doesn't quite *mesh* 100% with such hard, concrete crunchy concepts as hit points for me. If I'm going to have hit points, I'm going to want *some* sort of distinctly set-in-stone combat system, for better or for worse. Base ApocWorld's numbers are nice and simple. The Borderlands hack at least has the decency to have A) random loot drops and vending machines you can get a quick fixer-upper from, B) a pretty robust combat system for a very combat-oriented hack, and C) a nifty system for generating new enemies of all stripes, and D) starting characters that are built like loving tanks---with HP, shields, AND armor---compared to even the Fighter from Dungeon World or the Gunlugger from Apocalypse World. I think Dungeon World tried to be rules light D&D first and a well-conceived ApocWorld hack second. It's still enjoyable, but at the same time I feel it's been eclipsed at this point. This came to me while reading Spirit of '77. That's a good hack---it's not too mechanically different from base ApocWorld, but the differences do make it a very different game.
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Apr 7, 2014 03:15
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InfiniteJesters posted:Ya know, after looking at an admittedly-well-made Borderlands hack for Apocalypse/Dungeon World, I can see why some people really like ApocWorld over Dungeon World. Do you have a link for thar pbta Borderlands? I would be all over that!
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Apr 7, 2014 03:20
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Error 404 posted:Do you have a link for thar pbta Borderlands? http://wreckingballgamelabs.dvd20.org/game-content/No%20Rest.pdf Cheers, mate!
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Apr 7, 2014 03:25
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Bucnasti posted:In general I avoid games that have custom dice but a number of years ago I played a demo of a Mutant Chronicles miniatures game and I remember really liking the dice mechanics (and not much else) it had different colored six sided dice that represented range and power, and they had various numbers of hit symbols on them. One of my favorite minis mechanics was from Vor: The Maelstrom, for scatter mechanics: roll a 1d10 for the distance, and then the direction the d10 was pointing in was the direction. It's rare to see a mechanic play off the shape of a die, and I like them the rare times they pop up.
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Apr 7, 2014 03:30
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InfiniteJesters posted:http://wreckingballgamelabs.dvd20.org/game-content/No%20Rest.pdf I am discovering the Apocalypse Engine for the first time lately, and its amazing. First Sixth World (Shadowrun hack), then Shadowfist, Then Apoc/Dungeon World themselves, and now Spirit of '77 and some weirdo Borderlands hack? This stuff is amazing. Gonna have to read that Borderlands one when I'm done reading '77.  If only I had a chance to play any of them. 
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Apr 7, 2014 03:41
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Galaga Galaxian posted:I am discovering the Apocalypse Engine for the first time lately, and its amazing. First Sixth World (Shadowrun hack), then Shadowfist, Then Apoc/Dungeon World themselves, and now Spirit of '77 and some weirdo Borderlands hack? This stuff is amazing. Gonna have to read that Borderlands one when I'm done reading '77. Why not run a game at your local group? It might get some of the GMs at it interested in giving it a go. You can try to convince one of your local GMs to walk on the wild side and run it? It worked for me and Dungeon World.
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Apr 7, 2014 04:41
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Don't really have a local group, unfortunately. Most of my gamer friends are only into magic and wargames. I suppose I could try to get some of them interested, but attempts in the past haven't been very successful. I actually have an online group, but we recently started a new FAE based thing so something else new is unlikely. Plus we've recently been running into nasty scheduling issues and I fear that despite years of playing together, the whole group may break apart (as a roleplaying group anyways) before long.
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Apr 7, 2014 04:48
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Galaga Galaxian posted:If only I had a chance to play any of them. I will probably be running some open playtests for Spirit of 77 in the near future. ...and if anyone else runs a playtest and sends me some feedback I'll mail you one of these bitchin stickers. 
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Apr 7, 2014 06:42
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To me, Spirit of 77 always sounds like something someone would name a bi-plane.
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Apr 7, 2014 07:26
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P.d0t posted:To me, Spirit of 77 always sounds like something someone would name a bi-plane. I'm glad I'm not alone in this. (In the heyday of long-distance air racing, it was common to name an aircraft "Spirit of X," where X was the city it was from or sponsored by.) That said, I think that logo communicates what the game is about really well.
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Apr 7, 2014 07:46
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P.d0t posted:To me, Spirit of 77 always sounds like something someone would name a bi-plane. Or a sports bar. But what are you going to do, the game is literally about evoking the spirit of the 1970s (because the real 1970s were pretty lovely).
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Apr 7, 2014 08:57
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You're a year late for a pinball machine.  
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Apr 7, 2014 09:08
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Things I have learned recently: Despite the long, long lists of weaponry and gear, Tenra Bansho Zero is not a murdertrain dungeon crawler game by any stretch of the imagination, and thinking that it is will lead the group to a temporary halt as everyone attempts to recombobulate themselves. Even if it is a war-themed campaign, the *structure* is less like an RPG and more like...Well, theater. It's like the laundry list of gear and weapons is more a prop bin than an armory. It is easy to make my mistake because sweet Jesus there are so many toys and making character sheets for TBZ is easy. At any rate, everyone involved learned valuable lessons. For anyone reading this, my lesson is this: Tenra Bansho Zero is a helluva game and I highly recommend it, but be warned it's a tad rather idiosyncratic and if you go into it with the wrong expectations you could wind up hating it for not being something it never was in the first place. InfiniteJesters fucked around with this message at 09:57 on Apr 7, 2014 |
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Apr 7, 2014 09:45
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P.d0t posted:To me, Spirit of 77 always sounds like something someone would name a bi-plane. Somebody make a biplane-combat game tia.
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Apr 7, 2014 12:12
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Esser-Z posted:Somebody make a biplane-combat game tia. Apparently they ported their page straight out of Geocities and Paint, but here's an RPG. I played Wings of War: Famous Aces at a con once, it was a blast.
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Apr 7, 2014 12:17
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Esser-Z posted:Somebody make a biplane-combat game tia. Warbirds would work for biplanes.
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Apr 7, 2014 13:52
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Will check those out! Thanks!
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Apr 7, 2014 14:07
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Let me also bang on the FATE drum and say Kriegszeppelin Valkyrie works as well.
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Apr 7, 2014 15:12
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Esser-Z posted:Somebody make a biplane-combat game tia. 
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Apr 7, 2014 16:04
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Gau posted:Apparently they ported their page straight out of Geocities and Paint, but here's an RPG. Seconding Wings of War if it's a boardgame not an RPG you want. The only biplane game I've ever played that gets the Sopwith Camel right - able to turn much faster one way than the other.
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Apr 7, 2014 16:56
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Talkc posted:Thanks to MSW we now have both sessions of Island-Crash on youtube now! I don't know what that is, but you are welcome!
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Apr 7, 2014 19:39
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Mormon Star Wars posted:I don't know what that is, but you are welcome!
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Apr 7, 2014 21:04
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ImpactVector posted:He's talking about our other MSW, MadScientistWorking. Ostensibly the bad MSW.
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Apr 7, 2014 21:43
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So has anyone heard of Stab City? It's some RPG that started up a while ago on kickstarter. I had a friend back it but haven't heard back from them about it yet. Is it any good?
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Apr 8, 2014 00:10
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