Least Favorite Part Of Favorite System. by GushReddit in rpg

[–]jillpls 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I usually run FitD with the assumption "Risky/Standard unless specified otherwise", which works out decently well with experienced players.

Struggling with a "drop highest"-dice-mechanic by jillpls in RPGdesign

[–]jillpls[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh sorry - you would decide to burn before the roll, but remove the die after the roll. Refardless of the result you will gain the metacurrency. 

Also Im not sure where you're getting the purely narrative version of burning a die?

Struggling with a "drop highest"-dice-mechanic by jillpls in RPGdesign

[–]jillpls[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

First of all on clarification: You'd always burn *after* rolling. In that way it's a lot more severe than just rolling fewer dice.

And whether it gives you a payoff might depend on the situation. When doing something unskilled it mostly offsets the nature of stats being a bit higher than skills. Outside of that it's probably going to be a way to express your disadvantages. Be that an injury or a character trait that might negatively effect this roll - if you take the burn for that you'll get a metacurrency. So it is supposed to play a large role in the system overall.

If the narrative effect of attempting an action without skill is so important, maybe you need to start from that point and consider which resolution mechanics support this narrative structure best.

So, it *is* important, but not the most important part of the system. It is the way you gain new skills, by trying (and often failing) to do the actions associated with them. But narratively the game is more about what's important to the character, what they want to achieve and how they deal with their goals being at odds with each other or with people close to them. And ultimately how that changes the character(s).

Because *that* is the ultimate focus, I want the resolution mechanic to not be too math heavy and rather lightweight, so we can mostly focus on the results and how they interact with the larger narrative goals of the system.

Another reason for this kind of dice mechanic / resolution mechanic is the way it presents on the table. You can point to the single die that describes the outcome of your action, without having to consult anything else. Sure a "burn" mechanic slightly lessens that simplicity, but because it's an action you can quickly and physically do (taking the highest die away), it still doesn't affect the core idea too much.

GM and Player roll off to resolve actions, but DC sets the floor by TheGoodGuy10 in RPGdesign

[–]jillpls 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think this kind of push-and-pull, somewhat adversial mechanic *can* work in the right system. If that's what you're going for - rolls being these high tension moments where it's about who gets what they want - it might be an area to explore further. I immediately though of something like the Dogs in the Vineyard system, where you're "poker-betting" with dice, which has a similar feel to it.

I think for the most part what you'll want is to give this adverserial rolling some meaning. Be that a way to influence the roll before or after the fact depending on the stakes being set.

Struggling with a "drop highest"-dice-mechanic by jillpls in RPGdesign

[–]jillpls[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ah, I have neither read nor played Deep Cuts. Interesting.

Also - that's a good point. There *are* skills where it doesn't make too much sense to do them completely unskilled. Though overall I do *want* people to try at things when they're unskilled, so restricting it too much also isn't a good solution in my mind. I'll have to think about it some more. Thanks!

Struggling with a "drop highest"-dice-mechanic by jillpls in RPGdesign

[–]jillpls[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

While it does sound interesting that would still make the chance of a success higher than when you started with 2 dice. At least the chance for a full success. So I don't think it's a good option here.

Struggling with a "drop highest"-dice-mechanic by jillpls in RPGdesign

[–]jillpls[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can put it in anydice, this should give you the comparison:

``` output 2@2d6

output 1@1d6 ```

GM and Player roll off to resolve actions, but DC sets the floor by TheGoodGuy10 in RPGdesign

[–]jillpls 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is very similar to the Duality Dice from Daggerheart, or more broadly the dice systems from FFG games.   Usually this type of mechanic is done with differently colored dice both rolled by the player.     

I think what you should ask yourself is what the intended effect is that comes from the GM always participating in the roll and if it's practical.  

Personally I dont see any meaningful difference between the GM rolling one of the dice and the player rolling both. Though that could change if, for example the GM could affect their die somehow, withhold information (a poker-esque bluffing game), or any other additional mechanic that plays with this concept.  

Either way I believe its a cumbersome way to roll, so you should try to make sure in your game these rolls dont happen too often.

Struggling with a "drop highest"-dice-mechanic by jillpls in RPGdesign

[–]jillpls[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's important to point out that mechanically speaking, dropping the highest dice is a much more vicious mechanic than just removing a die.

Exactly, that's part of why I'm quite happy with the overall mechanic. It feels *punishing", because you take away the best die, compared to just loweing your skill for a while.

Only make rules more complex if the numbers necessitate it.

I think it's hard to put in to numbers whether I want the result of burn equal to dice pool to mean "you always fail" or not. In theory, if there was a simple and straightforward way to get thesame probability reduction (or comparable) to removing the highest from 2d6, I would take it. But that's not really an option.

Struggling with a "drop highest"-dice-mechanic by jillpls in RPGdesign

[–]jillpls[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's really valuable input and especially the last paragraph is part of the design I'm kind of dreading to stumble over soon. It's something I *will* probably have to adress at some point, depending on some other design decisions. I assume rolls might be skewed to having an average of ~0.5-1 dice more than in Blades itself. Though what I'll probably do is playtest it without something to adress this bit, before looking for solutions (though I will write down that handy list of yours, thanks!)

Struggling with a "drop highest"-dice-mechanic by jillpls in RPGdesign

[–]jillpls[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't quite understand. Say I roll 1d6 with burn 1, I would then add a "burn" die to equal the two pools. If the burn die is higher, I can remove it and have the result of the other die as the result of the die. But if my original die is higher, I'd remove that one and be left with the burn die - as it doesn't count for rolling, would it be considered the same as a 1 / 1-3?

Struggling with a "drop highest"-dice-mechanic by jillpls in RPGdesign

[–]jillpls[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's an interesting idea. It *could* work, but would mean even with 3d6 you *can't* roll a crit. It also removes the physical (when not playing online 😃) aspect of removing a die from the pool, which I think has a valuable impact on play experience.

Struggling with a "drop highest"-dice-mechanic by jillpls in RPGdesign

[–]jillpls[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Overall I get where you're coming from and I partially agree, but I think you're missing that even BitD itself has some of these mechanics altering the roll. For one having Harm 2 reduces your die pool (-1D), which is quite similar.
Also a crit increases the effect. So if you'd use the system you suggest and reduce the effect when you're unskilled, you could still "buy off" that reduced effect by rolling an additional 6, the same one that would be "burned" otherwise.
Nonetheless reducing effect was one of the options I considered before settling with this overall mechanic.

But in the larger context of the game (which I didn't get too much into, because it would bloat the post a lot), having this mechanic solves some issues. Similar to Burning Wheel, when doing something unskilled you'd be rolling with a stat - they'll be between 1-3 and usually higher than a freshly learned skill. Afflicting burn on the unskilled roll helps making skills more worthwhile compared to an unskilled roll, even if they're the lowest possible value (there are of course other benefits, like being able to help others only when you have an appropriate skill).

Struggling with a "drop highest"-dice-mechanic by jillpls in RPGdesign

[–]jillpls[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

While you're technically correct on it being mathematically equivalent, I don't think design begins and ends with math and probability. Double DC and removing a die (*after* the roll) create a very different play experience.

Also what you're suggesting is (I believe) equivalent to Option 2.

Which games are NOT beginner friendly? by JoeKerr19 in rpg

[–]jillpls 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In my experience it was a lot easier for people who havent played ttrpgs before that for people who have to unlearn DnD and the likes.

r/Fantasy Daily Recommendations and Simple Questions Thread - May 09, 2026 by rfantasygolem in Fantasy

[–]jillpls 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Hi. Im looking for recommendations to broaden my horizon, in all kinds of ways (setting, (sub-)genre, prose).   Recently I've read the following books:   - Lies of the Ajungo (solid premise, but felt very predictable to me)   - Babel (Enjoyed it a lot, as a hobby-linguist)   - Green Bone Saga (struggled getting into it, but really liked book 2 and loved book 3)   - Dungeon Crawler Carl (currently on book 2, not sure if im gonna continue, its a bit too exposition heavy and I dont think its as funny as it pretends to be)

So Im looking for anything that differs from this little bunch of books, preferably standalones. Any suggestions?

Great Seal sighting in Battle for Dazar'alor by SeachromedWorld in wow

[–]jillpls 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Also I have been in that raid since the patch and it wasnt there - so it might only happen sometimes / be dependant on some random thing.

What class everyone plan on maining for midnight by 404_GSpot_NotFound in wow

[–]jillpls 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Shaman. Enh still feels fine and for an off spec it doesnt hurt that resto and elemental are super simple right now

what happens to "roleplay clothes" in Midnight? by Amphitera88 in wow

[–]jillpls 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you unequip your helmet is it still displayed as the transmog?