Rolling Dice: Reloaded.
I've always been against rolling dice for combat RP. Well, I'm considering taking a new look at this with unbiased eyes. We have all felt the pangs of RP combat at one point or another, and if you have not, you will. Trust me on that.
Why the hell would I want to consider dice?
Well, lets look at the problem with RP fights to start off:
1. Over powered characters:
Nobody wants to lose, and even fewer wish to lose unfairly. Some folks overpower their characters with awesome abilities and near-invulnerabilities to avoid the experience of losing. I honestly think that this is not always intentional. What exasperbates the problem is when you develop an environment of godmodes - each more powerful than the next. Fortunately, I have not seen anything this severe on PS.
2. Disagreements in taking damage
Nothing ruins an RP fight faster than a disagreement in how much damage one should take, and in how realistic the other player is being. There are those who will fight their point to the end, and others who will just cave in so as not to let the disagreement ruin the game. Either way, its a let down.
Well what about just doing what makes sense?
What makes sense to me and my *posse* may not make sense to you. Sometimes people have different ideas about what should be allowed to happen. This also puts you into a smaller group of like-minded players. With a tiny RP community, playing with an even smaller subset of players just sucks.
What about just using the game's stats to determine who's more powerful?
The first issue with this is that it gives grinders the most power and role players the least. That's great if you're not a role player, but it you are, it means that the most powerful characters good or evil will often be some of the least skilled/entertaining role players ( and those who flat out do not role play ). The second issue is that it does not take the character's role played history into consideration.
Example:
Mary is a new *player*. Her brand new character Emella is a seasoned warrior, though she has newbie stats.
For role play, should a new player be allowed to do this?
How should Emella's accumulated stats, scarce rp history, and background story be tied into the fight?
How should these things balance out?
This is where the water gets awful muddy.
3. Problems with Dice
Not all dice systems work well Here's one example that got me rather pissed:
HugeOgre grunts as he swings a 50 lb maul at TinyTim's head.
TinyTim casually flicks a pebble at HugeOgre
< dice roll decides that HugeOgre misses, and TinyTim succeeds - draining 15% or hugeorge's hp >
< Yay dice gods >
Now I have to write a reaction emote for the Ogre!? This breaks realism.
Implementing a Dice System that works for RP
So now the question is, is there a way to implement a dice system that is conducive to role play and which does not break realism? Is there a way to make a system that:
* Is easy for players to use and understand.
* Takes into consideration the character's background story and role play history
* Takes a character's stats into consideration in a balanced way.
* Allows a character a chance at performing unimplemented feats and spells.
* Works with or without a GM or DM to moderate ?
While I don't know a lot about dicing, I did come across one suggestion that sounded promising. In this scenario, players would roll first, then write their emotes. So in the case of a fight, you would decide first if a swing would hit or miss and if the target would evade or defend. Then after that, write the actions and reactions. Hearing this idea made me think that perhaps there might be a way to make dicing work.
So I'm curious about what others think about this posbility, about how dicing systems from other games work, and so on. Anyone?
