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A selective dice roll mechanic

8 replies [Last post]
Sat, 05/14/2016 - 19:03
HPS74
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Greetings BGDF'rs

Long has been the debate on dice games playing the game for you as they roll and gamers respond. Personally I have no problem with that as I like the simplicity it provides and works well for games I design.

I'm tinkering around with an idea to allow much more choice after the die result has occurred.The game is a card / dice driven global domination style game. Players are trying to gain control of areas either by military or diplomacy gaining VPs along the way.

Using 3D10 die roll (much like a red/white/blue in which way the dice are read) I'm trying out allowing the 3 dice to be manipulated into the number of choice that refers to an action table.

The action table has (currently) 75 options number 000 - 999...so at intervals of 13.

Eg:

000 - 015 Ground Troops attack on bordering nation
016 - 024 Diplomatic visit to any nation
025 - 038 Cyber attack on opponent

So, a roll of 1,4,8....would now be able to be manipulated into 6 different choices (148 / 184 / 418 etc) depending on the best action you may wish to use.

There would be times lesser options would be present, on doubles & triples etc.

The cards present a second layer of play per turn. Choosing to play a military cards with a military roll may ensure an area / battle is taken, however, playing a military roll backed up with a defensive card could also be a combination.

My concern is it may slow gameplay....but I'm willing to keep working on it in the meantime.

I wonder what other in the group think of this approach? Any feedback is warmly welcomed!

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Sat, 05/14/2016 - 19:18
#1
Gabe
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I think the triple number

I think the triple number idea is really interesting, and I can't think of any other game that's done that.

Personally, I really like it when a dice game lets me roll multiple dice and then choose how to use the results. For instance, if I roll a 4 and a 2, I can also combine them to use them like a 6.

Your system would definitely offer a player choices. Combine that with some cards that alter the dice, and you have a system that greatly mitigates the luck but also limits choices to a manageable level.

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Sat, 05/14/2016 - 20:49
#2
HPS74
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Hidden card hand

The hidden (Battle cards) would be for a closed strategy, although they would reflect most of the options of actions table and can be played to bolster an attack on AI nations, sure up defences in case of an attack by opponent and place special units on the board.

Some *actions force a player to reveal their hand, lose a card, or even pass their hand to the left and all player steal and replace a card.

This mechanic was in the very first game I made with in China and I think it deserves a freshened up approach.

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Sun, 05/15/2016 - 02:52
#3
X3M
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Every time when you give a

Every time when you give a player choices. The game play slows down. And the more complex a game, the more effect the choice has on the game speed.

In your case. This could be tremendous. Because players will have to know what 6 combinations are possible with 3 numbers.
Not only that, but they have to look it up in a table with contents. Right? And they are not looking at the direct number, but at a range where it belongs.

So while it is a cool idea, I don't think that it is a good idea.

A solution, that also tackles the double/triple number problem. Could be; simply giving multiple choices in the same table.
However, this would require to expand your table in width. But perhaps you can use this to reduce the table in length. By making the intervals bigger.
And you could reduce the dice from 3 to 2. If you do that, only 2 combinations are possible. And this is easy to remember.
On a plus note, the double numbers here, could contain a double amount of choices.

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Thu, 05/26/2016 - 10:41
#4
mikenvp
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\\Every time when you give a

\\Every time when you give a player choices. The game play slows down. And the more complex a game, the more effect the choice has on the game speed.

In your case. This could be tremendous. Because players will have to know what 6 combinations are possible with 3 numbers.
Not only that, but they have to look it up in a table with contents. Right? And they are not looking at the direct number, but at a range where it belongs.//

I agree with this. Another way to fix this might be in making the choices dependent on the order in which players choose the dice. For example, I roll 3d10 and get R-3, W-8, B-1. I choose which single die I wish to start the path of action. If I use the R-3, then I am in one particular action range (e.g. military action); if I choose W-8, then I am in a different action range (e.g. exploration action). After I make that first choice, then my choices narrow down to 2 rather than 6 choices at the start. What may work here is that the initial choice could be type of action, which lets the player choose in general what direction he or she would like to go this turn.

Good luck. It's a neat mechanic.

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Thu, 05/26/2016 - 12:00
#5
Zag24
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I like the idea of a roll,

I like the idea of a roll, and then some choices on how to use the roll.

I am not wild about the idea of a table lookup on every roll. I'm really not wild about as many as six table lookups as the player chooses which one he likes the best. This is going to bog down the game painfully.

The big improvement will be to organize the choices geographically in the table. I suggest that you just have a single d20 that selects a spot in the table. Each spot in the table has three choices, a Defensive Action, an Offensive Action, and a Special Action. So the player does one roll, looks at a single place on the table, and chooses one of three that are right there, together.

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Thu, 05/26/2016 - 23:20
#6
HPS74
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Good points

and I concur such a mechanic would slow play down. On the flipside, plenty of games require lengthy turns so depending on what you wish to do, your choice would narrow quite quickly.

Eg: I want to attack, I'd be looking for the best attacking option out of the rolled combinations.

Anyway, like all things, putting into play will determine how good/bad it actually is :)

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Thu, 05/26/2016 - 23:33
#7
Soulfinger
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It is a fine mechanic for a

It is a fine mechanic for a military wargame, as those players are perfectly satisfied with plenty of die rolling and consulting tables. You may want to look at what Games Workshop did with their exploration tables and such in Mordheim and Necromunda.

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Fri, 05/27/2016 - 02:27
#8
X3M
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Been pondering about this

I have been poundering about this since I have something similar. But different in order.

So here is a suggestion for discarding this particular dice roll. And change it into what I am roughly using.

***

Can you find a way for players to have all the choices avaiable? Not forcing them into 1, or 3, or 6 out of 72?

But simply a list of all 72?

I mean, if a couple of choices are roughly the same. Then a dice roll AFTER the choice would determine how could this choice was.

This would mean, less choices for the players.
But all choices are valid.
Effect is determined by the dice roll afterwards, instead of before + looking up in a table.

I don't know the specifics exactly. But I can imagine that about 12 choices remain. And each choice has 6 possibilities (=1 die).

I can picture, that I am wrong with this one.

After all, with your mechanic. You allow players to pit a couple of choices against each other. Meaning that the best choice is not the best in the list. While with my method, the best choice is Always taken, but only effect is random.

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