RPM: I Ching

[William]

Oh, right, the outer and inner trigrams. That would have been what DangerousThing was referencing. Young/old would be way too much work for most games.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by William

Oh, right, the outer and inner trigrams. That would have been what DangerousThing was referencing. Young/old would be way too much work for most games.

Glad we agree :)
I will work on it but its going to take awhile and I have other projects with a higher priority. On the other hand I can do individual hexagrams at work and then recreate it at home. Cant really do that with my other projects so I will be working on it. I do not see this making it into publication so I will post it on the forums when I have it done. Maybe before then.

[PK]

I definitely wouldn't suggest messing with young/old either, except as a theme to explain certain effects or aspects of the system. Using two trigram Paths to create each hexagram is enough complexity; plus, it's also coming at the hexagram creation from an alternative route which precludes the idea of young+hold hexagrams.

Normally in I Ching you throw coins six times and create the six lines, old or young (changing or solid), then use those to determine both hexagrams, which then indirectly determines the two trigrams that make up each hexagram. So this system would really be doing it backward -- but considering that it represents using magic to cause a specific change in reality, that makes perfect sense! You aren't throwing coins to see what reality will be -- you're invoking your will to create reality. So you start with the last "step" (trigrams) and use them to create the pertinent step (one hexagram) directly. No young, no old, no waffling -- you're saying that this is what's going to happen, universe, so accept it. :)

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by PK

So you start with the last "step" (trigrams) and use them to create the pertinent step (one hexagram) directly. No young, no old, no waffling -- you're saying that this is what's going to happen, universe, so accept it. :)

LOL
Love that explanation.
It took me a bit but I figured out two ways to figure this out for random generation, do not even need a table :)
Rolling dice is already a part (if later) of the system so it fits well enough.
But I wanted a simple and fast way to roll during play.
Here they are, suggestions welcome.
Also if any math heads can figure how biased method 2 is I would be curious. Method 1 is actually a real way to do it, though not a common one.

Method 1 Roll a die 6 times to form a hexagram. Even numbers are Yin and odd numbers are yang. Each die roll represents a broken or unbroken line starting at the bottom and working toward the top.
This is the most accurate method but looking it up takes some getting used to.

Method 2 This is recommended for play and ease of use, though statistically it will be off.
Roll 1d6 and roll it again if you get anything other then a 1 thru 4
Then roll 3d6 and subtract 2 for a number between 1 and 16.
Finally, multiply the two results together and look the number up on the chart. For example if the first roll is a 1 and the second roll is a 12 you find Hexagram 12, or if the first number was a 3 and the second number a 9 you look up hexagram 27.

[William]

Method 2 will never get you a prime number larger than 16, such as 17.

Method 1 is easy if you use a source that uses the binary numbering, also known (according to Wikipedia) as the Fu Xi or Shao Yong ordering. Roll your 1d6 for even-odd. Let a 1, 3, or 5 represent an unbroken line, and a 2, 4, or 6 a broken line. Represent an unbroken line by a 1 and a broken line by a 0, so that a hexagram can be described by 6 bits: 010001, for instance.

On this wikibooks site for the I Ching, you can look up hexagrams by searching for this 6-digit code. The page numbers the lines from the top down. For instance, 010001 gives you trigram 3 of the King Wen sequence, Zhun, Beginning.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by William

Method 2 will never get you a prime number larger than 16, such as 17.


On this wikibooks site for the I Ching, you can look up hexagrams by searching for this 6-digit code. The page numbers the lines from the top down. For instance, 010001 gives you trigram 3 of the King Wen sequence, Zhun, Beginning.

I was afraid there would be an issue with that scheme. Thank you for catching it.I was aware of the binary system but figure it would be too slow for a lot of people in game and was looking for a better idea. However a table with the Hexagram number and the Binary number might make it doable.
Nice page you linked, thanks for that.

[PK]

I'm confused as to why you'd ever need random generation. Presumably if you're casting a spell, you know what kind of spell you want to make, no?

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by PK

I'm confused as to why you'd ever need random generation. Presumably if you're casting a spell, you know what kind of spell you want to make, no?

For the actual divination for one thing.
Also there is the possibility of a creative player wanting to roll and make use of what comes up.