03-08-2018, 09:30 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: New England
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Parabolic Curves & Funky Dice?
Idle curiosity:
Has anyone else played around with alternatives to bell curves? That is, replacing Xd6 as a roll mechanism? (No, I'm not suggesting TFT replace Xd6. At least not yet, lol) We ended up using 2@3d20 and were very happy with the results. (Translation: roll 3d20 and use the middle value rolled.) Plug that formula into http://anydice.com and then compare it to 3d6. You'll see something cool: a parabolic curve instead of a bell curve. Why the heck did we bother? And why use parabolic? Can't we leave well-enough alone? Smoother curve. Modifiers shift the odds less dramatically across the range. Broader range. Full 1-20 instead of 3-18 makes for more results and easier OSR scenario conversion. Funky dice!! OK, totally stole this from DCC RPG: way better "advantage/disadvantage" mechanic: 4d6 becomes 2@3d24. 5d6 becomes 2@3d30. You can even model, "Uber surfing, dude: roll 2@3d16 vs. DX to totally crush that wave!" Wicked fun: after the initial "Huh?" factor, players LOVE it. More dice to roll! Weird dice to roll! Extra moment of excitement! It's like a mini-game where you try to be the first to scan the die and pick the middle one. Silly, but I suspect it acts as an intermittent reinforcer. Thoughts? Crickets? |
03-08-2018, 09:35 AM | #2 |
Munchkin Line Editor
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Austin, TX
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Re: Parabolic Curves & Funky Dice?
Moved thread because it's not a specific TFT question.
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03-08-2018, 11:02 AM | #3 | |
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Arizona
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Re: Parabolic Curves & Funky Dice?
Quote:
Personally, I don't agree with doing that for TFT -- one of the things that makes TFT work as well as it does as a game is the bell-curve results -- but I can see why people might like to do so. Ty's system also has the benefit of flattening the Attribute Bloat curve somewhat (though the problem still lurks out there in the distance...). |
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03-09-2018, 08:13 PM | #4 | |
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: New England
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Re: Parabolic Curves & Funky Dice?
Quote:
And yes, I can see how it would help with bloat -- but as I've alluded in other threads, I don't think there's a solution to that without separating Attributes from Pools -- but that is waaay off topic so I'll leave it at that. Thanks again. - Jack |
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Tags |
bell curve, dice, funky dice, odds, parabolic curve |
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