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Old 09-02-2009, 10:25 AM   #28
Fish
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Default Re: NPC random statistics roll chart?

It would actually be easier to do a randomizer spreadsheet with raw data, rather than with dice tables, to be honest. For instance, take the employment tables. A 3d distribution means that I can have, at maximum, 16 different results; the least-likely result would be about 0.5% and the most likely about 12.5%. This is a poor way to model the sheer number and concentration of workers employed in state jobs, where there is one HUUUGE department (education), a few very large categories (state patrol, corrections, welfare), a pile of minor agencies (revenue, parks, transportation) and a whole massive list of so-small-you'd-miss-it agencies (governor's staff, state auditor, veterans administration). I might be able to model this accurately with a 5d distribution, but it would be kind of ugly — for one thing, state agencies vary. What we in Washington call the Department of Licensing, California calls the Department of Motor Vehicles. Likewise, Washington has a Liquor Control Board because the state runs the liquor stores; New York does not.

Also, take names. It'd be difficult to come up with a list of potential NPC names of any length and model it to a multiple-dice probability distribution. A 5d distribution only has 26 distinct results, far too few for a realistic list of names. It'd be much easier to use a spreadsheet (or percentile dice) for a list of that names — dozens if not hundreds of names, ranging from a maximum of 1% to a minimum of 0.001%.

It's also a lot easier to model age as a percentile-dice distribution, too, because age distribution is not a bell curve — it starts high, dips and peaks with baby booms, and drops like a rock starting about age 50.

Would you mind if I used percentile dice for some of these random tables, or do you insist upon d6?
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