RPG 101: Game Mechanics (The 10 Dice Systems That Power Your Favorite RPG's)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 มิ.ย. 2024
- In this video I cover the 10 universal game mechanics that provide the framework for your favorite TTRPG's.
#DND #callofcthulhu #FreeLeague #PBTA #Traveller #TTRPG - เกม
There are those that think roll under systems are far superior and then there are those that are wrong. :D
lol. It’s like when I have disagreements with my family, I don’t mind hearing other opinions… it never hurts to know the reasons someone else is wrong 😉. Roll under systems are criminally underrated though. Dragonbane in particular is a joy!
The problem with roll under is that you are (in many systems) always rolling to hit the same number.
It's dull and unrealistic.
@@matthewtopping I think that is always up to interpretation, and systems vary. Some use a disadvantage system, some use modifiers and some have varying effect based upon the actual number rolled. I think that a lot of times gamers, not necessarily you, but your comment opened an opportunity for this conversation so please indulge me here, gamers often BELIEVE that they must comply to a level of simulationism to have a good time. That is why many are afraid to tinker with the numbers and probabilities, because they don’t want to break the careful balance. Truthfully, a lot of the most popular games are designed to have a very specific set of fail rates that remains the same as one advances, just obscured behind modifiers on both sides of the math. The roll under systems largely keep the math the same and generate challenge from other sources. Dragonbane is probably the most recently released successful “roll under” system, and I think it is a blast. But not for everyone of course. Thanks for the comment and have a good day Matt!
@booksbricksandboards783 I found dragonebane boring for that reason. When I'm running DnD I can adjust difficulty easily and players face a huge range of roll difficulty each session. The rest of the gameplay is very similar in dragonbane but most rolls are at one or two difficulties and players can't make choices to improve those odds, so they stick to the same few options.
2 mechanics that you left out that are well known are: The Storytelling system by White Wolf and 2d20 mechanic popularized by Conan RPG by Modiphius. Great stuff!
Good call! Ironically, the “storytelling” system was also used for the underrated Street Fighter RPG as well! I had and wanted to play 2d20 Conan, but didn’t have the players and wasn’t solo gaming yet… lost opportunity for me! Cool game, very prescriptive die results to help tell the story. Great additions!
Middle 1 of 3d10. One of the most interesting systems I've seen. It can be tinkered to become a roll under system, but originally it is a roll over, summing up the character's attributes and skills. Average difficulty is 15. Getting a 10 explodes, summing the new middle value with the previous one (e.g. 3/9/10 explodes, new roll: 3/5/7, so final result is 14 = 9+5). Character's attributes range from 2 to 10, never changing during its lifecycle, meanwhile skills range from 0 to 10, but change with context, scenario, etc. Gauss distribution/normal distribution systems like this (or GURPS's 3d6) fascinate me the most because of their stability. Dice rolling is truly an interface between game mechanics and storytelling.
Thanks for sharing!
I'm surprised we didn't see any Forged in the Dark games. I suppose they'd just fall into the d6 pool category, but their resolution categories (1-3 fail, 4-5 success with consequence, 6 succeed, two 6's: critical success) parallel the PbtA games.
I considered it. I actually enjoy Band of Blades quite a bit. Ended up coming down to the similarity with the PBTA resolution. I would classify it similar to Quest and Ironsworn… very clear they drew their inspiration FROM PBTA, but still a different resolution. If you learn PBTA, then adapting that knowledge to FITD is pretty easy. Didn’t want to have more than 10 as the video was already at 20 minutes. Thanks for watching and commenting.
I've recently become a big fan of the "sandwich roll" such as from Whitehack's d20 system. I'm developing my own, based on a d100 roll at/under proficiency number while rolling over difficulty number. No addition/subtraction involved, just know your two numbers before rolling.
White hack has a lot of great components. Unless I am mistaken, that is where the opposed bidding system for contests came from. That system was brilliant for keeping things tense, but simple and fun. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Nice video. The percentage rolls are the easiest to teach people but I find systems with "exploding" dice really get newbie's attention.
Exploding dice and Zocchi dice are the two things that make players go, “whoa!”
@@booksbricksandboards783 While the superiority of Zocchi dice can not be questioned, New gamers often are often unable to see their unparrelled quality.
@@jamesrickel3814 I look at it as, you turn a grizzled old Grognard into a new gamer the first time you say, “ok, roll a D16 to see how successful you are.” Wild eyed with wonder they are!😀
One dice system that I saw in several rules-lite games is the "advantage-disadvantage d6 system".
In Tiny D6, for example, you usually roll 2d6, succeeding with at least one 5 or 6. If you are at a disadvantage, you only roll 1d6. If you are at an overall adcantage, you roll 3d6. It could be considered a variant of a dice pool system. The main difference is, there are no character stats (except for HP) or difficulty ratings. The only thing that changes is the number of dice rolled.
Ah yes, and then there is the Star Wars/Mini 6 or Risus dice system, where you roll a number of d6s, adding up all the results. This can lead to skill checks that are impossible to succeed with too few dice, or to very high results with many dice. It can create a super-hero vibe.
The “advantage/disadvantage” system you are referring to sounds like the one in Barbarians of Lemuria, which is a great game BTW. The old West End Games Star Wars saw a lot of play in my youth. Played all editions of that!
Outstanding explanation! I'm picky about the dice systems, so this was great. I think my favorite is the way Palladium does it, with using the D20 for combat and some other stuff, but using the percentile dice for skills.
Squirrel, thanks! I have a ton of Palladium stuff. The Survive This! Series by Bloat Games is very inspired by their mechanics (without the percentile rolls though). I like the opposed combat rolls in Palladium and the way that characters can be truly customized to be whatever you want. I wish that Kevin would allow someone to go through and clarify his mechanics into an official tome without the ambiguity and contradictory parts. His concepts and story elements are the most creative I have seen. Thanks for watching!
Awesome video! However there are a few major/extremely popular systems that I think deserve a mention. Someone had already mentioned the Storyteller system (d10 add the successes), and Modiphius’s 2d20 system but There’s also the updated Storypath system used in Scion and Aeon Continuum, WEG Star Wars d6 or open d6 system, Palladium’s Multiverse system (hybrid d20 and d100 system), Shadowrun’s d6 dice pool system (though I think Luke Crane basically cannibalized it for Burning Wheel so it may not need its own entry), ars Magica and unisystem (d10 +mod success ladder system), and last but not least the most popular rpg system in Germany the Dark Eye’s 3d20/three trait roll under system. Following the theme of your video This is in no way an exhaustive list of all of the game systems available but just the most popular ones that are used by large numbers of players that you didn’t mention.
Hays, I knew when I chose the list I would not be able to make a list comprehensive that would fit into a reasonable video. Thanks for the additions, appreciate the comments.
Cool video! I was just thinking about making such an overview - here it is!
Interestingly, many gamers in the German speaking area have grown up with a d20 roll-under system, as "Das Schwarze Auge" (The Black Eye) - the biggest German rpg - uses d20 roll under. For a skill check, you usually roll 3 d20s, trying to roll under your respective attributes, and can correct rolls that are too high with your skill points. Not exactly fast, but very scalable.
Krishna, this is very interesting to me! Without an English translation I have no perspective on a game, so love hearing about systems I don’t know. I specifically bought Goblin Slayer because it was the first English translation of a popular Japanese rpg (the core mechanics anyway). Thanks for sharing!
Great video! I’m going to share with my group so maybe they’ll get interested in other games. Thanks
That was kind of my hope, give folks a primer for several systems so that they can get an idea of if they would want to give a different system a shot. Thanks for watching and for sharing Nate!
I like the explanations, thank you! Another one i saw was with Fabula Ultima. It's a 2d roll over system. Choose two attributes to roll for a given task. Each attribute has a die, from d6 to d12. Then you try to roll over the target number. It's a fun system!
I have had that game in my cart since it was a pre order and never pulled the trigger yet. I picked up Goblin Slayer a while back and I thought they were both trying for a similar experience (I could certainly be wrong about that). It’s still a possible future purchase for me.
If you like old Final Fantasy jrpgs, FU is exactly this.
That was kind of the vibe that I got from Goblin Slayer RPG as well. Definitely a genre I enjoy. Thanks!
This was really helpful!
Good deal! Glad it was something useful for you
I like Ironsworn's mechanic. It's a PbtA game but you roll a d6 and add a stat, and two d10s. If your d6 + stat beats both d10s, it's a strong hit. If it beats 1, then it's a weak hit, otherwise it's a miss. (Also if the d10s match, it's an exceptional strong hit or miss.)
Absolutely! I did a video on Ironsworn and Starforged as well. Great games.
Very informative video! I'll recommend this when someone asks me about how systems work
Favorite right now is definitely Whitehack's system which is d20 roll high but under and not too low (enemy armor is low threshold and stat is high threshold), very elegant and really nice 🙂
PS: Personally, I've done a One-Shot (which will have a follow-up since my players liked it) of the Stygian Library in Electric Bastionland
I've quite liked the roll under system and auto damage system which makes for a very fast play and very low on-the-fly stat blocks requirements
The system made my players realize that Combat is not always the good solution (they lost around 5 characters for it)
The follow-up will be a (Made in Abyss's) Abyss-like run of Gardens of Ynn and if they want more, I'll definitely make them play some Veins of the Earth (Skerples's Veinscrawl especially)
You have a nice broad range of indie rpg experiences! I believe that Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells is similar to what you are talking about, if I remember right… one of the games I ran worked that way… roll above armor, but below stat? Thanks for watching and the continued support Ja!
@@booksbricksandboards783 thanks for noticing, I've read quite a lot of material since I've started GMing (only last December!)
Oh, skimmed through SS&SS to look at the excellent tables but didn't check the system much but it sounds like Whitehack and SS&SS have very similar systems
Roll above armor but below stat which to me is an awesome simple to encompass most in a to-hit roll
You're very welcome, I'm loving your content and am very glad I found your channel 😊!
Loving the content supporting as much as I can through TH-cam!
@@juauke appreciate the support. SS & SS draws inspiration from White Hack, Black Hack, DCC and more. Great system. If you just started GM’ing in December you are picking up on things quite fast! Keep at it.
@@booksbricksandboards783 😉
Oh, I see; awesome inspiration then
Thanks, I love the hobby so I'll keep at it!
hum.Great video. I have only played some of those.
You can tweak a little bit the D6 pool system in Dx pool system. The old White Wolf used a D10 pool. That is Vampire the Masquerade, Werewolf the apocalypse and such. L5R did that as well (but didn'(t played that a lot). And if I do recall Star Wars the original game used a D6 pool (it is fuzzy I played that game rarely in the 90s... I played a shaman ewok) as does Shadowrun. Factually the old Deadlands (the orginal) used dice pool. Like 4D12 + 2. SWADE is better on that. (twas used in a couple of other games as well. I probably forgot half of them XD)
You can also add the stats + Dice. Which is the one you find in Cyberpunk 2013/2020. Stat on 10 + D10 exploding. Which means you can enter a room dual wielding submachine guns shooting while running. And you do that only with a char with 7 dex, 7 shoot and basic implants. it is a system viviedly used ny R Talsorian. It is in Mekton, the Withcer TTRPG. Cyberpunk Red. Ars Magica did as well. Long time I haven't read the rules as they were variation (in the 3rd edition) but it uses that as well.
Ok I am old dude. But funily for solo. I ADORE the PBTA. It is totally wild as Hell. Few rolls but when you do, you are on your seat. To the point I love failure much more than success!
Warhammer system the D100 is really fantastic. Especially to teach people RPG.
And i love the SWADE system. The wild die is great.
Thanks for chiming in Pralinor. Agreed on all points. Essentially White Wolf is dice pool, just not d6, as is Star Wars (WEG version anyway), Shadowrun too… they each have tweaks that make their ‘brand’ interesting, but close enough I would not list them as a separate category. I’m not too familiar with Cyberpunk, I owned it as a kid but never played. PBTA and d100 systems we are in total agreement. Thanks for watching Pral!
Not a pure RPG, but I love Too Many Bones where you can end up rolling whole handfuls of dice !! 🎲
Very tactile and very satisfying.
Another great vid !!
9/10 Gearloc’s approve of your message. 😉. Thanks!
One overlooked mechanic is the “blackjack rules” mechanic. Rolling a d20 under, but higher than your opponent. This is the jousting system from pendragon. A good way to add contested rolls!
There are some indie games that work this way as well, but certainly don’t mind seeing Pendragon get some love! Thanks for watching and sharing.
Some fantasy RPG systems that don’t appear to be mentioned here much: The One Ring, Runequest, Ars Magica, Pendragon, Legend of the Five Rings, Savage Worlds....I mention them as they are all a big deal to the folks who know them.
Rory, thanks for sharing. Actually I have a whole section on Runequest and Savage Worlds in this video. I did leave off One Ring specifically, but it would be a mixed dice pool. Pendragon, if you are referring to the original was a Basic RPG d100 roll under, so covered there. If you are referring to the new version it is a d20 roll under, so covered there. Don’t know Ars Magica so I can’t comment on that one. Most of the ones you have mentioned I have videos on the channel for in depth discussion. L5R would be a separate category for Fantasy Flight (now Edge Studios), for specialty dice games… that doesn’t make the top 10 for me. Your miles may vary.
Great video. One thing you wouldn't cover because it's a non mechanic is in combat not having a to-hit roll and just rolling for damage (like they do in Cairn and several other emerging games like MCDM.) People who think this is a modern idea should take a look at Tunnels and Trolls which was first released in 1975.
Quite a few systems that you mentioned and a few you didn't also have opposed rolls added to some mechanics which changes the probability of outcomes significantly. The drop in success rates with most opposed roll systems mean players fail a lot more often which is great if that's the effect the designer is looking for. Not so great if players are sitting waiting for their turn failing a high percentage of the time.
I've been playtesting a d10 roll under system that's a hybrid of d100 roll under and PBTA. You roll 1d10. Roll less than the target number for success. 10 is critical failure, 1 is critical success, if you roll exactly your target number it's success with a complication.
Like a d100 a d10 roll under is highly intuitive making the game much easier for the GM to run. Needing a 7 is a 70% chance, a 6 is a 60% chance etc.
That's not necessarily what people want in a game though. The mystique of many dice rolling systems can add to the flavor of the game.
What's interesting about game design is that most of the time you want players to have a 60% to 70% chance of success when they roll. If a system has significant character advancement it will usually also have a significant increase in the difficulty of opponents and tasks to keep that success probability in the 60% to 70% range.
Thanks for the thoughts, they were Epic 😉. I should have included the just roll for damage method as that is what Crown & Skull uses, and that game is brilliant.
@@booksbricksandboards783 I'd forgotten about Crown & Skull. That is a cool game. Cairns uses it too and Cairn may be one of the easiest introduction games to fantasy role playing for players. More difficult for a GM without supporting material although you can use D&D stuff easily enough.
I own Cairn, but haven’t had a chance to play it yet.
@@booksbricksandboards783 An interesting thought. Rather than wording it as 'just roll for damage', it could be worded as 'just roll for effect.' Then it's something that can be used for all tasks in a game. I wonder if someone has designed a game like that? It would certainly support the falling forward concept of RPGs and keep players happy because everything they do happens to some extent. It could help solve some of the design problems with characters leveling up too.
If they have, I haven’t seen it yet. Logic is sound. Reminds me of how Runehammer applied Hearts (ie HP) to non combat tasks in ICRPG. Sounds legit!
I may being misremembering but isn't the system for Vampire: The Masquerade none of these?
I would say that it is a d10 dice pool.
All of those d20 games are D&D.
Some of them are reskinned, but they're all D&D.
I love a lot of the rest of them though.
CoC, Cyperpunk 2020, the Hero System games, etc.
It’s funny because I see what you are saying, but everyone has a pretty different perspective there. In other videos I have had discussions with viewers that have said different EDITIONS of D&D were no longer D&D, so those folks would probably not think Mork Borg or d20 Star Wars was D&D. That said, it is undeniable that they both belong to the same mechanical family. Thanks for watching and for commenting, good observations.