Thursday 3 February 2011

Fate and fortune

Almost invisibly over the past couple of days an intense discussion has been taking place at the D1 post on the nature of choice in games, and possibly even beyond them. I think we've now reached the point of needing fresh thoughts.

Involved so far have been Von, The Drune, The Angry Lurker, Papa JJ, C'not (Outermost_Toe) and Dave G_Nplusplus, and I'm very grateful they've run with what seems an outlandish idea. All of the comments have been useful and given ideas or incentive, and Dave's especially.

In fact it's really Dave's show now. The Drune tossed the D0 into the mix and Dave dove right in. His clear thinking and determination to get to the heart of the matter have been central to shaping something that's turned out quite special.

Is it really so special? Well, it's a simple tool that should be of value in thinking about game design, and I'd say wider fiction too. It's all about fate and what forms it. The core idea seems solid. We're having some difficulty with one aspect in particular, the rather odd concept of the -Dx, or negative die. Feel free to dive in if you think you can help.

3 comments:

Game Master Rob Adams said...

You could invent an algorithm that will roll D + coefficient as well.

The Angry Lurker said...

Negative dice.....I don't think so, it can be done but to what end in gaming it will bring confusion and too many variables.You can actually buy negative and positive dice packs http://www.teachersparadise.com/c/positive-negative-dice-p-29349.html to practice advanced math calculations.

Gaming whether wargaming or roleplaying could do without the words advanced especially wargaming but maybe roleplaying could because in roleplaying nothing is set in stone and anything is technically possible and encouraged.

Porky said...

@ ArmChairGeneral - Quite right, and even set up on a pocket calculator to have handy during games.

@ The Angry Lurker - Good find! I wondered at this post at Gothridge Manor whether there are any small-run dice-etching services, along the lines of the mug- or T-shirt-printing services that already exist, or some kind of kit for home use. Think of the fun! I can see the point you're making about not getting too advanced; I'd say it seems possible to go more advanced if the systems are kept very intuitive, at least in mainstream games, or in games hoping to become mainstream!