Three basic mechanic systems: static dice

What I mean by basic mechanic systems determining through some predetermined way a result. This is generally but not always done through use of a randomization device like dice or cards but sometimes it is done with resource depletion or completely social context. In the end not all systems adhere to this but they will take one as it's core mechanic.

To try and talk about this I chose 3 names to associate with them, static dice, dice pool, and diceless. Static dice is done with randomization done by a constant value, this may be the top card of a deck, the roll of a d20, or the combination of a dice. The similarity is that this method never changes having a higher stat does not effect how you get the result, you always draw one card, you always roll 1 die or the same combination of dice. Dice pool uses a variable amount of dice or cards to give your result. Diceless is just as it sounds, no random factor.

For this Blog I'm going to focus on the static dice.

Static dice has one great feature. No hard math for probability with only 1 object used (1 die roll, 1 card drawn) and only slightly harder when it's more then one of these. The key factor here is that you have the same probability space between all contested rolls. For the sake of ease I will stick with 1 die, a d20.

Rolling a d20 has a chance of 5% rolling on any number, none of these have any weight. We just place the weight on the high or low end. If we have modifiers this increases the result that would by 5% per 1 as long as we just use the number and not care if it is a 1. What this leads to is everyone knowing what they can hit and their probability. If you need a 6+ you havea 75% chance of doing this each additional bonus increases it by 5% so +1 gets you to 80% and a +2 gets you to 85%. Granted this may be meta gaming but after a few tries a preson may figure out if they should withdraw or not if they are constnatly getting hit but not doing anything.

The problem that arises from this is the bonuses that are given, after a certain point you will never fail something that was average before or you may never pass something unless you have bonues. Sometimes this is wanted in a system, this leads to a problem where this aspect is a major part of the game yet not all options allow you to get to the level needed to pass this at all. Some systems take a dice pool idea and make certain numbers mean something, the 1 means you automaticly fail and the 20 means automatic sucsess and call it balance as everyone has a chance of doing something.

This may be an oppinion but that is a poor form of balance for the a very basic reason, If you are profficent under the system to do something and roll a 1 you fail, if something even if it is ludicrious and you attempt it and roll a 20 you sucseed. It makes it more exciting in some cases and I can see it's draw but it is just odd, if you wanted some to always have a chance to succeed or fail why do you have to put in this single rule rather then designing the system entire to fit it? In books or enteratainment the 1 in a million shot happens all the time because it is written, it wont' change, attmepting to incorperate it into the game with this is worthless for producing such scenarios without dm intervention. How to solve this I do not know as any other design based around static dice runs into the same basic happens on this percent solution.

The good of this when done in moderation is that everyone has a decent chance to do something, this facilitiaes some games well. If the threashold is low enough that untrained can do it without arbatrary rulling and gaining specific bonuses only increases this chance without making it automatic then things are alright. This limits the "growth" of a character based on the range involved but it seems to be a decent trade off.

With such knowledge the person running the game with knowledge of the characters and such can easly tell what falls into impossible terratory. They would not mistakenly have something that requires a total roll of 30 to hit when the best the group can do is +5 to a d20 and think that this fight will be a fair challege. Even with multiple dice summed you can still generate a table without much math and have that table be valid, although shifted in the cases of bonuses, for every match up.