The Koga has noticed a strange quincidence, that most rpgs just seem to ignore half the dice.
Whitewolf wouldn't be anywhere without the d10.
D&D is obviously a d20 based system, so much so Green Ronin invented "True d20" using only that dice.
FUDGE/GURPS thrive on d6. (Which is a wonder anyway, sure d6 you can buy a package at the dollar store, but d6 are intended for board games man!)
Why is the rpg industry so shy to the d4s, d8s, and d12s? It's like these guys have some kindof disease or something and nobody wants to touch them!
So The Koga is working on his own freeform rpg, one that uses nothing BUT d4s, d8s, and d12s! That way they get some recognition too!
As for d100s and d3s, those aren't even real dice but abomonations who leech off the life expectantcy of other die. (d100=two d10/d3=either d4 re-roll 4s or d6 divided by two.)
I loved Spacemaster/Rolemaster/MERP for its "open ended" d100 rolls. Roll 96-00, roll again, roll another 96-00, roll again, keep going.....roll 01-05---roll again but subtract.....
...and then there were the critical and fumble tables that went along with that......great memories.
Where was I? Oh, the D30. We bought D30's in the early 80's when they first came out as a primary missile weapon to punish those who dared utter bad puns at the gaming table. Then we read an article or something where a d30 could be used to make a really difficult "ability check" instead of a d20 when that concept was brand new.
You want to convince the lich to NOT kill you? Okay, make a Charisma check....with a D30!!!!! Ha ha ha hahahahahaha......
I didn't even know that a d30 ever existed. Well, ya learn somethin' new every day! For a while I've wanted to get a d100 just for the helluvit.
I don't have a problem with certain die being underused but I do wonder why there are no d14s, d16s or d18s. There are 3d geometric forms that could be used for this purpose and I've tried to find such dice but it seems that there is no market for them. It just strikes me as very odd that we have d4s to d12s and then stop suddenly and then jump to the d20.
Actually, in addition to my d30 that I've never used, I've got a d7 that I've never used. It's a strange die to look at, but it does roll randomly
My favorite d8s and d10s in my dicebag come from a really obscure Milton Bradley board game from the 80's called Fortress America.
As a DM I've always enjoyed (and I don't know any DM that doesn't) the looks on the players' faces when I pick up a whole handful and a half of d6s and tell them "you take--empties handful of dice on table--"this much damage."
As a DM I've always enjoyed (and I don't know any DM that doesn't) the looks on the players' faces when I pick up a whole handful and a half of d6s and tell them "you take--empties handful of dice on table--"this much damage."
"Give me every d6 in the room."
Mwah hah hah!
"Give me every d6 in the room."
Sounds like the gatling x-ray laser frm GURPS. I threatened to buy those little bitty TINY d6's just so I could roll the 30+ of them to figure damage... Then, of course, I wised up and dumped GURPS...
My fav is my D24 kinda funny looking my dm says he saw a D5 from that company that makes the "perfectly" random dice. I use D4s all the time then again I'm a magic missile mage muhahaha complete with my patent pending wounding MM. + quickened MM one hand full of d4s comming up. goal of course is innate spell then I'll be able to use them even more.
d4 provides too little variance and d8 is too close to d6 to be worth requiring polyhedral dice over the more commonly found type. d12 is easily replaced with 2d6 -- although 2d6 gives different likelihoods (1/7 chance of a 7, 1/36 chance of a 12, and no chance of a 1), some systems enjoy the outcome of rolls being mostly average and exceptionally high or low rolls being rare.
Actually, in addition to my d30 that I've never used, I've got a d7 that I've never used. It's a strange die to look at, but it does roll randomly
How is a 7 equal-sided object possible?! What company makes these d7s, d30s and d24s, cuz I wanna see!
"Give me every d6 in the room."Mwah hah hah!
Lol, once at a gencon some company ran a one shot(can’t remember for the life of me which company it was) and came up with a spell for it that caused damage equal to the roll of all dice within a ten foot radius. Just happened to be that they set up next to the chessex booth. They were going to let the poor guy they cast in on off the hook, but the cheesex people thought it was funny and insisted on rolling ALL the dice they had within ten feet of the gaming table KABOOOOM. Great fun.
Btw, for anyone interested you should check out Guardians of Order’s tri-stat system if you want an alternate dice system. I don’t know much about as I have never played with it, but to my understanding it uses all the dice on a regular basis. Base die is determined by your characters power level. D4=scoob D20=god like power. If I got anything wrong please correct me.
How is a 7 equal-sided object possible?! What company makes these d7s, d30s and d24s, cuz I wanna see!
Ahhhh, a dice question. It seems as though the knowledge gained though my addiction is finally paying off. Theres a company called Gamescience, they make a line of dice called precision dice. They also make some odd sided dice, d3,d5 and d7 and I think they might make some of the larger unusually sided polyhedrals as well. You can find them at www.gamestation.net I believe.
Btw, for anyone interested you should check out Guardians of Order’s tri-stat system if you want an alternate dice system. I don’t know much about as I have never played with it, but to my understanding it uses all the dice on a regular basis. Base die is determined by your characters power level. D4=scoob D20=god like power. If I got anything wrong please correct me.
That's correct, but It doesn't use all the dice "on a regular basis". You tend use the one die type throughout the game. Even so, most games are 2d6 (normal humans) or 2d10 (comic book superheroes).
Ahhhh, a dice question. It seems as though the knowledge gained though my addiction is finally paying off. Theres a company called Gamescience, they make a line of dice called precision dice. They also make some odd sided dice, d3,d5 and d7 and I think they might make some of the larger unusually sided polyhedrals as well. You can find them at www.gamestation.net I believe.
A d14, a d16...kick ass! But why $5 a pop? And why no d18? I really want a d100 now! I love the 'create your own die' option though!
Anyone remember the Dragonbone electronic randomizer from the 80's? I never bought one but a friend of mine did and it was a novelty that wore off pretty quick. Worked okay though...
I actually own a d3.
To be honest, it's just a d6 with 1-3 printed twice. It came with a specific board game that I had as a kid; I can't remember what it was but that this d3 is the only part of it left. People used to take my d3 when collecting fistfuls of d6 for high level wizard spells, and as a result were inadvertently being cheated out of one or two points of damage.
I just realized something that I should mention on this thread. I don't neglect my d12s as DM because I don't roll for if a random encounter will happen. I use a d12 to roll for when a random encounter will occur in each 12 hour period. I do this because 1) when I roll percentile, random encounters never happen thanks to my s##&ty luck and 2) it's a lot less time consuming than rolling 24 percentiles for each day.
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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I just realized something that I should mention on this thread. I don't neglect my d12s as DM because I don't roll for if a random encounter will happen. I use a d12 to roll for when a random encounter will occur in each 12 hour period. I do this because 1) when I roll percentile, random encounters never happen thanks to my s&*!ty luck and 2) it's a lot less time consuming than rolling 24 percentiles for each day.
On the one hand, that's a cool system and an elegant mechanic. On the other hand, are you really running 2 random encounters every 24 hours? Are these all combat encounters, or do you have encounter tables with things like "a bird flies over ominously - it is just looking for food, Knowledge Nature DC 15 determines that it is not threatening."
I really enjoyed the d8/d12 encounter system from 1e MMII, because it tied into the frequency of monsters so well. I'd love to see that resurrected because it would give the d12 some new life.
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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I really enjoyed the d8/d12 encounter system from 1e MMII, because it tied into the frequency of monsters so well. I'd love to see that resurrected because it would give the d12 some new life.
What was the system like? I never owned a copy of the 1e MMII.
2e had the concept of frequency, and while it was interesting from a verisimilitude perspective, it wasn't a very fun mechanic. The really cool monsters were infrequent, while mundane animals were very common. That makes sense, but when I play D&D I want to fight hydras and displacer beasts, not woodchucks and bears.
I really enjoyed the d8/d12 encounter system from 1e MMII, because it tied into the frequency of monsters so well. I'd love to see that resurrected because it would give the d12 some new life.What was the system like? I never owned a copy of the 1e MMII.
You roll a d8 and a d12. The middle numbers come up more frequently, so the more common encounters are placed there. I don't have the book around me right now, but this is what I remember:
2-Very Rare
3-4: Rare
5-7: Uncommon
8-14: Common
15-17: Uncommon
18-19: Rare
20: Very Rare
I don't think mundane animal encounters were included, just terrain specific monsters, humanoids or patrols. The encounters were by terrain, by climate and by civilization type (civilized, wilderness, etc.)
It was fast and it worked and it accomodated the frequency types of the old system very well. An encounter table would be populated with one monster per specific die roll based on the frequency and terrain affinity of the creature.
I just realized something that I should mention on this thread. I don't neglect my d12s as DM because I don't roll for if a random encounter will happen. I use a d12 to roll for when a random encounter will occur in each 12 hour period. I do this because 1) when I roll percentile, random encounters never happen thanks to my s&*!ty luck and 2) it's a lot less time consuming than rolling 24 percentiles for each day.On the one hand, that's a cool system and an elegant mechanic. On the other hand, are you really running 2 random encounters every 24 hours? Are these all combat encounters, or do you have encounter tables with things like "a bird flies over ominously - it is just looking for food, Knowledge Nature DC 15 determines that it is not threatening."
Well in the past I've just had an entry that said 'no encounter' but I like the ominous bird etc...kinda stuff so I'm gonna start using that instead.
d4s don't get neglected when your PCs include an invoker who favors <i>magic missile</i> spells, not to mention a sorcerer who agrees with him. Said sorcerer just recently acquired the dragon disciple class, so we get some use out of a d12 once in a while.
I've got a bag full of d10s in a rainbow of colors, specifically bought for the times we play <i>Immortal: Invisible War</i>. The first edition rules used nothing but d10s, and encourage having different-colored dice.
One gamer I knew has a mis-cast d10; the faces didn't line up right, so when you roll it an edge is facing upward. Weird.
That note about using 1d8+1d12 for the encounter charts reminded me of a system I'd made up for determining a character's dominant hand, when it was a big deal to be ambidextrous. I'd have the player roll 1d6 and 1d20; if they matched, he was ambi, and if the d20 was less than the d6, he was left-handed. The odds actually come pretty close to the actual proportion of lefties vs. righties.
The Koga has noticed a strange quincidence, that most rpgs just seem to ignore half the dice.
Back in the old days a d4 was known as the "cheater's die." It was said that if you threw it just right, you can look like you were rolling it but you would get the result desired. So it was common to roll a d6 along with the d4 just to keep the cheaters honest.
The d10 didn't exist back then but the d20 only had one digit. Sometimes you used marker to identify the 11-20 range, other times you rolled a d6 along with the d20.
Back then all the dice were more or less equally used, but in time 2d6 became a more common damage die than 1d12.
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As a DM I've always enjoyed (and I don't know any DM that doesn't) the looks on the players' faces when I pick up a whole handful and a half of d6s and tell them "you take--empties handful of dice on table--"this much damage."
Ah, rolling massive handfuls of d6's.... good times :-)
Which reminds me, I really have to read over the Shadowrun 4th ed rules, since that is going to be our seconday campaign this summer (for those of the D&D group that want to game twice a week)... I always associate dumping a double handful of d6s on the table with Shadowrun for some reason, lol
The d12 does get neglected, now that I think of it. I never noticed it because I used to swing a greataxe, so I ended up owning five colour-coded sets of d20/d12/d6 (attack/damage/icy burst weapon), with two extra d12 in case of a critical hit (later three extra d12s - thanks, Weapon Master!)