MI-6’s Q would roll more dice for Tinkering than Bond. (“That’s a… 41 for Stealth.”)īlades in the Dark (BitD), Roll for Shoes (RfS), and World of Darkness (WoD like Vampire: the Masquerade ) use dice pools. A character with a high modifier may be able to achieve things that other characters simply can’t, no matter how lucky. Each character’s set of modifiers, whether it’s Strength and Intelligence, Charm and Weird, sets them apart. That total is how well a particular attempt went. We roll some set of dice and then add to the total. Like a heist, we want the characters to have unique roles in the story-and we like them to have flaws and weaknesses-so we want to create some kind of skill differential.ĭ20 systems, like D&D and Pathfinder, and Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) use a modifier as the primary mechanism for representing skill. The Ranger should be able to split the arrow when they want, or at least to have a solid chance, while it would be an amazing random event for everyone else. The Rogue should be “better” at picking locks than the other characters, so even though there are dice rolls involved, the Rogue should succeed at that skill more often than other characters would. When we use dice in TTRPGs to inform the story, we want to adjust the odds to support the fiction. Baby isn’t just a good driver, he’s the best. Stakes are high, and ultimately it’s going to come down to out planning and outwitting, with some parts of the plan kept hidden. A group of highly skilled individuals with complementary specialties comes together to accomplish a goal contested by a more powerful force. Heist stories are pure genre, and the major elements are pretty easy to represent in most TTRPG systems. So, incidentally, I’ve been looking at a lot of different systems and thinking about genre, and how those interact. (So there were, you know, two rules.) I even put together a little mini-campaign pitch, inspired by Tiny Heist. I just listened to A County Affair from Worlds Beyond Number, which Erika Ishii ran using a heist-modified version of Roll for Shoes. Part of a series, maybe? In which I reverse-engineer what I’m sure are basics of game design.Ī friend of mine recently picked up Blades in the Dark and we are eager to get into some heisty hi-jinks.
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