Need help with a core mechanic

[TroyLovesRPG]

Sometimes its good for the players to know that something terrible and exciting is going to happen: just like in the movies. I was thinking about giving the players a hint as to the type of adventure they will have. One comment about the GM having lots of control and an endless bag of dice made me think about fairness. I suggest that the GM have three types of dice in a pool for all to see: physical, mental and GM. Identified by color, the physical (red) and mental (blue) pool are used by the players to modify their die rolls through roleplaying. If a character wants to perform an amazing physical, athletic or combat related task then the player describes the action and takes the die (or dice) from the pool. After those are used then they are bagged. The mental pool applies to social, academic or technical tasks. The GM dice (white) are available for the GM when he describes the incredible action or event that is happening. This way, the players are encouraged to role-play to get the dice, and the GM is required to do the same. The GM and players will have discussions and arguments about when the role-playing is "good" enough to deserve a dice, but I think it will balance out of necessity. Since the pool is visible, the players can see if the session requires a mental or physical approach, based on the number of dice available. Also the GM pool is visible showing how challenging the session will be.

Troy

[Xibalba]

I just did a quick playtest with my idea with the shared pool of cinematic dice and another with something like Troy suggested (but not distiguishing between physical and mental dice), and I saw a mild problem.  I have not completely described my system yet, but it involves many different types of dice distinguished by color.  I already feel like I have too many types of dice, so after adding one or two more types, it is really starting to get overly confusing.

Therefore, I have come up with another idea and it seemed to work pretty well in the short playtest:

Using Option 1 from my original post, but adding a way to encourage cinematic action:  Players may declare a Stunt by describing a dramatic, cinematic action.  The player then spends an extra Effort die on this action.  On the action roll for stunts, if the player triggers his Mojo (by rolling at least one 1), then he gains a Hero Point.  Hero Points can be spent to boost later rolls, etc (as in many other games).  Players still have to "spend" something to attempt a Stunt (an Effort die), but this does not cost too much.  They have the potential to gain something valuable (Hero Points) so it encourages them to do these Stunts, but not every action.  It also fits nicely into my existing mechanics for combat maneuvers (which are essentially specific Stunts).