A die betting game...

[Loryndalar]

Hey all! Uh, I'm not sure if this is any good, or if it makes sense...
but it's on my hard-drive, it's interesting, so I'm presenting it  :smile:
Hope it's enjoyed or something.

A Gambling-style rpg-

The idea is always to roll low, below an assigned TN (or maybe even a static one...).
   TNs normally go up and down by increments of 4, normally the number of increments of 4 used for a TN of an action is equal to slightly fewer die than the average amount of die a character who could normally succeed in the action would roll. So, if it's all about racing a car down a busy street, you may say it's a gifted (d6) 'Action' Stat, and a difficult (d6) 'driving skill' action, so the (just, by 1) above average result of their Stat and Skill roll is 8, meaning there would be 2 die rolled in this attempt to succeed, 2 die fewer than their average attempt.
   So to then find the TN for this action, we times 4 by 2 increments, equalling 8, and we find that any character would have to roll 8 or less to succeed in such an action.

Now, every player (and the GM) has an original die pool of 10 die (ten-sided), and must always roll this pool when attempting an action. This action pool is modified by the character's attributes and/or skill ratings. Attributes and skills are defined as (single) dice, 4, 6, 8, 10 and even (even more rarely than 10!) 12-sided die. An average attribute is a 4-sided die, an average skill (if it is part of the character, if it isn't a skill the character has, they just can't attempt it at all!), an average skill rating is 0 (zero).

At the time of trying an action, any of these relevant attribute and skill die are secretly rolled by the GM, and whatever is rolled on those die (added together) is a number of die subtracted from the player's die pool (thus probably making their final roll lower).
   Yes, this may mean the player only has to roll 0 or fewer die! This of course means they succeed in that task.

   Exploding and Collapsing die-
   At any time, if a die rolled for an action comes up a '1', then this die, while itself being kept, may cancel out any one other die, including any '10's. If there are any '10's still left rolled (after any have been cancelled out by a '1'), then these '10's must be rolled, with the new amount added, along with the original 10, onto the total. This exploding continues on and on with every further 10 rolled. If this new roll comes up a 1, then it may cancel out any one other die (normally the 10 that caused this second roll), but the new 1 itself is kept.
   So note that collapsing die always over-power exploding die.

Now, the player doesn't yet know what was rolled for them, how many die they'll be rolling from their pool, so this is where the die betting comes in...
   A player starts off with a 'phantom' die pool of 10 die for the sake of betting.
When they are about to perform an opposed action, they must decide if they want to try playing one or more of these phantom die, 'gifting' them to their opposition, as such, increasing the die pool the other must play with (these additional die are modified by the skill and stat die rolled by the GM as well).
   An opposed action is one (genrally) without a TN, where the player with the lowest result wins. However, sometimes the GM will assign a TN as well, making it so that the player with the lower result does the best, but that this still might not be enough to succeed in the task.

Once you've played these phantom die, they are gone. From your point of view... the player that you 'gifted' them to now have a greater number of phantom die they can now bet against you (and/or others) at a later date!

The other player may bid on the action from their own phantom pool, but this wont alter the fact that they're now rolling more die on the action, these die are still considered 'actual' die, die in your hand, rather than phantom die, they will become phantom die after you have rolled them.

'Upping the Ante'- A player (or the GM) who has had phantom die played on them (bid to them, making their action harder), may choose to meet, and raise on that bidding player, playing equal to the bid plus (at least) one, and turning both these new bid die and the original die away from them, and back onto the original bidder. This can then be turned back on them again and so on, as willed.

NOTE: More than two players (or one player and the GM) can become involved in a bid. Often another player will have a vested interest in either the other player succeeding, or losing. So they too may bid their die.

You started off with 10 'phantom' die, now you (lets say) have 12. You may bid these die against the person who 'gifted' them to you, or to another, but remember that these die may come back to haunt you! Remember, when those die are in your phantom pool, they can't hurt you, but when they're out there... they're a threat. A player must learn how, and when, to bluff, convincing others that they're no threat, or such an over-whelming threat that there's no point to bidding against them in this, and incurring their wrath.

At the end of a session, all phantom die pools return to their original 10 die size.

When dealing with characters other than PCs, you now deal with the GM, and everything said above is the same. Bid die against opposing NPCs and their die pool, and try and beat them. However, the GM doesn't then play those aqquirred phantom die as a bet, but uses them as a gift, as a way to make certain actions more difficult.



Character creation-
Players start with one each of a d4, a d6, d8 and d10. They may allocate these as they wish to Body, Action (speed and reflexes), Mind and Power (soul, charisma, magic, etc.).

These are their stats.

They must then get their die hand of d10s and roll them for each stat. For every die that rolls below or on the number of that stat, they gain a skill/power/feat/quirk. This skill/etc is of a die power equal to the die it's closet to (roll of 10=d10, 9 or 8=d8, 7 or 6=d6, 5 or 4=d4, 3, 2 or 1 =d0.)
You may then choose any skill or power related to that stat at any one of those die levels, using up the possible die levels as you go along.



Combat and damage-
Who is hit, or affected by opposing actions, is decided by opposed rolls. Who rolls lowest (and gets below any required TN) wins.

'Damage' (actually, 'damage' is more truly an image of how able a character is to act, this may be hindered by actual physical damage, losing face, damage or theft of items (this normally will only hinder a character, hence the added difficulty to succeed, but the theft (etc) of something intrinsic to their character may invoke greater role-playing difficulties), this 'damage' is worked as die added to your hand (which stays until healed, or recovered), the number of die added is decided by the difference between your two rolls, a difference of 1-10 = 1 die added, 11-20 = 2, 21-30 = 3 die and so on. This number of die is then added as die to your hand.
Really, unconciousness (and/or death) is really a matter for the player. If they decide they just couldn't of taken that hit they fall down (a good idea of when this has happened is when you just can't succeed any more!). So 'damage' reflects the extent of your ability to continue to act.


Rules for a 'Hack'n'Slash' political intrigue game - where all players are out to get power.
But it's a game of mad executives, genrally in the same company, using (Grant Morrison's) ideas of corporote logo magicks and mercenaries and intrigue to get ahead in the game - their profession, and ahead of their contemporaries...


End.

So, sure, it's only really a system right now...
anyways, please comment  :smile:

Paul.

[Loryndalar]

Ok, it's bad then. I understand.
But can anyone tell me *why*?  : )


Bye.

[Zak Arntson]

Ok, it's bad then. I understand.
But can anyone tell me *why*?  : )

What I'd like to see, is the rules in their simplest form + examples.  I really couldn't make heads or tails of some of what you said.  I'm curious, but confused.

... gifted (d6) 'Action' Stat, and a difficult (d6) 'driving skill' action, so the (just, by 1) above average result of their Stat and Skill roll is 8, meaning there would be 2 die rolled in this attempt to succeed, 2 die fewer than their average attempt.
So to then find the TN for this action, we times 4 by 2 increments, equalling 8, and we find that any character would have to roll 8 or less to succeed in such an action.

This doesn't make any sense.  Do we find the TN AFTER rolling, since 4 x 2 = 8 (eight is what, our roll?  Our average roll (which would be a 7 on 2d6)?)  But earlier, you say that you try to roll under a TN, which means the TN would be determined BEFORE you roll!

I would also have to ask how you are applying this rule.  Rules are great, but a game needs to go along with them.  The two complement each other.  So when I see a proposed rule, I'd like to see how it's used in context.

Take Dying Earth, for example.  If someone presented ONLY the rules to me I'd say, "So?  Great, you've got this pool for rerolling a d6.  How come?"  But since the rules complement the game (i.e., being tossed along the fickle winds of extreme fates), it all makes sense.  "Aha!  The d6 means that TERRIBLE and WONDERFUL results ar equally likely, but I can skew them a little with this pool.  This really pushes the feel of Dying Earth!"

So, here's what I'd like to see: Your rules in their simplest form.  Examples.  Why you think they are good rules.

I am interested in gambling mechanics (see my Sketchbuk game, plug plug), since it can promote competition among players ...