Are there any rpg games that...

[ClaudeC]

... Allow you to play it with dices or diceless? And what would be the pros and cons of this kind of game?

ClaudeC

[Daniel Solis]

Check out this ongoing thread in the RPG Theory forums.

[Shreyas Sampat]

Exquisite can be played diceless, but it practically expects that you continually use both mechanics throughout play.  It's an outgrowth of the thread that gobi linked to.  The idea behind this game was to have a game that shows the thematic differences between dice mechanics and resource-allocation diceless, and work in such a way that you could use the mechanics interchangeably, without there being too much statistical breakdown.  I don't know that it's succeeded in that second goal, but at the first I think it's done quite admirably.

[ClaudeC]

Thank you guys for your answer. I really like the thread about Dice/Diceless rpg. I have been thinking about designing a game with both systems and I am glad that others have thought about doing the same thing.

ClaudeC

[efindel]

There's also Epiphany (diceless by default), Story Engine (diced by default), Theatrix (diceless by default), and the Unisystem used in WitchCraft and All Flesh Must Be Eaten (diced by default; has both card-based and fully diceless alternatives).

--Travis

[kamikaze]

... Allow you to play it with dices or diceless? And what would be the pros and cons of this kind of game?

My own DUDE system is card-based, but also makes heavy use of resources ("white chips") to help you overcome bad cards.  You need to use good luck (succeeding at tasks without using chips) to earn the chips to beat bad luck, and eventually to "level up", which increases the size of your hand.  Higher-DUDEness characters have a large enough hand that they're unlikely to have really bad cards, but of course face tougher challenges.

As efindel notes, Unisystem has three resolution systems: dice, cards, and "story-driven".

The card system has two variants, either drawing a single card to directly replace the die rolling, or giving the players a hand of cards to give them some dramatic control.  The first variant is pretty useless, because cards are slower than dice, and none of the advantages of cards are being used.  The second, however, is fun and remains well-balanced because you do eventually have to play your low cards.  There isn't a huge amount of die-rolling in most Unisystem games outside of combat, and combats are over quickly, so you don't have to shuffle and refill your hand very often.  I've found that allowing players to discard their last card and redraw changes the gameplay significantly for the better--it goes from trying to blow your crap cards on useless actions to focusing on the story--but you need to bump up the difficulty of actions to compensate.

The "story-driven" system is very brief, just GM fiat.  Without a more detailed set of guidelines, it's not particularly useful.

[Daniel Solis]

The "story-driven" system is very brief, just GM fiat.  Without a more detailed set of guidelines, it's not particularly useful.

The one thing I do like about the story-driven method is that the damage rolls have been averaged out and written in parantheses in every weapon description. I've often found the unisystem resolution just this side of complicated so the fact that I have an immediate guideline for damage is great. I can just look at that number and reduce or increase the damage depending on the circumstances.

[kamikaze]

The "story-driven" system is very brief, just GM fiat.  Without a more detailed set of guidelines, it's not particularly useful.

The one thing I do like about the story-driven method is that the damage rolls have been averaged out and written in parantheses in every weapon description. I've often found the unisystem resolution just this side of complicated so the fact that I have an immediate guideline for damage is great. I can just look at that number and reduce or increase the damage depending on the circumstances.

I'm none too fond of that, myself, because the combat system is intended to be realistically lethal, but with flukes allowing you to survive multiple attacks.  With the average damage rolls, it's too obvious that attack X will do Y damage, so my Z Life Points will last (Z/Y) attacks.  Result quality bumping up the multiplier in the damage roll would help some, but of course result quality is no surprise with the story-driven system, either.  I like that the system encourages a tone of tense action-horror (Stephen King rather than Lovecraft, say), and the uncertainty of the damage mechanics are a big part of that.

[mike wiemholt]

Active Exploits Diceless RPG...

http://www.pigames.net/ae.php

[ClaudeC]

I took a look at Active Exploits and I must say that it's a little confusing. I think the author need to add more exemples on the book. I still don't understand how the combat system works...maybe because English is not my native language.

ClaudeC