contested rolls and the Pool

[Uncle Dark]

Heya,

I just finished reading The Pool ( I know, I'm behind on my Game Design Geek reading list... I've been finishing a  masters degree, OK? :smile:) and it looks great.  The Monologue of Victory is my favorite rule, I think.

I noticed, though, that there are no rules for contested rolls, where one player says "I do this!" and another says "No you don't!  I stop you!"   Or, perhaps, running a combat by contested rolls, or whatever.  There also aren't any rules for group efforts.

Second things firts: group efforts can be easily handled by dividing the extra dice being spent on the roll among the players.  Say, Player A says her character is going to do something.  Players B and C declare that their characters will assits.  A gambles two dice on the attempt, and B and C  gamble two more each.  A rolls the dice, and things go on as normal from there.

Now contested rolls, on the other hand:  The easiest way I can see this is by having both (or all ) parties roll as normal.  If only one rolls successes, then that one gets the MoV.  If more than one rolls successes, the one who rolls the most ones gets the MoV.  If no one rolls any ones, the GM takes it from there.

Seems simple.  But the MoV is so powerful a tool that it seems somehow unfair to allow one Player to use it  on other players...

Lon

[Jeffrey Straszheim]

On 2001-09-01 13:27, Uncle Dark wrote:

Now contested rolls, on the other hand:  The easiest way I can see this is by having both (or all ) parties roll as normal.  If only one rolls successes, then that one gets the MoV.  If more than one rolls successes, the one who rolls the most ones gets the MoV.  If no one rolls any ones, the GM takes it from there.

Seems simple.  But the MoV is so powerful a tool that it seems somehow unfair to allow one Player to use it  on other players...

I for one don't like the idea of counting one's.  No where else in the
game is the number of one's rolled significant.  It seems awkward to
apply it in just this one case.

I'd rather have the players roll against each other until one gets a
victory and the other a failure.  With regards to the MoV, one might
require the player to take the one die bonus instead, in these sorts of
cases.  Or else the game master may simply apply some limited veto
power for the losing player.

[James V. West]

When I wrote the original rules for The Pool, I left out a lot of stuff. You found some of it. Hehe.

In the game I'm writing now, which uses The Pool as its core mechanic, the rule for opposed rolls is pretty much the way you said it. Each player rolls, whoever gets the most successes is the successful one. No successes or a tie means GM moderation. MOV rules still apply.

The idea of re-rolling until only one player succeeds is also an option. I hadn't considered it. I am trying to avoid quantification as much as possible, so this tactic would be in following with that approach. But I'm not sure about it. Hmmm...I'll have to toss it around for awhile.

If you use the MOV rules correctly (and I know that I haven't written them in full detail yet...but have patience), then one player using this on another should not result in any horrific effects to the other player's character. Surely it will have a serious effect, but not something so drastic as death or dismemberment.

But these are good questions. I'm notorious for missing things like this, so I really do appreciate you pointing it out. I'll be chewing on it. Its hard to keep a game as simple as possible and still cover everything.

Anyone who has played around with The Pool...I would be forever in your debt for some feedback. How did it work for you? Where are the weak spots? Where are the strengths?

Very soon I plan to post a playtest version of a full-fledged rpg based on The Pool. I hope everyone will dig it.

James V. West
http://www.geocities.com/randomordercreations/index.html

[Uncle Dark]

James,

I've gone and writtne a Pool supplement (entitled The Deep End) in which I answer some of my own questions.  Ther are no new mechanics, just amplifications on existing rules.  I can send it to you, if you're interested.

I haven't played it yet, since (a) my usual set of players are busy right now and (b) I tend to rely a lot on the kind of stuff I asked questions about, so I wanted to figure it out before I ran anything.  I'll let you know (probably here) how it goes when I get it together.

Lon

[Jeffrey Straszheim]

On a related note, what happens when a player runs completely
out of dice in her pool?  That happened to my wife in today's
session.  I know that when a player chooses a MoV he adds
a dice to another player's pool (I did read that correctly, right?),
but in my game we only have one player.