House Rule: Another way to read the dice

[John Harper]

Here's something I'm toying with.

The result of a roll is the highest die in the pool. Add one for each extra die showing 4-7. Add two for each extra die showing 8+.

So, I roll: 9 8 5 4

My result is 9 + 2 + 1 + 1 = 13.

I also had an idea about Advantage contests. The difficulty of the advantage contest should be equal to the size of the advantage dice that you get if you win. So, you roll vs. 2d8, and if you win, you get 2d8 advantage dice. The dice impair after you use them, but you can roll them one at a time if you want to.

[Alan]

Hi John,

I recently ran Agon and really liked the simplicity of the highest die in pool as it is currently written. During play, I didn't experience any moments where I thought "This isn't working, I wish the die mechanic worked differently." (Same with helping die, actually--helping was as much about paying or incuring Oaths more as actually helping!) What purpose would this change serve?

About advantages, I think the same thing applies. Players got the advantage die indicated by the number of victories. For me, this suited the step on up quality of the game.

- Alan

[John Harper]

Thanks, Alan... I'm glad the game is working for you. It works fine for me, too.

I'm just tinkering here. I'm using the core Agon system for a new game design, so I'm fiddling around with the mechanic to see how it behaves.

[Alan]

Here's something I'm toying with.

The result of a roll is the highest die in the pool. Add one for each extra die showing 4-7. Add two for each extra die showing 8+.

So, I roll: 9 8 5 4

My result is 9 + 2 + 1 + 1 = 13.

I also had an idea about Advantage contests. The difficulty of the advantage contest should be equal to the size of the advantage dice that you get if you win. So, you roll vs. 2d8, and if you win, you get 2d8 advantage dice. The dice impair after you use them, but you can roll them one at a time if you want to.

Okay, now that I know the objective isn't re-tinkering Agon, I can focus on the ideas.

For the dice pool idea, I think this method might add handling time and maybe even a confusion factor if the pool contains dice of different sizes. I think you'll have to play test it to get a real idea. Maybe use it as a temporary system in your next Agon game.

The advantage dice idea would be an easy rule to intuit in play. It also emulates the idea that gambling for greater advantage is more difficult. It has an all or nothing quality.

[Darren Hill]

It's an interesting idea.
If it was used in an Agon-style system, where you tend to roll dice one at a time, it would probably be a slow handling time, as you'd need to repeatedly recheck which die is highest and then check the other dice for how much they give.

The advantage die method is also interesting. What happens if you get two or more victories, or does that not apply here?
Hmm: what if the largest die size is the size of die you get if you win, and the number of victories is the number of such dice?

[iago]

I think it's unnecessary to make a +2 happen with 8+ results.  I'd rather stick to the simplicity of take your highest die roll, +1 for each additional die that was in on the roll.  That makes for fewer "if-else" steps in your resolution mechanic.  I think people would be pretty comfortable saying, okay, I rolled 4 dice, my highest is a 9, +3 for the other dice, 12.  And I think they'd be less happy with okay, I rolled 4 dice, my highest is a 9, separate out the ones that are higher than 7... okay, there's 1, +2 from that, and 2 at 7 or less, +1 for each, so, 13.

That's a lot of extra think-work for a relatively minor boost.  I think you may have made the 8+ rule out of a motivation for people to feel like larger dice and high rolls aren't "wasted", but I don't think they are even in the simplified version ... since they're already factors in terms of being contenders for highest die, and are candidates for points being spent to "explode" maxed-out die results, etc.

Don't over-fix. :)

[Skywalker]

Its an interesting idea but I think it needs speeding up somehow.

What about take your highest result and +1 for each dice with the same result. For example:

6, 6, 4, 3 would be 7.

The impact of the extra dice is reduced but they do get some recognition. However, the process is quicker and more contained i.e. no reference to result bands.

[Cam]

I liked the "roll what you whant" advantage, very much like in HeroQuests variable augment. You can take the "safe route" or give it bit push, good.

I'll also comment on +8 you get +2.
If all dice are giving +1, it would be most useful to just gain d4 advantages from several things (and most cheap)?
Having better result giving bit more would make up for this even so that +8 would give 2 and +10 voud give 3.
Its extremely rare that you get 2 results of 10 or more.