I realize there may not be a simple answer to this question, but do people have a sense of the relative effectiveness of various dice combinations?  Is a 2d6 trait going to carry more weight than a 1d8 trait, is a 3d4 trait going to carry more weight than a 1d6 trait, and so on...

Or is it more complicated than just stronger/weaker - are there some kinds of situations where more dice are better even if they're smaller, and others where just a few large dice will have more impact than a bunch of small ones?

Hi Snowden,
just look at the conflict resolution system.

With higher dice you can make heaavy raises (over 12) and probably reverse the blow. So it is giving you raw power.

The other kind of interesting dice are d4. These are the things that your character is worried about or otherwise getting him into trouble, since you need more than two of these dice to even see (relative) weak raises (9-12). This means fallout, which is a synonym for progress in this game.

I like to think about my character in connection to these two things: (To make it easier to read I just refer to the character as a male person.)

• What is his main drive? What makes him think he can handle this? I often connect it with an imagined experience from the past of the character.
• Where does he doubt what he does? What are his "inner demons"?

Hope that helps,
greetings,
René

Only considering the win, choose two dice over one larger die. 2d4 is almost as good as 1d10; 2d6 are better than 1d10.

On average, going up one die size on one die means adding 1 to your raise or see. On average, the raise on 2d6 is going to be 7, on 1d6+1d8 it's going to be 8. On the other hand, 2d6 lets you raise, 3d6 lets you raise and see (albeit not well).

Rolling bigger dice than your opponent can make up for rolling slightly fewer dice, but not many fewer dice. 4d6+4d10, for instance, is about the same as 10d6.

The value of big dice is that they let you set terms within the conflict, not that they let you win. A 10 showing on your side means that you have more choices, and your opponent has fewer: you can make an unblockable raise, you can choose to block or dodge instead of taking a blow, and if you can hold onto it for a few exchanges you can probably use it to reverse.

-Vincent

Lumpley, thanks a lot; without any actual play experience I probably would've overestimated the usefulness of big dice.  This'll definitely help reduce system confusion when I'm finally able to get some players together.