So I've got this World War 2 game a-brewin' where the players play a band of werewolves dropped behind enemy lines for a special mission.  I've done something different for the GM - instead of it being a person, it's a roll.  You roll dice, and the players get together and interpret the roll for the next scene - it frames the scene and sets the scene's initial conflict.  I want to keep this 100% in the dice, I want the dice to be the game's GM.  I want them to set scenes and arbitrate anything required.

The basic idea goes as such:

• there's a row of dice set in front of the players.  Each die is tied to a specific claim - something that will affect your character and be his central motivation for the scene.  There's four: "I will not let you (another player) die", "I will save my own skin," "I will prove my competence", and "I will take all those bastards down" (referring to the enemy).  Each player grabs the one they want, and then everyone rolls.  Whoever rolls highest is the Lead Player for the scene, and acts as main narrator (almost a mini-GM, but I'm trying to stray from this).  Their conflict is central and is the highlight of the scene.  They are the protagonist, everyone else is co-star.
• roll for the initial scene concept.  This roll tells you everything you need to get started: where you are, who's there, and what the initial conflict is.
• during play, the things you say have two states: With Impact, or Without.  Suppose you say, "artillery comes thundering down, craters are everywhere."  All statements, by default, are Without Impact - they mean nothing to the characters or the story.  However, you can roll to make them With Impact - meaning then, the craters are useful: you can hide in them, they impede movement, the artillery blast down some other soldiers, etc.  This isn't real vs. not-real - the craters and artillery are there, regardless of Impact status.  However, Without Impact, you can't use them in any useful way, they're just description and color.  With Impact, though, and you can use them in the story.  Just by rolling for it, it gains Impact, but the result of your roll tells you if it's bad or good for you.
• so everyone has a conflict, everyone's in action, people are making Impact - the dice you rolled initially set target numbers for the scene, for resolving the conflict.  Everyone goes about trying to meet those numbers, but it's not easy.  What any player can do is grab the dice and roll them.  By doing this, they GUARANTEE their character is successful and makes it out alive, but they also increase the danger for everyone else immensely.  This is called rolling mid-scene, and the purpose of it is to help reach those target numbers in relation to your own benefit.  You do it because you want to gain the glory for the scene, or you want to move on, or you don't think you'll make it, or whatever.  Anyone can roll this at any time.
• yes, the players are werewolves.  You'll gain numbers on your character sheet when stressed or overburdened.  Whenever you want, you can roll a Carnage Die to turn into a werewolf and be all badass over the scene, ruling the day like a champ.  However, roll one of your numbers, and you kill a teammate in the process.
• when you die, you pick a player and become their Werewolf side.  You manifest as their primal nature, stress, and grief, rolled into one.  You make rolls to screw them up, which lets you come out as their werewolf and interact with the scene - it's your only way to, otherwise.

Thanks for reading all that.  The problem I have, you've probably noticed - for one, I don't have a way for the target numbers to be reached.  I'm thinking, maybe you roll for story-important actions and the result goes towards the target number, but I want to keep the dice somewhat universal - that red d8 always means one thing, that purple d4 always means the same thing, etc.  (note however that I don't have any concept of what dice to use or what they mean, I just know I want to keep it very basic and very open)

For two, the notion of having the dice frame the initial scene and conflict seems way too complex, but I know there's a way.  I'm trying to avoid "roll this, then consult this chart".  Rather, I want the results to be simple, like say, "All even numbers mean this, and all odd numbers mean that.  Also, if you rolled a 1, 2, or 3, it's good - 4, 5, or 6, it's bad", along that vein.  Universal and simple.  I'm just not finding the words to tie into mechanics.

Any help with these two problems would be much appreciated, as would any general feedback.  Thanks!

(My ideal vision is for everyone to roll dice initially and then the results give you a loose skeleton that you as a group interpret and flesh out.  Then, you grab dice mid-scene to change things.  It would be an issue of, Should I roll these or not?  It could help, but it might hurt, and with half the player saying, "Do it, we need it!" and the other half saying, "Don't, we'll never make it!")

I'll give what seems to be my standard response at the moment...

"Why not try cards?"

With custom generated cards for the game you can write up some basic scene development concepts and have them drawn randomly at the start of each scene. You might have location, threat, victory benefit, failure penalty, difficulty factor all present on the same card, or you could have two (or more piles) with these factors distributed amongst different piles (eg. This pile determines location and possible results of victory, while that pile determines the actual confrontation and the penalty suffered by failure..combining a number in the top right corner of each card might generate the difficulty factor).

For a basic version of this, you'd just have to come up with some templates that fit into normal card sleeves, and a couple of sample scenes. At a more advanced level, you could come up with a system for generating these and allow the players to generate their own scene elements. This would give even more narrative ownership to the players.

I realise it get's away from your concept of "100% in the dice", but it's quicker and doesn't involve table look-ups during the flow of the game...

It's just an idea...

V

It might be useful if you used some special dice with symbols instead of numbers for rolling scene concept (depends on your publishing goals, however).

What kinds of dice are you thinking of using?

Vulpinoid wrote:
I'll give what seems to be my standard response at the moment...

"Why not try cards?"

With custom generated cards for the game you can write up some basic scene development concepts and have them drawn randomly at the start of each scene. You might have location, threat, victory benefit, failure penalty, difficulty factor all present on the same card, or you could have two (or more piles) with these factors distributed amongst different piles (eg. This pile determines location and possible results of victory, while that pile determines the actual confrontation and the penalty suffered by failure..combining a number in the top right corner of each card might generate the difficulty factor).

For a basic version of this, you'd just have to come up with some templates that fit into normal card sleeves, and a couple of sample scenes. At a more advanced level, you could come up with a system for generating these and allow the players to generate their own scene elements. This would give even more narrative ownership to the players.

I realise it get's away from your concept of "100% in the dice", but it's quicker and doesn't involve table look-ups during the flow of the game...

chronoplasm wrote:
It might be useful if you used some special dice with symbols instead of numbers for rolling scene concept (depends on your publishing goals, however).

What kinds of dice are you thinking of using?

Ah. I see.

Heres an idea:

The person who chooses the "I will take those bastards down" claim gets to choose who those bastards are. Their roll determines a point pool that they have to spend to create a group of adversaries.
The person who chooses the "I will prove my competence" claim gets to determine the nature of the conflict. Their roll determines danger level.
The person who chooses the "I will save my own skin" claim gets to create the location. Their roll determines a point pool that they get to spend to fill the location with things that are advantageous to the players I.E. escape route, etc.

chronoplasm wrote:
Ah. I see.

Heres an idea:

The person who chooses the "I will take those bastards down" claim gets to choose who those bastards are. Their roll determines a point pool that they have to spend to create a group of adversaries.
The person who chooses the "I will prove my competence" claim gets to determine the nature of the conflict. Their roll determines danger level.
The person who chooses the "I will save my own skin" claim gets to create the location. Their roll determines a point pool that they get to spend to fill the location with things that are advantageous to the players I.E. escape route, etc.