Randomness Mechanics are the core of most (but not all) Tabletop RPG systems. Usually this takes forms of dice. But why? Why do we have these randomness mechanics inbuilt into these games? Well there are a few reasons, beyond the normal reasons for RNG found in video games or such.
Its to create the lowest level meta tension and release cycle. When you role a die, you don’t know the result but you should have at least a rough idea of what you need to roll to succeed. This creates tension. Seeing the result on the die and resolving what ever math that surrounds it, gives you the result. Whether you succeed or failure or even a bit of both, the tension is relieved.
But for Tabletop games, particularly those with Game Masters or Dungeon Masters, it also relieves them of deciding on if something succeeds or not. Unless a group is very close and very trusting of their GM, this can cause the negative kind of tension and frustration, so we need something between the GM and the players to resolve success and failure. That’s where Dice come in.
Another aspect of dice is forcing players to adapt. The term “a plan never survives contact with the enemy” is very applicable to RPGs but there are many was for a plan to go awry. There is of course how the GM uses NPCs, mistakes made by players or misinformation, but one that I believe is critical for a plan to go awry is a fun and exciting way is for the action a player tries to perform fails. Then player’s have to adapt, change course, and all hell breaks loose (sometimes literally!).
So, we have why dice are used, now for the how. RPGs uses several different dice systems dependent on a multitude of factors. Some look for simplicity, some are limitations from the time they we’re created, some are thinking about long term progression, some are more interested in creating a very dynamic system or fidelity in success and failure, some for familiarity. Going back to our concept, here are the factors I really wanted to keep as our focus.
- A System with a high Depth to Complexity ratio
- A Flexible system to allow for a variety of challenges
- A System that can keep players engaged for long periods of time
- A familiar system to the players at my table
For my players, who have played primarily Pathfinder and Dungeons & Dragons, a D20 systems is the most familiar. And looking beyond my own group, with the popularity of these systems, the majority of potential players would also be familiar with using and running with a d20 system and it has historic ties to D&D giving a little bit of an OSR feel.
Another potential dice could be the D6, the most common dice found around the world. Using a D6 alone however is mathematically swingy, giving only 6 results means there is little room for interesting or nuanced results and limited in modifiers used for circumstance or ability as even 1 point can be significant. That is why most systems use multiple, but this can get a little clumsy for my liking and adds an unnecessary layer of math that reduces the tension of any given role. A D20 by contrast gives a good idea whether you succeed straight away.
D100 systems are not as bad for this either. As, in most cases, you role 2d10 with one for tens and one for units, just looking at the 10s gives you that rough idea of success. The issues with D100 systems is they are clunky to explain off the bat. If people are not familiar with them already, they can be confusing to get your head around to start off with. While around half of my players have played games such as Call of Cthulhu before, some haven’t, so this may become a problem at my table. Another issue with the D100 system is its raw width of possibilities. In an average gaming session, are you going to need 100 different possibilities. Not really. The difference between a 72 and 73 is not really disenable to most players and again makes modifying rolls tricky without what seems like major steps.
With all this, I believe that using a D20 system is probably the best for Yorktown. This is mainly due to Familiarity but is historic ties to D&D and its immediate result nature are also big plusses, and with the explosion of D&D within the last decade the worries of limited playing audience having access to D20s is less relevant. Next, the Character Outline and Yorktown has innovated on a key concept from the very start of the hobby: the Class.
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