Modular Gaming Components 5 - Otherkind Dice

The last couple of modular components have been fairly vague, and nothing specifically mechanical about them. So this time I'm going to add something back a bit more crunchy back into the list.

I love Otherkind Dice. 

I first mentioned the concept back in 2009, then revisited it in 2010 when I first designed the game FUBAR (Available for free over on DrivethruRPG). I looked at is as a concept called Danger Dice back in 2011, and indicated that is was my favourite game mechanic back in 2018. I even revisited the concept earlier this year when I went through the process of designing a game from scratch. 

The idea is simple and can basically be applied to most games that have a resolution system based on determining the outcome of specific actions and tasks, rather than focusing on the outcome of entire conflicts. That's a pretty weighty sentence, and after all the academic papers that I've been reading over the past few weeks it's kind of to be expected, but I'll break it down a bit.  

There are generally two types of situations in tabletop roleplaying games where dice might be rolled, cards might be played, or rules might generally be consulted. One of these situations is a task (or action) situation, the other is a conflict situation. It basically works on a difference between small scale events and big scale events.

Task resolution (A small scale event) - a single hit in combat, a single comment in a conversation, jumping from one handhold to another while climbing a cliff, staying hidden from a single guard...

Conflict resolution (A lager scale event that usually incorporates a few specific actions) - the events unfolding from an entire combat, the results that occur from a series of comments back and forth with an NPC, climbing up an entire cliff, prowling through an entire stronghold past numerous guards... 

As an example, Dungeons and Dragons uses task resolution for combat, every strike is described, and even the strikes are broken down into hit rolls and damage rolls. On the other hand it often uses conflict resolution for social stuff (a single roll with a charisma modifier, or a performance/diplomacy check covers the who thing), or avoids die rolls at all. Many other games work the same kind of way, and depending on the game you're playing, or the type of story being told, some elements may use task resolution (with multiple die rolls that build tension), while other parts of the session are skimmed over with a shorthand of dice. The second biggest game system, Pathfinder, works much the same way. 

When actions occur, most games run with a linear output after the dice are rolled. Either the action passes or it fails. If the action is going in the character's favour, they use their ability or skill level to modify the result. If the action is going against the character, they use a saving throw to resist it (but the effect is still the same...either it passes or it fails). 

Common dice pool systems often have degrees of success, so that binary of "yes it works/no it doesn't" can stretch out to "nothing / minor success / major success / legendary" or might even add an extra layer to the bottom end by adding something worse than failure, usually a botch. This can be seen in games like Shadowrun, the various World of Darkness lines, or the early Legend of the Five Rings. You get a more nuanced result, but the player is still generally feeding as many positive effects as possible into the pool, then not really having any control of the outcome beyond randomness.

Other systems, like the Genesys system used by Fantasy Flight Games in their Star Wars, Warhammer, and L5R RPGs are a bit more complex in their resolution systems. (There are a few other game systems like these, but the dominants ones are the Genesys variants). These games move beyond the linear output with a variance spread including numbers of success, and degrees of advantage or disadvantage in the result. So you could have two successes and two advantages (which looks pretty impressive), a success and a couple of disadvantages (which scrapes through on its intended goal, but causes a whole lot of collateral damage). I might actually look at this option (and systems like it), in a future post. These have a wild variety of potential outcomes, but still end up with the situation where players feed their potential into the dice pool, then interpret an outcome back into the narrative.  

On the whole, all of these systems described so far fit into the category of "Fortune at the End". Everything is worked out by players, a randomiser does it's thing (whether dice, or drawing cards), then the outcome is determined by that randomiser. 

Otherkind Dice are a form of "Fortune in the Middle" system, where the players set up the roll (or card draw), the dice are rolled (or cards are drawn), then the players may do something else with the result before filtering it's effects back into the story. So instead of "Choices > Randomness > Result", you get "Choices > Randomness > More choices > Result".

You might be wondering why this is a good thing?

My simplest answer is protagonism. If our characters are protagonists, they make choices that define their destiny, they aren't left adrift on the currents of a fate beyond their control. It puts more control of the story back into the hands of the players, and depending on the group dynamic, this can be a good thing or an obstacle to overcome. Some players prefer a more passive entertainment style, some prefer a more active style, so this modular gaming component isn't for everyone.

There are a few ways to use Otherkind Dice, but I'll describe two of the most common that I've used in my games over the years. 

One of the ways to utilize Otherkind Dice is to set up a cascade of effects that let you roll a sequence of events, then roll a bunch of dice as a pool. Once your dice are rolled, you may then choose to allocate those dice between the different outcomes you are planning to achieve. 

Example (Let's use D&D): 

A character is trying to infiltrate a stronghold. They've identified four things that they are trying to achieve. 1. Find the room they need (difficulty 15 - Intelligence), 2. Avoid guards (difficulty 15 - Stealth), 3. Avoid traps (difficulty 10 - Dexterity Save), 4. Find cool stuff along the way (difficulty 20 - Perception). Sure, you could roll those all separately, but if all four are rolled at once then the player can prioritise which events are more significant to their character. You might even throw the characters a bonus die to play with if they've got a map of the stronghold. You can immediately apply the modifiers but it takes a bit of reverse thinking. Instead of adding a bonus to your die rolls, you reduce the difficulty of the target number. If you've got a +2 Intelligence, then you reduce the difficulty to get to the room (goal 1) by 2 points. If you've got a penalty of -1 to your Dexterity saves, then your chance of avoiding traps (goal 3) is 1 point harder. Let's modify everything now before the fortune bit comes in...  

1. Find the room (15 becomes 13)
2. Avoid the guards (15 become 14)
3. Avoid traps (10 becomes 11)
4. Find cool stuff (20 becomes 17)

The fortune bit... you roll the dice... let's say 4, 5, 8, 14, and 17.  

Now allocate the results. 

It makes sense to discard the lowest die roll, the 4.

The 17 succeeds in any of the categories, what's most important to you. Do you put it into the result where you're getting to the room? Do you want to avoid the guards? Is finding cool stuff your thing?

The next roll, the 14, isn't high enough to find any cool stuff. However, it succeeds anywhere else. 

The 8 and the 5 won't succeed in any of the results. 

If we go with [Goal 1: 14, Goal 2: 17, Goal 3: 8, Goal 4: 5], that lets our character get to the goal and avoid any guards, but they'll set off a trap and don't find anything cool along the way. Now we need to resolve the trap before continuing wit the story.

If we go with [Goal 1: 14, Goal 2: 8, Goal 3: 5, Goal 4: 17], that lets our character get to the goal and find some cool stuff along the way, but they've alerted guards and set off traps. Time to resolve the trap, start a combat scene with the guards (or a chase scene to get away from them), then we can look at what the cool thing is that we found.

If we go with [Goal 1: 8, Goal 2: 14, Goal 3: 17, Goal 4: 5], that lets them avoid any guards and traps, but they haven't found the room, and haven't found any cool stuff. It'll probably be another roll now as the character continues trying to get to where they're aiming (the difficulty for goal 1 might be a little lower now that they're closer to their target). 

In each of these cases, the player has decided what they think is more important for the story, without fully handing them narrative control. 

Example 2 (Let's use D&D again):

Sometimes among your goals there is a cascade of actions that needs to be performed in order...perhaps a negotiation with a noble over a prized piece of land. First you need to convince the noble you are worthy of their time (difficulty 15 - Charisma), next you need to diplomatically bring up the land (difficulty 10 - Persuasion), finally you need to convince them of your trade (difficulty 15 - Persuasion). Meanwhile you need to avoid making enemies of the other members of the court (difficulty 10 - Charisma), and identify if anyone else is making political moves against you (difficulty 20 - Deception). One, two, and three need to be completed in order, four and five are independent. Let's add a bonus die for someone with the "Noble" background, and give our character their modified difficulties. 

1. Worthiness (15 becomes 14) 
2. Bring up land (10 becomes 8) 
3. Trade (15 becomes 13) 
4. Avoid making enemies (10 becomes 9) 
5. Sense Political moves (20 becomes 18)

...then roll our dice... 3, 7, 10, 12, 14, 19.

Again we'll start by discarding that low roll of a 3...and no matter where we put it, that roll of a 7 isn't going to help us.

If our player puts the 19 into goal 5, they'll know who is maneuvering against them. That then means they'll need to put the 14 into goal 1 otherwise they simply can't go any further with the trade deal. Either the 10 or 12 could go into goal 2, and neither of those results will help with goal 3. The player can work this out however they want, but as long as they try to sense the political motivations around them, they won't get the trade deal completed, and they'll have to make another roll. On that second roll, they won't need to make die rolls for the steps they've completed, but the difficulty of the goal three will probably go up because there's less time for tact and etiquette. 

If our player puts the 19 into the first goal, they can get away with putting the 10 into the second goal, and they'll still have a 14 to put into the third goal. The trade deal will be complete, and that leaves an unused 12 and a 7. If they put the 7 in goal 4, and the 12 in goal 5, they'll make enemies, and won't know what's going on around them (that doesn't sound good). If they put the 12 in goal 4, and the 7 in goal 5, they'll avoid making enemies but won't know what's happening around them politically (which seems to be the best option).  

The whole thing reduces the rolls in game and turns the scene into a strategic puzzle for the player to solve. We still have the task resolution, but we can solve a whole scene at once and then play through the narrative repercussions of the rolls with a smoothness that isn't broken up by needing to pull out dice and rules every couple of minutes.

The second way I commonly use Otherkind Dice is by applying a positive/negative effect to the roll. I usually call it Success and Sacrifice. In this case you roll two dice when a task is attempted. One of the dice determines how well you do, while the other die determines what you give up in the attempt.  

Example 3 (A modern d20 based system): 

A mechanic is in a chamber that is slowly filling up with gas, she needs to turn a valve that's stuck, while attempting to hold her breath. The success criteria is the bit where the turns the valve and gets out of the situation (difficulty 15 modified by +2 strength knocks it down to 13). The sacrifice criteria is whether she takes damage from the toxic gas (difficulty 10 modified by +1 constitution saving throw knocks it down to 9... I'd always be using a saving throw for the sacrifice part of this roll).

The roll of two dice gives an 8 and a 15. 

Depending on how she allocates the rolls, either she avoids the gas but remains stuck in the chamber (and will need to roll again)...or she turns the valve and escapes the chamber but ends up taking a lungful of toxic gas in the process. If she stays in the chamber, the difficulty for the toxic gas will go up because it will have a higher concentration... so she decides to take the damage from the gas, and gets out of there.

Example 4 (World of Darkness):

Same example, but this time we're looking at dice pools already. Let's say the mechanic has a strength of 3 and a level of the repair skill (4 dice total), turning the rusted valve takes 3 successes. She has 2 stamina but no levels in survival (2 dice), avoiding the toxic gas takes a success. So she looking for three successes, out of four dice (every roll of 6 or higher on the 10 sided dice counts as a success).

The total roll is 1,3,4,6,7,10. That's three successes, and three failures. Each roll that made up the pool needs to have that many dice distributed back to it. So 4 o the six dice need to be applied to the part where she is turning the handle, and 2 of the dice need to be applied to her resistance against the toxic gas. Again, (because we;re trying to keep the examples in the game systems relatively consistent) she could allocate one of her successes (and two failed dice) to avoid the damage from the toxic gases, but that leaves her with two successes (and one failed die) to turn the valve. It might cause the valve to budge but she'll need to keep trying next turn, and the gases will be harder to avoid then. Otherwise, she can allocate all of her successes to the valve, and take the damage from the toxic gas this turn.

I was going to include a fifth example using my FUBAR game which is predominantly driven be Otherkind Dice, but this series is about incorporating new elements into existing games and showing what they might do. 

You could easily do traps with Otherkind Dice, and could arguably get away with doing entire combats in this way. The whole idea is to put some of the decision making back into the hands of the players and away from the arbitrary nature of a swingy dice system.