A Different Dice Mechanic

Yesterday the other half and I took a nice walk through a place in North Devon known as 'The Valley of Stones' which was rather beautiful, and I thought would be a pretty amazing challenge for terrain makers. Afterwards we stopped off at a local pub for a nice lunch. Throughout the pub were book cases, packed with all kinds of strange tomes. I grabbed one simply titled 'Time Lord' and discovered to my amazement, it was a rulebook for a Doctor Who role playing game (wiki page, including a full download of the book: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Lord_%28role-playing_game%29 ).

The first thing I do whenever I pick up a new rulebook for anything is to check the basic dice rolling mechanic behind the game. More interesting was that this RPG had a mechanic I had never seen before. You have a set score you need to get from 0-5 to perform an action, and to determine if you make it, you roll 2D6 and subtract the lower value rolled from the higher. I started thinking about the applications of such a mechanic and realised that it was rather ingenious, the only downside probably being that a range of 0-5 probably isn't large enough for any serious RPG, but you could try it with say D10s or maybe, if you're fast at mental math, D20s.

Just a small thought.
Thanks for stopping by!
WGP

A Basic Rundown of The Mechanics for My Solo Skirmish Wargame

Each troop type has a number of tokens, these tokens are the same as the troop type’s stats. For example a unit with speed 4, shoot 4 and close combat 3 will have 4 speed tokens, 4 shoot tokens and 3 close combat tokens. The tokens for every unit are then placed in a bag or cup, and mixed together.

One player draws a token from the bag, and the token is then immediately resolved. For example Bill draws a speed token for the Orthodox Sword Sisters. Each Sword Sister still in play is then allowed to move up to 4”.

MOVEMENT

A move is always 4” unless a special rule states otherwise, this is because speed is determined by the number of tokens a troop type has, not the distance it moves each time it performs a move action. You can apply effects to movement such a rough terrain costing half movement etc.

SHOOTING

A hit is scored on a 4+. Each model has a choice between firing upon its nearest enemy model in cover or its nearest enemy model in the open, unless the nearest enemy model is in the open in which case that model must be fired upon. Models in cover will be hit on a 5+ or a 6+, but this is determined by the cover they are in. For models to be in cover they must be obscured from the firing model by half or greater. When a model is hit they lose 1 shield point.

MELEE

A melee or close combat attack is performed when two opposing models are in base to base contact and one of their close combat tokens are drawn. A model causes a hit on another when they roll a 4+. If a model moves out of base to base contact the other model is allowed an immediate free attack (meaning a token doesn’t have to be drawn) against them which hits as normal on a 4+. When a model is hit they lose 1 shield point. If a model is not in base contact with another they may perform a move action instead, but this move action must be towards the nearest enemy model.

SHIELDS

If a model is hit and is reduced to 0 shield points it is killed. When all tokens have been drawn from the bag the turn is over, all tokens are returned to the bag, all models’ shield points are fully restored and a new turn begins.

There will also be a number of special rules,but these have not yet been decided upon and potentially a magic system that works the same way as my previous solo game idea - there will be an additional stat for magic. When a magic token is drawn you put it to one side. When another magic token is drawn, or the turn has reached its end, you must declare what you want to do with your stored magic. Your opponent then declares an equivalent action. Pick up a number of dice equal to your stored tokens and roll them, on a single 6 your action is performed, on a roll of no 6s the opponents action is performed. You cannot combine the stored magic of multiple troop types, each troop type uses their magic individually.

Thanks for stopping by!

WGP