Die Mechanics Revisited: Summation
Some years ago I wrote an article on the basic statistical properties of common die-rolling mechanics in games. It was one of the more popular articles on my site, but also contained errors and omissions. I’ve been wanting to do an updated version but found the hurdle of completing the entire article at once too daunting. Therefore I’m publishing it in pieces, as I have time.
I’ll consider a variety of common uses of dice, from their basic statistical properties to how they might be applied in a game, including what tone or psychological impact they might bring. We start today with the simplest of mechanics: summation.
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Mar 24, 2010 | Filed in design
| Tagged: mechanics, rolling | 0 Comments
Defeating the Accumulation of Advantage
“Accumulating advantage” is a general term, describing the tendency of the rich to get richer though positive feedback. This happens in many strategy games, in two slightly different ways. First, the rewards of success, like money, can be turned into an engine for later success, like the purchase of factories. This is positive feedback through accrual. Second, there can be positive feedback through loss, where reductions in initial resources create disadvantage. Many naval wargames show this behavior. They demonstrate classic attrition warfare: nothing like terrain or morale complicates a relatively straightforward game of inevitable resource degradation.
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Oct 13, 2009 | Filed in design
| Tagged: mechanics, strategy | 0 Comments
Goals and the units of play
One of the myths of earlier role-playing was that the game system somehow represented the physics of the alternate world. This can be the case, to an extent. But it was a myth because physics aren’t the only thing rules can represent and, moreover, most rules then weren’t really about physics, though they sometimes pretended to be. Players rarely thought exclusively in physical terms, neverminding the rules (which were often so incoherent you had to put them out of mind to play).
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Apr 12, 2009 | Filed in design
| Tagged: mechanics, units | 0 Comments
Guide to Die Rolling
The purpose of this page is to present the basic mathematical properties of some of the common die rolling methods used in role playing games. I always think it best to consider the needs of a game, in terms of the mathematics, before actually looking at mechanics. I hope that this page will be an aid to game designers who would like to know such things but who do not have the time or mathematical inclination to calculate them.
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Jan 16, 2004 | Filed in design
| Tagged: mechanics | 0 Comments
