Howdy,

As I'm getting on in life so I tend to prefer games that are rules light (or medium at max). I've been playing Vampire (Sabat) for many years and I've always liked the idea of a dice pool system.

Of course... I've always found WW's implementation to be a 'wonky' so we had to customize it for our group.

However, I'd be interested in your thoughts for games that implement a die pool system that works really well.

I quite like Ubiquity, Belly of the Beast and Mutant Year Zero.

Ta' very much.

Ubiquity is good, as is d6/Mini Six. I think one of the things I like about both is that they're easy to use with moderate dice pools but also outright recommend capping things at a certain level, which allows for tossing a handful of dice but not taking things to crazy levels.

I haven't had a chance to play it yet but Coriolis looks intriguing as well. It's a simple stat+skill system but it has some neat combat options that should keep things interesting.

I like AEG's Roll & Keep system. Surprised they didn't use it for more stuff beyond L5R and 7th Sea.

The OLD and NEW games from Russ Morrissey at EnWorld use a d6 "attribute plus skill plus mods" dice pool mechanic, with both Sci Fi and Fantasy rule sets available.

I am a satisfied Kickstarter backer.

Ta! for all the suggestions.

Quote from: Spinachcat;963400I like AEG's Roll & Keep system. Surprised they didn't use it for more stuff beyond L5R and 7th Sea.

Cheers for that. Actually, would you believe I've never played either of those two games? But I do like my bit of swashbuckling so I'll definitely check 7th Sea out. Is that the old or new version? Thanks!

Quote from: Brand55;963397Ubiquity is good, as is d6/Mini Six. I think one of the things I like about both is that they're easy to use with moderate dice pools but also outright recommend capping things at a certain level, which allows for tossing a handful of dice but not taking things to crazy levels.

I haven't had a chance to play it yet but Coriolis looks intriguing as well. It's a simple stat+skill system but it has some neat combat options that should keep things interesting.

I hear that! Moderate die rolls are always a good thing. Rolling 25 d10s in Vampire was a right pain in the ass. Coriolis would be one to have a gander at as well. I think it has similar mechanics to Mutant Year Zero but they'd have more options as you were saying.

Hah! I totally forgot about the the d6 system. Cheers for the reminder! I've not read that since Star Wars. I've not heard of the new Mini d6 so that's something I'd like a gander at too.

Ta'!

Quote from: AaronBrown99;963402The OLD and NEW games from Russ Morrissey at EnWorld use a d6 "attribute plus skill plus mods" dice pool mechanic, with both Sci Fi and Fantasy rule sets available.

I am a satisfied Kickstarter backer.

Nice one... I've seen it on Drivethru but never checked it out. Be good to have a set of rules for Fantasy as well as Sci Fi. Thanks!


One of my personal big bugbears with OSG in general are the concept of levels. I'm more of a WFRP guy than a D&D guy. But I liked the non-linear progression in Vampire. Although, combat and certain other mechnics were a tad broken imo.

The issue with dice pools and I mean issue in the term of what effect it produces, not that it's a problem, is that the more dice you roll, the flatter the bell curve becomes as success and failure keep sliding towards the middle.  At the same time, less dice make for more swingy results.

Can you tell me more about Belly of the Beast? I've heard good things but no zero about it and the write up on Drivethru seems vague to me.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;963543The issue with dice pools and I mean issue in the term of what effect it produces, not that it's a problem, is that the more dice you roll, the flatter the bell curve becomes as success and failure keep sliding towards the middle.  At the same time, less dice make for more swingy results.

That's true, things can get messy with lots of dice (with the probabilities). Plus it's a right pain to roll a load of 'em. I think that's one area where Vamp really fell down was the 'ones' canceling out success all the time - I found it hard to do anything even as a powerful Vamp. So we eviscerated that rule!

Quote from: Christopher Brady;963543The issue with dice pools and I mean issue in the term of what effect it produces, not that it's a problem, is that the more dice you roll, the flatter the bell curve becomes as success and failure keep sliding towards the middle.  At the same time, less dice make for more swingy results.

OLD and NEW limit the max dice pool for a given task. Starting characters will have a 5d6 max pool, while experienced characters can have up to 12d6. I often wondered why that rule was in there, maybe to limit the curve effect?

Quote from: Spinachcat;963400I like AEG's Roll & Keep system. Surprised they didn't use it for more stuff beyond L5R and 7th Sea.

Which version of L5R do you like the best?

Quote from: The Exploited.;963578That's true, things can get messy with lots of dice (with the probabilities). Plus it's a right pain to roll a load of 'em. I think that's one area where Vamp really fell down was the 'ones' canceling out success all the time - I found it hard to do anything even as a powerful Vamp. So we eviscerated that rule!

I think everyone did. You had to.

Quote from: Voros;963546Can you tell me more about Belly of the Beast? I've heard good things but no zero about it and the write up on Drivethru seems vague to me.

It's been a while since I read it tbh. I took a punt on it despite the lack of information about the actual product. For the life of me, I can never understand why publishers don't put out lots of decent info out about their products. But anyway.

So you've obviously read the skinny, that you're trapped in a gigantic beast where civilization attempts to carry on. Effectively it's a post-apocalyptic game with themes of survival, scavenging (obviously) and looming death. Resources are truly scarce because there's very little infrastructure or resources to build anything. You're a bit more like savages than in most PA games. It's somewhat assumed that you're just hanging on by a thread as opposed to actually having any real hope. So it's a  pretty dark and bleak setting (even more than most PA games).  

The world is really pretty cool though... The beast is so damn big it has it's own climate and myriad different environments (as well as its own anatomy of course!). It's also sucked up many different cities, lifeforms, etc. So you can encounter anything that you can conceive. That said, and this is one of the games foibles imo, that there is a lot of details left out or up to the GM to create them. For example, they refer to some very dangerous mutant plant life, but there's not stats.

The system is pretty simple (might be too simple for some). Pretty typical dice pool mechanic. Each task has a difficulty and you have to roll successes over the difficulty number. Besides your skill dice, you also get bonus dice called advantage dice. You might get one of these for a piece of kit, etc. You've also got instinct dice to spend to improve your rolls as well (or find out critical info). Kind of like your motivation/will, if I remember correctly.

You get to choose different maneuvers for some of these dice. You've also got different abilities/talents. But not like mutant powers or anything. More from where you were born or certain innate abilities. Some of the stuff is pretty broad.

The basic gameplay involves you (the party) going off on a scavenging hunt for resources to loot and then trade. There are always complications like cannibals or thieves waiting to take your haul. There's also visiting and negotiating with other enclaves.

However, anything is possible because of the sandbox nature of the game. And the beast could have swallowed anything so there's a lot to work with. Some of the descriptions in the main rulebook of the interior are great and very evocative of the setting.

But I'd really love to see a companion book to flesh out some of the details.

Great game for one-shots or mini-campaigns. For long term play, while it's definitely possible but the GM would have to do a bit of work to make the game less repetitive.

I like it a lot... But I've not had a chance to GM it yet, and I must read it again to refresh some of the details. So apologies for the scant details.

Quote from: CRKrueger;963588I think everyone did. You had to.

Yeah, that's true... Actually, that is one of the reasons that I've no interest in NWW's Vampire 5e. Most people who have been playing it for years have fixed up their rules so they are a little late to the party. Plus, if the rumors are true (from what I read on the Onyx forum), the new concept sounds really crud (imo).

There are no good examples of dice pool game mechanics, because they all include game mechanics that use dice pools.

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;963641There are no good examples of dice pool game mechanics, because they all include game mechanics that use dice pools.

Meh...