Dice Rolls for Story Outcomes

[TheArchivist]

I'm thinking about using dice rolls to determine situations. This is something I've never used before in Forum RPG, but I want to try it as a new way to play. I'm looking for examples of how people use dice on here during play. Any advice or links to show me best practices?

Thanks, crew.
J

 

[Madison Starr]

Dice are new'ish. But they've a long history on this forum too. Mostly what I've seen before are shorthanded emulations of DnD and such. Attack rolls, skill rolls, gambling, etc. If you're familiar with tabletop RPGs or videogames then you've probably seen a thousand/billion things dice can be used for. Seriously. Literally anything. Lol.

As for how, or what, to use dice for on this forum? Skies the limit. Go nuts! Lol. Well... As long as all the other writers in your thread are cool with it, and all. But that's just common sense at this point.

 

[Gir Quee]

TheArchivist a good number of people used the dice mechanic in the recent Elysium Empire - Silver Jedi Concord junction - here's a good example of an Eternal Empire spy using it during the junction.

 

[Tefka]

Dice are a meta device without rules, completely left to the user to dictate how they work.

They’re intended to stay that way, so the sky is the limit in how they affect your stories or others’.

 

[Qae Shena]

Many, many moons ago, in a place that should be long forgotten, this experiment was attempted.
Some of the take aways were:

• Roll your dice where all thread participants can see it.
• Agree before hand what will be decided by roll, and how the outcome should be done. For example, a duel might be pre-determined with the roll, but how you get there is up to you - or you can do attack hit/miss with it. You could add extra elements via d20/d%, as well.
• This is not for everyone.

How well did this work out? It varied. Some people liked it a lot. Some people liked having some of the agency taken away from them akin to D&D especially those who are used to it, while the vast majority of participants strongly disliked it, citing that it 'stifled their creativity', 'didn't let them do what they wanted to do', et cetera.

In short? Try it if you want, see how it works out, but don't cling to it massively.

 

[Tefka]

I'm not sure I've ever experienced people vastly disliking dice being involved. It's not really something you can like or dislike, it's just a tool that exists. Last time we had it here at Chaos, we had it for about a year, and the opinions on it had died down. But it's back in new form and the opinions will be fresh about it and it's the internet so you're going to get everyone's hot take.

But due to user inexperience with how it worked and the fact that it was kind of hidden away, it was hardly used. Not due to dislike or riots or reee, but if I had to guess, Chaos either got bored of it or forgot it was toy they had been given to play with. I do that, sometimes, with the feature bloat here - throw enough random things at the wall to see what everyone enjoys, especially when the masses start getting snippy.

This year we've got quite a few hype trains rolling through in the wake of the Underworld, including podracing and gambling and general debauchery, machinations that dice can help add to the immersion. Some are doing it, some aren't, some are getting by just fine not paying attention to it.

If I'd advise anything to a new player at Chaos, it's that the problems with people you've encountered in your life do not end here. Everything's exciting at first, new is always exciting. But a few months down the road you'll find our community has the same problems all communities do, many of the benefits most communities have. But for the most part, unless it's a mechanical issue, those dice will never be a problem.

Because dice don't bully people.

People bully people.

So report those people and we'll counter-bully them but leave the innocent dice out of it.

 

[TheArchivist]

That's good advice. I'd say that was my experience on my last SWRP form as well, so forums are nothing if not consistent. Sounds like communication is key, and not hanging out with impatient mean people (or being such) is the general consensus/wish.

I'll most likely keep dice to myself and just roll of my own personal things. I'm generally not very good at dice anyway... Outside of maybe Call if Cthulhu where the dice is super not complicated. I just wanted to see what it might look like with forum writing (which I can see in the previous posts).

I'm taking everything slow and reading a ton rn. Thanks all

 

[Aayla Shan]

That's good advice. I'd say that was my experience on my last SWRP form as well, so forums are nothing if not consistent. Sounds like communication is key, and not hanging out with impatient mean people (or being such) is the general consensus/wish.

I'll most likely keep dice to myself and just roll of my own personal things. I'm generally not very good at dice anyway... Outside of maybe Call if Cthulhu where the dice is super not complicated. I just wanted to see what it might look like with forum writing (which I can see in the previous posts).

I'm taking everything slow and reading a ton rn. Thanks all

I think it's a great idea, I've suggested it in the past. If you're a DM or sorts, I'm more than willing to RP off of dice.

 

[TheArchivist]

I think it's a great idea, I've suggested it in the past. If you're a DM or sorts, I'm more than willing to RP off of dice.

I had fun with it in the past, but mostly if I'm playing by myself it's somewhat arbitrary. I just played the Hutt Space Endurance race a minute ago and the rolls were fun and challenging. I also totally burned out. But I digress.