[Forge-main] Re: Mechanics

[Enrique Perez]

Hi. Ricardo wrote:

> Damn you, fence-sitter :) Seriously, there must be one single argument
> which makes either the 2d6 or 1d10 the obvious choice. We just need to
> figure that argument out.

Actually in my opinion the real difference is whether we use 2dx, 1dx or 1dx 
exploding. We could
go with a d10 system and just have a small appendix to show how to convert to a 
d6 system for
those who don't have access to ten sided dice. The conversion would be pretty 
simple, for opposed
die rolls, both use six sided dice instead of ten sided dice and for unnopposed 
use a six sided
die and lower the difficulty by two, because the average roll of a d6 is 3.5 
and the average roll
of a d10 is 5.5.

There are game systems that seem to use one die; but, actually they are 
actually often using some
kind of hack to make it more gaussian. For example in the d20 combat system, 
you roll a single die
to hit; however, if you get a twenty, or less depending on your weapon, you 
look on a critical
table to see what additional damage you do. In my opinion, it would be easier 
to have one roll
with explosions, so that we can get a rough gaussian distribution; but, don't 
have to have
additional tables or many die rolls.

So overall, I'd like to go with ability + trait + circumstance + exploding d10 
versus target
difficulty. Plus have a really small appendix to show people how they can play 
this with six
siders.

As far as worlds are concerned, one of the things that makes technology seem 
different from magic
is that technological worlds usually have on the order of one hundred times the 
population of
fantasy worlds. The population today is about six billion and a rough guess of 
the population in
ancient times is seventy million. This leads to a lack of wilderness and to a 
low importance of
individual actions, basically no explorers and no heroes. Should we assume that 
this Greek tech
world started quickly from before the Roman conquest, we could reasonably 
develop a high tech plus
fantasy world where individuals could make a difference and that still had 
places to explore.

Enrique


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