The Psychology of d%

[Christopher Ashe]

So I've actually been doing some work on the next version of the system (the Axiom rules set has been its code name for a while) and I was musing on what I think of as the psychology of the percentile dice mechanic.

Over the years I've noticed with not only my own crew but with various testing groups that the structure of the system tends to make people lean on the "roll low" factor of the mechanic - what I mean to say its that MoS and various other factors tend to be thrown out or at least glossed over here and there and the outcome of a dice roll is determined specifically by how low the player rolls.
For example, a character could have rank 1 or 2 in an aspect, but rolling 10 on the dice still seems to mean he accomplished his task with ease, where rolling 03 would allow the clumsiest oaf swinging a sword with rank 1 to attack with the finesse of a seasoned veteran. This all comes down to visualization more often than not, but it affects the game play in a certain way.

At any rate, let me know if you've experienced this and what you think about it.

Ashe

[Elune]

really busy right now, but here's my quick thought on the matter.

I have always preferred d% systems, since Runequest :)

I think almost everyone I have gamed with treats their rolls as you described - the lower they roll below their skill, the better they have achieved what they were rolling for. Its just human nature I think. "You need X or less" - your brain wants low, "X or higher" your brain wants high.

There were games in the old days which used the "effect number" (the value you roll under your skill by) as a gauge on how well you did with the dice roll - in the original Top Secret rpg, hand to hand combat damage was determined in this way. My friends "5th Edition" home made system update for Top Secret expanded on this.

One thing in combat which always annoyed me was - I roll to hit and succeed in punching him, but my opponent rolls to parry, and succeeds - so I miss, even though I *hit*. But why? I rolled and hit, is my roll worth less than his? But obviously we can't both succeed.

Using effect numbers can give a better result I think - I roll and hit, the effect number gives the amount of damage done - opponents parry roll succeeds, his effect number reduces (parries) the damage I do. If his effect number is much bigger than mine, he may even damage me with his parry.

[ThePainter]

Sorry that it's taken so long to get back to you on this Ashe. At first I must admit that I didn't notice your post and after that I plead being busy; it takes time to create a considered reply.

I know that this is an aside, but it's a very interesting question: what is the best system? Percentile based, dice pool, or something else. On a personal note, I tend to like and prefer the percentile systems. To me they seem to offer the greatest number of advantages i.e. they're easy to understand, they offer the greatest range of results... Of course, exactly what the best system is is extremely debatable, particularly when you start considering the question of, best for what? Best for simplicity, for realism, for speed...?

My personal opinion is that, largely, the rule system doesn't really matter as long as it isn't too burdensome! To me, it's the role play aspect of a game that is important and I tend to regard the rules as largely irrelevant; all I really ask is that the rule system be even handed and not too burdensome! Don't get me wrong; the rules are important, it's just that I don't particularly care about specific rule systems as long as they are fair, clear and relatively concise.

That being said, you asked about the 'roll low' factor! On that specific aspect of gaming I tend to believe that Elune is essentially correct; that it's just human nature for people to believe that a low roll (where you succeed in a roll by 30) is better than a higher roll (where you succeed merely by 03) even though both rolls succeed! Largely, it just feels that this is the case and so I don't think that this can be avoided.

That being said, I haven't really seen too many problems with this issue. I've tended to find that once people understand that a game operates in a specific way they simply accept that way. They may bitch about it from time to time and may still have subconscious expectations about how the rules should operate (i.e. low roll = good) but they will still accept the rules as they exist!

Speaking as a 7/13 GM, in combat situations, I tend to downplay the 'effect number’ and/or ‘low roll' aspect of a roll (primarily for purposes of simplicity and speed) and emphasise the 'a success is a success is a success' aspect. Is this realistic; is this the best way to do things? Possibly not! But it is a way, and I tend to believe that as long as the players accept that they are being treated fairly, then the exact rule doesn't really matter! I however very much emphasise the even handed aspect of this; nothing bugs a player more than believing that they are being treated unfairly!

Please note that despite any impression given above we still have critical hits in combat although (in our game) we define a 'critical' as one tenth (round down) of the final adjusted skill roll. For example, a roll of 52 would give a critical range of 01-05 i.e. 52/10 (round down), whereas a roll of 26 would give a critical range of 01-02 i.e. 26/10 round down. Consequently the critical range is automatically adjusted to reflect higher and lower skill levels. Furthermore, the 7/13 perfect score of 00 is still kept as a special category!

Getting back to the main point however, overall, I haven't really found the 'low roll' issue to be a significant problem although I agree that there is undoubtedly a basic belief that a ‘low roll’ is good. To me it seems to boil down to people accepting that this is simply the way that a specific game operates and that what constitutes a low roll must be seem in relation to differing skill levels. Unfortunately, as I pointed out, this doesn’t stop people bitching from time to time; but there again, no rule system is perfect and there is always room for complaint!