[Lab] 4d6. 2 blue, 2 red. Keep 2d6. RR, RB, BB matters.

Here's an idea I tweeted that seemed to catch a lot of interest:
Idea: 4d6, 2 red, 2 blue. Roll all four, keep two. Short-term: 2-12 result. Long-term effects for choosing RR, RB, or BB.
And that quickly drew a flurry of responses, which I'll gather here for future reference if I use this system for something.





Comments

  1. Justin D. JacobsonOctober 14, 2010 at 10:16 AM

    I have nothing substantive to add yet, other than that you need a shorthand name for the system. That title's a mouthful. Maybe something like Purple d6.

    Well, maybe one thing. The pull is in trying to balance the colors. I could see a spectrum/ladder on the character sheet. One half represents blue, one red. You move your marker in the appropriate direction based on which colors you choose. I.e., 2 squares red direction if you choose both red dice; 1 square red direction if you choose red/blue and red is higher; 1 square blue direction if you choose red/blue and blue is higher; and 2 squares blue direction if you choose both blue dice.

    Each end of the ladder has to be something bad, e.g., insanity, succumbing to the dark side, etc. But each half should represent a different mechanical impact based on how far down you are. E.g., your 2 squares down on the red side means you take a -1 penalty to attack rolls, your 2 squares down on the blue side means you take a -1 penalty to your AC. (Or whatever works for the rest of the game.)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Daniel SolisOctober 14, 2010 at 11:05 AM

    Heh, you're right about the mouthful. "Purple" has a kind of association with "purple prose" that I don't mind, but that might just be in my head. I'll think on it.

    I definitely like that tracker. You could actually have several different trackers going at once, depending on what you're rolling for.

    For example, if you have a tripartite Mind, Body, Soul scheme, the "bad" extremes for those are very different. When you choose to do something with your Mind, you accept the possible consequences of doing so. The basic 4d6 dice pool remains unchanged, though.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Daniel SolisOctober 15, 2010 at 12:21 PM

    Note to self: The 4d6 Red/Blue dice pool system would be quite resonant for someone running a game set in the Matrix. Basically, every roll is a choice between the red pill or blue pill. That is, give in to the illusion or break free of it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. MischaOctober 17, 2010 at 7:16 PM

    "You Divide, I Decide:" One player rolls 4d6 RRBB. Another player divides the dice into pairs. The first player chooses which 2d6 pair matters.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Insect KingOctober 18, 2010 at 7:52 AM

    My Twitter comment, posted here for the record, was this:

    Instead of having different colours the dice could be divided between two with number faces and two with dots.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Daniel SolisOctober 18, 2010 at 11:22 AM

    Thanks for the comments, guys. I just put all this stuff together in one blog post here.

    http://danielsolisblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/split-decision.html

    ReplyDelete
  7. MischaMay 8, 2011 at 9:17 AM

    "You Divide, I Decide:" One player rolls 4d6 RRBB. Another player divides the dice into pairs. The first player chooses which 2d6 pair matters.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Insect KingMay 8, 2011 at 9:17 AM

    My Twitter comment, posted here for the record, was this:

    Instead of having different colours the dice could be divided between two with number faces and two with dots.

    ReplyDelete

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