Thought Experiment: 2D6 Stats

[drsamsara]

I love rolling 2D6. As much as I appreciate the ease of figuring odds on a D20, I just love rolling 2D6. When I first read S&S, I immediately suggested that Thief Abilities really ought to be 2D6-based rather than percentiles. And Jason stepped up and Thief Abilities are now 2d6.

One of the things I really love about my Boxed Set (that's No. 1 of 30, suckers), is that I can fit everything in there with those two dice and be ready to play. The three S&S booklets, my LBB's, the Pocket Ed. of Monstrous Mayhem, even Carcosa should I wish to. Except that if I want to make a character, 2D6 really isn't sufficient. I'd have to add another die.

And that's just not right. So, what if stats were rolled using 2D6 instead of 3?

Well, obviously it would increase the variation and make the best and worst more likely. It's quite a bit easier to roll a 12 with 2D6 than an 18 on 3. I'm not sure how I would feel about that.

Second, it would increase the granularity and I do like that. The D&D range is so broad for something that really doesn't do that much in play. What is the difference between a 13 and 14? None really. With a range of 2-12, the differences stand out.

Also, it would reduce the modifiers a bit. A lot of old-schoolers are going back to the OD&D minimization of stats modifiers. Frex Swords & Wizardry uses a flat +1 for stats 12-18 (I think. Something like that anyway). I rather like Moldvay's scheme and I'm glad it's in Rev. S&S: +1 for 13-15, +2 for 16-17, and +3 for 18. But a +3 is a lot bigger modifier when using 2D6 and not 1D20. Too much? Maybe. With a 2-12 range, you could have something like a +1 for 10-11 and a +2 for 12. Still a good bonus but not quite so large.

Thoughts?

[Jason Vey]

Look, those wooden dice were expensive. I couldn't afford to put three in the box

Seriously, though, sounds like a neat idea. Actually, in future incarnations of O.R.C.S. we are doing away with the 3-18 spread and just making Abilities range from -4 to +4 (similar to what True20 did to d20).

No worries, though: that won't change in S&S any time soon.

[drsamsara]

Replacing the 3-18 spread is something I have liked for a long time. Minor rant: everyone credits this to Blue Rose and descendants, but the first place I saw it was Talislanta. In 1984.

However, I have recently begun to rethink that stance. Largely because I have been considering attribute-damage as a kind of nifty middle ground between the Dreaded Level Drain and regular damage. And the effects of Attribute Damage would be greatly changed if your STR of 10 instead becomes a STR of 0.

Still, just something to think about.

[drsamsara]

I continue to noodle around with this idea. I am thinking about ti again due to two recent postings:

1. Randall of Microlite '74 is playing around with the idea of doing an all-2d6 version of the game.

2. Akrasia posted some house-rule for S&W which include damaging CON after all HP's are gone. I find that kinda of nifty--making the abstract nature of HP's that much clearer. But I fear that it gives too many HP's to characters; unless you are doing roll in order CharGen (which I do sometimes), everyone is going to put high stats in CON.

But if the range was 2-12, that mitigates it a a bit.

Anyway, I may try it for the heck of it next time I get the chance. I'm not quite sure of the modifiers yet though. The more old-school range would be:

2 -2
3-4 -4
5-9 --
10-11 +1
12 +2

But I also kind of like this slightly more expansive one:

2 -2
3-5 -1
6-8 --
9-11 +1
12 +2

The 1st method gives you an ~17% of getting some kind of bonus, same for a minus, and a ~67% of no modifier at all. You are most likely to have effect this way.

The 2nd method gives you an ~28% of some bonus, same for a minus, and an ~44 of no modifier. In this schema, each attribute is more likely to give some kind of modifier, plus or minus, than not.

[kersus]

I am also considering using 2d6 for S&S attributes. I haven't sat with it yet as I just finished my first S&S session. I talked about it with the players and they had no problem with it. Ultimately, unless you're doing something with the actual attribute numbers, it's really only the mod that matters. Yet, if I just go to a mod instead of all the numbers, I figure I might as well play FUDGE. I'm using a HackMaster style % on every attribute that can be raised upon leveling.