Maths errors in RPGs

[MerricB]

John Cooper (and others) point out the number of maths errors in D&D statblocks.

Do other RPGs have this problem?

Well, I know that some don't because there's nothing to compare the blocks to - any system is not implied in the statblock. WEG d6 Star Wars come to mind - how would you know that the statblock was wrong?

Does anybody check that the blocks in the latest M&M supplement are right or not, or is this just a phenonomen with D&D?

Cheers!

 

[hong]

Just a phenomenon with D&D, I think. People will point out egregious errors in any game ("an orc with Celerity? WTF?") but the level of nitpicking in D&D is unique.

 

[Cam Banks]

I have to wonder how these errors in stat blocks are made.

John reviewed a product we published at Margaret Weis Productions and I thought we had nailed the skill bonuses. Apparently, we totally didn't. How does that happen?

And why isn't there some amazing tool that can help with this? WotC clearly doesn't have one!

Cheers,
Cam

 

[brehobit]

There are games that have fundamental math problems (the rules themselves)

The one that _really_ annoys me is deadlands (original). It turns out that as you get better at things your chance of "critical failure" sometimes goes up.

Idea is rolling N dice with some goal (usually counting the number above a certain value). But if the majority of the dice are 1s you have a critical failure. The more skilled you are, the more dice you roll.

With 1d6 you have 1/6 chance of critical failure.
With 2d6 you have 1/36 chance of CF.
With 3d6 you have ~1/12 chance of CF.

As a crit fail can be _really_ bad, it sorta sucks to move from 2 dice to 3 dice. And even 4 to 5 is pretty bad (math too hard for this late at night...)

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I like the fact that the rules are consistent enough that you can figure out whether or not there are errors.

Aside: I know it is English-english rather than American-english, but why is "maths" plural (vs. math)? Just a different contraction of mathematics? I suppose looking at it now from a "mathematics" point of view maths is probably more accurate ...

 

[coyote6]

Does anybody check that the blocks in the latest M&M supplement are right or not,

Yes, they do. The playtesters (including me) try to catch most of them before publishing. Sometimes . . .

 

[MerricB]

Yes, they do. The playtesters (including me) try to catch most of them before publishing. Sometimes . . .

I'm sure you do... but do the reviewers & players find anything you've missed?

Cheers!

 

[DragonLancer]

I'm in the minority because it doesn't bother me in the slightest if there are a couple errors in a stat block. It doesn't make any difference what so ever, so I don't see why people get hung up on it.

 

[Roman]

I'm in the minority because it doesn't bother me in the slightest if there are a couple errors in a stat block. It doesn't make any difference what so ever, so I don't see why people get hung up on it.

I am with you on this one. I just could not care less about a couple of stat block errors, but maybe that has something to do with my dislike of the current trend to fill books with useless (AFAIC) stat blocks.

 

[Thanee]

Do other RPGs have this problem?

I cannot recall a single edition of Shadowrun, that didn't have gazillions of errors in the sample characters. It's just sad, really. I mean, it cannot be that difficult.

Bye
Thanee