Rolling way too many dice

[Filcher]

Hey all, looking for some expert GMing advice, regardless of system.

I'm running a one-shot at a con, so it is a given that some of the players won't have a high degree of system mastery. Reviewing the game rules, I'm seeing that some of the weapon damages require rolling a ton of dice (7d6+3 is a common notation). Add in multiple attacks and we're going to be spending the afternoon adding d6s.

So, what do you guys use to simplify these sorts of dice rolls? Sure, the wizard's 20d6 fireball is fun once a session, but if he is rolling that many dice each round, and doesn't have the skills to sort and add really quickly it will only bog down the game.

So, ethereal hive mind that is ENworld, what can you spit out for me? Suggestions, tips? Reduce everything to averages + 1dx?

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

What game are you playing that weapons do 7d6 damage? I suppose some 4e encounter powers might stack up damage kind of like that, but even so, getting more than one attack a round is pretty rare in 4e.

If your players have a low level of system mastery, I suggest playing a lower level game (if this is 4e), or a different one (if this is not).

 

[InVinoVeritas]

Stick to low level. The problem solves itself. If the players don't have a lot of mastery, this is the best solution all around.

 

[Filcher]

Thank you all for taking the time to reply!

The game's genre is cyberpunk, so whereas in D&D you'd have to work up to dropping a massive fireball, in the dark future you are simply shopping. You didn't go on a quest for that assault rifle, you bought it from a pawn shop or of out of the back of some guy's car.

Perhaps a better question: how many dice can an average player quickly sum? It seems like we all can total 3d6 pretty quickly. 4d6? 5?

I'm thinking of reducing the dice to: (average)+3dx.

 

[billd91]

I don't know, part of the fun is rolling lots of dice. Most con goers probably have plenty.

One option, give everyone pistols instead of assault rifles and make sure that they aren't commonly toted around on the street. Who carries around an assault rifle in a cyberpunk novel anyway?

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Shadowrun? What are the target numbers? Do you add up dice or just need to sum successes? Because if it's the latter, some "recolored" dice that have one color for "failed roll" and another for "successful roll" could do the trick.

I played a little Exalted, and we needed dice like that badly.

Failing that, use a simple computer program, but that takes some of the fun out of rolling dice yourself.

 

[Filcher]

I don't know, part of the fun is rolling lots of dice. Most con goers probably have plenty.

One option, give everyone pistols instead of assault rifles and make sure that they aren't commonly toted around on the street. Who carries around an assault rifle in a cyberpunk novel anyway?

Well, there was the suitcase minigun in Snowcrash.

But I think you might have the solution, Blll. Trade the assault rifle for a heavier SMG, make everything slightly more believable, and leave the insanely heavy weaponry to the cyberpsycho boosters.

 

[Holy Bovine]

Well, there was the suitcase minigun in Snowcrash.

Everyone listened to R.E.A.S.O.N.

IME most players are able to add up d6s pretty quickly. Even my math-challenged friends can do 5-6 d6s in about 10 seconds.

If you really want to reduce the dice rolled I would keep it simple and say for every 2 d6s you take away add +7 to the roll.

 

[NichG]

IMC I pretty much require taking average for anything 10d6 and up, as well as any sort of small incidental rolls (e.g if someone is on fire and is taking 1d4 every round, I say 'just take 2' every round).

In large die pools, the random aspect is suppressed just by the statistics. Taking a large average and adding a few d6 means the random aspect will become even more unimportant, so you might as well average.

If you really want to preserve randomness for large die pools, you can do the following: For a die pool of XdY, round X/2 to the nearest convenient die type (call it a dZ). Now roll 1dZ. That, plus whatever the residual was, is how many dY of damage you do (which you take average on). That will have a deviation proportional to the average, so it will always be significantly random.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

You can do averages, but that's a bit boring. Another average-like aleternative is to do averages up to the last two dice, and then allow the last two dice to be rolled (so 7d6 becomes 2d6+17).

Another variation -- just have everything do maximum damage, all the time, and only roll "to hit" rolls and things like saving throws. But that's a bit dull, too.

Here's what I'd recommend:

1. Let the players have their fun and roll all their dice.
2. To speed play, pre-roll a damage list for you, the GM. Then as a particular roll come up, you just take the next number on the list to use, and cross it off.