The thing that has kept TOR from becoming my favorite is the core dice mechanic. It just seems too odd and wonky for me to really enjoy. I was part of the playtest for TOR and my groups largest complaint was about how weird the core mechanic was, they made some great fixes, but didn't change it enough so that my group would be willing to play the game.
Oh, that really surprises me. I love the TOR dice mechanic. I really
don't like rolling a single d20 for success...I hate the flat probability. Nor do I like the fiddly wonkiness of Star Wars. TOR strikes a nice balance for me of richness and variability in a clean, easy to understand system.
For the uninitiated, here's how TOR works:
- You have a relevant skill or (sometimes) attribute, rated 0 to 6.
- You roll a d12 and as many d6 as the relevant skill/attribute, and total the numbers versus a Target Number
- In most circumstances you do NOT add +'s or -'s due to stats, gear, etc.
On the d12:
- A 12 (the Gandalf rune on the official dice) is an autosuccess
- The 11 (the Eye of Sauron rune) counts as 0, and sometimes means Bad Stuff
On the d6's:
- Each 6 counts as an extra success. E.g. bonus damage on an attack roll. (You don't roll damage separately.)
- If you are Weary, 1's, 2's, and 3's count as zero.
On attack rolls, your weapon type has an "Edge" rating. If the Feat die is equal to or higher than Edge, your opponent must make a Protection test, which works just like any other roll but "skill" is determined by the armor worn. E.g. 5 dice for a a Mail Hauberk.
And that's it. Pretty much every roll in the game works this way. It's very rare that you you make any roll other than d12 + Nd6.
EDIT: Sure, I suppose you can describe d20 as "You just roll a single die and that's it." But that leaves out adding up bonuses, with vary depending on what ability you are using, and figuring out how many damage dice of which sort to roll, and whether or not you include an ability modifier, etc. etc. By the time you include all the fiddly bits you need to know, I actually think that TOR is simpler.