In thinking about running an RPG entirely over IM, I've thought about the idea of using dice decks instead of having players rolling dice.
I'm sure dice decks aren't a new concept, but here's the rundown: for a d20, you have a given number of "20" cards, the same number of "19" cards, and so on down to "1". When the DM calls upon the player to make a d20 roll, the player plays a card from the dice deck. The player can choose randomly if they like, or they can by fiat choose any card remaining.
The idea of being able to pick your own results may seem like powergaming, but in the long run it becomes a game of resource allocation. You have a limited number of high values and you have to be careful not to waste them, because once you play a particular card, it's used up. If you play all your 20s at the beginning of an encounter, you won't be able to get 20s any more.
Along with this the DM can always call a "reshuffle", which resets every player's dice deck. Ideally, a reshuffle is held off until everyone has pretty much used up their dice deck. Depending on how actively the players are participating, some might burn through their dice decks more quickly than others (which, on a side note, is a useful warning sign for the DM that a PC is being left out, ignored, or has had nothing to do).
In the event of a player actually burning through their dice deck, all subsequent die rolls would then be made by the DM with actual dice (the DM would presumably use dice as normal). Again, ideally this shouldn't happen too often, nor should a reshuffle be so frequent that a party of PCs avoids ever having to resort to their lower-value cards.
While using dice decks does take some of the unpredictability out of the game, there is still an element of chance (though you are only subject to it if you voluntarily draw randomly) and there is no possibility of cheating since the DM can always keep their own tally of what cards remain in your dice deck.
As to non-d20 die rolls ... I'm willing to concede that it might be cumbersome to model a separate dice deck for each die size, especially when it comes to rolling damage dice for spells. How practical is it to set aside a dice deck specifically for d6-damage spells, one for d8-damage spells, and two other d6 and d8 decks specifically for physical weapons? My theory is that the two d6 decks designed for different things would not be interchangeable, since you'd need many more 6's for a d6-spell-damage deck than for a d6-weapon deck. Using the former as the latter would give you considerably more 6s and 5s to throw away, whereas if you initially throw your highest-level d6-damage spells in an eouncter, you could burn through all your 6s and 5's in just a few rounds.
Because of these complications, it's worth considering the use of True20 for IM games. Not that I am a big fan of True20; I've never read it in detail or played with the system. I know it uses only d20s for everything and at least in this situation this self-imposed restriction to d20s would be fortuitous.
So ... have any of you tried this method of "randomization" in an online game (or even in-person)? What were the results? What variations did you try? Did the whole idea turn out to be impractical and/or unenjoyable for the players?
I'm sure dice decks aren't a new concept, but here's the rundown: for a d20, you have a given number of "20" cards, the same number of "19" cards, and so on down to "1". When the DM calls upon the player to make a d20 roll, the player plays a card from the dice deck. The player can choose randomly if they like, or they can by fiat choose any card remaining.
The idea of being able to pick your own results may seem like powergaming, but in the long run it becomes a game of resource allocation. You have a limited number of high values and you have to be careful not to waste them, because once you play a particular card, it's used up. If you play all your 20s at the beginning of an encounter, you won't be able to get 20s any more.
Along with this the DM can always call a "reshuffle", which resets every player's dice deck. Ideally, a reshuffle is held off until everyone has pretty much used up their dice deck. Depending on how actively the players are participating, some might burn through their dice decks more quickly than others (which, on a side note, is a useful warning sign for the DM that a PC is being left out, ignored, or has had nothing to do).
In the event of a player actually burning through their dice deck, all subsequent die rolls would then be made by the DM with actual dice (the DM would presumably use dice as normal). Again, ideally this shouldn't happen too often, nor should a reshuffle be so frequent that a party of PCs avoids ever having to resort to their lower-value cards.
While using dice decks does take some of the unpredictability out of the game, there is still an element of chance (though you are only subject to it if you voluntarily draw randomly) and there is no possibility of cheating since the DM can always keep their own tally of what cards remain in your dice deck.
As to non-d20 die rolls ... I'm willing to concede that it might be cumbersome to model a separate dice deck for each die size, especially when it comes to rolling damage dice for spells. How practical is it to set aside a dice deck specifically for d6-damage spells, one for d8-damage spells, and two other d6 and d8 decks specifically for physical weapons? My theory is that the two d6 decks designed for different things would not be interchangeable, since you'd need many more 6's for a d6-spell-damage deck than for a d6-weapon deck. Using the former as the latter would give you considerably more 6s and 5s to throw away, whereas if you initially throw your highest-level d6-damage spells in an eouncter, you could burn through all your 6s and 5's in just a few rounds.
Because of these complications, it's worth considering the use of True20 for IM games. Not that I am a big fan of True20; I've never read it in detail or played with the system. I know it uses only d20s for everything and at least in this situation this self-imposed restriction to d20s would be fortuitous.
So ... have any of you tried this method of "randomization" in an online game (or even in-person)? What were the results? What variations did you try? Did the whole idea turn out to be impractical and/or unenjoyable for the players?
