Tom Cashel
First Post
Until 3.5 came to dominate every facet of our games, I often saw threads talking about “gritty” and “realistic” games, and advice on how to make your setting more so, or opinions on which setting is currently the grittiest. Yesterday I discovered the grit in a strange place, and I’m here to tell you that it’s not in the setting. It comes way before the setting.
I am running a short Call of Cthulhu game (classic rules, natch) tomorrow, and since all participants will be meeting in Philly for the weekend I decided to pre-generate the Investigators. They sent background and chose professions, I rolled the ability scores and distributed the skill points, leaving them a good number of skill points with which to customize. Greatly simplifies the process, and gets us gaming faster.
So where’s the grit, Tom??
Glad you asked. As I started rolling abilities, without even thinking I rolled 4D6 (drop lowest) for those abilities based on a 3D6 roll. Then I got to the 2D6+6 abilites (SIZ, INT), and I rolled 3D6 (drop lowest) +6.
Then I stopped. Why was I using this method? What the hell was I thinking?
Mostly that I wanted the players to be satisfied with their Investigators. But then I looked at how artificially inflated all the scores were. It just wasn’t right for Cthulhu. So I went back and rolled a straight 3D6 for the abilities, took whatever number was rolled, and applied the scores in order.
If you want the grit, you’ll do this for D&D.
I’ve got nothing against the Heroic dice-rolling methods (4D6 drop lowest, etc.), or even point-buy...I used those methods for years. But rolling 3D6 for each score, and applying the scores in order, really puts the element of chance back into PC generation. It results in average scores, plus the occasional abysmally low score and the occasional astronomical score. It gives the player strong clues for role-play...if you know that your character is strong as an ox and ugly as sin, you’ve got something to go on. Or smart as a whip but also a clumsy oaf, etc....you get the idea.
Abilities once again become the foundation of character, rather than a homogenized flurry of 16s, 17s, and 18s, with the token "8."
All this got me thinking...do players really need artificially inflated ability scores to be “satisfied?” Do they need to re-roll stats dozens of times to get a “good” set? Even with the 3.0/3.5 rules allowing for more ability points with level gain, and the plethora of ability-raising items and spells?
Naturally, the DM who asks his players to generate PCs with this method must be careful with challenges. But I contend that a game based on numbers, dice and chance should be true to its roots—it should rely on these three qualities at all times.
Next time I run a game, the players will roll up characters at the table during the first session. There’ll be no fudging, no point-buy, no drop-the-lowest, no re-rolling unless the character’s stats are truly abysmal (no single score above 12). It’ll be 3D6 for each stat, apply in order, and pick a class based on what you get. Use the character’s good and bad qualities as a guide for role-playing, rather than leaning on the alignment crutch.
This is old-school, and this is drastic—I understand these things. But despite contrary assertions, D&D is just a game. Chance (and hopefully luck) is the single ruling factor behind every mechanic. Let’s put the dice back into the fundamental mechanic of character creation, and get back to the nitty-gritty, the luck of the draw.
I am running a short Call of Cthulhu game (classic rules, natch) tomorrow, and since all participants will be meeting in Philly for the weekend I decided to pre-generate the Investigators. They sent background and chose professions, I rolled the ability scores and distributed the skill points, leaving them a good number of skill points with which to customize. Greatly simplifies the process, and gets us gaming faster.
So where’s the grit, Tom??
Glad you asked. As I started rolling abilities, without even thinking I rolled 4D6 (drop lowest) for those abilities based on a 3D6 roll. Then I got to the 2D6+6 abilites (SIZ, INT), and I rolled 3D6 (drop lowest) +6.
Then I stopped. Why was I using this method? What the hell was I thinking?
Mostly that I wanted the players to be satisfied with their Investigators. But then I looked at how artificially inflated all the scores were. It just wasn’t right for Cthulhu. So I went back and rolled a straight 3D6 for the abilities, took whatever number was rolled, and applied the scores in order.
If you want the grit, you’ll do this for D&D.
I’ve got nothing against the Heroic dice-rolling methods (4D6 drop lowest, etc.), or even point-buy...I used those methods for years. But rolling 3D6 for each score, and applying the scores in order, really puts the element of chance back into PC generation. It results in average scores, plus the occasional abysmally low score and the occasional astronomical score. It gives the player strong clues for role-play...if you know that your character is strong as an ox and ugly as sin, you’ve got something to go on. Or smart as a whip but also a clumsy oaf, etc....you get the idea.
Abilities once again become the foundation of character, rather than a homogenized flurry of 16s, 17s, and 18s, with the token "8."
All this got me thinking...do players really need artificially inflated ability scores to be “satisfied?” Do they need to re-roll stats dozens of times to get a “good” set? Even with the 3.0/3.5 rules allowing for more ability points with level gain, and the plethora of ability-raising items and spells?
Naturally, the DM who asks his players to generate PCs with this method must be careful with challenges. But I contend that a game based on numbers, dice and chance should be true to its roots—it should rely on these three qualities at all times.
Next time I run a game, the players will roll up characters at the table during the first session. There’ll be no fudging, no point-buy, no drop-the-lowest, no re-rolling unless the character’s stats are truly abysmal (no single score above 12). It’ll be 3D6 for each stat, apply in order, and pick a class based on what you get. Use the character’s good and bad qualities as a guide for role-playing, rather than leaning on the alignment crutch.
This is old-school, and this is drastic—I understand these things. But despite contrary assertions, D&D is just a game. Chance (and hopefully luck) is the single ruling factor behind every mechanic. Let’s put the dice back into the fundamental mechanic of character creation, and get back to the nitty-gritty, the luck of the draw.
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