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Hot Take: Uncertainty Makes D&D Better
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<blockquote data-quote="Ruin Explorer" data-source="post: 8923611" data-attributes="member: 18"><p>It seems like you're defining swingy pretty weirdly from my perspective.</p><p></p><p>I would define it as any system where the rolls have both a very flat distribution and a sizeable chance of outright failure. D&D having a purely pass/fail system magnifies the swinginess, as does it using a d20. It's got nothing to do with the "range of outcomes" (or rather I don't see how it could). You can have an absolutely vast range of outcomes without being at all swingy, if there's a large chance of the main outcome and the outlier ones are progressively further away from that instead of abruptly dropping off. Something happening on a miss doesn't increase the swing factor.</p><p></p><p>If we define it the way you seem to be doing, that seems to be at odds with the OP's suggestion that D&D is swingy, which is weird to me, because D&D (and relatives) is the game I most often see really wacky/silly results coming up in, purely due to dice rolls. It's also the game with the most wasted-feeling and empty-feeling rolls, many of which simply serve to nullify other effects.</p><p></p><p>I don't know what the hitch and botch system is - it's not present in Cortex Prime, or not called that.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ruin Explorer, post: 8923611, member: 18"] It seems like you're defining swingy pretty weirdly from my perspective. I would define it as any system where the rolls have both a very flat distribution and a sizeable chance of outright failure. D&D having a purely pass/fail system magnifies the swinginess, as does it using a d20. It's got nothing to do with the "range of outcomes" (or rather I don't see how it could). You can have an absolutely vast range of outcomes without being at all swingy, if there's a large chance of the main outcome and the outlier ones are progressively further away from that instead of abruptly dropping off. Something happening on a miss doesn't increase the swing factor. If we define it the way you seem to be doing, that seems to be at odds with the OP's suggestion that D&D is swingy, which is weird to me, because D&D (and relatives) is the game I most often see really wacky/silly results coming up in, purely due to dice rolls. It's also the game with the most wasted-feeling and empty-feeling rolls, many of which simply serve to nullify other effects. I don't know what the hitch and botch system is - it's not present in Cortex Prime, or not called that. [/QUOTE]
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