How to Make D&D Accessible to the Non-Mathematically Inclined?

[GlassJaw]

Why do people make exceptions for "math" in role-playing games but not other types of games? If you sit down and play Monoploy with a bunch of people, you assume they are going to be able to pay you when they land on your hotel on Boardwalk.

Trust me, I'm a HUGE advocate for speeding up play, but I'd rather have a player struggle a bit to figure out the numbers than do it for them. The next time it comes around, that player will be better at it than before.

That said, when I DM, I highly encourage the players to make cheat sheets and the like to help them remember. Do you summon creatures a lot? Print out the stats from the SRD. Barbarian? Write out your raged stats on an index card. Bard? Write out the modifiers so everyone an see them when you cast them. It speeds up play and makes the game more enjoyable for everyone.

No other game that I can think of are people rewarded for not knowing the rules. I much rather have players that struggle with remembering all the modifiers or can't add superfast but want to learn the rules the right way than players that just throw their hands and says it's too hard.

 

[GlassJaw]

How have other people dealt with this problem?

Ok, directly to the OP: what do you expect of your players or even better, what type of players do you prefer?

If you prefer to have everyone at the table know the rules as-written yet you know you are bringing a very inexperienced player into the game, the responsibility is on you to get the player up to speed.

Encourage the player to read the PHB/SRD and that it's ok if they don't understand everything. The sooner they read the rules and become familiar with the terms the better.

During actual play, don't do everything for them. If they are making an attack roll and they need to add their Str mod, ask them to find it on their sheet even if you already know what it is. Repetition is key.

You also explain to them why they are rolling, what and why certain modifiers are added, what the results mean, etc. Again, repetition.

 

[Faraer]

Why do people make exceptions for "math" in role-playing games but not other types of games? If you sit down and play Monoploy with a bunch of people, you assume they are going to be able to pay you when they land on your hotel on Boardwalk.

Monopoly is about imaginary money. D&D is about imaginary characters, places and events, some of which are supported by numbers.

 

[XO]

Dumbing Down Syndrome

We seem to live in an era that suffers a profound dychotomy: willing to be complex in the extreme in so many areas, yet, simultaneously seeking to reduce any meek hurdle along the way...

The many proponents of any means promoting the death and disappearnce of critical and analytical thought apparently all seek a quiet munch of ruminants to herd quietly into predetermined roles. The casualty of such facility is... freedom.

Read "1984". Read "Brave New World". Work your way up to reading them. Repeat.

I understand the kind moderator's judgment or suggestions in this matter. Yet, we will have to face the ugly reality at some point or other: get brain in gear, or suffer the consequences of not really being part of life.

Yes, certain conditions DO exist that can make a second grade addition challenging, but why should the afflicted all find themselves around RPG tables? Something else is at work. We're not talking about children, but teens and young adults incapable of adding dice and a pre-calculated bonus or penalty... You can't even buy a can of pop without developing that skill. $20 Coke anyone?

Every year it seems a little worse, and I'm worried. Really worried...

 

[Michael Silverbane]

I haven't read the entire thread (I sure do hate it when someone starts a post with that phrase, but what can you do, eh?)... But I have some ideas about how to help the non-mathematical deal with the math that is involved in the D&D...

1st... It would probably be helpful to have the character sheet written out in a way that has as much of the math done as possible already... This may make the sheet larger than normal, but it still shouldn't be too unwieldy. For instance, the character's iterative attacks (if any) should be written out separately, like so...

1st Attack (warhammer +3) 1d20 + 17 (present maths here) damage 1d8 + 7 x3 crit on 20
2nd Attack (warhammer +3) 1d20 + 12 (present maths here) damage 1d8 + 7 x3 crit on 20

Rather than the normal method of +3 warhammer +17/+12 melee (1d8+7/x3)

Likewise saving throws, skills, and other checks and rolls should be presented with as much of the math as possible done.

2nd... The DM (or another player, if the mathless player doesn't mind it) should be the one to apply circumstantial modifiers to the player's rolls. Buffs, Synergy Bonuses, Flanking, etc. should, as much as possible, be made applied by someone other than the mathless player.

3rd... Make sure that the player has access to a calculator. A calculator can be very helpful to someone who is not good or fast at adding up stuff.

4th... Be sure to take your time. Its a game, there's no reason to be in a big hurry. Making it easy for the non-mathematical folks to do their thing may help help to improve the person's math skills, but there's no reason to unduly pressure them for the sake of getting through your imaginary combat faster...

Later
silver

 

[Umbran]

I understand the kind moderator's judgment or suggestions in this matter. Yet...

This is like saying, "I don't want to stick my nose in, but..."

There is no "Yet..." A moderator has asked for an end to the hostilities and insults. Period. Discussion of 'loss of freedom' and 1984 are not helping by dragging public policy and politics into this, and they are not appropriate discussion fodder for these boards.

So, folks, stop these lines of discussion. You can state your frustrations, and talk about ways of dealing. But leave the rest behind, and move on, please.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

A radical approach

Remove all buff spells and items from the game, sticking to the more esoteric stuff. In general, its not the math involved (it really is all addition / subtraction), but the number of variables. Anyone can add 5+2+1+1 (Bab + Str + wpn Focus + Enchanted Weapon). But when it becomes 5+2+2+1+2+2+2+1+2 (Call it Bab + Str + Bulls Str + Wpn Focus + charging + magical weapon + bard + bless + Dwarf vs Goblin) it gets tricky.

The math mostly comes from figuring out how your magic items and buff spells stack. Remove those, and you cut the math down to the attack roll vs AC, and the opposed rolls.

You should keep some of these effects, but only if they have secondary effects as well. Keep enlarge person, but drop Bulls Strength.

For magic items, keep the +X weapons and Armour, but drop in more things like the Hat of Disguise, Ring of Invisibility, instead of Amulets of Natural Armour and Rings of Protection.

Yeah, this will really make it hard to figure out what your party can handle in some cases (in terms of opponent CR), but the rest should be simple enough.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[Tinker Gnome]

I like to make index cards with my characters attack bonuses on it. I make sure I have all possible modifiers for any situational changes(Inspire Courage).

 

[Merkuri]

Somebody's said it already, but a calculator can work wonders. Or simply scratch paper and patience. If you have somebody in the group who can add two numbers with no effort, just get your other players say out their roll and their modifier, like "eleven plus seventeen" and have the designated adder report the result.

Personally, I love math. Algebra, geometry, calculus and physics were some of my best subjects at school. I cannot, for the life of me, add two-digit numbers in my head quickly. I believe in my case it's a memory problem, or could be related to ADD. I cannot manage to keep the two numbers in my head long enough to add them. When I get one digit of the sum I've already lost the numbers I'm trying to add. If they're written down in front of me I do so much better, but doing them quickly in my head is pretty much impossible.

I find I get better with practice. For a little while I enjoyed Kakuro, which is kinda like a cross between crossword puzzles and sudoku, and it involves a lot of simple math. I could play it faster with scratch paper, but if I denied myself that I found that I got faster at adding the numbers as I went. If your "non-mathematically inclined" player is willing, you could suggest the game to him/her as a way to practice. It also could be that simply playing D&D and adding up the rolls will get easier as time goes by.

I don't think that an inability to add numbers fast in one's head should in any way detract people from playing the game. If that's what scares them, give them a calculator and don't make fun of them for using it.

 

[Zaruthustran]

Based on what you've said, here's a solution that's highly visual and that reduces the numbers down to only two.

Make a large-font matrix, and give the person a 3x5 card with a notch cut out in the middle the same width as a single column in the matrix.

The rows of the matrix are modifiable stats like AC, attack, damage, saves. It should be pre-printed with base modifiers.

The columns are bonuses: +0, +1, +2, and so on.

So if her attack bonus is normally +5, the intersection of the attack bonus row and the +2 column should read +7.

The matrix should have a blank space in which to write the current total temporary bonus. If your character is Blessed and Bull's Strengthed, you'd write +3 for attack, and +3 for damage--just as a reminder for which column to reference. You could accomplish the same thing with colored paper clips slid along the column indicator (a red clip over +4 means that there's currently a temporary damage bonus of +4).

So she can just roll the dice, use the 3x5 card to find the total bonus (including temporary mods) and add only two numbers: the die result, and the number indicated by the matrix.

A player in my group has a similar numbers issue and I've found that things only break down when she's adding three or more numbers.

-z