D&D 5E Introducing the COUNTDOWN DICE Mechanic!

[J.Quondam]

When Morrus mentioned this mechanic several months ago, I thought it might make a good "thermometer" measuring, for example, a village's attitude toward a key NPC. The roll would be made everyday at sunset; when the pool runs out, the mob takes up their pitchforks and torches and storms the NPC's castle, or whatever. PC actions during the preceding day could add or subtract a die to the pool, whether intentionally (if the PCs specifically tried to incite or calm the mob) or unintentionally (if the PCs do something careless, support one NPC over another, etc).

Broadly, it seems like a good way to indicate - and even manipulate, by adding/subtracting dice - the "temperature" of a group before it explodes, whether it's a bar brawl or a war.

 

[darjr]

Speak the Sky came up with something similar. Great minds think alike. Their focus was on replacing the Jenga Tower.



They went on and made a following blog post

8 ways to substitute dice for block towers

A run-through of 8 different dice mechanics that can replace block towers in games like &quo;Dread&quo; or &quo;Wretched & Alone&quo; if you don't have, or can't easily use, a block tower—complete with graphs showing how long games go for and how individual games might go.

speakthesky.com

 

[Dausuul]

I like using a similar method. A pool of d6s that is rolled after each time interval. If all the dice are 6s the time expires. If you roll and all the dice aren't sixes you reduce the dice pool by 1 to a minimum of 1. Dice can be added or subtracted by the actions taken by the players. Actions taken by npcs can force another roll.

I like it because the pool shrinks at a steady rate, giving a sense of growing dread to the players. The odds of getting all 6s prior to 2 dice is also really low* so when the pool has 5 dice the players are confident they have at least 5 intervals to achieve success. On the flip side sometimes I'll roll in between intervals due to something happening outside the view of the players (think wandering enemies). Or because of something in view (priest accelerates the ritual instead of casting a spell at the players). This can really light a fire under the butts of players.

Continuing with this theme of "clock with variations" -- you could have a pool of d6s, and each round (or whatever your time unit is) you roll one of those dice.

NON-EXPLODING VERSION (if you don't want the risk of a "yahtzee" that slams the timer to zero in a single turn)
6: Put the die back in the pool.
2-5: Discard the die.
1: Discard two dice.

EXPLODING VERSION (if you want the risk of a "yahtzee")
6: Put the die back in the pool, then roll a die from outside the pool.
2-5: Discard the die.
1: Discard the the die and roll another die.

This would be suitable for cases where you have a general timeline in mind (roughly X rounds) but want some uncertainty about exactly when the clock runs out.

 

[LordEntrails]

Here's the average number of rounds and standard deviation for dice pools from 1 to 10:

DICE	AVG ROUNDS	STD DEV
1	6.00	5.46
2	8.73	6.13
3	10.56	6.39
4	11.93	6.54
5	13.02	6.63
6	13.94	6.69
7	14.72	6.74
8	15.41	6.77
9	16.02	6.80
10	16.56	6.82

Note that the standard deviation is very high, indicating a very wide spread. If you use this mechanic, be prepared for a lot of variation in your results.

Umm... shouldn't for 1 die it be less than 6? I think of it if I roll 5 times, by that fifth roll I should more often than not have gotten a 6. Which means the average would be less than that. But... I'm very uncertain...

 

[Dausuul]

Umm... shouldn't for 1 die it be less than 6? I think of it if I roll 5 times, by that fifth roll I should more often than not have gotten a 6. Which means the average would be less than that.

The "long tail" of cases where you go seven or more rounds balances out the more common case that you go five or less. Remember, that long tail includes instances where the timer goes extremely long. There is a 2.6% chance that you could go twenty rounds on a single die! It only takes a few of those cases to pull up the average significantly.

The net result is to average out at 6.

 

[Reynard]

I like it. it is a good tool for things that are uncertain, even for the GM. When are those monsters going to finally breach the wall? How long before the hurricane is upon the ship? What exactly is the patience level of a dragon before it just decides to eat the bard?

 

[DND_Reborn]

The psychology behind this amazes me... that so many people think it is cool, etc. I've known of groups doing this since my SW WEG days (with the d6's) back in the 80's. I saw a resurgence in Shadowrun in the late 90's (also d6's) as well, but haven't heard of it sense then...

IME it fell out of favor quickly due to the hassle of dice pools and became just a single die (which IMO works just as well ), but it is interesting to see the idea rekindled and newer players seeming to enjoy it.

 

[cbwjm]

ICRPG also uses a countdown mechanic, but it's usually just rolling a 1d4 or 1d6 and counting down from there each round, and then the bad thing happens at the end of the final round. Sure, the players know that something bad will happen, but that meta-knowledge actually contributes to the tension IME.

I've used this specific clock a few times in my games, it's quite a useful tool.

 

[Reynard]

In a couple weeks am running a SWADE zombie outbreak scenario at a con, and I think I'll use this mechanic for determining when the overrun finally happens. Thanks @Morrus

 

[Stormonu]

We some way to finagle this to use d20’s. Roll of 1-3 to discard the die, you can choose to remove one automatically from the pool to give yourself advantage?