Rolling way too many dice

[KahnyaGnorc]

Thank you all for taking the time to reply!

The game's genre is cyberpunk, so whereas in D&D you'd have to work up to dropping a massive fireball, in the dark future you are simply shopping.

Why do you have to work up to drop a massive fireball? It isn't because of some sort of realism. It is because RPGs require a feeling of advancement. It is a function of the game, not the setting. This is why in a game like Anarchy Online (a Sci-Fi MMO) the guns players have at the beginning don't do tons of damage.

One idea is to have the die size be a function of the weapon, but number of dice be a function of skill/level. When a low-level guy hits, he just hits with a few bullets (few dice), while a high-level guy hits with a lot of bullets (many dice). Weaker weapons do, maybe, d4 or d6, while stronger weapons do d10 or d12, similar to regular D&D weapons.

 

[P1NBACK]

I love rolling big handfuls of dice. One of the best feelings in RPG play.

 

[kitsune9]

For Herosystem where rolling 20d6 can be normal for Champion games, you can roll 3d6 and have the result compare to the number rolled for any dice beyond 3d6. There is a chart floating around the Netspace that has this. Take this to the con game, give it out as handouts, and you'll be able to have players just throw 3d6 for all their oodles of damage.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

Streamline when you can. If a player shoots a mook then damage isn't rolled the weapon automatically does average damage. Do this anbtime the target isn't a named BBEG villain and you should speed things up.

 

[Crothian]

The simplest solution might be to just use a game system that doesn't use that many dice.

 

[smetzger]

You can figure out the odds of each value, then roll percentiles or even d1000 and lookup the result in your chart.

 

[Filcher]

Awesome. Thank you all. I really appreciate the input.

I think to solution is going to be a mix of several suggestions. I promised to run this specific game, so part of the social contract is biting the bullet and running said game, regardless of clunky, 20 year old mechanics.

Toning down the ultra violence will make things – slightly – more realistic and have the added bonus of making the boosters terrifying. This will reduce most of the notations, and still allow for the player experience of rolling "lots" of dice, without insane amounts of dice.

Looking forward to reporting how the one-shot goes. Thank you all again.