Thoughts on countdowns

[Morrus]

This is the sort if thing that needs a LOT of playtesting. I always suspected it might be a bit generous, which is why 18 groups are - hopefully - playtesting it. Adjusting it to 5-6, even 4-6, is possible.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Ah, thanks for that. For what it's worth, the Dice Decay Timers result matches more closely with my own empirical experimentation with throwing dice by hand, admittedly only a couple of dozen times.

I was averaging 10-11 iterations on a 4-die countdown, with a spread from 5 up to 17.

that is the problem with probability.

If I throw 6d6 and they all come up 6 even once (YATZEE!!) it seems like it would be memorable. Every die is a 1 in 6 chance of being a 6 and a 5 in 6 chance of not. But in the real world you would have to play for years before you broke even with averages.

 

[MarkB]

that is the problem with probability.

If I throw 6d6 and they all come up 6 even once (YATZEE!!) it seems like it would be memorable. Every die is a 1 in 6 chance of being a 6 and a 5 in 6 chance of not. But in the real world you would have to play for years before you broke even with averages.

True enough, and with my dice luck, I really wouldn't rely upon myself rolling anywhere near the averages.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

That's not right. One dice takes on average 3.5 rolls to get a specific number, not 6.

I also thought I'd invented this. It's quite disappointing to find out I didn't!

That link is based on your work. I discussed it on our D&D mailing list. A math-skilled player then constructed the table.

The math didn't work? I'm bad at math but pretty good at statistics. It looks alright to me.

 

[Morrus]

That link is based on your work. I discussed it on our D&D mailing list. A math-skilled player then constructed the table.

The math didn't work? I'm bad at math but pretty good at statistics. It looks alright to me.

Oh, phew! So I did invent it?

Anyhow - it's a mean/median thing. You have correctly calculated the mean. But "expected number of rolls" is the median. Heck, might even be the mode. But not the mean!

 

[sheadunne]

For the fun of it, I used the countdown mechanism in my Pathfinder game last night. There was a climbing contest the characters engaged in. Rather than roll a bunch of d20s for each of the NPC contestants, I used the countdown mechanic while the players rolled their climb skill. I said that to win the contest they needed to roll 6 successes before the countdown ended and one of the NPCs won.

6 successes against 6d6 countdown (I random chose 6d6).

One of the characters made it while on the last countdown die.

Overall I like it better than having to roll individually for all the NPC contestants. And the players liked it because they had a random amount of time to win and only had to concern themselves with a single pool of die to compare themselves to.

While I'm not sure it was the best use of the mechanic since it was a contest instead of a true countdown, it was still fun and much easier for me than rolling a d20 for each of the NPC contestants and then recording the results. It really saved on bookkeeping on my end.

 

[Morrus]

Was that six successes each, or between them?

 

[sheadunne]

Was that six successes each, or between them?

Individually. They were competing against each other as well as the NPCs. As soon as any one of them reached 6 successes the race was over. If one of them reached 6 success before there were no more d6s to roll, that character won the race. If there were no more d6s before any of the characters reached 6 successes, one of the NPCs won. Since it only mattered to the story if one of the PCs won, I didn't need to determine which of the NPCs would have actually won the race had the countdown ended before one of them reached 6 successes.

Overall I think the mechanic does add suspense to the scene, even a scene in which life and death aren't on the line. The players didn't give up, even when they were behind another player because they couldn't see any actual competing rolls of the NPCs. It was just a timer. I imagine it adding more suspense when the stakes are life and death.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

Unfortunately my intended session last Sunday didn't happen, but I here is the 'plot' I was going to run to help test countdowns:

Set-up, this is a continuation of the sample adventure in the back of the playtest document. The group of bounty hunters are relaxing with their well earned credits and now have a rep with the local police (one of my players has a detective as a contact)

Start: Players get a call from the policy asking for their help at the space docks, urgent as they need help tracking down some escapees. No details and it is very frantic on the other end of the call.

Scene1: The docks:
A smuggler was trying to refuel when another craft had engine problems and crash-landed, smashing open the side of the smugglers craft and starting a small fire. The smugglers cargo contained a number of exotic animals, mostly harmless, that have scattered and the police, fire-fighters, etc are very busy putting out the fueling are fire, trying to keep the crashed spacecraft from exploding, and catching various critters.

three giant spiders were in the cargo, and these were last seen fleeing over the south containment wall (a 50 foot vertical wall of concrete) and reports of them have been coming in as the spiders continue to flee the scene
- countdown started for when the spiders escape. Players have 2 actions per 'turn', with each turn taking about 5 minutes.

Spider 1: gets into a warehouse nearby the docks. Players have to play hide and seek, and probably fight while climbing around crates, cranes, and industrial tech. Recommend motion sensor ala Aliens to make it entertaining.
- countdown for when the spider finds a spot to hide in, players have a much better chance of finding him while he is scuttling about.

Spider 2: Finds a nice wooded park, like central park, and decides to stop for snacks and maybe make a home. Players have to venture into the wooded area with numerous recently cast webs and snares
- Countdown for when the spider captures and eats another citizen. Reset on completion

Spider 3: Heads for the hills. Once identified, use the chase mechanic in the playtest document.

I hadn't decided yet on the dice counts for each of the timers and would appreciate some feedback on that
I hope to run this, but my schedule is hectic for the next couple weeks.

 

[Darth Quiris]

I really like the idea of Countdowns in this game... to me it gives me the feeling that when a Countdown happens than things are going to me more suspenseful.