Space Fox MUCK

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====== Rolling and Using Dice ======

The MUCK very intentionally does not have a rigid system in place when it comes to roleplay.  By rigid system, I mean specifically, we do not follow D&D, Traveler, or any other "rules" system.

That said, it can be desirable for outcomes to happen based on some form of chance, or weighted chance, as the case may be.  You are encouraged to use dice to help your character decide how to react to something, or to determine success or failure at a skill.  These random factors can inject interesting factors into a story.

However, it is important to note that being a "slave to the dice" is a bad idea; sometimes there's an outcome that is just so bad it should be softened, or an outcome that everyone desires but the dice doesn't support, and in such cases it should be up to the judgement of those involved how to handle it.

This page serves as some loose recommendations as to how dice can be used.  You can take these however you want, and you will find that other players on the MUCK may have their own systems.  If you wish to have a 'challenge roll' with someone else, you should indicate what the other party should roll.  For example, you can ask someone to roll a 1d20 or some such.

====== The 'Roll' Program ======

There is a 'roll' command and an 'iroll' command.  The difference is that 'roll' just generates a random number based on the dice requested, and iroll breaks down the results.  Here's a specific example:

  roll 4d20
  You roll 4d20 for 27.
  iroll 4d20
  You roll 4d20 and get 18 20 20 14 for for 72.

You can roll any size dice you wish, even dice that are not physically possible in real life.  For instance, rolling 1d2, 1d3, or 1d5 are all common even if those are not common dice.  The roll commands understand +/- modifiers.  For example:

  iroll 1d20+5
  You roll 1d20+5 for 20.
  iroll 1d20-5
  You roll 1d20--5 for -1.

You can also indicate specific people you want to send the roll output to.  This way, you can do a hidden dice roll if you want:

  roll 1d20 to jarvis
  You roll 1d20 for 11.
  roll 1d20 to jarvis jaymie
  You roll 1d20 for 15.

====== Dice Usage Recommendations ======
There's certain conventions that are commonly used by many on the MUCK.  Here's a few ideas; you are not beholden to this, and you can come up with your own personal use system if you wish.

===== Binary Results =====
Sometimes you just need a yes/no result, or basically a coin toss.  As a for instance, I may pose something like this:

  Ria thinks about telling you how she really feels (dice)

Then roll a dice, thusly, with '1' being no and '2' being yes:

  roll 1d2
  You roll 1d2 for 2.

So Ria's going to tell you how she really feels.

  Ria feels like you're rather awesome.

Though if I got a 1 I would have:

  Ria decides not to tell you anything.

Personally, I use this a lot for less consequential items or if I'm wondering if the character has a different opinion than his or her player does.  Often I'll use a roll like this to ask the character if they want to be a little extra bold or provide extra exposition on something, but I rarely use it for something "mission critical".

===== Grades of Success =====

Another roll I do a lot of is a "grades of success" roll.  I usually do 1d3 or 1d5 on this, where in a 1d3:

  * 1 is failure
  * 2 is a middle ground
  * 3 is success

1d5 works similarly, except with more 'shades of gray' in the middle.  So as a for instance:

  Tim throws a brownie at Enkeli.
  Enkeli tries to catch the brownie (rolls)
  roll 1d3
  You roll 1d3 for 1.
  Enkeli fumbles and the brownie falls on the floor.

or...

  roll 1d3
  You roll 1d3 for 2.
  Enkeli's paws flail around as she tries to catch the brownie, and narrowly manages to catch it.

or...

  roll 1d3
  You roll 1d3 for 3.
  Enkeli catches the brownie in her mouth.  Yum!

You can have as many grades of success as you like, but personally, I find 1d3 or 1d5 is 'enough'.  Sometimes I might go to 1d10 for more of a percentage outlook, but usually I wind up 'rounding' a 1d10 result to a 1d3 or 1d5 group of outcomes.

===== Challenge Rolls =====

And the last aspect of rolling I'd like to touch on are challenge rolls.  This is something where you want two or more characters to roll a success or failure.  The challenge may be something "environmental" (i.e. let's say Tef wants to hack an alien computer; there would be a challenge roll for that) or it may be interpersonal -- Daniela is sparing with Gareth and we want to find out who wins.

In these cases, I generally recommend a 1d20 approach with a + or - modifier as makes sense.  For example, in the case of Tef's hacking, perhaps the computer is in an alien language, so I will have him roll 1d20-5 vs. a 1d20.

Or in the case of Daniela vs. Gareth, Dani is experienced and Gareth isn't, so she gets a boost; 1d20+5 vs a straight 1d20 from Gareth.

Usually, when it comes to these boosts, I will ask the player thusly:

  <Player>, please roll a 1d20 with whatever modifier you think is appropriate for computer hacking.

... or whatever the activity is.  I don't like to 'assign' modifiers to people, I would rather allow them to choose for themselves as they know their character more than I do.  And this is all for fun, so success or failure shouldn't matter "too" much.  There's fun in both paths, so let's enjoy both successes and failures and not get too hung up on them.