Thread by @capacle

Game design rumination:

Can we divorce dice rolls from determining good/bad outcomes entirely?

Could dice play a different role on tabletop RPGs?

I've been thinking about that for some time now, and although I still don't have an answer, I think it's worth exploring. 1/

The primary role of a dice roll in RPGs is still conflict resolution. You're faced with a challenge, you roll a die, you get success or a failure.

Although we have moved away from binary results in modern games (e.g "fail forward" and "a miss is not a failure" from PbtAs).. 2/

.

...we still pretty much use them to determine "bad news/good news".

And works, it's been working for almost 50 years. It is a game, after all, and we apparently need something to tell us if we get to do the thing we were set to do. 3/

But I can't help but think that that's not always in the best interest of a tabletop RPG.

I'll try and explain. 4/

Everyone has a story of how a failure in the most crucial moment of an adventure led to unforeseeable ramifications and how that was fun and one of the best stories they ever had, and so on... 5/

But I bet almost everyone also has a story of moments the dice didn't give you a break and you felt extremely frustrated with the direction that took, and you couldn't help but wonder how luck alone determined the story path you had to take. 6/

And I mean, isn't that why we're playing RPGs? To have a story you feel invested in? And how much of that we're sacrificing to the Fortune Gods, just because "well, games work like that, I guess". 7/

Mind you, I am not saying characters should have things their way all the time, or that everything should come out as planned.

That would be the most boring game of all time. 8/

What I'm saying is: surprises or plot twists or revelations don't *necessarily* have to be packed in "bad news". They could be just, I don't know, news? 9/

And how could we do that?

Should we remove dice altogether? I love dice!

Should we remove conflict resolution? Well, I tried that with 'Lisergia', my surreal fantasy game.

But I recognize "a game to reject productivism" serves a very specific niche. 10/

No, I think we can have a more traditional framework of TASK-QUEST-OBSTACLES-GOAL full of conflict and *still* try and part with the "things go your way / things go against you" kind of mindset.

And maybe we could do that by changing what questions the dice answer. 11/

See, the most traditional question a die answers is a Yes/No one. "Can I do the thing?". Yes or No.

The second question is "How well do you do the thing". 12/

That's valid for damage rolls, and for systems with fail forward and more granular results, such as Freeform Universal, FATE, PbtAs, Genesys and FitD. 13/

I've also come across games that use dice to answer "How do you do the thing", by placing results on your character's approaches or talents and reading the scene after that.

But all of those are still attached to the "good news/bad news" result framework. 14/

What if the question the dice asked (not answered) were simply "What happens next?" 15/

What if the dice gave prompts with implied story paths that are not necessarily good or bad?

Much like a Cowrie-shell divination game, yes. 16/

What if we, as game designers, trusted our players to interpret those options and make a choice that's in the best interest of the story, even if it is not in the best interest of their characters?

Would that provide enough surprise and interest in the game? 17/

Would it look like an RPG, even without the celebrations or frustrations from dice rolls? Would that be to taxing on the players?

I don't know. I don't even know how to materialize such an idea. 18/

At the moment, the only thing that comes to mind is a pile of Tarot or Dixit cards, or Rory's Story Cubes, that is somehow affected by character traits or scene context, and you just roll and interpret what comes next.

But that feels to vague. I don't know, it lacks some... 19/

Passion, I guess? Excitement?

(Notice that both my examples don't contain numbers. Would it be possible to have regular dice and disassociate our minds from good/bad results when looking at numbers?) 20/

This thread doesn't have a conclusion. It's more of a speculation, really.

There's nothing wrong with conflict resolutions as they are.

But I like to explore how they could be different.

For me, at least, that's what makes game design so appealing. 21/

I'm sure I'm forgetting good examples out there that use dice in different ways (it's Sunday morning after a sleepless night, forgive me)

But I trust you can point me in their direction on the replies. :) 22/