[Very short idea I had while hitting snooze button over and over.]
Instead of linear 1d6, 1d10*30, 1d100 or bellcurved (perhaps unintentially) 2d6, 3d36 I'd like to have an "exponential" scale.
For instance, the surface of Hell Pit Megadungeon (think Caves of Chaos at Grand Canyon Scale whose bottom is also entrance to / the underworld i.e Hell) is crawling with undead. When skeletons come up on encounter table, should be a couple dozen most of the time, but occasionaly a veritable horde of 100 should be seen shambling towards the party. Thus the...
Exponential # Encountered Chart (d10)
1: 1
2: 2
3: 4
4: 8
5: 10
6: 12
7: 16
8: 20
9: 30
10: 100
Any sort of chart can be used, smoother, more granular, d6 for OD&Dists. One generic chart and/or specific charts for different critters.
Another option, one I think is wankier, YMMV.
1: d4
2: d6
3: d8
4: d10
5: d12
6: d20
7: d30
8: d100
I'd prefer to dispense with chart and use dice directly. But, I'm not aware of very many options for that. Doubling Die. Using blank dice and Sharpie.
This, of course, can be used for other variable rolls such as # gp in a sack, days of sickness, length of blizzard in hours, etc.
Part of the desire is to create OMFG moments. Similar to what happens when nat 20 is rolled at critical moment. Having 1 value way out there makes it special, noticeable and something to avoid (skeletons) or hope for (gold pieces). For same reason I'd have players understand the chart and roll the dice.
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Um..just explode the die?? say 2d10 is the normal amount encountered. Any natural 10 results in an additional 2d10 (including the same chance for natural 10's again), ad nauseum. Same for treasure rolls or what have you.
ReplyDeleteYou could also roll two dice and multiply them. This results in something a little less exponential and a little more quadratic, but it results in a wide range of numbers and doesn't require a chart.
ReplyDeleteExploding dice produces larger values far less often. Which may or may not be groovy.
ReplyDeleteBoth interesting alternatives.
It depends on the dice range used. If # encountered is 5d8, then you have each natural 8 producing 5d8 more (and each of those can explode too), or 1d6 encountered is 1 chance in 6 for 1d6 more. Sweet thing is, you would not need any additional table lookups or what have you.
ReplyDeleteI posted because I believe all warriors should have many heads to smite :P