Print This Post
Evaluating Your Game: Part Three
This is part three in an ongoing series, designed to help you evaluate and improve your game from the ground up. Previously, I discussed Genre, Setting, and Scope, followed by an analysis of Character Generation Methods. Today, I’m going to explore the role that randomness plays in your game.
When I talk about randomness, I mean meaningful randomness which affects the outcome of events purely through game mechanics. Rolling a die for an attack roll is a good example, where deciding what clothes a random bar patron is wearing is not.
First, what does the randomness represent in your game? Is it luck? Favor of the gods? An independent range of outcomes? A range to succeed or fail, determined by skill? While many people may be tempted to assume it is the last one, keep in mind that in many games, the range of randomness is never affected by skill, simply what is acceptable in that range to succeed. Be sure to consider this in all aspects of the game, skill use, combat, and character creation. For instance, why are hit points random?
Once you’ve determined what role randomness plays in your game, determine how big of a role it can play in the course of a game. You may be surprised.
For instance, in the d20 system you may assume that someone has a Base Attack Bonus of +10. In addition to this, their stat modifier gives them a +4 bonus to their attack roll. Further, they have managed through use of superior equipment, positioning, and tactics to acquire an additional +6 bonus to their attack roll, giving them a total of +20 to their attack. This means that thorough skill and preparation which borders on or exceeds the “realistic” human limit plays an equal role to pure, random chance.
Once you have figured out the role that chance plays, determine if it is the correct role. Does it play too big a part? Too small? Does it scale the way you want it to? (If scaling luck is of importance to you, I recommend looking into systems with dice pools.) If the answer to all these questions is no, then you need to ask yourself if your players will be happy with the role chance plays - if it plays too big a part, players may feel that chance simply dwarfs their character.
If you are investigating new systems, one thing to look at is how they present the odds of chance. Simply on a practical level, percentile is the easiest to work with, as people usually think in percentages when they think in terms of chance - it’s simply more natural than increments of 1/20th or 1/6th.
The final consideration with chance and randomness is how much you will do during play to minimize or alter it. If you are going to allow re-rolls in many instances due to clever thinking, or it simply being appropriate in the situation, this will slowly control the role that chance plays.
Comments
One Response to “Evaluating Your Game: Part Three”
Leave a Reply
[…] yesterday’s post on evaluating randomness in your game, I have a confession to make: I hate […]