Luck based RP

[Tia Ruby]

I have a possible idea, but I'd be interested in hearing what people think of it before I give it a go. Basically the idea is that of a GM / Player RP, in which a fair number of the characters actions aren't decided by skill, but by pure luck. To make this fairer and more fun to write, I have been toying with the idea of using dice to decide on outcomes rather than a GM decision. So with that, I have a question and I'll also outline what I had in mind for the 'system' that I would use.

So my question was:

What proportion of tasks should succeed? I realise it could be frustrating to write if too many of the things you want to do end up failing, but equally, I would want to challenge the character to improvise on the fly when things don't go their way. I was thinking around the 2/3 mark - in favour of succeeding, albeit with different degrees of success.

Actually, does this even work out at 2/3?

In the version I'm about to detail below, you roll a twenty-sided dice. numbers 8-20 constitute a success (60%) with a roll of 6-7 being a neutral result with the potential option to try again (so, a further 60% of that smaller 10% bracket) raising the chance of success to 66% if my maths is right - making it approx 2/3. I'm quite bad at working out probabilities so I could be wrong on that.

As for how it'd actually work... the player would roll a twenty-sided dice, and the outcome of their intended action goes as follows:

1-2 Shit, that went BADLY. Things could hardly have gone any worse. Not only did you fail, but you fucked up so thoroughly that your action has had serious negative consequences. (you may not attempt the action again).

3-5 You messed up good and proper there, not only has your action failed, but you’ve also managed to further inconvenience yourself as well. (You may not attempt the action again).

6-7 You’re pretty sure that you almost had it there, but still you have come up short. At least nothing went wrong. Your action has failed. (You may attempt the action one more time, if situationally appropriate. Third attempts are not allowed if consecutive 6-7’s are rolled)

8-11 Well, technically that worked, but things really could have gone better. Your action succeeded but had a minor unintended negative consequence.

12-18 You managed to do exactly what you intended to do. There are no side effects either positive or negative.

19-20 Holy fuck, that was amazing! Not only did you manage to succeed, but you’ve also pulled off a minor miracle at the same time. Your life suddenly just got a whole lot easier.

So I'll give an example of what that might look like in action...

So for the example let’s say that you’re trying to sneak through a house at night to find an object you need. You come to a locked door, and you don’t have the key. You do have a single lockpick though, so you decide to try and force the lock. You attempt to do it quietly, as you’re fairly certain there is someone sleeping somewhere in the house.


As you insert your lockpick and twiddle it around, you feel the tool catch on the inner workings of the lock. When you’re sure it’s in place, you push on the tool and...

1-2 – ...You hear a brittle sounding crack. When you pull back your tools, you notice that the tip has completely snapped off inside the lock mechanism. Not only will you now be unable to pick the lock, it is clogged up so badly it won’t unlock from this side even if you manage to find the key. You’ll need to either break the door down or find another route. Also you need a new lockpick.

3-5 – ...You feel the thin metal bend out of shape. Carefully you extract your now broken tool, realising that you pushed the wrong way. The lock is now slightly jammed, and you’ll need to find the key if you want to get it unlocked. You’ll also need a new lockpick.

6-7 ...You feel the metal tool bend worryingly. Carefully you draw it back out and inspect the damage. It doesn’t seem too bad, and you manage to straighten the tool out using the heel of your shoe. The door is still locked, but you should be able to try again if you want. You’re pretty sure that the already slightly damaged pick will break if you get it wrong again.

8-11 ...With a satisfying click the door unlocks. However, as you step back to withdraw your pick, the floorboards creak loudly under your feet. In the quiet of the house, the noise resounds in a way that seems bound to draw attention.

12-18 ...With a satisfying click the door unlocks. You carefully remove the pick from the lock and tuck it away, ready in case you need it again.

19-20 ...Your hand painfully cramps! Your disobedient muscles shove the pick roughly into the lock, and you feel the metal bend. Wincing, you draw the tool out and inspect it. Your jaw drops open as you realise that the metal has somehow bent perfectly to fit the inside of the lock – you now seem to have a makeshift key. It will work to open this door, and any others in this house.

If anyone has any feedback regarding whether they think this would work, or if it needs to be changed in order to be useful, then I'd love to hear it

 

[Dirty Fingers]

Sounds good. Years back I did a RP based on a "Wheel of misfortune" concept, basically in the RP the characters were playing a game where they spin the wheel and whatever it landed on they had to submit to.

To keep it all random the way it worked was my partner and I developed a list of things that could happen. From there I (as I was the Dominant game host) assigned numbers to each possibility but didn't tell my partner what the numbers were assigned to. So when her character spun the wheel she would just write "And it lands on number 6" at the end of her post and I would match it to my list.

So yeah, I love the idea of randomness and chance. I used to love various fantasy game novels as a teen which involved dice rolls and a combination of choose your own adventure.

 

[skyfetcher]

These things are weird for me. I sort of enjoy a self aware random driven game if I'm looking for that specifically, but for roleplaying in general I don't. If this idea is used on the former more, I'd probably be game for it. In a deal based on pure luck in a world where things are just really luck driven, this is a fun system, and I agree it's far more optimal to use a roll system than depend on GM judgement - between players and GMs themselves, trusting them to be fair, let alone truly random, is something you shouldn't have to worry about.

2/3 sounds like a good ratio; while the novelty of failures can be interesting, letting them stack too much would get a bit boring as thing on thing is attempted. I like the idea of 'critical success' being a thing alongside crippling failure, if reasonable. There's devious contexts where it works out nicely.

It's not a very complicated system, so there isn't much to review. In the right place, I might be interested, and generally speaking, it looks like it would work well for a lot of people just as an idea if it's lended some background.

 

[Tia Ruby]

Yeah complicated was something that I had wanted to avoid. Glad to know I managed that!

The main question I had wanted an answer to in terms of feedback was just whether or not the sort of chances I mentioned seemed to be about right. So it carries of risk of things going wrong, but something that would allow you to progress a story without getting stuck in a constant loop of “Nope, that didn’t work, let’s try something else… nope that failed too, how about this… nope”. So I'm glad you agree 2/3 seems to work with that.

It was just an idea that I had to for an RP where a character makes a request for luck (tossed a coin down an enchanted well, happened to pray to just the right deity, recited a spell etc.) but didn’t specify they wanted good luck. The powers that be who normally decline selfish requests for good luck decided that this request seemed quite reasonable, and so, granted it.

Now every time the character attempts something this blessing / curse of luck they have acquired takes over and instead the outcome is more or less predetermined, regardless of whether or not they had to knowledge or skill to do it otherwise. So do they try and avoid situations where they are forced to act, because it might end in disaster? Or do they think that the potential spectacular reward is worth the risk, and start taking chances on bigger things?

 

[RedRose]

Reminds me of those "hero" books! But I like deciding too much

 

[Dirty Fingers]

Yeah complicated was something that I had wanted to avoid. Glad to know I managed that!

The main question I had wanted an answer to in terms of feedback was just whether or not the sort of chances I mentioned seemed to be about right. So it carries of risk of things going wrong, but something that would allow you to progress a story without getting stuck in a constant loop of “Nope, that didn’t work, let’s try something else… nope that failed too, how about this… nope”. So I'm glad you agree 2/3 seems to work with that.

It was just an idea that I had to for an RP where a character makes a request for luck (tossed a coin down an enchanted well, happened to pray to just the right deity, recited a spell etc.) but didn’t specify they wanted good luck. The powers that be who normally decline selfish requests for good luck decided that this request seemed quite reasonable, and so, granted it.

Now every time the character attempts something this blessing / curse of luck they have acquired takes over and instead the outcome is more or less predetermined, regardless of whether or not they had to knowledge or skill to do it otherwise. So do they try and avoid situations where they are forced to act, because it might end in disaster? Or do they think that the potential spectacular reward is worth the risk, and start taking chances on bigger things?

I guess it might also depend on the character itself and what the action is. For example, a big beefy character has increased chance of success at anything involving brawn but has less chance if it requires intelligence or being gentle etc? You could apply that theory to any character and task. I would want the "luck" to be appropriate rather than just generalized.

 

[Tia Ruby]

No, I wouldn't agree with that. The whole point is that the character's actions are not determined by skill, physique or knowledge.

To me, adding in ways for a character to circumvent that luck whether it be to their advantage or detriment would dilute the idea and make it less interesting.

I'm sure not everyone would agree with me on that point, but that would be how I'd want to do something like this.

 

[Dirty Fingers]

It's your game so you can play it as you please. For me if it is all part of a story than it makes sense to me that a "hot chick" would have greater luck in seducing someone than a plain Jane. Now, if the dice roll or whatever had the Plain Jane successful in her seduction than that makes it all the more interesting and meaningful story and character wise.

It all depends on how you want to approach it though.

 

[Tia Ruby]

In other types of RP I would agree with you, but the suspension of normal input / outcome relationships is what makes this interesting for me.

Social interaction would be exempt from rolls in any case, in the way I would play it. Otherwise you're starting to stray into territory along the lines of the character's luck taking precedence over the free will of whoever they are with.

 

[Dirty Fingers]

In other types of RP I would agree with you, but the suspension of normal input / outcome relationships is what makes this interesting for me.

Social interaction would be exempt from rolls in any case, in the way I would play it. Otherwise you're starting to stray into territory along the lines of the character's luck taking precedence over the free will of whoever they are with.

It would become complex but the opposing character would also have traits etc that come into play. A workable version of some sort would be interesting especially if it avoided predictable responses.