From: ratinox@splinter.coe.northeastern.edu (Richard Pieri/Stainless Steelratinox@splinter.coe.northeastern.edu (Richard Pieri/Stainless Steelratinox@splinter.coe.northeastern.edu (Richard Pieri/Stainless Steelratinox@splinter.coe.northeastern.edu (Richard Pier)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Diceless or Senseless?
Date: 10 Aug 92 15:08:59 GMT
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	<1992Aug8.082443.3119@news.unomaha.edu> <65386@hydra.gatech.EDU>
	<1992Aug10.055408.21078@news.unomaha.edu>
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In-reply-to: PCHEM14@Zeus.unomaha.edu's message of 10 Aug 92 05:54:08 GMT
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>>>>> On 10 Aug 92 05:54:08 GMT, PCHEM14@Zeus.unomaha.edu (FALL88) said:

F> In any game, the GM can do the things you mention.  In a diceless game,
F> there are more pre-distened solutions, making diceless bad, or, more
F> specifically, not as good.  The other implications you made up.

Good? Bad? NOT! Dice are tools. Like any tool, they aren't inherently
"good" or "bad" but it is the *USE* of the tool that is "good" or "bad."
I'm not totally against dice in RPGs; I wouldn't *dream* of trying to
remove dice from Champions combats--wild happenings are the stuff of 4
color comics. But when a coherent and cohesive storyline is more important
than defeating the villain of the week, my opinion is that dice are a tool
that should not be used.

Lemme tell you something about our Amber session last Saturday night and my
character, Harrison Rable. Harri's been living on Shadow Earth for the past
170 some-odd years, only recently learning of his Amberite heritage.  He's
spent the first half of that time in the "Old" West, prospecting,
wandering, doing all kinds of things like laying the seeds of legends of
the likes of the Lone Ranger and Zorro. Harrison is a swashbuckler at
heart, and always has been, so it's no supprise that in the 1920's and 30's
he made westerns and swashbuckler films and serials with the likes of Erol
Flyn. This why, within our group, Harrison is first ranked in Strength and
Warfare, ok Endurance, and near the bottom in Psyche.

Anyway, our bunch (most of which has recently also discovered their
heritage) are travelling through shadow, about a week's travel from Amber,
and we're camped one evening in a grove by a hill. We're sitting around the
fire when a man dressed entirely in black--clothes, boots, cloak, cape,
mask, everything except the rapier--steps out of the shadows and challenges
Harrison to defend himself, which of course he does.

Here's where diced combat would not have worked at all. Our duel lasted for
15 minutes as Harrison became more and more scared of his opponent; it
takes a significantly better fencer to lead you through a coreographed
stage fight for that long while you're a) trying to keep from getting
killed and b) trying to break the pattern of the fight. That's right,
Harrison had been through this fight before, and won... as the Black
Falcon. But now the Falcon was scoring hits exactly like he had done some
50 years before, but these hits were real--they hurt. Fortunately for
Harrison, the fight ended as it had been originally filmed, with the
"villain" catching the Black Falcon's blade between his arm and body (in
the classic stage maneuver), to the applause of the other players (the look
on my face was priceless, they said).

Had this fight been diced either Harrison would be dead (my best guess
would be a 98% probability), or he'd have killed the Falcon (with a "lucky
blow"). Either result would have been bad. Really bad. Harrison would be
dead, or he would have managed to kill one of his best friends, Sir Basil
Rathbone, now known as Barren, son of Benedict. Harrison's cousin and son
of the greatest fighter/warrior/soldier/leader in the universe.

Wow. That's about all I could say for about an hour.

--Rat

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