Tag: BITS system

Roleplaying games are all about putting imaginations into fictional contexts of peril and adventure.

Sometimes, the characters imagined find themselves in a position of opportunity, or one of particular danger…

Thus, that character may have (dis-)advantage!

How that advantage gets reflected in the random outcomes of the situation is where the G – game – of RPG comes in. And that is where I’ve been struggling myself in consideration.

Follow me as I explore what kinds of advantage a game can have, and which my RPG system BITS might use.

Defining Terms

In RPGs, a character rolls dice and adds/subtracts value from those dice to randomly determine outcomes that are dangerous or might fail. In BITS, that roll is with 2d6 – two six-sided dice.

A roll can be altered in a few ways, one of which is having advantage, disadvantage, or neither. When disadvantage applies, it is virtually always the same-but-opposite of advantage (e.g. advantage gives a +2 to the final roll value? Disadvantage gives -2).

For brevity, when I talk about rolls, I will only talk about advantage – assume the opposite applies to disadvantage.

Advantage can come under many terms: Easy v. Hard Roll, Extra v. Less, etc. They all mean the same thing as advantage.

BITS has a few principles that apply to any game design with the system in mind:

• • Fewer Rolls (minimize the clatter of dice)
  • Less Math (adding one or two values is OK, subtracting values is iffy, multiplication should be avoided, and division must be avoided)
  • Rule of Two (BITS games are played with two and only two dice six-sided dice; link unrelated 🙂 )
  • Simplify (less is more for everything in BITS, the same systems reused for every context)

We must keep that list in mind when evaluating the following.

Mechanics For Advantage

In no particular order:

Reroll

The classic. Whatever you are rolling, roll all the dice a second time. Take the better result.

Dungeons & Dragons uses this and so do myriad other games. It is simple and can apply to any roll. Also, if the game uses ‘criticals’ (extreme success or failure on low-probability rolls; i.e. ~5% or less), rerolling increases the chance for these.

The only problem is that it involves picking up the dice and throwing again. While it can boost the feeling of anticipation a player has by waiting for that second roll, it can boost the feeling of disappointment too when the second roll fails to improve the situation of the first.

Increase Range

When rolling in an RPG, rolls are expected to hit target value ranges or they fail.

In D&D, X+ is needed where ‘X’ or more succeeds. Call of Cthulhu requires X-, where the roll must be at or lower than ‘X’. Tiny Dungeon succeeds when a roll of 5 or 6 happens; a special move can expand that range to also include 4 in a next turn.

For BITS, an ‘X’ target is an odd number and increases or decreases by 2 for each target level (e.g. 7 is easy, 9 is moderate, 11 hard, etc.).

To give advantage by increasing the range means hard things become moderate, etc.

This is cool because it is decently simple math and it may increase the chances of a critical success depending on system. (In BITS, doubles like 5-5 that are above the target ‘X’ count as criticals; the lower the ‘X’, the higher the chance of criticals!)

The downside is that does do subtraction for disadvantage (-2 in the BITS case; would be -5 in D&D‘s case). Can we find something better?

Add Flat Modifier

Pure math based on the average change introduced by a rerolling of dice.

For a d20 (the die D&D uses), rerolling the value of a d20 leads to an average 3.325 difference. That’s a +/- 3 or 4, depending on how the system wants to swing it. An example would be Index Card RPG with its flat +/- 3 modifier.

Rerolling 2d6 leads to ~1.37, so +/- 1 or 2. As an aside, if we look back at the Increase Range section, the +/- 2 matches up quite well 🙂

BUT, a flat modifier does not increase the changes of critical hits. Therefore, for the same math as the previous, gameplay does not increase in intensity with that added critical chance.

Multiply / Divide Results

Let me start by saying, “yuck!”

For the sake of completeness, I’ll touch briefly here.

Some games would have advantage multiply results together instead of add them if rolling multiple dice, or multiply/divide the final value by, say 2.

This has been primarily suggested for some d100 games (e.g. Call of Cthulhu where you have to roll under a number, so advantage would divide your result by half, helping you come under the target).

Is this not obviously sucky? Math must be kept to a minimum in a game lest it become a simulation. Not just that, but math must be kept to the simplest forms possible: addition, subtraction sometimes, and perhaps a multiplication by 10 occasionally (adding a 0 to the end of a value is OK).

Doing any other multiplication/division on results is preposterous. No apologies.

Analysis

Rerolling for advantage is the classic. Pick the better roll, add any modifiers to that. For saving the mental effort of extra math, time taken rolling is increased.

Increasing ranges and adding a flat modifier are closely aligned, though the former is a better option for players because of the manipulation of critical probabilities. Despite saving time in rolling though, it adds mental complexity with a bit of math being applied before the roll.

Let us let die the thought of using multiplication and division in any game ever.

So which is superior? …

That is a tough one. The rerolls get people to pay attention and can lead to dread or hopefulness for the second roll. The changing difficulty gives an immediate result, but removes anticipation and only increases chances at a critical for systems that don’t have a flat critical success number (e.g. D&D wouldn’t benefit because crits only happen on a value roll of 20).

With that in mind, perhaps the classic and tried-and-true method of rerolling dice has been roleplaying games’ default for decades for a reason. However, if a system would benefit from it, flat increases or decreases to difficulty target numbers is definitely worth one’s consideration.

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I’m still kind of torn for which advantage system to use for BITS. What do you think BITS should ‘roll’ with? What systems do you use in your games?

Looking forward to your advice. Happy gaming! Cheers 🎲🎲

The roleplaying game system BITS was made to simplify and speed-up all a person needs to do in the famous Dungeons & Dragons while also being crunchier and less weak-wristed than rules-lite systems such as Powered By the Apocalypse.

To achieve that, the bodily statistics of a fictional character get compressed into the Body, Interaction, and Thought (BIT of BITS) values. To handle things like profession and life experience, Specialties exist to add advantage to any actions that involve the character’s expertise.

I’ve been thinking: If everyone is about the same (i.e. everyone is a human being, capable of about the same median skills and outcomes as anyone else), why include the minor distinctions of Body and Interaction and Thought?

What if a character’s training and life-lived were all that influenced how that character overcomes the challenges in their way?

Gunslinger

For this October’s goals, I choose to explore this question by applying it in implementation. The result is Gunslinger, a dusty RPG set in The West where players only have different traits (i.e. specialties) to help them sling their guns (or knives, or fists, or harsh words – the game doesn’t discriminate).

To my surprise, the premise worked really well!

A character is advanced by gathering more traits. They can of course find better guns and supplies, but these items are available to everyone else, too. The only way to gain an edge is to have some experience with the thing in question.

The traits also speak to the premise of the game. Sure, a player may request some expertise not provided in a list of suggestions, but it is the suggestions that mean to convey what will be important to the player. Suggestions such as:

• • Fast Draw (always the first to shoot before anyone without this trait)
  • Short-Barreled Firearms (revolvers, shotguns)
  • Fist Fightin’ (advantage when in a scuffle)
  • Throwin’ (knives, axes, bottles, or, if creative, insults)
  • Horses (riding, easing, taming, etc.)

With these, not only are players given mechanical- and narrative-context tools for their roleplay, but the tone is also set to help the Game Moderator in guiding the other players through the game.

Applying Specialty Traits

So what does a special trait actually do?

In short, a Specialty gives a player’s action that requires a roll of dice Advantage. (This only applies if the Specialty can apply in the fictional context the roll is happening, e.g. a ‘Stabbing’ Specialty will not help a player’s character ride a mule).

What’s Advantage?

Advantage improves the odds of a roll succeeding.

Advantage can be applied in many ways that I will explore in more depth in another post. Some examples include: Adding a value to the dice rolled, rerolling a certain number of dice, and, expanding the range of what is considered a success.

Other Games

As a complete surprise last month, I was introduced to the RPG Tiny Dungeon.

This excellently concise game doesn’t have attribute stats (Strength, Dexterity, Wisdom, etc. in D&D or Body, Interaction, Thought for BITS). Instead, a character only has their health (“HP”, defined by what species they are) and a set of three or more traits the player selects when creating their character.

As for adding narrative ‘flavor’, not all traits give flat advantage – some give extra hit points, alter actions, and more!

Character advancement comes in the form of additional traits. As discussed, traits help a character succeed, so as advancement happens, characters succeed more and more against harder and harder obstacles.

With a 4.6/5 on DriveThruRPG (unaffiliated link) and 4.4/5 on Amazon (also unaffiliated), traits-based games seem to do all right 🙂

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I’ll have a separate post for v0 of Gunslinger soon – keeping it as v0 since it really is a draft!

Where have you seen traits-based play before? How did you feel about it?

Checkout my other BITS posts when you get the chance – lots of RPG discussion on more than just this roleplaying game system!

Cheers for now.

Are you interested in using mechs – giant robot fighting machines – in a table-top role-playing game? Good news! The BITS engine is modular enough for that.

With the short details below, multiple fictional universes that have mecha will provide real examples of adapting those properties to BITS.

How Mechs Work

Mechs, like ships, have a threat tier 0 through 4 that indicates their ability to act in the world. However, while ships typically use tonnage to class battlefield dominance, mechs rely on the context of the fictional universe.

For example, a tier system that represents leaps in technological understanding may have additional benefits rather than a system that represents adding more-of-the-same technological level to the body of the mech (this is the same with ships). Specific examples of tech and tonnage are included in the next section.

When a player acts as a mech, add the mech’s tier to a 2D6 roll. When acting against a mech, roll higher than that mech’s threat tier. For example, a tier 3 mech acting against a tier 2 must roll 9 or more (threat tier 2) with 2D6 and may add 3 to the roll.

Depending on the fictional context, tiers may also show how many extra smaller actions the mech may take. These smaller actions may be either defensive or of more minor consequence, but again, it’s a decision that needs context. (I’m still ironing out the value of different kinds of actions.)

A mech otherwise behaves as any other fictional Being in BITS. (This includes the use of Body as a hull and engine, Interaction as a sensory and weapon dexterity, Thought as targeting and computation, and Specialty for whatever role the mech is fitted out to do!)

Pilots

The human component driving the giant robot, mechs may have pilots. Pilots are Beings that allow a robot to move and fight.

Some mechs may require more than one pilot (Power Rangers, Pacific Rim, etc.). Some mechs may be autonomous or controlled remotely.

Pilots may enter through a cockpit hatch, the head, the feet, or other means to control the robot. Pilots might be able to eject or transform their robot.

Whatever the case, determining if a pilot can control a mech depends on the context of the fiction.

Size

Things human-sized are of an immense scale less than the machines they operate. If conventional vehicles are considered a magnitude above human-scale, mechs are at least that if not a magnitude above the vehicle scale.

If a mech is the size of a large vehicle, it would be considered a single size class above human-scale. Any Being of human-size would have naturally be at a disadvantage against these mechs.

For example, these would be the exosuits from the movie Avatar and the walkers from The Matrix Revolutions.

However, if a robot is truly giant, a human-sized Being cannot do anything against the mech that would do damage without very specialized tools (think ‘rocket launcher’ or ‘tow cable’). Being so huge, a person, without the correct equipment, taking action against a mech would at most get the mech-pilot’s attention. (The pilot then could choose to step on said offender.)

For example, Power Rangers, Pacific Rim, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Gundam, and virtually all places giant-monster kaiju appear are on a scale above even the most armored of vehicles.

Special Considerations

Special rules to consider are few for mechs. Mainly as flavor-adding tidbits, a fictional robot in BITS mechanically follows the rolling and resolutions as any vehicle or organic body.

But, as any BITS game expands to fit the needs of the context and no more, mechs may have special rules added on a case-by-case basis. A single mech may be able to fly or jump, there could be ejection seats for pilots, all mechs may have a fuel or heating element similar to their inventory or health status.

What does appear in mecha throughout fiction is the kind of weapons used. Such fall into four categories (excluding ‘none’, of which the robot would be unarmed except for its momentum and girth):

• • Missiles/Rockets (dumb or smart, things that can be shot down and go boom)
  • Kinetic/Ballistic (a chunk of metal traveling very fast)
  • Energy (lasers, fire, electricity, particles)
  • Melee (close-range brawling devices like blades, claws, and clubs)

Tier Examples in Fiction

Tier 0

The genre-setting Mobile Suit Gundam is all about giant robots, but its recognizable tanks and jet planes are T0 through and through. They are the ‘generation previous to mech warfare.’

A universe like MechWarrior / BattleTech also has planes and tanks, which are classic T0 when compared to mechs.

In the grimdark of the Warhammer 40K setting, everything is taken to the extreme. That’s why mainstay Knight walkers would qualify as T0 when they are in fact mechs.

Tier 1

Gundam‘s many series would introduce their first generations of mecha suits here. From Leos to Zakus to Guntanks, these are the foundation that proved mechs were the next phase of military hardware.

When it comes to a technologically-stagnant IP like MechWarrior, T1 is the lowest, ‘Light’ tonnage. Super-heavy tanks can fill a T1 role, but that’s about it.

The same respect to tonnage fits with the Warhammer 40K setting. The smallest of the mighty Titan classes, a Warhound-class Scout armed with two weapon mounts, is T1 along with super-heavy tanks (a single Titan-class weapon mount if any) and the largest of Knights (though these latter likely at a disadvantage).

When technology does not evolve, classifications of mechs relies on size and capability, as ships do.

Tier 2

Another generation of tech in the Gundam universe means GMs and Rick Doms and Dolls arrive. These can be brought down by their T0 predecessors, but it’ll be a fight!

Warhammer 40K brings to bear the middling Reaver Titan, some five-stories tall and wielding three weapons.

Tier 3

The titular Gundam of Gundam – a step above the mainline mechs used in armies with its own heroic special rules. Included would be mass-production Mobile Armors (a combination of speed, lethality, and defense) and mechs meant to counter a Gundam’s ability like the Virgo II.

It makes sense BattleTech Heavy mechs like the Mad Dog appear here with gauss rifles and cannons.

WH40K escalates size and ability again with the Warlord Titan.

For a similar almost-fantasy example, the lesser-known Zoids franchise shows off huge bio-mechs like the Iron Kong.

Tier 4

A wrecking-tier of robots:

Gundam shows off advanced suits like Wing Zero – which destroys entire battle groups – to boss-level super-massive Mobile Armors the equivalent of multiple divisions (Big Zam, Apsaras III).

+100-ton Assault mechs in BattleTech plate the most armor, the heaviest weapons, and strike fear into any encounter. (The death’s-head Atlas being one such beast.)

Imperators in 40K are walking fortress-cathedrals that carry a company of troops just to prevent enemies from scaling the heights of its legs.

Mech species in Zoids cap out with the gargantuan sky-borne Whale King, land-battleship Ultrasaurus, and the Godzilla-like Death Saurer.

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There we are – mechs for use in BITS.

These rules are easily adapted to organic monsters as well (Godzilla, Attack on Titan, etc.), and that’s the benefit of BITS: flavor the system to what’s being played, because it caters any play.

How would you improve the use of mecha in a role-playing game? What universal principles specific to mechs did I miss?

Whatever your playstyle is, have fun out there! Cheers.