In the last game of DW, we dropped +1 Forward/Ongoing and replaced it with an extra die, take the best 2.

In the last game of DW, we dropped +1 Forward/Ongoing and replaced it with an extra die, take the best 2.

In the last game of DW, we dropped +1 Forward/Ongoing and replaced it with an extra die, take the best 2. It worked wonderfully

This is totally stolen, and not original to me. And it is AWESOME.

24 thoughts on “In the last game of DW, we dropped +1 Forward/Ongoing and replaced it with an extra die, take the best 2.”

  1. Yeah, Rob Donoghue is whose article inspired me.

    Little math, for the curious. Assuming a straight roll (like a last breath), some spreadsheeting reveals:

    2d6: 6-, 42%, 7-9, 42%, 10+, 16%

    2d6+1: 6-, 28%, 7-9: 44%, 10+: 28%

    3d6, drop lowest: 6-: 20%, 7-9: 45%, 10+: 35%

    Which is to say: With 3d6 drop lowest, there’s a lower chance of a 6-, about the same chance of a 7-9, and much higher chance of a 10+.

    Hm. I’d hoped it wasn’t much more powerful, and just felt cooler. That may not be the case, as it alters the likelihood quite a bit.

  2. The advantage/disadvantage thing also comes with the idea that it doesn’t stack; you either have advantage, or you don’t have it, so if you got multiple +1’s to a thing, all you’d end up with in the new method is 3d6, drop lowest.

  3. Vinney Cavallo Looks like 3d6 drop the lowest gives 68% of a 6-, 7-9 is 28%, 10+ is 5%. On 2d6-1, you get 58% on a 6-, 33% of a 7-9, 8% of a 10+.

    Which amounts to: it is more extreme. Less chance of a 7-9, and a higher chance of a 6-.

    Fred Hicks I didn’t realize that. I thought (and may be incorrectly remembering the post) that you could have multiples bonuses, and would pick up multiple extra dice.

  4. William Nichols At least if you’re doing it the “5e way”, advantage a binary state you’re in or not, rather than something you can get multiples of. 🙂

  5. Fred Hicks Yeah, I am unlikely to ever do anything the 5e way. Steal a good idea to use in my favorite games? Sure.

    But, despite that I like to use spreadsheets when figuring out math, I don’t like spreadsheets at the gaming table.

  6. Having played a session of 5e I can’t really support any assertion that a spreadsheet is needed at the gaming table, but to each his own. 🙂

  7. Yeah, I may very well try this out the next time I run a game. I was thinking of trying it out in my ongoing PbP games, but they’ve been going on for a while, and I don’t know how players will react.

    I guess it doesn’t hurt to ask them at least.

  8. Having used this in games before, Fred Hicks is right about not stacking. Either you should get one extra die (or penalty die) or not.

    I mean, four dice keep the two highest is better than just having a +3, so there’s not much point in rolling more dice than that. Unless maybe you are using a lot of 12+ results and those are important, or if you’re not using numerical bonuses at all. Otherwise, meh.

  9. We’ve been playing this way for years, incorporating ALL bonuses, and plusses to a net dis/advantage (take best/worst two). We haven’t looked back. Its that BW wheel feeling when someone hands you a die for aid, or your Magical Sword gives you an extra die to the pool. It also means you are slightly more likely to fail (and earn xp) even when you have a +3 stat.

  10. Ok, I think I’ve got this right:

    2d6: 6-, 42%, 7-9, 42%, 10+, 16%

    2d6+1: 6-, 28%, 7-9: 44%, 10+: 28%

    highest of 2d6 and 2d6: 6-: 17.4%, 7-9: 52%, 10+: 30.6%

    3d6, drop lowest: 6-: 20%, 7-9: 45%, 10+: 35%

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