Pining for Polyhedrons

Pining for Polyhedrons

Pining for Polyhedrons

My group has really embraced 2d6+STAT and the beauty of 7-9, despite having come up in the time of THAC0 and non-weapon proficiencies. We don’t pine for critical hits (or misses) now that we’ve switched over to Dungeon World. However, we do have big bags of dice that feel… underused.

Sometimes I miss rolling them, so please share with me how you have incorporated d20s into DW.

Edit: I guess I’m thinking about a custom move or an advance. Something that would let the players actually roll the d20s.

15 thoughts on “Pining for Polyhedrons”

  1. Steal the Into the Odd mechanism of “enhanced damage”.

    When damage is done in a way that takes advantage of a weakness or vulnerability, use d20 in place of the normal damage die.

    Edit: “The orc has you on the ground, his hammer raised over his head. If you don’t do something quick, the hit will be Enhanced”

  2. I dropped them into a glass jug to represent ice skulls falling and smashing in Death Frost Doom. Once all had fallen, I rolled all 12 in front of the players to give a total number of the dead who had risen.

  3. I’ve also considered how you could replace the 2d6 with a d20. I think this version could work quite well:

    Miss: 1-9, Mixed result: 10-17, Full success: 18+

    Then double all bonuses and you’re set. Misses are a little more likely in this array than in the original rules, and lower bonuses will tend to be less effective. But 10+ as a hit is easy to remember, and I don’t think the game would change too dramatically.

  4. Saul Alexander I wish I could use the same method to add plusses to your comment. I ran DFD in 2013, and I wish I could have stolen this idea back then. Oh well, it was an antic catastrophe anyway!

  5. This is going to be seen as heretical by a big part of the crowd on here, but you could try changing the main roll to a d20, just for a change of pace.

    Roll 1d20+Stat: *On a 18+, success. * On a 10-17, partial, * On a 9-, failure. Change stats to use the d20 modifiers (ie: 12=+1), and let stat improvement go to 20 +5. Treat any +1 forwards as a +2 to the d20 roll. Treat any +2 forwards as +5 to the d20 roll. Basically, any DW mods should by x2 or x2.5, season to taste.

    Statistically, it’s not completely out of bounds, if you are in that ~1 to +3 sweet spot

    2d6+0 = 6- [42%] / 7-9 [42%] / 10+ [17%]

    1d20+0 = 9- [45%] / 10-17 [40%] / 18+ [15%]

    2d6+3 = 6- [8%] / 7-9 [33%] / 10+ [58%]

    1d20+6 = 9- [15%] / 10-17 [40%] / 18+ [45%]

    The biggest thing you lose is the bell curve, where you have diminishing returns on bonuses. Also, the Barbarian would need an alternate mechanic for hungers. Otherwise, it could work as an old school throwback

  6. I recently ran statistics on anydice and decided to go with the slightly more generous 9+ “yes but,” 18+ “yes,” but having to add bigger modifiers may deter me…

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