The Dice | Designing The Game (by Matt Colville of MCDM)
The Dice | Designing The Game (by Matt Colville of MCDM)
Found this video intresting as Matt talks about what dice to use and how to use it for the game they are making. Loved the shoutout and critique of "FUNKY" dice used in FFG's Star Wars lineup (and Genesys) and how it influenced them in their process.
He also got a bit into how the task resolution mechanic (dicerolling) will tie into other things such as class resources.
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Did he really need to reinvent 80% of all dice resolution systems to make a game? And the end result he came to was chainmail.
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That's a huge portion of game design. Testing new ideas to see if they hold merit. If they do, keep it around, if not, get rid of it. And while it didn't end up working for their design philosophy it might work for another's.
I'm just being critical of inexperienced designers making a fantasy heartbreaker. It's clear that MCDM as a company is a heavily 5e and 4e design team (or worse video games) and lacks a lot of basic understanding of the medium. One of their core design goals is unachievable, cinematic. It's fine they are trying things, but it looks more like they are just learning the medium of RPGs.
In the video he even states that if a simpler/established dice resolution system works then they would use that. Which suggests they tested all these systems after 2d6, because it doesn't achieve their design goals. They just realized it worked the best for their bad situation.
After seeing new design details coming out and the success of the crowd funding campaign, do you still feel the same way?
I'd double down actually. The lack of to hit rolls and the way that resolution system works in RP and Exploration actions highlights a failure in play dynamics. Essentially they are streamlining the fun and uncertainty out of the game.
I don't think they are actually making an RPG at this point. But that is because I have a very specific viewpoint en what an RPG is.