Rolling: When, Why, How, Bonuses

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Sn0wfa11
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Rolling: When, Why, How, Bonuses

Post: # 5441Post Sn0wfa11 »

Roll Guide

Hi everyone! This is a guide to a rather important topic on the server: rolling. On the off chance you have yet to encounter it, rolling is when, for any of a variety of reasons, somebody uses a dice roll to determine an outcome in rp. For example, “John swings a fist at Steve,” John rolls, and then Steve rolls. Steve rolls a 19 and John rolls a 7- Steve dodges the punch, or minimizes its damage, etc. Rolls can be a useful tool when used properly, but can also be a huge pain for everyone involved. With the increasing prevalence of rolls on the server, we’ve written a guide on when, how, and why you should roll during your RP.

What are the problems with rolling?

We’ll start with the negatives, as this is an important message.
  • ~ The first problem with rolls is they necessarily minimize the influence of RP factors.
    • For example, a character who is 12 probably won’t be able to dodge a punch from a pro boxer, but with rolls, they might manage to do this. Thus rolls can also lead to absurd or disappointing outcomes, and if you’re RPing that boxer, it probably isn’t fun for you when that 12 year old dodges a punch, negating either your past rps or reasonable expectations of what should happen. This is obviously a big problem, and one we’re seeking to correct with a new roll bonus system. More on that in a bit.
  • ~ The second problem with rolls, and one that’s harder to solve, is that they’re the only thing at all in RP that is in no way a consensus between players in a role play.
    • Normally in RP outcomes approach the consensus of all of the involved players- that’s how we produce fun RP and it also limits powergaming.
      • For example, my character was once involved in an RP in which a criminal was hanging from a ledge. It’s very much in his character to save anyone, even a criminal, and so he swooped in to grab the criminal, hoping also to catch him and imprison him. My character flew under him with a Golurk and caught him as he fell. The player controlling the criminal was fine with the catch, and didn’t rp escape of any kind, but due to other happenings the windmill from which he had been hanging began to fall. I allowed him to escape in the ruckus, my character failing to notice the windmill before it crushed him. The RP worked out great- I got to employ both my character’s moral tendencies and his obliviousness (hence the windmill hitting him), and the criminal got to live, due to the catch, and escape, when the windmill fell.
    • Let’s replay that scenario with rolls- in the original, there was not a one.
      • The criminal hanging from the ledge might roll to escape upon being caught. Never mind that a large creature with huge arms caught him from a long fall, he might roll to wriggle out of it. And here’s the problem with rolls: It’s really hard to say no to them. Had the criminal’s player rolled to escape, I basically have to roll, unless I want to deliver a lecture on all of the problems with rolls.
Unlike normal rp, where you take an action and the other player can choose how to act back,
rolls minimize the agency of other players.
  • Rolls can be tempting- maybe you’re concerned that you’ll not succeed in some action without them. Rolls when used are usually definitive- you know what you get and don’t have to worry about powergaming out of it. This makes them a tempting option in high stakes rp, when any action might be contentious due to effects it could have on a character. Thing is, that’s the exact time you need to limit rolling- when actions have huge impacts, players should have more control, not less.
TL;DR- Rolls can create outcomes that defy character differences and realism, and they force other players to roll instead of coming to a more difficult but more satisfying outcome through RP.
Rolls are not a substitute for rping an action.
Thus, limit rolling. Please.
So, when should you roll?

First, keep in mind this is partly up to your preferences- if you don’t like rolling, you don’t have to do it even in these best case scenarios. That aside, rolling has its uses.
  • ~ First, you are probably going to roll during actions involving pixelmon battling each other, ie RP battling. For those of you who don’t often RP battle, it's done as a substitute for battling in cases where a normal battle for any reason would be less than enjoyable or for cases in which game mechanics cannot adequately encompass the situation (Which is the biggest reason for all actions taken in RP).
  • ~ Beyond battling, rolling is probably most commonly employed in situations where some form of combat is occurring. You might do this because you’re concerned you and another player will just end up pointlessly arguing about who punches who, or maybe even because you’re concerned about your own biases in RP.
    • For example, one of the Team Noir grunts fights largely by chucking glass bottles at the heads of others. When I’m playing as him, if I just saw “O’Reilly throws a bottle at John’s head,” the other player might either choose to duck or not, and I might respond in any of a variety of ways, but while RPing as the grunt I’m at least a little biased toward wanting him to escape authorities, and that will show up in my RP. There’s no real way to decide if the bottle hits- just as in real life, it’s sort of up to chance if the throw connects (barring the bonus system outlined below). So I roll, and in doing so force myself just as much as anybody else not to push too hard for an outcome based solely on my own desires.
  • Overusing this, however, leads only to an outcome that’s based on what nobody wants. That’s why we cannot encourage you enough:
USE ROLLS SPARINGLY.
In fact, if you want to ask players who would have to roll in response before you roll, go right ahead, it can’t hurt. And ALWAYS be sure to RP before, during, and after a roll. Don’t run up to somebody, spit out a poorly typed combat action, and roll- get into a good rp before doing it if possible, and roll very rarely so that everyone, rather than just a die, can have input. A lot of this comes down to not relying on rolls. They can become a crutch. Don’t forget that.
Now onto the Roll Bonuses!

I told you I’d get to these. We showed you how to deal with the second problem of rolls, but what about the first? When you absolutely must roll, how do you take into account factors from RP. The answer: roll bonuses. Currently, you might have seen these in an RP already. The aforementioned Team Noir, Grunt, O’Reilly, gets +2 for combat rolls but -1 for dodging things because he’s enormous, for example. If he punches someone, then his roll is the roll +2, but if they punch him, his roll is -1 for dodging it. Prior to the implementation of a shiny new plugin for this purpose, you could really only use them by telling, or hopefully asking, other players for a bonus to a rolls and telling them why. This is an imperfect system, both because it’s hard to decide in the moment whether or not the roll bonus should apply and because people aren’t completely impartial, among myriad other problems. We like roll bonuses, however, because they make rolls, when they occur, less arbitrary.
  • NOTE: The introduction of this system should not be taken as an encouragement to roll in places the bonuses apply. Again, use sparingly.
Here’s how it works. Rolling will now consist of 6 types of rolls- a blank roll, which works exactly as rolling currently does, and five stat-based rolls- Strength, agility, intelligence, subtlety, and stamina. First, an explanation of each stat:

Strength-
  • Physical strength and brute force- pertains to things like throwing a punch or kicking a wall in rage. This is offensive- taking a punch is covered by stamina.
Agility-
  • Speed and dexterity. This applies to dodging something, or jumping or diving out of the way, or anything that would require agility on the part of a character.
Subtlety-
  • This is a roll for deception and stealthiness- if your character is hiding in a bush and rolling not to be found, or trying to pull off a disguise, this would be the roll. Note this is not a roll for lying- dialogue and persuasion are something you probably shouldn’t roll for. RP it out. Ie don’t ‘roll to detect a lie’ unless for some strange reason both you and the other player desperately wish to.
Intelligence-
  • This is a roll to determine whether or not your character can mentally out process either a mental invader or a situation. An example given to me would be, for instance, if a Zoroark were to use its illusion ability, and you were to see a certain sign, say that it walks a certain way that the pixelmon wouldn’t, then you would use this special bonus to determine if your character sees it or not. This probably won’t be used often.
Stamina-
  • Endurance and constitution. This applies to surviving a fall, or not getting tired after lots of activity, or taking a punch.
You use these rolls with /roll [stat name]- /roll strength for example. /roll with nothing after it works as before, and can be used for neutral stuff, anything not covered, etc.
  • Please note: The roll you use is based upon your own action, independent of what it may be a response too. For example, if someone punches you, they’d almost certainly /roll strength, but your response would likely be /roll agility and/or /roll stamina (to see how much it hurt). Obviously in cases where the response would be the same type of action, you’d use the same roll.
Characters will get bonuses in one of two ways.
  • ~ The first is through this new system- you can request, and explain why your character should have, a bonus, or penalty, in any of these areas, and GMs and Admins can add it to your character data so that the roll will automatically be applied.
    • You’re going to actually get these bonuses as follows.
      • ~ First, you will think hard to yourself on why you want these bonuses, whether they make sense, and how reasonable they are.
      • ~ Then, on your character profile, you will kindly post your well thought-out, reasonable bonuses with explanations.
  • ~ The second is the old system- if everyone involved in an RP is cool with a temporary bonus, allow it- this is not for the above types of roll bonuses but for situational things that only apply sometimes; for example, if a character is wounded, no permanent roll bonus like the ones you apply for accounts for that, but you could ask the other players in your RP if they’d be cool with a -2 for rolls that might apply to the wound, during that rp. If there is confusion or disagreement, by all means ask any GM who's online.
A Lesson On Numbers!

Bonus values should be determined on the following scale:

-5- A massive handicap. This character is horrible at whatever this is- if it’s agility, for example, the character is probably on a walker or cane and has arthritis.

-4- A severe handicap. If this were strength, your character might be a young child, for example.

-3 A considerable handicap. If this were intelligence, your character would be quite dull, albeit functional- somebody who doesn’t know much and is rather slow.

-2 A moderate handicap. If this were stamina, your character is rather out of shape.

-1 A mild handicap. If this were subtlety, your character wears sweatpants that rustle a lot or something.

0- Average. The skill an average adult would have at anything.

+1- Mild advantage- If this were strength, your character maybe lifts weights rather often.

+2- Moderate advantage- If this were stamina, your character might be a talented, regular long distance runner.

+3 Considerable advantage- If this were intelligence, your character is exceedingly well read, a quick thinker, and generally really smart, on the level of a reasonably talented author or a decent college professor (i.e somebody who could be a good one were they a professor).

+4 Extreme advantage- If this were agility, your character is a reasonably successful contestant on Ninja Warrior (go look it up.)

+5 Obscene advantage- If this were Subtlety, your character is practically invisible and absurdly cunning. This bonus... well, it probably will be incredibly rare.
  • Note that we expect you to have some flaws in your character- it needn’t be a zero sum game, but if they’ve got strengths we expect some weaknesses, either in roll bonuses or something glaring. If the weakness is a result of the same cause as the strength, all the better- maybe your character is a huge, strong person with +3 strength but -2 agility due to their largeness. Be reasonable with bonuses.
Above all the biggest lesson here: Rolling should add to RP, not replace it.



ADDENDUM


Mastery rolls have been added. IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THIS WHOLE GUIDE, GO DO THAT. IF YOU DO NOT KNOW THE CONTENT OF THIS GUIDE, DO NOT ASK FOR A MASTERY ROLL BONUS. IF IN GENERAL YOU HAVEN’T READ THIS GUIDE, YOU SHOULD ANYWAY.

With that out of the way, Mastery rolls are a new bonus added to address a specific problem. Rolling is sometimes useful in combat- however, it lacks a bonus that works reliably for that in certain edge cases. For example, let’s say Bob has trained for 20 years in swordplay. He should probably be good in a fight. Perhaps a +4 would be warranted for that. However, Bob very well may not be a +4 in, say, strength, a roll commonly used for combat. He may only be a +1, for example. Sometimes, in the past, we’d just give Bob a +4 for strength anyway… But this is inaccurate and problematic.

This is further compounded in cases where strength wouldn’t apply- for example, if Joanne fights with a rapier, her strength isn’t what matters. A rapier being a pointy sword for putting little holes in people, it is not particularly important to be strong so much as fast and accurate. Thus the solution of giving Joanne a +4 anyway, despite it really being for combat, wouldn’t even work.

The new roll bonus, mastery, is to address this. It exists exclusively and entirely for these edge cases. This stat is exclusively for skills that affect combat. As such, if you are unsure if you need one, you almost certainly don’t. But, if you have a character who has a special, specific skill that is important and uniquely applicable in combat specifically, you’ll want this bonus.

How does this work? To explain, a Mastery roll bonus functions as its own special bonus, in a couple of ways. Sam’s would be in Knife Fighting, for example, while Gleb’s might be in Boxing, etc. As such, you will almost only ever roll Mastery in offensive scenarios. If Gleb punches you in the face, even if he uses his Mastery roll due to his boxing skill, you’re going to respond as normal, with a Stamina and/or Agility roll depending upon the circumstances, most likely (The only exception is in the absurdly rare and highly unlikely event that two characters have a Mastery roll for the exact same skill- so, if Sam fought a knife fighter).

The second thing to keep in mind is this is situational in another way. If Sam has one in Knife Fighting… If she loses her knife, she can’t use her mastery roll until she has it back. This is for obvious reasons.

Finally keep in mind these are for special circumstances. Unlike the other roll bonuses, this is most likely a roll that many characters will not have. These are also rather useful, and complicated (more than the others, at least), and moreover uniquely derivative of past rp by your character. As such, there will be a higher bar for these roll bonuses. Not everyone needs one! Don’t worry about it if you don’t- it doesn’t even mean you’ll be any less effective in combat, necessarily.

In order to apply for a Mastery roll, specifically add it beneath your roll section, with a name for the relevant skill and a full explanation. This will have to be well-justified.. An example is below- they should be in this format.
Here’s an example (from Sam Knighton).
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atonofkittys
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Re: Rolling: When, Why, How, Bonuses

Post: # 7595Post atonofkittys »

A FRIENDLY REMINDER FOR EVERYONE TO READ THE ROLL GUIDE! :D

It has been made pretty and hopefully more readable. Make sure you know all the information on this guide before rolling in RP!
Sn0wfa11
Posts: 308
Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2014 5:51 pm
MC name: Sn0wfa11

Re: Rolling: When, Why, How, Bonuses

Post: # 7972Post Sn0wfa11 »

See the attached addendum for the addition of Mastery rolls. Please read carefull! Thank you all!
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