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[wierd]

There's technology today to enable Pen and Paper lookups of even very complex sets of data happen in seconds.

A little iOS or Android app on a tablet would more than suffice.

[penguinofhonor]

.

[Sergarr]

There's technology today to enable Pen and Paper lookups of even very complex sets of data happen in seconds.

A little iOS or Android app on a tablet would more than suffice.

You know, I think there's a lot of untapped potential for P&P games that include a computer aspect for handling any simulation that would be tedious for the players to work out.

Most of that "untapped potential" has already been exploited by people who are much more skilled, at least in mathematics area. The result of said exploitation is called "video games"

[wierd]

There would still be tedium, entering all the dice rolls into the calculator, unless you want to take away the dice rolls for the DM, and have the computer roll them to autopopulate the simulation lookup.

(or sell some gimicky device that can tell what dice were rolled inside of a button-popper dice roller, that can feed data to the app.)

If I were going to do this, I would do it with the OPTION of allowing manual dice roll imputs, but with the preference of auto-dice roll simulation by the DM, coupled with some template hybrid material types with appropriate names: "Large oak chest with iron hinges", etc. It would then be up to the DM to make scenarios with appropriately chosen materials, or to derive appropriate materials for the computer to simulate.

The idea is to have the computer aspect be painfully easy to use--  Pick a scenario event by ID number (since you will have needed to supply it tables to do its simulations anyway),  some optional meta flags (Like "Object thrown" instead of "Item smash") then press the CALCULATE button.  It displays dice roll values for the event, and damage values given. With some polish, it can even give the "wear" on your weapons, if any.

For the "Video games" argument--  Not exactly. That COMPLETELY replaces the DM with a computer. You cannot give off the wall commands, and get the DM to translate that into workable inputs. Computers just cant do that yet.  Instead, this would be a tool for the DM to help manage very complex simulations.

[chaoticag]

Some videogames allow for a game master. Specifically, the Neverwinter Nights series and the upcoming Tales from the Sword Coast.

There's also Fantasy Grounds for Tabletop software alongside maptools and roll20, which offer dice rolling and macro setting. You can damn near automate a game in some of those.

Lastly, battletech has megamek, which more or less takes care of all the rolling for you.

[Bauglir]

Yeah, if I had time I'd get back to working on that thing I had in mind to exploit that very niche; although I had planned on going for more of a narrativist thing than a simulationist one, there's a lot of stuff you can do once you free yourself to use arbitrary probability distributions for your "rolls" and use technology to offload bookkeeping from player and GM responsibility. If you add in networking and a chat/video scheme, easy-to-learn modding (largely by keeping the graphical overhead down to 2D) and some sort of mapmaking ability, you hit a niche that I'm not sure I've actually seen anybody try to aim for yet.

I highly encourage it!

EDIT: The main advantage this offers over Roll20 and similar is that you're able to design and implement features that simply wouldn't work in a tabletop game; you don't have to ape the advantages of a pen-and-paper system, because you're no longer concerned with that.

[Sergarr]

although I had planned on going for more of a narrativist thing than a simulationist one

define "narrativist" and "simulationist"

[Bauglir]

I was looking at the rules being designed to tell a story, which requires only verisimilitude. So, apparent consistency between what the rules say happens and what you'd expect to happen given the circumstances if you didn't know the rules. To do this, I handwaved lots of stuff in ways that don't stand up to very close examination. That's what I mean by narrativist.

A simulationist approach to design would be to produce rules that build a coherent world, and would only require for stories that various footholds be built in. You need rules that create outcomes, or guide the GM in designing outcomes, for any particular situation the rules can accommodate even if you don't know the expectations people have going in. To do this, you would prefer not to handwave details, but instead provide as much information as you can for people to work with.

At least that's how I tend to see the distinction; they aren't so much mutually exclusive as they are different philosophical emphases. For example, I made a decision to have carrying capacity define the heaviest object you can carry, not how much total weight you can carry. I did this even though a computer allows easy computation, because what I really wanted to avoid was players having to fuss about in their inventory to figure out what to drop and what not to. Still, some kind of carrying capacity serves a narrative purpose because it tells you whether or not your Ogre buddy can actually carry off the solid gold door the GM forgot could be used as loot, so I didn't just discard the concept entirely. This serves as a nice middle ground for what I want it to do, but it's not really that good for a simulationist game because it leads to weird situations if you stress test it; "You mean I can carry a million 50 pound suits of armor, but if I want to pick up that 51 pound rock I'm screwed?"

[Fniff]

I made a thread for a Roll20 game I'm going to run... And you pick the game!
Go on in there if you're interested in some European-timezoned madness..

[BlitzDungeoneer]

I made a thread for a Roll20 game I'm going to run... And you pick the game!
Go on in there if you're interested in some European-timezoned madness..

HeheheahahahaAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!
I've been waiting so goddamn long for this...

[Tack]

(You know, evaluating what kind of acid it is for its ion exchange OH MY GOD -SNIP-)

I mean I'd say something about the problems with the mixture of generalizing and being patronizing, but... You people never seem to learn anyway.
Sick burns aside, you are a 'pen and paper type' as well. No matter how nerdy it gets, there will be pen and paper types who are just as nerdy as you. Dis Amerikah!

3sorry5me

Them's fightin' words

I am going to forgo my "stay away" mostly because for once... this thread is staying on topic and not delving into card games all of a sudden.

'Table Top' is a very broad wassit. I figure it's mostly wargames, card games and pen & paper RPG's.
Someone also did some stuff on Settlers of Catan or Mansions of Madness or one of the bloody munchkin games here I dunno.

[Dutchling]

Yeah, don't worry Neonivek. Once spoiler season begins again there will be plenty of Magic in this thread again

[wierd]

(You know, evaluating what kind of acid it is for its ion exchange OH MY GOD -SNIP-)

I mean I'd say something about the problems with the mixture of generalizing and being patronizing, but... You people never seem to learn anyway.
Sick burns aside, you are a 'pen and paper type' as well. No matter how nerdy it gets, there will be pen and paper types who are just as nerdy as you. Dis Amerikah!

3sorry5me

Them's fightin' words

I am going to forgo my "stay away" mostly because for once... this thread is staying on topic and not delving into card games all of a sudden.

'Table Top' is a very broad wassit. I figure it's mostly wargames, card games and pen & paper RPG's.
Someone also did some stuff on Settlers of Catan or Mansions of Madness or one of the bloody munchkin games here I dunno.

So, in other words, what you are saying is..



I fail to see why I need to apologize for your failures.

(I am teasing! I'm not really this big of a douche, honest.)

[Radio Controlled]

I find it funny how you apparently would make realistic rules for acid damage... While still using a healthpoint system. Y'know, cause humans and such all have a set number of vitality points.

Chunky salsa rules ftw!

((Also, peeps, please spoiler those huge images if you could, thanks. Or at least when you quote them.))

[Tack]

I can assume it would have localized damage and injury lists.
But that stuff is fun and simple. I throw it in my zombiegames... Which I suddenly desperately want to run again.

... Anyway, I would assume acid that hits harder is more acidic, and the D-damage rating is based on what it has hit and where.
Things which are resistant to acid, meanwhile have acid resistance.
You can explain even the most basic rules on a scientific basis if you only ignore any scientific basis.

I fail to see why I need to apologize for your failures.

If you're failing to relate your smart words to dumb people, you don't deserve them.
Go practice your precis.


(It's ok. It reminds me of my homeland.)