Can we de-quantize D&D? | … did Heisenberg’s Hobgoblin just enter the chat?

Asking for a friend: Does Everything have to be a Point Crawl?

I put out this post that contain this statement:

“PS – While we are at it, we should probably acknowledge that every adventure format in TTRPGs/D&D is a point crawl. Dungeons are a point crawl if you consider the connective passages to also be ‘nodes’ in the point crawl. Hex Crawls are point crawls where every node has 6 exits that lead to another node (if you exclude any terminal edge hexes). So … everything is a ‘dungeon’ when navigation choice is (and/or encounters are) quantized.”

Or, perhaps to invert it … the classic D&D ‘dungeon’ was so very successful because it quantized (i.e. things into discrete packets, pixels, no continuums) the physical gaming world, making the game more manageable for the GM. That is, location nodes with encounters are connected together by ‘corridors’ which are just connecting nodes. Perhaps random encounters are so loved because they break up the quantization?

That successful quantized format of a classic D&D ‘dungeon’ was imposed on all D&D type adventure formats. Overland adventures were quantized into hexes containing encounters (AKA a Hex Crawl), and where each of these nodes have 6 exits leading to adjacent nodes. Again, this was done to make overland exploration quantized and so GM manageable.

To me now, it seems somewhat ironic that the ‘point crawl’ format (as I believe was first proposed/popularized in Hill Cantons Blog) was seen as a novel format, whereas it really just distils down what a ‘dungeon’ always was. No shade being cast here, seeing to the core of something should be valued above all.

So, perhaps a point crawl is just a minimalist dungeon where the connective tissue has been removed, so perhaps “everything is a dungeon” is the correct manta, because the dungeon came first?!

So why all the chiffchaff above?

My original post mentioned above, just made me wonder –

if you threw away the hex grid for overland exploration and did not formally assign encounters into fixed pixel-type hexes, would an overland adventure cease to be a point crawl (AKA a ‘dungeon’)?

if you threw away the 5′ square grid and keyed fixed location encounters in a dungeon would it cease to be a ‘dungeon’?

That is, is it possible to de-quantize D&D type adventures (de-point crawl them) and still have a viable adventure format that a GM could run?

My guess is no, otherwise it would have already been successfully done – right?

Even so, I must confess, I really like the idea of a de-quantized D&D.

… so how could you do it?

Problem: If you throw away the grid, hex and keyed encounters, then what’s the glue that keeps the thing together?

Problem: Many classic and modern adventures have a hook, some nice unique selling point, the thing the players came to do with their PCs (or rather the thing that interested the DM in the first place). If you remove fixed keyed encounters, how do you write an adventure that will suck the players in?

I suspect (if it can be done) in TTRPGs you’d need a paradigm shift in how you play these D&D type games. Perhaps playing wholly procedural adventures (I’m assuming we are not interested in an A I managed/GM’ed world right?).

Perhaps you might need quantum ogres, or perhaps better, Heisenberg’s Hobgoblins where the hobgoblins exists in every location in the dungeon at once, that is until you ‘collapse the wave function‘ and the hobgoblin is located by the PCs …

Or, in a overland adventure, as you approach the dragon’s lair on the un-hexed map, the probability of encountering the dragon increases. But, there is a chance that the hill giants from across the valley are also passing through, or both. Or, does the GM need to start tracking the potential encounters as soon as the PCs get within a few hexes (cough cough) I mean a few kilometers of their respective lairs. We can go metric at the same time amiright?

So far, none of this sounds fun. Well, a tiny bit fun.

I suspect I’m so deep inside the ‘Point Crawl / Dungeon’ format well that I cannot think of a (good) way to break free of it.

Anyone out there thought about this already?
Can it be done?
Is this even worth pursuing? It ain’t broke …
Did I waste words on the obvious?

EDIT – Depth crawls (as brought up by Evlyn Moreau on BlueSky) are interesting because each instance (each node) is often stand alone, so not linked to the other previously generated nodes. Is it really a point crawl is nothing is permanently connected?

EDIT 2 – My head hurts, and I perhaps open Pandora’s Box with this one. ANT theory was raised a few time on Reddit (Note to self: add to reading list). Anyway, I think Ktrey of the d4 clatrops Blog fame showed this to me from page 12 of Keep of the Borderlands (when D&D was still quite young):

To me, this text seems to approach what might be considered to be ‘Heisenberg’s Hobgoblin‘ where the monsters are not just fixed at their source location, but can exist anywhere near it, with a probability that decreases as you move away from the source location. I agree with Ktrey that his is a neat idea, but one seemingly abandoned long ago. Maybe it’s due a comeback!

#PodcastTaughtMeWhat #pointcrawl #EverthingisaPointCrawl #EverthingisaDungeon

Podcast Taught Me What? | #6 Dungeons & Dreamboats (what else is a Dungeon?)

1 Reply

Blurb: I listen to podcasts, some of which often throw out a game design ‘nugget’. If I find a nugget interesting, I think I’m going to put a pin in it and post it here. Consolidated List

#6 Dungeons & Dreamboats (what else is a Dungeon?)

Bastionland Podcast – Season 6, Episode 2 – Amanda Lee Franck

This episode threw up lots of game design nuggets, this is one of them.

Chris McDowall briefly noted that Amanda Lee Franck had made three adventures on boats.

The game design idea: anything can serve as a “dungeon” so long as it constrains the adventurers’ position to a fixed set of navigable locations. A boat is a ‘dungeon’, albeit a floating one. A cruise ship is just a floating/moving hotel that you can’t get off. In fact, a boat is more constrained than a dungeon as because, as a general rule the space outside the ‘boat dungeon’ is a sort of null space, a watery desert. Normally outside a dungeon is at least explorable terrain.

With this in mind, let’s image what other constrained spaces could serve as “dungeons” – submarine, train, plane, that cool network of underwater tunnels in 1983 Jaws 3-D, (in fact this is a crazy dungeon where stone is replaced by seawater!), a strip mall, stadium, a cinema (1985 film Demons anyone?), jail, school, spaceship, subway, space station, Towering inferno, funfair, etc.

PS – While we are at it, we should probably acknowledge that every adventure format in TTRPGs/D&D is a point crawl. Dungeons are point crawls if you consider the connective passages to also be ‘nodes’ in the point crawl. Hex Crawls are point crawls where every node has 6 exits that lead to another node (if you exclude any terminal edge hexes). So … everything is a ‘dungeon’ when navigation choice is (and/or encounters are) quantized.

Summary, once you recognize that the classic and successful ‘dungeon’ format is just a constrained space with a finite number of linked locations, then other constrained spaces might occur to you to use as adventure locations.

That’s it.

#PodcastTaughtMeWhat

Solo Analogue A I for Commanding Armies in Warhammer type Battles – Hex Flower

2 Replies

Ever wanted to play a table top war game (like Warhammer Fantasy Battle) solo, that is against an army commanded by A I General? Well, this is attempt to do that, using a Hex Flower as that A I General

PDF on DriveThruRPG – LINK
PDF on Itch.io – LINK

The idea is that you can use this Hex Flower as an analogue A I for solo (fantasy) battles – that is, you play your army and you use the A I to move the opponents units in the battle.

The idea is that the A I can surprise you, whereas if you play the other army yourself, you can never suspend disbelief and so totally surprise yourself.

The A I and especially the indicative actions are there to help guide the units’ choices.

This A I has been ‘flavoured’ for Orcs. But, believe it or not, I looked to Sun Tzu’s art of war for inspiration, and grouped actions into the four categories. So, you can repurpose this for any army (reject the flavour and embrace the essence of the AI’s instructions). I might yet make a similar product for other standard army types … Humans, dwarves, elves, ratmen, undead etc.

Historical Note – way-back-when in the G+ days, when Hex Flowers were still a thing that we were brainstorming about, I think this ‘A I General’ was first suggested by G+ user Neuzd: IMAGE. I think Neuzd had a lot of good ideas about HF, but with G+ gone it is hard to remember all of it!

Hex Flower background – what’s a Hex Flower anywho? A Hex Flower (HF) is like a random table, but with a memory.

Hex Flower Cookbook – where I discuss the theory and design of Hex Flower Game Engines and some background and possible uses. But, you can also read some more about Hex Flowers on my Blog: LINK

– – –

Me on DriveThru; at the moment I’m mainly pimping my procedural:
:: High Seas ‘Hex Crawl’ – In the Heart of the Sea,
:: Wilderness Hex Crawl – In the Heart of the Unknown,
:: Dungeon/network generator – In the Heart of the Delve & Dangerous

Inversion of the standard 2d6 probability peak | “Why Mathematicians Hate This Simple Two-Dice Hack”

4 Replies

I saw this blog post (All Hail King d12) and it made me chuckle – I presume it was at least partly tongue in cheek!

Anyway the central idea was this: “I want to see more wizards and dragons and shit!”

Of course 2d6 looks like the orange line below and a simple d12 gives a probability like the flat yellow line below (also includes a 1):

But, the above blogpost made me wonder how easy it would be to make a probability structure that looked more like the blue line, a sort of inversion of the standard 2d6 peak structure and by using only dice.

That is, go all in hard for those 2s and 12s.

It turned out to be harder than my intuitive primate mind believed it would be. Eventually I came up with this rule:

Roll D6+1 (or redraw a die with numbers 2 to 7) and roll a D6+6 (or redraw a die with numbers 7 to 12), and pick the most extreme result.*

Simples – right!
:O\

Maybe you can do better!

And no, the answer being: renumber the table or move the entries around on the table is not allowed because that would be too simple and you’d need to change everyone’s tables not just your own.

Hopefully, I’ve got the maths correct for the rule D6+1 vs D6+6 take the number furthest from 7!

:O|

And, yes, this is not a serious post … well, not unless I can think of a more elegant way to do this …

* = see Colin’s comment below.

Hac-Man Hex Flower| a homage to Pac-Man

Leave a reply

This Hex Flower Game Engine is a homage to the classic arcade game Pac-Man. In this case ‘Hac-man’ runs the maze eating pellets and being chased by Ghosts. Can you get past Level 3?

I got sucked into making this Hex Flower when I read that the my Hex Flower ‘edge rules’ were a bit like the ‘warp tunnels’ in the classic arcade game Pac-Man.

It’s just a bit of fun – try it out and let me know what you think?

Important:
This work is not affiliated or endorsed in any way by the owners of Pac-Man.

:: Link to PDF on DriveThruRPG: Hac-Man Hex Flower
:: Link to PDF on Itch.io: Hac-Man Hex Flower

The game is pay-what-you-want so you can download as a PDF for free (see link above), but you can make a donation to support my work more generally.

Layout:

Hex Flower background – what’s a Hex Flower anywho? A Hex Flower (HF) is like a random table, but with a memory.

Hex Flower Cookbook – where I discuss the theory and design of Hex Flower Game Engines and some background and possible uses. But, you can also read some more about Hex Flowers on my Blog: LINK

– – –

Podcast Taught Me What? | #5 Make Drawings & Descriptions Additive

Leave a reply

Blurb: I listen to podcasts, some of which often throw out a game design ‘nugget’. If I find a nugget interesting, I think I’m going to put a pin in it and post it here. Consolidated List

#5 Make Drawings & Descriptions additive

Bastionland Podcast – Season 6, Episode 2 – Amanda Lee Franck

This episode threw up lots of game design nuggets, this is one of them.

The game design idea: When possible, a drawing and description of the same things should contain different information. Try not to describe information about a thing if that information is already present in the drawing. Or, in reverse, when faced with text, what can you draw that adds to the text.

Red is less good than green because in the red example the text/ drawing substantially replicate each other

Amanda Lee Franck discussed with Chris McDowall how Amanda tries wherever possible to make drawings/illustrations that add to the description text (that is provides new/more information), rather than simply trying to faithfully reflect the text as an image. In the example that Amanda gave on the podcast (I believe this was with reference to Zedeck Siew‘s work) an illustration of a boat gave size/scale of the boat, but that this size/scale was not contained in the descriptive text of the boat.

I think this is a neat idea, as it goes to the point of what is the purpose of a drawing if it only seeks to re-render the text in a visual form.

Summary, make drawings that add to the descriptive text, or write text that does not simply describe the drawing.

That’s it.

#PodcastTaughtMeWhat

Podcast Taught Me What? | #4 Taking the Pith (keep it short)

Leave a reply

Blurb: I listen to podcasts, some of which often throw out a game design ‘nugget’. If I find a nugget interesting, I think I’m going to put a pin in it and post it here. Consolidated List

#4 Taking the Pith (keep it short)

Between Two Cairns – Warped Beyond Recognition – 6 Nov 2025, S4 E10

The game design idea: There is power in a concise, pithy description, or as Clayton Notestine said in the podcast:

“The more you say, the more you put on a page, the less important all those pieces become“

There’s no good reason, in fact it could be a burden, to tell the GM things that don’t really matter or that do not help to evoke a scene. As a general rule, “the walls are made of grey, hard, speckly stone” is not that overly interesting or helpful.

You might also wish to listen to Tod from As If Productions, who had something to say about overwriting and so overloading the GM:

On Overwriting, with apologies to Ms. Engle (3m 54s)*

I said more about this topic here, but wanted to capture this in this ‘Podcast Taught Me What’ series.

Summary, help the GM out by carefully curating the information into things that matter or add flavor.

That’s it.

#PodcastTaughtMeWhat

Podcast Taught Me What? | #3 Narrative Abhors a Vacuum

Leave a reply

Blurb: I listen to podcasts, some of which often throw out a game design ‘nugget’. If I find a nugget interesting, I think I’m going to put a pin in it and post it here. Consolidated List

#3 Narrative Abhors a Vacuum (~ missing link meets narrative vacuum)

Bastionland Podcast – Season 6, Episode 2 – Amanda Lee Franck

This episode threw up lots of game design nuggets, which I may cover in separate posts. But, for me this was the biggie:

The game design idea: Missing link meets narrative vacuum. In essence, leave space (creative oxygen) in your adventures. Allow the GM to assemble their own ‘synaptogeneic jigsaw’ from the adventure scaffold you write. That is, the human brain strives to make sense of any situation, and given enough freedom will attempt to make sense of any set of disparate facts. In games of make-believe, the resultant links/connections can be unexpected and delightful.

Amanda Lee Franck and Chris McDowall discuss the benefits of this approach. It invites the GM to make sense of the adventure from the parts the writer provides. In that way each GM makes their own unique missing links to the adventure scaffold provided by the writer, i.e. filling the information vacuum with narrative. Those links/connections will be those that make most sense to the GM, or provide the most fun or enjoyment. This invites the GM to be part of the creative process, and if nothing else allows them to better understand/assimilate/remember the adventure and to be able to run/communicate it effectively at the table.

Of course, Amanda and Chris go on to discuss that doing this is not necessary an easy thing to do. But for sure, not joining up all the ‘dots’ of the adventure is a good starting place.

Summary, less is often more, don’t try to fix everything down, allow the adventure to have some narrative flex. Be brave, leave gaps.

That’s it.

#PodcastTaughtMeWhat

Podcast Taught Me What? | #2 Thoughtful Randomness

1 Reply

Blurb: I listen to podcasts, some of which often throw out a game design ‘nugget’. If I find a nugget interesting, I think I’m going to put a pin in it and post it here. Consolidated List

#2 Thoughtful Randomness (Random with Purpose)

Between Two Cairns – Beneath the Muckfort – 20 Nov S4 E12

The game design idea: Randomness is not in of itself a virtue. For example, an encounter location with ‘2D6 goblins’, without some reason/context*, would appear to be just extra GM workload without much ‘sauce’. Why not just go with 7 goblins at this location?

This differs from a ‘random encounter table’ where it make senses to have entries like ‘2D6 goblins’. Otherwise goblins when encountered randomly would always be encountered in groups of fixed size. Likewise randomness of this kind would seem appropriate in procedural adventures where all encounters are essentially random encounters.

* = perhaps the thought/context/reason is that there are 12 minus 2D6 goblins at this location and the balance of the goblins are in another location? That could be fun/interesting. Or, there are 2 goblins at this location unless the goblins have been alerted to the PC’s presence, in which case there are nD6 goblins at the location where ‘n’ depends on how many turns it takes for the PCs to reach the location as it’s being actively re-enforced etc.

To be clear I don’t think this a contradiction to Podcast Taught Me What? | #1 Fixed Random Encounters, where it could be interesting to randomly generate the type of encounter at a location.

Summary, randomness is fun when if freshens things up (especially for the GM), but thoughtless/mundane/reasonless randomness can be just extra administrative/cognitive load on the GM.

That’s it.

#PodcastTaughtMeWhat

Podcast Taught Me What? | #1 Fixed Random Encounters

Leave a reply

Blurb: I listen to podcasts, some of which often throw out a game design ‘nugget’. If I find a nugget interesting, I think I’m going to put a pin in it and post it here. Consolidated List

#1 Fixed Random Encounter

Between Two Cairns – BSOLO Ghost of Lion Castle – 13 Nov S4 E11

The game design idea: Instead of populating an adventure location with a set encounter, consider having that ‘set encounter’ be generated/selected randomly in play at the table.

To be clear this is not the same thing as a ‘random encounter’, because those may or may not happen. This encounter is happening, but what is happening is determined during play.

Of course, this is not an overt recommendation to go full 100% procedural (not that I’m against procedural adventures, quite the opposite). It’s just a pinch of spice.

That’s it.

Edit: My original post (reproduced below) suffered from a bit of ‘mission creep’ – so I decided to edit the post down to be a bit more pithy (above).

(the older longer post):

The idea is to have an event/encounter happen, but where the nature of the event/encounter is random. So, not a normal random encounter (i.e. one that might or might not happen), but an event/encounter that will happen, but where the type of event/encounter that will happen is randomly generated.

So perhaps there is a room with a hole in the floor, and … [[ roll on random event/encounter table ]].

e.g. D10
1. The hole emits an extremely strong magnetic field
2. The fishing tentacle of a creature several rooms away waits to grope out
3. It’s a portable hole to exit the adventure
4. It’s a mobile hole of devouring
5. It’s a geyser, time it right and you can swim to …
6. It’s a meat chute packed with a near endless supply of unliving humanoids
7. From it is a strong air draft capable of lifting a person off the ground
8. It’s not a hole, it just looks like one – it’s a pressure plate for a trap
9. It’s a drain, a big one … that can’t be good?
10. Forget the orcs’ toilet, 6 orcs were gambling at a table drinking grog :O\

Ok, I got carried away there and not even in a particularly good way – the random table could just be your dungeon’s standard random encounter table, but where there is always a encounter at this location, perhaps because it the only source of reliable drinking water in the dungeon/forest etc.

I have little doubt this idea has been done elsewhere in published adventures, but I think there is something interesting in this idea and I just want to put a pin in it. I suppose it speaks to my ‘procedural’ sensibilities (to keep it fresh for the GM), but in this case without having to have the whole dungeon be procedural.

#PodcastTaughtMeWhat

Kids play AD&D 1e | Ever been chased through a maze by a Minotaur?

Leave a reply

Adding a minotaur ‘hunter’ mini to the Hex Flower maze & pursuit gave the kids more buy in!

PS – they made it to the center of the maze, got the prize (the gilded mushroom; which was siting on an island surrounded by a lake of mercury) and out again, evading the minotaur using: a bag of fine chalk (checking for drafts that tend to blow out of the maze), a bag of rats (to distract the minotaur when it got close) and a magic butterfly that helps guided anyone lost.

Mechanically, these items allowed the party to change the direction of travel on the HF by one face (or in case of the rats, the minotaur’s direction of travel by one face to help distract/evade the ‘hunter’).

That’s it
:O)

Taking the Pith | Comment on keeping it short

2 Replies

People use the word ‘terse‘ a lot when describing RPG content/adventures with concise content. I think they mean this in a positive way, but to me ‘terse’ has a negative quality – abrupt to a fault. I prefer the term ‘pithy‘.

I’m hardly a RPG publishing powerhouse – I’ve released 2 adventures and neither has exactly broken any records. Perhaps having Hex Flowers as a central mechanic limits them to a niche within a niche (at least that’s what I’m telling myself).

However, dusting off any self-doubt, I have something to say about words. Too many words dilutes a message.

Clayton Notestine said the below on the Between two Cairns podcast, and I agree:

“The more you say, the more you put on a page, the less important all those pieces become“
Between two Cairns, Warped Beyond Recognition episode, release date 6 November 2025; 23:28-23:34

May I also suggest you listen to Tod from As If Productions, who had something to say about overwriting:

http://On Overwriting, with apologies to Ms. Engle (3m54s)*

* = I have no financial connection with Tod, although before Patreon screwed up all my subscriptions, I did Patreonize Tod.

My personal learning about overwriting came from when I submitted some monsters for Ford’s Faeries as coordinated by Eric Nieudan of The Merry Mushmen fame. The idea was to prepare a faerie type monster inspired by the art of Henry Justice Ford, but using no more than 300 words. My first try ended up being about 1500 words. I cut and cut until I got down to 300 words. I was fairly shocked, the result was 5 times shorter but I think about 5 times better.

Sure, I accept that there comes a point where you cut down to the bone and are left with only a bone and no juice. I don’t think most people get that far. Editing is hard, self editing is even harder.

My suggestion is cut your first completed draft in half and see if it is improved. Then again, what do I know!

Now, to practice what I preach …

“If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter” – Attributed to Blaise Pascal

That’s it
:O)

Pre-rolled Random Tables | so you don’t have to

Leave a reply

The OSR/NSR (and splinter movements thereof) fly high the flag and associated benefits of random tables and procedurally led outcomes.

I’m fully behind this idea and the benefits.

That said, when listening to one of Fear of a Black Dragon or Between Two Cairns podcasts, one of the commentators said something that resonated with me (if I were a betting henchperson, I would say it was Brad Kerr).

They said something along the lines of: “Yeah, these random tables are neat and all, but sometimes I just want an answer“.

This podcast episode must be before or about 2023, because I tried to incorporate this idea into my procedural adventure Carapace:

(check it out – the video is from a now ended Kickstarter project)

My suggestion to anyone interested in procedural adventure design, is that when preparing procedural tables that have at least 3 outputs/parameters that stack/build a result – include some pre-generated outcomes.

Sometimes a GM will be under some time pressure and so just want a simple fast pre-generated answer. Why not give them that as an option.

Think of this as the adventure/dungeon equivalent of a pre-generated character.

I’m sure this idea is probably out there, but I just want to draw some (extra) emphasis to it.

That’s it
:O)

YouTube – some actual plays | Mausritter & AD&D 1e

Leave a reply

You might not know, but I have a YouTube channel. It’s nothing to shout about, but it is there. Here are some actual plays if you are interested in that kind of thing:

Kids Play Mausritter (4 sessions, two adventures) – On hold

Kids Play AD&D 1e (2 sessions) – Ongoing

Beast Hunt Play Test AD&D 1e (6 Sessions) – Ongoing

Carapace Play Test AD&D 1e (7 Sessions) – Ended

MatheMat-HEX | Hex Maze Runners – a Hex Flower mini-game for learning your Times Tables

Leave a reply

A Hex Flower mini-game for learning your times tables.

The idea is to make learning your Times Tables more fun, by turning it into a game.

:: Link to PDF on DriveThruRPG MatheMat-HEX | Hex Maze Runners
:: Link to PDF on Itch.io: LINK

The game is pay-what-you-want so you can download it for free (see link above), or you can make a donation to support the idea.

If the idea gets much traction, I might fancy it up a bit more, but for now here it is:

Intro:

There is a 1 Player Mode and a 2 Player Mode.

In the 1 Player Mode you are a ‘Maze-Runner’ trying to get to the Hex-Chasers base to destroy it. The Hex-Chasers are controlled by an AI and are trying to stop you.

To move around the Hex Maze, you as the Maze-Runner need to figure out the passcode – a times table answer. In your side of the Hex Maze (your territory) you need to give the correct answer taken from the 1 to 6 times tables. In the Hex-Chasers territory it gets harder and you need an answer from the 7 to 12 times table.

The 2 Player mode, is the same as the 1 Player Mode, but in this case Player 2 is in control of the Hex-Chasers and is trying to capture Player 1. Like Player 1, the Hex-Chaser needs to give the correct answer to a times table question before they can move.

Preview:

:: Link to PDF MatheMat-HEX | Hex Maze Runners
:: Link to PDF on Itch.io: LINK

PS – For anyone that might be interested – I was going to make a D12 version, but figure a D6 game is more accessible.

Hex Flower background – what’s a Hex Flower anywho? A Hex Flower (HF) is like a random table, but with a memory.

Hex Flower Cookbook – where I discuss Hex Flower Game Engines and some background and possible uses

– – –

D&D like stats | a different way that no one will ever use …

Leave a reply

This post relates back to the ‘Forget polyhedrals – Cubism is in !!‘ post I made recently. The original idea of that blog post was how to make a (linear) die using 2 dice – so a D12 or D18 using 2 x D6.

In that post I had throw away remark saying you could use this general idea to make D&D like stats – anyway I couldn’t quite help myself, and so I thought I’d try this out to see how well it could be used to generate D&D type stats – seems it works quite well (but I can’t really see anyone really doing this) :

Typical D&D stat rolling methods (orange line = 3D6 method and the blue line = 4D6 drop the lowest method) shown along side using this method where one method is D6 + D12 (where the 1 and 2 are replaced by 6 and 7 – the green line) and D6 + 12 (where the 1 to 4 are replaced by 8 to 11 -the brown line)

The two dice give a result that looks quite like the result from using 3D6 – the main differences being that the 3 result is excluded (hardcore players can frown now), the 10 and 11 scores are slightly lower and the 15+ scores are slightly higher. Other than that, surprisingly close!

The two dice give a result that looks quite like the result from using 4D6 drop the lowest – the main difference is that you don’t get any 3 to 5 scores (players using this method would probably be happy with that!). Other than that difference, surprisingly close!

Hopefully, I’ve got the maths correct!

:O)

Forget polyhedrals – Cubism is in !!

1 Reply

This post relates back to a ‘composite dice‘ post I made a little while ago.

Recently, I got thinking there is another way to generate composite dice in a similar way. I figured, let’s do this with D6 first (to explain the thing), and then back it out to all dice.

“Composite die” I hear you say?

As you will know percentile dice (D100s) are made of two dice: a tens die (with faces: 00, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90) and a units die (numbered 1 to 10). But, this idea can be done with any two kinds of dice, not just with 2 x D10s.

So, for example, a D36 can be made of 2 x D6s, with one die labelled one to six (1 to 6) and the other labelled 0, 6, 12, 18, 24, and 30 (i.e. going up in 6s, not 10s like a precentile) – roll both and add them together.

Recently, I realised that you don’t need to go up in even intervals of 6s for each face on the equivalent of the 10s die. For example:

Option 1 to generate a D12 using two D6s: One D6 is a standard D6 (1to 6), and the other D6 is labelled 0, 0, 0, 6, 6, 6. Roll both and sum the result.

D12

I faintly recall that the DMG might talk about making a D20 in a similar way from a D10 …?

Option 2 to generate a D18 using two D6s: One D6 is a standard D6 (1to 6), and the other is labelled 0, 0, 6, 6, 12, 12. Roll both and sum the result.

D18

Option 3 to generate a D36 using two D6s: … again, you are back to the ‘standard composite die’ I originally blogged about – One D6 is a standard D6 (1to 6), and the other is a D6 labelled 0, 6, 12, 18, 24, 30. Roll both and sum the result.

D36

The trick of these ‘new composite dice’, of course, is to make sure that the ranges do not overlap (and each number has the same probability of coming out); otherwise, you start getting into bell-curve-like situations or uneven results (so no 0, 6, 6, 6, 12, 12 etc. – unless you are trying to generate something like a pseudo-bell curve for something resembling a D&D type character stat roll)

So, just using the humble D6, you can generate a D6, D12, D18, and D36.

If you make the D6 cube a D3, you can also generate (I believe) a D3, D9, and D33 (in addition to the above options).

And if you make the D6 cube a D2, you can also generate a D2, D4, and D14, I believe (in addition to the above options).

So, using the simple cube, you can make (unless I’ve made a mistake) D2, D3, D4, D6, D9, D12, D14, D18, D33, and D36 (who needs a percentile anyway?).

Of course, you are not restricted to D6s. You can use D8s, D10s, D12s (just noting that D12s are like 2 D6s), etc., and also mixtures of those dice, so D6 and D8, to generate lots of further different composite dice.
:O|

That’s it. I’ve thrown it out there in case anyone finds use for it.

Did the Bloggies make me Blog more? | You?

4 Replies

2024 was a reasonably quiet year for me (reasons). In 2024 I posted 6, arguably 7 posts (that were more than just update posts), and one of those was on 31 December.

In 2025 by mid-February I’ve put out 8 posts, all of which (I think) have something to offer a niche within a niche (which is my niche):

Word Play – Old monster New monster

Simple Monster Hack | Generic creature + PC spell

D&D type Stats – all 1s are 2s

Usage Dice – there can be only one (left)

Random Encounter Tables – When the Boss Monster comes out swinging

Faction Action – Burning the Candle towards both ends | An approach to Random Encounter Table design

Dynamic Random Tables | Controlling Access with Rule “Windows”

Can you Push it? | … are pushed rolls a thing in D&D?

oh… and one shit post: Permission to eat the PC’s horses?

I think the Bloggies are an interesting celebration of Blogging, and thinking and reading blogs has spurred me on to post more (which of course is good; and perhaps a niche within a niche has had a bit more to think about – so presumably a tad happier?!) … but will it last? Perhaps that doesn’t matter.

How about you?

Permission to eat the PC’s horses?

3 Replies

Edit: No animals were harmed in the writing of this post

Very important context

I recently got included in this Meme (What the dice doin??? †):

†= felt the Meme was in need of a modest but absolutely necessary codifying tweak ^

… and within a 24hr window another Redditor stated the below about my post that included the tables used in the above Meme†:

“I was reading it and thinking “This sounds like a blog from that hexflower person” before realizing that, indeed, it was a Goblin Henchmen blog“

So, I thought I best do something to mix things up a bit, be a bit less predictable, do something inside the box, do something that is all RPG content and no RPG design.

– End of very important context –

So, I’m going with:

Permission to eat the PC’s horses?

Postulate: when the PCs are in the dungeon have someone or something steal, and preferably eat, their horses. Just do it once.

Would I be breaking some sort of social contract with the PCs, like burning down their safehouse, or taking their fav. magic items (soz) etc … is this HEE or HAA ?

To me, these grass-eating, mobile storage enablers feel like the weakest link in the otherwise impenetrable PCs’ defenses. I can’t help thinking a watching monster/villain/Big-Bad would notice this weakness and act accordingly.

Forget Mouse Guard, introducing Horse Guards …

Thoughts?
Are there any sacred cows that DMs shalt not touch?

Can you Push it? | … are pushed rolls a thing in D&D?

1 Reply

I’ve been listening to a bunch of Call of Cthulhu (CoC) actual plays recently (Andy Goodman’s Grizzly Peak Radio) and was interested in the dynamic of a “Pushed Roll“.

Skorpadillo bites leg and smashed adventure in the face with their tail

Skorpadillo – not on my watch (… wonder if this chap thought this critter was a Rust Monster [same vibe] and stripped to his loin cloth; also love that fluid snake) – Credit: Erol Otis – Skorpadillo from Arduin Dungeon #2 The Howling Tower by Dave Hargrave, Grimoire Games 1979.

From my understanding (forgive me if I’m preaching to the choir here), a ‘Pushed Roll’ is an option when a PC fails a skill type check in CoC. The PC often has the option to roll again, but if they fail a second time it has dire consequences.

Sounds like a fun option for D&D combat (or even other skill type checks). I’d probably avoid using this for saving throws (CoC excludes this for Luck Rolls I believe), because it would be a no-brainer to reroll a failed Save vs Death, unless there is something worse than death in your campaign, … OK, scrap that).

Here are some ideas:

Pushed roll on – missed a combat hit?

Missed a hit and want to push the roll? Obviously pushing it and missing again should be bad – how bad? Well that’s up to the GM – critical fail, lost grip on weapon, shattered weapon, injure self etc.

Whatever it is, it should be a deterrent to just doing it every combat round. Someone should make a table … like this one (but better):

1. Stunned self – opponent gets double attacks next round
2. Broken weapon (magic weapons get a save)
3. Injure self on own weapon – weapon damage/2
4. Injure friend – weapon damage/2
5. Wicked vibration – numbing pain in arm; further attacks at -4
6. Fall flat on the floor fully prone – lost next attack, opponent gets +4 to hit
7. Winded – lose attacks until save made (save vs Breath Weapon?!?)
8. Armour confounded – AC downgraded by 4 units until fixed
9. Spun around – back is facing opponent – their hits do double damage
10. Weapon stuck in object/monster – Bend Bars Lift Gates roll (or alike, e.g. roll % under STR) to free weapon

Pushed roll – damage roll too low?

Maybe this is a non-option if you roll a damage of 1, or perhaps better you need to roll higher than last time otherwise it is a massive failure.

But, what sanction for a re-fail? Maybe use the same table as above with 0 damage done to the opponent?

Why do this?

Well maybe the PC and the monster have 3 HPs left, the Monster has 3 attacks and goes next, and the PC misses or rolls 2 damage. The player might figure it is a do or die move and so takes this chance to win it.

Gaming the system

Should this be a declaration by a player after they roll (use it or lose it), or a declaration by any player before the monsters turn in initiative based combat? Probably the former for simplicity.

Apply this to Magic?

Why not, but again the consequence of failing a pushed roll should be disproportionally bad … which way does that stinking cloud go now …?

Feels like this must be a thing already, if so, I haven’t seen too much chat about it …
:O)

	Goblin's Henchman on Can we de-quantize D&D? \|…
	JAPartridge on Can we de-quantize D&D? \|…
	Goblin's Henchman on Can we de-quantize D&D? \|…
	Einstein on Can we de-quantize D&D? \|…
	Goblin's Henchman on Can we de-quantize D&D? \|…

	Goblin's Henchman on Can we de-quantize D&D? \|…
	JAPartridge on Can we de-quantize D&D? \|…
	Goblin's Henchman on Can we de-quantize D&D? \|…
	Einstein on Can we de-quantize D&D? \|…
	Goblin's Henchman on Can we de-quantize D&D? \|…