----- Original Message -----
From: "Karen Cravens"
To:
Sent: Tuesday, April 04, 2006 9:00 AM
Subject: GM: Paradox five: Giving the underdog a chance
>A topic has come up on the Fudge List^W Community about dice
> probabilities. In Fudge, a Poor swordsman will beat a Great one about
> one in 150 fights. (I think I have the spread right, but no matter:
> it's a large skill gap.)
>
> For some people, this is a feature: it gives the underdog a chance to
> win. For others, this is a bug: it gives the dice a chance to have a
> "trivial" NPC kick the PC's butt unexpectedly, thereby throwing a
> monkey wrench into Story, suspension of disbelief, or fun.
>
> And yeah, 1 in 150 seems like a long shot... but probabilities aren't
> predictable things (imagine that) and it's gonna happen two, three
> times almost in a row to some people (especially those cursed with
> green pickles), and not happen to others at all (which may explain the
> disparity in opinions over yonder).
Yeah, dice are funny like that. The best way to handle it is to not worry
about dice when it _shouldn't_ matter--some mook in an unimportant dustup, a
cheap lock between you and a plot insignificance, etc. Leave the dice in
when it matters, though; even if it's a small one, an element of risk--or
chance for victory against great odds--can be an excellent tool for story or
drama. Even if the dice DO cause Farm Boy #2 to skewer the protagonist, at
least this way it happens at a dramatically interesting point, instead of a
random side event with no meaning.
Specifics will, of course, vary by granularity and mechanic. (Old WoD...
) But even an old-school hack like me tries not to make story
slave to dice. Unless it's Paranoia or something, where it's sorta the
point.
By the way, I hope you're cleared for those Green pickles. Word is there's
a crackdown on contraband foodstuffs...
--T.M. Neeck
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