From:	Jonathan Andrews <jmandrews@*******.EDU>
Subject:	Re: Dice Pools and Stardom
Date:	Fri, 8 May 1998 12:45:39 -0500

On Fri, 8 May 1998, David Buehrer wrote:

[snip all the valid arguments--I'm right!]

> Are dice pools needed? Are karma pools needed? What do you think?
>

This goes about along the lines og "Are dice needed", but I do see your
point.

Of course, the question becomes this: are you, as a GM, going to let dice
rolling and target numbers be important? If yes, then absolutely yes you
need pools. If well maybe, then congrats and welcome to my style.

Personally, I feel dice should play the part of the supporting mechanic,
to follow your schema. I _do_ have my players roll the dice. I _do_ have a
TN, which they sometimes know and sometimes don't, but I don't let the
dice rule the game. Which is not to say that I don't follow them. If the
player makes a really bad roll, then his character is having bad
luck--just like he is--and he's gonna have to think fast to get out of it.
But I don't let game mechanics stretch my story too far.

If the player should be dead, well. Let them make that willpower roll to
stay conscious just long enough to save their hides. Fudge the bad guy's
roll and let the smoking gun blow up in his face. Why not? What's
important, the dice roll or the storyline? That's up for you to decide,
and as for me and my gamers, we choose storyline.

Don't crucify me for this, but often I don't roll dice for NPCs. Unless
it's a shot that's directly affecting the PC (and sometimes not even
then--why should the sam know how magic works? You _know_ the vamp
spellcaster with sorcery 8 is going to hit the sam with willpower 4, and
don't you even think otherwise. Base damage is a beautiful thing...),
oftentime I just eyeball the stats and say, sure he hit. Heck, no! Five
miles off. Or, not only did she hit, but the bullet went through his head,
ricocheted off the concrete wall, and hit that pesky spellcaster who tried
to nail your PC with a hellblast...

Either that, or I have a sheet of pre-generated rolls that I use when I
need an NPC's roll. It gives the players more dice and keeps them from
knowing what I'm doing. Which, sometimes, is Officially Cheating (TM).

And as long as I'm fair with the players and reasonably consistent, I've
never had a problem. Yes, I play by FASA rules. Yes, I believe in those
rules. But that doesn't mean I have to ruin a perfectly good campaign over
them.

[remove icon_soapbox]
Jonathan Andrews