Weird Dice
Last night, I got to play in my bi-weekly Dungeons & Dragons campaign and I tell you, folks, the dice got weird.
I honestly don't think there was any dice fudging involved. I've really come to trust this group — plus this phenomenon happened to me as well.
Our session was top-to-bottom one entire battle. (I got to use my new 3D printed mini for the first time.) No breaks, just fight-fight-fight. That meant a lot of dice rolls.
Even given that, I've never seen so many 20s and 1s come up in one session — especially in row. One of our players had three 1s come up in a row, switching to different dice each time.
I suspect that if we had recorded all the rolls that night, the distribution would actually be pretty flat — but it did make it seem like luck was really turning for and then against us. So it did serve the goal of making it a fun experience.
Having those extremes is one of the features of having a design based around a single d20. The dice you choose for your central mechanic have a big impact on the feel of the game. I remember first hearing that on the Fear The Boot podcast.
The battle had some nice moments. Our opponents seemed pretty overwhelming at first, especially since we couldn't use most of our abilities. We had an initial plan, but that went sideways quickly. I wasn't sure we were going to make it
Then some reinforcements arrived and I thought everything's going to be OK — But they immediately got bogged down by foes. We did manage to turn the tide thanks to a wild leap from a way too tall tower by one member of the party.
I'm so glad to be in a regular RPG campaign again after so many years. I honestly didn't think I was actually going to get that chance again.
I have to thank our regular DM, our guest DM for this session and all the other players in the group. It really means a lot to me to be able to play.
I also have to thank the whole team at Ravenwood Tabletop for putting it all together. I'm so glad we have a place like that in my town. Check them out of you can.
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