D Is for Dice Pools
The Boogie Knights of the Round Table (BKotRT) uses a simple dice mechanic to resolve all actions. Before this post goes on to discuss the specifics, it’s important to understand two Super-Important Rules.
Super-Important Rule #1: In all cases, before dice are rolled, the action to be attempted should be described. What is the actor doing? How is he doing it? Then and only then are the applicable dice rolled.
Super-Important Rule #2: Whoever succeeds in an action gets to narrate the results of the action. This includes deciding the fate of the loser when applicable.
All actions are resolved by rolling the dice associated with the most appropriate ability score and most appropriate quality, based on the action’s description. BKotRT has three categories of actions: unopposed, simple, and extended. Let’s take a moment to recall Gary’s character from a previous post. We’ll use Beau in examples for each category of action.
Beau Mandy
Kung-Fu d6, Brains d8, Cool d8
Ex-Con Banjo Player d6, Rodeo Clown d4, Full of Homespun Wisdom d6
While on his way to Hillbilly’s, Beau gets a flat tire. He’s in a hurry. Beau’s contact won’t wait in the honky tonk for long if Beau is late. Mumbling about cheap tires, Beau slides from his pick-up’s cab and starts fishing tools from his tool box. Changing a flat is normally an unopposed action. The tire isn’t actively resisting Beau’s efforts. The GM decides that changing the flat in a timely manner is an easy action and assigns a difficulty number (DN) of 6. Gary describes how Beau’s had to change lots of flats over the years, what with all his time on the road as a Rodeo Clown. Because of these years of experience, Beau isn’t likely to get flustered by the inconvenient delay. The GM thinks this is reasonable, and so Gary rolls Cool plus Rodeo Clown, or d8+d4. If he gets at least a 6 total, Beau fixes the flat in plenty of time to reach Hillbilly’s before his contact spooks.
A few minutes later, Beau pulls into Hillbilly’s parking lot. He mosies up to the front door, but is stopped by the burly, towering doorman. The doorman glares down at Beau and growls, “I bet there’s rich folks eatin’ in a fancy dining car.”
Beau wasn’t expecting this challenge. Apparently Hillbilly’s management changed the password. This is another unopposed action with a 6 DN. Beau is an Ex-Con Banjo Player. This is child’s play for him. Gary rolls Brains plus Ex-Con Banjo Player, or d6+d8, and succeeds, and Beau drawls, “They’re probably drinkin’ coffee and smokin’ big cigars.”
Beau pays the cover charge and mosies inside. A few steps through the door, he’s confronted by a drunk cowgirl looking for a good time. Beau doesn’t have time for this. He’s a man with a mission, but the cowgirl is insistent, clinging to Beau and demanding he dance with her. Beau wants to let her down easy as well as not attract attention. This is a simple action. The cowgirl’s drunken insistence opposes Beau’s purposeful but gentle rejection. Gary describes how he turns on the charm and whispers some countrified sweet words. He then rolls Cool plus Full of Homespun Wisdom, or d8+d6. Gary’s total is compared to the cowgirl’s total. He wins the simple action. The cowgirl giggles and staggers off to paw another man.
Beau slides into the booth across from his contact. He orders an ice cold Lone Star. His contact his nervous and says he’s changed his mind, that he doesn’t want to have anything to do with the upcoming pirate radio broadcast. Beau must convince him otherwise. This is an extended action, one in which Beau must eventually wear down or otherwise defeat his opposition. In other words, Beau must engage in a form of social combat. A combination of Brains and Cool combined with Full of Homespun Wisdom is matched in round-by-round action against the contact’s dice totals. Pretty soon, Beau has calmed the contact down, and the contact hands over the frequency modulator’s location.
So, that’s the gist of using dice pools to resolve actions in BKotRT. There are a few other details, such as the range of DNs from easy to hardest, and how damage is figured, but we can leave those details for later.
I’ve never heard of this game, thanks for sharing.