this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2026
318 points (98.5% liked)

Games

49254 readers
1302 users here now

Welcome to the largest gaming community on Lemmy! Discussion for all kinds of games. Video games, tabletop games, card games etc.

Rules

1. Submissions have to be related to games

Video games, tabletop, or otherwise. Posts not related to games will be deleted.

This community is focused on games, of all kinds. Any news item or discussion should be related to gaming in some way.

2. No bigotry or harassment, be civil

No bigotry, hardline stance. Try not to get too heated when entering into a discussion or debate.

We are here to talk and discuss about one of our passions, not fight or be exposed to hate. Posts or responses that are hateful will be deleted to keep the atmosphere good. If repeatedly violated, not only will the comment be deleted but a ban will be handed out as well. We judge each case individually.

3. No excessive self-promotion

Try to keep it to 10% self-promotion / 90% other stuff in your post history.

This is to prevent people from posting for the sole purpose of promoting their own website or social media account.

4. Stay on-topic; no memes, funny videos, giveaways, reposts, or low-effort posts

This community is mostly for discussion and news. Remember to search for the thing you're submitting before posting to see if it's already been posted.

We want to keep the quality of posts high. Therefore, memes, funny videos, low-effort posts and reposts are not allowed. We prohibit giveaways because we cannot be sure that the person holding the giveaway will actually do what they promise.

5. Mark Spoilers and NSFW

Make sure to mark your stuff or it may be removed.

No one wants to be spoiled. Therefore, always mark spoilers. Similarly mark NSFW, in case anyone is browsing in a public space or at work.

6. No linking to piracy

Don't share it here, there are other places to find it. Discussion of piracy is fine.

We don't want us moderators or the admins of lemmy.world to get in trouble for linking to piracy. Therefore, any link to piracy will be removed. Discussion of it is of course allowed.

Authorized Regular Threads

Related communities

PM a mod to add your own

Video games

Generic

Help and suggestions

By platform

By type

By games

Language specific

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] tal@lemmy.today 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

D&D was optimized for pencil-and-paper-and-dice play. I mean, it has to keep the math simple to keep the game going.

I think that a ruleset optimized for computer RPGs would probably look somewhat different.

[–] jtrek@startrek.website 6 points 1 day ago (2 children)

It's funny because while 5e has simpler math than the predecessors, it's still kind of clunky. 1d20 + proficiency + modifier isn't that bad, but I've seen a lot of players who can't correctly add 16 + 7.

I really liked the nWoD system where you roll a bunch of d10s and just count how many came up >= 8. No addition or subtraction.

Also 1d20+stuff is flat probability, which feels bad.

I think that a ruleset optimized for computer RPGs would probably look somewhat different.

But also 100 times this. You could do so many things that would be painful to do by hand at the table.

[–] tal@lemmy.today 1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

1d20 + proficiency + modifier isn’t that bad, but I’ve seen a lot of players who can’t correctly add 16 + 7.

https://old.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/1jphv4b/favorite_calculator_for_the_table/

Having done a lot of digital GMing recently, I had the sudden realization that a physical calculator with buttons has sped up my play immensely.

One can grab an inexpensive calculator if it's a matter of being able to do it at all, I suppose. Or use a phone calculator app. But...even with a calculator, there are just going to be some limitations on how many modifiers one can reasonably have and how they can interact. Like, if you have, say, four or five inputs for a check that all have percentile modifiers from various equipment or spells or statuses or whatever, it just starts to become a pain to deal with. A computer won't notice that, and there, it's fine. But for TTRPGs, one doesn't want to turn a play session into a bunch of people just playing Sim Spreadsheet. Kinda bogs down the game, kills the flavor.

I bet that there are some people who won't even play D&D in its present form because of the math.

searches

https://old.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/177rybf/have_a_friend_who_struggles_at_math_what_can_i_do/

I have a friend of mine who's very interested in playing DND, and TTRPGs in general. However, he's admitted to me, and I have genuine proof, that he struggles with even the simplest concepts of math (such as addition or subtraction). Does any other DMs or players (or, hell, anyone really) have any advice to lessen the amount of math that needs to be done, or even make it a no-math sort of deal? Much appreciated!

[–] TipRing@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The variance on a single d20 is miserable after playing games with better probability curves.

[–] Droechai@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I love the three d6 curve from Hero System

[–] TipRing@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I like Fudge dice, but understand if people want higher variance than that. I do like that characters tend to succeed at things they are good at (but not always) and fail at things they are bad at (but not always). Some people liken this to diceless, but my experience is that it's just enough variance to keep you on your toes and add drama.

[–] Droechai@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 points 19 hours ago

Iron Kingdoms uses a nice system too, where the better your are the less variance your roll get.