Do you consider WFRP3's dice system to be the greatest ever? If not, which system has it beat and why? forum.rpg.net/showthread.php

For me, those sorts of questions are always loaded with circumstantial value assessments, caveats and addendums that it's really hard to give what I would call a "fair" answer. I think that the dice mechanic in WFRP3 is probably the most "interesting" dice system I've ever encountered but to then attempt to call it the "bestest EVAR" would be a bit of a fallacy.

I have played countless dice mechanics in my time in the RPG hobby and while I've made my assessments about the relative quality of them against each other, the truth that became apparent to me is that there is no universally "best" dice mechanic. There are dice mechanics that are "best" for creating a particular style of game play or for reinforcing a particular mood/theme/genre/setting/story structure, but even that is burdened with personal preferences and opinions.

I like WFRP3's dice mechanic a lot. It is one of the most exciting and imaginative dice systems I've played in a while. Is it a mechanic that I would convert for use in other RPGs? Probably not but then, that's because I believe the mechanics should be used in an RPG to create a distinct experience and one that is tailor-made to emulate the sort of game you are playing. This is the reason why there are thousands of RPGs out there and why, even amongst my half-dozen very favorite RPGs, no two of them use the same dice system.

Food for thought...

It depends on what type of game you want to play etc.

For free form open mechanices and don't need no special stuff, Cthulhu Dark is sweet but expects lots of creativity.

For "still don't need no special stuff, and we'll settle anything in three rolls tops but create lots of ebb and flow and story", In a Wicked Age is sweet.

For, "we've taken the funky multidemsional resultion theory of indie gaming of yes/no, yes but, no but, yes and, no and, built it into a dice mechanic and smuggled that theory into your head without preaching at you", yup Warhammer is pretty sweet.

I am a big fan of the percentile system used in Eclipse Phase as well... but yea; WFRPG 3e has one of the best dice mechanics I have ever had the pleasure of using.

I like WFRP's dice mechanic a lot, especially for a mainstream RPG. The symbols make sense to me, they're easy to interpret, and they invite the players to come up with their own narrative about what happened. But I also love a lot of nonstandard systems, too.

I really like the Tarot card (instead of dice) system used by Fortune's Fool for two reasons: 1) the GM never pulls cards, so the players feel as though all the "real work" is in their hands, and 2) you can change the makeup deck as you play, so you can manipulate not only your own outcomes, but those of all of the other players and the NPCs, too.

I also adore Burning Wheel's system, not really because of the dice rolls themselves, but because of the distinction the system draws between Intent vs.Task. (Intent is the overall outcome the player wants the test to have, task is the way he plans to do it.) The negotiation that goes on while player and GM clarify Intent and Task means that the storytelling ends up being not solely in the hands of the GM, the player, or the dice, but a mix of all three. You can have this in WFRP's dice mechanic, but it's not as explicitly a goal of the system as it is in BW.

As a GM whole loves to tell a tale (and allow the players to tell theirs), I like the WFRP3 system a lot.

Is it the greatest ever? Not quite so sure on that, but it's definitely in the top 3.

Ok best dice system..... thats a tough one,

Digging back into the past of Fantasy Flight Games I have to say Fireborn had a fairly intuitive dice system, and more importantly it didn't get in the way of the roleplay.

DH/RT/DW/2ndEDWHFRP - a good solid system that was robust enough to coupe with most of what my rp group could through at me (a feat in its self)

WHFRP 3rd ed - I've still not managed to convince any of my group to give this a crack despite those that have playtested it with me saying they all love the dice system (and hate the number of cards......)

but for me the current 'Best' dice system has to be Cthulhutech's poker-styled d10 system - it is flexible enough i'm planning on using it for a custom fan RP in the future.

Though having said all that it really is down to the group preference - we like our systems to favour the ROLEplaying over the ROLLplaying if you catch my drift

Surak

There will probably never be a universally best dice mechanic, but they can be favorited by individuals.

I enjoy d20, WFRP, Hackmaster Basic, Old school DnD and a lot of others. But people will always choose something else. I am a gamer. I will try ANYTHING once.

A good gm can make a crappy game look awesome and a crappy GM can make a great game look really bad. If im not having fun with a game, sometimes I associate that with the system instead of the real problem. Im only human after all.

Last session I found the dice mechanism fascinating for social interaction and investigation. It was really fun. Because the dice tell you so much about what happens apart from the mere fact whether the roll was a success or not. Okay, it was a success, so the players get the information they wanted, but because of a chaos star they get in a fight with the informant. Or because of a comet the merchant they haggled with can give them an important clue, even if haggling hasn't gone so well. Because of the dice mechanism there happen such a lot of things neither the players nor the GM have planned. You are always inspired to digress from the script. I really like that about the WFRP3rd dice.