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NO DICE by Peter BarnardAs wargamers, dice come second nature to us. Rolling 2d6+1 or 1d3 is a simple task, and the d4 is no longer a source of bafflement. But have you ever gotten bored of the limitations of dice? Average Dice provide a new set of probabilities (as do the Extreme Dice given away at Salute a few years back), and we have all seen Games Workshop's artillery, jam and scatter dice (which bear a striking resemblance to the Backgammon Doubling Cube). There are other options however. Playing cards are an option many people have used. As well as providing the numbers 1 to 10, like the humble d10, there are also the face cards which have the capability to trigger special events or be used as 'get out of danger free' cards. You also have to watch out that you don't use up all the good cards leaving you with twos and threes! Cards also allow you to try clever things like playing within suits - a role playing game called Castle Falkenstein counts each card as a +1 to a statistic or +face value if it is the appropriate suit (clubs for physical, diamonds for mental etc). And don't forget the jokers whatever you do! For the more esoteric gamer there are Mah Jong tiles. A standard set has four sets of three suits from 1 to 10. It also has four of each dragon (red, white, and green), four of each compass direction (representing winds) and some sets have four seasons and four plants. Even if you only use the numbered tiles and dragons you still have an exotic, Eastern variant of the playing card, and if you work in the odd tiles for special events or as a timing system (eg the game ends when one of each wind is drawn) you have a stylish way of randomising your Kurosawa-inspired games. The fantasy western game Deadlands apparently uses poker chips for some elements. I haven't seen the game personally, but as the chips come in various denominations they could be used in 'bidding' systems - the game Mid East Peace requires players to secretly bid tokens, up to the number of units present, from their reserve to overcome the enemy. And finally if you really want a different system, you could also talk to anyone involved in EDNA (Ever Decreasing Number Allocation), these people look into alternate ways of running games. An EDNA game I once played in used card cutouts of enemy troops which the opponent blu-tacked within a 12cm square which was shown to the firer at a distance of several feet, the firer then nominated a grid reference, if the point specified was on the cutout it was hit and killed. Longer ranges used smaller cutouts, and cover was simply card shapes blu-tacked in front of the figure. This system was also used to get specific hit locations when shooting vehicles. Introducing new randomisers into games give a fresh feel to even the most jaded scenarios. Just remember to use moderation or variation will become 'standard' and stagnant. |