Usually, I like to work out the results in advance with the other player for two reasons. First, the narrative often determines who wins or loses; in a plot, for instance, the bad guy might need to win for his plan to proceed, or the players might need to stomp the waves of bad guys to get to their objective. In both cases, the story makes clear what the appropriate result is. Second, outside of a larger story, the situation and character concepts can usually decide who would win. If some Roegadyn bruiser decides to crack L'yhta upside the head at a bar, she obviously loses (unarmed, not expecting an attack, etc.). Conversely, if some random thug tries to jump her while she's out adventuring, the thug obviously loses ("I run at you with a sword!" "In response, Flare.") Once the outcome is clear, we just write out how we get there.
I really don't like random rolls without any form of level or situational modifier. I understand the argument that even the mighty can be felled by bad luck, but it's quite immersion-breaking for me when Random Newbie Adventurer Who Just Grabbed a Sword can drop an archmage through sheer luck. That's like letting a critical hit from a level 1 fighter drop a dragon. It just doesn't work for me.
I used to use more detailed dicing systems for combat and other uncertain situations, but having to tab out to roll is a pain, and I found that while people often enjoyed specifying their characters in fairly lightweight game systems, actually doing stuff with them proves to be challenging. One thing I've been kicking around is adapting a token-based bidding system I use for tabletop games to plots, because that serves the primary role of preventing people from dominating the narrative while dramatically simplifying the system's usage in play. In this system, if you want to win a fight, you just have to be willing to bid more tokens than the other guy (and more skilled people have more "free tokens" in their areas of expertise) -- but in doing so, you reduce the number of tokens you have available for other tasks in the plot.
In general, though, I typically run with whatever most people want to do. If the system really rubs me the wrong way, I'll just take a dive and quietly bow out.
I really don't like random rolls without any form of level or situational modifier. I understand the argument that even the mighty can be felled by bad luck, but it's quite immersion-breaking for me when Random Newbie Adventurer Who Just Grabbed a Sword can drop an archmage through sheer luck. That's like letting a critical hit from a level 1 fighter drop a dragon. It just doesn't work for me.
I used to use more detailed dicing systems for combat and other uncertain situations, but having to tab out to roll is a pain, and I found that while people often enjoyed specifying their characters in fairly lightweight game systems, actually doing stuff with them proves to be challenging. One thing I've been kicking around is adapting a token-based bidding system I use for tabletop games to plots, because that serves the primary role of preventing people from dominating the narrative while dramatically simplifying the system's usage in play. In this system, if you want to win a fight, you just have to be willing to bid more tokens than the other guy (and more skilled people have more "free tokens" in their areas of expertise) -- but in doing so, you reduce the number of tokens you have available for other tasks in the plot.
In general, though, I typically run with whatever most people want to do. If the system really rubs me the wrong way, I'll just take a dive and quietly bow out.
The Freelance Wizard
Quality RP at low, low prices!
((about me | about L'yhta Mahre | L'yhta's desk | about Mysterium, the Ivory Tower: a heavy RP society of mages))
Quality RP at low, low prices!
((about me | about L'yhta Mahre | L'yhta's desk | about Mysterium, the Ivory Tower: a heavy RP society of mages))
