What do you think of the die mechanic?

Andrea · Post by **Andrea** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 7:52 am

But anyway, nothing beats the good old fashioned dice rolling, at least for me, who have the luxury of a sizeable good of friends within reach.
By the way, have the chars in OVA been played by someone, or did you make them up for the book only? Sorry if it has already been asked.

Post by **Clay** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 10:53 am

Kinda like no pdf can beat a good book. ^_^ I guess we'll always strive for the tactile -.o

Anyway, no, I created all the characters. However, Shou and Raine's STATS (not their backgrounds) were inspired by a playtest match. It was a test of Agility vs. Quick to see if one was more powerful than the other. Was a REALLY close match.

The Fifth Wanderer · Post by **The Fifth Wanderer** » Sat Mar 19, 2005 12:39 pm

I like the dice mechanic for OVA. Clay has hit upon a basic principle of gaming: People like rolling LOTS of dice.

jblittlefield · Post by **jblittlefield** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 2:01 pm

The Fifth Wanderer wrote:I like the dice mechanic for OVA. Clay has hit upon a basic principle of gaming: People like rolling LOTS of dice.

Actually, over the past 27 years I have found the exact opposite to be true. Obviously, YMMV. I've never met anyone (system preferences aside) who would willingly choose to roll 4+ dice over 1-2 dice.

Overall, I like OVA, but the die mechanic is one of the few things I don't like. I much prefer the way Savage Worlds handles things - one die (which can be a d4, d6, d8, d10, or d12) represents the skill or attribute and a Wild Die (always a d6) gives the little guy a chance to make a big contribution. IMHO, it's a faster and smoother mechanic. One of the reasons I ported OVA to SW instead of the other way around.

Post by **Clay** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 7:18 pm

Fair enough. ^^ As long as people find use for the game, I don't really mind how exactly they go about it.

But you may want to give OVA a try sometime when you're bored. The take-the-highest mechanic simplifies rolling lots of dice to a cursory glance.

And even if it was a pain to add all those figures, there was nothing quite so satisfying as unleashing your super-powerful attack in Champions and chugging a mass of dice bigger than your head... At least in OVA you don't have to ADD them. ^^

jblittlefield · Post by **jblittlefield** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 8:17 pm

Clay wrote:Fair enough. ^^ As long as people find use for the game, I don't really mind how exactly they go about it.

As long as you're getting paid, it's all gravy ...

Clay wrote:But you may want to give OVA a try sometime when you're bored. The take-the-highest mechanic simplifies rolling lots of dice to a cursory glance.

We did. The die mechanic and the fact that SW can handle anime by porting over a few choice "schticks" is what prompted us to stick with SW. We also tried RandomAnime and BESM with the same result.

Clay wrote:And even if it was a pain to add all those figures, there was nothing quite so satisfying as unleashing your super-powerful attack in Champions and chugging a mass of dice bigger than your head... At least in OVA you don't have to ADD them. ^^

True.