Reducing the number of dice

Did you consider a CRT? Do anyone seriously consider using a CRT these days? Because I often see these systems using dice in ways that just seems to add complexity (and maths) that would be easier to do with just a small table, making the possible outcomes obvious and quick to calculate (and as a bonus they make it possible to completely tailor the probability distribution to what you want it to be, not being restricted by various tricks on looking for sides on combinations of dice).

I think CRTs (and tables) deserve to have a comeback sometime soon, because that would simplify many games and also allow them to have more interesting random outcomes without all the complexities and amount of stuff to remember with rolling dice with symbols or numbers on them and having to manually sort out what the results were.

I have an hard time understanding your question.

- How many dice do you roll
- How much faces do they have
- What do you do with the results (Math or comparison)

Certain dice systems can have more variables than other systems. You might want to list the variables that you want to influence the system.

For example:

Roll X dice where the nb of dice greater or equal to Y must exceed Z

has much more variables than the roll

Roll 1 Die + X that must exceed Y

In a recent example, somebody triggered an event while rolling 2D6 with the same face. Which gives 1/6 chance of success, so rather simply roll a single D6 and trigger on any number you like.

You can look at some probability tables here can compare with your probabilities:

http://bgd.lariennalibrary.com/index.php?n=DesignMaterial.Material200907...

Rolling 10D6 is a lot, you can use the law of average if you want.

In average with 6D6 you would hit once (for 6+). So you could for example with 10D6 hit once + 4/6 chance to hit a second time ( 6 + 4 = 10). This is just an idea that could solve your problem.

CRT = Combat Resolution Table. Very common in older war-games. Less common in recent war-games.

So instead of rolling some number of dice and using some algorithm to calculate what happens, you roll one or two dice and then just look in a table and get the answer in an instant.

And also the other way around, if the player wants to know what the possible outcomes are and how likely they are, they just need to look in the table. No need for maths. Or at least a lot less need.

CRTs can be printed on dice instead. Sort of. But I have not heard of anyone doing that since Reisswitz in his Kriegsspiel 1824. Lots of numbers on each side of those dice. Not sure how big they were, but probably a lot bigger than most common dice, or they had very small digits.