BIG & small EFFORT | Nightworm's Hack To ICRPG

[@KanesKiln]

🔥What ways can you think of using BIG and SMALL effort? MORE or LESS Time? Let's come up with a bunch of items/abilities/monsters/effects in the comments!

[@Runehammer1]

great idea

[@lilcwa]

I think the most important mechanical aspect to highlight for GMs is that advantage-style dice mechanics affect not only the AVERAGE of the result of the roll but also the SKEWNESS of its distribution. That means the probability distribution around its numerical average is no longer SYMMETRICAL. Make sure you want to greatly diminish one of extreme in the range of results when you apply to this modification to your dice. In the case of rolling any two identical dice and taking the highest, the probability distribution will increase in a LINEAR fashion in IDENTICAL increments between each adjacent step from the lowest result to the highest. The likelihood ratio for the highest result relative to the lowest result on using advantage on any two N-sided dice will be (2N-1), so a 10 on a D10 rolled with advantage is 19 TIMES as likely as a 1. (The average is 7.15 instead of 5.5 on a normal roll.)

[@j.ghostington]

What a fantastically elegant idea. That's a big eye opener for not only ICRPG, but any sort of game mechanic in general. Thanks for sharing Kane!

[@KanesKiln]

I know right!? I really think NightWorm landed on something really potent with this one.

[@j.ghostington]

Agreed!

[@pyrix137]

Grab a fate/fudge die and you've got a random "big, small, normal" modifier die.

[@dirkvoltaar]

This is awesome! I’m converting another game system to ICRPG and this will be super useful.

[@SkittleBombs]

Also if you see what DC20 is going with thier d20 roll over system is you get bonus damage for roll intervals of 5 more than the Target number. So you could get big effort if you rolled to hit 18 total on a 13 Target number, or if you rolled a 21 total against it be HARD 16. That way you are rewarded for rolling high on the to hit stage. If we use small/big if you HIT a monster that is resistant or Weak to the damage type so you dont have to edit the TN to Easy/Hard to hit

[@JohnFlanaganII]

I really love this idea. I've been trying to find a way to have checks matter more so was thinking about adding a d6 or something but didn't quite have my head wrapped around it. Totally going to use this. Roll 3+ over the target and roll Big Effort. Heck I might even have 1 under target be small effort just to give more chances to keep things moving.

[@lilcwa]

I use Advantage often as a mechanic to enhance Effort for certain homebrew monsters and magic items. In a recent adventure scenario, I had a monster roll Effort with “Explosive Advantage”; not only taking the higher of two Effort rolls, but rolling again if a maximum value result is rolled on either die, to be added to the max result for an occasional BIG damage spike.

[@KanesKiln]

Love that! Even more dialed in variation. Getting really refined there Chris ;)

[@FugueNation]

I love this idea, however I do get a bit tripped up on Big/Small. I. think I’ll use Powerful/Weak, maybe Urgent and Relaxed timers

[@KanesKiln]

Also good words! I feel like whatever words flow more naturally for you, use those. The idea remains the same so go for it!

[@LawsonPhoenix89]

Dig it

[@therizinosauruscheloniform2162]

Simple and clean! I love it!

[@seanstephens4359]

Love these videos!!!

[@SkittleBombs]

Big ultimate came in clutch on your first example, getting a 1 on your ult ALWAYS sucks :(

[@JohnSmith-tc7ti]

Up or down? Fewer letters can really help when writing those rules and guidelines.

[@Drunk-Mosquitos]

A barbed club could do big damage. I think tying in the old tag system to items with big or small effort could add flavor to an item. Hyper charge your plasma blaster for 10 shots of big effort, but it turns to small effort after those shots.

[@graememoore7303]

How is this different to Easy and Hard targets?

[@KanesKiln]

EASY and HARD is adjusting the TARGET by +3/-3 making it easier or more difficult to pass a check. BIG and SMALL is adjusting the amount of effort you might deal to a task.

[@graememoore7303]

Ok, got it. Thanks!

[@johnqglass]

What dice rolling app were you using?

[@KanesKiln]

It'd an app I found for the iPad called Mighty Dice. I was trying to find something with a green background so I could phase that out, but there was nothing out there that I liked quite as much haha

[@johnqglass]

Thanks! @@KanesKiln

[@loconius]

I’m not understanding why you wouldn’t always use big effort?

[@loconius]

Ah okay it’s a tool for the GM, I get it now! I like!