The 2512 and 2840 games continue in the tradition of 2nd edition VtM by using a dice pool system. Unlike D&D and Pathfinder games which use a wide variety of polyhedral dice, and resolve most in game actions by rolling a 20-sided die, 2512 and 2840 only use ten-sided dice (abbreviated as d10). To play these games each player will need approximately ten to fifteen d10’s. The GM may need as many as twenty dice to reflect the expanded dice pools of high-level characters, but for the most part the average roll will utilize between two and six d10’s.
Attributes as Fuel
When determining a character’s available dice pool always start with their Attributes. The 2512 system has nine Attributes: Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, Charisma, Manipulation, Appearance, Perception, Intelligence, and Wits. Think of these traits as fuel. If a character wants to lift a rock, do they have the necessary Strength to fuel that action? If a character wants to get a discount on an item, do they have the Manipulation necessary to barter with the shop keeper? For any action requiring a roll of the dice to determine the outcome, the GM will select one of these nine attributes to govern the roll. For example, Mary is playing the character Arslan de Silva. During a session, Arslan attempts to remember the vehicle registration number of a mech that went missing. The GM tells Mary to roll Arslan’s Intelligence Attribute to see if the character can recall this information. The GM will also assign a difficulty to the roll with six being standard. Mary checks her character sheet and notes that Arslan has an Intelligence score of 4. This means Mary will get to roll up to 4 dice representing her character’s intelligence score. When Mary rolls her four d10’s she scores a 2, 6, 7, and a 9. Three of these results met or exceeded the difficulty set by the GM resulting in Mary’s character correctly recalling the vehicle registration number.
It is worth noting here that a player may opt to hold some of their “fuel” in reserve for any given round. This tactic is known as splitting the dice pool and it most frequently occurs with the Dexterity Attribute during a physical action sequence. For example, Jake is playing the character Zahlen ben Ali. During an action sequence, Jake tells the GM that Zahlen will climb a rope to get on to a ledge where fighting is taking place. However, Jake also wants Zahlen to be ready to act once he climbs the rope successfully. Since Zahlen has a Dexterity score of 4, Jake tells the GM that he is using two of his four dice to climb the rope while holding the other two dice in reserve for when he reaches the top. The GM assigns a difficulty of six to this roll, and Jake rolls a 4 and a 9. With one success, Zahlen climbs the rope and reaches the top to discover that his friend Omar is in danger. Jake tells the GM that he will use his last two dice to get in between Omar and his attacker. This time, Jake rolls a 7 and an 8 with a difficulty = 6, so Zahlen was able to both climb the rope and place himself in a protective position all in the same round.
Abilities as Performance Enhancement
The second part of a character’s available dice pool comes from their Ability score. Abilities are less like fuel and more like a performance enhancing agent—something that is added to the fuel to make it more effective. Like an Attribute, a Character can only roll the dice for an Ability score once once per round. For example a character with a Dexterity score of two and an Athletics score of two can roll up to four dice in a round to perform athletic or acrobatic maneuvers. Unlike an Attribute, a player cannot roll dice for their Ability score alone. For example, if the player with a Dexterity score of two and an Athletics score of two already rolled both of their Dexterity dice making an attack earlier in the round, they cannot roll their raw Athletics score to jump across a chasm since they are out of Dexterity-based fuel. Once a player has exhausted their Attribute dice, they cannot take another action during the round even if they still have unused Ability dice.
For example, Jake’s character Zahlen is being attacked by two assailants at once. Jake tells the GM that he will split his Stamina Dice pool (three dice) and his Survival Dice pool (two dice) to try to soak the damage. All totaled, Jake has five total dice to play with--three "fuel" dice from the Stamina Attribute, and two enhancement dice from the Survival Ability. Jake reserves two Stamina dice to fuel his defense for the first attack and one Stamina die to fuel his defense for the second attack. If a third attacker later engages Jakes character during the round, he will be out of Stamina dice and cannot roll to soak anymore of the damage until the next round begins.
Helpful Links for Dice Mechanics
Comments