Black Ops using a D10?

[H.M.Stanley]

What do you think are the pros and cons of using a D10 rather than a D6?

I didn't like the rules for halving the number of shots when you needed a 7+

[fastolfrus]

D10 gives you the chance of simple percentage based rolls so you can factor in more things (range, terrain/cover, aiming etc).

D6 is more complex for factoring in the difficult stuff, and the only easy way to factor in is to use 2 rolls, a shooting roll (modified by aiming, possibly range) and a save roll (modified by cover and possibly range if it wasn't in the other modifier).

But 2D6 don't convert so easily to percentages so you'd need to google the percentages (unless you're good at maths analysis).

[H.M.Stanley]

Thanks. I'm thinking about simply replacing the D6 with D10.

Just wondering if it would overly favour ACC5 troops or whether it would balance out

[GuyB]

You'd need to rebalance the entire system - otherwise you just made shooting extremely lethal! When I first wrote it, i looked at all sort of dice. Sure you an add more depth with a D10 but that means a longer list of dice modifiers. So I stuck with the more common D6 - virtually every gamer had D6!

If you're set on D10's then adjust the ACC as follows:
ACC 6 = ACC 9
ACC 5 = ACC 7
ACC 4 = ACC 5
ACC 3 = ACC 3

Double the modifiers and I'm sure it'll work ok. Not as intended but then I chose D6 for good reason.

Guy

[H.M.Stanley]

Thanks for the feedback Guy.

I take the point about not making ACC5 troops too accurate.

Still, I do like the idea of using a D10 (it's not like they're not easily available) and not halving shots ...

Best, James

[fastolfrus]

Mis read the question - hadn't realised you were looking at a specific rule set and not just generalising.

[Hamilkar]

Also, d6 rolls are fairly easy to manipulate unless the game requires multiple die thrown at one time or the use of a die tower. 

As mentioned earlier, d10 allows for an incremental increase/decrease of a 10% probability (roll of ten needed equates to a 10% chance, where as 9 or 10 equates to 20% success rate), where as a d6 results in an incremental increase/decrease of 16.7% per additional number needed.  The d10 allows for much minor increase/decrease in success compared to d6.  This is why most d6 games require the throwing of many dice, which helps smooth out the wide spread (16.7% per pip) between numbers by increasing the population of results (sheer number of dice thrown).

Thank you for humoring me and allowing me to ramble. 

[GuyB]

There was recent columns in Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy by Rick Priestley in praise of the D10 and by Rich Clarke in praise of the D6!

Still, I do like the idea of using a D10 (it's not like they're not easily available) and not halving shots ... Wink

Says the insurgent player... 

Guy

[H.M.Stanley]

Painting up Brits at the moment Guy. You've obviously forgotten that I've played you at WAB. You're not without form yourself ...