In some role-playing game systems, the dice pool is the number of dice that a player is allowed to roll when attempting to perform a certain action. A role-playing game ( RPG; often roleplaying game) is a Game in which the participants assume the roles of Fictional characters. For other uses see either Die or Dice (disambiguation. Dice (the Plural of Die, from Old French
In most RPG systems, most non-trivial actions require dice rolls. Most RPGs roll a fixed number of dice, add a number to the die roll based on the character's attributes and skills, and compare the resulting number with a difficulty rating. An attribute is a piece of data (a “ statistic ” that describes to what extent a Fictional character in a Role-playing game possesses a specific A statistic (or stat) in Role-playing games is a piece of Data which represents a particular aspect of a Fictional character. However, in some systems the character's attributes and skills determine the number of dice to be rolled. In some systems (such as the Storyteller System) the number on each die is compared with the difficulty rating, and the number of dice whose number exceeds the difficulty gives the degree of success. Storytelling System, formerly Storyteller System, is a Role-playing game system created by White Wolf Inc In others (such as Over the Edge) the dice are totalled and compared with the difficulty rating. Over the Edge is a surreal Role-playing game of secrets and conspiracies taking place on the mysterious Island of Al Amarja. (Famously, early versions of the Storyteller system sometimes made rolling botches (critical failures) more likely the higher your skill or attribute was. )
Penalties may temporarily reduce the dice pool for one or more skills (for example, a leg wound may reduce the dice pool for actions such as running, climbing, and jumping). Occasionally the dice pool can be increased (for example, a character may focus her attention and temporarily gain dice for observation-related skills).
The first widely successful game to feature dice pools was Greg Costikyan's Star Wars Role-Playing Game (1987), developing a system pioneered the year before in the Ghostbusters RPG by Greg Stafford, Lynn Willis, and Sandy Petersen. Greg Costikyan, also known as Designer X, is an American Game designer and Science fiction writer The Star Wars Roleplaying Game is a Role-playing game (RPG set in the Star Wars universe written and published by West End Games Ghostbusters is a Comedy Role-playing game (RPG designed by Sandy Petersen, Lynn Willis, and Greg Stafford, and published For Greg Stafford the Australian rules football player in the AFL, see Greg Stafford (footballer. Lynn Willis is a Wargame and Role-playing game designer who has done work for Metagaming Concepts, Game Designers' Workshop, and Chaosium Carl Sanford Joslyn Petersen (born September 16, 1955) is a Game designer. (Both games were published by West End Games; Costikyan consulted on Ghostbusters. ) This was followed by Over the Edge (1992) and Vampire: The Masquerade (1992), both of which were based upon a project between Jonathan Tweet and Mark Rein-Hagen which followed their development of Ars Magica for Lion Rampant. Over the Edge is a surreal Role-playing game of secrets and conspiracies taking place on the mysterious Island of Al Amarja. Created by Mark Rein·Hagen, Vampire The Masquerade was the first of White Wolf Game Studio's World of Darkness live-action Jonathan Tweet is a Game designer who has been involved in the development of the Role-playing games Ars Magica, Everway Mark Rein·Hagen (often written Rein-Hagen) is a role-playing, card, video and Board game designer best known as the creator Ars Magica is also the title of a book by Judith Tarr. Ars Magica is a Role-playing game set in Mythic Europe The Royal Standard of Scotland, also known as the Royal Standard of the King of Scots or more commonly the Lion Rampant was the flag used historically by the