Sunday, October 10, 2010

Dice in game books part 3 - Blocking Victory








If maths doesn't thrill you, skip over the probability part.


For an introduction to probability, try this:

There are 36 possible permutations when you roll 2 dice:




Hmm. Not looking good is it?



You're stuffed.



Even a small change in skill rapidly decreases your chances.





There are a few ways around it such as:




Some later ones got worse in terms of unfairness.






I guess it's all about the skill in Fighting Fantasy.





  1. That's some interesting maths calculations!

    I must admit that I always automatically won dice combats too. But, after seeing the probability that you've mentioned, it almost seems like a no-brainer to "cheat" :)

    I also wanted to mention, that my friend and I have been writing a Sci-Fi gamebook for the iPhone by trying to make combats more gamer friendly. Since, it's an iPhone gamebook, we're replacing dice combat with real-time mini game based combat. We're using these mini-games to determine an encounter's outcome, so there is no random loss or 'luck' involved. Just thought you would like to check it out:

  2. Looks interesting, Suresh. I think that most gamebooks would be much better without a random element - it has to be done very well to get it right. The last thing you want is people thinking your gamebook as unfair. I look forward to experiencing it.

  3. Totally agree on the random being unfair bit. It's equally unfair when some gamebooks make random death choices. "You open the door and fall into a deep pit and die". okaaaay, how was I supposed to know that?

    In fact, by completely replacing random encounters with mini-games, we've found that people who are new to the gamebook genre are also able to play Star Breed a lot more easily. Hopefully, we can do our bit in getting more people to experience gamebooks. We're like the Wii of gamebooks :)

    BTW, we've just submitted to Apple, so I'll let you know once we launch...

  4. Lloyd, just wanted to let you know that our game's out now on the App Store, in case you want to check it out:

  5. The most unfair fight in all of FF is of coarse the laughable Razaak in the awful Crypt of the Sorcerer. I'd like you to do the odds of winning *that* fight.

