"In praise of The All-Knowing Odds Table" Topic
9 Posts
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mwindsorfw | 29 Nov 2018 9:35 p.m. PST |
In the Squardon Forward supplement to the Lardies Bag the Hun game, there is the All-Knowing Odds Table. It's a d10 table with results ranging from Very Likely to Very Unlikely. Think of it as a d10 Magic 8 Ball. I absolutely love the brilliant simplicity of the table. I'm running a WW2 Pacific campaign (think Guadalcanal). The idea was to focus on one U.S. fighter squadron, and have a framework for some land and naval battles. The table has worked wonderfully. "Will aircraft be grounded today?" "Will there be an air encounter?" "Will either side try to resupply tonight?" And, like magic, I get my answers. It is such a silly thing, but it works so well at randomizing events, that I'm going to copy it and use it with other games. |
Texas Jack | 30 Nov 2018 12:55 a.m. PST |
I couldn´t agree more! Over the summer I ran a solo Battle of Britain campaign and it was loads of fun. Now I´ve taken some of the components and placed them in a WWI squadron setting. |
Tom Molon | 30 Nov 2018 6:20 a.m. PST |
Sounds interesting – how does it work? |
advocate | 30 Nov 2018 6:46 a.m. PST |
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Texas Jack | 30 Nov 2018 7:46 a.m. PST |
@ Tom Molon The odds table is a very useful part of a set of campaign rules for WWII in the air called Squadron Forward. The table is used to determine specific things within the game rules, as well as for determining the odds for anything unexpected or unique that comes up. The rest of the rules are worth a look as well. You just bolt them onto whatever rules you normally use, in my case Bag the Hun, and away you go. |
mwindsorfw | 30 Nov 2018 7:52 a.m. PST |
Tom, it's just like the Magic 8 Ball. Ask anything: Are the Germans likely to have tanks? Is this damaged ship likely to make it back to port? But it can also be used for situations the rules just don't cover. Is it likely this random box is an IED? Is it likely my guy will find a stray ammo clip on the ground? You roll 1d10, and and get a range of likely to unlikely. Once you get your answer, you can roll your game's standard dice (say 1d10), and think "If I got a ‘Maybe' on the table, it will happen on a roll of 1-5." As I said, it's a silly way of doing it, but it works as well as anything else. If you want a ton of detail, you could have a specific table to address a particular issue. The All-Knowing Odds Table is exactly the opposite, and is geared towards low rules overhead. OTOH it can address everything you can think up. |
McLaddie | 30 Nov 2018 9:12 a.m. PST |
Does that mean there is an equal 10% chance of any of the events coming up on the table? |
Andrew Walters | 30 Nov 2018 10:15 a.m. PST |
I'd love to see this in action. I am not completely seeing how it wouldn't take over the game, because I can think of a lot of things people might want to check. But it could be cool. |
Andy ONeill | 30 Nov 2018 10:53 a.m. PST |
Normal distribution is very common. I'd go with 2d6 for this sort of generic thingummy. |
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