Project Nemesis is a fan driven website for games that use the One-Roll Engine (like Nemesis, Wild Talents, Reign and Monsters) or Chaosium's Basic Roleplay System (BRP) (like Call of Cthulhu) and the Delta Green setting.
One of the regular criticisms of the One Roll Engine is the (perceived
or real - debate rages) issue of whiff with dice pools lower than 6.The odds say with 4d you've got even odds of throwing some kind of set, but for whatever reason, it sometimes doesn't feel that way. And lets be honest- whiff sucks.
When I'm playing, I hate it. I hate coming up with some
cool action, and then having the dice come up junk, and having no
impact on the scene or larger action. Moving nothing along.
Accomplishing nothing.
In terms of opportunity to whiff, ORE is pretty tight- the single roll
means things revolve back around pretty quickly, without needing a lot
of table time to resolve everyone's action. Plus, you don't end up with
that final disappointing whiff after a chain of otherwise successful
rolls... the dreaded awesome hit stuck with a crappy damage roll.
But there's still whiff in the system, and more and more I've become obsessed with making failure interesting.
Not just in the descriptive sense via basic GM-FU, but in terms of
making it interesting for the player. Making failure of a declared
action into an opportunity a player will relish rather than into another a dull negation.
To this end, here's my first pass at a simple plug-in gadget you can use in your ORE implementation of choice.
Generally, I'd only give players access to these new rules. I wouldn't
use them for NPC's, unless they're really important and you want them
to have a little extra kick. It's also one more thing to keep track of
and you've likely got enough to worry about.
So, you declare, roll, resolve, and.... crap. You got nothing. Just a
pile of lose dice staring at your with those beady numeric eyes. What
good are they?
Look at them again.
What you're looking for here are sequential numbers. Straights.
A Straight gives you three pieces of information, but you only need one for the very basic implementation of this gadget.
Top - the highest number in the series.
Bottom - the lowest number in the series.
Length - how many dice are in the straight.
If you want to note these things in some kind of short-hand, write them this way:
T-L-B for example "10-3-8" would be a top-10, length-3, bottom-8
straight. You could figure this out with only the Length and one of the
endcaps, but this saves you doing any dirty dirty subtraction.
In the basic version of this gadget, you pick the one straight you want
to use, if you have more than one (picking for length, top, or bottom).
If you've got nothing at all in sequence via a really impressive 1, 3,
5, 7, 9 roll, then pick the single die you want to be your Length 1
straight.
Now you're wondering just what the hell good is a straight?
Your character's efforts to accomplish something tanked,
but you, the player, can still add something to the scene. A Straight
lets you declare something to be true in the scene, adding some
details, some advantageous bit of description, or whatever. Something
cool your character may or may not notice, but something that'll help.
Length is the number of dice this thing is worth. Throw a 3, 4, 5 and you've got a Length 3 straight that's worth 3 dice.
In the basic version, Length becomes a pool of bonus dice you can take
advantage of in the next round by describing how you exploit the
details you created. You notice your opponent is weak on his left side
when he hits you with his riposte or the sun breaking through the
clouds will be in his eyes if you move just so.
If you work it into your Declaration, you can throw those dice to
another player as an assist. "Hit him on the left! He's favoring his
hand!"
That's the simplest way to implement it- look for straights and add
bonus dice. These dice don't keep- use them for an immediate followup,
or lose them.
The more complex and customized version would employ Top and Bottom to potentially interesting (but more complex) ways.
Possible uses for Top and Bottom
Tables - little tables like you see in One Roll
generators which output specific kinds of detail frameworks based on
the specific ORE game you're playing. A Top of 9 could generate 'Monstrous Over-Enthusiasm' and a Bottom of 7 'Emergent Hazard'...
somebody's fire breath sets the roof on fire. Tables could also guide
the general nature of the advantage and then the type of action which
could benefit. You could end up with a Social advantage to a Physical
roll... your intimidating scream improves your chance to land a telling
blow.
Timing- Top could stand-in for Sense when declaring a
single action. Rather than gain bonus dice, you get a sudden
inspiration which allows you to make a sounder decision to act. Bottom
could stand in for Width when resolving your actions, as the advantage
you declare gives you a little edge in speed. Again, you get this
benefit rather than the bonus dice.
Who it Helps... or Hurts - if Top is even, you get the bonus dice. If Top is odd, the bonus dice are a penalty suffered
by an opponent. If Bottom is Even, you get the bonus (or to say who
suffers the penalty), if Odd, one of your allies gets the bonus, or
says who suffers.
I can think of half a dozen other schemes, but you get the idea.
So that's the gist of it. Straights get you a little something extra,
some brief external advantage or useful condition, as well as a little
bit of authorial license to add something cool to the scene outside
your character's actions. There is no whiff, because ever die roll made
by a player generates something.
What's the upshot of this?
There may be times when a player chooses to roll with a
small dice pool in order to generate straights. Blowing a roll means at
least 1 bonus die. A real expert might even use his wiggle dice to
extend a straight, and deliberately fail a roll. It becomes
self-limiting with higher dice pools, as the chances of success
essentially work on the inverse of straight generation.
Some questions...
Should rolls which are actively defeated be permitted to generate straights?
For example, should I get the benefits of a straight if I roll a 2x5 to
attack, but I get tagged for a 3x7 first and lose a dice from my set,
breaking it? How about if that die were gobbled by an opponent's
defensive action?
I'm inclined to say no, the straight should only be reserved for the true whiff, but it's open for debate.
I've been using Odd rolls to similar effects (any roll where all the Waste dice are odd creates an unusual or unexpected effect - that can either be helpful or harmful) but this is a great addition.
(Yes, my players also complain about the lower dice pools, despite the odds)
This is an awesome idea. I agree with the other comments: straights and sets are mutually exclusive.
The other thing I'd probably do is make it so that you can only give bonuses/penalties to others: Whiffing your roll means you personally get no benefit, but you do get to say something about the scene that affects others. In other words whiffing = depersonalized narrative control.
Based on some discussions with my players, I've gone for far simpler version.
A straight is any two or more consecutive numbers.
If a player fails a roll, but as a straight, they get a number of drama points to hand around the table to as many, or as few other players as they like. However, they cannot give them to themself.
If a straight is created, or previously exists, by a successful roll that has been gobbled then the player gets 1 drama point to distribute.
Arashi- Have you tried your version out in actual play? It sounds more complicated, not less, than the original. I'm open to either, just wondering if you'd implimented it yet.
Regarding the original idea, I wouldn't use Bottom, but you might use Top in the same manner as Height; ie. if you were rolling for an activity with a Difficulty, then your Top would have to match the Difficulty in order to gain the dice from the Straight. Just an idea.
ORE Rules 
