Rolling Dice - Opposed vs. Static
In most RPGs that I’ve played, rolls tend to be against static difficulty numbers. However, more recently, there have been more games that do opposed rolls. Today, I’m going to talk about the differences between the two, and which I like and why.
Definitions
To begin with, let’s define opposed and static.
- An opposed roll is where both parties roll dice and compare
- A static roll is where one party rolls the dice, and compares that result to a target number
Examples
The classic example of static rolls is D&D. You make an attack roll vs. AC, or make a Heal check vs. the DC of the poison. Heck, in 4th Edition you roll Stealth vs. their Passive Perception. Again, only rolling on one side.
For opposed rolls, the most recent example I can think of is any of the Cortex Plus games: Smallville, Leverage, Dragon Brigade, or the up-coming Marvel Heroic Role Play. Anytime anyone rolls dice, it’s opposed by either another character or the GM. Even when there’s no character opposing you, the GM still has a pool of dice to roll.
Most games fall somewhere in the middle. For example, the old-school West End Games Star Wars RPG - you know, the one that uses d6s (how many of you didn’t know there was a SWRPG that predated WotC?) - uses both. Most rolls are opposed: you rolled your Blaster skill vs. their Dodge, or Search vs. their Sneak. However, there are still static difficulty numbers, ranging from Very Easy to Heroic+.
Even FATE is a mixture. When there is another character opposing you, you roll off, otherwise roll vs. a static number.
Opposed Rolls - Positives
Opposed rolls are useful because they empower players and draw their attention. When your character is acting - or reacting! - it feels good to roll your dice; it makes it feel like your character’s skill is important. Also, it keeps the player’s attention. If they have to roll dice, they’ll want to know what’s going on so they know what to roll.
Another nice thing about opposed rolls is ease for GMs. As a GM, the thing that I dislike the most is trying to figure out “What’s the difficulty of this?” With opposed rolls, you don’t need to worry about it. You just pick up the dice and roll ‘em!
Lastly, opposed rolls simulate strokes of luck really well. Even if the “difficulty” is the same, the dice won’t normally give the same result twice in a row. Go ahead, roll 4d6 ten times. Look at that distribution. Some times it rolls high, other times not so much. Nothing in life is static, why should difficulty numbers be?
Opposed Rolls - Negatives
The major drawback of opposed rolls is time. For a fair number of games, you need to figure out what you’re rolling. For example, in Smallville, what Value are you using, what Relationship? Are you challenging either of them? What about Assets or Resources? If you take any of the World of Darkness game, what attribute and skill are you using? Do you have any superpowers that add to that? Oh, don’t forget about Willpower points!
It does take a while to get your dice together if you aren’t paying that much attention. In addition, you have to do this twice per roll - once for the actor and once for the reactor.
After you’ve rolled the dice, you still have to add them up. It doesn’t matter if it’s WoD-style counting successes or Cortex+ adding actual numbers, twice the rolling is twice the math.
Static Rolls - Positives
The good about static rolls are inversely related to opposed rolls. Static rolls are quick, the actor rolls the dice and tries to beat That Number. Less math, only one person rolling the dice, and most of the time you know what number you need to beat†.
Also, when doing the same roll a couple of times (for extended actions, for example), it goes quicker since you have all the math done.
Static Rolls - Negatives
My biggest problem with static rolls is coming up with difficulties. Either it’s too formulaic (4e) where there’s little room for eyeballing it, or it’s really free-form (FATE) where it seems to be nothing more than “pick one and have fun!”
Another downside (for me) is the sameyness of static rolls. I don’t have the best of memories, so sometimes I change the difficulties without meaning to. For those at my table with better memories, they’d be like “Why’d it change? What’s made it harder/easier since last time?” To which I’d reply, “Umm…oops…?”
Static or Opposed?
That’s not a question that can really be answered. All of the above blather has been from my experience and my preferences. As stated above, both have good points and bad points…usually, the good of one is the bad of another. In my experience, it’s really a personal preference.
Heck, personal preference or not, most games lean one way or another by default, so it takes work to get it to lean the other way. I’m not saying it’s too much work, I’m just saying each game has its preference.
†Of course, that’s just my take on things. I don’t see the point of hiding the target number from my players. Other GMs like to keep things secret. That’s cool, too. Your table, your rules!
