Dicing Adavntage/Disadvantage

#1

Being a recent convert from DD5e, I really like the power and flexibility of D&D’s Advantage/Disadvantage mechanic. In my game last night, I came up with what I think approximates that mechanic in DW.

When a roll is to be made with Advantage, 2d6 are rolled. The higher result is taken as the value for both dice and any relevant bonuses are applied. The lower value die is used when Disadvantage is applied.

This seemed to work well as anticipated. However, since I’m pretty new to this system, it left me wondering if this mechanic wasn’t replacing or throwing off another aspect of DW. Thoughts?

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#2

There was a really good thread about this awhile ago that mathed out different advantage/disadvantage possibilities, specifically for the spreads of PBTA dice. Might be worth a look.

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#3

Thanks. I’ll check it out

#4

I just did a quick scan of DW and didn’t notice any mention of (dis)advantage…if that’s true, I understand where you’re coming from! And I’m a little surprised DW doesn’t make that a convention in the standard rules.

In most PbtA games, (dis)advantage usually requires the player roll 3d6 instead of 2d6 and, if they have advantage, sum the two highest numbers (and discard the lowest), while the opposite is true for disadvantage.

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#5

Nice alternative to what I had come up with.

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#6

And using that version is what averages a +1.5 higher roll. This is going to flatten out the bonuses if used instead of +1 forward or other stat based + to your rolls. It seems like it would be less of an improvement in Dungeon World in comparison to many other PbtA games.

#7

One weird quirk of the system is that you always roll an even number. Which means that a +1 is just as good as a +2 for hitting the 7+ threshold. And +2 is just as good as +3 at hitting the 10+ threshold.

#9

There are a lot of PbtA games that have come out in the past three or so years that have incorporated an Advantage/Disadvantage mechanic. Generally, the Advantage/Disadvantage mechanic replaces the “+/-1 forward/ongoing” mechanic of earlier PbtA games. Generally, you throw an extra die, and take the highest two (advantage) or lowest two (disadvantage).

Dungeon World is a first-generation PbtA game, and it has some flaws that become obvious after you’ve played it for some time. While the original authors don’t seem to be inclined to revisit DW for second edition, there are many other PbtA games that you can look to for inspiration for hacking DW into the game you want it to be.

I’m really impressed by Jeremy Strandberg’s DW hack, “Homebrew World”. You might want to check it out: https://spoutinglore.blogspot.com/2018/07/homebrew-world.html

In particular, I like how he revised the Aid/Interfere mechanic to make it SO much easier to adjudicate at the table. I also like the complete rewrite to Parley, making it much more useful in-play. I also approve of the replacement of alignment with Drive.

In fact, I liked “Homebrew World” so much, I hacked it myself into: Ultraviolet World.

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#10

Thanks so much for the information. I’ll be sure to check this out.

#11

And I’m a little surprised DW doesn’t make that a convention in the standard rules.

Advantage/Disadvantage become a mainstream idea of TT RPGs when D&D 5 came out, but that was two years after DW was published. It might well have incorporated the idea if it had been written a few years later.

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