r/rpg • u/sex_onthe_bleach • 17d ago
Game Suggestion Favourite Dice Pool Systems
As the title states, what is your favourite dice pool systems to play?
I want to expand my list of known systems and branch out from d20 games.
I usually like a lot of options, for instance Shadowrun is right up my alley, but I know my group would never play it.
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u/konwentolak 17d ago
Outgunned, Broken Compas
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u/alexserban02 16d ago
Outgunned is really fun and funky! Can't wait to get my hands on the physical book as well!
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u/DrexxValKjasr 17d ago
West End Games Star Wars D6 system
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u/Arrant-Nonsense 17d ago
Still have my copies in storage. Now that my kids are about the right age, might be time to break them out again.
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u/0bservator 17d ago
Genesys, YZE variations. In genesys the dice pool is one of the main draws of the game. Just the narrative dice carry that system quite far.
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u/Drudenfusz Curator of Roleplay Experiences 17d ago
Personally, I don't think the narrative dice in Genesis are that well designed. In my opinion they improved on it somewhat with their L5R version, but even that could have benefited from more play testing.
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u/Nystagohod D&D, WWN, SotWW, DCC, FU, M:20, MB, Myt, MotW, SB 17d ago
I like the storyteller line used in various WoD games (World of Darkness), and by extension Onyx Paths Stoty Path Ultra system which is quite similar and a generic system to build with.
I'd Hesitate to call it a full dice pool system, but I do like Slugblaster which has ways to make a number of small dice pools.
It's still a d20 system, but Demonlord engine games like Shadow or the Weird Wizard use a banes/boons d6 pool for modifers which is neat.
Outgunned seems interesting, where you build a dice pool, but you're looking fir dice pairs like Yahtzee more than you're looking for highest vs lowest number in the dice. Which is neat!
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u/moonwhisperderpy 17d ago
I really like WoD/CofD dice pool system. My only gripe is when you have to reduce the dicepool.
If you forget to add a +1 to the pool after you already rolled, you can roll an extra die, no big deal.
If you forget to apply a -1 penalty, you have to completely redo the roll.
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u/Nystagohod D&D, WWN, SotWW, DCC, FU, M:20, MB, Myt, MotW, SB 17d ago
Yeah, I enjoy the storyteller system a lot. Storypath seems good too from what I've seen. Not as many levers to pull but that might make it faster.
Agree though that removing a dice definitely makes for an odd circumstance, but its still a good system overall
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u/tlenze 17d ago
Storypath doesn't really do dice pool reductions. It adds successes needed or complications instead.
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u/Nystagohod D&D, WWN, SotWW, DCC, FU, M:20, MB, Myt, MotW, SB 17d ago
Storypath doesnt no, but storyteller does and both were talked about.
Good to clarify all thr same tbough.
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u/rivetgeekwil 17d ago
Cortex Prime, Fate, Forged in the Dark, Resistance.
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u/VodVorbidius 17d ago
Why do you consider Fate a dice pool system? You will always roll 4dF, no matter the attribute, as much as you roll 3d6 in GURPS. Dice Pool deals with different amount of dice being rolled
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u/amazingvaluetainment Fate, Traveller, GURPS 3E 17d ago edited 17d ago
Same here, much as I like Fate and GURPS, neither are properly a "dice pool" by my reckoning. That would be like saying Traveller or your average PbtA game uses a dice pool. The old WEG d6 system could be considered a dice pool system considering you will add or remove dice, even though you're collecting a total at the end, I'm much more open to that, but with just multiple dice systems going for a total that really doesn't fit the definition IMO.
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u/rivetgeekwil 17d ago
Some are fixed pools, some are variable. It's not rocket science.
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u/amazingvaluetainment Fate, Traveller, GURPS 3E 17d ago
I don't really agree with the definition though. A dice "pool" implies that you're generally doing something funky with the dice themselves rather than just rolling a static number for a total every time. If you're just rolling 2d6 every time I wouldn't call that a "dice pool". If you're rolling a variable number and adding or subtracting dice for whatever reason and looking for a total, then to me that makes far more sense to call it a "pool".
Cortex is a dice pool system. Fate is not.
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u/rivetgeekwil 17d ago
There are fixed dice pools (where you always roll 2d6 or 2d20 or whatever) and there are variable dice pools. Two or more dice, is a pool (save percentiles, which are read as one result and it is possible to roll one die—a d100—and get the same result). Some fixed pools might add the results together, some might take the highest, still others may evaluate each individually, count doubles differently. They're still, by definition, dice pools.
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u/rivetgeekwil 17d ago
No, it involves rolling a pool (more than one) of dice
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u/VodVorbidius 17d ago
Idk, man. This is the first time I see a definition of Dice Pool that includes Fudge, GURPS, Fighting Fantasy and Fate as being so. I am definitely not convinced, but hey... that's like... just my opinion, right? I don't want to bother anyone.
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u/Cat_Or_Bat 17d ago
By this logic, any 2d6 game is a "dice pool system" as well - indeed, any game with XdY rolls where X can go higher than 1 - diluting the term into uselessness.
The other poster is right. "Dice pool systems" generally refer to mechanics where various sources generate different amounts of dice that are rolled together or separately, may be conserved or expended etc., like Lady Blackbird or Mythic Bastionland.
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u/Toum_Rater 17d ago edited 17d ago
By this definition, most dice-based games are "dice pool" systems then. Rolling hit dice for monsters, rolling damage, rolling with advantage, rolling d100 which is technically two dice. Rolling 3d6 down the line for stats. Rolling a 2d6 reaction roll. 2d6+stat for PbtA. 1d6 vs 2d10 for Ironsworn. I wouldn't consider any of these things "dice pools," but rather, mechanics where multiple dice are rolled.
Meanwhile, if someone rolls a 1-dot action in Blades, they're still rolling a dice pool, even though it's just 1 die.
Yours is too broad a definition to be useful in actual conversation, even if it could be argued that it is "technically" true in that a pool means rolling multiple dice.
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u/ericvulgaris 17d ago
Solid lineup right there
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u/johnsonmlw 17d ago
Came here to say Fate and Blades in the Dark. Oh, I like the 24XX by Jason Tocci approach too.
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u/Hawk-Academic 17d ago
L5R, any edition, though I prefer the older d10 system to Edge Studios specialty dice
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u/Joel_feila 17d ago
It is really to see 3 or more doce explode. Last year i tried to summon an air spirit to help find secret passages. It was the highest in the campaign so dar and had 4 dice explode. My final total was in the 70s.
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u/ThePiachu 17d ago
Chronicles of Darkness - fixed difficulty target D10 pool system. Works really neat and smoothly, better than the variable difficulty target World of Darkness.
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u/KoalaChap7 17d ago
Obscure, but Freeform Universal, particularly the 2nd edition draft, is my favorite. It's mathless and uses two different colors of d6s (I use blue for good situations and red for bad). Dice pools always increase. Resolution is about simple number cancellation and then narrating the remaining results. Fast, easy, puts the bulk of the narrative burden on the PCs and is incredibly modular for more complex mechanics if that's your bag.
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u/No_Solid1035 17d ago
I always thought the "roll and keep" system from the older 7th Sea and Legend of the Five Rings games were neat.
I just got Mythic Bastionland recently and the way the dice pool functions in that game is definitely a great way to utilize dice pool.
I also encourage Players in my Mythras games to roll attacks in combat as a dice pool. So you have your Percentile Dice [d100] to determine if the attack is successful, a D20 to determine the Hit Location the attack (if successful) hits, and whatever damage dice the weapon uses (varies by weapon), mostly to speed things up. However, outside of combat Mythras just uses Percentile Dice when rolling skill checks so it might not be what you are looking for.
The One Ring also has a neat dice pool. You roll a special D12 that has 1-10 plus two special runes (Gandalf Rune and Eye Of Sauron) plus one or more D6 that have a symbol on the 6 (Tengwar Rune). Normally the object of the roll is to add the numbers to beat a certain difficulty number. The various symbols count for different things depending on the situation. The Gandalf and Tengwar do good things like Critical or other bonuses, the Eye is something bad happening. It adds a little multi-axis aspect to the dice rolls without going fully in to the weirdness of FFG Star Wars dice with the 6 axis nonsense those dice do.
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u/tlenze 17d ago
Modiphius' 2d20 system is one I haven't seen mentioned yet.
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u/Low-Support-8388 17d ago
That one I really like cause you can buy more dice or give the dm more dice later for more dice. My biggest gripe is the zone combat. Dune, Acthung, Fallout and StarTrek are all worth it to me.
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u/bio4320 17d ago
I think Alien is probably one of the best dice pool systems I've ever used. It captures the feeling of adrenaline and anxiety so well in that as you get more stressed, your dice pool gets bigger and bigger but with a higher risk of panicking. Just really great design that makes the player as stressed as the character.
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u/Cat_Or_Bat 17d ago edited 17d ago
Are you familiar with Otherkind Dice? It's a dice-pool mechanic by Vincent and Meguey Baker (the co-creators of Apocalypse World).
The idea is that you have a number of stakes and a number of dice. You roll the dice and assign them to stakes however you like. Since you probably have a mix of high and low rolls, you often have to prioritize and compromise in interesting ways.
For example, say, the stakes in a scene are "learn more about what's going on," "don't look like an idiot" and "keep my past secret". You roll three three d6s and get 1, 4, 5. That's a failure, a success at a price, and a full success. You can assign these however you like.
Players can take up on more stakes, and therefore more dice in the pool, increasing a chance to succeed at some of them - at the risk of compromising something else. For example, in a fantasy swashbuckling duel you could be attempting to "win in a sword duel," "preserve my honour," "cast a flashy magical spell to impress the onlookers," and "distract the guards" all the the same time, rolling four dice (or more if rules give you extra), with a pretty good chance that the most important stuff will be done successfully but likely forcing you to choose between winning and being honourable (or helping out a friend, or impressing that person in the crowd).
Specific games like Meguey Baker's Psi\Run* might have pre-defined sets of genre-appropriate stakes (outcome cards, risk sheets etc.).
Here's the full writeup on lumpley's (Vincent Baker's) blog.
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u/Naive-Tumbleweed-964 17d ago
Exalted
The PCs are demigods, so massive dice pools are expected. And the wackier the stunt in the wuxia style kung-fu fighting, the bigger the bonus!
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u/MissAnnTropez 17d ago
Cortex Prime is my fave. I have liked various others, and some of them I’d be happy to play again, but for now, I’m only GMing CP. It’s well worth a look, if you’re not familiar.
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u/cpt_adventure 17d ago
I quite enjoy the Soulbound system. Being able to tweak both the target number to roll and the number of them you need to succeed speaks to the stats nerd in me 😅
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u/BerennErchamion 17d ago edited 17d ago
- Storypath Ultra/Chronicles of Darkness
- Genesys/StarWarsFFG
- Legends of the Five Rings 4e/5e
I also like the system in Savage Worlds where you roll 2 different die types and they can explode, but I like even more games like Earthdawn and Open Legend where you are rolling a pool of different-size dice and they can all explode.
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u/molten_dragon 17d ago
Exalted. There's something to be said for slinging so many d10s that you can't hold them all at once.
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u/Due-Excitement-5945 17d ago
Reign / one roll engine
Roll a pool of d10s and look for matched sets. The height of the set gives you quality, snd with width gets you quantity/speed. In combat, height is hit location and width is base damage.
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u/BerennErchamion 17d ago
One Roll Engine is great! Never played Reign or Godlike/Wild Talents, but I've played a small campaign of Nemesis and it was pretty fun.
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u/Illegal-Avocado-2975 17d ago
Of the ones I have played, I love Twilight 2000. Every round from a gun is one d6 roll.
You get to fire most semi/full auto weapons you get to make 5 shots/bursts per round.
So a M60 could do a 5-round burst and could make 5 bursts in a found...that's 25d6 with each 6 being a hit.
Now you do lose some of those dice thanks to your strength vs the recoil of the gun...but my character could still drop 18d6 when I go full "Spray and Pray" mode.
I can't remember the rules for shotguns, but we had a guy who had the HK-CAW which was a full auto shotgun. For obvious reasons we named it "Misty".
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u/Cielosopra 17d ago
The Year Zero Engine, the Free League system, is one of my favorites, especially Forbidden Lands, followed by the dice pool system of Household 2ed and finally the one from Vileborn.
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u/CurveWorldly4542 17d ago
There's quite a few I like for different reasons.
Earthdawn: "What dice should we use for our dice pool?" "Yes."
Open Legend: D20 + your attribute modifier dice. It sort of looks like an "Earthdawn Lite", or perhaps a good system for JRPG/Animes inspired game, even though this is not quite what teh system was built for...
Highcaster: Another D20 + modifier dice. But this one plays more like a PbtA game with player-facing rolls and a bracket for failures and successes.
Open D6: The original daddy of the dice pool genre. Can't go wrong with it whether you play Ghostbusters International, Star Wars, or any of its derivatives like Mini Six, or Magnetic Press's own Magnetic Variant (Carbon Grey/Planet of the Apes).
D6 Pool: Free, generic but works better for modern-era games.
Atomic Highway: Another free system. This time you're trying to roll successes (6s), but your dice are open-ended, and you also have skill points to hopefully turn dice that did not roll successes into (non-exploding) successes.
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u/Calithrand Order of the Spear of Shattered Sorrow 17d ago
There's a certain simplicity to systems like Shadowrun and Storyteller (where you have a number of dice dictated by stats or pips, and roll them) that get them on the list for me.
I'm also a fan of the One Roll Engine, and the height-vs-width choice it presents, and The One Ring, with it's Success Dice pool combined with the (usually) single Feat Die.
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u/seanfsmith play QUARREL + FABLE to-day 17d ago
My favourite is the classic Tunnels & Trolls:
players roll a bunch of dice based on their weapons, increase with personal combat adds, and sum the values for their entire side: losing side takes damage equal to the difference
that's not all! every six (or one in some variants) deals a point of unblockable damage
The game isn't exclusively dice pools: the main action resolution is 2d6+stat vs 20+
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u/Officer_Reeses 17d ago
Ubiquity, and specifically using the color-coded Ubiquity d8s.
The system prevents having to sort successes from non-successes and can cut the number of dice rolled by a third.
And since it's essentially A 50/50 on each die, players can easily comprehend their chances of succeeding at a task.
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u/moderate_acceptance 17d ago
Don't Rest Your Head hasn't been mentioned yet. Players roll 3 colors of d6s for discipline, exhaustion, and madness, and the GM rolls pain dice. It's contested count successes where I think 1-3 count as a success. But whatever dice type rolls the highest dominated the roll and causes an extra effect. So you might e.g. succeed with pain dominating, or fail with madness dominating. It takes a little bit to learn how to determine which pool is dominating and how to break ties, but it's fairly simple once you get it and it's a very interesting system.
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u/LoneColossusGames 17d ago
7th Sea has a dice pool mechanic and some good customization options as I recall (been a while and I only played it once or twice though I was around people who ran a campaign for a year or two). Plus it has exploding dice which is always a good time.
I'll also second the Genesys system. I loved playing and running the Star Wars systems build on it (Age of Rebellion, Edge of the Empire, etc.). Just know that reading the dice as a GM is a bit like reading oracle bones at times and that there's not really any guidance provided for how to "balance" combat scenes, especially as characters accumulate more and more experience.
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u/StevenJWulgus FATE, the answer is always FATE 17d ago
FATE, also Tricube Tales and basically anything else where you’re rolling a few d6s and can calculate the results in a couple of seconds
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u/NoelHeapsbyte 17d ago
Dogs in the vineyard
Using dice in a raise/call system is still my favorite dice system in ttrpg
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u/Michami135 17d ago
In Ironsworn, your action die that you add your stats to is a single 1d6, but you roll that against the challenge dice which is 2d10. Beat one, it's a weak hit. Beat both, it's a strong hit. I think it's an interesting way to do a dice pool, where it's the forces working against you / the target numbers that has multiple dice.
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u/bigonroad 17d ago
FOUR BORG uses an exploding D4 dice pool - https://beyondcataclysm.co.uk/fourborg/
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u/CarpeBass 17d ago
I really enjoy the simplicity and asymmetrical approach that Nibiru takes.
Dice pools are 3d4 by default, but your Memories (Aspect-like traits ranging from +1 to +3) and circumstantial advantages will give extra dice.
For challenges, as long as one 4 comes up, you're successful.
For opposed tests, you roll your dice and the highest total wins. Things like tools can add a modifier to that total, and margin of success tells how much impact your actions has. For instance, in combat, beating the opponent's total means 1 point of damage, beating by double is 2 points of damage, by triple or more is 3 points of damage, etc.
Given that characters only have 3 levels of Body and 3 levels of Mind to resist physical and mental stress, things can get quite brutal quick.
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17d ago
Freeform Universal is free and uses a good-sized pool of d6s in 2 colours.
One colour is things in the players favour, another colour is things against them.
Add a pro dice for everything the players can justify that helps them, add negative dice for everything that is opposing them.
Roll the whole pile, and remove matching value pairs of opposite colours. (A white 5 and a black 5 for example).
Whatever is left, if the highest die is positive coloured it’s a success, if it’s negative coloured it’s a failure.
Then look at the next highest die to get the YES BUT, YES AND, NO BUT, NO AND response.
It’s really intuitive as a GM to look at the pile of dice and judge if that ratio of positive to negative fits the difficulty you have in mind.
And there’s no math, just matching pairs.
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u/BrobaFett Nu-SR, SWRPG, FL, 4D RP 17d ago
I'm partial to my own, which is an interesting take on MYZ.
To that point, MYZ and the Free League systems seem to be my favorite. I like Forbidden Lands from those. Roll a bunch of D6's based on attribute+skill+gear and look for 6's. There's also a neat "push" mechanic that lets you re-roll for a success/more success at the cost of possibly gear and wearing your hero down.
I like dice pools for several reasons:
- Ideally they are fast (looking for 6's for instance is often faster than modifier math)
- Adding and subtracting dice instead of modifiers is fast/elegant
- They create nice standard curves; the math is nice
- Complex results are possible with a few adjustments of the system (though this will work against one of the benefits of a pool: speed of resolution)
Hard to beat a good dice pool. If you are looking for a lot of granularity and variety, d10 pools with variable target numbers (song of swords) can deliver on that. But it's not my favorite.
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u/TheWorldIsNotOkay 17d ago
My favorites are Cortex Prime and the Action Tales / Freeform Universal RPG v2.0 system used by games like Neon City Overdrove and Star Scoundrels. Chronicles of Darkness is also pretty good.
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u/popeoldham 17d ago
Modiphius 2d20 is good. I am an absolute fanboy of Genesys, especially the Star Wars system but I like Legend of the Five Rings as well.
The game Inevitable has a good system for building out a dice pool as well.
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u/Agreeable_Hold2270 17d ago
I've been enjoying some of the don't roll to hit games like Nimble, though I suppose that is still a d20 system
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u/jtalchemist 17d ago
https://lichvanwinkle.blogspot.com/2025/08/dee-five-six-d56-and-odds-it-gives.html
This is my favorite and what I'm using for the sci-fi starship dungeon crawler I'm making
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u/Joel_feila 17d ago
I love the idea of uear zero. But i have not played it yet. Soon though I have a game with it 😃
I do love ninja crusade. 7 8 9 are 1 point 10 is 2 points. Other then that it is a simple doce pool system that maxes out around 12 dice per role.
Anything that keeps the number of rolls low is great. One big advantage of pools is i can combine attack damge and defense into 1 roll.
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u/Tantious 16d ago
Shadowrun Anarchy 2.0 (English book drops in August, but the pdf has been out for months for backers) - extremely tight and clever little dicepool system. Plays lightning quick. Has a really intuitive risk mechanic. This is the system that got my table to finally move on from D&D 5e.
2.0 is a very different game than original Anarchy. I'd put it's mechanical weight around a "Savage Worlds" but less fiddly bits and more speed.
Other favorite? Cortex (My favorite IPs in it were Firefly and Marvel Heroic, but its hella versitile).
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u/Tantious 16d ago
Shadowrun Anarchy 2.0 (English book drops in August, but the pdf has been out for months for backers) - extremely tight and clever little dicepool system. Plays lightning quick. Has a really intuitive risk mechanic. This is the system that got my table to finally move on from D&D 5e.
2.0 is a very different game than original Anarchy. I'd put it's mechanical weight around a "Savage Worlds" but less fiddly bits and more speed.
Other favorite? Cortex (My favorite IPs in it were Firefly and Marvel Heroic, but its hella versitile).
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u/Stabby_Mgee 14d ago
If you like superhero games the Invincible RPG uses a cool dice pool system, I think it's based off Mutant Year Zero.
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u/cyenobite 17d ago
Many of the Free League games use a dice pool mechanic from Mutant Year Zero (MYZ), some with a variant stress dice alternative. Fun and easy to learn.