An interesting alternate to HAP?

[StGrimblefig]

I just happened upon this at DriveThruRPG's cyber monday sale:

3d6 Karma Kards (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=62796&filters=0_0_0_0_44243)

It is essentially a game of BINGO played with your die rolls. The cards are simply a randomized grid of the possible 3d6 values, and every time you roll one of the numbers on your card, you cross it off. When you get 5 in a row (vertically, horizontally or diagonally), you get some kind of a bonus. They have versions of it for all of the common die roll mechanics -- 2d6, 3d6, d20, d100, and even FUDGE.

I am not sure I would use it, as it is at least as arbitrary as Heroic Action Points, and a lot slower to get any benefit out of it. I thought it was interesting, however, and thought I would share.

[lemming]

Interesting. Easy enough to write a quick script to produce your own version...

[lemming]

And the quick & dirty version for html, could make something that made a bunch for a spreadsheet to print
Karma example (http://www.quirkyqatz.com/lemming/karma.shtml)

[Sean Waters]

Oh I like that: very neat

You don't need random cards because the rolls are random.

1. Draw a 4x4 grid on the character sheet. Put some tape over it, like you do with your STUN/END/Body so that you can use a dry wipe fine marker on it.

2. BEFORE you put the tape on, write the numbers 3 to 18 on the grid, in any order you like*.

3. Put the tape on.

4. You CAN but DO NOT HAVE TO** cross off a number when you roll it.

5.You get 1d6 Luck*** when you complete a row OR a column, 2d6 Luck if you complete a row AND a column and 3d6 luck if you complete the grid. You have to use your bonus luck immediately, or lose it.

6. Wipe all the marks off when the grid is completed and start again.




* You may feel that you want 10-11-12-13 in a row as they are all pretty likely to come up, but you might want to mix things up a bit.

** You might not want to cross off a common number when it comes up because you might not feel you need a bonus at that time.

*** Or some other suitable bonus: a skill level, an extra DC of damage, +5 Stun, +10 END: whatever. Note also that as you only need 4 numbers the bonuses come that bit quicker.

[StGrimblefig]

Interesting adaptations. I would like to see the code for your generator, Lemming.

The problem, of course, is that the numbers at the ends of the range occur so seldom that it is going to be a looong time before the row or column they are in can be completed (a '3' for example, occurs once in 218 permutations), while other values occur so often that many rolls will not be able to cross off anything on the card.

If you look at the example pages, they use a 5x5 grid (headed by K - A - R - M - A to maintain the BINGO analogue) and some numbers occur more than once in the grid. I assume that you can only mark off one square on the grid at a time, no matter how many times a value occurs. They also (in their usage example) show that a player is playing all 4 of the grids on the page, not just one (again, much like many BINGO games).

As for generating your own grid; It might be more 'fair' to randomize 25 values out of the 218 element permutation space. You could even generate 4 grids at a time by randomizing 100 out of 218. I will think on this a bit...

[lemming]

Interesting adaptations. I would like to see the code for your generator, Lemming.

Warning, it's just a quick and dirty method:


use strict;
use warnings;

my @numbers = (3..18);

print "<table border='1' cellpadding='1' cellspacing='1'>\n";
my $y;
foreach $y (1..4) {
my $x;
print "<tr>";
foreach $x (1..4) {
print "<td>";
my $num = splice(@numbers, rand(@numbers), 1);
print $num,"</td>";
}
print "</tr>\n";
}
print "</table>\n";

That's just called from the web page.

[The Main Man]

Interesting concept.

Have some rep.

[StGrimblefig]

Here is my attempt: KARMA Cards (http://jbtetrick.home.mchsi.com/genKarma.htm)

It generates 4 cards, each 5x5, for a total of 100 unique permutations of a 3d6 roll. The javascript is in the html file, so just "show source" if you are interested in that kind of thing.

It has a bug, though -- occasionally, it will come up with a cell listed as "undefined." I have not the time to debug that right now. It usually goes away if you reload. Perhaps you can use that as a "free space" or something.

Oh, and thanks, Lemming. Your code helped jump start my thought processes.

P.S. -- my 500th post! W00t! I am finally a full mem... wait... what, there isn't a member level any more? Aww tinsel!