RPG Lexica:DEF

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D

D
Abbreviation for dice, either upper or lower case. Because dice are used so frequently in role-playing and other forms of games, an abbreviated notation is used for describing dice types, consisting of two numbers seperated by a letter 'd'. The number before the 'd' indicates how many dice are referred to (often omitted if only one), and the number after indicates how many sides are on the dice. The common cubic dice is a d6 (six-sided), but other dice shapes designed for gaming include the d4, d8, d10, d12, and d20. For example, 5d6 indicates "5 six-sided dice". This can be further extended with mathematical symbols, indicating a math operation should be applied to the result shown on the dice after they are rolled: 5d6 3 indicates "roll 5 six-sided dice, add them up (the default way of calculating the result of multiple dice), then add 3 to the result". A further extension, not so popularly used, adds the letter "k" (for "keep") to indicate that having rolled the dice, not all of the dice should be added up; the number after the "k" indicates how many dice results should be added. For example, "4d6k3" means that 4 six-sided dice should be rolled, then 3 of those results (usually the highest) selected and added together to give the final result.


D100
An example of the d- notation, but also a special case. Although 100-sided dice do exist (specifically the "Zocchihedron"), they are relatively rare (for several reasons, not the least important being that they tend to tumble for a long time, and like a golf ball tend not to be perfectly symmetrical, allowing some results to come up more frequently than others); the more common way of rolling a d100 is to roll two d10s, designating one as the tens digit and one as the units.


D20
A twenty-sided die; also a generic roleplaying system controlled by Wizards of the Coast. The d20 system is a customizable generic system based on a twenty-sided dice (hence the name), and reusable freely by authors under certain terms and conditions. These terms and conditions include the need to seek explicit approval to refer to the game as supporting "d20" (a controlled trademark), and the provision that certain key rules must be omitted from third-party games, thus forcing players to purchase books produced by Wizards of the Coast in order to obtain them. The impact of the d20 system on the hobby has been considerable, and players are divided as to whether the strong adoption of a common system for games has simplified and streamlined the hobby, or whether it has harmed the hobby by reducing diversity and forcing games to be written with a system which does have documented flaws and is not necessarily ideal for every setting.


D666
An apparent example of the d- notation, but in fact a special case; there is no such thing as a 666-sided die. The d666 system was used in the game In Nomine, in which players take the roles of either demons or angels. To "roll a d666", the player rolls 3d6, allocating two of the dice to be added together to indicate whether they have succeeded or failed at a task, and the one remaining die to be read alone to indicate the magnitude of the success or failure. A roll of 6-6-6 is a critical if the player is playing a demon, or a fumble if the player is playing an angel; a roll of 1-1-1 is vice versa.


Darkness Isn't Dark
A phrase indicating that a given game system is acknowledged to be flawed, but is played anyway because it delivers a good entertainment experience. "But it doesn't make sense!" "What do you expect? In this game darkness isn't dark."
Origin: From the [[Dungeons