Dueling Bones!
A downloadable game
WHAT'S THIS?
Another rectilinear 3D IRL gaming tool that delivers numbers from 1 to 6?!
And you can play them in hands, like cards?
Use a standard set of dominoes to make combat more than just another roll of the dice!
Substitute in quick, canny, and tactical play for most TTRPG 'to hit' and 'damage' rolls!
Ample hacks on board to support multiple systems and situations!
Included in Downloads
A PDF pamphlet containing rules, procedures, examples, hacks, and permutations.
A .txt file suitable for screen readers.
Development Notes
This developed during a discord chat about using dominoes. The simple hand, play, match system here is not only more thoughtful and tactical than rolling dice, it also gives a nice spread of damage outcomes per round that fits most OSR/NSR sensibilities, while being flexible enough to create bigger damage curves more expected in D&D 5e and similar. Use of the blank tiles allows for special maneuvers and abilities, skills, and so forth. It is highly flexible and lends itself to building a little rule-set that fits your table.
In play testing* most combats were over in two to three hands. They were satisfyingly challenging, appropriately dangerous, did not create 'combat lag or slog', and added a real feeling of fast paced dueling!
*We tested it with a variety of systems and it worked across the board. The lighter the rules, the better it seemed to integrate!
Design Notes
As a designer with a significant visual disability I work primarily with text, leaving aside art and other elements I can neither parse nor focus on. Let me know if you need accessibility support beyond what is offered here: dodocahedron.games [a] gmail
Thanks to the Lost Bay discord community for the inspiring conversation!
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Comments
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Hi!
“If P2’s final tile has an unused value that does not match the unused value of P1’s initial play, then P2 takes damage equal to that unused value”. I really wrestled with this rule. The last example’s interpretation of “Initial play” also leaves me baffled. A coating of quasi-logic “flavor” on it would greatly help, I believe.
Should’nt “P1’s choice of numbers on the laid tile” always be the highest value from the last tile. So why not say so? There’s no blocking or anything.
Initiative order: why mention it for nothing? I propose “At the beginning of a sequence, reveal tiles simultaneously, lowest sum tile is P1.” this way there’s added tactics and the feel is more like the rush of a combat, testing before smashing.
Instead of ascending order tiles which really confused me, I’d need an example of P1 and P2 hands matching the examples of play.
It’s a clever idea, using dominoes to get another number, paired and known. It introduces some tactics. But too little is known of the opponent’s hand to strategize much. Also, people have dice and cards much more so than dominos. I’ve got a box of them, but they’re too heavy for me to bring it around. So I’m thinking: what would a version with cards feel like ? Like, remove suit cards, each player draws 6 cards, then put them back to back 3 by 3, effectively showing a selection of half of their cards. When they’re set, the pairs can’t be undone, just like dominos. Much more blocking, of course, but some surprises still.
Thanks for the comments and for picking up the pamphlet! I’ll take a look at the logic of the wording. Re initiative, there are so many different approaches to it that I cut it out of the procedure, and then added one hack. If folks want to build initiative in that’s great! Regarding the choice of value, during our testing, It became tactically advantageous to reserve that high number on P1’s first tile for the final tally. The known and unknown information is key to most mechanisms with cards and dominoes. Fixed pools and repetitive rounds help with this, since then you get a sense of what the other player can muster. Scrying spells and the like allow a peek at the other hand. You could also take a cue from hearts and pass or force a pass of one or two tiles prior to play. I have been working on a couple card hacks! Totally agree that would be fun!
I adjusted the wording as DeReel suggested and uploaded a revised PDF. Thanks!
Thanks for the quick answer!