a Rich Man’s Game

28 Jan, 2026

“It’s a rich man’s game, no matter what they call it” - Dolly Parton

DESIGN SUMMARY

This is a 2D6 resolution system, where the first die is chosen from a dice bank, then the second die is rolled. Success lies in the middle of the bell curve, where the sum of both dice is NINE to FIVE. At either end of the bell curve sits two different failures:

• A “high failure” is when the sum of both dice is TEN, ELEVEN, or TWELVE

• A “low failure” is when the sum of both dice is TWO, THREE, or FOUR

Because the first die is chosen, a player knows if they are risking a high failure or a low failure before they roll, and they can easily calculate their odds of success. This means dice from the Dice Bank double as Difficulty Scores

DEV HISTORY

Not a fan of board games? Click HERE to skip forward to see how this dice resolution system could be used in your TTRPG!

This story begins with a claw machine full of fish, aka “DROPNET” my fishing minigame inspired by cumulative hexflowers

The fun part about real claw machines is their joystick, which imperfectly controls the movement of their claw. How I applied this concept to DROPNET, was to completely randomize the direction by mapping the sides of each hex to a D6 roll, and and then calibrate the exact distance by choosing a value from a hand of cards. One thing I loved about DROPNET was how the hand of cards doubled as a game timer

I arbitrarily challenged myself with DROPNET to design and post it in under 6 hours. Almost immediately after publishing that blog post, I wanted to design a true claw machine that used a chess board, and limit myself to as little common game components as possible. The problem with a chess board is that a D6 doesn’t cleanly map to its 8 directions, and I was unwilling to use a D8

This idea became dead in the water… that is until everyone started sharing their favorite blog posts ahead of The Bloggies and I saw elmcat’s post about the dice bank

This was the missing piece that I needed to solve my problem!

Using the 2D6 bell curve I was able to have one failure that drifted the claw to the left, and a second failure that drifted the claw to the right. Pulling one of the D6 from the dice bank allowed players some control over this “joystick”

I also realized that the dice bank could double as prizes in the machine if I turned the chess board into a drop table. The goal was to land on a prize die, but move of the claw required players to remove a prize die from the machine, thus narrowing their options

Honoring my favorite design element from DROPNET, the hand of cards, movement distance is selected from these two die values: the bank die the player chose, or the random die they rolled. Whichever die they selected is moved over to “the D-PAD” (named for direction and distance)

I wanted to reward the player if they chose the random die value for their game ending move, so the value of the bank die acts as a bonus that is added to the value of the prize die they captured

For thematic purposes I also added a difficulty lever in the form of “dropping coins in the machine.” During set up, players may drop [X] coins onto the game board. This value determines how far the claw drifts when a failure is rolled, and doubles as a scoring multiplier. The placement of each coin is randomly determined as the player drops it onto the board, but all are set with Heads value facing upwards. When the Queen lands on a Heads facing coin, the player flips it to face Tails, then they drop all removed bank dice back onto the board. I thought this was thematic because “Heads will Roll”

The Queen’s Clawed Hand

This game is available HERE on my itch page

There are revisions I want to make to TQCH. For instance I assigned “A” to the bank die because it was the first die you choose, but I want to change it to “B” because it’s the bank die and it provides a bonus

I have plans to make a fishing hack of TQCH, where the difficulty system is tied to the type of rod you use. I also have ideas for tackle and bait which can alter the rules slightly. When I get around to making this hack, I’ll link to it [HERE]

THEORY

The most obvious interpretation of “high failure” and “low failure” would be the GM pre-assigning major and minor consequences. That’s perfectly acceptable, but honestly kind of boring…

LETS DESIGN A F***ING ELF GAME!

I’m designing this in browser on my phone, so forgive me if my dumb finger accidentally hits “publish” instead of “save as draft”

To restate the core mechanic: a player will first choose one die from the dice [B]ank, and then roll [A] second die. The roll is successful if the sum of both dice equals FIVE, SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT or NINE

Upon a successful roll at the beginning of a player’s turn, they may:

• allocate these two dice values separately to take two SMALL ACTIONS: [A] and [B]

• combine both dice values together to take one LARGE ACTION: [A+B]

For simplicity: “[X]” = [A], or [B], or [A+B]

MOVEMENT

ATTACKS

If you haven’t caught on yet, this untitled elf game uses a “point buy” system for actions. Because success is in the middle of the 2D6 bell curve, AND players get to choose the value for one of those D6s, it’s difficult to fail a roll. To balance this, you roll before describing your action. The dice bank allows players to have an idea of what they want to do on their turn, but they are never committed to it. Once they roll, they now have two resources to spend on a list of actions

HELMETS, ARMOR, SHIELDS, and LORE

In this setting, all well-made items are crafted by proud Elven or Dwarven cultures. Humans also exist, but their culture is stealing, not crafting. Due to their pride, most Dwarves will only use Dwarven-made gear, and most Elves will only use Elven-made gear. Humans do not have a sense of loyalty, thus they have no issue mixing and misusing gear from both cultures

Because all Dwarven weapons are mechanically “LARGE” and all Elven weapons are mechanically “SMALL”, I wanted to design an armor system that implied conflict between these two cultures…

If an attack against an armored opponent uses a die whose value matches the assigned armor value, then that attack’s damage is reduced by the armor value

[1+6], [2+5], and [3+4] can all be spent on a +7 dmg attack using a Dwarven Axe, but what specific armor the opponent is wearing will effect the attacks differently:

Though Humans are known for mixing Dwarven and Elven gear, they are still only human. Humans are limited to: one head, one body, and two arms—thus there is no way for one player character to collect every mechanical advantage

I designed this armor system around visibly distinctive features. Once a player learns how a Dwarven Shield interacts with a [3], they can adapt, and choose a different action. Players will eventually learn to ask what armor or weapons an opponent has, which will clue them in to how they will attack and defend

MECHANICALLY INFORMED ELVEN CULTURE

Elven weapons are mechanically “SMALL” which means they never deal more than +3 dmg. The smallest attack Elven armor can block is +4 dmg, which implies that Elves culturally do not fight each-other enough to warrant developing armor against their own weapons. Elves likely designed their armor to block Dwarven Shotguns and Dwarven War Hammers

The Elves are not without internal conflict. Because a full suit of Elven armor would block dice rolls of [4] [5] and [6], and unarmed attacks require [X] to equal a range of 4-6, through sparing they likely developed an unarmed martial art consisting of a smaller, but well calculated hits:

I’m envisioning elven armor to be heavily articulated plate armor that can absorb large hits while allowing movement for quick and complicated attacks

MECHANICALLY INFORMED DWARVEN CULTURE

Dwarven weapons are mechanically “LARGE” which means they require the sum of two dice to wield. This does not mean that all Dwarven weapons are two handed. Dice represent concentration

Dwarven armor blocks dice values of [1] [2] and [3], which implies a cultural value against weakness, be it from the Elves or their fellow Dwarves

Dwarven weapons are capable of doing damage to someone wearing a full suit of Dwarven armor, so long as at least one of the dice used was a [4] [5] or [6]. That being said, I feel like the Dwarves also developed an unarmed fighting style for sparing, something closer to boxing where they use one die to throw a large punch then the second die to advance, retreat, or throw another large punch

It’s rare that a Dwarf will wear a full suit of armor. Maybe they don’t want to carry a shield because they prefer two handed weapons. Maybe they don’t want to wear a helmet because they have too much hair. Or maybe they don’t want to wear their chainmail because they want to show off their tattoos

MIXED MARTIAL ARTS

Even though it is rare, how would an Elf fight a fully armored Dwarf if their weapons and unarmed fighting style use low dice rolls? Well, an Elf would have to swallow their pride and “Fight like a Dwarf” by throwing strong punches or using Dwarven weapons

Elven knights wearing full suits of armor are a common sight in this setting. Dwarven pride demands that they only use the strongest of attacks, but the best way to fight an Elven Knight with a Dwarven weapon is with a mid attack [3+4]

FAILURE and SMALL OPPORTUNITIES

Though failing is difficult, it is not impossible

• Failing “HIGH” is when the sum of both dice equal: TEN, ELEVEN, or TWELVE

• Failing “LOW” is when the sum of both dice equal: TWO, THREE, or FOUR

Failing in this untitled elf game triggers a “Small Opportunity”

• On a HIGH FAIL, the higher value die is used by the nearest opponent

• On a LOW FAIL, the lower value die is used by the nearest opponent

A small opportunity can be any small action. The opponent could use the single pre-rolled die to: advance, retreat, make an attack, etc.

After the opponent takes their small opportunity, the player’s turn resumes, limited by the remaining die

If I ever get around to naming this game and expanding it, I’ll link to it [HERE]

Okay. This untitled elf game has solo gaming potential, but what other types of games can this dice resolution mechanic run? Maybe something that requires at least two friends?

LETS DESIGN A… GMLESS GAME?

Hmm… Well, the less than symbol points to the LEFT, and the greater than symbol points to the RIGHT….

Okay, so hear me out: If your roll succeeds, then you get to narrate the outcome of your actions—but a HIGH FAIL is narrated by the player to your RIGHT, and a LOW FAIL is narrated by the player on your LEFT

Honestly, I don’t know enough about GMless games, so I have no clue if this is a good idea or not. I just needed an excuse to post this image

THE END

I never know how to end my blog posts. If you have any comments, please reach out to me HERE on bluesky!