Coin Flipping and Decking
Time-consuming mechanics often rear their head in Guild games in the form of tests of probability. A number of common Guild mechanics use the construction of specific poker hands from a deck of cards or the flipping of coins as a generalized abstraction of complex activities, boiling success or failure down to a matter of probability. Properly balanced, “decking� and coin flipping mechanics can pose a variety of interesting challenges for players.
A number of games use poker decks to represent the activity of computer hacking. By drawing and rejecting cards from the deck in a manner akin to draw poker, players make decisions with every hand that could accelerate or decelerate their progress. Decks may also include a variable number of jokers that will boost the likelihood of forming difficult poker hands, turning decks with multiple jokers into a valuable, tradable commodity.
Coin flips have their own properties; the equipment needed for the mechanic is highly portable (a coin), falling coins risk alerting nearby players of activity, and the physical act of flipping requires a certain degree of hand dexterity. By varying the number of heads required, a coin-flipping mechanic can impose different time requirements for different characters involved in the same activity. Coin flipping has seen significant use in games as an analog for character actions that necessarily feature some element of randomness, such as lock picking.
Probability tests are hardly new to roleplaying games. Tabletop roleplaying games often use many different kinds of dice to assess the probabilistic success or failure of a variety of character actions. However, unlike simple rolls of dice, coin flipping and decking mechanics attempt to reflect the time and effort involved in character activities through the physical actions of the player.
Most difficulties with probability tests in live-action roleplaying games emerge from the real-time property of these games. Many Guild games permit probability tests to be repeated in the case of failure, ensuring that a string of unlucky draws or flips will not completely deny players success in their goals. However, if players cannot find alternatives for achieving their goals, many players will interpret this loophole as a requirement for them to invest as much time as necessary in order to produce a successful test . If the odds are low, probability tests can easily turn into tedious, repetitive, frustrating, extended affairs. Flipping two heads in a row takes a few seconds; flipping ten heads requires an inordinate number of attempts. Such tests already hamper mobility, as dealing cards or flipping coins can be difficult when one is on the move. If players are not permitted to communicate with others while performing the probability test, the mechanic effectively isolates a player while he or she performs the task.
Most games that use probability tests will weight the odds according to the abilities of the characters. A master thief might only need two heads in a row where a common thief might need five in order to open a door. GMs may believe that if the odds are sufficiently and visibly stacked against players, players may decide that certain tests would not be worth attempting. In practice, however, this assumption only operates in situations where players cannot make endless attempts at beating the odds. Multiple routes to goal achievement combined with artificial limits, such as significant time delays between tests, can discourage “brute-forcing� of the probability test, thus turning a player-hosing mechanic back into a reasonable choice for the player
In games where probability tests tend to represent a clandestine activity such as lock picking, structuring the game space to reduce the number of opportunities for players to be alone often serves as sufficient disincentive. However, in this regard, many players often face a conflict between the player’s reality and the character’s reality. While characters may believe that lock picking is a suspicious activity, players may consider lock picking to be a common game activity and would avoid interfering when they see coins being flipped. Alternatively, when the majority of players ally themselves into a single group to aggregate their power and moral authority, members of the group often get away with activities that characters in the game world would never be allowed to do. This process is known as “forming a mob� and it is often an extremely effective, albeit unrealistic way for some players to achieve their goals. However, players who cannot join the group because of restrictions in their sheets may find themselves cut out of many of the proceedings of the game, resulting in a poor gaming experience.
