What's your favorite dice system?

[Kannik]

I love a d6 dice pool system. There's something very satisfying about throwing a fistful of d6s.

I loved playing SW in the d6 system back in the day. d6 pools definitively resonated with me, enough that when I recently created my own RPG engine it ended up as d6 pool based, albeit with some interesting tricks to prevent it from becoming unwieldy and that allow for a margin of success mechanic. (It can be found here, if anyone's curious: The Aurora RPG Engine)

I've also been playing in and intrigued by the Cortex Prime dice pool of late and it's got some nifty aspects to it.

The Silhouette engine by DP9 is also quite interesting! (And also d6 based.)

d100 will always have a place in my heart, if only because my first RPG (Top Secret) was d100 based. The Troubleshooters also uses a d100 system with a few neat additions. That said, the lack of a bell curve to a straight d100 (or d20 for that matter) does dampen my enthusiasm for it these days.

 

[jdrakeh]

d6 pool system. Results of 5+ are hits. Hits are versus difficulty values, with tasks of average difficulty requiring one hit for success. More hits overcome more difficult tasks.

 

[Blue]

A dice system, but not a resolution system. Champions/HERO had a damage system where characters had STUN and BODY - temporary damage and real wounds. So damage would be rolled and reduced by defenses. But it was a single damage roll. Effect was in Xd6. So STUN damage was the total on the dice, then reduced by defenses. BODY damage was 1 = 0 BODY, 2-5= 1 BODY, 6= 2 BODY). It was really quick to calculate - it was the same as the number of dice you rolled, reduced by 1s and increased by 6s. In practice you were getting that second number with really low amounts of additional time.

 

[Vael]

I like d20s for the large range of numbers, but I also like Fudge Dice for the reliable results.

 

[KiloGex 22]

I'm a huge fan of the CORE system. It's a pool of d6, based off the Stat you're rolling on, and the highest roll is what you use. No counting dice and no huge pools (Stats max out at 6).

The resolution mechanic aims to produce a more narrative result. Depending on the difficulty set (1-10) and the roll result, you'll get a variation of YES/NO and AND/BUT that either the player or GM describes. It's also a universal mechanic, so it works for combat, social interactions, or any various actions you might want to attempt.

 

[Mezuka]

3d6 plus Stunt Points of the AGE system by Green Ronin is excellent.

 

[KiloGex 22]

I love a d6 dice pool system. There's something very satisfying about throwing a fistful of d6s.

Totally. Rolling a d20 and adding a big number to it is fun, but there's nothing like the tactical feelings of power when you actually get to roll more dice the more powerful you are.

 

[teitan]

DCC dice chain. It’s simple and easy. It has the satisfaction of D20 while providing a visual cue to improved skill or expressing difficulty. It’s a more elegant mechanic for multiple attacks and I just like it.

 

[GreyLord]

Hard to say...some I like a lot though.

Axis and Allies dice combat system - This is actually similar to many wargames, not just A&A, but A&A is the most famous. Many others use similar systems (original Conquest of the Empire, many other wargames, War of the Ring, etc).

Heroquest Dice combat system - This one is also utilized by many these days. I can't recall of a pre-cursor to HQ for this one, so it may have been the first to use it. It uses symbols to represent if you hit, if you stop a hit, and similarly for the enemy dice. Descent used a variation of this for example.

The orginal D&D game system - This would extend to BX, BECMI, and AD&D 1e and 2e. It is more complex than the "D20" system that came after, but I like the variation. It gives it a flavor that really isn't replicated by anything else.

 

[Haiku Elvis]

Ones with some form of quality of success built in but for some reason I tend to not like dice pools so much but I have no factual reason why. I guess one of them looked at me funny once and it put me off them.
Also it's not so much the dice you roll but keeping the number of competing modifiers down to a reasonable amount (one or two at most).