Extra Chances

The possibility to roll again when a result is unwanted.

Many games use some for of randomness to determine the outcome of events. This will of course led to unwanted results, and to let players have second (and third etc.) chances some games provide the possibility to reroll a limited number of results. This lets players have a greater chance of succeeding when it is deemed most important.

Examples

The basic action for players is Yahtzee is to choose what dice to reroll.

Rerolls are used in Bloodbowl to allow players to the chance of trying again with certain actions when the first try failed.

Fortune points in the second edition of the roleplaying game Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay gives each player a number of Rerolls every day in the game world equal to their current number of fate points. The GURPS roleplaying system in contrast lets players that have characters with the Luck advantage reroll a result every hour of gaming (more often with higher levels of the advantage).

Using the pattern

Two main design areas need to be considered when implementing Rerolls in a game, which events can be effected and, since Rerolls can be seen as a Resources, how they can be gained and kept. The more types of events that can be effected the more powerful Rerolls are so restricting them is a way to balance player influence. Independent of this consideration, Rerolls may be Privileged Actions that only some players have access to, as for example by the e.g. through the Luck advantage in GURPS or the Warpriest's Strategy feature in Dungeons & Dragons.

An additional consideration is if Rerolls can be use consecutively, i.e. if players can reroll rerolls.

If the Rerolls are shared in Teams, they become Shared Resources and may thereby become a source for Social Dilemmas.

Rerolls, as the name implies, is most naturally applied to use of Dice. However, the pattern can equally well be applied on Drawing Stacks.

Diegetic Aspects

Diegetic Consistency can be difficult to maintain in a game with Rerolls, but can be maintained at least in Asynchronous Multiplayer Games since only the final result needs to be convey to the other players.

Interface Aspects

Rerolls need to be persented in user interfaces or as Book-Keeping Tokens but there is also a choice of making the number of Rerolls each players' has into [Public Information]] or making it secret, creating Asymmetric Information.

Consequences

Rerolls can be seen as a form of Fudged Results since players have a chance to change the outcome of an action (with a bigger chance of changing it the smaller the likelihood that it would occur to begin with). Given that players cannot determine the new result but rather just use the same random process as was just used, it is however a weak form of Fudged Results. Even so, Rerolls give players a distinct Freedom of Choice but also requires Resource Manangement. They also increase players' Perceived Chance to Succeed since the statistically do so if there is any chance to succeed to begin with, and increase Predictable Consequences since used Rerolls increase any differences in odds, favorable or not.

Diegetic Consistency may be difficult to maintain in games with Rerolls if the events are presented within the Game World. The sense of Luck may also suffer in games with Rerolls since less Luck is required on the side of the player gaining a favorable result, and Luck due to others misfortune are less likely to occur if they have Rerolls.

Relations

Can Instantiate

Freedom of Choice Fudged Results Resource Manangement Perceived Chance to Succeed Predictable Consequences

Can Modulate

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Can Be Instantiated By

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Can Be Modulated By

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Potentially Conflicting With

Diegetic Consistency, Luck

History

New pattern created in this wiki.