u/jillpls

Hi
I'm currently working on a dice mechanic for a game I'm working on. The base mechanic is the dice pool system from Blades in the Dark (roll Xd6 and pick the highest, 1-3 failure, 4-5 partial success, 6 success).

The game itself is going to be my take on a character focused rpg, mostly about the goals of characters, their relationships and how they change. The major influence is Burning Wheel, with the goal of being a lot simpler and more suited to short-medium length campaigns.

What I'm adding is a "drop highest" mechanic that I call "burning a die". This can result from doing something without having the skill, being injured or through supernatural means. It's supposed to be more impactful than removing a die (so you can't simply offset it by gaining +1D from another mechanic).
To give an example, if i would roll 3d6 burn 1, i might roll 2, 5, 6, then "burn 1" aka removing the highest result -> pick the highest from 2, 5 -> Result is a 5 and a partial success.

Now what I'm struggling with is what to do with dice pools less than or equal to the burn value (Note: I'm not sure if there is going to be higher than burn 1, but for the purpose of discussing it, it's not too important). For example if I had a dice pool consisting of a single die and I burn 1 I think there are 2 options:

• 1: No special consideration, it will burn the highest and only result: This would result in it being impossible to get a success.
• 2: Roll an additional die and then take the lowest: This would result in there being no difference between having a dice pool of 1 vs 2 dice.

I have a tough time deciding which of these is more desirable. The first option means it's more impactful to have burn on lower dice pools. The second option leaves more of an option to "achieve anything", no matter the circumstances.

Has anyone experimented with this / Are there games that use that kind of mechanic already? And if not what are your thoughts about it?