FASA Games, Inc.

There were a few reasons behind bringing back the D4 and D20. The two largest factors were popular demand and (in the case of the D20) reducing the very large pools of dice (as etherial indicated). Popular demand was naturally tempered by a desire for a more normal distribution in the affected areas. The D20 itself appears a few steps later than the classic table (Step 19 instead of Step 14), showing up as D20 + 2D6 (instead of D20 + D4 at Step 14), which provides the more normal distribution of results.

We didn't think it was so far fetched to have two sets of dice (to make 2D8 and 2D12). Which ties into another piece: the total sets of dice required are also reduced. The previous setup required lots of D12s, which is rather unusual unless you are a big fan of The Everlasting.

Hopefully this helps.

Deadlands Classic is another game that can benefit from many d12s. My Huckster was throwing 7 of them for Spirit related hexes when we finished off our campaign...

I never could get the hang of the d12. They just never seem to want to work well for me. The d6 loves me, most everything else is at least on friendly terms with me, but those d12's just have something in their plastic that hates me.

Personally, I always preferred the d20's early in the step table, and the resulting wider distribution is exactly the reason why. As I see things and tend to run it in my games, the players are the heroes of the world for reason; to make as big of an impact on it as possible. Pass or fail, if they're going to do things, they should be done spectacularly, because those are the stories that get remembered and told and retold.

I always loved the subtle mathematic elegance allowed by the step table with that. You can get the same average result with different dice, but with that minor of a tweak you can influence how widely you tend to wander from that average. That kind of distribution does put the players at higher risk with failure, but also provides them equivalent higher rewards for success. Either way, I believe tending to stray farther from the average is a win because it makes for a more memorable story (though the average is still useful as a measuring stick).

Of course, not everyone follows my 'go big or go home' ideology of dice theory. Totally valid opinion either way. The fact that the step system allows for both is just a testament to its strength, and a feature you don't tend to see in most other systems.

That's why my fav steps are those with 2d6s ;>

Later i have no problem with d20, earlier it make adept like moron. 14 step was full roulette :>

I'm thinking of turning the step 36 into D4+D6+D8+d10+d12+d20 just the sake of rolling a whole set of dice. (expcept for the D10 for percents).