Playing Whitehack Solo: Turning Attack Rolls into Player-Facing Defense Rolls
In my Hexplore24 solo game, which uses the Whitehack 4e ruleset, I roll combat a little differently than the rules as written in Whitehack 4e — and I want to explain why and how it all works.
Player-facing Rolls vs. GM-facing Rolls
Certain TTRPG rulesets, regardless of whether they are designed for solo or group play, specify if the GM rolls for GM characters (NPCs) or if players do all the rolling.
For example, let's say a PC is fighting an NPC Orc in a game with a player and a GM. When the PC attacks the Orc, the player rolls the dice, and based on the game's rules, the attack is resolved.
Now, it's the Orc's turn, and it attacks the PC. There are two main ways this roll might work:
- GM-facing roll: The GM rolls the dice, performing an attack in much the same way the player performed their PC's attack. A success means the Orc hits; a failure means the Orc misses.
- Player-facing roll: The player rolls the dice, dodging or defending against the Orc's attack. A success means the PC avoids being hit; a failure means the Orc's attack is successful.
Both rolls can have the exact same outcome probability, but because the GM-facing roll had success = hit, and the player-facing roll had success = miss, we can describe the two rolls as being equivalent but inverted.
Why Players like Player-Facing Rolls
Consider that rolls which describe character actions can have a sort of point of view or perspective. If I'm rolling to see if Sam convinces Hank, the roll feels like it is from the POV of Sam. Conversely, if I am rolling to see if Hank resists Sam's persuasion attempt, the roll feels like it is from the POV of Hank.
In addition to character point of view, player agency factors in as well. Rolling dice is fun, and it can feel like we have more agency or control when we get to roll the dice versus watching someone else roll the dice. Player-facing rolls let players roll the dice to avoid hits, providing more fun during gameplay than just watching the GM roll for each NPC trying to hit them.
Now, as a Solo player, there is nothing wrong with rolling from the “perspective” of an NPC/the GM. However, it can be nicer and more immersive to always roll the dice from the same POV.
Some systems allow for both styles of play, like Knave 2e.
Other systems are designed from the ground up to be fully player-facing, like the Cypher System.
How Normal Attack Rolls Work in Whitehack
Whitehack rolls involve trying to roll equal to or less than a target number on a d20. If you roll the target number exactly, it’s a critical success. Sometimes, the roll is made more challenging by having a second smaller number your roll must be greater than, creating a window you are trying to roll within.
For attack rolls, there are two numbers we use to determine what our success and failure ranges are.
- AV: Attack Value, representing the prowess of the attacker. It is the target number we want to roll equal to or less than in an attack roll.
- DF: Defense Factor, representing the armor of the attack's target. It is the number we want to roll greater than in an attack roll.
- Attack Roll:
DF < d20 ≤ AV
As an example, let’s roll for Bert the Pirate, who has an AV of 11, and is trying to attack a Crab-man, who has a DF of 4.
For Bert to hit the crab-man, he will have to roll: 4DF < d20 ≤ 11AV, meaning a result of 5-11 is a hit, and 1-4 and 12-20 is a miss.
Chart for Bert attacking Crab-Man:
| d20 Roll: | 1-4 | 5-11 | 12-20 |
|---|---|---|---|
| (H)it / (M)iss | M | H | M |
| (S)uccess / (F)ailure | F | S | F |
Normally in Whitehack, when the Crab-man attacks Bert back, we would use the same roll. The Crab-man has an AV of 12, and Bert has a DF of 3, so the GM would roll for the crab-man, and to hit, they will have to roll: 3DF < d20 ≤ 12AV, meaning a result of 4-12 is a hit, and 1-3 and 13-20 is a miss.
Chart for Crab-Man attacking Bert:
| d20 Roll: | 1-3 | 4-12 | 13-20 |
|---|---|---|---|
| (H)it or (M)iss | M | H | M |
| (S)uccess or (F)ailure | F | S | F |
Inverting the Whitehack Attack Roll
Now let’s say we want to invert the crab-man’s attack so instead of the GM rolling, it is Bert’s player who rolls.
To do this, we are going to use two new values, AF and DV.
- AF: Attack Factor, representing the prowess of the attacker adjusted for player-facing rolls. It is the number we want to roll greater than in a defense roll.
- DV: Defense Value, representing the armor and defense prowess of the defender. It is the target number we want to roll less than or equal to in a defense roll.
- Defense Roll:
AF < d20 ≤ DV
AF is calculated by taking AV - 10, and DV is calculated by taking 10 + DF.
DV = 10+DF
AF = AV-10
Then we construct the defense roll by having the defender’s DV as the target, and the attacker's AF as the number we need to roll above.
For our example above, we can calculate that Bert’s DV is 13 (10+3DF), and the Crab-man’s AF is 12 (12AV-10).
So for Bert to dodge the attack, Bert’s player needs to roll 2AF < d20 ≤ 13DV.
Chart for Bert defending against Crab-Man attack:
| d20 Roll: | 1-2 | 3-13 | 14-20 |
|---|---|---|---|
| (H)it or (M)iss | H | M | H |
| (S)uccess or (F)ailure | F | S | F |
Note that in the above table, we still calculate successes and failures the same way, by having the d20 roll above the lower number and being less than or equal to the higher number. But the hit and miss values have been reversed, because a success for Bert is the Crab-Man missing. This is why we call it an inverted roll.
And we can check the probabilities work out the same. In the traditional attack roll, there are 9/20 results on a d20 that are a success (Bert gets hit), and 11/20 results are a failure (Crab-man misses).
In our inverted attack roll, there are 11/20 successes (Crab-man misses), and 9/20 failures (Bert gets hit).
Chart showing equivalence between the two roll types:
| d20 | Attack Hits | Attack Misses |
|---|---|---|
| Normal Attack | 9/20 Success | 11/20 Failures |
| Inverted Defense | 9/20 failures | 11/20 success |
A Second Example
Another example, this time with an added modifier.
Let's say we have a Lobster-Woman attacking Paul the Parrot. Paul has a DF of 1, and the Lobster-Woman has an AV of 14.
Because Paul is flying, any attack the Lobster-Woman makes will have a disadvantage.
In traditional Whitehack, we subtract the combat disadvantage from the Lobster-Woman's AV, which looks like this:
1DF < d20 ≤ (14AV - 2) or 1 < d20 ≤ 12
Chart for traditional Lobster-Woman attacking Paul:
| d20 Roll: | 1 | 2-12 | 13-20 |
|---|---|---|---|
| (H)it or (M)iss | M | H | M |
| (S)uccess or (F)ailure | F | S | F |
Now, let's invert the Lobster's roll
In our inverted defense roll, we calculate Paul's DV by adding his DF to 10, and the Lobster-Woman's AF by subtracting 10 from her AV.
DV = 1DF + 10 = 11DV
AF = 14**AV** - 10 = 4AF
Then we reverse the combat disadvantage into an advantage, because this roll is now "from the perspective" of Paul. The -2 modifier becomes a +2 modifier.
Our inverted roll looks like this:
4AF < d20 ≤ (11DV + 2) or 5 < d20 ≤ 13
Chart for inverted Paul defending against Lobster-Woman's attack:
| d20 Roll: | 1-4 | 5-13 | 14-20 |
|---|---|---|---|
| (H)it or (M)iss | H | M | H |
| (S)uccess or (F)ailure | F | S | F |
Is This Actually Important?
No.
But it is nice to have an option to change the POV of dice rolls in Whitehack, making them player-facing.
It's also a good way to understand Whitehack's elegant mechanics a bit better and change the feeling of Solo play.
I happily use systems with and without GM-facing rolls when I solo, but I have to admit, the POV a player-facing roll provides feels right to me.
And if you or someone you know has been on the fence about trying Whitehack because it lacked player-facing rolls, well, here you go — once you get past the terms, the conversion is simple and easy to do in your head.
Now go get lost in a good game.