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Originally Posted by Nihtgenga
Have to admit, I would hate the tower myself, but it sounds to me that if you don’t like the tower mechanic (and I don’t know anyone who owns Jenga myself) it wouldn’t be hard to replace it with a dice mechanism. An exploding d6 roll instead of a block, the roll adds to a single running number total (the tower), when the total hits an appropriate total, the tower topples.
Otherwise, I love the mechanism for the genre. Sounds very cool.
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I've been thinking about this die mechanic, and while I strongly urge you to at least give Jenga a chance, I think I might have some suggestions.
Three things you will want to replicate with a dice-based solution would be: 1) the ticking timebomb that is the tower; 2) the chance of it going at anytime, including right away; and 3) the uncertainty of when you are
truly out of pulls.
Let's use a six-sider (or better yet, a Fudge die, if you have it).
Take a sinister total, let's say sixty-six. Every time a player needs to pull, they roll a die instead.
If the die comes up 1-2 (or blank on the Fudge die), they are successful, the total isn't altered in anyway, and life goes on.
If the die comes up 3-4 (or - on the Fudge die), subtract one from the total. As long as it doesn't reach zero, they are successful, and life goes on.
If the die comes up 5-6 (or + on the Fudge die), subtract one from the total and roll again. As long as the total doesn't reach zero, and the player doesn't roll the same die six times in a row, they are successful and life goes on.
If, because of 5-6 (or +) results, the player is force to roll six times in a row, a 1 in 243 chance, the character fails and is removed from the game as if the tower had fallen.
If the total is reduced to zero or less, the character fails and is removed from the game as if the tower had fallen.
I haven't fully tested this, but I suspect this would handle the three aspects you most need to replicate. Unfortunately, it couldn't possibly have the physical presence of the Jenga tower. So you will not have those unplanned, breath-stealing moments, when someone gets up to go to the bathroom and accidentally bumps the table. Those moments make the Jenga worthwhile.