# How DimeTown works: type anything, the dice and the locals decide

> DimeTown is a free multiplayer text roleplay city in your browser. Type what you do; Jev reads it, two dice and visible modifiers decide, and locals remember.

By [Jonah Ease](https://dimetown.com/about/) · Published 4 Oct 2026 · Last checked 4 Oct 2026 · https://dimetown.com/guides/how-dimetown-works/

DimeTown is a free multiplayer roleplay city that runs in your browser at [dimetown.com/play](https://dimetown.com/play/). You walk a top-down island in the style of GTA2 and type what your character says or does, in plain words. Jev, a fast judgement model from TypeSafe, reads it against the situation; two six-sided dice plus a few visible modifiers decide how it goes; and the locals remember what you did to them. Up to 50 players share one city, each a cop, a hustler or a citizen, and death is permanent.

## Three ways to type

- **Plain speech** ("Morning, Mr. Park. Busy?") goes up as a bubble. Locals within about five tiles may answer; Jev decides who you were talking to and how it landed with them.
- **Actions in asterisks** (`*slides Mr. Park $20* Forget you saw me.`) are read as an attempt: Jev works out which game action you mean, if any, and at whom.
- **The action menu** (`/`, or click a character) does it explicitly: `/bribe @Mr. Park $20 forget you saw me`.

Out-of-character chat goes in `((double brackets))` and is never judged. Everything players type is screened before anyone else sees it.

## How Jev reads an action

There's a closed list of ten actions: persuade, bribe, steal, buy, work a shift, write a ticket, arrest, attack, help someone up and give cash. Tickets and arrests are for cops. For an asterisk action, one Jev request asks which action your role can take you're attempting (or "just roleplay"), who nearby it's aimed at, and four guard questions: are you addressing the game, deciding someone else's reaction ("knocks him out cold"), speaking out of character, or harassing a real person?

Code acts on the probabilities that come back:

- 75% sure or more, with a target: the action runs.
- 40–75%, or no clear target: a "Did you mean…" card offers the two likeliest actions and "Just roleplay".
- Below that, it stays an emote.
- A guard above 0.7 blocks the action with a hint and records a strike; between 0.35 and 0.7 it goes ahead with a −1 "Sloppy RP" chip.

Amounts come from the text: "$20" or "20 bucks" counts, "a twenty" doesn't. Jev never decides the outcome; it answers narrow questions, and code owns the rules, dice and effects.

## The roll: Street Dice

Every resolved action rolls 2d6 and adds chips, each with a visible source:

- **Stat**: your role's edge in the action's stat (Charm for persuade, bribe and buy; Sleight for steal; Muscle for attack and help up; Authority for tickets and arrests; Luck for work), plus +1 for training that stat to level 2, +2 at level 4.
- **Role**: +1 "Signature move" for your role's two signature verbs.
- **Situation**: "Cover of dark" (+1 stealing at night), "Crowded" (−1, three or more witnesses), "Nobody around" (+1), "Hurt" (−1 below 40 health), "Running on fumes" (−1, low energy), "Winded from the chase" (−1).
- **Jev**: judgements turned into −2 to +2, such as how your approach suits their personality, your history with them, how tempting an offer is, or how alert a mark is. Jev's chips are capped at ±4 in total, so the dice always matter.

For gated actions (persuade, bribe, steal, arrest, attack, help up) Jev also judges your **position**, how bad failure would be, which sets the bands.

### Result tiers

| Tier | Banner (one of) | Controlled | Risky | Desperate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crit | BOXCARS! · LEGENDARY! · ABSOLUTE CINEMA | double six | double six | double six |
| Success | CLEAN SUCCESS · SMOOTH. · NAILED IT | 9+ | 10+ | 11+ |
| Partial ("yes, but…") | YES, BUT… · SORTA WORKED · WITH A CATCH | 6–8 | 7–9 | 8–10 |
| Fail | NOPE. · NOT TODAY · SWING & A MISS | 5 or less | 6 or less | 7 or less |
| Disaster | SNAKE EYES! · CATASTROPHE · OH NO. | double one | double one | double one |

Double six and double one override the chips. Scaled actions (buy, work, ticket) always happen; the total sets a multiplier from ×0.5 (4 or less) to ×1.6 (12+), ×2 on double six, and Jev's read of the effort or haggling scales it again (×0.6 to ×1.8).

## Three worked examples

These use the game's real rules; I chose the dice and Jev's answers to illustrate, so they aren't from a player's log.

**1. A bribe at the 24/7.** A citizen types `*slides Mr. Park $20* Forget you saw me.` Jev reads a bribe aimed at Mr. Park, the nervous, greedy shopkeeper. Chips: +2 Charm. Jev judges the offer "mildly tempting" (0), the risk to him moderate (0), the line unmoved (0), and his goodwill from earlier visits +1 History. Dice: 5 and 6, so 11 + 3 = 14. Risky needs 10+: **CLEAN SUCCESS**. He pockets the $20 and remembers you "paid me $20 under the table". (The landing page labels that +1 "Regular"; in the game it's History.) A 5 and 6 would have succeeded without chips; they matter on middling rolls.

**2. A lift at the casino after dark.** At 22:00 by the slots, with three people watching, a hustler types `*bumps into Chad and lifts his wallet*`. Chips: +2 Sleight, +1 Signature move, +1 Cover of dark, −1 Crowded, and Jev judges Chad, a gullible tourist mid-gamble, "distracted" (+1) and the bump "no particular cover" (0). Dice: 2 and 3, so 5 + 4 = 9. Risky 7–9 is a partial: **YES, BUT…**. You palm 8% of his cash, capped at $25, "but Chad felt something". A witness who noticed and calls it in earns you a wanted star.

**3. Running from a cop.** A hustler with two stars hears "Hands where I can see 'em! You're under arrest." from a police officer the game controls, and runs. Getting 9 tiles clear, or staying out of reach for 9 seconds, would escape (for an extra star); this time the cop catches up, and running made it desperate. Chips: +2 Police training, +1 Wanted ★2, −1 Winded from the chase, and Jev rates the hustler "average" to restrain (0). Dice: 4 and 3, so 7 + 2 = 9. Desperate 8–10 is a partial, and a partial arrest still sticks: **WITH A CATCH**. Sixty seconds in a cell, stars cleared, a $30 bounty for the cop ($15 a star) and 8 damage to them in the scuffle. Seven or less and the hustler slips free with a third star.

## When someone moves on you

A countdown ring and a card appear over your character, and you react by doing:

- **Arrest, attack, ticket**: run (a real chase), **H** hands up, **F** fight back, or type what you do and Jev reads it. The card shows the chance the move on you fails for each answer.
- **Persuade, bribe**: **Y**, **N**, or walk away. Between players it's consent, with no dice.
- **Nothing**: the default applies when time runs out (hands up for an arrest or ticket, flat-footed for an attack, ignored for persuade or bribe).

You get 5 seconds for an attack, 8 for an arrest, 9 for a ticket and 12 for persuade or bribe. Pickpockets give no warning. On phones the reactions are buttons.

## Locals who remember

Locals have names, jobs and personalities. Each keeps memories about each character ("tried to pick my pocket", "saved my life") and an attitude from hostile to loyal, on five steps. Jev sees the last three memories and the attitude whenever you deal with them; that's the History chip. Gossip passes between idle locals, so a reputation travels, and crime witnesses report, confront, flee or look away by personality. A local left to bleed out goes to hospital and is back in 90 seconds; only players die for good.

## Roles

| Role | Stat edges | Signature verbs (+1) |
|---|---|---|
| Cop | Authority +2, Muscle +1 | arrest, write ticket |
| Hustler | Sleight +2, Charm +1 | steal, bribe |
| Citizen | Charm +2, Luck +1 | work a shift, persuade |

New characters start with $120 and a five-step crash course from a mentor who texts them: Skeeter for hustlers, Sgt. Boone for cops, Tina for citizens. The [beginner's guide](https://dimetown.com/guides/dimetown-beginners-guide/) covers a first night.

## What the locals say

Lines come from a bank sorted by situation. Jev picks the best one and judges whether a freshly written line would fit noticeably better; if so, a writer model drafts one (the local shows a "writing…" bubble), Jev checks it, and it joins the bank, up to 40 lines per situation. A line a player reports is never used again. More in [NPC dialogue that writes itself](https://dimetown.com/guides/npc-dialogue-line-bank/).

## What there is to do

- **Heists** on the Dry Creek Savings & Loan or the Vance Estate, with a crew ([heist guide](https://dimetown.com/guides/dimetown-heist-guide/)).
- **Golf** at Sawgrass Hills: $25 green fee, nine holes, skins bets.
- **Freight** trucking and **street jobs** (bar, deliveries, packing containers).
- **City events** about once a minute, from purse snatchers to Nina's street race at the docks (21:00–03:00, $20 entry) and the lottery draw at 7:00 and 19:00.
- **Blackjack** at the Lucky Seven: six-deck shoe, dealer stands on 17, blackjack pays 3:2, and a suspicious pit boss.
- **Cars**: hotwire, carjack, and lose the heat at Rico's paint bay.

## Laws, stars and permadeath

The laws are a charter of plain-English sentences. When you bribe, steal or attack, Jev is asked whether you broke each one; reported crimes earn wanted stars (up to five) and cops chase wanted players. At 0 health you're downed for 20 seconds, and if nobody helps you up the character is gone for good. [Laws and permadeath](https://dimetown.com/guides/player-laws-and-permadeath/) has the detail.

## Further reading

- [Games like Stick RPG you can still play](https://dimetown.com/guides/games-like-stick-rpg/)
- [SA-MP roleplay, and roleplay without owning GTA](https://dimetown.com/guides/sa-mp-roleplay-without-gta/)
- [Games with AI NPCs you can actually talk to](https://dimetown.com/guides/games-with-ai-npcs/)
- [A 50-player city on one Cloudflare Durable Object](https://dimetown.com/guides/durable-object-netcode/)

## Play

DimeTown is free at [dimetown.com/play](https://dimetown.com/play/), on a computer or a phone turned sideways. It's for adults (18+).