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Elricaltovilla
2016-07-14, 01:32 PM
Highschool Heroes D6 System

So this system is being written up because I haven't done any homebrew in a long time and I was chatting with a friend of mine about game design. Specifically about how simple it can be to design a new system. Call me cocky, but it felt like a thing worth doing.

Highschool Heroes D6

Highschool Heroes D6 is a simple, rules light system intended to facilitate the classic trope of the Hero (or villain) high school. The core mechanics simply involve rolling a number of d6s determined by your character's rank the school subject most closely related to the real world (or school assignment) at hand. If any of the dice you roll turn up a 6, you succeed at the task. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, let's get into the grittier details:

There are 10 basic subjects that all High School Heroes need to learn in order to graduate. They are:

Biology: Whether you're shapeshifting into an animal, splicing animal DNA or trying to figure out how to get the cute girl to have a study session with you, you need biology.

Chemistry: For all your smoke bomb, super acid, and spider webbing needs.

English: (Or language of choice). Learn how to communicate effectively in a team, or ask a date to prom.

Ethics: As a hero, it's important to know right from wrong, good from bad and left from right. Just try to keep the debates to a minimum.

History: Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. Learn about past heroes and villains, different important battles and the politics surrounding the rise of superpowered individuals. You could probably use it to devise some tactics or something.

Home Ec: Aside from teaching valuable life skills, Home Ec is also important because you need to know how to sew up those tears in your super suit.

Math: When are you ever going to need this? Unfortunately it's on the SATs.

Physics: Flight trajectories, vector calculations, reactive forces and coming up with mumbo jumbo explanations about how superman can fly.

Phys Ed: Encompassing athletics, sports, parkour and to some extent combat.

Shop: You want to build a super suit? Better learn how to weld. Also good for learning how to dismantle and destroy stuff.

In addition to the ten core subjects that all aspiring young superheroes need to know, they must also spend time learning to master their powers. A student's Power stat indicates the level of strength and skill they have when utilizing their abilities. Power rolls by themselves should only come up very rarely. Instead, you can attempt to use your Powers to aid you on another check, adding the dice from your Power stat to the dice of the subject you're using to attempt the task. However in order to do so, you must wager a Destiny Point (more on those later).

Each of these 11 subjects is rated on a scale from 1 to 10. This number determines the number of dice you roll when you use that subject to attempt a task.


Game Design Note: These subjects only cover the basics, if you and your friends want to add more subjects to the mix, feel free to do so. More details and recommendations on how to alter the game to include these new subjects will be included in the Character Creation section.


Character Creation

So you know the basic stats now, but how do you actually build a character?

Step 1: Come up with a character concept.

This includes both your character's superhero persona and their mundane identity. Maybe you're the school jock with telekinesis, a member of the AV club who's a master of martial arts, or one of the cheerleaders with an ear piercing sonic scream. Whatever you decide, there's a few basic things that need sorted. Try asking the following questions about your character to help flesh them out:


What does my character look like?
What kind of personality does my character have?
What are my character's flaws and weaknesses?
What are my character's goals and dreams?
Does my character have anyone they look up to?
Who are my character's friends?
What does my character value more than anything?


Obviously there are more questions you can ask, but these will largely cover the basics of defining your character.


Step 2: Define your character's power(s).

This is something you should work on together with your Game Master and the other players. Depending on the exact nature of the game, what is and is not acceptable for powers could vary wildly. In general, it is recommended that your character's powers follow a general but well defined theme like Super speed, Telekinesis, Telepathy, Super Strength, etc. This allows you the flexibility to use your powers in multiple situations, which is important for later parts of the game.

What is more important are the limitations on your powers. Once you've decided on and defined your power source, you must select TWO limitations on its abilities. These can be a variety of things from range limitations (personal only, short range, must see target, etc.) to material limitations (only metals, real animals only, computers only, etc.) to other, stranger restrictions (must eat peanut butter to activate powers). These limitations might be able to prevent you from using your powers depending on the situation you find yourself in.

Once you've satisfactorily defined your power and its limitations, it's time to move on to the next step.


Step 3: Assign your character's abilities.

This step is where you determine how good your character is at each subject as well as how proficient they are with the use of their powers. Every character starts at rank 1 at each subject and their power. You then have a budget of 50 points to spend to increase the rank of your subjects and power scores. Each rank up costs 1 point, and you cannot increase a subject or your powers above 10.


Game Design Note: Adding New Subjects
If you want to add new subjects above and beyond the original 10 (plus power), I recommend increasing the Point Buy budget by 3 for each additional subject you add. This maintains a neutral progression on skill advancement, so that adding more skills does not overwhelm basic character advancement.



Step 4: Gain Starting Destiny Points.

Destiny Points are an important part of High School Heroes D6. In order to use your powers, you must wager a Destiny Point. If you choose to wager a Destiny Point to use your powers, you add the dice from your Power stat to the dice from the Subject you are rolling. If you succeed on the task, you keep the Destiny Point, but if you fail to succeed (you do not roll any 6s) you lose the Destiny Point.

If you are attempting a task but the Game Master deems your powers inappropriate for the task at hand, you can still use Destiny Points to increase your chance of success on the roll. In order to do so you must Spend a Destiny Point. You automatically lose the Destiny Point but can still boost the roll by your Power stat. This represents extreme luck, skill, or even the direct intervention of Fate on your behalf.

You cannot spend more than one Destiny Point on any roll.

Each player starts every game session with 3 Destiny Points, regardless of how many they had at the end of the previous session. Characters can have a maximum of 5 Destiny Points, although certain circumstances may result in an increase or decrease of that maximum.

Step 5: Write it all down and start playing!

Believe it or not, that's about it for character creation. Congrats!



Playing the Game

Playing High School Heroes D6 involves going through a normal school day and exploring the activities and extracurriculars of life as both a student and a hero. As such, the game is divided into School Days that are each divided into smaller time frames called scenes. These scenes cover broad aspects of a day, but focus on the "important bits" of the story. During each scene, there are a number of activities that Player Characters can engage in. During each Scene, players declare what their character's activities are during the scene, attempt appropriate rolls and gain rewards for succeeding at their activities.

School Day Scenes

There are three different scenes that take place during the typical School Day: In Class, Free Time and Night Scenes. For each scene, your character chooses one activity to engage in. Different scenes have different activities available to choose from.

In Class
This is the time during which your character is expected to be in class, learning, studying and taking tests.

Class Lecture: Attending class is important, learning new information can really help you to succeed in the future. If you choose to focus your scene on a Lecture, then the following occurs:

Choose a Subject for the lecture to be about.
Describe what your character does during the lecture.
Gain a +1 bonus to rolls associated with the subject the lecture is on until you take your Test in that subject.


You do not need to make any rolls to attend a lecture. You can only attend a lecture in a given subject 3 times before you must take a Test on that subject. Attending multiple lectures on a subject provides a cumulative bonus to rolls (that is, if you attend 2 lectures on Shop class, you gain +2 dice when you roll Shop).

Play Hookie: Sometimes you just need a break. You attempt to skip class. Depending on what you do instead of going to class you need to make a roll to avoid getting caught. If you succeed, you take a -1 penalty to the subject whose class you skipped until you attend a lecture, but you gain a Destiny Point.

Study Up: Doing homework or a project for one class while sitting in lecture for another. Pick two subjects. You attend class for one subject but study or do work for the other. Because of the split attention, you must attempt a roll for both subjects. If you succeed on a roll, you gain a +1 bonus to that subject until you Take a Test. This bonus is cumulative with the bonus from attending a Lecture, but not with itself.

Take a Test: Time to see what you've learned! If you choose to take a test, pick a subject. Make a roll on that subject. If you succeed at the roll, you ace the test and your character gains a Hero Point. Keep track of those. When certain Major Events occur, you'll have an opportunity to permanently increase some of your character's subjects. Hero Points last until the end of the semester.


Social Activity
Time between classes, lunch or free time after school, this is your character's opportunity to form bonds with friends (or rivals), do things they enjoy and otherwise unwind from school and heroing life.

Hang Out: Hanging out with friends is a good way to relax and build trust with your peers. This activity includes everything from watching Netflix, to playing a sport, to building something in a garage and much more. The important part is that you are doing it with friends. Choose a subject related to the activity your character and their friends are doing and attempt a roll. If you succeed, you gain 1 Destiny Point.

Part Time Job: Working a few shifts can get you some extra money. Since you're in high school still and have lots of responsibilities, it probably won't be much. Make a subject roll that is related to the kind of part time job you're working. If you succeed, you gain a floating +1 bonus that you can apply to any roll that takes place as part of a Social or Night Time Activity.

Pursue Romance: Someone has caught your eye, or maybe you've caught theirs. However you choose to approach the idea, love is in the air. You attempt a roll with a subject to pique the interest of the other character. If you succeed, you gain a Relationship Point. Keep track of those. When certain Major Events occur, you'll have an opportunity to advance your relationship with that person. If you succeed at advancing the relationship, you gain a Destiny Point and the maximum number of Destiny Points you can have increases by 1. You can pursue multiple relationships with different characters and define them how you see fit, but remember that playing a casanova can, and possibly will backfire on you.


A Note On Romance
The game assumes, for the sake of storytelling, that every character exists in a state of quantum sexuality. That is, NPCs and PCs do not have a defined preference until it is specified by the Pursue Romance activity. This works out fine with NPCs, but PC on PC romance must be handled more carefully.

You must take care to respect the wishes of other players and the Game Master when considering whether or not to pursue a relationship with a fellow PC. If a player is not interested in pursuing a romantic subplot with your character, that's the end of it. Choose a different activity or a different target for your romantic pursuit.


Study Session: Most teenagers probably don't like to study, but sometimes it's necessary to do so. If you choose to study, you gain a +1 bonus to a subject of your choice until you Take a Test on that subject. This functions identically to, and counts as, the Class Lecture activity.

Night Time Activity
This is your character's opportunity to engage in some Heroing! Or study. Or sleep. These can also represent the activities your character gets up to on weekends.

Go on Patrol: Your character goes on patrol, looking to prevent crime. Most nights aren't very eventful, but Going On Patrol highlights those nights where something does happen. Your character might spot a mugging, or catch sight of a super villain or get some training in with a mentor. Attempt a subject roll based on what your character finds and how they deal with it. If you succeed at the roll, your character gains a Hero Point. Keep track of those. When certain Major Events occur, you'll have an opportunity to permanently increase some of your character's subjects. Hero Points last until the end of the semester.


Game Design Notes: Combat

Because this is intended to be a narrative system, rolling is kept to a minimum and there is no explicit combat stat. For many characters they will default to something like Phys Ed., however Shop class might be useful for a superhero who fights while wearing a super suit, and Physics might be used by someone with a Sonic Scream or Telekinetic powers. GMs and players are encouraged to be flexible in how they handle combat resolution.


Pursue Romance: Someone has caught your eye, or maybe you've caught theirs. However you choose to approach the idea, love is in the air. You attempt a roll with a subject to pique the interest of the other character. If you succeed, you gain a Relationship Point. Keep track of those. When certain Major Events occur, you'll have an opportunity to advance your relationship with that person. If you succeed at advancing the relationship, you gain a Destiny Point and the maximum number of Destiny Points you can have increases by 1. You can pursue multiple relationships with different characters and define them how you see fit, but remember that playing a casanova can, and possibly will backfire on you.

Study Session: Most teenagers probably don't like to study, but sometimes it's necessary to do so. If you choose to study, you gain a +1 bonus to a subject of your choice until you Take a Test on that subject. This functions identically to, and counts as, the Class Lecture activity.

Sleep: Taking a well deserved rest, your character gains 1 Destiny Point.


Major Events

Major events are big deals that interrupt the normal flow of the School Day. These events mark significant opportunity for change for a young hero, a chance to rise to the occasion and prove their worth. It is recommended that you limit the number of Major Events that occur during a semester to about 3.

Midterms and Finals: The most dreaded day of any student, Midterms and Finals are when you're expected to show your stuff in school. When this major event occurs, you make a roll for each subject. If you succeed at that roll, you have an opportunity to increase your rating in that subject by 1 point. In order to do so, you roll a number of d6s equal to your current Hero Points. This roll cannot be boosted by your power. If you succeed at the Hero Point roll, you permanently increase your rating in that score by 1, to a maximum of 10 and reduce the number of hero points you have by 1. Once you have attempted all your Hero Point rolls, you lose all remaining Hero Points.

Natural Disaster: Earthquakes, fires, floods, tornadoes, meteors. Some major disaster occurs and the young heroes are called upon to help. The Game Master rolls 10 d6s and totals the result. This is the Target Number. Each character then declares how they're going to help with the disaster and makes a subject roll, totalling the number of dice. If the total is higher than that of the Natural Disaster's Target Number, the character is able to distinguish themselves in their attempts to help people and gains 1d6 Hero Points.

School Dance: The only thing scarier than Midterms or Finals, the school dance. While it does not have to strictly represent a school sanctioned event, the School Dance is the characters' big chance to take their relationships to the next level. Characters participating in the school dance choose one of the PCs or NPCs that they have Relationship Points with. Roll a number of dice equal to the number of Relationship Points you have with that PC or NPC. This roll cannot be boosted by your power. If you succeed, your relationship reaches a new level and you gain 1 Destiny Point and increase your maximum Destiny Point pool by 1.

Villain Assault: An attack by a major villain or other threat so great that the PCs are forced to step in and help. Each PC makes a subject roll and describes how they're assisting. PCs continue to make new rolls and do more to assist the experienced heroes until they fail at a roll. No PC can use the same subject on a roll again until they have used a subject roll for each subject. Characters that distinguish themselves by succeeding on more rolls than their Power rating gain 1d6 Hero Points.

Elricaltovilla
2016-07-14, 01:33 PM
Reserved Post.

JBPuffin
2016-07-15, 08:40 PM
Fascinating...It's so simple, yet it clearly defines a setting of its own. Props.

Question on powers, though - rather than just write "Power", would it make more sense for the players to name their power? Like, my insect controller, rather than having Power 4 on his sheet, would have something like "Hive Lord 4", which he'd use on whatever makes sense. Then, characters could gain powers later on with different ratings (Laser Eyes 3, for example, after a few school years)...or is that already sort of covered by the "extra Subjects" clause?

Elricaltovilla
2016-07-16, 09:03 AM
Fascinating...It's so simple, yet it clearly defines a setting of its own. Props.

Question on powers, though - rather than just write "Power", would it make more sense for the players to name their power? Like, my insect controller, rather than having Power 4 on his sheet, would have something like "Hive Lord 4", which he'd use on whatever makes sense. Then, characters could gain powers later on with different ratings (Laser Eyes 3, for example, after a few school years)...or is that already sort of covered by the "extra Subjects" clause?

Yes, you can absolutely write "Hive Lord 4" or "Laser Eyes 3" instead of "Power." I wasn't sure how to convey that properly, but you should definitely be giving your power stat a more specific name and definition.

Extra subjects is more to cover things like "Computers" in a more cyber-punk themed game, or to add "sailing" as a class if you're a yuppie or a pirate.

the_david
2016-07-16, 10:02 AM
This is good. It sounds like a fun game, though the setting might not work for everyone.