New System: Forsaken d6 (WIP, PEACH)

[sengmeng]

This still has a lot to be finished typing up, but hopefully what's here can be at least judged for how clear and easy it is to pick up. Also, I'd like to hear if the game concepts could be presented in a better order.

Forsaken d6 is an RPG system which is based on almost every action being tied to a skill and an attribute score, and is resolved with a number of six-sided dice being rolled. The game includes a Game Master, who controls the game and enforces the rules as a sort of referee and tells the story, and one or more Players, who experience the story and control one character. Generally, if a character attempts an action that has a chance of failure, the dice decide. Besides the dice, each magic-using character needs a deck of normal playing cards, pencils, character sheets, scratch paper, and, optionally, some way to map out battles. A character has 5 attributes, which reflect his or her mental and physical capabilities. The attribute scores are Strength, Toughness, Agility, Willpower, and Guile. They are abbreviated as S, T, A, W, and G. Strength represents the physical power of your muscles and relates to attacking and damaging opponents as well as moving objects or yourself. Toughness is your durability and health and determines how hard (or easy) you are to kill. Agility is your balance, hand-eye coordination, aim, and reflexes. Willpower is your mental toughness and ability to concentrate; it mostly ties to magic use. Guile is a combination of charisma and intelligence, but more usually refers to your cleverness, awareness of the situation, and ability to fool or manipulate others. Skills are tasks that you train to be better at and are tied to one or more attributes, given as an abbreviation after the skill name. Having more than one attribute tied to a skill means that you sometimes are able to use whichever of those attributes you want, or different functions of the skill rely on different attributes. This is explained in the individual skill descriptions. Most skills also have a skill which opposes them. Using a skill requires rolling a number of dice equal to the attribute score plus the ranks in that skill. To succeed at most basic tasks, one die needs to show a 5 or a 6. These are called “successes” and more difficult tasks or skill rolls which are opposed by an opponent’s skill roll may need more than one success to succeed. A 6 on the dice also “explodes,” which means the 6 is counted as a success, and then the dice is rolled again, possibly rolling another 6 and being rerolled further. Critical failures can also happen; usually rolling no successes means you simply do not accomplish anything (which can be disastrous in its own right), but if no successes are rolled and more than half the die show 1’s, the game-master may declare that you suffer some sort of mishap, according to his judgement. There are bonuses and penalties as well; a penalty of -1 means that you need one more success than normal to accomplish that task, and a bonus of +1 means that you gain one more success than shows on the dice. Penalties and bonuses do not cancel each other out. A bonus success cannot be your only success, however; if no successes are rolled on the dice, the action fails. Rarely, there are bonus dice as well, meaning the action gains more dice than just the attribute plus the skill rank. The most basic use of a skill would be making an attack, opposed by the opponent’s Dodge or Block skills and their Armor Points and Toughness score. So if a character with a Strength of 2 and a Hand to Hand skill rank of 1 attacks a character with 1 Agility, 1 rank of Dodge, and Toughness and Armor 1, the attacker rolls 3 dice to punch, and the defender rolls 2 dice to Dodge. The attacker will need to beat however many successes the defender gets on his Dodge roll to connect, and then his damage will be however many successes he has over 2 (Armor 1 and Toughness 1 each subtract 1 from any incoming damage). Weapons typically grant bonus successes to reflect their superior damaging power over fists, and some have the Piercing quality which ignores a portion of Armor, but not Toughness. An even more basic use would be a character using Sneak being opposed by another character’s Perception skill; if the one sneaking has more successes, he or she is not spotted, and if the other character has more successes, they are.

[sengmeng]

Play begins with character creation by the players, although pre-made characters could also be used. Players should choose a name, race, Archetypes, and then assign attribute scores and skill ranks. Race in this sense is really closer to “species.” The default setting, the Forsaken Valley, has humans, dwarves, elves (dark, moon, and grey), orcs (green, grey, black, and red), goblins, and ratosk. Humans are very adaptable and quick thinkers, dwarves are industrious and tough, elves are graceful and perceptive, orcs are ferocious and strong, goblins are small and cowardly, and the ratosk are like dog-sized talking squirrels. Each race gets bonuses to different attributes and skills, and a few miscellaneous abilities.

Archetypes are the areas of expertise the character focuses on and each has 5-7 skills associated with it (except Magic, which has only Use Magic). The five Archetypes are Offense, Defense, Stealth, Social, and Magic. A character picks two at first level and may later add a third as they advance. Archetypes determine which skills you can level up most easily and some grant Hitpoints or Guile Points. Archetypes also grant access to Tricks.

Hitpoints represent how much damage the character can take before dying or being knocked unconscious and are determined by the character’s Toughness, Level, and Archetypes.

Guile Points are used to do unusual things with a skill roll, usually adding a bonus to one skill roll by incorporating another skill. Guile points refresh daily, and characters have at least as many as their Guile score, plus some races have bonus Guile points, and the Social Archetype adds one each time it is leveled up. Using a Guile point usually means attempting something not supported by the rules, and its success is arbitrated by the Game Master; the Player will outline their character’s proposed action and the GM will decide if it works and assign bonuses or penalties. Whether the action succeeds, fails because of the dice or the GM decided that it had no chance to succeed, the Guile point is used up.

Tricks are special abilities or circumstantial bonuses that represent very specialized training in a skill or using the knowledge of two or more skills together. Tricks often have requirements that can include minimum skill ranks, minimum attribute scores, Archetypes, and even race or race abilities (such as the Tricks that enhance a character’s claws, which only ratosks and red orcs can qualify for).

Besides their Attributes, Tricks, Archetypes, Hitpoints, Guile Points, characters also have Speed and Armor Points, and their ranks in each skill. Speed is given as the distance a character can move in a turn, and is usually equal to their agility multiplied by five feet, but there are penalties and bonuses which can change that. Armor Points mostly come from equipment and the number of points of damage that are reduced by physical damage (damage from manufactured or natural weapon and falling). Armor Points also incur penalties to many skills, which can be reduced by the Armor skill.

SKILLS: Acrobatics (S, A), Armor (T), Barter (G), One-Handed (S, A), Expertise (-), Climb (S), Dodge (A), Endure (T), Grapple (S, A), Heal (A), Dual Wield (S, A), Mechanical (A, G), Block (S, A), Perception (G), Speech (G, S), Pick Pockets (A, G), Marksmanship (A), Resist (W, G), Handle Animal (G, A), Rope Use (D), Investigate (G), Scribe (G), Sneak (A), Use Magic (W), Swim (S), Thrown Weapon (A, S), Tradecraft (G, A, S), Great Weapon (S), Hand to Hand (S, A), Use Magic (W, T).

Skills are arranged into six groups:

Offensive: Dual Wield, One-Handed, Great Weapon, Hand to Hand, Grapple.

Defensive: Armor, Dodge, Resist, Endure, Block

Social: Barter, Speech, Investigate, Handle Animal, Scribe
Stealth: Sneak, Acrobatics, Pick Pockets, Marksmanship, Mechanical, Thrown Weapons.

Magic: Use Magic

Miscellaneous: Climb (S, A), Swim (S, T), Tradecraft (S, A, G), Perform (G), Perception (G), Heal (A), Expertise (-).

The first five categories correspond to the five Archetypes. A character can more easily level up the skills associated with their Archetype. A character can call him or herself a class based on one of the ten combinations of Archetypes they choose. The player can call their character whatever they wish, and two characters of the same Archetype combination can still be different enough to warrant different names, but some handy suggestions are: Knight (Offensive/Defensive), Assassin (Offensive/Stealth), Thief/Scout/Archer/Skirmisher/Ranger (Stealth/Defensive), Warmage (Offensive/Magic), Skald (Offensive/Social), Spy (Stealth/Social), Ninja/Shadowmage/Spellthief (Stealth/Magic), Marshall/Inquisitor (Social/Defensive), Priest/Abjurer/Shaman/Druid (Defensive/Magic), Sorcerer/Enchanter/Enchantress (Social/Magic).


Experience Points: All creatures and characters are built using experience points, and defeating them (a subjective condition that does not always mean killing them) nets the winner(s) 20% of the total experience used to build them. A first level character spends 1000 experience points increasing their Attributes and skill ranks and purchasing Tricks. When they accumulate 2000 more experience points, they gain the benefits of being second level and spend another 1000. Each level requires another 1000, i.e., third level will come after gaining 3000 more experience than second, but they always spend 1000. Increasing an Attribute costs 50 x the square of the score they are increasing it to (so going from Strength 2 to Strength 3 would cost 450 as 3x3x50 is 450). Increases that come from a character’s race do not count when figuring out the cost. Skill ranks cost 100x the level they are increasing to (so 0 to 1 is 100, 1 to 2 is 200, etc.) In both cases, increases must be bought singly (going from 1 to 3 Strength costs the sum of the cost of increasing 1 to 2 and 2 to, which is 650 because it’s 200 + 450). Before racial bonuses and spending experience, characters have a 1 for all Attributes and a 0 for all skills.

Archetype bonuses: You gain hitpoints at first level equal to your toughness plus 2 for the Offensive and Defensive archetypes, and plus 1 for the Stealth and Social Archetypes, and 0 for the Magic Archetype. Therefore, being a Knight (Offensive/Defensive) would get you Toughness plus 4 in hitpoints, and being an Assassin (Offensive/Stealth) would gain you Toughness plus 3 in hitpoints. Taking the Social Archetype gains you 1 Guile point, and taking the Magic Archetype gains you 5 spells per day at first level.

Guile Points: Guile points refresh daily. A guile point enhances a single skill roll. Using a Guile point allows the player to make a skill roll for a different skill than the one they are attempting to use. They will make up an in-game explanation for how that skill relates to the other roll. Then, if the Game-master accepts their explanation, they roll the normal skill roll with extra dice equal to the successes on the first roll. The Guile point is still used up if the Game-master does not accept the explanation, and the same two skills may or may not work together if spending another Guile point some time in the future; this is up to the GM’s judgement. Example: Theren, a Skald, attacks an orc with his two-handed battleaxe. He has 3 Strength and 2 ranks in Great Weapon, so normally rolls 5 dice on the attack. He decides to enhance his attack by spending a Guile point and making a Speech check. He explains that he gives out a wild yell to intimidate the orc, and rolls 3 successes. The GM accepts this explanation. He then proceeds with the attack, adding 3 dice for his successes to to 5 dice he normally rolls. If he had chosen a skill like Barter or Swim, he may not have had as much luck convincing the GM. Typically, using a Guile point in this way does not use up any additional actions, but the GM may rule otherwise.


Individual Skill Descriptions

Acrobatics (S, A): The most basic use of the Acrobatic skill is to jump. You can jump 5 feet horizontally for every success, and 2.5 feet vertically for every success. A running start of 10 feet doubles your horizontal and vertical distances. Jumping is Strength based. Acrobatics is also used to Move faster than normal. You roll an acrobatics check as a move action, and you move a number of extra five foot squares equal to your successes -3. If this would put you at less than normal or even zero movement, you have failed your acrobatics check and cannot move. This use is Agility based. Acrobatics is also used to disengage from enemies without drawing attacks. You make an Acrobatics check as a move action, and move a number of five foot squares equal to your successes. Failure does not mean you get attacked, it means you don’t move. This use is also Agility based.

Barter (G): Barter is used to evaluate the price of goods, and convince others to give you a better deal. When using this skill to appraise, one success gives you an estimate that is up to 50% over or under the actual price, and two successes give you an estimate up to 25% over or under, while three successes gives you the exact price. Haggling over prices is opposed by the other person’s Resist skill, and nets you a discount of 10% per success you have more than them.
Climb (S): Climb is a Strength based skill. One success typically means not falling off; it takes at least two successes to make headway. Harder to climb surfaces may require even more successes to make headway on, but should not lead to you falling off unless your result is zero.

Dodge (A): Dodge is an Agility based skill used to avoid all manner of attacks. It is used as a reaction, and is opposed by the weapon skill of your opponent. If you tie or exceed the number of successes your opponent rolls, that attack is completely avoided. It does not partially negate any attack. Dodge works equally well on melee or ranged attacks.

Endure (T): Endure is a skill used to resist special attacks that affect your physiology. The amount it can help you resist them is specific to each special attack.

Heal (A, G): Healing means administering first aid to someone who is wounded. You use either your Agility or Guile score. They heal a number of hitpoints equal to your successes minus three; this means that if you botch your roll badly enough, they are damaged instead. You butcher.

Intimidate (S, G): By flexing and growling, or artful exaggeration of your own prowess, you attempt to frighten your opponent. Using Intimidate is an Attack action. Intimidate is opposed by their Resist skill. If you beat them, you gain a bonus success to Persuade checks against that character, or they take a -1 penalty on attacks against you. Both effects last for 1 turn per success you rolled.

Dual Wield (A): Dual Wielding really refers to using your off-hand to attack. Your primary hand’s attacks are governed by Einhand. Weapons that do not have the Light quality confer a -1 penalty when used in your off-hand. Bashing someone with a shield uses the Dual Wield skill.

Mechanical (A, G): You disable traps and open locks, among other things, with the Mechanical skill. You choose either Agility or Intelligence to use the Mechanical skill.

One-Handed (S, A) The One-Handed skill covers the use of one-handed weapons such as longswords, shortswords, battleaxes, maces, warhammers, clubs, daggers, and flails. Most one-handed weapons use Strength, but those with the Light quality can use Agility instead.

Block (A): The Block skill is used as a Reaction to counter an opponent’s attack with your weapon or Shield. Using your weapon to parry does not allow you to attack with that weapon on your next turn. Using a Shield to parry allows you to still use your weapon to attack. You cannot normally parry magic, thrown weapons, or projectiles. Blocking a weapon while unarmed requires you to beat your opponent by three successes. Attacking unarmed and getting blocked by a weapon causes you to take damage as if you were attacked with that weapon. Shields can be used to Parry thrown weapons and projectile weapons.

Perception (G): Perception is used to see or hear things. It generally opposes your opponent’s Stealth skill, but is sometimes used to check if you notice things other than enemies, and sometimes opposes the Speech skill if it is being used to deceive you.

Speech (G, S): Speech has a few different uses, all of which are used with Guile, but using it to intimidate can also key off of Strength. Deceiving someone is opposed by Perception, and intimidating and persuading are opposed by the Resist skill.

Marksmanship (A): This skill covers the use of weapons like slings, bows, and crossbows. It uses the Agility skill and is opposed by the target’s Dodge skill or Block skill if they are using a shield.

Hand to Hand (S, A): This is punching. You choose to use your Strength or Agility when rolling unarmed attacks. If your unarmed attack is blocked with a weapon, you take damage as if that weapon was used to attack you.

Great Weapon (S): This covers greatswords, great clubs, great axes, polearms, and other two handed weapons. You use the strength attribute when attacking with a great weapon. This skill is opposed by the opponent’s Parry or Dodge skill.

[sengmeng]

[Reserved for Magic]

[sengmeng]

[WIP]

Weapon Descriptions: Weapons have certain qualities, such as Two-handed, or Ranged, and a damage value. Weapon damage adds bonus successes after the successes from the attack skill roll are determined; those successes plus the bonus successes are the damage applied to the target. A weapon's damage can be zero; this means only the successes from the attack roll contribute to damage. In that case, the weapons qualities usually make it superior to a bare fist in some way. Weapons can also have variable damage, designated as X (Typically, X is the wielder's Strength score, and mostly great weapons have this quality; the weapon is so large that someone with poor Strength can't really use it effectively). Weapons with two damage values separated by a forward slash also have the Versatile quality, which means the weapon's damage or some other qualities change when it is used two-handed vs one handed.

Qualities: Primitive (P), Piercing (P1, P2), Light, Defensive (D), Blunt (B), Impaling (I), Versatile (V), Ranged (Ra), Reloading (Re), Two Handed (Tw), Throwing (Th), Deadly (De), Enchanted (E), Clumsy (C), Nonweapon (N), Reach (R, R+), Flexible (F), Unarmed (U).

Primitive: this quality means the weapon is made of inferior materials. It interacts normally with unarmored opponents or opponents in Primitive armor, but armor without the Primitive quality doubles its value versus a Primitive weapon. Armor with the Enchanted quality is also doubled against Primitive weapons, but they capped at dealing 1 point of damage.

Piercing: this weapon ignores part of a target's armor. They are treated as having 1 or 2 fewer Armor Points versus attacks from that weapon, depending on whether the weapon has the P1 or P2 designation on the chart. Piercing does not necessarily mean that the weapon literally has a sharp point; axes and hammers can have this quality.

Light: This weapon is a bit smaller than a one-handed weapon (any weapon without either the Light or Two-handed qualities). It is governed by the One-handed skill, but can be used with either the Strength or Agility attributes.

Defensive: This weapon is easier to Block with. You gain two bonus dice on your Block skill roll using this weapon.

Blunt: This often does not change the weapon's performance, but against certain opponents, the Blunt quality can make them much more effective. Many creatures with regeneration or resistance to certain damage types find damage from Blunt weapons devastating. Note that this quality refers to the ability to crush an opponent physically, but does not necessarily mean that the weapon isn't also sharp; axes have the Blunt quality.

Impaling: Impaling weapons are mostly spear-like. They can be used to attack an opponent who enters your reach by using your Reaction; Reactions are normally only usable to Block or Dodge.

Versatile: This weapon changes its damage or qualities based on whether you wield it in one or two hands. This also changes which skill is needed to use it. For damage, the number before the slash is the one-handed damage, and the number after the slash is the two-handed damage. If the chart says V/(some other quality), that quality is gained when the weapon is used two-handed.

Ranged: This weapon is used at a distance, meaning it is thrown or launches projectiles. Having the Ranged quality means using it on an adjacent opponent allows them to attack you as a Reaction; not all Throwing weapons have the Ranged quality. Ranged weapons can reach up to 15 feet x your Agility score without penalty, and can reach double that distance with a -1 penalty.

Reloading: This weapon cannot be used again until you use an attack action to reload it.

Two Handed: This weapon occupies both of your hands and uses the Two-handed skill.

Throwing: This weapon can be thrown at an opponent who is within 5 feet x your Agility score, or 10 feet x your Agility score if it also has the Ranged Quality, without penalty, and takes a -1 penalty at greater distances, up to double the close range.

Deadly: This quality is not a natural part of any weapon; it can only be on weapons which also have the Enchanted quality. If a Deadly weapon hits and deals damage, all the dice rolled that were not fives or sixes "explode" and can even explode again if sixes are then rolled. These successes only add to damage; they aren't rolled if the attack roll didn't have enough successes to connect.

Enchanted: This weapon treats Armor without the Enchanted quality as half as effective, and completely ignores Primitive armor. It is not a part of any weapon, but can be applied to any weapon via magic, including natural weapons. A weapon loses the Primitive quality if it gains the Enchanted quality.

Clumsy: Clumsy weapons cannot be used to Block.

Nonweapon: This quality means that this object is not actually meant to be used as a weapon and is especially heavy, unbalanced, or both. It congers a -1 penalty when used.

Reach: This weapon is long enough to attack opponents 10 feet away. You take a -1 penalty using it on adjacent opponents unless it is R+ on the chart instead of R.

Flexible: This weapon cannot be Blocked or used to Block.

Unarmed: This is either your fist, or something you wear over it. It is governed by the Hand-to-Hand skill.




Name
Damage
Qualities


Fist
0
P,L,U


Gauntlet
0
L,U


Spiked Gauntlet
0
L,P1,U


War Fist
0/1
V,B,P1,U


Buckler
0
D,N,B,L


Small Shield
1
L,D,N,B


Shield
2
D,N,B


Tower Shield
2
D,N,B,Tw


Whip
0
L,R+, P,F


Longsword
2
D


Shortsword
1
L, P1


Greatsword
X
T,P1

Shortsword
1
L,Th



More weapons to come, but also customized weapons can be made by assigning reasonable damage and qualities.