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Anubis Dread
2015-02-02, 10:29 PM
I've been messing around with rules light systems for a while. Writing something up, scrapping it and starting over repeatedly. But that isn't really conductive to getting better or getting a game out there. So I decided to write up a rules light system that seemed to have a fun mechanic, just get the bare bones skeleton written up and present it for some honest critique.

With that said, here are the rules for SPEED! A competitive risk based roleplaying game.


The exhilarating rush of going full speed on a straight. The tension of taking a tight curve. The conflict of ramming against another vehicle. Speed! attempts to capture all of these emotions and more in this competitive racing TTRPG.

In SPEED! the players all play Racers competing for fame and glory. Whether they be legitimate competitors on the circuit or street racers living on the edge, Speed! attempts to bring that tension to the tablestop.



SPEED! has a simple set of mechanics designed to represent high risk, high reward racing. At its essence SPEED! is divided into a large number of Trials. Trials can earn the partcipant Speed, which is used to get a high ranking place in Races. Winning a high place in Races earn you points towards winning your Circuit, which is a collection of Races.

In general here's how it breaks down: each Trial consists of a single roll. A Race usually consists of about six to twelve Trials for a normal race, or sixteen to twenty two for an endurance race. A Circuit usually consists of between three and ten races depending on how long you want the game to last.

Winning a Race earns you Victory Points or VP depending on your rank in that race. 1st place gets a number of VP equal to the number of racers in that race. 2nd place gets one less VP than 1st place, 3rd place gets one less VP than 2nd place and so on. If Racers tie they share the higher amount of the VP they would have earned.

Deciding who wins a Race is simple - whoever has the highest Speed by the time the Race is over is the victor. Speed is earned by completing Trials.



Trials are how racers earn that precious Speed to win the race.

The rules for a Trial are simple. The GM declares a number, which is the Trial's Difficulty. Usually a Difficulty should be somewhere between 10 and 30, with 10s being simple checks and 30s being incredibly high risk, high reward. Each player chooses to roll any number of d6s to attempt to match that number. The players roll the number of dice they decided on, then tally the total of their dice pool. They then earn Speed equal to that total, to a maximum amount equal the Difficulty of the Trial.

There's a catch however - pushing your car too far means that it becomes damaged and starts to slow down. Whenever a player rolls a number that's higher than the Difficulty they're aiming for, they earn Strain equal to the difference between the Difficulty and the number they rolled. At the end of the race, deduct your Strain from your Speed before determining who won.

Strain can be a real problem. Deduct your amount of Strain from the roll for any Trial you attempt.



Though all Trials except a few special ones follow the above rules, there are several types of Trials. Some cars are better at performing certain Trials than others. These types are:

Boost - Used on straights or other situations where you can go flat out.

Cornering - Used to navigate tight corners and dodge obstacles.

Traction - Used to avoid being knocked around by obstacles or other cars.

Ram - Used to burst through obstacles or ram other cars.

Acceleration - Used when you're accelerating from a stop.

There are also the following Special Trials that don't follow the normal rules. Any of these trials can be linked with any of the above Trial Types unless specified otherwise:

Pit Stop - A Pit Stop is basically the opposite of a normal Trial. Instead of earning Speed up to the Difficulty and earning Strain if your surpass it, you instead lose Strain up to the Difficulty and lose Speed if you surpass it. The Difficulty of a Pit Stop is equal to the amount of Strain you have. Pit Stops are quite common in longer Races. Pit Stops are not linked to any Trial Type.

Bashing - Sometimes you will be given the opportunity to bash into another car. In such a case, the bashing car rolls 3d6 and the defending car rolls 2d6. If the attacker rolls higher than the defender the defender gains Strain equal to the difference. Bashing is Ram based, while defending against a Bashing attempt is Traction based. Bashing should usually be used as an extra or bonus Trial rather than a Trial in and of itself.

Contest - Trials are usually rather neutral in that anyone can pass or fail them. Contests are different. Maybe it's a narrow straight that cars can only go down single file, maybe it's some kind of bonus a racer gets from collecting a certain object. Whatever the case there can only be one. Each racer rolls 3d6. Whoever rolls the largest number wins a set amount of Speed as determined by the GM.

Ranked Contest - As a Contest, except that all the racers earn Speed, just in differing amounts. For instance, 1st place may earn 10 Speed, 2nd place 8 Speed and so on.

Multiple Choice - Some Trials will be comprised of multiple different Trials that you must choose from. In such a case you must choose the type of Trial you will be doing before rolling the dice. Multiple Choice Trials are fairly common - expect about half of any given Race to comprise of Multiple Choice Trials. Occassionally all the Trials in a given Race will be Multiple Choice - these are usually Endurance Races where one of the options is always to do a Pit Stop.

Stunt - Awesome things happen in racing, and it should be rewarded. Stunts are high risk high reward rolls. Instead of having a single set difficult, Stunts have a difficulty between one number and another number. If you roll within this range you earn a set amount of Speed as determined by the GM. If you don't you earn nothing (neither Speed nor Strain).



Drivers are pretty much all fluff - you can be an elderly veteran driver out for one more spin, an eight year old prodigy, a robot, anything you like. Your car however has a more strict set of mechanics.

Cars consist of two parts: a Major Feature and three Minor Features. A Major Feature is a single difinitive attribute your car has. It cannot be changed once selected. Minor Features on the other hand can be changed between Races if a Driver desires it. It's a good idea to try and choose Minor Features that both play well with your Major Feature and fit the course you're going to be racing on.



Rocket Boosters - Rocket boosters allow you to reach speeds no-one else can. In short bursts anyway. Three times per Race you may treat the Difficulty of the Trial you are attempting as 5 higher than it actually is. You must declare the use of this ability before dice are rolled.

Built For Speed - Your car is designed to push the limits of what's possible. Whenever you earn Strain from exceeding a Difficulty check, you gain an additional 1 Speed for every 2 Strain you earn, up to a maximum of the Difficulty of the check.

Juggernaut - Surviving a nuclear explosion is not usually something you build a car to do, but you do it anyway. You roll two additional die during Bashing attempts and Defences.

Calculating AI - You have an AI that allows you to calculate the exact moves to make during a race. Three time per Race you may reroll any number of dice in your dice pool after you've rolled but before the results of the roll are declared.

Outer Carapace - You have a secret inside of your car - another car! The outside of your car is just a shell to absorb damage. Once per Race you may make a bonus Pit Stop Trial in addition to any other Trial you are attempting.

Specialist - Bulding a car for one thing and one thing only makes you excel in a single area. Choose a Trial Type. Three times per Race you can make a Trial you attempt use that Trial Type instead of whatever type they would normally use (except for Pit Stops and Bashing). This applies to ALL Racers.

Saboteur - Traps and gadgets may be unfair, but that never stopped you. Three times per episode you may reduce the Difficulty of a Trial by 5 after everyone has rolled but before the results are declared.

Catch-up Mechanism - Your car is designed to bridge the gaps between you and the other racers. Three times per episode when you fail to hit the Difficulty of a Trial you may gaiin additional Speed equal to the difference between what you rolled and the Difficulty.


Nitros - You may add or subtract 1 to your Boost Trial rolls after you've rolled but before the results are declared.

Air Turning - You may add or subtract 1 to your Cornering Trial rollss after you've rolled but before the results are declared.

Good Tires - You may add or subtract 1 to your Traction Trial rolls after you've rolled but before the results are declared.

Bumper Bar - You may add or subtract 1 to your Ram Trial rolls after you've rolled but before the results are declared.

Rear Burners - You may add or subtract 1 to your Acceleration Trial rolls after you've rolled but before the results are declared.

Competitive Colors - You may add or subtract 1 to your Contest Trial rolls after you've rolled but before the results are declared.

Trained Technicians - You may add or subtract 1 to your Pit Stop Trial rolls after you've rolled but before the results are declared.

Spikes - You may add or subtract 1 to any Bashing attempts and defences you make after you've rolled but before the results are declared.

Overdrive - You may add or subtract 1 to you Stunt Trial rolls after you've rolled but before the results are declared.

Emergency Brakes - Three times per Race you may subtract up to 3 from your roll after you've rolled but before the results are declared.

Emergency Acceleration - Three times per Race you may add up to 3 to your roll after you've rolled but before the results are declared.

Patch Job - Three times per Race you may subtract up to 5 Speed from your total to repair that much Strain.

Fuzzy Dice - Three times per Race you may reroll one of your die after you've rolled but before the results are declared.

Speed Freak - Whenever you hit or surpass the Difficulty of a Trial you gain additional speed equal to one tenth of the Difficulty, rounding down.

Consistent Engine - Whenever you roll less than the Difficulty of a Trial you gain additional speed equal to one tenth of the Difficulty of that Trial, rounding down.

Quality Maintenance - Whenever you would recieve Strain you recieve one less Strain.

steelsmiter
2015-02-03, 01:17 AM
Strain confuses me. You're more likely to get a zero on lower difficulty, thus making low difficulties impossible past a certain point.

jamieth
2015-02-03, 07:04 AM
Well, it kinda makes sense, as in "OK, this part of track is simple enough that driver's skill doesn't make much difference; either your car's good enough, or not."

Anubis Dread
2015-02-03, 11:08 AM
Yeah Strain is a little problematic in that way. It's more of a balancing thing than anything else. I felt Strain had to be more punishing than just 'deduct it from your Speed at the end of the race', as otherwise it would promote just building up a lot of Strain and getting rid of it all in one pit stop. On the other hand, the simplest mechanic I could come up with makes little sense fluff wise even if it's easy to remember.

EDIT: Came across a simpler solution. Strain is now subtracted from every roll you make. This means you can still perform just fine with high Strain, but it has a huge risk involved.

Sgt. Cookie
2015-02-03, 01:46 PM
I'm probably reading Trials wrong, but, from what I gather, you GET speed even if you fail the Trial, but only incur Strain if you EXCEED the result. Right?

Because if that's the case, then, that seems like bad game design. As players who roll WELL are actively punished, but players who roll poorly are rewarded (Well, compared to players who roll well, that is). Which is counter-intuitive compared to... basically every other TTRPG out there. Not only that, it makes those "high-risk, high-reward" challenges (30, according to the rules) "no-risk, great-reward", as you can roll five d6s and NEVER get more than 30.

Simply flipping the speed/strain thing presents a whole host of problems, as players can pick *any* number of D6's to roll, so they could roll an absurdly high number of D6s.

I COULD be wrong, though.

Anubis Dread
2015-02-03, 02:17 PM
That's right. The aim of the game is to get as close to the EXACT number of the Difficulty as possible. If you roll too low you don't earn as much Speed as you could. If you roll too high you get all the Speed you could get, but also earn Strain which both deducts from total Speed and makes it a little harder to hit that perfect roll for future Trials.

It's basically a risk management game. I have a Difficulty 10 roll. Do I roll 2d6 that average 7 and risk not getting as much Speed as I could? Do I roll 3d6 that averages closer to 10, but could cause some SERIOUS Strain if I roll too high? If I'm ahead I probably want to take the cautious route, but if I'm behind the risk might be worth it.

That's also why most of the Minor Advantages allow you to either add or subtract from the roll - since the aim is to get as close to the exact number of the Difficulty as possible subtracting is just as useful as adding.

So basically 'rolling well' and 'rolling poorly' isn't the same 'rolling high' and 'rolling low'. It's more like rolling well is 'gets about an average roll' while rolling poorly is 'rolls too high or too low'.

Twelvetrees
2015-02-03, 03:11 PM
I like the design of this. You need to know when to take chances and when not to.

One comment for right now. Correct me if I'm wrong, but because I can roll as many d6s as I want, I could roll a bajillion d6s and then get rid of all the strain with Outer Carapace and keep the massive speed result, right? If so, you'll probably want to put a limit in d6s or reduce how much strain Outer Carapace can remove.

Anubis Dread
2015-02-03, 03:19 PM
The Speed you gain is capped with the Difficulty of the check, meaning at most you're only ever going to get the same amount you would have gained for rolling the exact Difficulty. Unless you have Built For Speed, but that just changes the cap and is mutually exclusive with Outer Carapace.

That said, even at one time per race Outer Carapace might be a little nuts.

Twelvetrees
2015-02-03, 03:34 PM
The Speed you gain is capped with the Difficulty of the check, meaning at most you're only ever going to get the same amount you would have gained for rolling the exact Difficulty. Unless you have Built For Speed, but that just changes the cap and is mutually exclusive with Outer Carapace.

That said, even at one time per race Outer Carapace might be a little nuts.

Ah, my bad, I missed the speed cap. But yes, Outer Carapace is really powerful right now.

Anubis Dread
2015-02-03, 03:43 PM
Changed Outer Carapace to be a Pit Stop Trial rather than just outright removing everything.

Also changed Bashing to be 3d6 for the attacker and 2d6 for the defender - doing otherwise makes it a little too weak. Also added a disclaimer that Bashing should usually be a rider or bonus rather than a Trial in and of itself.

steelsmiter
2015-02-03, 07:14 PM
I felt Strain had to be more punishing than just 'deduct it from your Speed at the end of the race', as otherwise it would promote just building up a lot of Strain and getting rid of it all in one pit stop.
some racers do that anyway. Some don't. It's partly about what position they are in, and what position they'll be in after the stop.


EDIT: Came across a simpler solution. Strain is now subtracted from every roll you make. This means you can still perform just fine with high Strain, but it has a huge risk involved.
Awesome :D