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View Full Version : Original System Pseudo-d6 System, Revisited (Clarifiacations for certain ideas; PEACH)



Ralcos
2015-04-20, 12:31 PM
You guys might remember my post that I made weeks ago, detailing my ideas for a d6 system that didn't use pools of dice to determine the success of a task.



As above, I decided to post an idea I had this morning for basic mechanics.

Basically, it IS a d6 system, but it isn't like what you'd find in the old Star Wars RPG or the d6 system.
Instead, the game operates with every Player (and in extension, his character) rolling 4 dice.
Each die rolled is an individual action in a turn, meaning that you can take up to 4 actions in a single turn of the game.
On certain actions the NUMBER rolled on these "Action Dice" is the result of said action.

No skills, but everything is measured in Attributes; each one used in different ways.
Strength
Vitality
Agility
Intellect
Perception
Willpower
Charisma
Affinity

And, instead of Hit Points, I was thinking of making it into a simple score to roll over to determine effects.
Physical Threshold
Mental Threshold

The Thresholds are ruled as follows:
Whenever damage is rolled, compare rolled damage to the appropriate Threshold Value.
If the rolled damage meets or exceeds the value equal to the Threshold, the target is staggered and cannot take his next turn.
If the rolled damage meets or exceeds the value equal to twice the Threshold, the target is knocked unconscious.
If the rolled damage meets or exceeds the value equal to triple the Threshold, the target is outright killed.

Let's use a simple combat encounter as an example here. Beware, for opening the spoiler will reveal a wall of text and numbers... :biggrin:


Player James has rolled up a Half-Ogre Mercenary named Kogg, as dumb as a brick but stronger than an ox.
After accepting a quest from a hesitant farmer's girl, he goes off to save her father who was kidnapped by a Goblin tribe.

He was told where to go, but was ambushed by Goblin Scouts on the way to their lair. A Combat Encounter begins...

What I was thinking, in order to make encounters interesting with this mechanic, I have separated Turns into two categories of "going first": Namely, Initiative and Sequence.
What that means is that Initiative will possibly be a score, compared to the initiative score of your opponents.
Results are the same in other games. Higher is EXTREMELY better.
After that, you determine your Sequence Value, which is how many turns it'll be before you can take your next turn. To tell the truth, I'm not sure how I'd want to do that yet, but I want it to be simple to understand and easy to remember in the game. But for Sequence Value, it needs to be as low as possible to be better for you.

Anywho, onto the combat!
Kogg's Initiative Value is 4, due to his high Agility attribute of 4. He rolls a d6 to determine his Sequence Value, and rolls a 3.
The Goblins have an Initiative Value of 4 as well, and roll a 2 on their Sequence Value.
What this means is that the Goblins go before Kogg, and go again right after the Half-Ogre's turn. BUT, there's a problem in this on Kogg's side of the battle.
The Goblins go twice before Kogg goes again on the Sequence.

The two Goblins pull out their bows, and use their dice to try to hit their PC opponent.

Goblin A rolled a 5, 2, 1, 1 as his actions on his turn, using both 1's to get behind a small patch of trees in the valley (moving 2 squares), then uses the other two dice results to shoot two arrows.
His total Attack Values, using his Agility, are 9 (5 Die Roll + 4 Agility) and 6 (2 Die Roll + 4 Agility), compared against Kogg's Defense Score.

Kogg decides to attempt a Dodge maneuver against both arrows, rolling 1 die against each attack, instead of using one of the 4 he'd roll on his turn.
For the first arrow, Kogg rolls a 10 (6 Die Roll + 4 Agility). Success!
For the second arrow, Kogg rolls a (5 Die Roll + 4 Agility). Success!

Goblin B rolled a 3, 3, 1, 1 as his actions on his turn, and decides to shoot at the Half-Ogre with ALL OF HIS DICE.
His total Attack Values, using his Agility, are 7 (3 Die Roll + 4 Agility), 7 (3 Die Roll + 4 Agility), 5 (1 Die Roll + 4 Agility), and 5 (1 Die Roll + 4 Agility).

Kogg can take another Defensive Action outside of his turn (Dodge, Block, Parry), but at a -1 to his roll.
He instead decides to endure the attacks, since Goblin B's Attack Values all hit or exceed his Defense Score of 5.
The arrows hit, and hit hard, for the Mercenary takes a total of 14 damage (5 Damage roll + 5 Damage roll + 3 Damage Roll + 1 Damage Roll).

Kogg, barely surviving that blow, rolled a 6, 1, 3, 1 for his turn.
He uses one of the 1s to drink a Healing Potion, healing him up back to full life.
Then, spending his single Action Point for the session, he rerolls the other 1 and replaces the roll with a 3.
He then charges Goblin B, attacking 3 times with his INSANE Strength score of 7, applied to his trusty Greatsword.
His total Attack Values are, using his Strength, are 13 (6 Die Roll + 7 Strength), 10 (3 Die Roll + 7 Strength), and 10 (3 Die Roll + 7 Strength).

Goblin B, decides to try to block with his bow. This grants him a -2 penalty to his Defensive Action, since bows aren't really designed to block with.
He rolls a 2 (4 Die Roll + 0 Strength + -2 Blocking with Bows). Failure!
He rolls a -1 (1 Die Roll + 0 Strength + -2 Blocking with Bows). Failure!
He rolls a 3 (5 Die Roll + 0 Strength + -2 Blocking with Bows). Failure!
The goblin takes a total of 25 damage (10 Damage Roll + 8 Damage Roll + 7 Damage Roll), killing him outright.
Kogg, using up all of his dice for this round, his turn ends.


And maybe a non-combat example?

Nix the Halfling Rogue is in a Skill Challenge, taking turns against the guards (in a similar fashion with combat encounters) to sneak out of the tyrant-run city in the night.

On his turn, Nix rolls a 3, 1, 1, 5 for his actions.
He decides to use the 3, 1, and 1 for movement (moving a total of 5), and using the 5 to make an Agility check to move silently and without any trace.
Using his 5 Agility, he has a Skill Value of 10 (5 Die Roll + 5 Agility).
He is SURE that he is not making a sound, and hiding within the shadows of buildings.

The guards, despite being a group, all take their Skill Challenge as one character/creature.
They rolled a 6, 2, 3, 2 for their turn.
The twos are used to move the guards around the city, the 6 and 3 being used for their Perception.
Their Perception Skill Values, using their Perception of 2, are 8 (6 Die Roll + 2 Perception) and 5 (3 Die Roll + 2 Perception). One of the guards almost saw Nix, but dismissed it as his imagination.





It is unclear to me how you are handling dice for actions during the opposition's turn, but the way damage works suggests to me (as a first impression) that it is advisable to all-out attack in order to KO/slay foes as quickly as possible.

It seems like such a system doesn't leave much room for character advancement/differentiation without completely outstripping less proficient characters. The chance of rolling at least one six out of the four dice is: 1-(5/6)^4 = 51.8%, so if focusing on a single action the result will pretty much always be close to a maximal value. This makes a single action pretty easy if your stat is even one point higher than your foe's (51.8% of the time it works every time, and the other 48.2% of the time it works a good chunk of the time, depending on how ties work, probably over half the time for a net chance of success >75%). Perhaps if the Player had to choose up to four actions BEFORE rolling you could get more interesting results since you wouldn't know how well you'd do when attempting a given action.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. I like that your mechanic works differently than other d6-based systems! :smallsmile:

So, what you're saying is that the player should declare his actions before he rolls?

Say if Toryg the Nord Viking wants to make a charge attack on his turn, he decides to roll two dice AFTER he declares his action, making the charge attack with one die THEN rolling the second die for a secondary attack?

Also, this could solve the conundrum I have with Sequence in a round of combat...



I did mean the part about declaring actions before rolling, but the example above works differently than I imagined. If Toryg only gets two dice for the attack but the defender can take 4 dice for defense (I'm still unclear on off-turn actions/reactions), then he is likely to fail since the defender will have excellent odds of rolling a 5 or 6.

My thinking was Toryg could declare a charge (movement+attack), roll all 4 dice, and use the 3 lowest for movement and the highest for a single attack. Alternatively, he could decide to attack more times (2/3/4), roll all 4 dice, and use the 2/3/4 highest for attacking and the rest (if any) for movement. The point being if he overextends then some of the attacks are likely to fail since the die rolls will be lower, though the first has a good chance of success.

The way it looks like the active defense works ("instead of using one of the 4 [dice] he'd roll on his turn") favors the attacker for the first two attacks if the d6s rolled for defense are independent. However if all defense dice are rolled at once and paired off against attack rolls in order (like Risk), then the attacker has an advantage on anything less than 4 attacks.

You might consider looking at The Riddle of Steel RPG. It works pretty differently from your system, but it has a mechanic in which dice pools are distributed between offense and defense which might be worthwhile to consider.



Overall, I think this game has some cool ideas that I've developed for it.
I'm still looking for advice/constructive criticism.

I have Attribute Scores taken care of in my notebook, but I have a couple of ideas that I want to pitch before I develop.

Namely, I have an idea for what I call Paths.


Each Path is a 5-level progression that gives abilities that Talents and Perks do not, mixing together both Active and Passive abilities into one package.
Paths, like classes in Dungeons and Dragons, focus on a specific "role" in a role-playing game. Unlike classes in D&D however, Paths are not augmentations to specific play-styles. Instead, they influence unique, fun, and recognizable archetypes, similar to d20 Modern or Savage Worlds.

When all 5 levels of a Path are taken by a player character, he/she can start anew with taking another Path OR empower a Path that he has already taken OR take a Path of higher tiers, presuming he meets any requirements. He cannot begin a different Path before he takes the full 5 levels of his chosen path.
For example, Daliah has taken all 5 levels of her chosen Arcane Adept Path, and decides to take the Military Path to augment her combat skills.

Path Tiers
Basic
Advanced
Journeymen
Master

Basic Paths
NOTE: Paths are allowed based on GM discretion.

Advanced Paths
NOTE: Paths are allowed based on GM discretion. Requires level 10+.

Journeymen Paths
NOTE: Paths are allowed based on GM discretion. Requires level 20+.

Master Paths
NOTE: Paths are allowed based on GM discretion. Requires level 30+.


For what actual Paths I want, I'm not sure yet. I want to cover the broad archetypes, but I also want them to stand out from each other.
What do you think?

ALSO, Random Question: Would it be better if I went with a specific setting for this system OR should I make it generic.
I want to know the pros and cons of either option.





I'm a big fan of the idea of a generic system, but I think having a setting that players can get started out with is a good move. I think that when I think of "Generic" my mind jumps to the system, rather than a system without a setting. So I think my input would be more useful if you clarified what you meant.


I was talking about the system itself, but I see your point.

Also, I agree with you on the whole setting idea as well. Maybe I could build the system to have the ability to apply to any setting, and then include an example of a basic setting with the rules? I'll think about it, but this seems to be the best way to do things...

EDIT: To tell the truth, I'm thinking of removing the Sequence score, and making Initiative into a single die roll for either rounds or the entire encounter (as per GMs discretion), as opposed to waiting for a number of turns outside of your own is counted up to the Sequence score.
It was an odd rule, but I think it would've thrown players off in gameplay.


I need feedback on how to organize Target Numbers (or TNs) for tasks.

I was thinking of just going with what's below and adding examples for each tier of difficulty.
This is going to be basically the indicator of both success in a task, saving throws, and other times they are used.

TN ==== Difficulty of Task
40 ==== Mythic
20 ==== Legendary
18 ==== Nigh-Impossible
16
14 ==== Difficult
12
10 ==== Hard
8
6 ==== Normal
4
2 ==== Easy
0 ==== Nigh-Instinctual




I've been working on it, and I want to make clarifications.

BASIC RULE: On your turn, during an encounter (Combat, Social, Exploration, and otherwise), you may take up to 4 actions; each one represented by a single die roll called the Action Die. When your actions are announced, you roll the Action Dice that you announced and assign your dice values to respective announced actions.
Rolled values are only applied in certain situations to determine success/failure.

e.g. An archer decides to shoot at the phoenix with 2 dice, comparing his attack rolls to his target's Passive Defense Score.
He rolls a 5 and a 3, adding 2 to both rolls (+3 from his Agility score, -1 multiattack penalty, for the results of 7 and 5.
His 7 hits, dealing 1d6+3 damage due to him wielding a Longbow (+3 due to his Agility score).



A Path is a set of abilities granted due to training and experience, measuring levels of power and proficiency in many fields.
When you take a Path, you must complete at least 5 levels before gaining levels in the same path OR gaining levels in another path.
Path Rank = Another measurement of power. Used to determine requirements.

Path Levels 1-5 = Rank I Path
Path Levels 6-10 = Rank II Path
Path Levels 11-15 = Rank III Path
Path Levels 16-20 = Rank IV Path
Path Levels 21-25 = Rank V Path
Path Levels 26-30 = Rank VI Path

Basic Paths

Militant
Expert
Evangelist
Arcanist
Acolyte
Adept

Advanced Paths
You must meet requirements before taking these paths.

Monk (Requires Rank 1 Militant; 5 levels)
Warrior/Soldier (Requires Rank 1 Militant; 5 levels)
Rogue (Requires Rank 1 Expert; 5 levels)
Field Specialist (Requires Rank 1 Expert; 5 levels)
Negotiator (Requires Rank 1 Evangelist; 5 levels)
Personality (Requires Rank 1 Evangelist; 5 levels)
Wizard (Requires Rank 1 Arcanist; 5 levels)
Sorcerer (Requires Rank 1 Arcanist; 5 levels)
Cleric (Requires Rank 1 Acolyte; 5 levels)
Druid (Requires Rank 1 Acolyte; 5 levels)
Psion (Requires Rank 1 Adept; 5 levels)
Medium (Requires Rank 1 Adept; 5 levels)

Hybrid Paths
You must meet requirements before taking these paths (not listed).

Ranger
Barbarian
Wilder
Paladin
Gunslinger
Tech Specialist
Artificer
Ardent
Binder
Shaman
Hacker
Elite Pilot
Kensei
Blademind
Skulk
Sniper
Acrobat
Vigilante
Scoundrel
Noble
Crime Boss
Elite Trooper
Elementalist
etc.



Passive Defense: Your base Defensive ability.
Active Defense: As a Reaction to being attacked, you may roll a single die to replace your Passive Defense. When rolling your Active Defense, bonuses from Armor do not apply to this new score. This new score lasts until the attack is resolved.

Ralcos
2015-04-20, 12:59 PM
Reserved for example characters.

Ralcos
2015-04-20, 01:02 PM
Creatures/Characters in encounters can take the following actions.

Up to 4 Actions with the Action Dice (movement, attacks, skills).
1 Swift Action (minor movements, activation)
1 Free Action (activation)
1 Reaction (activation, 1 die for checks with this action)


You may now comment.
Any Advice/Ideas/Criticisms/Death Threats?

Ralcos
2015-04-22, 12:12 PM
Added the Action Economy section