Jul 8, 2019 5:10 pm
Do you need a system to run a game in that you just want to START ALREADY? Look no further. Use this one. We guarantee* no downsides.
This system is a moderately-modified version of Roll for Shoes, a not-at-all serious mini-system. (Thanks to dramasailor for showing it to me.) It's simple, so I'm not going for the standard 'these are the rules'-style grammar that I would otherwise.
How do I Make a Character?
1) Name your character.
2) Give it the Basic skill of Do Anything 1. (Do Anything should be renamed to something appropriate for the game. For instance, in a Zombie game, Do Anything might be renamed to Stay Alive or Survive.
3) Choose one broad skill, such as Pilot 2, Medic 2, or Magic 2 (the rank should be 2). The GM is encouraged to come up with a list of these that would be appropriate for the game, and have the players pick from these. Leave out the list if you want ridiculousness and/or weirdness.
4) Choose two more skills that are subsets of this one. These are up to the players to determine, and should be rank 3 (Drive tanks 3, perform surgery 3, or Fireball 3) are all valid options within their appropriate genres.
5) Submit the character to your GM at which point it will be returned to you to be filled out in triplicate, sent in again, sent back again, queried, lost, found, subjected to public inquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters.
When Do I Roll?
When an action you try to take is DANGEROUS, BUT POSSIBLE or you have ONLY ONE CHANCE to do it, roll. If an action is routine (or just straight up not possible) or you're going to get a lot of chance to do it, or if failure has no real downside other than stalling things out a bit, you're not going to be asked to roll.
What do I roll?
You roll at least 1 d6, and possibly more based on your skills. Everyone has the same super-basic skill: "Do Anything 1" That means, when you do anything, you can roll 1d6. You've also got basic training. That skill is at rank 2, so, 'Soldier 2', 'Medic 2', etc. You've also got a few sub-skills at rank 3. Whenever you try to do something, you use the highest rank skill that would apply. You roll that many dice (xd6), add them together, and compare them to the target number (TN).
What do I roll against?
The GM sets the TN, but just so you know how it works, anything routing (as in not dangerous, and you can try again) doesn't need a roll. When you do roll, though...
- Basic tasks take a 3.
- Tasks that require you to be trained need a 6. This means that untrained people might be able to accidentally do it.
- Tasks that need advanced training take a 9. Untrained people won't be able to do these, but they might be worth trying anyway (see below)
- If it takes an expert hand, it'll take a 12. People who have training in the area might be able to do it.
- Impossible tasks require a 15. Experts have a chance of pulling these off...
Success and Failure
If you roll less than the target number, you'll fail. That's okay, because you still get experience. Mark down 1XP for each failure. If you roll higher than the target number, you succeed. If you get all sixes, you get a new skill! The new skill has something to do with what you did during the attempt that triggered the roll. For example: Alice uses Jump 3 to try to jump a metal railing, but fails and instead just crashes through it. Alice spends XP to get Breaking Things Embarrassingly 4 because it's a subset of what happened to her in the action (even if it has nothing to do with jumping).
How do I use XP?
You can spend XP to change dice to sixes AFTER you succeed or fail. In other words, XP can't help you succeed, but they CAN turn that failed roll into a new skill.
Damage & Effects
There may not be a lot of combat in the game, but you could still get hurt, and there could be the occasional conflict. When you would get hurt, temporarily mark off one of your highest ranked skills, and take an XP. If you ever have to mark off "Do Anything 1", that means you can't do anything anymore and are dead (or at least incapacitated.) Once you're out of danger, you regain one skill per day, or you can spend 2XP to immediately regain a skill. You can also regain an extra skill per day if the medic can succeed at helping you. This requires a TN of 3x the level of the skill.
You may also gain conditions. Conditions won't kill you, but they do make things harder. There's not a list of conditions; each one will be tailor-made for you on the spot. Each condition will have, though a (TYPE). The Condition's type tells you when it applies. For instance, if your condition is Concussed (Mental), it will apply when you try to do things that need mental effort. You'll lower the total of any roll by 2 when a condition applies. Conditions heal themselves (and may be healed) in the same way as damage.
* ᵀʰᵉ ʷᵒʳᵈ ᵍᵘᵃʳᵃⁿᵗᵉᵉ ᶠᵒᵘⁿᵈ ʰᵉʳᵉᶦⁿ ᶦˢ ᵃ ʷᵒʳᵈ ᶠʳᵒᵐ ᵗʰᵉ ᴮᵉᵗᵉˡᵍᵉᵘˢᶦᵃⁿ ˡᵃⁿᵍᵘᵃᵍᵉ ᵐᵉᵃⁿᶦⁿᵍ ᵛᶦʳᵗᵘᵃˡˡʸ ᶦᵐᵖᵒˢˢᶦᵇˡᵉ, ᵃⁿᵈ ˢʰᵒᵘˡᵈ ᵇᵉ ᵗᵃᵏᵉⁿ ᶦⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ˢᵖᶦʳᶦᵗ ᶦᵗ ʷᵃˢ ᶦⁿᵗᵉⁿᵈᵉᵈ ᵃⁿᵈ ⁿᵒᵗ ᶦⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ⁿᵒʳᵐᵃˡ ᵐᵒᵈᵉ ᶦⁿ ʷʰᶦᶜʰ ᶦᵗ ʷᵃˢ ᵖʳᵒᵇᵃᵇˡʸ ʳᵉᵃᵈ.
Why rename the Basic skill?
The Basic skill gives you the very basic option that players can use if they can't use anything else. This is their DRIVE, their fallback. If you make it Do Anything, and they can't do anything else with any of their other skills, Do Anything literally says that they can DO ANYTHING. It's in the name. If you don't want a silly game, rename it.
This system is a moderately-modified version of Roll for Shoes, a not-at-all serious mini-system. (Thanks to dramasailor for showing it to me.) It's simple, so I'm not going for the standard 'these are the rules'-style grammar that I would otherwise.
How do I Make a Character?
1) Name your character.
2) Give it the Basic skill of Do Anything 1. (Do Anything should be renamed to something appropriate for the game. For instance, in a Zombie game, Do Anything might be renamed to Stay Alive or Survive.
3) Choose one broad skill, such as Pilot 2, Medic 2, or Magic 2 (the rank should be 2). The GM is encouraged to come up with a list of these that would be appropriate for the game, and have the players pick from these. Leave out the list if you want ridiculousness and/or weirdness.
4) Choose two more skills that are subsets of this one. These are up to the players to determine, and should be rank 3 (Drive tanks 3, perform surgery 3, or Fireball 3) are all valid options within their appropriate genres.
5) Submit the character to your GM at which point it will be returned to you to be filled out in triplicate, sent in again, sent back again, queried, lost, found, subjected to public inquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters.
When Do I Roll?
When an action you try to take is DANGEROUS, BUT POSSIBLE or you have ONLY ONE CHANCE to do it, roll. If an action is routine (or just straight up not possible) or you're going to get a lot of chance to do it, or if failure has no real downside other than stalling things out a bit, you're not going to be asked to roll.
What do I roll?
You roll at least 1 d6, and possibly more based on your skills. Everyone has the same super-basic skill: "Do Anything 1" That means, when you do anything, you can roll 1d6. You've also got basic training. That skill is at rank 2, so, 'Soldier 2', 'Medic 2', etc. You've also got a few sub-skills at rank 3. Whenever you try to do something, you use the highest rank skill that would apply. You roll that many dice (xd6), add them together, and compare them to the target number (TN).
What do I roll against?
The GM sets the TN, but just so you know how it works, anything routing (as in not dangerous, and you can try again) doesn't need a roll. When you do roll, though...
- Basic tasks take a 3.
- Tasks that require you to be trained need a 6. This means that untrained people might be able to accidentally do it.
- Tasks that need advanced training take a 9. Untrained people won't be able to do these, but they might be worth trying anyway (see below)
- If it takes an expert hand, it'll take a 12. People who have training in the area might be able to do it.
- Impossible tasks require a 15. Experts have a chance of pulling these off...
Success and Failure
If you roll less than the target number, you'll fail. That's okay, because you still get experience. Mark down 1XP for each failure. If you roll higher than the target number, you succeed. If you get all sixes, you get a new skill! The new skill has something to do with what you did during the attempt that triggered the roll. For example: Alice uses Jump 3 to try to jump a metal railing, but fails and instead just crashes through it. Alice spends XP to get Breaking Things Embarrassingly 4 because it's a subset of what happened to her in the action (even if it has nothing to do with jumping).
How do I use XP?
You can spend XP to change dice to sixes AFTER you succeed or fail. In other words, XP can't help you succeed, but they CAN turn that failed roll into a new skill.
Damage & Effects
There may not be a lot of combat in the game, but you could still get hurt, and there could be the occasional conflict. When you would get hurt, temporarily mark off one of your highest ranked skills, and take an XP. If you ever have to mark off "Do Anything 1", that means you can't do anything anymore and are dead (or at least incapacitated.) Once you're out of danger, you regain one skill per day, or you can spend 2XP to immediately regain a skill. You can also regain an extra skill per day if the medic can succeed at helping you. This requires a TN of 3x the level of the skill.
You may also gain conditions. Conditions won't kill you, but they do make things harder. There's not a list of conditions; each one will be tailor-made for you on the spot. Each condition will have, though a (TYPE). The Condition's type tells you when it applies. For instance, if your condition is Concussed (Mental), it will apply when you try to do things that need mental effort. You'll lower the total of any roll by 2 when a condition applies. Conditions heal themselves (and may be healed) in the same way as damage.
* ᵀʰᵉ ʷᵒʳᵈ ᵍᵘᵃʳᵃⁿᵗᵉᵉ ᶠᵒᵘⁿᵈ ʰᵉʳᵉᶦⁿ ᶦˢ ᵃ ʷᵒʳᵈ ᶠʳᵒᵐ ᵗʰᵉ ᴮᵉᵗᵉˡᵍᵉᵘˢᶦᵃⁿ ˡᵃⁿᵍᵘᵃᵍᵉ ᵐᵉᵃⁿᶦⁿᵍ ᵛᶦʳᵗᵘᵃˡˡʸ ᶦᵐᵖᵒˢˢᶦᵇˡᵉ, ᵃⁿᵈ ˢʰᵒᵘˡᵈ ᵇᵉ ᵗᵃᵏᵉⁿ ᶦⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ˢᵖᶦʳᶦᵗ ᶦᵗ ʷᵃˢ ᶦⁿᵗᵉⁿᵈᵉᵈ ᵃⁿᵈ ⁿᵒᵗ ᶦⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ⁿᵒʳᵐᵃˡ ᵐᵒᵈᵉ ᶦⁿ ʷʰᶦᶜʰ ᶦᵗ ʷᵃˢ ᵖʳᵒᵇᵃᵇˡʸ ʳᵉᵃᵈ.
Why rename the Basic skill?
The Basic skill gives you the very basic option that players can use if they can't use anything else. This is their DRIVE, their fallback. If you make it Do Anything, and they can't do anything else with any of their other skills, Do Anything literally says that they can DO ANYTHING. It's in the name. If you don't want a silly game, rename it.
Last edited July 12, 2019 8:40 pm