I have been brainstorming on the Single D6 design lately and I am temporarily suspending further design of it until I explore the possibilities with a 2D6 based game system. I was fiddling around with the Action Result Table and came to the conclusion that 2D6 based ART would give much more variety and options for growth. The updated ART and information is presented below.
Using the Action Result Table
1. Compare the character's Skill or Attribute Rating against the Difficulty of the Action.
2. Take the difference (positive, negative, or even zero) and apply it to a 2D6 roll.
3. Refer to the chart below to see the outcome of the attempted action.
2. Take the difference (positive, negative, or even zero) and apply it to a 2D6 roll.
3. Refer to the chart below to see the outcome of the attempted action.
Special rolls: There are two special rolls that are handled somewhat differently from the procedure outlined above. If a player rolls double 1s then the attempted action is an automatic failure with no further rolls needed. If a player rolls double 6s the roll is not modified by as in step 2 above. Instead, the dice are rolled again, added to the previously rolled 12, and then the modifier is added to the roll. Even if a task seems impossible a lucky roll just may be what it takes to save the day.
|
If you roll a |
The result is |
|
2 or less |
Mishap |
|
3 to 5 |
Failure |
|
6 to 11 |
Success |
|
12 or more |
Critical |
Mishap: The attempted action not only fails but has unexpected consequences such as the character drops or breaks his weapon, accidentally injures himself, the spell backfire, or some other similar outcome. The decision is in the hands of the GM to determine the details of the mishap in correlation to the attempted action.
Failure: The attempted action fails to achieve the intended results.
Success: The attempted action succeeds and achieves the intended results; this could be anything from a moderate to success to a complete success depending on the circumstances. The higher the roll, the better the outcome.
Critical: The attempted action not only succeeds but also has unexpected benefits such as a major wound inflicted on the target, a bulls eye shot, or some other similar outcome. Again, it is the duty of the GM to determine the details of the critical in correlation to the attempted action.
Not sure if you are aware of this, but there are a lot of 2d6 rpg systems. Traveler, for example in the US. In Japan, they generally lack dice other than d6 so their rpg systems often use 2d6.
ReplyDeleteNot sure about Traveler, but in the Japanese Standard RPG system, you roll 2d6 and add it to like a skill rating and then compare it to a difficulty number.
Now I know you were interested in the Hybrid class/skill game I talked about. There is a game called Sword World that is one. It is a bit different from what I had in mind.
What you are doing is a bit different than other rpgs I know of. You are giving a wide variety of responses besides just success/failure.
Fundamentally the issue I see with what you are doing is probability. You have basically a 50/50 chance. Now, there may be bonuses and penalties. I think is that case you might want to change things around a bit.
I would suggest you create easy/standard/hard categories. This determines what you need to succeed. This will alter the probabilities. You can also include things such as bonuses and raise the number. You might need a 16 for a critical on hard or something.
Just my $.02. Back to working on my rpg stuff.
I had not actually thought of creating easy/standard/hard categories but I have to admit that the idea intrigues me. Adding the difficulty categories and changing the minimum roll needed for success or critical opens up many more possibilities - I'm going to try it. Thanks for the suggestion, Darius!
ReplyDeleteYes, I am aware of Traveller being 2D6 and I also know that there were several threads about 2D6 game designs on Dragonsfoot. I'm sure there are plenty of others also.
Thanks again for the idea. I'm definitely going to give that some serious thought and try my best to design something interesting around it.
Good luck on your rpg stuff!
This is really good. The only issue I see with it is the potential for automatic success if the bonus is too high (or auto-failure if the penalty is too low).
ReplyDeleteThis could work well if it were used with a system that had limited ranges (+/-5 at the most). Then, even with circumstantial bonuses and penalties you would still have to roll.
Despite how elegant this looks, it occurs to me that it is just another way of rolling 2d6+Trait agains 7+Difficulty. The only difference is you do the math for the difficulty and trait first, then roll. An extra step might not be desired, but if it looks different it may sell books, so...
The automatic success from high bonuses is definitely something that has to be considered. I agree with your ideas about +/- 5 probably being the highest numbers. I am not a math dude so I wasn't aware that the chart was the same as rolling against 7+ difficulty. I was just trying to come up with a chart based resolution system. I am going to dig this out and take a second look soon...
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