These rules are meant to work in the background as a gaming aid.The functionality is dependent on the maturity of the players and the Game Master(GM). The system is not meant to tell them what to do, they should tell the system what to do. This system is a tool to be used as needed. The design goals are real simplicity, true speed of play (almost all systems claim to be easy and fast, but most are very slow), giving emphasis on storytelling, giving power (and responsibility) to the GM and, finally, extreme adaptability. Adaptability meaning it can handle, in addition to different genres, different themes and moods and, for example, a wide variety of realism levels.
Adaptability means also that in a Mecha game, for example, where the characters are pilots of giant robots, the robots can be created with the exact same rules as the characters themselves. High Fantasy magic items can also be created with the same rules, along with the different armies of a war-themed game, or the haunted house of the horror game. Even the competing nations of a secret agent game can be designed as easily as any other object. You can make your own additions to the system if needed.
The traditionally most common object in games is a humanoid creature called a player character (PC). This system can also be used for creating other objects, such as weapons, vehicles, creatures, space stations, ghosts or even religions. A classic good vs evil fantasy game could be given new life if the players were the ideals themselves instead of just people following them. The creation steps are listed in the order they are to be completed. Always start from step one, then on to step two etc.
1 Concept (main role)
The concept is a short description that captures the essence of the object. The concept determines the basic power level of the object. A Dragon is tougher than a man. An army is tougher than a guerrilla group, which is tougher than a single man (not in all genres, though). The GM is always the final judge on who's tougher than who (or what's tougher than what). That's why it's recommended to use an intelligent GM.
2 Story
The real creation of the object starts by writing a freeform text. It can be as long or short as needed and wanted, a minimum of few sentences. The story should, at least, be detailed enough so you can determine some stats for the object based on this history in the following stages of creation. The history can reach up to the very moment (in-game time) the game starts, so you can write about even the very last seconds before the action begins. The players should discuss the history of their characters (and other objects) with the GM, and the GM should in turn tell the players beforehand about the type of characters that suit the game in question. When the history is done, you should be able to complete the remaining stages of object creation using this story as a source.
3 Talents
Talents are the "traditional-style" stats of the object. They are freeform sentences combined with a value from 0 to 6. A few guidelines follow.
Some talents can be determined by the GM based on what is central in the campaign and game world. All objects of a certain type can have some Basic Talents(BT). All humanoid characters, for example, could have the same BT, and all vehicles of one type would have their own set of same basic "talents". A modern airplane can not be intelligent in the same sense as a human, on the other hand a human can not have a flight range in the same sense as every airplane has one. The purpose of basic talents is to make similar objects easily comparable with each other when needed to. In the case of people, for instance, they can represent the genetic tendencies. For a ship or an airplane they can represent permanent structural properties. Generally speaking the Basic Talents are the unchanging, well, basic talents.
A set of general talents to use in a campaign with human or humanoid characters includes Agile, Dangerous, Disciplined, Handy, Influential, Witty and Tough. Agile measures whole body movement and coordination, flexibility etc. Dangerous measures how willing and able the character is to cause physical harm, strong or aggressive, for example. Disciplined measures discipline. Handy measures how good the character is using his/her hands. Influential measures charisma and other social influence (not related to social status). Witty measures how fast the character thinks. Tough measures physical and mental toughness. Write these down as "Fairly dangerous(4)", "Somewhat Agile(2)", and so on.
The gained talents(GT) of the characters are usually "skills". They can be talents they have learned and can improve, and acquire new ones. GTs can also be unique abilities. In case of a ship, GT can represent the skill of it's current captain and crew. GTs can be as wide or accurate as needed to best describe the object in accordance of it's history. If the history is written well, there should be no disagreement about suitable talents and levels between player and GM. Gained talents can be rated with the same scale as BT in a form such as very skilled archer or fairly skilled klingon speaker. A good way to breathe life into objects is to write down GTs as descriptive sentences instead of single words.
The Scale:
Not at all(0)
Not Very(1)
Somewhat(2)
Moderately(3)
Fairly(4)
Very(5)
Extremely(6) |
I should propably emphasize here that a space ship, for example, can be handled in two different ways, either as an object itself, or as a "tool" controlled by an object. If the ship is the active object, it needs it's captain as a talent. This is not a situation of character vs character (ie. pilot vs pilot) like it would be in most systems. The traditional RPG way is that the characters have a skill and the players roll a skill roll to see if their character can fly the ship. The other way is for the pilot (be it NPC or PC) to be a GT of the ship, and the player of the ship rolls the skill roll of the ship, so, in a way, the ship is the "character" being played by the player who throws the dice. So when characters operate any machinery, situations can be machine vs machine, with the "pilot" being just a part (GT) of a machine.
Talent levels 2 to 5 are common ones. Levels 1 and 6 should be rare special cases. If you are making a character that seems to get a lot of talents at level 6, you should really rethink the power level of your concept. Level 4 is already a potent level for getting things done. The zero level is used to represent talents that the object does not possess. The GM can tell players to roll zero level rolls when their character is attempting a completely unfamiliar task. Zero level talents can also be written down as handicaps when the object is totally incompetent in talent usually associated with it's concept. |
4 Signs
What does the object look like, how can one see, when looking at it, that it is what it is? A character can be muscular or move softly, or have a sharp gaze. A ship could be "eaten by time" or "beautifully decorated".
5 Status
When created, the status of the object is usually good, it doesn't have to be, though, and once the game starts... Status is quite clearly a measure of the "status" of the object. You can think of status as a sort of stat, following the levels below.
Fate Under GM Control(0)
Incapacitated(1)
Reeling(2)
Battered(3)
Injured(4)
Bruised(5)
Good(6) |
When making decisions the GM should note the status. There can be no ready formula of applying status because the effects of status depend so much on the action in question. Let's say a man has fallen from a tree and broken his leg, his status is now Injured, if he now tries to run, he would get big penalties, but it's still quite easy for him to shoot a gun. This also means that the players must keep track of what their status means, ie. the player should write on a piece of paper "fell from tree: left leg broken from thigh", for example, or for a ship "lazer blast: ion drive's cooling system blown to bits". This helps role playing a lot. Is stead of just losing hit points, the characters have injuries just like me and you would get from the same situations. And when it's time in the game world to start healing the wounds and fixing the machines, the GM and the players know exactly what's wrong, and can role play the healing/fixing processes. |
6 Goals and objectives
Goals and objectives really only concern sentient self-aware objects. They are the most essential information you need about the object to play it's role.
The Goal:
The goal is the character's "goal in life". The GM can use this when creating a plot to the campaign.
The Objectives:
Objectives are smaller motivations the character sets to advance towards his goal. The GM can use these for creating plots for adventures.
Other objects can in a way have objectives and goals, too. They are still best suited for independently functioning sentient objects, though. For example, if the goal of a nation is to rule the world, it's really the leader's (or maybe the people's) goal.
Most situations should be solved without using the dice. Use this system only when you really want the indeterminism it provides. Defining these situations clearly is important. Situations can vary in complexity and duration without limit. Anything happening in the game universe can be solved using none, one or many rolls. When deciding any modifiers, concider as many aspects of the situation as you want to. You decide the level of realism and detail that best suits your themes and style. Modifiers should usually be no more than one or two points. Adding points to the roll makes success less likely and substracting points makes success more likely.
The task resolution uses two six-sided dice. One represents the object(Self) and the other represents the task(Conflict). You need to be able to tell which dice is which because the Self-result is never modified(by the GM). Modifiers to Conflict can be assigned by the GM based on each individual situation. After you roll the dice, compare the Self-result to the level of your relevant talent. If the roll is under your score, you have succeeded in your action and get six points. If the roll is over your score, you have (atleast partially) failed in your action and get zero points. If your roll is equal to your talent score, you roll again and get that many(1d6) points. Next compare the (possibly modified) Coflict-result to your talent level in the exact same way. Under meaning you get the exact result you hoped for, over meaning the result falls short of perfection, and even requiring a re-roll.
Now you should have 0-12 points. 0-5 points means failure, 6-11 is a marginal success, and 12 points means a total success. This is logical if you think about it. Succeeding in both Self and Conflict gives you a total success. Succeeding in just one gives you a nominal success. Any re-roll always gives you a chance of "making it on a six", either making a nominal success out of failure or a total success out of a nominal success. Note that on the first roll smaller is better, but when re-rolling, bigger is better. After you get the hang of it, you don't need to calculate these points, you'll just know.
All natural results of two dice both showing 1 are critical successes and all results of both dice showing 6 are critical failures. Critical results are more radical and more unpredictable. This rule doesn't apply on re-rolls (a natural 6 and 6 on a re-roll means a total success, remember), and you never re-roll after a critical result. Modifiers do not affect critical results, always look at just what the dice show.
Roll two dice. Check for critical results. Modify rolls. Compare both results to talent level.
Both under means total success. Both over means failure. Just one under means marginal success.
One under and other even means roll 1d6 to get total success on 6.
One over and other even means roll 1d6 to get marginal success on 6.
Both even means re-roll both dice and calculate the points.
You can ooze out a lot of role playing form this system. For example, when you ace your Self-roll but fail the Conflict-roll, it means you did everything right but some little detail of the situation prevented you from getting a total success. If you fail the Self, but ace the Conflict, it means you get a bit lucky. Failing the self-roll is a role-playing opportunity with perfectionist characters. Going for the re-rolls can be role played, too. "You know, for a moment there, I felt like I might not make it".
To grant players more control over the faiths of the objects they control, they get one karma point whenever they roll a critical result. Karma points can be used as negative or positive modifiers on any Self-roll attempted by the object. Players must state how many points they use before they roll. Karma points are tied to the object, not the player. When objects "die" their karma points are lost. If an object breaks down to smaller objects, the GM can decide which objects get the karma points. The points can also be lost. If an object is merged into a larger object, again, the GM decides.