Addional Material: Ken Walton, Nick Clements Proofing, Eding: Ken Walton Layout: Gary Buckland Cover Design: Gary Buckland Interior Illustraons: Bob Brown, David Powell and Gary Buckland Playtesters: Eldie Syamsul, Lewis Travers, Jodie Lever, Jordan Dean and Molly Brimecombe Copyright: OneDice Universal ©2014-2017 by Peter Cakebread. All rights reserved. Reproducon of this work by any means without the permission of the publisher is expressly forbidden. This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United Kingdom.
DEDICATION To the fantasc Sunday Junior Gamer Group – Edlie, Lewis, Jodie, Jordan and Molly. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Aaron Huss, Adrian Gawain Jones, David Underwood, Nick Clements, Gary Buckland, Peter Kastberger, Luca A. Volpino, Herb Severson, Bob Brown, Bil Bas, Pete Murphy, David Powell, Ian Stead, Edlie Syamsul, Lewis Travers, Jodie Lever, Jordan Dean and Molly Brimecombe.
Contents Introducon About this book
3 3
Chapter 1 – The Rules Making a Character Abilies Skills Fights Iniave Vehicle Combat Stunt Points Equipping Equippi ng Your Character Finishing Finis hing Touches Experience and Levels Example of Play
6 6 8 10 19 20 24 26 29 34 34 36
Chapter 2 – Gamekeeper Gamekeep er Secon Game Styles Hazards Mooks and Minions Sanity Loss Awarding Experience Skins Skin One – Fant Fantasy asy Skin Tw Two o – Super Heroes Skin Three – Space Chapter 3 – Sample Adventur A dventures es The Hollow Horror Solo Adventure – Raid on Graxlek 5 Character Sheet
41 41 44 45 47 53 54 55 60 64
69 69 75 83
Introduction
OneDice is OneDice is an easy, quick and flexible Roleplaying Game (RPG) system. Whether you want to design worlds where you play mighty barbarian heroes exploring a fantasy land, rebels on the run in outer space, superheroes fighng supervillians, or anything else, the OneDice OneDice system system has been developed to be easily adaptable for your games.
What’s different in this edition? This revised edion of OneDice Universal is is essenally the same game as the original edion (with only minor rules revisions), but various oponal rules have been gather gathered ed together from other OneDice OneDice releases releases and added to this tome for your convenience.
About this book This book contains everything you need to get started with the OneDice system. The Introducon – is what you are reading read ing now. Chapter 1 – has all the rules you need to know to play the game and an example of play play.. Chapter 2 – has some ps for Gamekeepers, some oponal rules and three sample sengs (skins) to illustrate how to use the rules to make your own worlds. Chapter 3 –includes a couple of sample adventuresThe – Hollow Horror , an
3
Introduction introductory fantasy adventure; and a space solo mini-adventure, Raid on Graxlek 5. At the end of the end of the book there is a character sheet for your personal use.
OneDice to Rule Them All! There are a host of OneDice books available direct fromCakebread & Walton via their DrivethruRPG store and in stores from Studio 2 Publishing. For ease, they all include the rules needed for running the game as well as specific material for the parcular genre or seng covered. See the advert in the back of this book for link to the store.
What is a Role-Playing Game? Role-playing games (RPGs) are a kind of “Let’s pretend” – but you don’t need to dress up and run around, you all play around a table, using your imaginaons to tell the story. Players play a character in the imaginary world – and you describe what your character says and does. You can say exactly what you want to say (as long as its the kind of thing your character would say), get your character to aempt to do whatever you want him or her to do, and the Gamekeeper is there to tell you what happens next. When you want your character to act in the game, the Gamekeeper will somemes get you to roll a dice to see if your character succeeds or fails in what he or she is trying to do. The Gamekeeper is in charge – it’s only fair, they have to present a story, apply the rules and keep the game moving. A game can last as lile as two or three hours, but you might want to play a long adventure, that carries on week to week, like a TV series – the characters gaining experience and skills as they go along, defeang old villains, meeng new ones and generally acng like heroes.
4
Introduction
More on Gamekeepers and Players Perhaps the best way to describe the difference between the Gamekeeper and the Players is to imagine it’s like a movie. The Gamekeeper writes and directs, as well as playing all the extras, villains, etc. The Players are the actors, who play the role of the main heroes (their characters). But, unlike in the movies, there isn’t a set script that everyone has to follow – the Players decide what their characters are going to say and do, and those acons will oen change the direcon the movie takes and the reacons of the Gamekeeper’s characters.
What will I need to play? This book; some friends to play with (two is enough for a game, but more is beer); some pens, pencils and paper; some tokens to represent Stunt Points (toy coins, poker chips, squares of cardboard - whatever really); and a six-sided dice (the sort you get in most board games).
Rolling the bones A six-sided dice is the only dice you need to play the game. When you want your character to do something that is risky (such as have a fight, climb a steep cliff, etc.), the Gamekeeper will give you a Target Number and ask you to roll a dice to beat it. You’ll roll a number between one and six – which you might get to add a bonus to. What you rolled, including bonuses, is compared to the Target Number. If you equal it or beat it, your character succeeds in what he or she was trying to do, if you don’t, your character fails. If you fail, you might need to spend some Stunt Points to save your character. Everyone has some Stunt Points at the start of each game session. You can use these to perform cool stunts or avoid disaster. So it’s simple – you roll your dice, add any bonuses, and find out if your character has had a success or failure.
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Chapter 1 The Rules
The rules for OneDice are simple. Somemes you will need to roll a six sided-dice to see if your character can do what you want him or her to do – mostly that’s it! The rules are presented alongside rules for making a character...
These rules are for creang generic characters. When playing the game, you are most likely to be playing in a parcular seng – a point in history, the far future, a fantasy world, etc. The seng will affect how you build your characters. There are some examples of how this works later in the book.
Making a Character To make a character, you will need to: Decide your character’s background – your race, naonality, hometown, home planet, etc. This will depend on the seng you are playing in. Decide your character’s abilies – the abilies are Strong, Clever, Quick (and somemes another ability, such as Magic, if you can be a spell-caster in your game). Calculate your Health, Defence and Move – These are calculated based on your character’s abilies. Give your character some skills – your character is allowed up to 6 skills to start with.
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Chapter 1 - The Rules Give your character some spells – but only if they have some magic! Give your character some stuff – give your character some starng money and equipment and let them buy some extras. Give your character some finishing touches – including a name and 6 Stunt Points (more on them later!).
As your character completes adventures, his or her skills and abilies rise. Experience and Levels, explains how this works.
Your Character’s Background Characters don’t usually start out as heroes. They will have a background – a home town, previous job, etc. In some sengs a character’s background can determine how many points a Player has to spend on his or her character’s abilies (usually if you have magic in the seng), somemes background will affect the job they can do in the world, other mes background is purely there for flavour.
Example 1 In a fantasy seng, a magical race might be required to spend at least one Ability Point on Magic.
Example 2 In a space seng, all characters might be able to decide their abilies as they see fit, but only those coming from a Noble background are allowed to be officers in the Space Navy. The Gamekeeper should decide what backgrounds are available in his or her game, according to the chosen seng – there are some examples of seng specific backgrounds later in this book.
Assign Abilities Characters usually start the game with 6 Ability Points to share between Strong, Clever and Quick. In a game including Magic, they might have to share the 6 points between the Strong, Clever, Quick and Magic.
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Chapter 1 - The Rules
If you want a high-powered game or for your Players to have more experienced characters at the start of play, simply raise the number of Ability Points they can distribute between their abilies (e.g. from 6 to 8).
Abilities All characters and creatures have a set of abilies as follows: Strong – How strong your character is. This is good for when you want to li, carry, push, pull, thump enemies with your fists or kick them with your foot, hit someone with a sck or other hand weapon, threaten someone to get what you want, etc. Clever – How clever and sharp your character is. This is good for when you want to read a map, aim and shoot a gun, read a difficult book, work out how to use an object you’ve never seen before, negoate with someone to get what you want, etc. Quick – How quick your character’s reacons are and how nimble your character is. This is good for when you want to climb, go first in a fight, fire a bow, throw a dagger, scramble out of quicksand, sneak about, hide from an enemy, etc. Magic – Your game might not have magic. If it does, this is how much your character is auned to, or knowledgeable about, magic.
When you have decided on your character’s background, you will spend ability points to give them a Strong, Clever, Quick (and possibly Magic) score between 1 and 3. Example Modern Character Angela Smith, Spy, Strong 2, Clever 2, Quick 2 Angela was an army surgeon, when she was recruited by SpyBranch to go undercover with a team of operaves.
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Chapter 1 - The Rules
Remember: At the start of the first game, no ability can start higher than 3 or be lower than 1 (Unless you are using Magic, in which case some character backgrounds might not have it, while others will.) Everyone usually starts with 6 ability points.
Health – Show how healthy your character is. If your character has an accident or gets hurt in a fight, he or she will lose Health. Health can be restored, so you should always keep a note of your character’s maximum Health. Maximum Health is your character’s Strength mulplied by 3. Defence – The score an aacker needs to roll to injure you. Defence is three mes your character’s Strong or Quick (whichever is higher). You can buy armour to raise this score. Move – How far your character can run in metres in a combat round. Move is ten mes your character’s Quick. Example Modern Character Having worked out Angela’s basic abilies, her Player can also work out the character’s Health, Defence and Move. The character now looks like this: Angela Smith, Spy, Strong 2, Clever 2, Quick 2, Health 6, Defence 6, Move 20
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Chapter 1 - The Rules
Skills All characters have some specialist skills. Somemes these are natural talents, other mes they are things that the character has learnt along the way. Every starng character receives 6 skill points, which can be spent on buying skills. Like Abilies, skills are given a number – you may spend no more than two points on any starng skill. It’s best to have skills which fit with what you want your character to do (for instance, if you want a gambling minstrel, you’ll want to choose something in Gambling and Entertainer). The following is a list of example skills: Acrobacs (Quick) – Good at acrobac moves. Archery (Quick) – Good with bows. Arllery (Clever) – Good at firing arllery weapons. Art (Clever) – Good at creang art. Blades (Strong) – Good at hand-to-hand fighng with a bladed weapon (sword, axe, laser-sck, etc.). Bludgeon (Strong) – Good at hand-to-hand fighng with a blunt weapon (hammer, club, cosh, etc.). Bruiser (Strong) – Good at unarmed fighng (punching, kicking, head bung, etc.). Climb (Quick) – Good at climbing. Command (Clever) – Good at giving orders. Computers (Clever) – Good at building, repairing and using computers Cra (Clever) – Good at making and repairing things. Cryptology (Clever) – Good at creang and breaking codes. Disguise (Clever) – Good at carrying off a disguise. Dodgy (Clever) – Good at dealing with criminals and being streetwise. Drive (Quick) – Good at driving an automobile, hover-car, horse and cart, etc Engineering (Clever) – Good at building, repairing and understanding engines.
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Chapter 1 - The Rules Entertainer (Quick) – Good at entertaining others (by singing, dancing, juggling grenades, etc.). Gambling (Quick) – Good at gambling (and cheang). Inmidate (Strong) – Good at bullying others. Invesgaon (Clever) – Good at looking for and analysing clues. Language (Clever) – Good at speaking a language (other than the character’s own). Each language is a separate skill. Lore (Clever) – Good at knowing stuff. Medicine (Clever) – Good at healing people. Only people with medicine (or magic) can restore Health. Navigate (Clever) – Good at reading maps and following them. Negoate (Clever) – Good at talking their way out of trouble. Percepon (Quick) – Good at nocing and hearing things. Pilot (Clever) – Good at pilong an aircra, sea cra or spaceship, etc. Pickpocket (Quick) – Good at picking pockets. Psychology (Clever) – Good at reading people’s emoons and nocing when they are lying. Research (Clever) – Good at researching a topic (using libraries, computer archives, etc). Science (Clever) – Good at science. Security (Clever) – Good at creang or picking locks; arming or disarming traps; etc. Shoong (Clever) – Good at firing a gun. Sneaky (Quick) – Good at creeping up on people or hiding from them. Survival (Clever) – Good at surviving in the wilderness. Swim (Strong) – Good at swimming. Teaching (Clever) – Good at geng basic concepts over to others. Throw (Quick) – Good at throwing weapons (such as axes, daggers, etc.). Track (Clever) – Good at finding and following tracks. Trade (Clever) – Good at spong a bargain, selling and negoang a good price.
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Chapter 1 - The Rules
Remember: The seng you are playing in might offer a choice of some extra skills and disallow some of the above list. Only pick skills appropriate to the seng – a fantasy warrior will not have Computers (unless you are playing in a world where they do!).
Creating new Skills You might want a skill that is not listed above. New skills can only be created by the Gamekeeper or with the Gamekeeper’s permission. When coming up with a new skill there are two things to check: 1. Check it isn’t already covered by another skill. 2. Check it is reasonable – a skill should be useful, but not more powerful than all the other skills. Example In a game where everyone plays a scienst, you may wish to have separate skills for Biology, Physics, Archaeology, etc., rather than the standard Science skill.
Example Skill Choices The role your character has in a seng might make it necessary for you to pick certain skills. Example 1 A Dwarven Fighter might need to pick skills as follows: Blades 2, Mining 1 + 3 Points to spend on any other skills. Example 2 A Space Ranger might need to pick skills as follows: Pilot 1, Navigaon 1, Arllery 1 +3 Points to spend on any other skills.
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Chapter 1 - The Rules Example 3 Let’s go back to our modern day spy. We already know she is an army medic-turned-spy, so her Player decides to give her Medicine 2 and Survival 1 (from her days in the army) and Computers 1, Invesgaon 1 and Sneaky 1 (more recently learned skills). The character now looks like this: Angela Smith, Spy, Strong 2, Clever 2, Quick 2, Health 6, Defence 6, Move 20 Computers 1, Invesgaon 1, Medicine 2, Sneaky 1, Survival 1 She also has 6 Stunt Points, ready for the first game session. All Angela needs now is some money and equipment.
Skill Use There are three occasions when you might be asked to roll your dice to make a skill check. When you want your character to perform an acon Examples: When you want your character to climb a rope, track a trail, navigate using a map, etc. When your character is trying to perform an acon and someone is working against him or her Examples: When your character enters an arm-wrestling contest, wants to sneak up on somebody, is negoang a trade, is hacking an account, etc. When the Gamekeeper wants to see whether something happens to your character Examples: When the Gamekeeper wants to see if your character has resisted a poison, has spoed an object, has fallen unconscious, etc. Note: Stunt Points can be spent to gain an automac success on a noncombat skill check (see p.26).
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Chapter 1 - The Rules
How To Use Skills To Perform Actions Most characters, and some creatures, have various abilies and skills they can use to aempt to perform an acon (such as climbing up a rope, searching for a clue, etc.). The basic chance of carrying out an acon depends on how difficult it is.
Roune everyday acons are considered so easy that they can be usually be done automacally. For instance, a driver doesn’t need to make a Drive roll every me he or she is driving sensibly down a clear road. You don’t need to roll a dice to get your character to perform these roune acons. But if the weather is terrible and someone is chasing you, you will need to roll a dice for these more difficult acons.
The Gamekeeper always decides the difficulty of any task. In the list below, the figure beside the difficulty is the Target Number (TN) needed to succeed at an acon:
Difficulty
Target Number (TN)
Example
Roune
No roll needed
Driving on a wide quiet road on a clear day
Mildly Challenging
3
Driving in the pouring rain on an unsuitable road
Challenging
6
Driving in a thunderstorm on a cliff road
Hard
8
Driving in the rain while you are being chased
Very Difficult
10
Driving in a storm while being chased and being shot at
Nearly Impossible
12+
Driving in a storm while being chased on a cliff road
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Chapter 1 - The Rules To see whether your character succeeds at a task, roll one six-sided dice, then add to the result the relevant ability (the character’s score in Strong, Clever or Quick) and skill (if he or she has one). Compare the result to the Target Number – if you equal or beat it, you have succeeded. If you have failed to beat it, your acon has been unsuccessful (and there may be a consequence).
Skill Rolls Remember! When the Gamekeeper asks for a skill roll: Roll the dice + Ability (Strong, Clever or Quick) + Skill (if any) = result Example: Angela is trying to find a clue le by someone who broke into her hotel room. She has a Clever of 2 and Invesgate 1. The Gamekeeper decides it is a Challenging task (so the Target Number is 6). Her Player rolls a 6, adds the 2 and 1, for a total of 9. Angela beats the target by 3 points and easily spots the muddy sneaker print le by the intruder.
Anyone can try almost anything, as everyone has at least 1 in each ability. You don’t need to have Navigate to try and puzzle out a map – you just use your Clever score. Likewise, if you don’t have Climb, you will just have to use Quick on its own. Example 1 Angela is climbing a steep cliff. The Gamekeeper decides it is a Challenging climb, and sets the difficulty at 6. The Player controlling Angela rolls a dice – and gets a 4. Angela’s Quick of 2 is added, for a total of 6. She doesn’t have Climb, so can’t add anything for that. She just makes it!!! Example 2 Angela has been bundled out of a dinghy and le on a deserted island by burly CrimSyn agents. She needs to find food and shelter. The Gamekeeper decides it’ll be hard to find what she needs so late in the day, so sets the difficulty at 8. Her Player rolls a 4. Adding Angela’s Clever (2) and Survival (1), she gets a total of 7. Angela will have to go hungry tonight and sleep out under the stars.
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Chapter 1 - The Rules
Exceptions to the Rule The Gamekeeper may rule that some tasks are just too difficult for an amateur to have a go at. It’s unlikely that the starship’s entertainment officer will be able to fix a meltdown in the warp drive without the Engineering skill, even if they are exceponally lucky.
Healing isn’t Easy Medicine is one of the skills which cannot be pracced untrained. Anyone can try and stop the bleeding, make a paent comfortable, etc., but only a character with Medicine can heal Health (their own or that of other character’s). A character wishing to use the Medicine skill must decide how much damage they wish to heal (on the table below), then roll against the appropriate Target Number – a failure means that no healing takes place. Amount of Healing
Target Number (TN)
1 dice divided by 2
6
1 dice
8
1 dice mulplied by 2
10
Use of a medical facility (casualty staon, sickbay, hospital, etc.) gives a +2 bonus to the roll. A Medicine roll of 1 is always a failure – so even if the character combined his or her Clever and Medicine, for a starng total of 6 or above, a dice sll needs to be rolled – as a 1 would sll fail (and it would be 24 hours before the medic could try again).
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Chapter 1 - The Rules
Skill vs Skill Somemes your character will want to do something that another character wants to challenge. Whether arm-wrestling, compeng in a running race, sneaking up on someone who is trying to spot you, or commanding an unwilling army, you’ll need to make a Skill vs Skill test for your character to see who succeeds. To make a Skill vs Skill test, the player rolls a dice and adds any bonuses. The Gamekeeper rolls dice for whoever is opposing (unless it is another Player’s character), also adding any bonuses. Whoever gets the highest total wins. If both the Player and the Gamekeeper get the same totals, it’s a draw (unless that makes no sense, such as when trying to sneak up on someone, in which case the Player wins). Example 1 Angela and Adrian are playing cards for money. Angela’s Player rolls a 5 and adds Angela’s Clever of 2 for a total of 7. Angela doesn’t have Gambling, so can’t add it. Adrian’s Player rolls a 5, adds 2 for Adrian’s Clever and 1 for his Gambling, for a total of 8. Angela has lost! Had she also got a total of 8, it would have been a draw, and neither character would have won the pot. Example 2 Joe the Knife is trying to pick a pocket. His Player rolls a 2, adds Joe’s Quick of 3 and Pick Pocket of 2 for a total of 7. The Gamekeeper rolls for the trader he is trying to rob, and gets a 3. He adds the trader ’s Clever of 2 – unfortunately for Joe, the trader also has Percepon 2, so also gets a total of 7. As Joe is a Player’s character, while the trader is the Gamekeeper’s, Joe wins – but only just!
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Chapter 1 - The Rules
Having the Advantage Somemes one of the sides in an opposing skill test will have an advantage or disadvantage and the Gamekeeper will give an extra bonus or penalty to the dice roll. Example Joe is on the rob again. He decides to pick the pocket of a drunken businessman who he has been eying up in the hotel bar. It’s busy; the drunken character is distracted, chang on his phone; and it’s a fairly dimly lit place. The Gamekeeper decides to give Joe’s Player a +3 bonus to add to his dice. Joe’s Player rolls a 3, adds a bonus of 5 (the total of Joe’s Quick and Pick Pocket) and a further +3, for a total of 11. The Gamekeeper makes a roll for the drunk businessman to spot the robbery – she rolls a 6 and adds the businessman’s Clever of 1 for a total of 7 – he won’t be happy later, when he finds that his wallet has been stolen! If Joe was drunk, rather than the businessman, the Gamekeeper would impose a penalty on Joe’s roll instead.
Making a Difference Somemes the amount that the winner wins by makes a difference. How much of a difference is up to the Gamekeeper. Example Joe wants to sell a ring he stole to a fence. The ring should sell for $100. Joe’s Player rolls a 3 and adds Joe’s Clever of 2 for a total of 5. The Gamekeeper gets a 5, adds the fence’s Clever of 2 and Trade of 3 for a total of 10. The difference is 5 (The fence’s 10 minus Joe’s 5). The Gamekeeper decides that the fence will pay a maximum of $50 (deciding a 10 dollar penalty should be subtracted for every point of difference between the two rolls).
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Chapter 1 - The Rules
Fights Being a hero means sooner or later your character will get into a fight. Fights take place in combat rounds, each lasng just a few seconds. In a combat round each fighter takes it in turns to try and hit and damage their opponent(s). Note: Don’t forget that Stunt Points can be used to perform special acons in combat, on top of those described in this secon.
Combat Basics Combat rounds basically work like this: Everyone rolls Iniave at the start the combat – to find out who goes first (roll the dice and add Quick - highest wins). Then, from highest to lowest Iniave, each character: Rolls to hit – Roll the dice and add any bonuses to beat the opponent’s Defence. A character can also try to move (charge into combat or run away) in this part of the round. Calculates damage – on a successful hit. Remove any damage from opponent’s Health.
Surprise and Distance Somemes one of the sides in a fight will be surprised – if one side is expecng an aack and the other isn’t; if one side has successfully sneaked up on opponents who have failed to spot them; a successful ambush, etc. If so, the side who is surprised doesn’t get to make aacks in the first round of combat. If both or neither side is surprised, then it cancels out, so combat starts normally with Iniave. How far apart the opponents are at the start of combat depends on the terrain – if both pares turn a corner and bump into one another, then they can move instantly into hand-to-hand; if both pares spot each other at the other side of a long beach, they won’t be able to start fighng unl someone moves
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Chapter 1 - The Rules into the range of the other side’s weapons (assuming they have ranged weapons); both sides clash in hand-to-hand fighng, etc. In this case, don’t roll Iniave unl someone can actually hit someone else.
Initiative Unless the Gamekeeper judges one side to be surprised (in which case the other side gets a free aack), each character in a fight must roll Iniave at the start of combat. Roll the dice and add your character’s Quick. You only roll Iniave at the start of the fight – anyone joining the fight rolls Iniave when they enter the fray. Example Angela has a Quick of 2. She is fighng a bouncer at Club Soviet, who also has a Quick of 2. Federica rolls a 1, adds her Quick of 2 for a total of 3. The Gamekeeper rolls a 4 for the bouncer and adds 2 for his Quick for a total of 6. The bouncer goes first. What if there is a draw? If there is a draw, the Player’s character goes before the Gamekeeper’s character. If two Player’s characters are aacking each other, and they draw on Iniave, they act at exactly the same me.
Roll to Hit In this part of a round the character can try to hit an opponent or try another sort of acon. He or she can try to hit using a ranged weapon (bow, gun, etc), hand-to-hand weapon (sword, club, laser-sck, etc), unarmed aack (fist, kick, etc), or, if using Magic, a spell (Magic Spear, Fireball, etc). In each case you roll the dice, adding the relevant Ability and Skill (if any). For hand-to-hand fighng (with or without a weapon): Roll die + Strong + Skill (Blades, Bludgeon, Bruiser) = Total
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Chapter 1 - The Rules arllery: For guns and Roll die + Clever + Skill (Arllery, Shoong)
For ranged weapons other than guns: Roll die + Quick + Skill (Archery, Throw) For spells: Roll die + Magic In most cases (other than Magic) if the total beats the target’s Defence, damage is done. In the case of Magic, if the score beats the Target Number for the spell, the spell works.
Having the Advantage Like with skill rolls, somemes the Gamekeeper will judge that one side or another has a natural advantage (fighng an enemy who is climbing up a slippery slope, having cover from ranged aacks, etc.). The Gamekeeper can insist that one side receives a +2 Defence bonus unl they lose the advantage.
Other Actions Instead of trying to hit someone, a character can try to move or take another acon in this part of the round. Doing any of these acons lowers the character’s Defence by 2 for the duraon of the round.
Moving If a character isn’t in a hand-to-hand fight and wants to move, up to his or her Move in metres, they can (instead of aacking – you don’t get to do both). This includes moving into a hand-to-hand fight.
Getting out of Hand-to-Hand Combat If a character tries to move out of hand-to-hand fighng, they risk their opponent geng a free aack. The opponent has a choice – take a free
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Chapter 1 - The Rules swing at the fleeing coward or give chase. If he or she tries to give chase, both sides make a roll, adding their Quick. If the chaser wins, he or she catches up, and both pares are back in hand-to-hand fighng. If the person running away wins, he or she has escaped. If it is a draw, the chase connues next round (unless someone gives up).
Non-Combat Actions Somemes a character will want to do something, not covered by the above, such as try to open a chest; unlock a door; retrieve a computer disc; une a hostage; etc. The Gamekeeper determines (secretly) how long such acvies take and while the character is working on them, he or she cannot fight back (although does sll have a Defence rang, with a -2 penalty).
Quick Actions Some acons are really quick and don’t cause the character to miss an aack – these include things like geng out a weapon, shoung an order, etc. You can do any one these things without a penalty.
Calculate Damage (If using Magic, see the spell descripon.) For all other damage, take the total of the hit roll and subtract the target’s defence. Then add any damage for the parcular weapon. The result is the amount of Health the injured party loses. Example Adrian fires his pistol at a CrimSyn thug. The thug has a Defence of 3 and 6 Health. Adrian’s Player rolls a 5, adds Adrian’s Clever (2) and Shoong (1), for a total of 8. The difference is 5 (Adrian’s roll to hit of 8 minus the thug’s Defence of 3). Adrian does 5 damage, +3 for the pistol, for a total of 8 damage! The thug is no more.
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Chapter 1 - The Rules
Optional Damage Rule – Lucky Hits Some foes will simply be too tough to damage for an unskilled or weak fighter. If the Gamekeeper wants to give everyone a chance of inflicng damage, he or she can use the following rule. When the aacker rolls a 6, he or she inflicts damage, even if the total aer addions doesn’t beat an opponent’s Defence. Such damage is fixed at the base weapon damage (so 2 for a knife, 3 for a sword, etc.) and removed from the target’s Health. When applying this rule, use common sense – if a target is invulnerable to a certain type of aack, then no amount of luck will help the aacker (that’s what Stunt Points are for!).
Optional Damage Rule – Stunning Damage If you are running a more epic/heroic style game, you might want the main players’ characters to be mainly knocked out, stunned, gassed, etc., rather than killed outright - although villains aren’t always so lucky! If you want to represent this in your games, then characters engage in nonlethal combat when they use fists, blunt weapons or engage in magical duels, etc. In this type of fight when a character reaches 0 Health they should be considered unconscious rather than dead, and will regain consciousness when the current fight/scene ends, or by spending a Stunt point. When they recover they get back half their Health. Of course, if your game has a grier tone then sck to the standard rules.
Death, Dying and Recovery All the characters the Gamekeeper controls die when their Health reaches 0. Player’s characters will also die when their Health reaches 0, unless somebody can Heal them (using medicine or magic) within 3 combat rounds. If a character is injured, they naturally heal 1 Health for every 12 hours of complete rest (in addion to any medicinal or magical help), unl their Health is back up to its starng level. Note: Don’t forget that Stunt Points can be used to help avoid damage.
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Chapter 1 - The Rules
Vehicle Combat Vehicles have some abilies much like characters (but usually not Clever or Magic – unless you are playing Smart Arcane Robot Cars From Hell!). If characters in two vehicles are fighng each other, then combat order is as usual. Roll Iniave, roll to hit, roll to damage, etc. Iniave – roll a dice and add the vehicle’s Quick. Roll to hit – usually using the Abilies and skills of the driver. If the total beats the Defence of the opposing vehicle (or driver of that vehicle), calculate damage.
The Abilies and skills used will depend on the vehicle and the weapon used. If trying to ram, the vehicle’s Quick + the driver’s Drive; if firing a handgun then the driver’s Clever + Shoong. Some vehicles (e.g. tanks) have inbuilt weaponry – for a tank you would add Clever + Arllery, for a starship’s weapons you might use Clever + Shoong for the lasers and Clever + Arllery for the torpedoes. Each weapon should be assigned a damage rang, if it hasn’t already got one (based on its lethality). If ramming, vehicles generally do their Strong in damage (or a third of their Health if not assigned a Strong rang). Either way, any vehicle involved in a collision also takes damage from the opposing vehicle (so ramming is only usually worth it, when going against a weaker opponent). Calculate Damage – Add weapon’s damage (or vehicle’s Strong/Health divided by 3, if ramming) to the difference between the aacker’s to hit roll and the Defence of the opposion. Remove damage – From damaged vehicle’s Health (or driver’s Health, if the driver was hit).
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Chapter 1 - The Rules In some sengs vehicles might have other Aributes, along with Strong, Quick, Defence, Health and Move (such as Crew). The consequences of a vehicle reaching 0 Health will vary according to the environment (e.g. in space, a starship might explode at 0; in a destrucon derby, the vehicle might just grind to a halt and the driver get out).
Huge Creatures and Supers Mostly individuals can’t aack vehicles – punching a spaceship won’t make it go away! So making an unarmed aack is not usually allowed (armed aacks are fine, oen characters will want to shoot out tyres or aim at an opposing driver). But in your seng there might be huge creatures that can aack a vehicle (if so it will be noted in their special abilies) or you might have super heroes who pack enough of a punch to bulldozer a vehicle with a fist.
Chases Frenec chases, whether on foot, broomsck or vehicle, are a staple of acon-packed stories. Here are some suggesons. A chase always has one (or more) party who is trying to get away (the escaper), and another who is pursuing (the pursuer). The pares start at a distance decide by the Gamekeeper, determined by the circumstances of the chase. The distances are: Close, Range, Sight . If you are at Close distance you are nearly on top of each other - if the distance is closed further you can engage in hand to hand combat, or vehicles may ram each other. If you are at Range distance, you can easily see each other and engage in ranged combat (if you have a ranged weapon). If you are at Sight distance, you can see each other but ranged combat is prey much impossible - any further increase in range and the Escaper gets clean away.
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Chapter 1 - The Rules In a chase both sides make a roll each round. If on foot roll and add Quick. If on horseback roll and add Quick + Riding. If you are in a vehicle, roll and add the vehicle's Quick and the character’s Drive or Pilot skill as appropriate. The winner of the roll increases or decreases the range by one category - on a draw the range remains the same. Of course, if neither side wants to change the range, they don’t have to perhaps the escaper wants to lure the pursuer into a trap…
Chase Hazards To make chases more interesng, add hazards. These will depend on the nature of the chase - if it’s on foot over rooops, hazards might be slippery roofs, gaps between building to jump, narrow ledges to run along etc. If in cars, then ght bends, pedestrians in the way, oil patches, narrow bridges and so on. Rate Hazards using the hazard rules (p.44) and impose an appropriate penalty for failing to overcome the hazard - a change in range, damage to the vehicle (or character) and so on.
Stunt Points Stunt Points are used to perform spectacular moves, save your character from certain death, hit a creature against the odds, etc. Every Player starts each game session with 6 Stunt Points. As each game session progresses, the Players play their Stunt Points to make good things happen for their characters. It’s a good idea to spend all your Stunt Points, as they can’t be carried over to the next game and they’ll be replaced next session! Some of the characters run by the Gamekeeper might also have Stunt Points, which can be used in exactly the same way as the Players’ Stunt Points. Only more major enemies will have them – more run-of-the-mill opposion never have Stunt Points. Stunt Points can be represented in the game by poker chips, or coins (real or chocolate!), toy money, etc.
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Chapter 1 - The Rules
LESS OR MORE? Giving 6 Stunt Points makes for a reasonably cinemac game. If you want to make the game even more over-the-top heroic, everyone could begin with 12 Stunt Points. Alternavely, for a griy realisc game, where death is an ever-present threat, you could play with no Stunt Points at all.
Spending Stunt Points Each of the following acons cost 1 Stunt Point: Ÿ
Ÿ
Ÿ
Ÿ
Ÿ
Ÿ
Succeed at a non-combat roll automacally – however difficult the task. Ignore an opponent’s Defence – no roll to hit, simply deliver a dice worth of damage + the weapon damage to your character’s opponent’s Health. Armour does not protect the opponent. Avoid damage – Turn a hit on your character into a miss. Avoid character death – If your character drops to 0 Health, they are merely unconscious, not dying. Perform two aacks in one round – you can roll to hit twice instead of once. Stunt Acon – You can combine an aack with a stunt acon (climb, swing on a chandelier or rope, run on a rolling barrel, etc.). You only
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Chapter 2 - Gamekeeper Section How oen can a wizard cast a spell? A wizard can cast twice as many spells in a day as he or she has Magic. How does a wizard cast a spell? What’s the “Target Number”? The Player needs to roll a dice and add his or her character’s Magic score to the total. If the number is equal to or higher than the spell’s Target Number, the spell works. Spells that don’t work aren’t lost – the wizard can try again the next round. Any other rules I should know about? Magic always fails on a roll of 1. The wizard doesn’t lose the spell from his or her daily total, but must try again next round (or at some later me). What’s “Range”? Somemes a spell works by touch (such as when healing or opening a lock), other mes it works on a target within a certain range (in metres). What spells can a character pick? Starng wizard characters get spells from the following list – the Gamekeeper can either ask for a roll, to see what spells they get; or allow the Players to pick from this list: Starng Spells 1. Confuse – This spell cause one of the opposion to be confused. If successful, the opponent may not aack for the next two combat rounds. Range: 10 Target: 5 2. Open – This spell opens any lock, however complex (though a magical lock raises the Target by 2). Range: Touch Target: 5 3. Find Path – If lost or looking for a specific locaon, this spell causes a glowing arrow to appear on the ground, poinng in the right direcon. Range: 30 Target: 5 4. Heal – If successful, roll a dice and the person being touched gets back the resulng number of Health points. Range: Touch Target: 5 5. Light – Makes a small object (or person’s hand) glow for an hour. Useful
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Chapter 2 - Gamekeeper Section for exploring dark places. Range: Touch Target: 5 6. Magic Bolt – If successful, a magic bolt hits an opponent. Roll the dice – the result equals the number of Health Points the opponent loses. Range: 20 Target: 6 Intermediate Spells At Level 2 and 4 any character with Magic 3 or more can roll for/pick one spell from this list: Note: If the wizard has Magic above zero but below 3, he or she can pick an extra spell from the Starng Spells list instead. 1. Andote – This spell cures any disease or poison. Range: Touch Target: 8 2. Breathe Underwater – Allows the recipient to breathe underwater for an hour (he or she can sll breathe air normally too). Range: Touch Target: 8 3. Charm – If successful, roll the dice – whoever is affected will be completely under control of the caster for a number of combat rounds equal to the result. Range: 5 Target: 9 4. Greater Heal – If successful, the Health of the person touched is completely restored. Range: Touch Target: 7 5. Magic Spear – If successful, a magic spear hits a member of the opposion. Roll a dice, mulply the result by two, and remove that number from whoever has been hit’s Health. An extra Magic Spear can be generated (to hit the same target, or another in range), but that adds 2 to the Target Number difficulty of the spell (and a failure means neither missile is created). Range: 20 Target: 7/9 6. Toughen – If successful, raises a person’s Defence by 2 points for 1 hour. Range: Touch Target: 8 Advanced Spells At Level 6 and 8 any wizard with Magic 4 or more can roll for/pick one spell from this list: Note: If the wizard has Magic above zero but below 4, he or she can pick an extra spell from the Starng Spells list instead (or the table immediately above, if he or she has 3 Magic). 1. Lightning – Causes a magical lightning bolt to strike an opponent. If
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Chapter 2 - Gamekeeper Section successful, roll a dice, and mulply the result by four to calculate damage to opponent’s Health. Range: 30 Target: 9 2. Fair Winds – Increases the Quick of a sailing ship (by filling its sails with wind) by 3 for one hour. Range: 15 Target: 9 3. Fireball – Roll a dice and mulply the result by two – anyone in the fireball’s path (friend or foe) receive the result as damage to their Health. The fireball is 2 metres in diameter. If the caster wants to fire an extra fireball, the Target Number difficulty increases by 2 (and a failure means neither missile is created). Range: 20 Target: 10/12 4. Mass Heal – Heals all friendly forces within range. Roll a dice and restore all the recipient’s Health by the result. Range: 3 Target: 9 5. Sharpen – Turns one weapon (blade, bludgeon or arrow) into a Magic Weapon for two hours and adds 3 to the score to hit when using that weapon. Range: Touch Target: 10 6. Shield – Raises one recipient’s Defence by 3 for 2 hours. Range: Touch Target: 9 Creatures
OneDice Creature Stascs are usually presented as follows: Creature’s Name , S (Strong),C (Clever),Q (Quick),M (Magic, if it has some), H (Health), D (Defence),Mv (Move),Sk (Skills, if any),Sp (any special abilies), Tr (the amount of treasure the creature is likely to carry), X (the amount of Experience awarded for killing the creature).
Here are a few of the creatures that might inhabit a fantasy seng: Goblin, S 2, C 1, Q 2, H 6, D 6, Mv 20, Sk Blades 2, Archery 2, Tr One dice worth of Gold, X 15 Orc, S 5, C 1, Q 2, H 12, D 9, Mv 20, Sk Blades 2, Bludgeon 3, Tr One dice worth of Gold x 10, X 40 Troll, S 7, C 1, Q 1, H 15, D 12, Mv 10, Sk Bludgeon 4*, Sp Regeneraon**, Tr One dice worth of Gold x 50, X 150
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Chapter 2 - Gamekeeper Section * Trolls use giant clubs that do 5 damage. **Trolls regenerate 2 lost Health per combat round
Ratman, S 1, C 2, Q 4, H 3, D 9, Mv 40, Sk Blades 2, Archery 3, Tr One dice worth of Gold x 5, X 30 Skeleton, S 2, C 1, Q 3, H 6, D 6, Mv 20, Sk Blades 2, Archery 2, Tr One dice worth of Gold, X 25 Zombie, S 4, C 1, Q 1, H 9, D 9, Mv 10, Sk Bruiser 3, Tr One dice worth of Gold x 2, X 25
Skin Two – Super Heroes Character Creaon Notes All skills from pp.10-11 are permied. Add the following skills as an opon: Weird Science (Clever) – Good at experimenng, designing and invenng things using weird science. Modern equipment is appropriate for the genre – although a character may build or find advanced or weird science technology. Starng money is in dollars. Most characters start with one dice x 100 dollars, millionaires start with...millions. Super Heroes oen have a civilian identy, as well as their hero one (e.g. Reggie Foley is the civilian secret identy of Camelboy). Heroes usually want to keep their powers secret in civilian life. Super hero characters are all permied to have one major and one or two minor (Gamekeeper’s choice) special powers from the following lists: Note: Powers may not be stacked – so Stronger cannot be stacked with SuperStrong, etc. Any Ability or skill can only be enhanced once. Also Gamekeepers should consider allowing Players to suggest powers of their own, as long as they are comparable in strength to the exisng ones. Minor Photographic Memory – Character can totally recall whatever he or she has seen. Stronger – Character has big muscles (+3 to Strong).
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Chapter 2 - Gamekeeper Section Cleverer – Character is a super-brain (+3 to Clever) Quicker – Character is speedy (+3 to Quick). Chameleon – Character can blend into surroundings (+3 to Sneaky rolls). Maral Arst – Character is an expert at a parcular fighng style (+3 to Bruiser). Tough Skin – Character has naturally tough hide (+3 to Defence). Informaon Processor – Character can read a book, scan a computer archive, etc., and process the informaon, in seconds. Wall Scrambler – Character is good at climbing (+3 to Climb). Projecle – The character can throw a certain form of projecle (damage 3) either as a natural weapon or the result of using a Weird Science gadget. Fly – Character can fly. Major SuperStrong - Character has superhuman strength (+6 to Strong). SuperClever – Character has superhuman intelligence (+6 to Clever). SuperQuick – Character has superhuman speed and reflexes (+6 to Quick). Invisible – Character can become invisible at will. Fire – Character can control fire, is immune to fire and can take on a fire form. In fire form, character can shoot fire projecles (damage 5). Ice – Character is immune to cold, can take on an icy form, and in ice form can shoot icicle projecles (damage 5). X-Ray Vision – Character can see through solid objects. SuperWall-Scrambler – Character is a superhuman climber (+6 to Climb). Doppleganger – Character can almost flawlessly disguise him or herself as another person (+6 to Disguise). Mighty Punch – Character can pack a massive punch (+ 6 to Bruiser and can aack vehicles as if a Huge creature). SuperTough Skin – Character has an incredibly tough hide (+6 to Defence). SuperScienst – Character has a superhuman talent for invenng weird and powerful technology (+6 to Weird Science). Telekinesis – Character can move and throw objects (size limit determined by Gamekeeper) using his or her mental powers (and +3 to Throw, when throwing using mental powers).
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Chapter 2 - Gamekeeper Section Incredible The following abilies are probably too powerful to allow Player’s characters to possess, but might be possessed by somebody in the world (or from another world!). Here are some sample Incredible powers: Invulnerable – Character cannot be harmed. Character is vulnerable to one substance, which strips him or her of powers. Blink of an Eye – Character can travel to wherever he or she pleases almost instantly. Stop Time – Character can stop me for as long as he or she wants. Breathe Life – The character can kiss a recently slain person and restore him or her to life. Weakness You may also want all Player heroes to choose a weakness. Here are some examples: Vulnerable – Character is vulnerable to a certain rare material (an exoc type of food, an exoc type of flower, a rare metal, etc.). Powers are lost when in close proximity to the substance. Emoonal Wreck – Character is carrying emoonal damage (perhaps as a result of losing a loved one, difficult childhood, etc.). Obsession – Character is obsessed with something – revenging lost loved ones, jusce, defeang a nemesis, etc. Blue Funk – Character is prone to down moods and, when in such a state, is unwilling to do anything. Lovelorn – Character is madly in love, but the situaon is difficult – the object of his or her affecons may not be interested, super hero work gets in the way, he or she is too shy to say anything, etc. Vice – Character has a vice, such as being unable to prevent him or herself eang, drinking, etc., when feeling unhappy. Incarnaon Disaster – Whatever caused the character to develop super powers also caused emoonal pain, loss of human appearance, etc. Out of Control – When in hero form, character finds it difficult to control temper and will oen smash things!
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Chapter 2 - Gamekeeper Section Hunted – Hero identy wrongly suspected of a serious crime. Rouse the Beast – Hero powers are only acvated in certain situaons (when under stress, if aacked, etc.). Some Background Templates Most super heroes have a secret identy, along with their hero identy. Here are some examples: Journalist: Invesgaon 1, Negoaon 1, Research 1 + any 3 skills of choice. Store Clerk: Trade 1, Dodgy 1, Sneaky 1 + any 3 skills of choice. Millionaire: Gambling 1, Negoate 1, Trade 1 + any 3 skills of choice. Doctor: Medicine 2, Science 1 + any 3 skills of choice. Teacher: Teaching 1, Research 1, Inmidate 1 + any 3 skills of choice. IT Specialist: Computers 2, Science 1 + any 3 skills of choice. Private Invesgator: Invesgaon 1, Psychology 1, Research 1 + any 3 skills of choice. Some Sample Characters Dr Marcie Johns/Gripper Girl, Strong 5, Clever 2, Quick 2, Health 15, Defence 15, Move 20 Medicine 2, Research 1, Science 1, Weird Science 2, Telekinec Throw 3 Powers: Strong, Fly, Telekinesis Weakness: Hunted (Gripper Girl is wrongly accused of being the Phantom Strangler). Civilian Employment: Medical Doctor Equipment: Hospital pager and dingy rented apartment; $600
Gavin Peddley/Glue Hands, Strong 2, Clever 2, Quick 5, Health 6, Defence 15, Move 50 Invesgaon 1, Negoaon 1, Research 1, Swim 1, Entertainer 1, Climb 7, Sneaky 3 Powers: SuperWall Scrambler, Quicker, Chameleon Weakness: Lovelorn (In love with Gripper Girl, but does not know her
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Chapter 2 - Gamekeeper Section civilian identy). Civilian Employment: Journalist Equipment: Notebook and whiskey; $600 Super Villains Super Villains should also have super powers – along with a reason for being villainous. Oen characters will fight hired thugs, employed by a super villain, but at the end of most adventures, they will fight the villain him or herself. Example Professor Carnival, Strong 2, Clever 5, Quick 2, Health 6, Defence 6, Move 20 Lore 2, Research 2, Weird Science 8 Powers: Cleverer, SuperScienst Weakness: Obsession (with controlling the city). Equipment: Hidden laboratory and weird science equipment; Raygun (6 damage). Professor Carnival employs plenty of hired thugs to do evil and criminal deeds for him. The thugs are usually all dressed in a carnival uniform. Hired Thug S 3, C 1, Q 1, H 9, D 9, Mv 10, Sk Bludgeon 1, Shoong 1, Bruiser 1, X 30
Skin Three – Space All skills from pp.10-11 are permied. In addion the following skills can be added: Cybernecs (Clever) – Good at designing, building and repairing cybernec technology. Hyperdrive (Clever) – Good at repairing and programming hyperdrives. Robocs (Clever) – Good at designing, building and repairing robots. Sensors (Clever) – Good at working sensor systems. All modern and futurisc technology is permied. Laser weaponry has a stun opon , where damage is not lethal. When an opponent is hit by a weapon on stun, they fall unconscious or are
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Chapter 2 - Gamekeeper Section temporarily immobilised (roll a dice to calculate the number of combat rounds ll they regain consciousness/movement). Starng characters roll a dice and mulply the result by 1000 to find out their starng money (1,000-6,000 Credits). Some Background Skill Templates This skin assumes everyone is a human, serving on a large starship, in the service of UnitedSpaceOrg. There are three service arms to choose from: Command: Command 1, Navigaon 1, Pilot 1 + any 3 skills of choice. Science: Lore 1, Research 1, Computers 1 + any 3 skills of choice or; Medicine 1, Cybernecs 1, Psychology 1 + any 3 skills of choice or; Science 1, Robocs 1, Research 1 + any 3 skills of choice or; Computers 1, Hyperdrive 1, Engineering 1 + any 3 skills of choice. Security: Invesgaon 1, Security 1, Sensors 1, Shoong 1 + any 2 skills of choice. Some Sample Characters Example 1 Captain Helana Carver, Starship Captain, Strong 2, Clever 2, Quick 2, Health 6, Defence 6, Move 20 Command 1, Navigaon 1, Pilot 1, Computers 1, Psychology 1, Bruiser 1 Equipment: Captain’s Uniform; a hand laser; communicaon device; 6000 Credits Example 2 Officer Ramlin Fleck, Chief Science Officer, Strong 1, Clever 3, Quick 2, Health 6, Defence 6, Move 20 Science 2, Research 1, Computers 1, Lore 1, Cryptology 1 Equipment: Science Officer’s uniform; a hand laser; communicaon device; 4000 Credits Example 3 Officer Fiona Strang, Security Officer, Strong 3, Clever 2, Quick 1, Health 9, Defence 9, Move 10
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Chapter 2 - Gamekeeper Section Invesgaon 2, Sensors 1, Shoong 2, Sneaky 1 Equipment: Security Officer’s Uniform; a hand laser; communicaon device; 6000 Credits Sample Ships Remember – The following ships have Abilies in relaon to each other (so a ship’s Quick of 5 is many mes the Quick of a character with 5). A Crew number has been added for each ship – to show the usual number of people aboard. When smaller ships aack, use: ship’s Strong + firer’s Shoong skill + one dice vs target’s Defence. With larger ships, the aack represents one round of the whole ship’s weapons array used, so use the chief gunner’s (or whoever else is direcng the firing) Arllery skill as a modifier, as follows: ship’s Strong + gunner’s Arllery skill + one dice vs target’s Defence. Example 1 Two-person Fighter Cra, Strong 3, Quick 6, Health 6, Defence 8, Move 12, Crew 1 or 2 The lasers on this small cra do 2 damage and can be upgraded with an assisted firing mechanism (to make the to hit roll Ship’s Strong+ Shoong +2). Example 2 Trader, Strong 4, Quick 2, Health 9, Defence 7, Move 9, Crew 5 This medium trader can carry six torpedoes – each does a dice of damage on impact and the to hit roll is at +3 (due to the guidance system). It also can be upgraded with mounted lasers, which do 3 damage. The vessel has a hyperdrive capable of making one jump to the next solar system (where it must recharge before making another). Example 3 Starship, Strong 7, Quick 4, Health 20, Defence 12, Move 15, Crew 500 This large starship is the best UnitedSpaceOrg has to offer. With a large well-trained crew, a teleportaon room (capable of transporng a small
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Chapter 2 - Gamekeeper Section party to a nearby ship or planet), a hyperdrive capable of jumping several solar systems away, strong sensors (+3 to any Sensors roll) and a smart AI (+3 to any computer rolls). Its mulple missile tubes and laser mounngs allow it to fire twice per combat round. Quick Starship Crew Rule – For every Health Point this starship loses in bale, 20 members of the crew are put out of acon. Aer the bale, roll one dice for each 20 crew put out of acon, to see if they suffered minor injuries (on a result of 1 or 2) and can quickly return to service; major injuries (on a result of 3 or 4) which will put them out of service for a dice roll of days; or have been killed (on a 5 or 6). An Alien Species One of the first alien species UnitedSpaceOrg encountered, on their discovery and colonisaon mission, was a hosle insectoid species. Since making contact, this species (the Skr’kk’kki) have been at war with humans. Creatures Skr’kk’kki Drone, S 3, C 1, Q 1, H 9, D 9, Mv 10, Sk Bludgeon 3, Cra 1, Computers 1, X 15 Skr’kk’kki Soldier, S 4, C 1, Q 1, H 12, D 12, Mv 10, Sk Bludgeon 3, Shoong 2, Blades 1, Bruiser 1, X 30 Skr’kk’kki Scienst, S 1, C 4, Q 2, H 3, D 6, Mv 20, Sk Science 3, Computers 1, Sensors 1, Hyperdrive 2, X 10 Skr’kk’kki Officer, S 3, C 3, Q 2, H 9, D 9, Mv 20, Sk Command 2, Pilot 1, Navigaon 1, Blades 3, X 40 Skr’kk’kki Ships Example 1 Small Assault Ship, Strong 4, Quick 5, Health 10, Defence 9, Move 15, Crew 20 With guided lasers (+2 to hit) and a small teleportaon room, these aack vessels are a thorn in the side of UnitedSpaceOrg.
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Chapter 2 - Gamekeeper Section Example 2 Mothership, Strong 8, Quick 4, Health 25, Defence 11, Move 15, Crew 1000 Motherships have large teleportaon rooms, egg chambers (so any dead crew can be replaced in a hurry), torpedo tubes (dice of damage on impact) and mounted lasers. They can also carry 4 small assault ships, slung under the hull. The hyperdrive is capable of traversing several solar systems. A Mothership can aack twice per combat round. Quick Mothership Crew Rule – For every Health Point the Mothership loses in bale, 50 members of the crew are put out of acon. Aer the bale, roll one dice for each 50 crew put out of acon, to see if they suffered minor injuries (on a result of 1) and can quickly return to service; major injuries (on a result of 2 or 3) which will put them out of service for a dice roll of days; or have been killed (on a 4, 5 or 6).
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Chapter 3 Sample Adventures
The following quick adventures are designed to get you started with the OneDice rules. The first is a fantasy adventure for you to run as Gamekeeper for some friends, there are three ready-made characters provided for your players to use. The second is a short solo space adventure.
The Hollow Horror This adventure takes place in a fantasy seng. Players should not read the following adventure, but may select one of the readymade Adventurer characters provided. There are three ready-made characters for you to give your Players to use as Adventurers: Readymade Adventurer 1 Lemzip Cradlebark, Human, Druid, Strong 1, Clever 2, Quick 2, Magic 2, Health 3, Defence 6, Move 20, Bludgeon 2, Lore 1, Percepon 1, Survival 1, Track 1, Druid Magic Spells: Swarm*, Aid Animal** *A swarm of insects buzzes around the vicm’s head (or equivalent), for 1 dice x combat rounds, causing a -2 to all rolls by the vicm. Range: 15 metres Target: 6 **The caster causes an ordinary animal (bear, wolf, cat, dog, badger, etc.) to be calmed and healed (restore 1 dice of Health). Range: 5 metres Target: 5
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Chapter 3 - Sample Adventures Lemzip can cast each of the above spells twice a day. She must roll 1 dice + Magic (2) score and beat the spell Target Number to successfully cast a spell – on a failure the spell is not lost and can be cast another me (in a later combat round). Quarterstaff (Damage 3), Bedroll, Druid robes, 10 Gold Readymade Adventurer 2 Fragr the Brute, Human, Barbarian, Strong 3, Clever 1, Quick 3, Health 9, Defence 9, Move 30, Blades 2, Bruiser 2, Climb 1, Throw 1, Rage* *Once per day, a barbarian can invoke primordial rage. For one dice worth of combat rounds, the barbarian will only receive half damage and may add +2 to his or her aack rolls. Greatsword (Damage 4), Bedroll, Dagger (Damage 2), 20 Gold Readymade Adventurer 3 Alana Janx, Human, Assassin, Strong 2, Clever 2, Quick 3, Health 9, Defence 10*, Move 30, Sneaky 2, Blades 1, Climb 1, Pickpocket 1, Security 1, Called Shot** *Includes Very Light Armour. **At the beginning of any fight, as long as he or she has not been detected by the enemy, an assassin can make a called shot (with whichever combat skill that’s appropriate), which gives a +4 bonus to the roll to hit. Bow + 20 Arrows (Damage 3), Bedroll, Dagger (Damage 2), Very Light Armour, 20 Gold
In Brief The Adventurers are on the edge of the Trargle Woods. They have been summoned there by Crygaz the Druid. First, they must travel for a couple of miles to Crygaz’s grove. Then he will send them on a mission to hunt down a horror, infesng a hollow in a nearby glade. If the party destroy the horror, Crygaz will reward them.
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Chapter 3 - Sample Adventures Travelling To Crygaz’s Grove It’ll take about an hour trudging through the dense woodland thicket to reach Crygaz’s grove. Even Lemzip the druid will struggle – it’s as if the woodland is trying to prevent the Adventurers finding a path – every me a trail seems to be found, it tails off into nothing. Luckily, Lemzip will have been told the right direcon to travel in by her druid enclave.
Set the scene by reading or paraphrasing the following: As you head into the woods, it seems there aren’t even animal trails to follow. You know you have to head two miles east, but it’s tough going as thorns snag your cloaks, roots trip you up, and brambles drag along behind you. It’s a sunny day high above the trees, but it’s dark, gloomy and heavy going down below. Aer the Adventurers are about halfway there (a mile into the woods), make them make Percepon rolls (Target Number 7). If they failed, read or paraphrase the following: From out of the surrounding thicket, four toad-like humanoids come rushing at you. Squat, with malevolent eyes, they carry sharp spears which they launch at you, before pulling out rusty daggers and jumping in to finish you off! The toads will get a free aack, before Iniave is rolled, because they have surprised the Adventurers. If some or all of the Adventurers were successful in their Percepon tests, read or paraphrase the following: Just in me you spot four squat toad-like creatures, clutching spears, ready to ambush you.
It’s me to roll Iniave (Quick + 1 dice for each combatant. Highest goes first, lowest last). 4 x Tough Toad Guards S (Strong) C (Quick) H 2 (Clever) Q 1 2 (Health) D 6 Sk (Skills) Blades 2 (Rusty Daggers 2 Damage), (Defence) 8 Mv (Move) 20 Throw 1 (Shoddy Spear 2 Damage) Tr (Treasure) 1 dice x 5 Gold Each F (Friendliness) Hosle X (Experience) 17
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Chapter 3 - Sample Adventures Whether they have the advantage of surprise or not, the toad guards will throw their spears (roll 1 dice + Quick (2) + Throw (1) for each toad guard) on their first aack; then draw their rusty daggers to be used the next combat round (roll 1 dice + Strong (2) + Blades (2) for each toad guard). The survivors will aempt to run away if two of them are killed. Crygaz’s Grove Once the characters have dealt with the toad guards there will be no further incident unl they reach the Druid’s grove. When they arrive there, read or paraphrase the following: Finally you leave the thicket and enter a clearing. There is a large standing stone, and sat, leaning against it, is a wizened old man with a long beard, a tall slender frame and withered legs. He looks up when he sees you and waves you over as if he has been expecng you...and you’re late!
Crygaz will seem distracted and irritable when talking to the party, aside from when giving them their mission. If they menon the toad guards, he will shrug and agree that they are pests. If any of the party are badly injured, he will grudgingly hand them a herbal Healing poon (restores 1 dice worth of Health when consumed). Crygaz will not be travelling with the party, so his stascs haven’t been provided. Safe to say, despite his advanced years and immobility, he is a formidable spellcaster – and the Adventurers had beer not cross him! He is much more interested in woodland wildlife than he is in humans. He can walk, though it causes him great pain. If the Adventurers ask him to accompany them, he will he point out his relave immobility and also get extremely cross!!! He explains that his woodland friends have informed him that there is a wicked spirit inhabing a nearby hollow. He has sent for the Adventurers, to ask them to defeat the creature. If they manage the task, he will give them a (small) reward. Lemzip cannot really refuse – to do so would risk her losing her druid magic! Crygaz will give the party direcons to the hollow (which is another mile away, this me to the northeast). If the party insist on receiving more help,
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Chapter 3 - Sample Adventures he will grudgingly give them a herbal Healing poon (restores 1 dice of Health when consumed), but explain he can do nothing more for them. Journey To The Hollow It won’t take the Adventurers long to reach the hollow, but there will be one event on the way. Read or paraphrase the following: Something is crashing through the woods towards you – it’s obviously big, from the sound it’s making. It’s a large bear! And it’s angry and bleeding – there is a large metal shard embedded in it’s cheek. It stands up tall, towering over you, roaring.
The party can help the bear if Lemzip casts aid animal – in which case the bear will not aack (it’s used to druid magic) and once treated will head off into the woods. Otherwise, aer a couple of combat rounds have gone by, roll 1 dice – on a 1-3, in its pain and confusion the bear aacks the Adventurers; on a 4-6, the bear drops onto all fours and slinks away. Bear S (Strong) C 6 (Clever) 1 Q (Quick) 4 H (Health) 15 D (Defence) 8 Mv (Move) 40 Sk (Skills) Bite/Paw Slash 3 (Damage 4), Stealthy 1 F (Friendliness) Neutral X (Experience) 75 The Hollow Aer dealing with the bear, the Adventurers can make their way to the hollow. Once they are there, read or paraphrase the following: You arrive at what must be the hollow. Standing in front of a fallen tree, at the boom of a shallow slope, are two figures. They look like elves, but something about them is... unnerving. Then you see the beast you are stalking. It’s a curious creature, humanoid and human-sized, but made enrely from what looks like a twisted combinaon of wood and metal. It points towards you, and the strange elves move to aack. The Horror of the Hollow S 5 C 2 Q 4 H 12 D 9 Mv 30 Sk Shoot Shards 2 (Damage 3, Range 15), Bash 2 Sp Enthrall Elves Tr 1 dice x 20 Gold; roll 1 dice, on a 6, 1 minor magic item F (Friendliness) Hosle X (Experience) 120
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Chapter 3 - Sample Adventures Enthralled Elves S C2 2 Q 2* H 6 D 6 Mv 20 Sk Blades 2 (Sword Damage 3) Tr 1 dice x 10 Gold F Hosle (Friendly)** X 20 The elves are normally quicker and have a bow skill, but in their entranced state they have a Quick of 2 (rather than 3) and can only use their swords (with, nonetheless, alarming skill!). **The elves are normally friendly, but enthralled as they are, they are mere puppets of the Horror of the Hollow. If the Horror is killed first, they will be released from their enthralment and will be extremely grateful. If however one of them has been killed and the other survives, the survivor will declare the party enemies of the elves, before darng off into the woods. The Horror of the Hollow will try to fight from a distance, shoong shards at the party, leng the eves get in close. However, should the party corner it (or simply kill the elves first), it will fight to the death – it can’t run, it’s bound to the hollow. Returning To Crygaz Assuming the Adventurers deal with the spirit of the hollow and its entranced followers, they can return and report to Crygaz. He will reward them with a gem each (value 50 Gold) and may offer them some more herbal healing poons as well (3 poons, each will cure 1 dice worth of damage when consumed), if they have not already had them all. He will be extremely distressed to hear that either of the enthralled elves or the wounded bear were killed by the Advnturers, shaking his head, and saying “there must have been another way.” He will not want the party to hang around for long, unless severely wounded, and will be very pleased to see the back of them if they hurt the bear or elves! Ending The Adventure That is the end of this adventure. If playing using experience points, then each adventurer will receive 25-35 XP for successfully compleng the adventure, as well as a share of the XP for defeang any creatures encountered.
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Solo Adventure The following solo adventure is set in space – the readymade character has been dropped on the planet Graxlek 5 and asked to check out an unknown facility which seems to be giving off strange readings. Start at the first entry (1.) and follow the instrucons provided to play the game. Remember – you have 3 Stunt Points and can use them as described on p.27. Readymade Character Choose a name for your readymade Adventurer and then begin. Security Officer, Human, Strong 2, Clever 2, Quick 2, Health 6, Defence 6, Move 20, Stunt Points 3 Invesgaon 2, Computers 1, Shoong 2, Sneaky 1 Equipment: Security Officer’s Uniform; hand laser (damage 3); communicaon device; teleportaon band; 6000 Credits
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Chapter 3 - Sample Adventures
RAID ON GRAXLEK 5 1. You materialised close to the strange facility. You entered the metal bunker, but the door shuts behind you and shows no sign of opening any me soon. Your communicator has stopped working and your teleportaon band seems to have no signal. You are in a small metal chamber with a corridor stretching ahead of you to the north. It is the only way to go. You advance along towards an open door, which you can see at the end of the corridor. Although the walls and ceiling look clean and shiny, there is a vague dunglike smell in the air. Do you: Sneak towards the door, if so go to 6. Just walk through the door, if so go to 17. 2. You let off a shot. You have completely surprised the Skr’kk’kki, so you get a free aack. If the Skr’kk’kki is not dead aer your first shot, roll for Iniave (your Quick (2) +1 dice vs the Skr’kk’kki’s Quick + 1 Dice; highest wins, and, in a draw, you win).
The Skr’kk’kki has the following stascs: Skr’kk’kki Scienst, S 2,C 4, Q 2, H 6, D 6, Mv 20, Sk Mandibles 1 (2 Damage), Science 2, Computers 1, Sensors 1, Hyperdrive 2 X 20 The Skr’kk’kki will need to roll a 4 to breach your Defence (6) (it’s Strong (1) + Mandibles (1) + 4+). You will need to roll a 2 to breach the Skr’kk’kki’s Defence (6) (your Quick (2) + Shoong (2) +2+). Aer each hit, take damage (damage = to hit roll minus target’s Defence + weapon damage rang) from the target’s Health score unl either you or the Skr’kk’kki reaches zero. If you win the fight, go to 18. If you lose the fight , the Skr’kk’kki nibbles on you for a bit, before calling its hive mates to inform them of your demise. They will send a ship to deal with your friends above, but you won’t be alive to witness the outcome of that bale...it’s Game Over (though you could always try again!).
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Chapter 3 - Sample Adventures 3. You try to zap the Sculenugget. Make an Iniave roll (your Quick (2) +1 dice vs the Sculenugget’s Quick + 1 Dice; highest wins, and, in a draw, you win). If you win Iniave, go to 8. If you lost Iniave, go to 9. 4. You manage to sneak past the creature and head down the corridor to the east. Go to 10. 5. You connue down the long eastern corridor and eventually reach another small chamber. There is a large pressure door at the far side of the chamber – but it seems to be fused shut. There are no other exits. Along the lehand wall are large computer banks and a small operator console. Do you: Use the computer console , if so go to 11. Smash the computer banks , if so go to 21. 6. You try to sneak. Make a Challenging (TN 6) Sneaky roll. Roll 1 dice and add your Quick (2). (You need to roll a 4+). If you succeeded, go to 12. If you failed , go to 19. 7. You examine the console. Make a Hard Computer roll using your Clever (2) and Computers (1) (Target Number 8). (So you will need to roll a 5 or 6). If you succeed, go to 13. If you fail , go to 10.
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Chapter 3 - Sample Adventures 8. The Sculenugget has a Defence of 8. Roll to hit – you roll 1 dice + your Quick (2) + Shoong (2) (so you will need a 4 to get the total of 8 needed to hit the Sculenugget). If you hit, go to 14. If you miss, go to 9. 9. Your laser beam misses the creature and bounces off the metal walls, unl it dissipates somewhere along the corridor. The creature takes its chance and scoots off between your legs and off to the west, before you can catch it. It rounds a turn in the corridor and is out of sight. You’ll have to: Connue down the corridor , go to 20. 10. You head down the eastern corridor. It stretches on for a long way, twisng and turning, but eventually you round a bend... and see a small crab-like metal creature in front of you. It makes a whirring sound, its head spins 360 degrees, then it begins to whizz off, away from you. Do you: Aack the Sculenugget, if so, go to 3. Allow it to depart , if so go to 20. 11. You try to use the console to hack into the computer. You need to make a Mildly Challenging Computer roll using your Clever (2) and Computers (1) (Target Number 6). (So you will need to roll a 3 or above). If you succeed, go to 23. If you fail, go to 22. 12. You sneak into the chamber ahead. It is a small room, with just one exit (aside from the direcon you have come in) to the east. There is a large insectoid in the room! It is one of the Skr’kk’kki – an intelligent and aggressive insect race, with whom humanity is at war! The creature has its back to you. Do you:
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Chapter 3 - Sample Adventures Shoot the Skr’kk’kki, if so go to 2. Try to negoate with the Skr’kk’kki with your gun raised , if so go to 16. Try to sneak past the Skr’kk’kki, if so go to 4. 13. You don’t learn much – aside from the fact that if you can find the main computer room, you will need to use the console there to release the entrance doors that closed behind you, and to disable the automated defences in this remote staon. If you tamper with the computer banks in the main computer room before you have used the console to remove their defences, it is liable to get very nasty. Go to 10. 14. Your laser beam fries the lile droid. It whirrs a final me, then lies there smoking. Go to 5. 15. It tries to bite you with its sharp mandibles, screeching and clicking as it snaps its jaws. You try to laser it before it can eat you! Roll for Iniave (your Quick (2) +1 dice vs the Skr’kk’kki’s Quick + 1 Dice; highest wins, and, in a draw, you win). The Skr’kk’kki has the following stascs: Skr’kk’kki Scienst , S 2, C 4, Q 2, H 6, D 6, Mv 20, Sk Mandibles 1 (2 Damage), Science 2, Computers 1, Sensors 1, Hyperdrive 2 X 20 The Skr’kk’kki will need to roll a 4 to breach your Defence (6) (it’s Strong (1) + Mandibles (1) + 4+). You will need to roll a 2 to breach the Skr’kk’kki’s Defence (6) (your Quick (2) + Shoong (2) +2+). Aer each hit, take damage (damage = to hit roll minus target’s Defence + weapon damage rang) from the target’s Health score, unl either you or the Skr’kk’kki reaches zero. If you win the fight , go to 18. If you lose the fight , the Skr’kk’kki nibbles on you for a bit, before calling its
79
Chapter 3 - Sample Adventures hive mates to inform them of your demise. They will send a ship to deal with your friends above, but you won’t be alive to witness the outcome of that bale...it’s Game Over (though you could always try again!). 16. You aempt to reason or inmidate the creature, but it is having none of it. Go to 15. 17. You walk through the door into a bright chamber. It is a small room, with just one exit (aside from the direcon you have come in) to the east. There is an insectoid creature peering at a console, but it hears you and turns. It is a Skr’kk’kki – an enemy of humanity. It moves to aack... Roll for Iniave (your Quick (2) +1 dice vs the Skr’kk’kki’s Quick (2) + 1 Dice; highest wins, and, in a draw, you win). If you win, turn to 18. If you lose, it’s Game Over (although you could always try again!). 18. With the Skr’kk’kki dead and sll smoking from the burns inflicted by your laser, you can either: Examine the console it was working on , if so go to 7. Or leave via the exit to the east , if so, go to 10. 19. You fail to sneak past the creature, and hearing your claering feet, it turns to face you! Go to 15. 20. You carry on along the corridor a long way, unl you eventually see another chamber ahead. You head towards it, but you are disturbed by laser fire! There are two Skr’kk’kki’ soldiers behind you! You are going to have to fight it out! Roll Iniave (your Quick (2) +1 dice vs the Skr’kk’kki’s’ Quick (2) + 1 Dice;
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Chapter 3 - Sample Adventures highest wins, and, in a draw, you win). The Skr’kk’kki soldiers have the following stascs: 2 x Skr’kk’kki Soldiers , S 3, C 1, Q 2, H 8, D 7, Mv 20, Sk Bludgeon 1, Shoong 1 (Laser pistol, Damage 2), Blades 1, Bruiser 1 X 25 The Skr’kk’kki will each need to roll a 3 to breach your Defence (6) (their Quick (2) + Shoong (1) + 2+). You will need to roll a 3 to breach the Skr’kk’kki’s Defence (7) (your Quick (2) + Shoong (2) +3+). Aer each hit, take damage (damage = to hit roll minus target’s Defence + weapon damage rang) from the target’s Health score, unl either you or both Skr’kk’kki’s reach zero. If you win, go to 5. If you lose, the Skr’kk’kki munch on you a while, before calling in to report your presence. A Skr’kk’kki ship is dispatched to aack the human ship above, but you are half-chewed and dead – such maers are no longer yours to worry about! ...it’s Game Over (though you could always try again!). 21. You smash the computer console. The good news is that you have caused a major setback to the Skr’kk’kki remote base... The BAD news is that the door you came in from has snapped shut and the automated defences have kicked in. A toxic gas streams into the room, and you fall unconscious. Everything goes black...Game Over (though you could always have another go!). 22. You spend too long trying to access the console. A Skr’kk’kki soldier comes into the chamber and tries to shoot you! Roll Iniave (your Quick (2) +1 dice vs the Skr’kk’kki’s Quick (2) + 1 Dice; highest wins, and, in a draw, you win). The Skr’kk’kki soldier has the following stascs: Skr’kk’kki Soldier , S 3, C 1, Q 2, H 8, D 7, Mv 20, Sk Bludgeon 1, Shoong 1 (Laser pistol, Damage 2), Blades 1, Bruiser 1 X 25 The Skr’kk’kki needs to roll a 3 to breach your Defence (6) (its Quick (2) +
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Chapter 3 - Sample Adventures Shoong (1) + 2+). You will need to roll a 3 to breach the Skr’kk’kki’s Defence (7) (your Quick (2) + Shoong (2) +3+). Aer each hit, take damage (damage = to hit roll minus target’s Defence + weapon damage rang) from the target’s Health score, unl one side reaches zero. If you win the fight , go to 11. If you lose, then your corpse lies on the floor of the computer room... at least, unl it is dragged away to become Skr’kk’kki larvae food! The Skr’kk’kki soldier alerts it’s hive mates and a Skr’kk’kki ship is sent to destroy the human ship that you travelled here in. Game Over...though you could always try again. 23. You manage to hack into the main computers, via the console. You disable the staon’s defences, open the entrance-way you came in on, transfer secret files to a hacksck, and smash the Skr’kk’kki main computers – the remote Skr’kk’kki base has been delivered a major setback. You leave the staon unmolested. Once you have been teleported back to your ship, you are sure to be awarded a service medal, promoon and cash bonus!!! Game Over...Congratulaons, you won!!!
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Chapter 2 - Gamekeeper Section Solving/Reaching a Major Adventure Goal: 50-100 Experience Example Searching every locaon in a haunted house and defeang various ghosts and monsters. Solving/Reaching the end of a Campaign: 200-300 Experience Example Travelling to another dimension and pung an end to the source of haunngs on the characters’ home planet, then safely returning, having overcome numerous obstacles and enemies on the way.
Alternate Experience System If using the alternave experience system described on p.36, the Gamekeeper should award each player 1-3 Improvement Points per session, based on good role-playing, goals achieved, etc. A further 1-3 points may be awarded at the climax of an adventure, if the players have defeated the dark lord, blown up the enemy space staon, averted a nuclear war, or whatever.
Skins What are skins? Skins are a few simple notes on how to adapt OneDice for use in a parcular genre. They are designed to show the flexibility of the system. They should give you an idea of the changes to consider, and the things that might need adding, to build your own chosen seng. What aren’t they? The skins in the following secon are not detailed sengs. They provide some quick and very general rule ideas suitable for three example genres, not any detail for a parcular fantasy world, space seng, heroes game, etc. That is beyond the scope of this book.
54
Chapter 2 - Gamekeeper Section If you want to run a fantasy game, the skin will give you some system pointers – but it is likely to need adjustment as you fill in the detail – you might want a seng where everyone plays a barbarian; or a Hamster Bard, who uses poetry to fight; or whatever – these simple example skins will need developing for whatever parcular world you have in mind. If you do want to play in a ready built seng (rather than build one yourself), with a much more detailed skin and more thoroughly described world, check out forthcoming Cakebread & Walton releases for OneDice at hp://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/4595/Cakebread--Walton
Skin One – Fantasy The following skin is for a fairly tradional swords and sorcery world. Character Creaon Notes This skin includes characters with Magic. Technological equipment, including guns, is not allowed in this seng. Player’s characters can be from a fantasy species . For instance, they might be humans, elves or dwarves . (But note, in your seng you might want to allow them to play just one species or completely different ones.) For ease, you could allow each race to have the same Abilies. But you could decide that there are fixed Ability templates. Example For this skin, humans have Abilies as normal, but 7 points to spend, rather than the usual 6; Dwarves have Strong 4, Clever 2, Quick 1 at the start; Elves have Strong 1, Clever 2, Quick 3, Magic 1 at the start. The following skills are not permied: Computers, Pilot, Science, Shoong Some Background Skill Templates Fighter: Blades or Bludgeon 2, Archery or Bruiser 2 + any 2 skills of choice. Wizard: Lore 1, Research 1, Language (Arcane) 1 + any 3 skills of choice. Rogue: Sneaky 2, Security 1, Pick Pockets 1 + any 2 skills of choice.
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Chapter 2 - Gamekeeper Section Some Sample Characters Example 1 Grunge Stout, Dwarven Fighter, Strong 4, Clever 2, Quick 1, Health 12, Defence 12, Move 10 Blades 2, Bludgeon 1, Percepon 1, Cra 1, Bruiser 1 Equipment: Rugged clothes; a bale-axe; 60 Gold Example 2 Elaina Faladri, Elf Apprence Wizard, Strong 1, Clever 2, Quick 3, Magic 1, Health 3, Defence 9, Move 30 Lore 1, Research 1, Language (Arcane) 1, Medicine 1, Climb 1, Bludgeon 1 Spells: Magic Bolt Equipment: A set of wizard robes; a quarterstaff; 60 Gold Example 3 Mae Marchweather, Human Rogue, Strong 2, Clever 2, Quick 3, Health 6, Defence 9, Move 30 Sneaky 2, Security 1, Pick Pockets 1, Archery 1, Dodgy 1 Equipment: A set of rugged clothes; a bow and 20 arrows; 60 Gold Wizard Magic In this fantasy skin, only wizards have magic. In another, there might be different sorts of magic (necromancy, druid magic, witchcra, etc). The following rules describe how wizard spells work. Spells How many spells does a wizard character start with? As many spells as his or her Magic ability score.
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Chapter 1 - The Rules The following story change costs 5 Stunt Points: Ÿ
Major Plot Change – A Player can spend 5 Stunt Points to make a major change to events – escape the mothership; cause a huge rock-slide, covering a retreat; cause a nearby enemy ship to lose all speed and be put temporarily out of acon; etc.
Equipping your Character Every Player’s character starts with some money to spend on equipment; roll a dice and mulply the result by 10 – that’s how much money your character starts with. They can spend it on equipment before the game starts. The actual currency in your seng could be anything – Credits, Gold, Dollars, tens of Dollars, Concrete Slabs... so the examples below are le undefined. In your game you might decide to award extra starng money to everyone (e.g. 100-600 or 1000-6000), extra starng money to characters from a parcular background, or just let characters have what equipment they want, as long as it seems reasonable according to their income/the job they do. In addion to their starng money, all characters start the game with one character ouit (appropriate to the seng) and one weapon suitable for their character. As with everything in OneDice, Players can only purchase equipment that fits with the seng they are playing in.
Everyday Stuff Clothing Fine Clothes: Cost: 200 Pauper Garb: Cost: 0-10 Respectable Clothes: Cost: 50 Rugged Clothes: Cost: 50
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Chapter 1 - The Rules
Adventuring Kit Backpack: Cost: 10 Bedroll: Cost: 5 Candle: Cost: 1 for 10 candles Car: Cost: 1000+ Flint and Tinder: Cost: 1 Lantern: Cost: 10 Handheld Computer: Cost: 100+ Mobile Phone: Cost: 40+ Oil, Flask: Cost: 1 for an hour’s lantern fuel. Powerboat: Cost: 10,000+ Rope: Cost: 2 for 10 metres of strong rope. Sack (Large): Cost: 2 Sack (Small): Cost: 1 2-Person Sled: 300+ Tent: Cost: 30 for 2 person tent. Torch: Cost: 1 for a wooden torch that burns for an hour or an electric torch. Waterskin/Flask : Cost: 1 for a waterskin/flask containing enough drink for 1 person for 2 days. Wring Kit: Cost: 10+
Food And Drink Meal Out: Cost: 1+ Travel Raons: Cost: 5 for one day’s raons for one person.
Accommodation Doss-house: Cost: 1 Tavern: Cost: 5+ Hotel: 30+
Specialist Equipment Climbing Kit: Cost: 10 (Adds 1 to Climb skill rolls.) Compass: Cost: 15 (Adds 1 to Navigaon skill rolls). Security Set: Cost: 20 (Adds 2 to Security skill rolls.)
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Chapter 1 - The Rules Doctor’s Bag: Cost: 50 (Adds 1 to Medicine skill rolls.) Hacker Kit: Cost: 500+ (Adds 1 to Computer skill rolls.)
Close Combat Weapons Weapon
Damage
Cost
Axe
2
15
Club, Cosh, Cudgel
2
5
Dagger
2
10
Hatchet
2
10
Improvised*
1
–
Knife
1
5
Laser-Sck
4
100
Spear
3
15
Sword
3
50
Unarmed
0
Whip
1
– 10
*Chair leg, bole, tea tray, etc.
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Chapter 1 - The Rules
Ranged Weapons Guns Weapon
Damage
Range
Cost
Blunderbuss*
4
5
60
Handgun, Large
4
15
300
Handgun, Small
2
10
200
Laser Pistol
3
50
200
Laser Rifle
4
500
500
Machine Gun
6x3 damage
200
2000
Musket*
4
20
50
Pipe Rocket**
10
50
5000
Shotgun
5
20
1000
Sniping Rifle*
6
2000
1800
Rifle
4
400
1000
*Takes a full combat round to load. ** Damage is to all within a 3m radius of the target.
Ammunition Ammunion: Cost: 10 for 20 small rounds; 100 for 10 large rounds. Pipe Rocket Ammunion: 200 for 1 round.
Weapon Modifications Rifle Magnifying Sights: Cost: 800 (Adds +3 to Shoong skill if aached to a rifle).
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Chapter 1 - The Rules
Other Ranged Weapons Weapon
Damage
Range
Cost
Bow
3
25
15
Crossbow
3
40
40
Dagger
2
Sx3
10
Hatchet
2
Sx2
10
Knife
1
Sx1
5
Rock
1
Sx3
-
Sling (one handed)
2
15
1
Spear
3
Sx2
15
S = Thrower’s Strong.
Armour Armour
Defence*
Quick
Cost
Light – Thick leather jacket and +1 trousers; Full Combat Clothing
-
100
Heavy* – Full plate armour; Full Powered Body Armour
+2
-2
5000
Shield/Energy Field
+1
-
100
*Wearing armour gives a bonus to Defence. But if a character is not strong enough to cope with the weight of heavy armour, it will give a penalty to Quick. If the wearer’s Strong is under the amount of the armour’s Defence bonus, the character will take the penalty to Quick shown in the table above. In other words, a character with 1 Strong will be at -2 to Quick if he or she dons heavy armour.
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Chapter 1 - The Rules
Finishing Touches If you haven’t picked a name for your character, do so now. Also, give your Character 6 Stunt Points, ready for the first game session. Now is the me to make a few notes, if you want to, about your character’s personality (kind, mean, greedy, happy-go-lucky, etc.) and earlier life (family, previous job, criminal past, etc.). You should also decide how old your character is.
Experience and Levels As your characters adventure they learn new skills and increase their abilies. In game terms, this means the Gamekeeper will award you Experience for good roleplaying and for your character reaching adventure goals and defeang foes. You need to always keep track of the total Experience you have been given. When your character gets enough Experience, he or she will go up levels. Your character might gain some new things at each level: Ability Points – You can spend these to increase Strong, Clever, Quick or Magic*. Remember, your character’s Health, Defence or Move might also rise as a result of this increase. *If playing a game with magic.
Health – Increases your total health. Skill Points – To increase a skill your character already has or to learn a new one. Spells – If applicable.
All Player characters begin at 1st Level. The Experience you need to increase your character’s level, and the rewards for doing so, are as follows:
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Chapter 1 - The Rules
Level
Ability Points
Health
Skill Points
Spells
1
0
2 +1
+1 +1
6
11
1,500 3,000
+1
+1
8 10
+1
+1
+1
+1
6,000 10000
+1
9
300 600
+1
5 7
150
+1
3 4
Experience
15,000 22,000
+1 +2
+1
30,000+
*In systems where characters have Magic.
The Experience system above is just one way of handling character development. Gamekeepers could always decide to use a different method. You might want to grant a development point, that can only be spent on skills (not Abilies), on the compleon of a major plot goal; or you might allow Abilies and skills to be purchased, but only aer the character has spent a suitable amount of me working out, experimenng, pracsing, researching a topic, aending lectures, etc.
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Chapter 1 - The Rules
Alternate Experience System For Players and Gamekeepers who don’t like level-based experience systems, here is an alternave, more “realisc” system. Characters are given Improvement Points, which can be spent as follows: Skill increase: 2 x the level you want to get to. Example 1 Bil’s character has Percepon 2, and wants to increase it to 3. 2 x 3 = 6, so he must spend 6 Improvement Points. Aribute increase: 5 x the level you want to get to. Example 2 Bil’s character has Quick 1 and wants to increase it to 2. 5 x 2 = 10, so he must spend 10 Improvement Points.
Skills and Aributes can only be put up one level at a me, so to get a skill from 2 to 4 would require (2 x 3) + (2 x 4) = 14 Improvement Points. To learn a new skill at 1 costs 5 Improvement Points, plus the character must have had me to train in the new skill. Whether this is possible is up to the Gamekeeper – you can’t claim to have learned to ride a camel if you’ve spent the last month rowing across the Atlanc in a bathtub! Health, Defence and Move will increase as a character’s Aributes increase, in line with the rules on p.9.
Example of Play The following example should give you a feel for how the system works. In the example there are three parcipants, the GameKeeper (Jenny), and two Players, Rebecca and Terry. They are playing in a pulp seng. Rebecca is playing a Treasure Hunter and Terry is playing an Archeologist. Rebecca’s Character Georgia Smith, Treasure Hunter, Strong 1, Clever 2, Quick 3, Health 3, Defence 9, Move 20
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Chapter 1 - The Rules Climbing 1, Navigaon 1, Pilot 1, Shoong 1, Survival 1, Trade 1, Stunt Points 6 Equipment: Large Handgun (4 Damage); Climbing Gear; Explorer Ouit; $100 Terry’s Character Utah Johns, Archeologist, Strong 2, Clever 3, Quick 1, Health 6, Defence 6, Move 20 Blades 1, Languages (Ancient) 1, Lore 2, Percepon 1, Research 1, Stunt Points 6 Equipment: Dagger (2 Damage); Explorer Ouit; $120
The Adventurers have been exploring a cave network. They think they’ve finally found the treasure they are looking for. Gamekeeper (Jenny): From the ledge, you can see vines trail down to the floor of the cavern below. The cavern is about 10 metres below you, and 20 metres in diameter. In the middle of the cavern there are some dusty looking remains, but something is glinng amongst the bones – from the bluish light it gives off, perhaps it’s the Honour Stone. The vine strewn walls look solid enough, although they’re pied with cracks, fissures and crawl spaces. Rebecca (Georgia): “Excellent, hopefully that’s what we’re aer!” Ok, I tug on a vine. Do I think it’s strong enough to take my weight? Terry (Utah): “We could get the climbing gear out.” Gamekeeper (Jenny) to Rebecca (Georgia): The vines seems very strong. And with the number of footholds, you think it’ll be a very simple climb down. Rebecca (Georgia): “No, these vines will do fine.” I start to climb down. Terry (Utah): “I’ll follow you down.” Gamekeeper (Jenny): OK, Georgia makes it with ease, but you’ll need to roll for Utah (Mildly Challenging, TN 3). Georgia couldn’t fail, as her Quick of 3 + Climb of 1 = 4. So even if she rolled a 1, she would get a total of 5, beang the TN of 3.
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Chapter 1 - The Rules Terry (Utah): “We should of got the climbing gear out!” Terry rolls the dice. He rolls a 4. Utah hasn’t got the Climb skill, so can only add his Quick of 1, for a total of 5. He makes it. Gamekeeper (Jenny): OK, you’re both safely down. The floor is dry, but dirt strewn. There are tunnels in some of the walls, but they would be hard to fit down, unless you crawled – most of them are barely three foot tall. It seems you were right – there’s definitely a gem amongst them bones. What do you want to do? Rebecca (Georgia) and Terry (Utah): (Together) I grab the gem! Gamekeeper (Jenny): (Rolls a dice) As you both stoop down, a creature slides out behind you. It must have been hiding in the tunnels. Jenny is rolling a creature’s Sneaky (Quick) – she could have granted the Adventurers an opposed roll, against their Percepon, but has decided they are too busy reaching for the gem. Rebecca (Georgia): What is it? Gamekeeper (Jenny): You turn and see an appalling creature! It’s a snake, but larger than any known species. It’s green, has long sharp fangs and is hugely fat – but despite its bulk, it’s superfast as it strikes. And it strikes at you, Georgia! No-one rolls for Iniave yet, as the giant snake has surprised the Adventurers. The giant snake has the following stascs: Snake, Giant S (Strong) 5 C (Clever) 1 Q (Quick) 3 H (Health) 12 D (Defence) 7 Mv (Move) 40 Sk (Skills) Bite 1 (Damage 3) Sp (Special Abilies) Constrict Ha (Habitats) C (Caves), F (Forest), J (Jungle), S (Swamp) X 100 Note: A creature’s Defence and Health, isn’t calculated in the same way as an Adventurer’s. Rebecca (Georgia): “Argh!!!” I grab my gun... Gamekeeper (Jenny): The snake has surprised you and gets a free aack. Jenny rolls a 4. The snake hits you! There are no migang circumstances to give either side a bonus. The 4 + the Snakes Strong of 5 and Bite of 1, makes a total of 10. Gamekeeper (Jenny): You take 4 damage... The snake’s to hit of 10 minus Georgia’s Defence of 9 = 1. Adding that 1 +
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Chapter 1 - The Rules the 3 bite damage = 4. Rebecca (Georgia): I spend a Stunt Point to avoid damage! If Rebecca hadn’t spent a Stunt Point, her Adventurer, Georgia, would probably have died. She only has 3 Health and Terry doesn’t have Medicine... Gamekeeper (Jenny): OK, you just manage to dive out of the way of the snake’s fangs, drawing your gun as you leap to the side. Iniave me! Rebecca rolls a 3 for Georgia, Terry rolls a 2 for Utah, and Rebecca rolls a 2 for the snake. The acon will be in the following order: Georgia 1st: 3 + Quick 3 = 6 Snake 2nd: 2 + Quick 3 = 5 Utah 3rd: 2 + Quick 1 = 3 Rebecca (Georgia): I shoot it in the face! (Rolls a 5). And do 5 damage. That’s goa hurt! The roll of 5 + Georgia’s Quick of 3 = 8. That’s 1 more than the snake’s Defence of 7. 1 + 4 (Large Gun damage) = 5 damage. Gamekeeper (Jenny): Sure - it’s bleeding badly – but is just seems to have got angrier! It lunges at you this me, Utah! The snake has Health 12 – so it sll has 7 Health points le, aer the 5 damage has been subtracted. Terry (Utah): “Gulp!” Gamekeeper (Jenny): (Rolls a 2) It hits you, for 5 damage. The Snakes roll of 2 + (Strong) 5 + (Bite) 1 = 8. The to hit roll of 8 minus Utah’s Defence of 6 = 2. 2 + the bite damage (3) = 5. Terry (Utah): “Ouch!” Utah’s Health of 6 minus the 5 damage = 1. Utah is on his last legs, but Terry decides not to spend his Stunt Points to avoid the hit – he has a plan! Terry (Utah): Right - I’m going to take it down! I spend 3 Stunt Points on an Advanced Stunt Acon. I’m going to leap onto the snake’s back, and strike down onto with my dagger as I land” (Rolls a 2) “Groan! I only do 4 damage. Is that enough to kill it? 2 + Utah’s 6 for Strong, Quick and Clever (he can add all three due to performing an Advanced Stunt Acon) + 1 (Blades) = 9. 9 minus the
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Chapter 1 - The Rules snake’s Defence of 7 = 2. 2 + 2 (dagger damage) = 4. Gamekeeper (Jenny): I’m afraid not – it’s badly wounded, but can’t escape with you on its back! It fights on! Next round... The next round starts in the same Iniave order as the last.
And there we leave it. Georgia and Utah will probably win against the wounded snake – but, whether they’ll manage to get out without meeng further foes along the way is another maer...
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Chapter 2 Gamekeeper Section
This secon is designed to help Gamekeepers to run OneDice. There’s a brief general look at running games and ps on style. Then there are a few more rules covering how to award Experience and handle hazards. Finally, there are three “skins” (seng types) which can be used to run quick games. They are there to give examples of how the system can be adapted to different genres, rather than to offer fully fleshed out game worlds. For more detailed seng skins, watch out for future OneDice supplements.
Game Styles It is worth giving some thought to the sort of games you and your Players would enjoy. What Seng should we use? You might already have a parcular seng and genre (Wild West, Sci-fi, Fantasy, etc.) in mind, before you begin. Either way, chat to your Players – is your seng something they’d like to play in? And, if you haven’t already got an idea in mind, ask them what kind of game they would like to play. You may want to set a game in the world of a TV series, movie or novel; you may like the background of an exisng RPG, but not like the rules; you may have a cool idea of your own; or you may want to develop a world in partnership with your players.
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Chapter 2 - Gamekeeper Section Once you have decided on a seng, spend some me thinking about whether there are any parcular changes you need to make to the rules. You might want to decide on a set of character backgrounds – perhaps all the characters belong to a certain organisaon, have a certain range of skill sets, etc. Decide what addions and subtracons to the skill and equipment lists you might need to make. And think about what other characters and creatures there are in the world (or galaxy), for the Players’ characters to interact with. The seng skins at the end of this chapter should give you some ideas for quick and easy adaptaons to the rules to fit in with parcular genres. Then you need to give some thought to the adventures themselves. Are you thinking of running a single adventure or a longer campaign? Single adventures are designed to be played over one or two sessions. They only have a few scenes, a few tasks (rescue the hostage, explore the cave, etc.) and probably only one or two twists at most (the hostage is not willing to go with the characters, there’s a cave-in, etc.). Campaigns usually run over several sessions and oen consist of a number of “chapters”. Each chapter might have several scenes (or one big scene), and oen there are side-goals (e.g. steal some treasure or recruit some allies) that need to be achieved along the way to telling a much bigger story (e.g. defeat whoever is threatening the world).
WARNING! Whatever style you choose, story-planning is needed – if you just make it up as you go along, it can easily fizzle out. You need to have some idea of where the game might go, and some ideas for grand finales.
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Chapter 2 - Gamekeeper Section Do your Players want to follow an excing trail or leave the path whenever they want? Ploed adventures have a structure, much like a book or a movie, and the players are taken through a number of scenes leading to an excing grand finale. Sandbox adventures do not start off with a pre-determined plot – the Games Master decides on a few themes, some locaons and a number of characters and lets the story go where it will.
Stories What style of adventures would your players enjoy?
Lots of fighng or invesgang a mystery? A romanc adventure or a road trip? A monster hunt or dungeon delve? They’ll probably appreciate a mixture and as long as there are plenty of opportunies for heroics, you’ll be on the right track.
Recurring Characters Every hero needs a nemesis, staunch allies and dubious friends. Whatever the circumstances, and whether friend or foe, recurring characters oen make a story stronger and a final victory sweeter.
Scale of Opposition When designing adventures, Gamekeepers should always take account of the abilies of the Players’ characters compared to the opposion they are going to face. If the Players’ characters are always confronted with weak opposion, the game will quickly get boring; likewise, it will become frustrang if they are faced with overwhelming opposion (against whom they have no chance of winning). Check that creatures are selected for your adventure that can be beaten (whether by overcoming their Defence, use of Stunt Points, or some other logical weakness, etc.). Creatures and other
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Chapter 2 - Gamekeeper Section Gamekeeper controlled characters do not have to be designed in the same way as Player’s characters – you can simply assign them Health and Defence scores, rather than base their Health and Defence on their Strong and Quick.
Maps Whether hand-drawn in a hurry or based on an exisng map, it is a good plan to have a rough map of the region (country, world, galaxy) and any specific locaons your adventures are going to take place in. If you know your Players’ characters are likely to end up in a dungeon, make sure you have some sort of map of the place, and ideally some notes about any creatures that live there, traps, treasures, etc. If they are going to end up in a spaceport, have an idea of the layout, and the locaons the characters are likely to visit. This all helps the Players to visualise the world (and stops arguments about what is where!).
Hazards Most hazards in OneDice can be handled through asking for a straighorward skill check. If you want to see if a character can get out of a smoky room, you can ask for a roll (perhaps adding Strong, if they are going to just try to walk through the smoke, or Quick, if they are making a dash for it, to the roll). The difficulty should be adjusted by the scale of the threat – a large raging inferno is harder to escape than a small blaze. To help you judge the level of hazard and the possible consequences of failure, check the table over the page. As usual, offer Defence bonuses or penales (+2/-2) if there are other factors that might make a difference to the outcome for the character.
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Chapter 2 - Gamekeeper Section Difficulty/Target Hazard Number to avoid Damage Minor
Mild, 3
Examples
1 Dice divided by Small fire, small electric shock, weak poison, falling up to a metre, hing 2 (round down) thumb with a hammer.
Moderate
Challenging, 6
1 Dice
Burning car, medium electric shock, moderate poison, falling up to three metres, hing hand with chisel.
Major
Very Difficult, 10
1 Dice mulplied by 2
Burning refinery, struck by lightning, strong poison, falling up to 7 metres, chainsaw accident, caught in a collapsing building.
Deadly
Near Impossible, 12+
1 Dice mulplied by 3+
Falling into a volcano, deadly poison, falling over 7 metres, squashed by a falling city.
Optional Rule – Mooks and Minions The following rules can be used to run encounters where the Adventurers are faced with significant numbers of nameless followers (weedy goblins, lowlife street thugs, gormless security guards, etc.) – they are not intended to be used when the Adventurers are fighng more maj or villains/characters. Mooks or minions are seldom a match against Adventurer heroes, except in overwhelmingly large numbers. That said, by boosng the level of mooks, they can provide sff opposion. To make life easy for the Gamekeeper, mooks have only 2 states - unhurt and out of the fight. In other words, a single blow that beats their Defence threshold takes them out. When you’re fighng a single mook, it doesn’t really maer what weapon you have – any hit takes down the mook. Mooks do not have Abilies or Skills. Instead they have Combat , and Everything Else. These numbers are what you add to the dice roll to resolve tasks for them. The Combat rang is used for all types of combat, and the Everything Else rang is used.... for everything else!
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Chapter 2 - Gamekeeper Section Ordinary Mooks haveCombat 3, Inept Mooks haveCombat 2 and Dangerous Mooks have Combat 4 (or higher). Ordinary Mooks have Everything Else 3, Stoopid Mooks haveverything Everything E Else 2, and Specialist Mooks have Everything Ever ything Else 4 (or higher). Defence are figured differently. As Mooks have no abilies, their Move and Ordinary Mooks have Move M M a ove of 20, Slow Mooks have Move a ove of 10, and Fast Mooks haveMove of 30. a Ordinary Mooks have Defence D D a efence of 6, Weak Mooks have Defence a efence of 3, Mo oks haveDefence of 9. and Tough Mooks a
Mooks do not use armour and weapons like ordinary characters, their effects are simply reflected reflected in their Abilies. Mooks oen fight in groups. If a character is fighng more than one mook, you can speed up combat by using these rules: The mooks aack as a single group, with only one roll. They get a +1 to their aack for every two mooks in the group – this means that although the individual mook might be weak, a large enough group can penetrate the defences of a welldefended character character – and even overwhelm him or her. When an Adventurer aacks, on a successful hit, add weapon damage as usual, but take out a mook for every 2 you beat their Defence by. So, for example, if you beat their Defence by 1 or 2, you take out 1 mook. If you beat their Defence by 3 or 4, you take out 2 mooks, and so on. This does not necessarily mean they are dead – they might simply be knocked out of the fight (Gamekeeper’s discreon).
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Chapter 2 - Gamek Gamekeeper eeper Section
Optional Rule – Sanity Sanit y Loss Quick Play Rules As a speedier alternave to the rules below, for quick one-off games, you might want to dispense with a Sanity score and just ask for a quick Fear Test. Roll 1 dice – to pass the character will require a 2 for a Shaky experience; 4 for a Bad experience; and 6 for an appalling experience. If the roll is failed, the character is frozen frozen with fear or will aempt to run awa awayy for 1 dice worth of Combat Rounds.
Some creatures and situaons are so horrific that they can cause a character’ss sanity to be character’ b e eroded and his or her mind to unravel. Even Even if you are not adding a horror/occult twist to your games, you might decide to use the following rules – aer all, Adventurers might well become unhinged by their experiences. If you want to add sanity and insanity to your OneDice game, use the following rules. Calculate Maximum Sanity : Each character starts with a Sanity (San) score of 1 dice+3. Keep a note of this starng score. This is a character’s maximum Sanity Sani ty.. Threat Levels: There are three levels of threat:
Level
Example
San Loss
Shaky
First me seeing a corpse; a minor horror; etc
1 point of San Loss
Bad
Seeing one’s comrades butchered; a more major horror; etc.
1 dice divided by 2 San Loss
Appalling
Witnessing a massacre; a cosmic horror; etc.
1 dice of San Loss
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Chapter 2 - Gamekeeper Section Each type of Shaky event will only cause Sanity loss once (i.e. Seeing a certain type of minor horror creature creature will cause a single point of San loss the first me it is witnessed. Seeing the same type of creature another me, will not cause further San loss – but seeing a differ d ifferent ent type of minor horror creature creature will cause another point of San to be lost). Each type of Bad event will cause Sanity loss twice (i.e. Seeing a certain type of more major horror creature will cause one dice divided by two points of San loss the th e first and second me it is witnessed (on two different occasions). Seeing the same type of creature a third me will not cause further San loss). Each type of Appalling event will cause Sanity loss three mes (on three differentt occasions). differen
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Chapter 2 - Gamekeeper Section
Consequences of Sanity Lo Loss ss How It Works Reduced to 0 Sanity = short term insanity and chance of long term insanity Loss of 5 Sanity in one go = chance of long term insanity When twice starng Sanity lost = chronic condion
When a character is reduced to 0 Sanity or lower , he or she will immediately experience a period of short-term insanity – and do so following any further Sanity loss, unl Sanity is restored above 0. Roll a dice and consult the following tables:
Standard Short Term Effects Roll
Effect
1
Freezes for 1 dice x combat rounds.
2
Freezes for 1 dice x minutes.
3
Uncontrollable Uncontrollab le screaming for 1 dice x minutes.
4
Tries Tr ies to flee (whether this is possible or not) for 1 dice of combat rounds.
5
Tries to flee for 1 dice x minutes.
6
Suffers Serious Seriou s Short Term Effect Effect ( roll ). roll on table below
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Chapter 2 - Gamekeeper Section
Serious Short Term Effects Roll
Effect
1
Will aempt to harm anyone nearby, friend or foe, for 1 dice x minutes.
2
Hallucinaons causing bizarre behaviour for 1 dice x minutes.
3
Muers uncontrollably for 1 dice x minutes.
4
Uncontrollable voming for 1 dice x minutes.
5
Will aempt to harm self for 1 dice x minutes.
6
Develops standard long term condion (or addional long term effect, if already suffering from one).
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Chapter 2 - Gamekeeper Section
Long Term Insanity Also when reduced to 0 Sanity or less or when losing 5 or more Sanity in one go, there is a chance that a character will develop a long-term insanity. Roll a dice + Clever. If the result is 6 or more, the character immediately begins to develop a long term insanity. If failed, the character will only suffer a short term insanity.
Long term condions may be lived with for a while, but without help (see Restoring Sanity below) will worsen over me, unl the character is no longer able to funcon. Long term condions will always last unl the character has been treated (i.e. his or her Sanity rises back above 0).
Long Term Effects Roll
Effect
1
Develops phobia. Roll again: 1 – confined spaces or dark; 2 – open spaces or bright light; 3 – an everyday item (food, drink, clothes, etc.); 4 – a type of common animal; 5 – heights; 6 – mud, dust, dirt, etc.
2
Develops addicve behaviour (Gamekeeper’s choice of addicon).
3
Develops increasingly worse nightmares and insomnia.
4
Finds it increasingly hard to know what is real and what is not.
5
Becomes increasingly suspicious of everyone else.
6
Develops chronic condion ( roll on table below ).
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Chapter 2 - Gamekeeper Section
Chronic Condition When a character has lost twice their starng Sanity (e.g. A character with a starng Sanity of 7 falls to -7 Sanity) he or she will automacally lapse into a chronic condion. Characters with a chronic condion may never recover. Recovery is at the Gamekeeper’s discreon and will take at least six months of connual care. Adventurers with a chronic condion should be considered (at least temporarily) rered.
Chronic Effects Roll
Effect
1
Appears lucid – but will become extremely and unremingly violent when given the slightest opportunity to be able to cause harm to others.
2
Agitated and/or speaks in an incomprehensible language.
3
Completely catatonic.
4
Smearing, uncontrollable itching, shrieking and/or thumping walls.
5
Rocking, shaking and/or muering.
6
Refuses to eat, drink and/or suicidal.
Restoring Sanity Sanity recovery is harder than healing physical Health. If a character has a Sanity score above 0 If a character has a Sanity score above 0, Sanity can be restored to full by the following means: Proper rest, care and pampering (rest/leave, a cruise or health spa, a sanctuary, etc.) – +1 point restored per full week of proper rest.
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Chapter 2 - Gamekeeper Section Making the world a safer place (whether by foiling a plot or an act of great kindness, etc.) – +1 dice divided by 2 Sanity. Decent therapy or counselling (at least ten sessions and dependent on quality of therapist – at the Gamekeeper’s discreon some may cause more trauma than they cure!) – or, if your seng allows it, a magical cure. If a character has a Sanity score 0 or below The character will need a period of hospitalisaon (or other sanctuary appropriate to the seng you are using) to bring their Sanity back and avoid a worsening of their condion (unl it rises above 0, at which point they will be able to use the other methods of restoraon above). If treated with due care and aenon (which is by no means guaranteed, depending on the seng) the paent will recover +1 Sanity per week of treatment. If this care is supervised by a good therapist (with the Medicine and Psychology, or equivalent, skills), the character will receive an extra +1 Sanity per week.
Awarding Experience Experience is usually awarded at the end of each game session. You might want to award Experience for the following: Good roleplay: 10-20 Experience X the characters current Level Defeang Monsters: Monsters have an Experience amount listed – any character who was in the fight gets Experience. Total the Experience of all monsters defeated and divide by the number of Player’s characters who were in the bale. Solving/Reaching a Minor Adventure Goal: 20-30 Experience Example Finding the library in a haunted house and locang all the clues that are hidden there.
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Chapter 2 - Gamekeeper Section Solving/Reaching a Major Adventure Goal: 50-100 Experience Example Searching every locaon in a haunted house and defeang various ghosts and monsters. Solving/Reaching the end of a Campaign: 200-300 Experience Example Travelling to another dimension and pung an end to the source of haunngs on the characters’ home planet, then safely returning, having overcome numerous obstacles and enemies on the way.
Alternate Experience System If using the alternave experience system described on p.36, the Gamekeeper should award each player 1-3 Improvement Points per session, based on good role-playing, goals achieved, etc. A further 1-3 points may be awarded at the climax of an adventure, if the players have defeated the dark lord, blown up the enemy space staon, averted a nuclear war, or whatever.
Skins What are skins? Skins are a few simple notes on how to adapt OneDice for use in a parcular genre. They are designed to show the flexibility of the system. They should give you an idea of the changes to consider, and the things that might need adding, to build your own chosen seng. What aren’t they? The skins in the following secon are not detailed sengs. They provide some quick and very general rule ideas suitable for three example genres, not any detail for a parcular fantasy world, space seng, heroes game, etc. That is beyond the scope of this book.
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