The Terrible System

I'm playing with this idea for a d66 system.

Its so awkward and strange that I'm thinking of calling it the 'Terrible System'.

The d6 can give you

- A 1 to 6 range. Nice and chunky, the basis for the LotFP skill system.

- That neat 2d6 curve between 2 and 12, the Apocalypse World roll, and quite story-gamey as it keeps things close to the centre.

- the d66 roll, patchy and swingy as FUCK. 36 numbers between 11 and 66 with big gaps of numbers it won't produce.



Character GenerationThe basic concept for Character Generation is inverse or negative stats that you roll over.

Roll a d66 for each stat in sequence. Re-roll any results of snakeyes or boxcars.

(I did try to find a way that could produce stats in the middle of the range, in a similar way to the 3d6 system for D&D. Couldn't find a convenient one so ultimately just said fuck it and went with a flat roll.)

The stats are;

WEK - Physical weakness.

CLU - Clumsiness.

FRA - Frailty, a synergy of physical and mental.

ASS - Assholery, your ability to fuck up a social situation.

STU - Stupidity, a synergy of you lack of education, memory and discreet analytical power.

FOO - Foolishness, the gross bluntless of your awareness, both of yourself and of the world around you.

A thing I like about this is that it has some of the neatness of a roll-under d20 system but rolling to beat your own weakness has a pleasurable and slightly silly feel.

Damage is based on the Logan Knight grit/flesh boundary, with grit coming back fast, like modern hitpoints, and flesh requiring healing over time.

Initially, damage suffered is *added* to frailty. This could indicate physical or mental trauma, anything that makes a character less able to go on. If your frailty hits 66 then you either break down, give up or run away.

Any further damage is added to Weakness

When Weakness reaches 66, a character is dead.


Buffs and Boosts
So armour should probably add to your max frailty as it keeps you alive and stops you from gaining weakness. Since Frailty is cleanly has a psychological element then stuff like fashion or particular clothes, drugs, and general other moral elements could also add to this.



Strange Dice Artefacts
So far, like most roll-under systems its kinda neat and tight and a bit strange and awkward when it comes to complex opposed situations.

I'm wondering what other strange dice artefacts you can create with two d6?

There's the idea of a kind of dual-level result where the target is a number between 1 and 6, and you have to match that target with both d6. The first deciding if you get a raw physical pass and the second deciding... something? Maybe the nature of the consequence?

I suppose it could go You Do What You Intended/With the Result You Expected

Though that makes no sense if you _don't_ achieve what you intended and _do_ get the expected result.

Plus it has nothing to do with those funky stats I worked out.

Any of you have any ideas for funky d6/d6 dice mechanics.

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Published on July 16, 2017 08:34
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