Is the best D6 game the old West End Games Star Wars? Or is it evolved versions of that game like Mini-6 Bare Bones (and free)?
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/144558 (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/144558)
Or there is this other game I found called Warbirds that is about dieselpunk mercenary pilots operating off airborne escort carriers on a world where even the lands float in the air. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/115960 (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/115960)
I also have a totally free fantasy rules lite game called Pocket Fantasy that has all you need to play a fantasy setting.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/189191 (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/189191)
And there is the Tiny-D6 series of games. They cover a lot, but lean a bit toward being too rules lite as well. They are made with kids in mind after all.
I like all of those games. But I'm always on the hunt for more.
WEGs D6. Hands down. Rules light versions might be too light.
GURPS of course, a bit too lite for my tastes but well researched and mostly well supported.
Ghostbusters 1st edition published designed by Chaosium and published by West End Games. Having Greg Stafford, Sandy Petersen and Lynn Willis write that game was like having Alfred Hitchcock, Akira Kurosawa and John Ford direct the movie. More than three and a half decades old, and still the best intro rpg ever made.
WEG d6 Star Wars is hard to beat, the only one that uses just d6 and supersedes it is Traveller.
Best for what?
There's OpenD6 (WEGs Ghostbusters & Star Wars but OGL) It has Fantasy, Space and Adventure (Pulp Indiana Jones style).
There's also Cepheus Engine (Traveller but OGL) and the miriad of different genres adaptations it has.
Edited to add:
Can't believe Barbarians of Lemuria hasn't been mentioned.
I'm gonna toss in another vote for Ghostbusters, because it very effectively covers the setting and is easy to learn and to explain to others.
And the Ghost Die mechanic is awesome.
As others have said, WEG Star Wars (or, if you prefer, Ghostbusters and its derivatives), or Champions/Hero Sysytem. GURPS. Traveller. I'd throw an honorable mention to Tunnels & Trolls here as well.
There are a lot of great D6-only systems, but "best" is pretty narrow, so I won't list all my favorites, just those that have stood the test of time. I'd say the games listed above have large enough fan bases, and have sold enough products, to count as the "best" D6 systems.
Mini-6 Bare Bones is good and bad in my opinion.
Good
1. Simplified combat. The opposed roll system is there if you want it, but the default alternative method is to pre-calculate your defense rolls as an average. Also, the parry and block skills are gone. Instead, you use your same skill in both offense and defense rolls. They did keep dodging vs shooting, though. Defending is no longer an action. So if you want to shoot twice and dodge with a -2D6 to all of three skill rolls, now you just say you shoot twice with a -1D6 to both shots, and your static dodge number is what it is, unaffected, and always in effect. It's honestly an Armor Class by another name. It's done to avoid confusion, and to speed up gameplay by halving the number of dice rolls made during combat.
2. Simplified ability/attributes. Four instead of six of them. Two physical, and two mental.
3. Toned down Force/Hero Points. They're not as powerful, but have more things they can be used for.
4. Setting agnostic. Star Wars is cool, but any setting could be fun. I'm planning a swashbuckling adventure in the age of sail.
Bad:
1. Poorly implemented Magic system. At the very least the penalty for failure is too high. I house ruled the penalty for failing a Magic skill use is a -1D6 to just that power you just tried to use, not everything. Also, I use GM set difficulty numbers and effect sizes. Bending a spoon with telekinesis is very easy, but lifting an X-wing out of the swamp is hard.
2. Boring melee combat. I've fixed this when doing 1vs1 fights between important villains and my players by using an optional rule called Dueling Blades from Griffon Publishing.
3. A Star Wars setting that has a power that doesn't work. I've replaced it with a power that only effects ranged combat by treating a knights plasma sword as 360 degree cover while the power is active. That works better.
I'm also tempted to make my own Supplement Book for the game that is full of optional magic systems. Plural. Use the system you want, or even all of them. What that game has now is terrible, something even the stutters admit in an FAQ. They ran out of time as their business went under and shipped it with what they had. Now it's just not worth the time to fix.
Bad.
I am embracing playing and running D&D my way.
Everything is based upon d6 rolls.
Either 1d6 or 2d6, for all resolution mechanics.
Hit Points for PCs, NPCs, and Monsters; are based upon d6s.
All Damage is based upon d6s.
Target Numbers are either a 4, 5, or 6.
I use Advantage / Disadvantage a lot.
The Mighty d6 can do it all.
Of the games I know that only use d6, my favorite is Shadowrun 1E. That probably has more to do with the setting than the mechanics though, to be totally honest.
Quote from: Jam The MF on September 05, 2022, 05:50:37 PM
I am embracing playing and running D&D my way.
Everything is based upon d6 rolls.
Either 1d6 or 2d6, for all resolution mechanics.
Hit Points for PCs, NPCs, and Monsters; are based upon d6s.
All Damage is based upon d6s.
Target Numbers are either a 4, 5, or 6.
I use Advantage / Disadvantage a lot.
The Mighty d6 can do it all.
I want to know more!
Quote from: Jason Coplen on September 05, 2022, 07:43:50 PM
Quote from: Jam The MF on September 05, 2022, 05:50:37 PM
I am embracing playing and running D&D my way.
Everything is based upon d6 rolls.
Either 1d6 or 2d6, for all resolution mechanics.
Hit Points for PCs, NPCs, and Monsters; are based upon d6s.
All Damage is based upon d6s.
Target Numbers are either a 4, 5, or 6.
I use Advantage / Disadvantage a lot.
The Mighty d6 can do it all.
I want to know more!
Microlite74 3d6 edition, and it's free to download, it's not what Jam is doing tho.
Everywhen, same underlying system as Barbarians of Lemuria, several settings included IIRC.
Blades in the Dark, Star Wars d6, HERO, EABA - in no particular order.
Tunnels and Trolls. It's a bit too heavy for me though. ;D
Quote from: Jason Coplen on September 05, 2022, 07:43:50 PM
Quote from: Jam The MF on September 05, 2022, 05:50:37 PM
I am embracing playing and running D&D my way.
Everything is based upon d6 rolls.
Either 1d6 or 2d6, for all resolution mechanics.
Hit Points for PCs, NPCs, and Monsters; are based upon d6s.
All Damage is based upon d6s.
Target Numbers are either a 4, 5, or 6.
I use Advantage / Disadvantage a lot.
The Mighty d6 can do it all.
I want to know more!
Thank you, for expressing interest.
It's just notes I've written and placed into a single 3 ring binder. It was born out of a desire for simplicity, and out of a desire to borrow whatever I like from different books for different systems, without dealing with the different rules and power scaling. The only conversions for me, are; I tie PC power to PC level, and I make a call as to what level of monster I want. I already have numbers listed for each level. PC levels go up to 10th level, but Monster levels can go up much farther. A Tarrasque might come in at 50th level. A red dragon might come in at 20th, 30th, or 40th level. With a party of 10th level PCs; they can handle such a challenge if they're smart, or they can be TPK'd.
Quote from: GeekyBugle on September 05, 2022, 07:48:38 PM
Everywhen, same underlying system as Barbarians of Lemuria, several settings included IIRC.
How is Everywhen? I dropped off the face of the planet before it was release, so haven't seen any reviews yet.
The single best rpg using only d6 is, without the shadow of a doubt, Risus. I have DMed everything with it, D&D modules, Shadowrun adventures, cyberpunk, funny adventures, everything. It's mindblowingly flexible and deep at the same time.
-------
darkwormcolt.wordpress.com (http://darkwormcolt.wordpress.com)
Quote from: Jam The MF on September 05, 2022, 08:34:17 PM
Quote from: Jason Coplen on September 05, 2022, 07:43:50 PM
Quote from: Jam The MF on September 05, 2022, 05:50:37 PM
I am embracing playing and running D&D my way.
Everything is based upon d6 rolls.
Either 1d6 or 2d6, for all resolution mechanics.
Hit Points for PCs, NPCs, and Monsters; are based upon d6s.
All Damage is based upon d6s.
Target Numbers are either a 4, 5, or 6.
I use Advantage / Disadvantage a lot.
The Mighty d6 can do it all.
I want to know more!
Thank you, for expressing interest.
It's just notes I've written and placed into a single 3 ring binder. It was born out of a desire for simplicity, and out of a desire to borrow whatever I like from different books for different systems, without dealing with the different rules and power scaling. The only conversions for me; are I tie PC power to PC level, and I make a call as to what level of monster I want. I already have numbers listed for each level. PC levels go up to 10th level, but Monster levels can go up much farther. A Tarrasque might come in at 50th level. A red dragon might come in at 20th, 30th, or 40th level. With a party of 10th level PCs; they can handle such a challenge if they're smart, or they can be TPK'd.
Nice. I like that you limit PCs to level 10. Any higher and it turns into superheroes.
No love for the 50th level Godzilla monsters? ;)
Quote from: Jason Coplen on September 05, 2022, 09:03:52 PM
Quote from: Jam The MF on September 05, 2022, 08:34:17 PM
Quote from: Jason Coplen on September 05, 2022, 07:43:50 PM
Quote from: Jam The MF on September 05, 2022, 05:50:37 PM
I am embracing playing and running D&D my way.
Everything is based upon d6 rolls.
Either 1d6 or 2d6, for all resolution mechanics.
Hit Points for PCs, NPCs, and Monsters; are based upon d6s.
All Damage is based upon d6s.
Target Numbers are either a 4, 5, or 6.
I use Advantage / Disadvantage a lot.
The Mighty d6 can do it all.
I want to know more!
Thank you, for expressing interest.
It's just notes I've written and placed into a single 3 ring binder. It was born out of a desire for simplicity, and out of a desire to borrow whatever I like from different books for different systems, without dealing with the different rules and power scaling. The only conversions for me; are I tie PC power to PC level, and I make a call as to what level of monster I want. I already have numbers listed for each level. PC levels go up to 10th level, but Monster levels can go up much farther. A Tarrasque might come in at 50th level. A red dragon might come in at 20th, 30th, or 40th level. With a party of 10th level PCs; they can handle such a challenge if they're smart, or they can be TPK'd.
Nice. I like that you limit PCs to level 10. Any higher and it turns into superheroes.
No love for the 50th level Godzilla monsters? ;)
As in Kaiju?
Quote from: Mishihari on September 05, 2022, 07:30:13 PM
Of the games I know that only use d6, my favorite is Shadowrun 1E. That probably has more to do with the setting than the mechanics though, to be totally honest.
Ah, Shadowrun! Of course. Fighting Fantasy should be in there as well.
Quote from: Jam The MF on September 05, 2022, 09:20:43 PM
Quote from: Jason Coplen on September 05, 2022, 09:03:52 PM
Quote from: Jam The MF on September 05, 2022, 08:34:17 PM
Quote from: Jason Coplen on September 05, 2022, 07:43:50 PM
Quote from: Jam The MF on September 05, 2022, 05:50:37 PM
I am embracing playing and running D&D my way.
Everything is based upon d6 rolls.
Either 1d6 or 2d6, for all resolution mechanics.
Hit Points for PCs, NPCs, and Monsters; are based upon d6s.
All Damage is based upon d6s.
Target Numbers are either a 4, 5, or 6.
I use Advantage / Disadvantage a lot.
The Mighty d6 can do it all.
I want to know more!
Thank you, for expressing interest.
It's just notes I've written and placed into a single 3 ring binder. It was born out of a desire for simplicity, and out of a desire to borrow whatever I like from different books for different systems, without dealing with the different rules and power scaling. The only conversions for me; are I tie PC power to PC level, and I make a call as to what level of monster I want. I already have numbers listed for each level. PC levels go up to 10th level, but Monster levels can go up much farther. A Tarrasque might come in at 50th level. A red dragon might come in at 20th, 30th, or 40th level. With a party of 10th level PCs; they can handle such a challenge if they're smart, or they can be TPK'd.
Nice. I like that you limit PCs to level 10. Any higher and it turns into superheroes.
No love for the 50th level Godzilla monsters? ;)
As in Kaiju?
Yes. Oriental Adventures has them, but I can't remember the name, and my book is 150 miles away currently. Gargantuans? Totally not sure.
Quote from: Tod13 on September 05, 2022, 08:45:15 PM
Quote from: GeekyBugle on September 05, 2022, 07:48:38 PM
Everywhen, same underlying system as Barbarians of Lemuria, several settings included IIRC.
How is Everywhen? I dropped off the face of the planet before it was release, so haven't seen any reviews yet.
It shames me to admit I haven't read it in full yet.
But from what I did read, if you liked Barbarians of Lemuria you'll love it.
Edited to add:2 settings included Brit Vampire Slayers and High Fantasy
There's a setting called neonpunk (retro anime) but it's sold sepparately.
My Choices?
TRAVELLER classic ...then
GURPS 4/e
.....possibly "GURPS:TRAVELLER too....
-Ed C.
I love WEG SW d6 (1st edition + Companion) and Mini Six about equally. Star Wars D6 specifically for Star Wars, Mini Six for generic/off brand settings & conversions. Loved my Mini Six Primeval Thule campaign.
Toon. Alright, as written it is very specific in what it accomplishes. The underlying engine is not, though. :)
EZD6
Cepheus Engine, Wushu Black Belt edition, and Magical Fury are my top three favorite d6 powered games. They are respectively, a 2d6 sci-fi game, a d6 dice pool game where your descriptions determine the number of dice you get, and a 2d6 Powered by the Apocalypse hack. And, we'll throw out a honorable mention to Maid (d66).
Back in the day, it would have been Champions, The Fantasy Trip, or my own d66 powered Supers game that my brother and I wrote (but has since been lost to time.) Fun trivia, the supers game was set in Vancouver BC, when you live in the desert, a cold wet coastal city sounded exotic. :-)
https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/canada/vancouver/climate (https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/canada/vancouver/climate)
I really am surprised that Tiny-D6 games are not mentioned more.
Right now I'm waiting with anticipation for their 2nd edition of Mecha vs Monsters.
For me it was the original Classic Traveller, before hard science bogged everything down with books full of charts and tables for every conceivable question. A simple, adaptable system. Not sure the players reacted that way though, D&D was very pervasive in those days and dominated the preferable styles of gaming
Well, there's
Tunnels and Trolls (honestly, probably not the best but really cool from a history-of-the-hobby perspective)
BESM (Big Eyes, Small Mouth anime RPG); it's pretty much Tri-Stat
Genre Diversion System from Précis Intermedia: simple 2D6 system that comes in both a generic system (Genre Diversion System 3 core rules), and in prepackaged settings;
Earth AD=post apocalyptic, Coyote Trail=Cowboys and Indians, Blood Shadows=urban fantasy/horror (there's probably more but that's just what I remember of the dome)
Cepheus (OGL Traveller)
Swords and Six-siders; boils down OSR style D&D to a single D6 and does a pretty good job of it.
Spooktacular: retro clone of the Ghostbusters rpg
The various AGE RPGs (Dragon Age, Fantasy AGE, Modern AGE, and I think Blue Rose)
The Fantasy Trip (which recently was brought back into print by SJGames--though they're on the "Red" list, be forewarned). That system was very rules-lite, but I had a blast playing it. Very shallow learning curve. GURPS essentially took the same mechanic but fleshed it out to the Nth degree. I'm still a fan of both, despite SJGames direction...though for future purchases I'll probably go with eBay rather than directly dealing with the company.
And of course, as many have mentioned, Traveller and it's derivatives. I spend many an our with CT, even outside of gaming with others, just having a blast seeing if a character would survive character generation. ;D
Quote from: caldrail on September 07, 2022, 10:42:26 AM
For me it was the original Classic Traveller, before hard science bogged everything down with books full of charts and tables for every conceivable question. A simple, adaptable system. Not sure the players reacted that way though, D&D was very pervasive in those days and dominated the preferable styles of gaming
Indeed. Shortly after getting OD&D White Box in the late 70s, I got 1st Edition LBB's for Classic Traveller. At first I was confused--"it's referring to how
many dice to roll, but what
kind of dice?! I felt stupid when I realized it was good old "normal" dice. But being exposed to those different systems, though I loved OD&D, and later AD&D (1st Ed), I always felt it was needlessly complicated with all those different dice (not to mention "Gyaxian Prose" in rule writing).
Quote from: Osman Gazi on September 07, 2022, 01:05:17 PM
Quote from: caldrail on September 07, 2022, 10:42:26 AM
For me it was the original Classic Traveller, before hard science bogged everything down with books full of charts and tables for every conceivable question. A simple, adaptable system. Not sure the players reacted that way though, D&D was very pervasive in those days and dominated the preferable styles of gaming
Indeed. Shortly after getting OD&D White Box in the late 70s, I got 1st Edition LBB's for Classic Traveller. At first I was confused--"it's referring to how many dice to roll, but what kind of dice?! I felt stupid when I realized it was good old "normal" dice. But being exposed to those different systems, though I loved OD&D, and later AD&D (1st Ed), I always felt it was needlessly complicated with all those different dice (not to mention "Gyaxian Prose" in rule writing).
I was just thinking that with only a couple of exceptions, I could not tell you what dice a system uses. LOL
Quote from: Jam The MF on September 05, 2022, 05:50:37 PM
I am embracing playing and running D&D my way.
Everything is based upon d6 rolls.
Either 1d6 or 2d6, for all resolution mechanics.
Hit Points for PCs, NPCs, and Monsters; are based upon d6s.
All Damage is based upon d6s.
Target Numbers are either a 4, 5, or 6.
I use Advantage / Disadvantage a lot.
The Mighty d6 can do it all.
Basically you are describing mostly what Swords & Six-siders is.
https://www.pigames.net/store/product_info.php?cPath=137&products_id=1049 (https://www.pigames.net/store/product_info.php?cPath=137&products_id=1049)
i use openD6 for everything, only rules i play with, imho is the best yes.
Quote from: Osman Gazi on September 07, 2022, 12:54:30 PM
The Fantasy Trip (which recently was brought back into print by SJGames--though they're on the "Red" list, be forewarned). That system was very rules-lite, but I had a blast playing it. Very shallow learning curve. GURPS essentially took the same mechanic but fleshed it out to the Nth degree. I'm still a fan of both, despite SJGames direction...though for future purchases I'll probably go with eBay rather than directly dealing with the company.
I was about to mention TFT until I saw this. I was very happy it came back.
GURPS did expand on it and even followed the release path with
Man-to-Man fitting where
Melee did then
Orc Slayer fitting in where
Death Test did.
I've considered from time to time running GURPS trip which would cut down the GURPS combat rules to Melee level and having skills only purchased at attribute level and multiple level advantages/disadvantages buyable only at one level (not sure if min/mid/max, though).
Simple Superheroes (https://composedreamgames.com/pages/simplesuperheroes.php) which I designed uses only d6s. (Sometimes when I run Planetary or Cosmic using d12s just to mix it up.)
Talents are rated 2-5, so you are generally rolling 2-5 dice. Each die can generate a success. Basic successes are 3+ -- it's supers so getting a success should be easy.
Rolls are opposed since all manner of interesting Talent might work against another given the situation (when acting against other supers). 2's and 1's get discarded and the highest and then 2nd highest, etc dice are compared, with defenders win on ties.
Each die can generate a success, which could be Lifepoints of damage, or might setup a condition. Frosto might get 3 successes against Thunderfist to freeze him to the floor. Thunderfist would then need to generate 3 successes to escape.
It's very flexible and easy to adjudicate (I'm highly biased of course.) We're getting ready for a 2nd print run right now :)
Risus, but it is too complex for my tastes.
Also Chainmail, but it is too modern for me.
;)
Started to look at OVA again since it has a fun d6 dice mechanic, but -ugh- there is something about character creation (or at least the examples) that appears absolutely broken to me. I might have to write up my own character design spread sheet to fully grok the system.
Define best?
For one group that would be gurps. For another its WEG's Star Wars, for others its Tunnels & Trolls.
I've heard a few times people claiming d6 Space is a good successor to Star Wars but never actually seen it yet.
For me Shadowrun is a pretty solid d6 system. Least till 2nd ed. Past that it gets iffy.
I thought the d6 system for the odd Metamorphosis Alpha RPG was interesting. But not explained well.
So for me Shadowrun is still one of the best.
Also for an oracle system RPG FU is the best.
Well, there are a lot.
My favourites:
Feng Shui
Traveller/Cepheus Engine
Gurps
Over the Edge
Quote from: jeff37923 on September 05, 2022, 02:35:52 PM
WEG d6 Star Wars is hard to beat, the only one that uses just d6 and supersedes it is Traveller.
Yeah for me I flip flop on whether Traveller or the fanmade Revised, Expanded and Updated SWd6 rules are the best d6 rules. I think I gravitate more towards Traveller because the character creation is so awesome and unique. I have no idea why other games didn't steal it tbh.
Like mentioned several times, WEG Star Wars, only played it once looong time ago. The only memory of it is this:
"Wow, I never knew d6 system could be so great"
Mouse Guard, I know it seems like a game for kids but it ain´t. I had my doubts until I tried it. It is a peculiar
experience to play a small knight-like mouse fighting against far bigger opponents, foxes, owls, snakes, badgers to
safeguard your kin, traderoutes and community. A lot of people seems to like the Burning Wheel system. Though if
you are sentitive to the SJW-stuff, then if I remember correct, it was on the SJW bandwagon (?)
Dungeon World or any other Powered By Apocalypse, really simple, really deadly and the rules can be used in just
about any kind of game world and a ton of those are available in DriveThroughRPG for cheap. Dungeon World I´v
played several sessions and Apocalypse World for only one session, ran by Vincent Baker himself. Don´t know the
man personally, and I don´t know whether he was for SJW or not. Some other designers using the system are though,
I don´t know whether that is a deal breaker for you or not. Only thing I kind of miss in Powered by Apocalypse is
that you can´t develop the character far until you kind of have to retire the character (if I remember correct)
Shadowrun, love the world (mostly, SJW though) and partly the rules, dicepools are handy, but it gets bogged down in initiative
requence without an app (there is one available) and each profession has their own rules, which kind of breaks the game.
2nd edition was mentioned previously, some say the 3rd is the best, I honestly don´t know. I only have experience
of the Anniversary and 5th edition. There are quite a few hacks for it to be ported to other systems which are not d6 though.
Quote from: King Tyranno on September 11, 2022, 08:00:18 AM
Quote from: jeff37923 on September 05, 2022, 02:35:52 PM
WEG d6 Star Wars is hard to beat, the only one that uses just d6 and supersedes it is Traveller.
Yeah for me I flip flop on whether Traveller or the fanmade Revised, Expanded and Updated SWd6 rules are the best d6 rules. I think I gravitate more towards Traveller because the character creation is so awesome and unique. I have no idea why other games didn't steal it tbh.
It is very polarizing I think -- people either love Traveller character generation or loath it. I know none (although I'm sure they are out there) who are ambivalent. My wife loves character generation, but has never played. I like character generation more than the actual gameplay, which I find slow and clunky. So many pluses and minuses to each roll to determine and track each time. Been thinking about how to speed it up but retain same flavor.
I like the idea of all of the year zero games I own - you just use d6's and only 6's count for the most part (successes), the rest of the systems can be kind of wonky though. Having to add up large piles of dice isn't my favorite resolution mecanic.
Quote from: PencilBoy99 on September 11, 2022, 01:06:45 PM
I like the idea of all of the year zero games I own - you just use d6's and only 6's count for the most part (successes), the rest of the systems can be kind of wonky though. Having to add up large piles of dice isn't my favorite resolution mecanic.
Same here. My wife and I played our first VTT session last night and it was our first time playing a Modiphius system -- John Carter of Mars. So many numbers special rules and caveats and addendum. You add up successes for the attacker, then the defender, then figure if you get any bonus momentum, determine if you actually succeeded, and then roll for damage (which either needs their special 6 sided dice or for you to remember what each number actually means).
My wife felt the system really got in the way of role playing. Even the people that had been playing for 18 months weren't comfortable with the rules. She appreciates more our homebrew which is single die opposed rolls. (Dice on each side are almost always different sizes -- not a d6-only system.)
IMHO for me and friends the longer the resolution time is (either figuring out what mechanics to invoke, how to use them, or actually using them) the less fun/immersive the game is.
That's my issue w/ Fate right now, which is actually fine (I'm using Fate condensed) - however you constantly have to figure out which set of baroque mechanics to use and how to use them, and if you do it wrong you get an un-fun result. But you're not really learning anything because the next situation is different. Once you do figure it out thought the resolution is pretty quick.
Quote from: PencilBoy99 on September 11, 2022, 01:23:28 PM
IMHO for me and friends the longer the resolution time is (either figuring out what mechanics to invoke, how to use them, or actually using them) the less fun/immersive the game is.
That's my issue w/ Fate right now, which is actually fine (I'm using Fate condensed) - however you constantly have to figure out which set of baroque mechanics to use and how to use them, and if you do it wrong you get an un-fun result. But you're not really learning anything because the next situation is different. Once you do figure it out thought the resolution is pretty quick.
I'm going make a cheat sheet for John Carter with all the different attribute combinations and possible talents (like feats or skills) my character has for different activities. I'll do the same for my wife's character. I didn't feel too bad about constantly asking what I was supposed to use since it was my first time playing and the folks playing for 18 months had trouble keeping it straight too.
I can't imagine it ever being quick though. LOL
Prowlers and Paragons.
I want to confess that coming from a polyhedral background, I went from thinking it was weird and perhaps a bit boring to base everything on d6's only; to really liking the even greater number of different polyhedral dice in DCC; to deciding that all that stuff was fun and interesting, but not what I really wanted in gaming. Then I ended up considering d6 only, and i loved it. There are different ways to do it. There are more possibilities than one would think.
D6 based RPGs are cool, man!!!
Pocket Fantasy is a great game that is super rules lite. It also fits here as it only uses 1D6 dice rolls.
Combat skills are 1D6 for a full warrior, 1D6-1 for your partial warriors like rogues, clerics, and spell-swords, and 1D6-2 for your rear line types like wizards.
It's not even a to-hit roll. It's damage. When you fight, you roll damage and the other guy/critter rolls their combat skill to block damage. I attack and roll a 5, he rolls a 3, he takes 2 damage. Simple.
The opposite of that are the D6 games that get weird with the dice to try and get more results than 6 or 12 results with a 1D6 or 2D6 respectively. I can give it a pass if you count successes, if that game is consistent about what a success is. Or even a D66 system that uses one die for the 10's place, and the other die as the 1's place.
But if your game starts using custom dice, it's going in the trash. I'm looking at you, Fantasy Flight Star Wars. "It's such an innovative system!" Yeah, so innovative I get angry just listening to reviews or tutorials. Nope. No sale. Moving on.
One last complaint is about the popular D6 Star Wars from West End Games. It's probably the most well know D6 rules there are. But having played it I do know that two opposed rolls need to be within 2D or it's nearly pointless. Aka a shot taken with a 4D6 vs a dodge defense with a 6D6. That's not a shot likely to hit. Statistics say the defender rolls an average of 21, and with only 4D6 to work with that's going to happen only 1.5% of the time. Now, it's not always going to be that way. Probabilities and all, and exploding dice mechanic, but in D20 at least it's never harder than 5%.
Quote from: weirdguy564 on October 14, 2022, 10:51:39 AM
Pocket Fantasy is a great game that is super rules lite. It also fits here as it only uses 1D6 dice rolls.
Combat skills are 1D6 for a full warrior, 1D6-1 for your partial warriors like rogues, clerics, and spell-swords, and 1D6-2 for your rear line types like wizards.
It's not even a to-hit roll. It's damage. When you fight, you roll damage and the other guy/critter rolls damage they block. I get a 5, he gets a 3, he takes 2 damage. Simple.
The opposite of that are the D6 games that get weird with the dice to try and get more results than 6 or 12 results with a 1D6 or 2D6 respectively. I can give it a pass if you count successes, if that game is consistent about what a success is. Or even a D66 system that uses one die for the 10's place, and the other die as the 1's place.
But if your game starts using custom dice, it's going in the trash. I'm looking at you, Fantasy Flight Star Wars. "It's such an innovative system!" Yeah, so innovative I get angry just listening to reviews or tutorials. Nope. No sale. Moving on.
1D6-2 for Wizards? They certainly aren't overpowered, anymore.
Quote from: weirdguy564 on September 05, 2022, 12:03:53 PM
Is the best D6 game the old West End Games Star Wars? Or is it evolved versions of that game like Mini-6 Bare Bones (and free)?
Asked and answered in the first line. Yes!
I really enjoyed this thread at the time, and my appreciation for d6 mechanics has only grown stronger. Tiny Dungeon, for example.
Standard roll, is 2d6.
Advantage is 3d6.
Disadvantage is 1d6.
Any result of a 5 or 6 on even a single die, equals a success.
Damage, is d6 based.
Quote from: Man at Arms on August 22, 2024, 11:57:02 PMI really enjoyed this thread at the time, and my appreciation for d6 mechanics has only grown stronger. Tiny Dungeon, for example.
Standard roll, is 2d6.
Advantage is 3d6.
Disadvantage is 1d6.
Any result of a 5 or 6 on even a single die, equals a success.
Damage, is d6 based.
Glad you liked it.
I too like the Tiny-D6 series of games.
There is one correction, though. Damage is 1 damage for one handed weapons, and 2 damage for two handers. And even then not all of the games are exactly the same rules. They also limit you with two actions when it is your turn, and both can be attacks with the exception that 2-handers only get one attack. In those cases you can use your other action for dodging, taking cover, concentrating, or moving. I think it was done that way to balance using a single sword with a shield vs a two handed weapon. They don't want a clear, optimal way to play.
Along with that, I have another set of 1D6 based games I have found since then. Kogarashi, and it's original game called True-D6. They're the same rules, just that Kogarashi is in fantasy Japan and True-D6 is your traditional fantasy setting of European medieval folklore.
Quote from: Mishihari on September 05, 2022, 07:30:13 PMOf the games I know that only use d6, my favorite is Shadowrun 1E. That probably has more to do with the setting than the mechanics though, to be totally honest.
I as well am a Shadowrun die hard. Agreed on the setting vs. mechanics. Still more enamored of 3E than any other edition but hard to find folks who still want to play it opposed to 5E and 6e. Heck, I like 4A better than those two but the secondhand market for USED copies of that specific edition is an extortionist's game.
Quote from: weirdguy564 on August 24, 2024, 09:02:34 AMQuote from: Man at Arms on August 22, 2024, 11:57:02 PMI really enjoyed this thread at the time, and my appreciation for d6 mechanics has only grown stronger. Tiny Dungeon, for example.
Standard roll, is 2d6.
Advantage is 3d6.
Disadvantage is 1d6.
Any result of a 5 or 6 on even a single die, equals a success.
Damage, is d6 based.
Glad you liked it.
I too like the Tiny-D6 series of games.
There is one correction, though. Damage is 1 damage for one handed weapons, and 2 damage for two handers. And even then not all of the games are exactly the same rules. They also limit you with two actions when it is your turn, and both can be attacks with the exception that 2-handers only get one attack. In those cases you can use your other action for dodging, taking cover, concentrating, or moving. I think it was done that way to balance using a single sword with a shield vs a two handed weapon. They don't want a clear, optimal way to play.
Along with that, I have another set of 1D6 based games I have found since then. Kogarashi, and it's original game called True-D6. They're the same rules, just that Kogarashi is in fantasy Japan and True-D6 is your traditional fantasy setting of European medieval folklore.
Thank you. I will enjoy my slice of humble pie.
Rolling with the Tiny d6 Mechanic; counting any single 5 or 6, as a success....
Obviously, rolling 1d6 should succeed 33.33% of the time.
I rolled 2d6 until I saw 10 successful results, and it took me 24 rolls of 2d6. 10 out of 24, equals a success rate of 41.67%. Success, less than half the time.
I then rolled 24 times, with 3d6; and I saw 15 successful results. 15 out of 24, equals 62.5 %. That's approaching a 2/3rds rate of success. That makes it worth making the attempt, in most circumstances.
Without the Advantage of 3d6, I wouldn't want to risk some of the rolls, vs the consequences of failure. Is this about the way it should be?
Quote from: Jam The MF on October 14, 2022, 12:59:30 PMQuote from: weirdguy564 on October 14, 2022, 10:51:39 AMPocket Fantasy is a great game that is super rules lite. It also fits here as it only uses 1D6 dice rolls.
Combat skills are 1D6 for a full warrior, 1D6-1 for your partial warriors like rogues, clerics, and spell-swords, and 1D6-2 for your rear line types like wizards.
It's not even a to-hit roll. It's damage. When you fight, you roll damage and the other guy/critter rolls damage they block. I get a 5, he gets a 3, he takes 2 damage. Simple.
The opposite of that are the D6 games that get weird with the dice to try and get more results than 6 or 12 results with a 1D6 or 2D6 respectively. I can give it a pass if you count successes, if that game is consistent about what a success is. Or even a D66 system that uses one die for the 10's place, and the other die as the 1's place.
But if your game starts using custom dice, it's going in the trash. I'm looking at you, Fantasy Flight Star Wars. "It's such an innovative system!" Yeah, so innovative I get angry just listening to reviews or tutorials. Nope. No sale. Moving on.
1D6-2 for Wizards? They certainly aren't overpowered, anymore.
That's for melee & ranged combat with their staff of magic missile they start with. Wizards typically get by because they get 2 combat spells per battle. More if they want to spend re-roll tokens, this game's meta-currency.
Some NPC's are worse. Kobolds only fight with a 1D6-3 in melee, no ranged ability, and only have 1 hit point.
Quote from: Man at Arms on August 24, 2024, 06:45:08 PMRolling with the Tiny d6 Mechanic; counting any single 5 or 6, as a success....
Obviously, rolling 1d6 should succeed 33.33% of the time.
I rolled 2d6 until I saw 10 successful results, and it took me 24 rolls of 2d6. 10 out of 24, equals a success rate of 41.67%. Success, less than half the time.
I then rolled 24 times, with 3d6; and I saw 15 successful results. 15 out of 24, equals 62.5 %. That's approaching a 2/3rds rate of success. That makes it worth making the attempt, in most circumstances.
Without the Advantage of 3d6, I wouldn't want to risk some of the rolls, vs the consequences of failure. Is this about the way it should be?
The odds of success by getting at least one 5 or 6 are:
1D6 = 33%
2D6 = 56%
3D6 = 70%
There is a fix for punishing players for dice roll failures. Have the GM have mercy and make any failures less painful with what happens, or give you additional chances to salvage the situation.
I.E. sneaking past a guard. You sneak roll fails. Ok, the guard is now alerted, but the player imitates a cat meowing, succeeds, and the guard stops, mutters something about stupid cats, and goes back to his post. While his back is turned, you can sneak again, with advantage this time.
Everywhen is the best and here is a review:
CannibalHalflingGaming review
Generic RPGs are written for GMs. A game with a setting or a conceit can speak to anyone who sees it on the shelf or reads through its Kickstarter campaign, but a game with no setting has a tougher time marketing itself. Those of us who run games, though, see them for what they are: toolkits. A good generic RPG is the toolbox that lets you build a game, and every generic RPG is a different set of tools. GURPS is the five hundred pound box of every wrench and screwdriver imaginable. Cortex Prime is a massive array of dials and knobs, ready to be toggled for your campaign. Fate is a smart everyday carry pack, providing the fewest tools to cover the most situations. What about others? Where do other approaches fit in between these?
Everywhen is a genericized version of the popular swords and sorcery RPG Barbarians of Lemuria, and it would have escaped my notice had I not seen a well-known GURPShead on Reddit give it an unequivocal recommendation. Intrigued but skeptical, I checked it out. What I found was a game that hit the right medium crunch sweet spot but also had some design choices that made it easy for any GM, novice or experienced, to write exactly what they want with it.
A liability common to many setting-agnostic RPGs is the tendency for their complexity to be "front-loaded", that is to say the early procedures of the game, like creating a character, require a significant amount of work and in many cases more work than actually playing the game. In GURPS this comes from the voluminous character creation options, including a lot of math to squeeze every point out of your abilities. In Fate this comes from having to immediately pick five Aspects for your character; although character generation procedures like Crossing Paths aim to make this easier, the fact is that Aspects are pretty much the hardest element of Fate's mechanics to grok.
Everywhen is not front-loaded. Everywhen is aggressively not front-loaded, to a point where one may wonder about how much character differentiation you can actually achieve from a mechanical perspective. Each character has four overall attributes, four combat attributes, their careers, and possibly some boons and flaws. The math is simple because for the most part all traits, attributes and careers alike, range from 0 to 3, and the number is simply what you add to your 2d6 roll (or subtract, it is possible to have negative attributes). Careers are the mechanic which will raise the most eyebrows, because it's where it becomes clear that Everywhen has no skill system. Although having no skill system implies little granularity in character ability it actually tells you more about character history than a skill list would; characters start with four careers and the game indicates that not only should you mark which of the four is 'current', but you should consider what order the character held the careers in. It's not exactly a lifepath system but it adds a nice bit of depth to a fairly simple character creation system.
The other half of what makes Everywhen aggressively not front-loaded is that the procedural mechanics of combat and other encounters are quite involved, and much more involved than you'd think after seeing the book was a mere 150 pages. There's a solid three pages of combat options, with another three offered for other forms of conflict. The unified conflict mechanic confused me when I first read it, but after making sure I was following the acronyms I find it quite elegant: More involved conflicts, like vehicle combats and hacking encounters, are described through the game's "dramatic challenges" system. Without going into too much detail, dramatic challenges balance on challenge dice and penalty dice. In a chase scene you could try to maneuver to gain an edge over your opponent, which would award you challenge dice if the maneuver succeeds. On the other hand, attempting more risky maneuvers may cost penalty dice, which either cancel out the challenge dice or give your opponent challenge dice when they oppose your action.
The trend towards granular resolution mechanics continues when we examine health and damage. The health track, called Lifeblood, is relatively static, equal to 10 plus your character's strength attribute, though there are an additional five points of 'critical' lifeblood. On that track, though, you track fatigue damage, normal damage, and lasting damage, each indicated with a different mark (a slash, an X, and an X with a horizontal line through it). This is a dense system, but allows for some neat mechanics. Fatigue damage heals faster than normal damage, which in turn heals faster than lasting damage. Also, the mechanism of normal damage turning into lasting damage is used to emulate lingering wounds and long-term recovery, and while it takes a little more to wrap your head around than a straight hit-point system it allows for deadly combats without the utter brutality of a damage system like that of Cyberpunk 2020.
Combat is table stakes in a traditional game but Everywhen does push it further. The mass combat system is fractal, and allows for as much or as little detail as the GM would like while still maintaining scale. The social conflict system isn't complicated but it does add the nuance you'd expect in a generic system while even tying in things like visible armor to social results. There are arcane, faith, and psionic systems for supernatural abilities, and each one feels unique.
When it comes to running the game, the guidance you get from a generic system is more important than in other games, simply because you're more likely to be making things up yourself. I don't necessarily think Everywhen ranks all that highly in terms of its GM advice, but also have to concede that it is very easy to make the system do what you want. There are two worked setting examples which give guidance to how to develop a list of careers and exclude boons and flaws. In other contexts I might not consider this enough but when you consider that careers are just *that* and aren't made up of any constituent parts or lists...it's really hard to screw up. Careers do what they say on the tin, and combat abilities are simply limited to the combat attributes, meaning there's not really a possibility of unbalancing the game through what's included in your career list. Optimizers will moan because there's nothing to do, but if that's a problem at your table you probably should have stuck with GURPS anyway.
And this mention of GURPS is really begging the question a bit: where does Everywhen fit? It's not a massive buffet like GURPS, nor a tightly wound piece of theorycraft like Fate. Everywhen falls roughly around the complexity level of Savage Worlds, and is also aligned with that game in terms of where it fits on the narrative/trad divide: Everywhen has Hero Points and Savage Worlds has Wild Dice, but they're both strongly traditional save for their chosen excursion. Where I think Everywhen edges out Savage Worlds is in the modularity. Savage Worlds characters have a bit more uniqueness, and Savage Worlds the game has a stronger advancement track. Everywhen, on the other hand, has aimed its simplicity at the sake of balance. It's very easy for a GM to pick up Everywhen, write in their setting of choice, and go. The system will not, bar obvious rewriting, fall prey to balance issues, whereas even in Savage Worlds there are a few game-breaking edge combos lurking around (to say nothing of a more option-rich game like GURPS).
In a weird way, Everywhen represents a more OSR approach to a generic RPG. I say in a weird way because this doesn't really track in a direct sense, you need to back up a bit. A hallmark of OSR GMing is not worrying about the specifics, rules-wise, of everything you run in the game. Best judgments, as long as they're internally consistent, work fine. Of course, if you're leaving a very specific style of play (and the OSR, whether they want to admit it or not, is absolutely centered on a very specific style of play), this tends to stop working. Everywhen represents the stopgap (though I don't mean that in a disparaging way). While your best judgment of a tank battalion may not make for a very satisfying battle, a simple mechanic which covers this broader idea of a large battle will help you enough to run the session consistently and make it memorable. In this way, Everywhen is a bit of a 95% generic RPG. It too can only push so far outside of traditional RPG playstyles and stories, but its lack of flexibility compared to a GURPS or a Fate is mitigated by ease of use and the low likelihood of actually screwing something up.
Even with the fairly large number of generic RPGs I've read and played, Everywhen impressed me. It's light, but doesn't lose so much granularity that you can't take it seriously. It has some mechanical density, but not so much that you get lost. It neither has the detail and breadth of GURPS nor the modularity and adaptability of Fate, but it's easier to teach and to write for than either of those and that's something that is too easily overlooked, especially if you spend so much time reading games that you forget how much effort learning them and understanding them can be to the unfamiliar. If you want to write your own RPG setting for the first time, or are trying to get your friends to try something new, Everywhen is a great choice. It may not lead many comparisons in a vacuum, but when it comes to actually getting the plots written and the dice rolled, it should be one of the first places you look.
Everywhen is available on DriveThruRPG.