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| Mary Grandpre |
When to Roll
When resolving PC actions, the Referee should ask for a die roll if the result is uncertain and there are consequences to failure.
If the description of an action does not leave any doubts about its outcome, there’s no need to make a roll – the action succeeds automatically.
Characters who are not under any pressure and who have the requisite skill level likewise do not need to roll.
How to Roll
Roll 2d6, adding your relevant Stat + Skill. If the result equals or exceeds the action’s Difficulty score, the action succeeds.
Stats range from -1 to +2
Skills range from -1 (untrained) to +3 (master)
Assigning Difficulty
The Difficulty score for most actions is 7. Except in unusual circumstances, the Referee should keep Difficulty scores within the range of 6-10. If a situation doesn’t tell you what Difficulty to roll against, use 7.
Degree of Danger
In addition to their Difficulty, actions that require rolls carry some degree of Danger. Mechanically these come in three varieties:
Safe – if the dice roll to attempt this task was a failure the action still succeeds, but produces either a reduced effect or an additional cost.
Dangerous – simple failure. Most rolls will be Dangerous.
Deadly – only partial success is possible. A successful roll still comes with some additional cost.
If a Safe roll would be made less dangerous it automatically succeeds instead. Conversely, if a Deadly roll would be made more dangerous it automatically fails. If something would make a roll both Safe and Deadly, they cancel each other out.
Design Notes: this core mechanic is based on the Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) 2d6 roll. However, I wanted a freeform skill system that would be easy to adjudicate on the fly with rather than the more structured Moves system of most PbtA games, and I didn't want that many mixed successes gumming up the works in a dungeon crawler game. I did however use PbtA-inspired mixed successes for my generic benefit/penalty system with Degrees of Danger.
Also, frankly, I'm not convinced the PbtA's narrative-only difficulty system works well for a dungeon-crawler game, and I don't really understand how monsters are supposed to work in something like Dungeon World or Freebooters on the Frontier. I've read all the frequently cited posts on the subject and I just don't get it. Assigning DCs let me make monsters that I can feel confident about running
Rolling Snake-Eyes
The Dark Lord’s gaze briefly turns your way.
When you roll double 1s, the roll becomes Deadly and you gain 1 Fatigue.
Rolling Boxcars
The Hogwarts Express was ever the hope of wizards.
When you roll double 6s, the roll becomes Safe and you gain Inspiration. If you are already Inspired, instead clear 1 Fatigue.
Design Notes: I wasn't going to use a critical hit/fumble mechanic, because it's so rare on a 2d6. The puns for Snake Eyes and Boxcars were too good to pass up however.
Statistics
Characters have six Stats: Strength, Courage, Wisdom, Cunning, Luck and Shadow.
Each ability is described by a number, which are each added to your dice rolls in different circumstances.
All starting characters have Strength 6, Luck 7 and Shadow 0.
Courage, Wisdom, and Cunning can range from -1 to +2
Design Notes: obviously Courage, Wisdom, and Cunning correlate to Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Most of the rest of the game was built around these three abilities - the Potter books set out clear (if weird and idiosyncratic) instructions for the personal qualities that it thinks are important, so I wanted the rules to reflect that. Character generation lets you assign the typical PbtA stat array of -1, +0, and +1, and then each house gives +1 to its associated stat. Simple. Of course, there are four houses! Hufflepuff was a problem (as indeed they are in the books as well). For a while I had Loyalty as a stat, which worked a bit like Morale in B/X D&D. It was too narrow, however, and conflicts with the Courage stat, where the obvious use-case is to resist fear. "Determination" had the same problem. "Empathy" lasted for a while, but ultimately it felt too narrow and I had to force it. In the end I gave Hufflepuffs +1 Luck. They're the Hobbit house anyway.
Testing Your Strength
When you test your Strength, roll 2d6 + Strength. If the result is 12 or greater, you succeed.
Design Notes: while Strength can be used proactively for physical feats, its primary function is as an HP replacement. When you take damage, you test Strength to avoid injury. NPCs also use Strength, so we can use the 2d6 probability curve to determine how likely a monster is to be taken out by a single blow.
Trying Your Luck
You may test your Luck when something outside of your control would affect you, or to turn a failed roll into a success.
To test your Luck, roll 2d6 + Luck. If the result is 12 or greater, you succeed.
Afterwards (whether the roll is successful or not) reduce your Luck by 1. Spent Luck is restored between adventures.
Design Notes: Luck is intended to be an all-purpose saving throw. The push-pull here is whether to use it offensively or defensively.
Resisting the Dark
When you try to resist the lure of the Dark Arts, roll 2d6 + Shadow. If the result is 12 or greater, you fail.
If you gain 12 points of Shadow you become incapable of resisting the Dark and your character must retire.
Design Notes: this stat kind of exists to solve the "why do they not simply cast the instant kill spell every time?" problem, if I'm being honest. We'll see how it goes in playtesting. However, I enjoy the mechanical inverse of the Strength and Luck rolls.
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| Mary Grandpre |
Skills
Skills come in five degrees of training. The full list of Skills is described on page XX.
Untrained: -1
Basic: 0
Advanced: 1
Expert: 2
Master: 3
- Variable DCs. Unlike a PbtA game, some rolls will require an 8+ for a standard success.
- A +5 should be pretty rare. Not every character will have a stat at +2, and characters are unlikely to achieve Master rank in a skill until late in their careers. Such a paragon being able to bypass standard DCs in their area of expertise seems ok to me.
- The Degree of Danger mechanic means that for some rolls only a qualified success is possible, so a character with +5 in something can still get into trouble.
- Fatigue (see below) means that it is technically possible to roll a 1 or a 0 on 2d6 in this system.
Ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances can surprise even themselves. Mechanically, this is represented in-game by Inspiration.
Characters begin each session with Inspiration.
While you have Inspiration, you may spend it to take an Inspired Action associated with your House or your Clan. Ignore any accumulated Fatigue while taking an Inspired Action.
To gain Inspiration again, you must invoke one of your Flaws. Before you make a roll, describe how your Flaw impacts the current situation. The test then becomes Deadly.
Inspiration is binary - you either have it or you don’t. You cannot gain multiple points of Inspiration.
Additionally, you cannot gain Inspiration if you are Miserable (although you may spend it while Miserable if you already had it).
Design Notes: Inspiration is meant to be a push-pull mechanic with the goal of getting players to engage in broad roleplay. If you want to use your fun powers then you need to play into your weaknesses. Because you can't bank Inspiration, the intent is that you'll end up using the strengths and weaknesses of your playbook in roughly equal measure. Because you have to activate your Flaw voluntarily, I've tried to design weaknesses that are intrinsically fun by themselves by playing up common things that many roleplayers enjoy doing anyway, such as rushing into a situation without planning or deliberately trying things you're mechanically bad at in order to fish for amusing critical failures.
Fatigue
While you are Fatigued, count any individual die that comes up less than or equal to the amount of Fatigue you have as a 0.
For example, if you had 2 Fatigue and rolled a 1 and a 6 the result would be read as 6 (6+0) instead of 7. While on an expedition Fatigue is usually cleared by Resting.
Clear all Fatigue when you return to Town.
Design Notes: I really like fatigue as a thing in RPGs as a way of grounding the heroics. The implementation here is inspired by The One Ring RPG.
Doing Magic
Wordless Magic is done at -2.
Wandless Magic is done at -3. Failed results where the dice show 6 or less indicate a failure to make anything happen. Failed results where the dice show 7 or more indicate a miscast spell. Something tangentially related to your intended effect occurs, but it may not be helpful.
Lumos: the light spell never requires a test to perform, but you can’t maintain it and cast another spell at the same time.
Inventory & Equipment
You have 12 inventory slots, each of which can hold a significant item.
Equipment Keywords:
Heavy items occupy 2 inventory slots.
Light items can be bundled 3 to a slot
Tiny items occupy 0 inventory and can be recorded at the “Bottom of the Bag” section of your inventory.
Bulky items cannot be stowed and must either be carried in your hands or set down.
Consumable items have a limited number of uses.
Some consumable items have a set number of uses, indicated in their description.
Some consumable items have a usage die, written ud6 or ud3. Roll a die when you use the item. If the usage die comes up 1, you’re almost out. The next time you use that item it will be gone.
Weapons come in three categories, Light, Martial, and Heavy:
Light – weapons deal 1 damage on a successful hit.
Martial – weapons deal 2 damage on a successful hit.
Heavy – weapons deal 3 damage on a successful hit. They also occupy 2 inventory slots.
Blast X – damages up to X targets within a small area
Non-Lethal – fall unconscious instead of suffering an Injury after a failed Strength test.
Brawling – deals 0 damage on a successful hit, but still forces a Strength test to resist Injury.
Reload – you must take an action to reload this weapon before it can be used again.
Finicky – you must take 1d3 actions to reload this weapon before it can be used again.
Armor adds its value to Injury tests made against physical attacks.
Ward adds its value to Injury tests made against magical attacks.
