Constraint of the day: an rpg using only a d6.

I find the most interesting and useful things happen when you have constraints. My fitness business, for example, is only a double garage - so I simply can't fit every possible piece of equipment in, I have to choose according to what I think will work best for the people I work with. In my case it's barbells, others might make difference choices.

Similarly, when I wrote Conflict, I wanted an adventure game of modern warfare covering small unit tactics in not more than 48 pages.

This time the contraint is: writing a generic rpg where you use only a d6 to resolve things. How much can I squeeze out of a d6? Obviously there's more to do, this is just a draft, take a look.

Quote from: Kyle Aaron on November 22, 2023, 11:55:11 PM
Constraint of the day: an rpg using only a d6.

I find the most interesting and useful things happen when you have constraints. My fitness business, for example, is only a double garage - so I simply can't fit every possible piece of equipment in, I have to choose according to what I think will work best for the people I work with. In my case it's barbells, others might make difference choices.

Similarly, when I wrote Conflict, I wanted an adventure game of modern warfare covering small unit tactics in not more than 48 pages.

This time the contraint is: writing a generic rpg where you use only a d6 to resolve things. How much can I squeeze out of a d6? Obviously there's more to do, this is just a draft, take a look.

I assume you mean a single d6 rolled once for a give desired result.  I've looked at this, gone away, and come backand I have two ideas and here's my first:

1. I wouldn't use this as a mechanic where combat is central but I could see it more as a mechanic where it's more of a high tension thing like a spy thriller.

2. Modifiers could range from -2 through +2, giving the system enough granularity to work with.  This should be the total range when factoring in all the bonuses and penalties.

3. A standard roll with no modifiers what so ever would be a -1 and any penalties could stack but never go below a -2 for a roll.  Conversely, bonuses would be of a +1 variety only.  A stat is either normal for no bonus or boosted for a +1.  A skill would be a +1 and a piece of equipment would be a +1.

4. For activities where you would want to calculate results of multiple actions (like factoring damage over multiple attacks)  You could have a matrix for a particular piece of equipment (like a weapon) and compare a second dice roll to the matrix for actual effect.  A non combat use of this I could see would be something like hacking where you're trying to get into a system before the guard comes back around.  You could have one matrix for hacking result manually based on whether you have the hacking skill and another matrix for using a piece of equipment that aids in your digital penetration like a small computer running a script to look for open back doors. 

This isn't completely fleshed out but I think framed strongly enough that you can test the core mechanic in some actual sessions.

I think you could make significant tasks a thing where there are multiple rounds, and you build up successes using single die rolls. You could even do like a really abstracted combat system, where you have to come up with 3 successes to take out a small group of thugs.