DICE
This system uses the d6 exclusively. You will be rolling between one to five d6’s at any given time and you want to roll as high as humanly possible on all of your dice. Do not add these dice together.
Rolling d3: Every so often, you will be called upon to roll a d3. In this event, just roll a normal d6 and halve it. A result of a 1-2 is considered a one, a 3-4 is considered a two, and a 5-6 is considered a three.
DIFFICULTY
You want to meet or exceed the difficulty of any given test. The base difficulty of any test is 5. Each die that you roll on a test that meets or exceeds the difficulty of your test earns you a Star. Having training in a Skill lowers the difficulty and makes you more likely to get more Stars.
STARS
Stars are good, and you want lots of them! The more Stars you earn on a roll, the better the outcome. If you get zero Stars on a roll, then you fail. A one Star roll means you get the job done, but it isn’t pretty. A five Star roll is a breathtaking success done with flair and completed in half the time! Getting more Stars in combat deals more damage.
Sixes and Stars: Each of your dice that come up 6 earn you TWO Stars instead of one!
ASPECTS OF A CHARACTER
At their core, a character has 4 Aspects that detail them.
-Stats (your raw potential)
-Skills (what you know)
-Edges (advantages and boons that make you special)
-Odds & Ends (Energy, Luck, Speed, Armor, Wealth, Experience Points earned/spent)
STATS
Stats are the building blocks of your character and describe their primary makeup. The four Stats are Vigor (your physical strength, health, and toughness), Agility (your fluidity of movement, speed and hand-eye coordination), Smarts (your mental faculties and sharpness of intellect) and Presence (Your force of personality and that certain special something that makes you stand out). The higher your rating in a Stat, the more dice you roll.
Roll a VIGOR check to...
-Lift or throw something heavy
-Make a close combat attack
-Resist the effects of physical fatigue or poison
-Intimidate someone with your size
Roll an AGILITY check to...
-Do a pretty cartwheel
-Hit a target with a ranged weapon or by throwing a light ranged weapon
-Sneak around or hide without being detected
-Steal someone’s watch without them noticing
Roll a SMARTS check to...
-Figure out a math problem, riddle, or answer a trivia question
-Investigate a crime scene to determine what happened
-Resist mental strain/fatigue through sheer force of will
-Repair something or interact with Technology
Roll a PRESENCE check to...
-Talk your way out of something using slippery verbiage
-Entertain an audience
-Get a hunch if someone is telling you the truth, or lying to your face
-Interact with and train an animal
Stat Ratings: Stats are rated on a scale from 1-5. A rating of 1 is Poor, 2 is Average, 3 is Good, 4 is Superb, and 5 is World Class.
SKILLS
Having training in a Skill helps you get more Stars by lowering the difficulty of whatever you are attempting related to that Skill. There are four levels of Skill training: Untrained, Novice, Adept, and Professional.
-Untrained in Skill: The difficulty of the test is 5.
-Novice Training in Skill: The difficulty of the test is 4.
-Adept Training in Skill: The difficulty of the test is 3.
-Professional Training in Skill: You gain immunity to all botches when using this Skill. Consider all botches with this Skill to be normal failures (more on Botches later).
If a Skill can aid in a particular Stat roll, it will be written in parenthesis next to the Stat in question. For example, rolling a close combat attack on someone is a Vigor (Melee) roll. This means that whenever you want to smash something up close, you roll 1d6 per point of Vigor you have. If you have the Vigor Stat at 4, then you would roll 4d6, for instance.
List of Skills: Aim, Athletics, Bookworm, Entertain, Gambling, Heal, Melee, Perception, Persuasion, Primal, Stealth, Technology, Thievery, Willpower
MAKING ROLLS
Whenever you are called upon to make a roll, you will roll a number of d6’s equal to the rating of the Stat being tested. Any of the dice that meet or exceed the difficulty of the test earn you a Star.
Example 1: Dave makes use of highly illegal steroids and performance enhancing drugs which give him a Vigor Stat score of 5. Dave wants to lift a heavy rock and hurl it through a department store window in order to “Stick it to the Man”. The base difficulty of this test is a 5, so Dave rolls 5d6 (1d6 for each point of Vigor he has) and hopes for the best. He rolls a 1, 1, 2, 3, and a 4. Dave huffs and puffs but just cannot lift up the hefty rock.
Example 2: Let’s say that Dave actually went to the gym and worked out instead of sleeping all the time and had invested in purchasing the Athletics skill at Novice level. In the same scenario as presented in Example 1, the difficulty of the roll to lift the heavy rock would be lowered by 1 (because lifting things is a part of the Athletics Skill and aids in all rolls revolving around physical activity). Since the new difficulty is 4, Dave would succeed at his roll to lift the hefty rock, earning one Star on his roll. If Dave had the Athletics Skill at Advanced level, the difficulty of the test would be 3, and he would have scored 2 Stars on his roll! If Dave had the Athletics skill at Professional, any botches he would roll relating to physical displays of prowess would be immune to Botching (I’ll get to Botches in just a sec, promise!).
Contested Rolls
Sometimes you’ll be rolling a Skill against someone else who wants to stop you from doing what you’re attempting. Perhaps you are wrestling around on the ground with someone, or trying to sneak past a guard who is on the lookout for intruders. These rolls have both sides make a Contested roll. Whoever rolls highest wins the contest.
Example: Dave is hiding in the bushes trying to watch his neighbor shower (again) and rolls an Agility (Stealth) test against his Neighbor’s Smarts (Perception). Should he succeed, Dave gets a few cheap thrills for the evening. Should the Neighbor succeed, she notices the moonlight glinting off his shiny bald head and immediately calls the authorities.
Dave has Agility 1, which isn’t that great. However, as an experienced peeping Tom, he has the Stealth skill at Advanced (lowering his difficulty by 2). Dave would roll 1d6 and his difficulty would be 3.
Dave’s victim has Smarts 2, but is not trained in the Perception Skill. She would roll 2d6, and her difficulty would be 5.
Dave manages to roll a 3 on his single die, scoring one Star. Dave’s victim rolls a 5 and a 6, for a grand total of 3 Stars (remember, 6’s are worth 2 Stars). Dave’s victim rolled 2 more Stars than Dave did, so she screeches and calls the police while Dave slinks away into the darkness from whence he came.
Important: In Contested rolls, ties always go to the Player.
Botches
Whenever more than half your dice come up 1’s, you have blundered the roll. That means the worst possible result happens. If you are rolling one die and that comes up a 1, you have botched. If you roll three dice and two or more come up 1’s, you’ve botched. If you roll two dice and one of them comes up 1, you do NOT botch.
Advantage and Disadvantage
If you have Advantage on a roll, then roll your test twice and use the result that nets you the most Stars. If you have Disadvantage on a roll, then roll your test twice and use the result that nets you the least Stars. Items and conditional situations can grant you Advantage or Disadvantage. For example, if you are making a ranged attack on an unstable platform, you would get Disadvantage. If you were trying to sneak up on a guard undetected on a dark, very foggy night, you would get Advantage.
EDGES
Every Hero is different, and Edges encapsulate other benefits and advantages that come along in life. Like Skills, Edges come in two ratings: Basic and Advanced. If Stats are what you are born with, and Skills are what you have learned, then Edges are the random perks that enrich characters over the course of their lives.
List of Edges: Allure, Artisan, Brawler, Charmed Life, Dodge!, Double Trouble, Fast Hands, First Strike, Heirloom, Lifestyle, Mind Over Matter, Mysterious Blood, Tough as Nails, Third Wind
LUCK
At the start of every Adventure, Players gain a number of Luck points that can be spent to help turn the tides of fortune back in their favor. A Player can spend a point of Luck to re-roll any roll they make, using the better result. Similarly, a player can spend a point of Luck to re-roll any roll made against them, using the worse result. Luck points can also be spent to fuel other abilities gained from items or powers. Your maximum Luck Pool is normally 3, but this can be improved with Edges.
Regaining Spent Luck: After taking a Long Rest (See the Combat section), you regain one point of spent Luck, up to your maximum. Luck pools are refreshed entirely at the start of every Adventure.
