Roleplaying System

I’m a pretty casual player and prefer one shots or short stories. I designed this system based on Dimension 20’s “Never Stop Blowing Up” campaign with some of my own twists. It’s designed to be genre ambiguous so use it in your favorite setting.

Skills

There are 10 main skills a player can use to perform an action. These can be modified depending on the setting you want to use.

  • Arcane - Special set of skills such as spell slinging

  • Fight - Pure fisticuffs.

  • Hot - Intimidation, persuasion, and good looks.

  • Med - General first aid and survival skills

  • Pilot - Using vehicles of land, air, sea, and space.

  • Stunts - Athleticism, acrobatics and sneaking around. 

  • Tech - Manipulating anything considered technology.

  • Tough - Taking a punch or an insult. This is your defense ability.

  • Weapons - Shoot guns, Slash swords, and Throw grenades 

  • Wits - Using your head to figure it out.

Skill Checks

When a player wants to perform a complex action, the GM will announce the skill and the difficulty challenge(DC) needed. The player will roll the die associated with the Skill being used. If the roll is higher than the Difficulty Challenge, they pass the check and perform the action, otherwise they fail that check and receive a Flux token. 

A player may choose to fail a skill check before rolling, at DM’s discretion, thereby gaining a Flux token. 

Difficulty Challenge (DC)

A successful roll is based on half the value of the die type that is being rolled. 

Dice (DC)

d4 = (2)

d6 = (3)

d8 = (4)

d10 = (5)

d12 = (6)

d20 = (10)

The GM can increase the DC depending on the situation or action as a modifier to be added to the required success amount. It may also be based on specific interactions with other characters.

Difficulty (DC Modifier)

Easy (-1)

Normal (0)

Moderate (+1)

Intense (+2)

Hard (+3)

Very Hard (+4)

Extremely Hard (+5)

Damn Near Impossible (+6^)

Critical Success: 

When the result of a roll with any modifiers is 5 or more than the difficulty, the action is a critical success, allowing a bonus to the action.

Examples: Extra action, decreased DC, Flux Tokens, manipulation 

Critical Fail: 

When the result is 5 or less than the difficulty, the action is a critical fail, resulting in an extra penalty. 

Examples: Drop weapon, device malfunction, lose rapport, fall prone

Actions and Spell Limits

Players aren’t necessarily limited on what they can do or how many times they can perform a powerful action or spell. The DC to perform an incredible feat will be the balancing factor. Targeting multiple foes, distance, skilled opponents, etc will be additional factors that will increase the DC for success. 

Pop Off! (Skill Improvement)

Whenever a player rolls the highest value on a die, it moves up to the next die type. Roll that new die and add the results to the current value. A skill can be improved multiple times until it reaches a d20. That skill remains at the highest die type for the rest of the session.

d4 ► d6 ► d8 ► d10 ► d12 ► d20

Flux Tokens

When a player fails a skill check, by rolling or they can choice, they get a Flux Token, which can be spent to increase the value of a future die roll. It is also currency to be used to purchase new skills after a job is complete.

Stress, Injuries and Consequences

When a player is attacked, either physically or mentally, they will usually roll a Tough Check. On a success, the player avoids getting hurt. When a player fails, they take the hit and, depending on the roll, either gain Stress or get Injured.

Stress is the physical or mental strain of taking a hit but avoiding serious damage. If a character loses a Tough check by less than 5, they gain Stress. Stress adds +1 difficulty to all Tough checks for the rest of the scene. After the scene is complete, remove all Stress.

Injuries are the result of a physical or mental attack. When a player fails a Tough Check by 5 or more, they take a level of injury. There are three injury levels: Mild, Moderate, and Severe. Beyond that is Fatal injury resulting in incapacitation or death.

In addition, players may add a Consequence to their injury. Consequences represent the lasting effects accrued from the conflict. These may create problems for the character for the rest of the adventure. 

  1. Mild

Mild injuries are superficial wounds, and don’t require immediate medical attention. The consequences may present an inconvenience, but they are not usually an impediment. 

Examples: Black Eye, Bruised Hand, Mild Exhaustion, Frustration

  1. Moderate

Players must spend double the amount of Flux Tokens on Skill checks.

Moderate injuries are fairly serious and can’t be shrugged off. They create restrictions that require dedicated effort toward recovery. 

Examples: Deep cut, First Degree Burn, Terrified, Sprained Ankle, Lose hope

  1. Severe

When a character fails any Tough check, they become incapacitated or dead, depending on the nature of the conflict. 

Severe injuries represent serious traumatic experiences. They will prevent you from doing a lot of things in the current adventure and create long lasting effects for future adventures. 

Examples: Broken Limb, Blindness, Concussion, Second-Degree Burn

  1. Fatal

For the remainder of the scene, the character is unable to make actions or communicate. They can be stabilized or saved with a high enough Med check.

Beyond a Severe injury, the character either dies or falls unconscious depending on the lethality of the attack. A fatal injury needs high level medical attention right away. If a player survives, they receive a permanent consequence that is so serious that it changes part of their identity.

Examples: Disfigurement, Trauma-Induced Phobia, Dismemberment 

Campaigns 

At the beginning of each session, all skills start at a D4. 

At the end of a session, for each character’s skills that are at a D20, that skill gets a permanent +1 modifier that carries over to the next job. Meaning when you roll that skill, it gets +1 value that also counts towards upgrading a skill die.

Players may use their remaining Flux tokens to purchase new abilities or tools. Any unspent tokens are lost.