Six Of One
A downloadable game seed
A dice pool mechanic that acts as a storytelling tool, built around two lists of six affects/effects.
Each Character is defined by six aspects, which can be either affects (states of the body, modes) or effects (outcomes, results), each assigned to a number 1-6. The Environment also has six similar aspects, each assigned to a number 7-12.
When the Character engages with the Environment, roll a d8 to see which aspect prompts the next beat in the story, the "what happens next" of the Character's endeavor.
Depending on the situation and momentum, you may roll other dice as well: d4, d6, d10, and/or d12. Each result is another moment or layer to the action happening in the story, complicating the "what happens next" of the turn.
- How do you define the aspects?
- What happens if you roll doubles?
- Are there opposed rolls?
- What does each # slot represent or relate to in the world?
- What constitutes the Environment? Monsters? Troubles? Desires?
A 500-word game seed for the #RefractionTTRPGjam.
Photo in Cover Image by Hope House Press - Leather Diary Studio on Unsplash
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Development log
- Final Jam Version v1 PublishedNov 22, 2020
- File Update 11-20-2020Nov 21, 2020
Comments
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This is pretty interesting, especially as an oracle mechanic is partially built into a character.
What would you suggest happens if I roll over 12?
True confessions: The game was written to intentionally spurn the d20. Haha. But I have since softened on that conceit.
I wrote a teens-piloting-mechas iteration called "Full Metal Jackals" that uses the d20 and adds results in the 13-20 ranged suited to missions/combat when in the mecha. In other iterations I have added a third category of "mission" or "combat" more generically. In those cases, 1-6 is the character, 7-12 the environment, and then 13-20 an optional list that comes into play when moving towards the scene's narrative goal (with some options for learning, progressing, etc.) or bringing in a predefined antagonist list (which makes writing monster stats a fun little exercise for "what can happen on a 13-20 with this or that monster?"). You just add the d20 to the list of MODIFIERS that tell you when to roll anything more than the traditional d8.
Love talking shop so feel free to share any ideas.
When you put it that way, I'd say that I wouldn't necessarily add the d20, but I would indeed add the 3rd list of "narrative goals" or other special things. This means that when you got the dice on your side, you go beyond just like "I do my thing" toward "we all move the narrative". Maybe this 3rd list could totally be collective, not individual.
I really like the potential here!
Oh, for sure. I think in default cases both the Character and Environment lists were meant to provide EFFECTS that are at the level of the whole group and the narrative. So adding a third category allows a designer to make the Environment truly about the setting/milieu/location and a Goal list then about the narrative l.
(If someone did want a d20, an adventure writer could fill up a 13-20 list as a pretty tight way to provide options for each scene or act in the story—almost like a Set Goal in Trophy, if you’re familiar).