Six Degrees from Death

This is the system I use in my Vampire: The Masquerade hack. It's so simple it feels almost unnecessary to share, but I think it works, especially for horror games.

Traits

Traits are words and phrases that define your mental, physical, social, etc. characteristics, both positive and negative. You can have any number of traits, but for each positive trait you must choose a somewhat equal negative trait. For example, you might be a professional dancer who studies medicine, but will bluescreen any device you touch and are always late.

Rolls

In a situation where the outcome isn't obvious, describe what you're trying to accomplish and the GM describes what could go wrong. Roll a d6, advantage/disadvantage from trait or situation if applicable:

1. worst possible outcome (what the GM described happens)
2. you can't get what you want
3. a door closes, a window opens
4. success with a cost
5. you can't get everything you want
6. best possible outcome (what you described happens)

Death

In mortal danger the worst possible outcome usually causes a lethal injury, killing you if untreated. You die from your second lethal injury. An overwhelmingly dangerous situation, such as fighting against multiple opponents, can kill with one bad roll.
 

Running Cataphract

I ran my version of Sam Sorensen's real-time play-by-post logistics wargame Cataphract from May to October. It was very fun, very taxing, and I will soon do it again. This post will be an unordered collection of thoughts and memories.

I tried to keep to the original rules, just so I could avoid blame if something was funky. The one thing I messed with was the magic system; I made it more akin to rituals that would fire when preparations were ready, since that fit better with the world. It worked mostly fine (I allowed mages to continue preparations if a valid target etc. was not in range), but for the next game I will go with the original Vancian system.

I lied about trying to keep to the original rules. Day one, when the first orders came through, some commanders were already sending detachments on their merry way without recruiting new players. After some quick internal debate (I had struggled getting even the first six commanders to join) I let them do it. At the time it seemed like a fine ruling; it made sense that a group of soldiers could manage running around without a commander breathing down their necks, but logistically, when you have 30+ of these NPC-armies all over the map it can get a bit heavy.

Despite this, the game wasn't that difficult to run most of the time. After a few weeks we organically ditched the weekly order deadline (which became "official" in the July rules update), and I found a routine for checking and executing orders and updating players (lots of Google Keep notes, sorted by date).

The fighting began quickly. The first town was taken in early June, a smidge over two weeks after the first orders were sent. More players joined in, in total there were 13 throughout the run, some leaving before it ended, but we finished with more than we started with. The first player was captured in mid-August; they spent the rest of the game imprisoned. The heaviest months were definitely June and July. Lots of fighting all over the map and multiple player-led armies in close proximity to each other.

The last proper battle was fought in late August, September had some skirmishes with revolting peasants. By the end of August one faction had captured all players of two of the five factions, and forced negotiations with the remaining two. The lead-up to these negotiations and the negotiations themselves were some of the most fun I had, not only because I didn't have to do as much, but because all of the players inhabited their characters so well and really fought for the values of their faction (or themselves).

In the end, after an attempted last hurrah by one of the parties that was stopped in its tracks with skilled espionage, the negotiations ended in the imprisonment of yet another player, leaving free only like-minded commanders. I called the game, as while escape and other shenanigans were still possible, it felt like a good place to end the experiment.

I'm currently preparing another Cataphract game set in an alternate universe Age of Sail. It will have a lot of new and replaced rules, as I'm switching the focus from day-to-day logistics to a higher-level economic strategy game. I think it's coming along nicely.

Lockpicking with GAMBLING and MATH

Lockpicking in RPGs has always bothered me for reasons many have expressed before, so I made my own system, based on Errant's/Telecanter's.

The System

You need a pick and a few moments to pick a lock. The referee rolls at least three d4 in secret, more if the lock is complicated. The referee then tells how many dice were rolled and the sum of the faces, but keeps the dice themselves hidden.

The lockpicker guesses how many of the dice share a face. They don't guess the face itself, just the number of dice sharing one. In combat, each guess requires one action/turn/etc. If the guess is correct, the referee reveals a corresponding set of dice sharing the same face. If multiple corresponding sets are available, like two 2s and two 4s, the referee reveals only the one with the smallest shared face. After revealing the set, the referee announces the sum of the remaining dice. The lock is picked when all dice are revealed.

First wrong guess stiffens the lock, second jams it and makes picking impossible. A worn lock ignores the first wrong guess. A secured lock jams on the first wrong guess. A trapped lock triggers on a wrong guess, depending on the trap.

The Fibonacci Method: A New Year's Resolution Mechanic Revisited

In January Prismatic Wasteland posted a design challenge for a new universal resolution mechanic. I "contributed" with a low-effort shitpost, and now that I have a blog, decided to share my creation.

The Fibonacci Method

Whenever you need to roll to accomplish something, you roll a die from d20 to d4 depending on your skill level. The better the skill, the lower the die.

The roll is successful if the die shows a number found in the Fibonacci sequence: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13...

One of the Ones is a Bad One, and signifies a critical failure. The GM decides which One you rolled.

Rules for Quick & Dirty Overland Travel

These rules are from my upcoming Cairn hack, Lovi, and are designed for simple hex-based travel.

Time

The day is split into three watches: morning, day, and night. One watch must be spent resting to avoid fatigue.

Weather

Roll d6 daily on the table below to determine weather. "Extreme" can either be a seasonal phenomenon (blizzard, monsoon, heat wave, etc.) or something more magical, like the sun forgetting to rise or a wind that bites off your nose.

d6	Spring	Summer	Autumn	Winter
1	Calm	Calm	Calm	Calm
2	Windy	Calm	Windy	Calm
3	Windy	Windy	Windy	Windy
4	Windy	Rainy	Rainy	Rainy
5	Rainy & Windy	Rainy & Windy	Rainy & Windy	Rainy & Windy
6	Extreme	Extreme	Extreme	Extreme

Player Actions

Each player may choose an action to do during each watch. An action might be moving, resting, gathering food or other resources, maintaining gear, surveying your surroundings, etc.

Only one player has to move in order for the whole party to move, but some actions might not be possible if the party is moving. For example, you might not be able to rest while moving, unless you have a wagon or a boat.

Movement Speed and Getting Lost

Speed is measured in miles. Your speed begins at one mile per watch, and you gain more miles according to the following table:

Circumstance	Extra Miles
Decent weather	+1 mile
Moderate or easy terrain	+1 or +2 miles
Road or river	+2 miles

If you're moving slow, like during the night, by wagon, or upstream, halve your total speed. If you're moving fast, like on horseback or downstream, double your total speed.

If there is a chance of getting lost, roll d10 and add your extra miles. On a five or lower you get lost and move full speed off course, 30 degrees left or right of the intended direction.

Event

After the players have decided what they will do during the watch, roll d6 and consult the table below. Here are some resources for interesting encounters and locations: Prismatic Wasteland's Encounter Checklist, d4 Caltrops' Wilderness Hexes.

d6	Event
1	Encounter: Monsters, travelers, other creatures
2	Sign: A clue of a nearby location or encounter
3	Environment: Weather or terrain changes
4	Obstacle: Passive hindrance, move through by spending time, resources, or health
5	Loss: Ration expires, torch gets soaked, etc.
6	Location: Natural, artificial, inhabited, abandoned, magical