"Prophecy Mine" [Cha'alt one-shot session report]

 

I'm so glad that I ended my Crystals of Chaos, 9-month and 17-session Cha'alt campaign before leaving for vacation.  After 3 weeks, I come back to only two players being available... which wouldn't have worked.  And not sure about next week, either, but I'm going to schedule a session.

Between inertia and analysis paralysis, I chose to run more Cha'alt, which upon reflection, just seems stupid.  That's like being on a cheesecake diet for most of the year and then when you're off the diet, you decide to eat cheesecake.

I mean, there's literally dozens of RPGs I own that I could have run, that I probably should have run.  On the other hand, I do love cheesecake... and Cha'alt.  So, here we are.  Another Cha'alt one-shot, but this time in-person (as opposed to the virtual one-shots I run once or twice a month on Roll20).

Oh yeah, a small but deciding factor was my custom, hand-made Cha'alt X-Cards [YouTube video showing all 8 of the finished cards] which would be finished by game time (Saturday afternoon).  We ended up only using 2 of the 8, but that playtest experiment was fruitful, as I believe you will see by the end of this session report.

Ok, my two players started the session with new 3rd level characters - Nix the salty and crusty, chaotic, ambidextrous demon thief and Ha'arumph the half-orc, also chaotic, always positive but a bit dim warrior with a giant spoon-shaped weapon named Soulnier the Castrator in which Ha'arumph can project his smoldering, volcanic intensity.  Once the half-orc's player, Steve, started voicing the character, I saw him as an orcish Simple Jack from one of my favorite comedies, Tropic Thunder!

Both PCs lived in Kra'adumek and had been day laborers, recently promoted to troubleshooters by the Purple Priests of that city-state.  This halfling with a gimpy leg ushered them to the Great Temple where they were blessed and told of their mission - explore an old crystal mine.  All the crystals were gone, but signs and portents indicated that something strange may be happening in the caves and tunnels of that old mine.  

While in the temple of the Purple Priests, they noticed a "holy water" font filled with zoth and a familiar saying carved just below one of many Lovecraftian Gods - "Where there's fuchsia, chartreuse cannot be far behind."  This is something the PCs had heard throughout their lives.

The adventurers hired a couple of reptilian riding spiders which cut their time in half.  I don't roll for it often, but decided to check and see if the Fuchsia Putrescence (borrowed and slightly altered from The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence) would be seen overhead.  Sure enough, it was.  

The PCs narrowly avoided getting scooped up by a tentacle and devoured by the gargantuan floating thing above.

Shortly after, they made it to the mouth of the cave.  It soon forked, and the thief scouted ahead, noticing 3 humanoids who were using advanced technology (a sort of ultra-vibrational tuning fork device) to pry a particularly large and hard to get at purple crystal from the wall.  

Just before the PCs made their presence known, everyone heard a female cry for help coming from the other tunnel.  The PCs hid, hoping the humanoids would pass by without noticing them.  Sure enough (since I rolled a 1 for the NPCs' perception check), they didn't see shit.

That's when the PCs decided to dig that ostrich-egg sized purple crystal the rest of the way out, using the warrior's sharpened spoon weapon that he could heat up.  It eventually popped out just as they heard even more insistent screams from a woman.

Taking the crystal with them, the PCs checked it out.  They found a woman stuck halfway in a smaller tunnel.  And the 3 humanoids had pulled the female's pants down (she was still wearing her underwear) and who knows what would have transpired if not for their timely intervention.

With a quip and flashing blades, the battle commenced.  Wounds were taken on each side, but Nix and Ha'arumph easily prevailed.  Then, they unstuck the woman and got to hear what she was about... a recently escaped slave who noticed a glowing banana about 9-feet inside a smaller tunnel.

Using the smaller Nix and the spoon weapon, they fished out a novelty, banana-shaped crystal rimmed jaccard.  Nix took that, being a thief [it's so unbelievably useful that a crystal rimmed jaccard grants the thief using it Advantage when employing the tools of his trade], and gave the woman, Parev, the 40 talons they took off the dead NPCs.  Parev wanted to join their little band, hoping strength in numbers would allow her to survive.

On their way to check out her screams, the PCs had bypassed another tunnel to the north.  So, they backtracked to see what was down there.  A slumbering creature covered in tentacles!  They left it alone, proceeding to other areas.

They found a pool of zoth with several humanoids (the slavers who Parev escaped from, in fact) around it.  The leader, Blood Beard, about to plunge his sword into the zoth in order to enchant it with ichor of the Great Old Ones.  The PCs went in another direction before engaging with them.  They found a petrified worm and just around the corner two braziers making the entire area fragrant with peach incense.  That system of tunnels and caves terminated with a fuchsia door. 

Nix and Ha'arumph spent a decent amount of time on that door, trying various ways to open it.  Some techniques were so ingenious, I almost caved, but there was a specific way of getting that fuchsia door open.

Eventually, they guessed... or at least assumed that zoth might open the fuchsia door.  Not wanting a direct confrontation with the humanoids in the zoth pool cave, they devised a plan.  One of them would lure the humanoids out, and the other would draw the sleeping Lovecraftian creature down the tunnel so the two would intersect.  

I had each PC roll a d6.  If a 1 was rolled, their plan would breakdown at some point leading to potential disaster.  Steve, usually the worst roller at our table, did not disappoint.  He rolled a 1, but I reminded him that if he tapped one of the Cha'alt X-Cards, that would yield a point of Divine Favor so he could re-roll.  He pulled the eldritch card, and rolled a 3 to counteract the critical failure.

I described how the sleeping tentacled thing's psionic-shadow rose and followed him as the half-orc attempted to mind-meld with it. Then, as planned, the two factions made contact.  I wasn't sure how to adjudicate the battle between mythos spawn and NPC slavers; so, I had each player roll a d20.  Nix's player rolled slightly higher.  I described the head-slaver, Blood Beard, as the sole survivor, withdrawing his glowing magical blade from the shadow thing.

It only took a couple rounds for the PCs to dispatch Blood Beard, since he had been wounded by the creature.  Then, they looted the bodies.  Aside from some gold and a set of miniature thieves tools, there was a cerulean ring, it's jewel dancing in the faint light of torches and mystic crystals.  The PCs didn't have a sorcerer, nor time to discover it's magical nature, but it makes water taste like fine worm wine to the ring-wearer.

Having the overgrown spoon weapon dripping with zoth, Ha'arumph hit the fuchsia door again, and this time zoth droplets were visibly absorbed into the door, it shimmered, and opened.  Inside, all was blackness.  

They walked through and found themselves exiting a nearly identical door into a nearly identical cave which they'd just left.  However, this door was chartreuse.  And instead of peach incense, the braziers issued a citrus lemon-lime fragrance.  Oh, and the petrified sandworm was no longer petrified.  Wisely, the PCs decided to creep past it with ludicrous success - to the point where we all speculated if the worm might be blind.

Realizing this was some kind of parallel universe, the adventures retread their steps to see what else was different.  Their first inclination was to see if another crystal was there.  It was, but this time, it was a fuchsia crystal.  So, they liberated that and kept going north to find a couple of cultists guarding a malevolent entity summoned by their High Priest.  For now, the monstrous demonic creature was trapped inside a magic circle.

Nix and Ha'arumph surprised the cultists, but had difficulty finishing them off, mostly due to Steve's infamously terrible rolling.  I suggested maybe drawing another Cha'alt X-Card from the pile, and he obliged.  This time he drew sleaze and described how Ha'arumph quickly stripped Parev's clothes and pushed her into the cultist - who was so shocked that he involuntarily grabbed her naked breasts and proceeded to motorboat them as the half-orc warrior hacked into him from behind.

Not wanting to be left out of the sleaze-making, I described how the summoned creature's tentacle went through the backside of a distracted cultist standing near it... into his ass and out his mouth.  It took a round to shake the dead cultist from its tentacle.  If Colin had been there, I know I could have wrangled a "gross" out of him.  ;)

Realizing how formidable the summoned creature probably was, the PCs made an expeditious retreat.  The cultists pursued the PCs all the way back to the chartreuse door... where the sandworm was waiting.  They discretely snuck past (they originally rolled so well - two natural 20s and a 19, so I had no problem letting them sidestep the worm).  However, the High Priest and his cultist companion weren't so fortunate.  The sandworm ate the High Priest and I believe Ha'arumph decapitated the cultist.  

Oh yeah, either just before or during the PCs' retreat, the half-orc used the purple and fuchsia crystals to mind-meld with the demonic thing trying to break out of the magic circle.  Steve rolled a 19 (in 17 sessions, no one had ever seen him roll anything higher than that), so not only did he repel the demon's psychic force (that I was fully prepared to let a disastrous roll crush the half-orc's already simple mind), but also glean an insight as to how they might get home, in case it wasn't obvious.

By now, I would hope that several of you might have guessed the solution - hold the fuchsia crystal up to the chartreuse door.  That's what the half-orc did, and the door opened, allowing them to return to their own universe.

Getting back and being "home free" was pretty much the ending.  I didn't have anything beyond that planned.  We got a late start, so that was a three-hour session.

Delving into the Cha'alt X-Cards some more, instead of earning a point of Divine Favor (which appeared from that session's vantage point to be "the middle man")... the end result was diverting failure into a more prosperous direction.  Both times Steve played a Cha'alt card, he attempted to turn a bad roll (or result) around.  As it should be.  Sure, an anti-climax may be possible, but shouldn't that be the exception, not the rule (all things being equal, at 3rd level, most straight-up rolls are 50/50).  

Essentially, if we decided to continue along that route (doing away with the Divine Favor's re-roll), the "cost" of finding a silver lining to the current situation's cloud was coming up with a way to make the game more eldritch, sleazy, etc.  

After all, what is Divine Favor if not the gods of Cha'alt nudging reality in a way that's favorable to the adventurer implementing it?  Since I, as Game Master, step-in to the role of Cha'alt gods, it's ultimately up to me to decide just how much help to give the PCs and what that looks like when the smoke clears.

Just the way it was organically used in the session took Cha'alt X-Cards in that direction.  I'm excited to see what happens the next time we use them.  Now that I'm aware of that possibility, I'd be happy to forgo Divine Favor (and the resultant re-roll) instead of offering a celestial offramp that mitigates whatever failure that PC is currently wallowing in.

Basically, what I'm trying to say (at least partly) is that even if a Divine Favor reroll was unsuccessful, an aspect of my GMness feels bound to give the PC a leg-up.  And if that's the case, then the Divine Favor is rather superfluous.  It may not be what the PC or player intended, but something good will no doubt come from altering the fabric of reality via Cha'alt card narrative influence.

Hey, at least I'm consciously aware of my bias.  Favoritism, like privilege, isn't a dirty word.  And neither is "design."  As in, this is the way I've designed my game, my adventure, my campaign, the way I Game Master.  It's tailored to my specifications.

I feel like so many GMs are pushed and pulled, swayed this way and that by their unconscious mind... unaware of why they make the rulings they do.  Oh sure, we all have dice to fall back on, but if I may quote another favorite movie John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness... "He lives in the smallest parts of it.  In the atoms... smaller... invisible... he lives in all of it."

By that I mean, even with clearly defined parameters and success or failure determined by rolling, the GM has too much power, too much control to remain absolutely neutral.  Over time, absolute neutrality is an impossibility.  

In fact, I would caution GMs from clinging to the falsehood of neutrality in favor of consciously helping to create the type of experience they'd like to see.  We're not the sole author (don't forget the players are there, too).  However, it is our story.  In this case, I feel the need to clarify that "our" means GMs take an active part in it, and are most likely the prime creator - but that doesn't mean the GM owns it fully or that other narrative contributions are meaningless.

Did someone say PSYCHOCOSM?!?

Even though I would have liked a break from Cha'alt, I'm happy we went back there, into that world.  But I can almost guarantee that the next time we play, it'll be a different game.  No matter how much I love cheesecake, I still crave other desserts - and this week, it's apple-cider donuts!

Thanks for reading,

VS

p.s. Do you have your weekend badge for VENGER CON III: Revenge of the OSR yet?  If not, don't wait.  You do NOT want to miss an entire weekend of non-woke gaming with some of the most outrageous, controversial, and awesome gamers in the hobby today!  Additionally, I've still got Cha'alt hardcovers for sale - details right over here.

Playtest Palooza

 

Got to run another playtest session of Encounter Critical III this morning [wrote this yesterday afternoon].

Here is the Encounter Critical III kickstarter.

Fantastic game and fantastically weird!  I tried to incorporate as many of my proposed ideas as possible.  This contains the various concepts and mechanics I wanted to test out.

There was some combat, but not much, and no one rolled a critical-success or failure.  So, Obsidian Escalation didn't really come up.  Which is fine, I tried it out last session, and will include that in subsequent sessions.

I don't know if the stars aligned or what, but I had SIX players.  Normally, it's two; occasionally three.  Text only, I feel, is easier with bigger groups than voice & camera, but still challenging.

Before I dive-in, let me give you an overall impression:  I feel like the playtest was a success because the ideas seemed to fuel an immersive, fun-filled game.  And one of the highlights was having Jeff Rients as a player!  Achievement unlocked, bitches.  ;)

All the information gathering prior to the session's start had a specific purpose - to give players a better idea of their characters, so they actually had backgrounds to roleplay off of.  Any RPG can encourage backgrounds, but what I'm trying to accomplish with the new rules is in-game incentives.

The scenario was to search the interior of a dimension traveling space-worm and find an unknown artifact.

Here's a window into my playtesting soul... good, bad, and ugly.  Instead of a carefully crafted scenario providing a curated experience, I like to playtest by the seat of my pants.  Given enough time and creative juice [Venger juice], I feel like the GM can turn a shitty system with dumb mechanics into something pretty cool.  I don't want to do that because engineering a fool-proof experience isn't going to help me figure out if I'm doing something right or headed in the wrong direction.

Instead, I prefer to attune myself to the world in the campaign setting, rules, vibe, and whatever else... becoming an integral part of the game..  Having a few ideas in the form of loose notes and winging the rest will show me what I need to see.  

Every designer eventually hands-off his ideas to another GM in hopes that he'll get it and be able to run a great game.  So, the improv also helps put me in the perspective of the GM who most likely has a vague notion of what I said in the rules, or was trying to get across.

Can this anonymous GM take what I give him and make gold?  That's the question.

The players did great with coming up with background stuff.  I didn't need to break out the random tables that I had ready to go just in case.

Since this was just a one-shot, I didn't meticulously write every flaw and obsession and drive down in my GMing notes.  Everything exists in the chat log on Roll20, though, which is another good reason for running games as text-only.

But I realized the PCs had plenty of material to riff, and riff they did.  I told them about the point of Divine Favor they'd receive for roleplaying their backgrounds.  If this was several adventures into a campaign, I can only imagine the heights of roleplaying and social interaction we'd reach.  As it was, there was enough to prove my theory - an "old-school" RPG focused on social interaction (as opposed to combat and exploration) is not only needed, but totally awesome.

And I asked them to take part in a flashback scene.  I neglected to mention that relationships should include another PC, my bad, so the first thing that came to my mind was a tavern where they hear the proposed mission.  That went well.  For instance, without even realizing it, one of the players, Judd, came up with an identity for the "quest giver"... a wizard.  

The free exchange of ideas before solidifying what's going on is exactly the sort of Fiasco-like scene creation I was hoping for.  The vibe was assuredly set because a little later, when I was describing the immediate, present-day environment, one of the players provided some bonus description all on his own.  "Reeks of  bile, but then again, what doesn't?"  Excellent!

So, the PCs are wandering around the inside of a space-worm traveling through dimensions... and PSYCHOCOSM was had by all.  Well, certainly me.  Staring into the psychedelic depths of the Kort'thalis meta-sigil didn't hurt.

They follow a trail of popsicle sticks (a subtle nod to Cremza'amirikza'am that one player picked-up on) to find something pretty weird, dark, and gross.  I'll save that for another time, or perhaps a future adventure that you'll be apart of.

The PCs fought some toadlike humanoids who desired tasty flesh.  Combat ensued, but the adventuring party was so large that 4 toad dudes didn't last too long.  It was pretty much over before the spellcaster could do anything.

After a bit, and learning of Xedra'as, an evil sorceress currently residing within the space-worm, the PCs came face-to-face with Xedra'as and her demon minions.

The PC sorcerer who didn't get a chance to act wanted to go first.  Since combat hadn't even begun, I said Hell yeah, go for it.  He cast a spell, and I had him roll a couple of six-siders (because I'm also workshopping an alternative system of magic for EC3 - check back here in a couple days).  He rolled really well, a critical-success, in fact.  Xedra'as and the demons were caught in the sorcerer's ectoplasmic webbing.

The session was coming to a close, all too quickly.  Some of the PCs were wondering if they should keep searching for the mysterious artifact the tavern wizard told them to recover.  They had found a magic item (and a powerful one at that), but was this what they'd been seeking?  Others wanted to leave as the space-worm seemed to be blinking out of existence as we know it.  Since we had about 6 or 7 minutes remaining and there wasn't enough time for another encounter, I decided we should do another scene.  This time a flash-forward.

The "kid" who'd been traipsing through the space-worm with the adventurers was all grown-up.  Another player volunteered to be part of the scene but only if he could roleplay an NPC who was also present during the scene.  I was all for it.

The young man who had grown since that adventure taking place several years ago was accompanied by his butler Gerhart.  The wizard from the tavern addressed him, asking what he found in the worm.

Sadly, there wasn't much interaction between the young man and the wizard, so the wizard said his peace and promptly vanished... again!

"That pain was necessary for this world to grow, to change, to become what it must. There is no stopping the evolution of Cha'alt. Freeing the Duke allowed it to evolve. That's what was needed."

It was an extremely bizarre adventure (even for me), but it was equally awesome.  And just as the camera faded to black, there was a little bit of not-quite-necrophilia, thanks to one of my favorite recurring players.  Why have an online game tagged "sleazy" without a cherry on top?

Below are a few choice lines copy/pasted from the chat log...

• "I have never been inside a purple space worm before, unless you count this one tentacled lady in Port Grenthak."
• At a lull in the conversation, full of liquid courage, the kid asks "How come you're not going?"
• "WHERE IS THE CONTROL CENTER? I WOULD HAVE HIS BODY." You see the inner mole rat tugging at various nerves/wires within the golem-body.
• Mork Borg draws his untrustworthy blade.
• "This transdimensional space-worm gets a lot more traffic than I expected."
• "Ok, here's what we need to do.  On the count of three, I pull the sheet and whoever can kill her the fastest gets it done. Ready?"
• Once again, the playthings of gods and wizards. Thus is always the fate of honest, hardworking adventurers.
• "I assumed he had a name like Slartibartfast."
• "I am Barry Fastslart, or Duke Fastslart, if you prefer.  Do you know of me?"
• I was going balls-deep as we faded out...

In a couple days, I'll post what I have for the proposed magic system (working on the details right now).

As always, thanks to the guys for playing; and thanks to you for reading.  Don't miss the next session (I'm going to squeeze-in two sessions a week for the next couple months).

VS

p.s. Like what you're reading?  Want to be part of the action?  For $5 a month, you can have first-crack at playing in one of my weekly one-shots!  Subscribe to me on SubscribeStar!

Delving Design

 

Months ago, years even, I was hesitantly perched upon a dozen different fences about what to do with Encounter Critical.  I'm Kickstarting the 3rd edition, if you didn't know!

Part of the problem was knowing that whatever direction I went, some people would be disappointed.  But the whole making an omelet thing reminds me that I've got to please myself at the end of the day... which is fitting, because I was (still am, to some degree) a huge fan of Encounter Critical after discovering it - with no small help from the imagination and blog of Jeff Rients.

At any rate, I'm trying to find a yin-yang sort of balance between traditional and what we now call "story-games".  The black (yin) has a little bit of white in it.  Basically, I'm trying to take "modern" and "innovative" RPG design and adapt it to OSR sensibilities.

I did make a video about fiction-first, Obsidian Escalation, and several other things.

The following is what's on the playtest menu for the moment.  Anything can change at any moment.  I don't expect it to, but I am expecting tweaks, fine-tuning, and possibly weird organic growth that I didn't realize was part of this project's evolutionary journey.

Without further ado, here we go...

One Page Cheat-Sheet

•          Every PC must come up with a Background that’s broken-up into the following aspects: Look (appearance, aesthetics, vibe, etc.), Drive (motivation for adventuring, reason for being, core values), 2 Relationships (either members of the party or an NPC in the world), Flaw (downfall, vice, or something that keeps getting in your way), and 3 Obsessions (something you love, something you hate, and something that fascinates, perplexes, or strangely amuses you).
•          A character gets 1 point of Divine Favor every time he indulges in or falls prey to his Flaw.
•          When a character is confronted with one of his Obsessions, he’s easily distracted and/or manipulated… unless a successful saving throw is rolled.
•          If running a one-shot, start the session with a Flashback scene from an earlier time in the PCs’ lives, when they first met or were all together… perhaps a montage (micro-scenes with a common theme unfolding in quick succession) of each PC discovering the startling revelation that “reality” is merely densely coiled layers of illusion.  Ahead of the scene, the players and GM should discuss where events happened (location), who’s there and why (relationships) and the general mood, conflict, and/or resolution they’d like to see.  The GM, who should have an inkling of what’s to come, might suggest a motif, object (McGuffin), or major/recurring NPC (villain, helpful contact, rival, comic-relief) for inclusion, in order to strengthen narrative ties between the Flashback and future events.  The players roleplay the social interaction until everyone is content that the scene should conclude.  A point of Divine Favor is awarded to every player who participated.
•          If running a campaign, start each session with a Flashback scene from an earlier time in either one or two PCs’ lives (see above for details).  Players who don’t have their character present in the unfolding scene are encouraged to roleplay whatever NPCs might also be in the Flashback scene.
•          Between encounters (and occasionally during) PCs are encouraged to roleplay.  PCs earn a point of Divine Favor when they demonstrate (talk about, think about, or act out) an aspect of their Background. No more than 1 point per scene.
•          Obsidian Escalation during combat!
•          Skill-Checks: Natural 1s the GM (or mischievous player, if preferred) narrates the failure.  Natural 20 means the player can describe his own success.
•          Top result on a saving throw, skill-check, or damage die means the player can narrate his epically awesome deed with an additional embellishment that may provide a modest edge, asset, or godsend (with GM approval, of course).

This cheat-sheet is 1) based off changes or amendments to Crimson Dragon Slayer D20, and 2) written down in a sort of shorthand that's explained just enough so I know what's going on.  

If YOU would be interested in running your OSR ruleset with the above modifications, I'd love to hear your story.  Please share it with us.  Better yet, email me your feedback: Venger.Satanis@yahoo.com

After a few playtests of this stuff, I'm going to go back to the proverbial drawing-board with other fundamental concepts, such as magic.  I've been doing magic the same way for a few years, and want to try something radically different than my comfortable go-to system.

Feel free to comment, ask questions, throw tomatoes, or whatever.  ;)

VS

p.s. You can support me for $5 a month on SubscribeStar, and next July's Madison WI VENGER CON II is happening with or without you, so grab a ticket and play with us!

Keep It Simple, Stupid

 

If you'll remember my last blog post, I advertised another playtest session for the megadungeon I'm currently working on and a couple different initiative systems.

As for the latter, long story short, I prefer the super-simple rules-lighter-than-light version.  Thieves, then Fighters, Opponents, Clerics, and finally Sorcerers.  Every time; no rolling needed.  

We tried both versions and when it came to Roll20's virtual table, rolling for round segments to act on had me scrolling back up the chat box to see who rolled what and where we were at.  It would probably be better in a live game, but who knows when I'll have one of those?

So, from now on, I'm going to stick to TFOCS.

As for the session, I had six players.  That's a lot.  One of the advantages of text only is that everyone can feel rather uninhibited.  Even I occasionally get self-conscious talking to people face-to-face, but typing with the veneer of anonymity behind a computer screen, I'm free to pretty much say whatever the fuck I want... which is nice.

The downside; however, is that players feel emboldened to do whatever they want.  There's little group cohesion.  That's not all bad.  Lack of cohesion is actually pretty realistic.  On the other hand, you've got a couple PCs trying to be quiet and stealth their way through a situation, a couple PCs who just want to walk up to people and start talking, and then a PC or two who may decide they want to go north when the rest of the party tries making their way southwest.  

There's no right or wrong here; just me trying to make sense of what is.

As for the session, it was good, I think, but not stellar.  I was mainly focused on getting into as many combats as we could in 90 minutes.  Apparently, that number was two.

Aside from the combat, the PCs encountered a couple aficionados of bird law (I didn't even ask the players if they got that Always Sunny reference), a really strange scar-like zipper running across a rock wall, and they investigated some memory crystals growing near exotic fruit. 

The party's sorcerer and priest of Asta'aroth, Dal Chat, used a demon survivor to fuel his magic, saving up enough energy to cast a few different spells throughout the session, which was fun to see.  I'd like to come up with something, an energy echo or vengeful spirit of the person being used as a wizard's battery.  Hmm...

Six players kept my hands full, and this was a playtest so I had to keep flipping from Roll20 to my word doc to the map image and back to Roll20 so I could draw the caves and tunnels.  

Regarding my GM mindset, it felt more like a normal Cha'alt session.  Once or twice, I tried to dig a little deeper into my inner darkness, but yeah my tentacles were full.  Next time!

Almost forgot about the pha'at loot the PCs acquired.  They already know about the 618 pieces of gold, the jellybeans (got to use the jellybean flavor random table), but what did they get from the last deluge of demons trying to kill them?  

More gold... 236 pieces, in fact.  The big score was an ivory ring (magical) that removes the wearer's shadow in favor of a chalk outline appearing on the ground where the shadow would normally fall.  And also a small book titled Crimes of Love, a collection of short stories by the Marquis de Sade.  

I'm happy we got to try both initiative systems and there was a clear winner in TFOCS.  This coming week will be focused on finishing and fine-tuning Cremza'amirikza'am.  I'll probably run one more session before Xma'as break and then a couple sessions before the kids go back to school.

That's it, thanks for reading!

VS

p.s. Tickets still available for attending VENGER CON... old-school, OSR, and traditional roleplaying games.  Join us in Madison, WI this summer!

Crimson Initiative

 

Before I get any further, I want to run a Cha'alt session tomorrow with enough players to test out this new initiative system I'm working on.  

It's nothing fancy, complicated, or revolutionary, but more players is better than fewer in this instance.  Here is the Roll20 link.

I don't dislike the initiative system I've been using for years, but just looking for a small change of pace.  

In some areas of RPGs, such as mechanics, perfection is an illusion.  There's no ultimate end-state where everything will always be rainbows, unicorns, and lesbian cheerleader porn forever.  

Even things I love, stuff that feels perfect in the moment, must evolve for them to keep being enjoyable.  In this case, evolve might be the wrong word because things aren't always getting better and better.  Sometimes, they're just different... and that difference makes things better than keeping things the same.  Variety is the spice of life, as the cliché goes. 

Ok, without further ado, here are the basics...

• A round is one minute, broken into six 10-second segments.
• Each player rolls a die, and that initiative order lasts for the entire combat... thieves roll a d4, fighters and clerics a d6, and sorcerers roll a d8.
• Similarly, the GM rolls a d6 per group or faction and that initiative order lasts for the entire combat.
• Lowest result goes first.  Rolling a 1 means you can re-roll in hopes of getting another 1, which gives you a surprise-attack before the first round.  If a 7 or 8 is rolled, the sorcerer attacks first on the following round (spells take longer to cast + combat hesitancy for scholarly types).
• Instead of an initiative tracker, the GM will call for 1s to go first, then 2s, followed by 3s, etc.  All a player has to remember is what number he rolled.
• Those doing stuff in the same segment are considered simultaneous actions.

If that's too crunchy for the average Crimson Dragon Slayer D20 player (which is entirely possible), here's another...

Initiative order goes as follows: thief, fighter, monsters/NPCs, clerics, and sorcerers.  Doesn't get much more rules-light than that!  :)

Ok, that's it for now.  Thanks for your feedback and hope to see you at the virtual table, hoss!  BTW, Misha Burnett assisted me with both methods when we discussed initiative via email.

VS

p.s. I'm running a holiday special on Cha'alt books... $90 for both luxury hardcovers of Cha'alt and Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise; signed, numbered, and personalized by me (PDFs included).  That price includes shipping within the USA (outside, add another $40).

Crimson Escalation

 

The full title of this blog post should be Crimson Escalation while playtesting the Cremza'amirikza'am megadungeon, but I think that might break the internet.

Speaking of internet breakage, I didn't want to overpromise on this little mechanic until I had properly playtested it.  

Even though I've only tested it once, I believe this could be the single greatest combat-related system improvement since 5e came out with Advantage and Disadvantage.

I'm calling it Crimson Escalation.  In the simplest terms, it's a progressive critical-hit range.  The first round, crits happen on a natural 20.  The second round, crits happen on a natural 19 or 20.  Third round, it's a natural 18-20, etc.

Some optional fiddly-bits could be added, but that's the basic premise.  As I theorized, here are the results...

• Combat was shorter - without it, combat would have dragged on longer.  More misses and lower damage leads to longer combats.  Boring!
• Combat was more brutal - I think we can all agree, watching someone whittle away at the trunk of a tree is less satisfying than seeing it chopped in twain with a battle-axe. 
• Combat was more tense - as combat continued, the stakes grew higher because every round it became easier to hit with a higher probability of greater damage.

I assumed that last one (heightened tension) might be the case, but as mentioned, I didn't want to promise it before seeing for myself.

When I was asking for feedback on social media, a couple people wondered if PCs would delay their action in order to attack later in the battle, which didn't make any sense to me then and still doesn't now.  

Another point was raised about reinforcements - if a couple fresh goons rush into the battle halfway, how do you account for that, regarding crits?  Personally, I'm not going to track multiple crit ranges during combat, so everyone's at the same range.

As soon as the Cha'alt After Dark PDF is released, I'm asking my layout team to include Crimson Escalation in Crimson Dragon Slayer D20.  I'm not going to wait for next year's revision - it's that good.

I'm not going to go into detail about delving into the Cremza'amirikza'am megadungeon below The Lost City, but I'm going for a mix of Stuart Gordon's From Beyond and my Metebelis III interpretation of Lovecraft's dreamlands.  It's still very much a work-in-progress.

However, the session culminated in an epic battle between a local warlord death-priest and his guards versus the two 3rd level PCs (both fighters).  It lasted 5 rounds, which is kind of the max for a routine (but still thrilling) combat, according to my sensibilities.  As you'd expect, there were multiple crits.  It was an exciting battle as we anticipated the outcome - the longer combat lasted, chances increased that it would get exponentially bloody!

By the way, the two PCs won the battle.  They were both injured, but survived thanks to being 3rd level.

A short combat is usually a round or two (usually over in 10 minutes).  Medium combat is somewhere between three and five rounds (somewhere around 15-25 minutes).  Anything more than five rounds is long (at least a half-hour) and considered too much, unless it's some kind of major boss battle.  

A primary reason I enjoy old-school D&D is shorter combats.  That leaves more time for adventuring... and even more battles each session!  Dear God, when I think back to my time running 4e and 60-90 minute combat [shuddering].  Never again.

Anyway, my mind blew-up (in a good way), and this is my life going forward - Crimson Escalation now and forever, hoss!

VS

p.s. Want the deluxe Cha'alt and Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise hardcovers?  Boom!  Want to attend VENGER CON next July?  Shazam!

Cha'alt session report 2.1

Now, that I've been writing Cha'alt in earnest, one of the introductory dungeons is ready to go... and I just got done playtesting it with some gamers on Roll20.

Backers will get their hands on the playtest packet next week!

The session went well.  Things moved along nicely, with exploration, combat, and interaction all showcased.  Some treasure was found.  Bits and pieces of world-building occurred.  The wizard almost died, the fighter fought with a tentacle that game him a nasty disease, and at one point everyone thought death was definitely a strong possibility. 

But the players only scratched the surface of the complex beneath the City of the Purple Demon-Worm!  I look forward to next week... and GMing for the rest of you.

Only 12 days left to fund Cha'alt!

Thanks,

VS

Blood Dark Thirst - open playtest

You play a blood-drinking demon, commonly referred to as a vampire, yet vestiges of your humanity remain.  Struggling for survival and dominion, your vampiric nature makes you an extremely dangerous and desperate predator in a pre-apocalyptic world on the precipice of another inquisition.  This night is for the taking! 


At midnight tonight, I'll be emailing word documents with the bare bones beta-version of my vampire RPG, Blood Dark Thirst.

If you'd like to be a playtester, please send me an email with "BDT playtest" in the subject line:  Venger.Satanis@yahoo.com

I greatly appreciate your support and hope that you will enjoy your first taste of Blood Dark Thirst!

Thank you,

Venger As'Nas Satanis
High Priest of Kort'thalis Publishing

Girls Gone Rogue playtest

Yesterday was the first playtest of a new Alpha Blue scenario I've been working on since the book's release - Girls Gone Rogue.

I had an idea to merge the plot from two of my favorite films, Escape from New York and Blade Runner.

There were 7 players and I had everyone make new characters, even though over half of them had made characters a month back when playtesting Alpha Blue.  A lot had changed and I wanted them (and the noobs) to get the full Alpha Blue experience.

This little d4 table for randomly determining a character's age and experience worked like a treat, adding even more background nuance.

I won't go into detail about the actual adventure because of spoilers; however, below will be a number of details, thoughts, and miscellaneous from the session...

It all began when a beautiful brunette woman in a translucent red dress walked into the club and ordered a drink.  Her name was Serene and she was looking to party.

Here's the quote of the day, "If the testicles have tentacles attached to them, even better."  That came from the mouth of +sean mcconkey.  He played one of the most interesting characters - an alien spider creature templar/priestess that could change size when he got excited and was really into golden showers!

Not sure why I didn't explicitly state it, but players can create robot characters, too.  Deciding to go robot would be the same as choosing to play an alien, mutant, or roll on the something special table.  There's even a random table in the character creation section for what machine you were before being converted into a functional machine with artificial intelligence, sensitivity, etc.

Also not explicitly stated, but seemed obvious to me and another player, one can choose to play a combination of alien and mutant, mutant and something special, alien and robot, etc. if they opt to forgo rolling twice on the career tables.  We had a couple characters go that route, including Joshua Cooper Darlington who played an alien mutant.  He was a rat-sized creature composed of fire that bought a meat-shell that he could operate and walk around in.  Kind of like the thing Krang used in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon from the 80's and 90's.  His bite was poisonous, too!

I had been working on the "shimmering circle" for an entire week before the game.  Layers of acrylic paint, glazing liquid, self leveling clear gel, sparkling latex wall paint I had left over from making my daughters' rooms extra girly, and gloss varnish.  It's not too big and very slick, so rolling on the surface is difficult.  Perfect for mirroring the difficulty of fighting in a zero gravity arena!  The guys had a lot of fun with that.  It led to a close-line decapitation with an arm - that's not something you see everyday!

+Jacob Nelson (who played a human digestive scientist... for some reason) laughed so hard and so many times during character creation and throughout the scenario, that I worried about him.  He noted quite a few of the references, such as the "Blue Steel" mutation from another favorite film of mine - Zoolander.

Almost everyone roleplayed their sexual fantasy and fetish throughout the game.  One might imagine that rolling for such a thing at character creation would lead to one of two possibilities, either that detail is relegated to the void, never surfacing during play, or that incorporating it into play would be a chore, feeling forced instead of natural.  Well, I'm pleased to report that PC proclivities were present without getting in the way of adventuring... in fact, the erotic aspects became enmeshed with it.

+Tim Virnig (who played Sliik Khok, a human technician assassin) improved on the name for a desert-world bar I came up with.  So, it looks like the Most Easy Cantina will be replaced with the Moist E-Z Cantina.  I'll probably include options for using both in the PDF.

Everyone survived and had a good time, so I went away satisfied.

VS

p.s.  I made a video about the shimmering circle over here.

No Escape from New York playtest

It felt good to be back at the table.  Two months is a long time to be away,

I think we did Crimson Dragon Slayer day proud.  Four established gaming amigos and a new guy joined me as we played the game of games!

I opened with a bang.  Their characters entered a parallel universe New York, circa 1983 via magical portal.  A sky-drone chased them through the Ultra Zone and into a salvage yard.  A dark urban nightmare was the only escape for those four humanoids and an ice cream truck wizard.  Wait a minute, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Each player rolled randomly on the name generator table, so prepare yourself.  Here's the list of characters...

Emerald Ice, a reptilian ranger.  He was a plumber before playing the Crimson Dragon Slayer video game for the Commodore 64, put out by Infravision.

Death Ultra, another reptilian, this one a warrior.  He used to be a realtor.

Celestial Sun Nomad, dwarven warrior, formerly a banker.

Crimson Thunder, an ice cream truck wizard (I'll explain momentarily).  He used to be an ice cream truck driver.  Go figure!

Obsidian Solar Skull, human thief who was and is currently a salvage yard owner/operator.

So, the guy playing Crimson Thunder wanted to play a robot.  He also rolled randomly on the career table and got a result of "ice cream driver".  I mentioned how that profession always reminded me of Phantasm.  A brief discussion of the film ensued.  The player knows how gonzo I like things and knows that I know how gonzo he can be as well.  From there, we take an evolutionary leap where he asks if it would be too far-out for him to play an actual ice cream truck.  Yes, absolutely that would be alright by me, I said.

It took a couple minutes to work out the details.  They remained loose enough for us to change things a bit as I described the set-up: the characters running for their lives because a red electric eye was shooting disintegrating laser beams at anything that moved.  Crimson Thunder is about to be blasted into atoms when he fires off a hail-Mary polymorph spell on himself - sending his consciousness into a nearby truck used for selling all manner of frozen treats.

My only familiarity with real world New York City is driving past the exit on my way to somewhere else over a decade ago.  However, I've seen plenty of movies and TV shows.  Doesn't even matter because this isn't the real New York.  Instead, it's the New York from my dirty, grimy, slimy, sleazy, rat-infested subconscious.  A place borne of the following exploitation: Escape from New York, The Fall of New York, The Warriors, and what I remember reading about 42nd street back in the day.

With a few firm details and a list of possible encounters, I begin weaving the adventure.  At times it's on track; occasionally the paper-thin veneer is showing, reinforcing the idea that anything is possible because most of this is coming out of my ass.  I'm grabbing whatever fruit happens to be laying on the ground and making fruit salad.  And why not?  It's all for fun.  The laughter is just as much a part of the session as the objective, considering the roleplaying medium used - find the Prince of New York and find out what the fuck he wants.

There are subterranean crazies, a hot dog cart run by Snake Plissken, bat-men riding giant bat creatures (isn't that like cannibalism, someone asks), a tentacled creature guarding a magic sword in a sewer (the former plumber reptilian ranger says, a lot of times when your toilet's plugged up, it's one of these guys), and a battle royale involving several crazy costumed gangs all vying for the chance to become the next New York Prince.

But the most priceless line of the game was this, "No one runs Chuck Norris over with an ice cream truck... until now.  Let's see him round-house that!"  Hey, at least they saved Chuck Norris' ashes after being zapped by a triple-damage Purple Lightning spell.  Wear it around your neck, spray a little Sex Panther cologne, and you're good to go.

Yeah, it was a crazy game.  This rough sketch of an adventure will eventually become the next official Crimson Dragon Slayer mini-module.  Look for it in September.

VS

p.s.  One of my secrets to playtesting is to go into that initial session under-prepared.  This forces me to come up with stuff on the fly, fill in the gaps, and allow the adventure to go where it wants organically and without my forcing it into a certain direction.

By the second session, it has more direction.  I kind of know what I want, what I'm going for, and how to reach that destination.

Crimson Dragon Slayer playtest #1

"Couple hot girls, a wizard, and a cyclops... that's all you need for a good night." ~ Steve

I finally got a chance to play it myself... to see if this was something actually worth pursuing or if I'd taken too many wrong turns to even bother continuing.

I tried to pay attention at every juncture, every moment of immersion, laughter, confusion, annoyance, flipping back and forth through the rules, and twinge of nostalgia.

I came away with about two pages of notes on what didn't work, what needed a quick fix or facelift, and a couple things that felt awesome but needed to be reworked until they really shined.

Some things look good on paper but just feel wrong in the heat of the moment, either because they're unbalanced, clunky, or flat.  As a game designer, it's my job to notice the discrepancy between how something reads and how it plays.  Years ago (see my cringe-worth Empire of Satanis), I was more likely to power through a crappy mechanic or, worse, a lackluster or overblown premise even if it seemed less than wonderful... even ignoring constructive criticism.

Anyways, that's enough game design philosophy and peek into my shady past.  Onto the session report!  I had four players, below is a look at the party...

• Robert  played an infernal elf ranger (defender) named Pin.
• Steve played a dwarf thief (spell scoundrel... formerly known as "arcane trickster" named Alfonse.
• Daniel played a human warrior named Stan Gruberman - the man with a mop!  (a reference to the movie UHF)
• Ethan played a dwarf wizard named Jerry.

After about an hour of character creation, there was backstory and a cave.  My chief objective with Crimson Dragon Slayer is to emulate a science-fantasy computer roleplaying game from 1983.  Like a gonzo version of The Bard's Tale or sword & sorcery version of Ice Pirates.  It's meant to be funny and retro and kind of dumb in a (hopefully) awesome sort of way.

The first area inside the cave was full of dazed Infravision programmers with red glowing eyes.  They dispatched them well enough.  I found myself turning the 18 page manual back and forth between the initiative system I came up with and whatever other part of the rules I needed.  After that first battle, I realized initiative needed an overhaul.  

The thief rolled to see if he could find some treasure on the dead bodies.  Yes, the senior programmer had a wand.

The next area contained zombie cannibal ninja and a human bound and gagged on the floor.  

Even though it seems like combat is only taking off a few HP here and there, every once in awhile (about ever third round, I'd guess) something dramatic happens.  A character rolls a few sixes or exploding damage goes through the roof.  This might be a case of seeing what I want to see, but it reminds me of watching a sword fight (or any other battle on the screen).  For the first bit, it seems like it's a draw between warriors as not much is happening.  They seem equally matched or at least both seem decent at not being harmed.  And then all of a sudden, Ka-Bam!  Someone gets a sword through the throat!

But the thief wasn't special enough.  I mean, when you only have four core classes, you've got to differentiate.  That was also part of the initiative problem.  It wasn't until the drive home that I came up with a solution.

They saved the henchman tied up.  He gave the party his magic ring and wanted to serve them.

The last battle was against a wizard, his demon, and a black knight.  The ranger rolled double sixes in his dice pool and though it was clear that doing extra damage was the default benefit of such critical success, I pursued the matter further.  "You could do something else, like a called-shot to the wizard's amulet that had summoned the demon."

"Is the wizard wearing such an amulet?"  Daniel asked?

"Yeah, sure.  Why not?"  I replied.  And so it was.  

The ranger did just that and the demon vanished.  The wizard was dispatched with the newly acquired wand and the black knight was killed by a ton of damage from the warrior.  

That battle ended too quickly for everyone's liking, so there was an invisible wizard who shot one of those metal balls from Phantasm out of his hand.  Between that and his glaive, Stan the mop man was nearly dead.

For reasons that are still unclear - it may have been a really low intelligence or wanting to get back home or because he couldn't wait to find out what purple lightning strike did - the party wizard decided to betray everyone and started casting his spell.  Some damage was done.  Then he was charged by both the ranger and warrior while the thief hid.  

The best Ethan rolled that day was his death save.  He rolled 2 sixes and was up with a few HP to his name.  He attempted to cast another spell.  Failure.  The fighter types bashed him again.  I could see where another roll on the death save table would be ridiculous so ruled that since he was unconscious again, a simple coup de grace would do the job.

A lot of fun was had.  Some of it bad fun that went horrible wrong.  Hey, that's what playtesting is for.  Changes have already been implemented.  Go check out the g+ community for Crimson Dragon Slayer to download the beta version PDF uploaded on dropbox.

The Outer Presence - playtest #1

This investigative horror scenario was born here.  Got to keep this short.  Busy, busy, busy!  Also, this session report will be short on details - spoiler free, it's called these days.  ;)

Below are the players and their characters.  I told them to create a character concept instead of going through the motions using Call of Cthulhu or something similar.  Interestingly, none of the characters were scientists, explorers, or even academics.  For an inexperienced Game Master, this probably would have led to either GM interference or crying.  I decided to massage their entry into the story.  Seemed to work well, no one mentioned anything.

Oh yeah, I also decided on the 1970's.  Not only is it a compromise between the 1920's / 30's and present day, but I was going for a Cannibal Holocaust type thing.

Tim Virnig:  "Lang"; grew up wealthy; father founder and editor of Gazette newspaper; supposed to follow in his father's footsteps; instead, photographer of B-list celebrities and scandals; in free time, hoping to write mystery novel; also hoping to be a news reporter.

Jeff Adamus:  He played Jeff.  Photography print shop owner; advertising, pop culture, and band/music enthusiast; owns a couple cats; band and business promotion with marketing specialty.

Russell Reed:  Frank Smith; writer; reporter; disco dancing freak; reveals corruption; wants to write detective novels.

Kent Nedland:  Vince O'Donald; accountant; believes world can be placed in a monetary paradigm; scrawny dude; pocket calculator; # crunching.

Marie Nedland:  Susan Thompson; tech person; plays poker and goes dancing; wants to fix the disparity between rich and poor.


Somehow, I turned a desperate need for more explorers into a desperate need for publicity now that the first expedition was such a success (not really a success).  The players were all game and they roleplayed their involvement extremely well.

Clues led them to believe that this wasn't just a fun, all expense-paid tax write-off.  For instance, a couple investigators found a hand-written note telling them that the expedition's last telegram should be shredded so that no one can learn the truth!

Onto New Guinea!  Their host was a piece of work.  I really wanted to push the envelope with what players and PCs might expect from the scenario's principle antagonist.  He pushed a lot of buttons and made everyone hate him.  PCs didn't actually vomit... but they wanted to.  Incidentally, the actor Sidney Greenstreet was my inspiration for Doctor Karl Steiner.

Exploring the temple!  Over the last few years, I've been on the jungle cruise at Disney World's Magic Kingdom probably a dozen times.  The part when the boat goes into that dark structure was the basis for my temple.  Could have been more detailed, but I think it was successful on the whole.

Two investigators went temporarily insane, none died.  Was the world saved?  Perhaps...

The timing went extremely well.  Including 15 min. of character creation, the entire scenario took 2 hours and 55 minutes to resolve.  Good thing as two players had to leave just as we'd finished the game.  The first hour involved the set-up, including arrival.  The second hour involved getting a lay of the land, interacting with the people, and learning what the scenario was really about.  The third and final hour involved exploring the next location, learning the truth, and final resolution.

Probably won't get around to publishing it for awhile as I already have two irons in the fire: the Game Mastering book and Crimson Dragon Slayer, my very own OSR rule-set.  Both will be available this summer!  Check out the g+ community for CDS here.  The support, feedback, and even playtesting (!!!) that I've received since mentioning the idea weeks ago has overwhelmed me with happiness and enthusiasm.  Thanks, everyone!

VS

VSd6, a System for Narrative Leverage

For years, I had players roll a variable amount of dice (2d6 for easy, 3d6 for average, 4d6 for difficult, etc.) trying to hit their character's ability score or lower.  If they did, success.  If they didn't, failure. Not very dynamic.  

What I've created here - influenced by what must be over a hundred different d6 game mechanics - is a system of narrative leverage.  Instead of pass/fail, there are interesting shades of grey which a competent GM can use to his advantage, improving the roleplaying experience for all.

The VSd6 system can be used anytime an action is attempted outside of conventional combat maneuvers.  That means if a character wants to use a skill, lift a portcullis, or kick the sorcerer's wand out of his hand before he blasts you again, this can be your go-to game mechanic...
___


 Roll a dice pool of d6’s.  Only take note of the single highest number rolled, except in cases of critical success. The GM and relevant player(s) should calculate each dice pool together.  Traditionally, the lion's share of calculation falls upon GM shoulders but players are encouraged to negotiate their dice pool based upon prevailing conditions.  Excessive whining, bitching, and complaining, however, may provoke a -1d6 penalty [cue Evil Laugh!].

 If the highest number rolled is a 6 that means “complete success”. 5 means “mostly successful” or “success but with a minor complication or catch”. 4 means “partial or half success”. 3 means “mostly failure” or “failure but with a silver lining”. 2 means "unsuccessful", the attempt did not succeed. 1 means “Disaster!"; not only does the attempt fail but, additionally, something unexpectedly bad occurs.  Multiple 6's means "critical or outstanding success!"

To put things in simple terms, let me present the system's essence:  if a character should have an excellent chance of success, have the player roll 3d6; if a character should have a moderate chance of success, then 2d6 should be rolled; if a character only has a slim chance of success, then reduce the player's dice pool to 1d6.  That's it.  However, if you want more - subtlety, nuance, intricacy, and options - everything that follows should suffice...


• If there are two 6’s rolled in the dice pool that means a critical success: you make it look easy, accomplish it in record time, or do it with stylistic flourish. Three 6’s means super-critical success: above and beyond expectations resulting in more than you thought possible. Four 6’s means hyper-critical success: all of the aforementioned benefits plus the next time you attempt the same action under similar conditions, you get an automatic 6 in your dice pool.

• Take 5! Characters with a dice pool of 4 or more can accept a result of 5 instead of rolling. 

•  1d6 is standard.  The average character attempting an ordinary action under normal circumstances without any special skill, training, background, experience, or aptitude will only have 1d6 to roll. Characters who find themselves with an empty dice pool (0d6) must work a little harder to at least have something to roll. Ingenuity! 

[Optional rule #1] If the action is exceptionally innovative and well described, GMs may grant characters a 1d6 minimum dice pool to at least have a chance at success.

[Optional rule #2]  A character with a zero dice pool may roll 2d6, discarding the greater of the two. 

• If a character attempts something having relevant skill, training, background, and/or experience, then add a d6 to the dice pool.

• If the character has a relevant ability score of 7 or lower (well below average), then subtract a d6 from the pool. If he has a relevant ability score of 15 or higher (well above average), then add a d6.

• If the character is being aided by someone (or something), then add a d6... provided that aiding character has some skill, training, background, and/or experience relevant to the task at hand.  Same goes for characters aided by an appropriate tool, device, or apparatus.  Normally, these bonuses are not added together or "stacked", but the GM is the final arbiter in this matter.

• Awesomely imaginative/inventive actions that are outside the box and described by the player add a d6.

• Relatively easy actions add a d6.

• Subtract a d6 if there’s overwhelming force working against the character.

• Subtract a d6 if the attempted action is particularly challenging.

• Subtract a d6 if the character is in a debilitated state, handicapped in some way, or is suffering from a major wound.

• If the active character wishes to make a quick, fast, simple, or minor action (one that doesn't require its own roll), in addition to the one he's attempting in a single round, he must declare his intention before rolling his dice pool, as 1d6 should be taken away to allow for the extra, albeit brief, action.  Quick actions might entail: drinking a readied potion, dodging a bullet, parrying a sword thrust, shouting for help, moving 5', or taking the safety off a handgun.  

A standard action (standard in length of time and scope of tactics, yet effortless or reflexive to perform) should reduce an active character's dice pool by 2d6 - this is no different than two quick actions in the same round.  Standard actions might include swinging a sword, casting a spell, firing an arrow, firing a laser pistol, reading a scroll, or moving more than 5'.

Actions substantial enough to require a dice pool calculation reduces a character's dice pool by 3d6 (also equal to a standard action and a quick action or three quick actions in the same round).  The player may decide how to allocate his 3d6 reduction between both actions.  For instance, a PC who wants to bullwhip a thug around the throat and throw a ruby the size of a monkey's head across a chasm in the same round might have dice pools of 3d6 and 4d6 respectively.  The player could choose to reduce his whip action by 1d6 and his throw by 2d6 leaving him with dice pools of 2d6 for each. 

• Characters can save up their dice for a rainy day!  Simply keep a d6 or more of your dice pool in reserve until you really, really need it.  However, a dice pool modified by reserved dice cannot be more than double the original dice pool.  Furthermore, reserving dice cannot reduce the current dice pool below 1d6.

Let's say a PC is about to shoot a phaser at the mirrored surface of a black pylon in order to hit an enemy hiding for cover behind an Ancient Wyrm skeleton.  Based on the GM's calculations, he has a dice pool of 4d6.  However, the player feels that's over-kill, so decides to only roll 3d6 and keep 1d6 in reserve.  Later in the session, the PC tries to figure out the symbols on a high-tech scrying device.  He gets a 2d6 dice pool, but isn't really that interested enough to give it his all.  He decides to roll 1d6 and save 1d6.  Finally, at session's end, the PC attempts to hurl his sword into a cyclops' eye.  In this case, the dice pool is set at 2d6, but the player wants to "cash in" that extra 2d6 for a total of 4d6 (giving him the option to "take 5"). 

If the player wanted to improve his character's last action to 5d6 (assuming he had enough dice in reserve), he wouldn't be able to because the original dice pool cannot exceed twice that amount.  GMs should watch out for "juicing".  Intentional or not, players might have their character attempt an inconsequential action just so dice can be saved for later.  If the action attempted is relatively meaningless, then forego rolling, simply have the inconsequential action succeed.  No dice pool, no opportunity for juicing.  

Also, at the end of a session, any unused reserve dice are divided in half (round down) in expectation of the following session.
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The above is still in its workshop phase, but I like how it's evolving.  What's it for?  Ideally, I want it to support all the RPGs with awkward, clunky, or inefficient task resolution mechanics... giving the GM his much needed narrative leverage and the PCs a decent chance to do something original which any given set of rules couldn't begin to imagine, let alone cover.  

Maybe the VSd6 system is right for your own RPG?  Even if game rules could be copyrighted, I wouldn't care to with these.  Everyone is free to use VSd6 or modify it as they wish (as if I'd be able to stop them - Ha!).  Some small credit or attribution would be nice, assuming you include them in your own published work, but not required.  Do as thou wilt!

There must be literally a thousand different paper & pencil, tabletop roleplaying games in existence.  Does the world really need a new one?  Sometimes, I feel that my efforts are better spent improving the RPGs that already exist, either thematically or mechanically.  Nevertheless, I'm working on a gonzo scifi-fantasy mashup with Mike Berkey in the spirit of Encounter Critical, Extreme Vengeance, and Gamma World.  VSd6 will be the core mechanic... possibly in conjunction with a percentile-based skill system. How that's going to work I have no idea!  Additionally, VSd6 will be included in The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence.

One last thing... your feedback is appreciated - especially if you're one of the few, the brave, and the awesome who actually sit down and use this in your game.  If you do try it, please let me know your findings.


VS



p.s.  By now, there's a long and winding list of individuals who improved VSd6 with their comments, questions, criticisms, and suggestions.  Thank you!