3d6 Combat System

Here it is, my first draft (at least the first one I've wanted to present) of a 3d6 combat system. While Searchers of the Unknown inspired me to do this, it has become more of its own thing. It is still my hope to condense everything down to one page, but once I started this and the ideas started flowing, the one-page thing became less of a priority. I'll worry about page count when I get it hammered out. Without further ado . . .

Basically, I want to have the to-hit roll target be the opponent's AC (per SotU), roll under on 3d6. Modifiers (please remember that this is roll under so a negative modifier is a Good Thing):

Character Type Bonus

Adventurer

Burly -1/2 Levels

Cunning -1/3 Levels

Magician -1/5 Levels

Damage will be determined by the degree of success of the to-hit roll:

Simple Success (Roll≤AC) deals 1D

Great Success (Roll≤AC-2) deals 2D

Stunning Success (Roll≤AC-4) deals 3D

In all cases, the damage die is d6. In the case of multiple dice, only like numbers are considered, with the highest being totalled. Light weapons are -1 to all dice counted, Medium weapons are unmodified, and Heavy weapons are +1 to all dice counted.

So, how about some percentages?

A 1^st level Burly Adventurer vs Opponent in Chain (AC6)

Refired

Level +1

Opp. AC +6

Roll Needed 13

Chance to-hit 40%

3d6

Level -1

Target 6

Roll Needed 7

Chance to-hit 16%

So, obviously something needs to be done here. Bearing in mind that the roll “to-hit” is more accurately described as a roll “to-damage”, we can explore the following. Historically maces were brought to bear against opponents in metal armors. They didn't damage the opponent by penetrating the armor, they wore the opponent down by knocking him around inside the armor. Sooooo . . . what if we apply the following:

Metal armors (Chain and Plate) are +2 vs bludgeoning weapons. Then we get the following chance to-hit:

Level -1

Target 8 (AC6 +2vs Mace)

Roll Needed 9

Chance to-hit 37.5%

That is much more in line with the other numbers. It has the added option of providing a layer of tactical choice at a small complexity premium. To offset the beneficial to-hit, as well as maintaining a degree of accuracy, damage degrees are calculated without the modifier. Thus, the damage degrees for the above scenario would be:

Original unmodified AC 6

Roll needed for Simple Damage (1D) ≥9 (37.5%)

Roll needed for Great Damage (2D) ≥4 (1.9%)

Roll needed for Stunning Damage (3D) ≥2 (0%)

Ok, that's all done considering a 1^st level adventurer. I believe the numbers will hold up because after you reach a target number of 10 on 3d6, the bonuses hit a law of diminishing returns. Also, there is the fact that, in all truth, I was forced to device this so that low level characters can have any hope against heavily armored foes. Still and all, though, it seems reasonable to me, and at least gives a nod to accurately modeling the effects of bludgeoning weapons against metal armors, insofar as the system I am presenting.

Thoughts, comments, criticisms?

PS> The percentages above were arrived at using the Dice Probability Calculator link at the bottom of my Hall of the Sages column at left.

Searchers of the Unknown, Impressions

Ok, how many of you have checked this out? I think I'm in love. I pulled out pages 5, 8, 9, and 13, and combined them into a new pdf. That is my basic fantasy SotU, and it fits on both sides of a single sheet (printed in booklet).

See, I often jump the fence that separates rules-lite from rules-medium (I rarely dabble in anything heavier than medium anymore). They each scratch a particular itch for me. Lite demands more system work, things like monsters, spells, etc. Medium leaves me more free to do campaign work, settings, etc. But, Lite doesn't place its own demands on setting work. And so it goes.

For now, though, I'm really digging this little game. It's not simply a distillation. The author seems to have said "If a stat line is good enough for monsters and NPCs, why can't it work for PCs, too?" This required some changes to mechanics and subsystems. These changes are simple, and dare I say it, elegant. That is a word that is currently much overused, but in this case deserved.

I love what I've seen here. It makes me want to extract the stat line from every OD&D monster I can get my hands on. It makes me want to create books of spells, waiting to be found. It makes me want to create rare and mysterious NPC classes to tease players with. It makes me want to create. It makes me want to imagine the hell out of things. And that, my friends, that inspiration, is a rare and marvelous gift.

Searchers of the Unknown

From the Introduction

Searchers of the Unknown is a one-page roleplaying game where player characters are entirely defined by a minimalist old school Dungeons & Dragons one line stat block (e.g. "AC 7, MV 9, HD 2, hp 9, #AT 1, D 1d8 mace") something like monster stat blocks in early editions of D&D. All actions are based on those stats. Armor class is the old school “lower is better,” but the way armor class is used in  SotU it makes sense with armor class generally helping against attacks but  hindering initiative and attempts to be stealthy. The basic SotU generally uses a level plus AC roll under mechanic, using an opponent's AC when attacking or the character's own AC when trying to be stealthy. Saves require a roll under level plus 4. Variants versions of SotU use D20 or Target20 rolls. In the basic game, all characters are human adventurers. Supplements add demi-humans and spell-casting classes.

Like Microlite20, the original Searchers of the Unknown rules inspired a large number of similar games based on the same principles, ranging from simple variants like SotU Refired to modern day games, science fiction games, after the holocaust games, etc. Most of these games are complete in one or two pages. A few have additional supplements of their own.

This is a 56 page compilation of SotU based games. It is well worth the time it takes to download. It actually looks playable, as well as fun. The basic rules take up the front of one page. (This would be an excellent candidate for a pocketmod . . . ) The stat line format for characters makes it instantly compatible with virtually everything pre-AD&D right out of the box, including clones thereof. AD&D wouldn't be a hassle, either, just not quite as automatic. 

So, download it and give the basic rules a read. It will be 10 minutes well spent. Many thanks to Randall over at RetroRoleplaying: the Blog for putting it all together. Be sure and go by his blog, he has a ton of great stuff on offer, not to mention insightful commentary on gaming and the OSR.

Searchers of the Unknown