xesite/blog/7e-2020-12-20.markdown

title	date	tags
The 7th Edition	2020-12-19	ttrpg

You know what, fuck rules. Fuck systems. Fuck limitations. Let's dial the tabletop RPG system down to its roots. Let's throw out every stat but one: Awesomeness. When you try to do something that could fail, roll for Awesomeness. If your roll is more than your awesomeness stat, you win. If not, you lose. If you are or have something that would benefit you in that situation, roll for awesomeness twice and take the higher value.

No stats.
No counts.
No limits.
No gods.
No masters.
Just you and me and nature in the battlefield.

• Want to shoot an arrow? Roll for awesomeness. You failed? You're out of ammo.
• Want to, defeat a goblin but you have a goblin-slaying-broadsword? Roll twice for awesomeness and take the higher value. You got a 20? That goblin was obliterated. Good job.
• Want to pick up an item into your inventory? Roll for awesomeness. You got it? It's in your inventory.

Etc. Don't think too hard. Let a roll of the dice decide if you are unsure.

Base Awesomeness Stats

Here are some probably balanced awesomeness base stats depending on what kind of dice you are using:

• 6-sided: 4 or 5
• 8-sided: 5 or 6
• 10-sided: 6 or 7
• 12-sided: 7 or 8
• 20-sided: anywhere from 11-13

Character Sheet Template

Here's an example character sheet:

Name:
Awesomeness:
Race:
Class:
Inventory:
 * 

That's it. You don't even need the race or class if you don't want to have it.

You can add more if you feel it is relevant for your character. If your character is a street brat that has experience with haggling, then fuck it be the most street brattiest haggler you can. Try to not overload your sheet with information, this game is supposed to be simple. A sentence or two at most is good.

One Player is The World

The World is a character that other systems would call the Narrator, the Pathfinder, Dungeon Master or similar. Let's strip this down to the core of the matter. One player doesn't just dictate the world, they are the world.

The World also controls the monsters and non-player characters. In general, if you are in doubt as to who should roll for an event, The World does that roll.

Mixins/Mods

These are things you can do to make the base game even more tailored to your group. Whether you should do this is highly variable to the needs and whims of your group in particular.

Mixin: Adjustable Awesomeness

So, one problem that could come up with this is that bad luck could make this not as fun. As a result, add these two rules in:

• Every time you roll above your awesomeness, add 1 to your awesomeness stat
• Every time you roll below your awesomeness, remove 1 from your awesomeness stat

This should add up so that luck would even out over time. Players that have less luck than usual will eventually get their awesomeness evened out so that luck will be in their favor.

Mixin: No Awesomeness

In this mod, rip out Awesomeness altogether. When two parties are at odds, they both roll dice. The one that rolls higher gets what they want. If they tie, both people get a little part of what they want. For extra fun do this with six-sided dice.

• Monster wants to attack a player? The World and that player roll. If the player wins, they can choose to counterattack. If the monster wins, they do a wound or something.
• One player wants to steal from another? Have them both roll to see what happens.

Use your imagination! Ask others if you are unsure!

Other Advice

This is not essential but it may help.

Monster Building

Okay so basically monsters fall into two categories: peons and bosses. Peons should be easy to defeat, usually requiring one action. Bosses may require more and might require more than pure damage to defeat. Get clever. Maybe require the players to drop a chandelier on the boss. Use the environment.

In general, peons should have a very high base awesomeness in order to do things they want. Bosses can vary based on your mood.

Adjustable awesomeness should affect monsters too.

Worldbuilding

Take a setting from somewhere and roll with it. You want to do a cyberpunk jaunt in Night City with a sword-wielding warlock, a succubus space marine, a bard netrunner and a shapeshifting monk? Do the hell out of that. That sounds awesome.

Don't worry about accuracy or the like. You are setting out to have fun.

Special Thanks

Special thanks goes to Jared, who sent out this tweet that inspired this document. In case the tweet gets deleted, here's what it said:

heres a d&d for you

you have one stat, its a saving throw. if you need to roll dice, you roll your save.

you have a class and some equipment and junk. if the thing you need to roll dice for is relevant to your class or equipment or whatever, roll your save with advantage.

oh your Save is 5 or something. if you do something awesome, raise your save by 1.

no hp, save vs death. no damage, save vs goblin. no tracking arrows, save vs running out of ammo.

thanks to @Axes_N_Orcs for this

What's So Cool About Save vs Death?

can you carry all that treasure and equipment? save vs gains

I replied:

Can you get more minimal than this?

He replied:

when two or more parties are at odds, all roll dice. highest result gets what they want.

hows that?

This document is really just this twitter exchange in more words so that people less familiar with tabletop games can understand it more easily. You know you have finished when there is nothing left to remove, not when you can add something to "fix" it.

I might put this on my itch.io page.