The UGE Review: Basic Roleplaying 2023

The 2008 edition of Chaosium's Basic Roleplaying (BRP), a solid book with a bright yellow cover and distinctive cover design, is often referred to as the "Big Golden Book" or BGB. In terms of impact, it's one of the most significant RPG releases in the history of the hobby.


Often referred to as a systems tool-kit, it could also be thought of as a compendium, a collection of games. The BGB effectively contains RuneQuest, Call of Cthulhu, Stormbringer, and the outline of a system for sci-fi and supers, all based on a direct and highly playable system and a collection of spot rules that easily scales in complexity and detail. If the BGB has a weakness, the number of options can be overwhelming and there are a lot of choices to navigate from the idea of a game to play at a table. But as someone who had spent years with RuneQuest 3, applied as a generic base for fantasy, it was a seamless transition from the BGB to a successful campaign set in Middle-earth.


BRP in 2023 comes in a revised edition subtitled "Universal Game Engine" and so the UGE is the new BGB, though it shares the same iconic cover illustration. The virtues of BRP are are still fully present. The system is consistent and flexible. In practice, one of the most astounding things about a book the size of BRP is that it mostly stays behind you on the shelf. Once the characters are generated and the GM has prepared the scenario, everything you need to play is in the sheets and notes before you. Then you can close the book and put it aside. Since most checks are percentile, roll under against a given value, it's easy to glance down and assess the chances of success without a stack of modifiers; and since it's skill-based, there isn't a reference-sheet of special abilities and cases-by-case instances to consider. The rules fit together logically, and so it's easy to house-rule and adapt from a few basic principles.


Overall, any edition version of BRP feels grounded and believable. Hit points are tied to Strength and Constitution, so they don't keep escalating and soar above the level of stress and damage a person could conceivably take. Skill gains are incremental and tied to actions the character takes. The aim is not accurate simulation but verisimilitude, the sense that the fiction is credible and runs true to plausibility and expectation.


The revisions for UGE are well-chosen and necessary. Character generation is slightly streamlined and the options are better explained. The skill descriptions have less detail of the various levels of success (critical, special, etc.), which were not often referenced at the table. The bestiary section displays characteristic scores in a horizontal table, which saves space and is easier to read. The illustration style is more coherent and the images are generally interesting and evocative, although they tilt somewhat to historical settings.


The gains in layout make it all the more unfortunate that the tables are presented in a squintingly small typeface, which is hard to read even with sharp eyesight (or glasses on) and bright lighting. No one, for instance, is going to be able to roll and then quickly look up a result on the Major Wounds Table in the middle of play. The need for readable tables alone is a good reason to keep one's old copy of the BGB at hand during a session.


Apart from that, I have a few minor gripes: scope for changes in BRP that the UGE could have included. Given the "universal" tag, it would be nice to have at least one version of a fantasy or pre-modern character sheet that didn't list modern skills. Noting will knock you out of the moment than your elf character player sorting though a list of skills that include Psychotherapy and Heavy Machinery. And, given that the system is meant to be scaleable to different power levels, why is there no option for giving magicians more power to deal damage in combat? A single magic spell level which yields 1d6 damage costs a sharp 3 power points, which means that on average a magician is spending almost a power point per point of damage dealt.


Of course, the UGE gives you the tools to dial up and down the complexity of your game and transfer concepts seamlessly between settings – with a little work – but that's why it's so powerful as a base system. UGE is an "old school" system in that it doesn't present a pre-packaged and thematically pre-scripted world for you to start in, but a familiar, grounded, and conceptually coherent system from which you can build your own worlds and adventures.

Play the (Disc)World

Here’s a thing that can sometimes happen when someone is interested in starting out with play the world or FKR gaming:

New Referee: I want to get started with FKR gaming.

FKR: Great! All you need are players ready to describe their character, a world to play, and an experienced referee to adjudicate.

New Referee: Well, I have some experience with other RPGs, but I’m not sure how to resolve actions without some sort of rules mechanics and guidance. What should I use?

FKR: Well, you’re the referee now. How about opposed rolls, roll high, percentiles, roll and read, dice chains, dice less?

New Referee: But I’m just getting started. Can I get some guidance on the mechanics and adjudication?

FKR: You’re the referee now. You decide.

And so it goes.

Now you can start on the Discworld

Need a clear set of FKR-ish* play the world rules with a clean resolution system and implicit character creation?

*Not entirely free kriegsspiel because the wargaming/combat “krieg” element is deprioritized. There are no combat rules per se, only general resolution – which can apply to combat.

Then find yourself a copy of the free Discworld QuickStart Guide from Modiphius, because this guide contains a complete and accessible set of rules for FKR resolution in a fictional world.

In this case, the world in question is Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, but consider what you get in this guide.

• A complete free-form resolution mechanic: the player describes their action, based on any element of their character sheet. The referee assigns an Outcome die from d4 to D12 based on the character’s traits and situation. The referee only ever rolls a d8 because the chance of success is relative, but this is also a nod to Discworld lore.
• Depending on the rolls, the referee resolves the consequences, from success to mixed success to consequences from Inconsequential [sic] to Minor, Major, and Exceptional. These occupy the character sheet until resolved. The character has a small pool of Luck to help manage consequences.
• Sample characters, and since characters a wholly based on description, it’s easy to infer that character generation is just a matter of specifying Organization, Background, Niches (2), Quirks (2), and Core (belief). In effect, a complete character gen system.

The system suits an open, conversational, and humorous style of play ideal for the Discworld. And to be sure, the forthcoming full rule book will be mostly to structure and fill out the fictional world on the back of the Great Turtle. But for the new FKR referee, the point is that everything in the QuickStart edition can be adapted to the world YOU want to play. 

Consider, for example, a character from a darker, sword and sorcery city:

• Organization: Thieves Guild of Blackwillow
• Background: Raised in the shadow of the Noose
• Niche: Deft pickpocket
• Niche: A stab in the dark
• Quirk: Often overlooked
• Quirk: The meddling priest sees your good side
• Core: Slip by, right under their noses

In time, you’ll want to tweak the rules – that’s what a FKR referee does. There’s no reason, for example, to always roll a d8 in your game, if you want to tilt the odds further. And if you’re ready, then you can start at the Many Ways Inn, and let your own world take shape. But the core of the Modiphius Discworld system puts a whole world of FKR at your fingertips, with clear mechanics and examples.

Roll 6 or Roll 9: Blade and Haversack

 A quick note on a recent find. Blade & Haversack on the msjx blog is a neat 2d6 iteration of the concepts of Sword & Backpack, but I also noticed that the B&H target numbers – 6 for Average, 9 for Hard, 11 for “nigh Impossible” – align very closely with the scale for Roll and Read on 2d6, as seen here.

Maybe it’s because 6 is half of 12, but there’s something quite satisfying about rolling for 6+ for an average or routine task, where skill and circumstances come together, and the next check of 9 neatly flips the chances of success to about 1/3.

B&H also introduces Stress Points to manage “hits” and other categories of challenge, like multiple successes to unpick a complicated lock. Like any other ultralight system, including Sword & Backpack, you need to do some of the development yourself to arrive at a playable game. But it’s nice to see how these principles converge.

Hits and hazards

Probably since the first player character was crushed by a troll in one strike, RPGs have acknowledged the need for a buffer between the player characters and instant, arbitrary death. And this has lead to confusion and debate, not to mention plentiful variants, from Hits to Stamina to Wounds to Wound Levels and Consequences. And whether we choose to use ever-growing piles of Hit Points by Hit Dice per Level, or Hits by Location, or a stable pool of Hit Points closer to the average of Strength and Constitution, it’s hard to be sure exactly what these HP are.

Are they are rating of how much physical damage the body has taken? Or do they include abstractions such as physical harm, fatigue, luck, shock, or even the character’s will to survive? In most cases, as Tracy Hickman has pointed out, these Hit Point systems are really a pacing mechanism, showing the dramatic gap between the start of combat and the point where one side or the other is defeated.

So for lighter systems, tinkering or for solo play, I use what I call Resilience or Resource (Res). Each character has perhaps 2-3 points each, and a significant strike costs a point. When the character has no more Resilience, then the consequences of damage are severe, depending on context (they’re wounded, struck down, knocked out, etc.). This provides the interval between a single hit and a character expiring, with dangerous consequences down the line.

Hazard Points

What if we reversed the flow of hits and replaced them with Hazards? Here, instead of handing out damage, the GM assigns Hazard Points, which represent how much danger or trouble the character is in. This is also abstract, but it’s based on the situation and the risk the player is taking, not their personal reserve of luck or vitality.

A Hazard Point could be:

• A minor wound or blow, that throws the character off-balance
• Fatigue, as the character weathers a series of strikes
• Position, as the character is outnumbered or driven into corner
• Exposure, as the character risks enemy fire to maneuver

Or any other feature of the situation that raises the stakes.

Character would have a suitable maximum number of hazard points they could take, around 3 for a gritty engagement, before their luck runs out and they face real, proportional consequences: a wound, a stunning strike, a disabling injury.

How characters deal with Hazard Points also depends on the context. Fatigue can be taken off by resting in safety. Minor wounds would take time to heal. Perhaps a character under fire can take shelter. Or armor can absorb a hit. In these cases, the Hazard Point is erased.

To represent Hazards, the GM could use a pool of chips of some kind, which are handed to the player and handed back as the situation is resolved.

This resolution system is still abstract, but the focus is on risk and danger, not PC qualities, and the Hazard tokens that track upwards as danger looms are a nice way to manage tension in the moment.

Rise of the meta-GM

If you find yourself flicking through one RPG system, like Imperium Maledictum, and thinking to yourself that it could be played with XD20 or Basic Roleplaying (BRP), then you might be a meta-GM.

Meta-gaming, from the player's point of view, is when a player uses their personal, real-life knowledge of the game rules or setting to guide their in-game character's actions. Sometimes this is useful, or at least tolerable, and sometimes this can disrupt or short-circuit a scenario. 

Meta-gamesmastering, the domain of the meta-GM, by extension, is when the GM or referee uses their personal, real-life knowledge of the patterns of RPG mechanics and game design to guide their in-game practice, improvising, interpreting, anticipating, or modifying the procedures of the game system in use at the table.

The phrase came to me because I'm in the situation of GMing for friends and players new to gaming and perforce using their preferred system—Dungeons & Dragons 5e. D&D has its faults, but for new players it's a smooth and engaging introduction to fantasy RPGs. All the same, D&D's exception-based structure and parade of feats and special cases has the tinkerer looking at how others adapt the core rules, which led me to the Dungeon Craft channel and this hugely informative take on the core mechanics of the D20 system: You Don't Need Apps to Play D&D. 

This really means that you don't need the D&D app, loaded with sourcebooks and rules links (or even, in fact, the rule book) to make a determination at the table about success or failure, especially within a statistically "balanced" system. The Professor DM has often referenced XD20 and, in particular, the insight that there are only 20 numbers on a d20—so however complex the decision tree around chances of success or failure, the end product is only ever a roll of a d20 with 20 possible outcomes, and for any given roll a few points either side of the target are rarely significant. 

Which, in meta-gaming terms, leads us to a table like this (with apologies to Dungeon Craft):

Roll a D20 —Did the character succeed?
20 — Yes! A 20 always succeeds and the roll is taken as a critical success
15+ —Yes — a high roll succeeds
10+ —Yes, perhaps. The character usually succeeds, if proceeding with skill OR an advantage (situational bonus, weaker enemy)
6+ — Maybe, but only with skill AND situational advantage, otherwise, mostly no; the GM decides.
2+ — No (there's always a change of failure from 1-5)
1 — Fail! The worst possible roll is always a failure or a fumble

You might notice, as a meta-GM, that this table itself only has six rows, which, with a glance at And Play, can be further abstracted thus:

Roll a D6 —Did the character succeed?

6 — Yes! A 6 always succeeds and this is often the best possible result
5+ —Yes — a high roll succeeds (unless the task is desperate or foolhardy)
4+ —Yes, probably. The character usually succeeds, all things being equal, unless the task is notably difficult or the character is challenged or unprepared)
3+ — Maybe, but only with skill OR situational advantage; the GM decides
2+ — No, unless the task is easy and the character is fully prepared; the GM decides
1 — Fail! The worst possible roll is always a failure or a fumble (always a chance of failure)

So, if the GM (or DM) is playing as a referee, mediating between the rules and the players but working within the general structure of the system, which includes adapting the given procedures for situations that aren't specifically anticipated, such as calling for an ability check when no specific rule applies, then the meta-GM is applying their knowledge of the rules and the general processes and trends to emulate the experience without strict reference or fidelity to the rulebook.

This might be the trick to FKR style play: you're still running a game, not proceeding by GM fiat, but the meta-GM has tools that generate the same experience with fewer intervening processes.

This isn't necessarily the best or easiest way to play. With a balanced, grounded system like BRP and engaged players, running encounters within the frame of the published rules can make for great sessions. Adjust the meta/in-system balance to your taste (and keep the d6 handy).

But, as I suggested earlier, if you wanted to pick up the concept of a game but not the overhead of the system itself, then the path of the meta-GM beckons. The premise of Imperium Maledictum, playing the agents of a powerful yet flawed patron against the grim background of intrigue and violence of the Warhammer 40K setting, is intriguing. Perhaps it would also work well as a gritty medieval fantasy, restaged in the mazy courts and alleyways of a city on the borderlands? Can the meta-GM then run everything with a handful of gothic-looking d6s?

In X-Treme Dungeon Mastery 2E, the Hickmans liken their XD20 system to the custom car engine that the GM has to attach to the transmission to turn the wheels of the game. That’s the meta-GM role: assembling the engine and welding it to the chassis to make the custom vehicle for their game, their adventures. The particular parts you choose—d6, d20, d100—classes, skills, abilities, counters, and stage-dressing, are all up to you.

A faster BRP

There's no doubt here that Basic Roleplaying is an excellent system that's surprisingly easy for beginners, adaptable, and can support extended play. But even if you were to leap in with the Basic Roleplaying SRD as your compact rules, many of the systems grouped under the OSR label, and early versions of D&D itself, have one significant advantage for new players: it's quicker to roll up a new character and get started.

Now, with a group of interested adults 30–60 minutes rolling characteristics, assigning and calculating skills, deriving HP and MP and the rest, creates a substantial, interesting character sheet that will serve well for a long time. But it would be fun, sometimes, to just create a character and go in half the time or less.

To that end, here are some notes towards faster BRP characters. The skills and professions offered heavily favor fantasy and historical worlds.

Faster characters for Basic Roleplaying

Characteristics

Generate the BRP characteristics—STR, DEX, CON, SIZ, INT, POW, APP—according to the SRD. Calculate Hit Points (HP), Magic Points (MP), and Damage bonus (Db), as well as characteristic rolls, using the same procedures.

Adventuring Skills

The standard BRP skill list is comprehensive but long, and skills are drawn from many incompatible eras. These skills are adjusted for fantasy adventuring.

These skills are common to all characters at the starting percentages given. 

• Jump 45%
• Climb 55%
• Perception 35%: replaces Listen, Spot, Sense, Insight, etc. May also be used to track targets with a suitable profession indicated.
• Stealth 25%: Used for all covert movement and covers hiding also. Hiding (without moving) is generally easier (+20% bonus).
• Swim 30% or DEX x 5 if Lucky or approved by GM as suitable to background.
• Throw 45%
• Brawl 45%: fighting with hands and feet, or commonplace and improvised weapons (knives, sticks, etc.).
• First Aid 45%

Professional Skills

Select a broad profession, and figure the related skills accordingly. 

Warrior

Any martial profession, from soldiers to wandering mercenaries to mounted knights.

• Ride (DEX x 5%): may substitute another mode of transport or Strategy (INT x 5%).
• Warrior (Average STR, INT, DEX) x 5% in 3 weapons (maximum 75%).

Expert

Any profession relying on specialist knowledge and training, from scholars to diplomats, merchants, spies, and performers.

• Literacy INT x 5%
• Expertise (Field) INT x 5%: field may be any area of specialist training: medicine, exploration, trade,  engineering, performance, spy-craft, alchemy, and so on.

Magician

Any profession using magical or spiritual powers. such as wizards, sorcerers, witches, mystics, and so on.

• Literacy INT x 5%
• Spells: define four spells at INT x 3% chance to cast

Rogue

Shadier pursuits, often developing expertise on the opposite side of the law. Rogues may be thieves, burglars, outlaws, or merely drifters who live by their wits.

• Sleight DEX x 5%: replaces the Fine Manipulation skill, and tends towards pick-pocketing, snaffling and concealing small items, and so on.
• Tinker DEX x 5%: crafting and improvising with materials at hand, but also tampering with devices such as locks and traps, forcing chests and windows, and so forth.

Hybrid

With approval, combine two professional skills from two professions. The Magician profession spells are too demanding to master with another profession.

Background Skills

As a finishing touch, distribute INTx5 across all skills, including weapons, which have the same base skill rating as the SRD. Can be used to acquire or improve spells with GM approval.

No skill for a starting character can total more than 75%.

Identity

Record Name, Profession, Background, other personal details.

Back to Basics

Add suitable equipment, and you're now ready to play using any flavor of the Basic Roleplaying rules, although the lightest version can be found in the SRD.

Getting in to Adventure

The scenario is the bridge between the characters and the world. But how do your characters find themselves gathered at the Many Ways Inn?

Roll a die:

1. Runaway: whether from a cruel or dull situation, you had to escape.
2. Landless: through conflict or other chances, you have lost all your prospects and must, perforce, begin again.
3. Summoned: whether by a letter from a patron or some other call, you are brought here to answer.
4. Commanded: a patron or lord has ordered you to join some mission or venture.
5. Happenstance: pure chance or a series of unfortunate events brings you to this juncture.
6. Choice: Perhaps worst of all, you have chosen a life of danger and uncertainty.

What the character will do and encounter (the scenario) comes before mechanics (the game system). And although every scenario needs a setting, consider not just the “where” of the adventure but the “when…”. A scenario is not just a place, it’s a challenge, a dynamic, with constraints and possibilities, that the characters approach organically.

Here’s a simple starter.

Mutton and Marauders

Two ettins, Nygel and Treffor, have crept down from the Garshaws barrens to remedy their hunger, rounding up a small flock of sheep and a shepherd for good measure. Unknown to anyone, grimlock rustlers on a similar mission have picked up the ettins’ trail, and so rescuers, trolls, and grimlocks are set to intersect near a site* at the base of the Garshaws.

Nygel, Ettin [3] - Armed with tree-root club
Towering, massively strong, dull-witted, slow

Treffor, Ettin [3] - Armed with nocked axe, heavy hides act as crude armor
Lean, strong, sly, greedy

Grimlocks [1] a troop of 13 - Armed with spears, daggers, oddments of armor
Ragged, half-starved, nasty; dangerous when cornered, or when able to surrounded and sneak-attack an opponent

* Note that the adventure site is left open, with an eye to continuing the adventure. Is it a cave, leading into greater depths; or a stone circle near a partly exposed barrow-tomb; or a ruined hill-fort, a remnant of better times for the kingdom?

Resolution

The key to play-the-world or FKR resolution (the game system or rules) is not that every action is determined by referee fiat, but that the players concentrate on their characters and the situation, and the referee is ready, through judgement and experience, to resolve their efforts with tools that are both fair and simple to use.

It’s not that there are no mechanics, but that the mechanics are compact and easy enough to generate the chance element that means that the play is not simply dictated but develops in unexpected and dramatic ways as it runs.

Of course, the right tools that are also fair and simple require some judgement or a sense of what works at the table. This might well come from one’s experience of another game, but for anyone new to this style of play, it means that some guidelines, however slight, are useful.

So, here’s a brief rundown of the Tinkerage’s current resolution toolkit.

Roll and Read

Roll and read for characters assumes that characters have a fair, but by no means certain, chance of success, based on the conditions and their own aptitudes.

• Roll 2d6 and read the outcomes, adjusting to circumstances: 2–3 (fail); 4–5 (mishap); 6–8 (standard - the expected outcome); 9–10 (good); 11–12 (great).
• Can roll opposed and read for active opponents. Resilience rank breaks ties in opposed situations.
• Modifiers of +1/-1 are very rare, for exceptional circumstances (magical gear, terrible conditions).
• For a specific aim or outcome, like shooting a bow at a distant target, also read to meet a threshold number within the basic ranges: 6-8 is within standard range of difficulty; 9+ hard, and so on.

Combat is a kind of challenge where characters attempt to inflict strikes on their opponents while maintaining their own guard. A hit of sufficient force inflicts a strike, and when strikes are greater than a character’s resilience they are struck down. A character struck down may be stunned, injured, disarmed, or even killed or in a critical condition.

Screening rolls

For the referee, a single die is often the best tool. A screening roll is a quick roll of a die to clarify a situation or filter out a range of possibilities. 

• Roll for quality or conditions: 1 is worst, 6 is best.
• Roll for questions of probability: 2+ is very likely, 6+ is very unlikely.

Play the Adventure, not the Rules

Look back and think about Mutton and Marauders. The ettins are tough — unless the characters find a way to weaken them first, they should be harder to hit even for the strongest warrior in the group. Maybe roll and read and look for 9+ to hit? What if a character is hit by Nygel’s tree-root club? Make a screening roll to see how bad that strike is. The grimlocks aren’t strong individually, but what if they get the drop on the characters during the hunt, are they then defending at -1 or worse? What is the weather like when the characters set out to track the ettins — there’s another screening roll, perhaps.

And finally, if you don’t care for 2d6, then grab a d10 or put a classic d20 on the table. Think in terms of percentages? Then roll a d100. Know the rough chances of success and failure, give the characters a decent chance when they make a decent choice, and you have the core of freeform play at hand. Sooner or later the dice will surprise you and your players, and that’s when the adventure begins.

Geting in to Character

 Those who meet at the Many Ways Inn are a curious group, driven by many strange paths to seek adventure, after their fashion.

Every game, free-form or otherwise, rests on the interaction of characters and world. And although the referee is the arbiter of the given world, players and their characters represent the active inhabitants and movers of that world. Player characters are there to question and explore. These questions can reveal even to the referee opportunities and realities that were never before apparent.

Characters briefs: in the world, not the numbers

The peoples of Arihmere, townsman and peasant alike, have long settled within stout walls and hedges.

In a free-form system, characters are not defined primarily by mechanics but the terms of the world itself. 

So, we begin with the character’s descriptive brief: a short summary of abilities, background, and calling.

It’s sometimes useful to throw the dice for inspiration to shape your character's background, but there's always choice and room any character concept that appeals.

Roll or select an attribute, a feature of your character that is distinctive and characteristic.

1. Strong
2. Agile
3. Tough
4. Clever
5. Learned
6. Bold

In the largely feudal realms of Arihmere and about, determine a social station: roll 1d6 low to high, or work out a background with your referee.

1. Outlaw, outcast, or an outlander
2. Serf
3. Peasant
4. Freeholder
5. Wealthy
6. Gentry (petty nobility, knight)

Most individuals come from a manor or village attached to a stronghold, but on a roll of 6 they may originate in a larger city or town.

Weave together station and background with a calling. All along the Wolves Lane, we find those who fight, those who work, and those who study.

1-3: called to toil and trade

4-5: called to arms

6: called to faith and learning

For example, a high station and martial calling would suggest a knight errant. A lower standing a soldier or levy. A peasant, called to toil and trade, may be a sort of crafter, or perhaps a forester. An urban freeholder may well be a merchant or artisan.

Character record

Now we're ready to introduce your character with a few notes and mechanics.

Assign three notable abilities related to to their:

• attributes (characteristics or physical and mental features)
• skills and training related to calling and background
• Player characters have one distinction (a special ability, characteristic, or knack that makes the character unique).

Resilience

For the purposes of play, characters have an initial Resilience rank of [2].

Resilience is used to assess how many major impacts or injuries the character can withstand, and also their general level of ability and expertise.

0: Unranked—weak or untrained

1: lowly — commoners, levies, harriers

2: adventurers (start here) — trained militia, soldiers

3: skilled —veterans, captains, tough creatures

4: experts — strong, deadly

5: masters — champions, exceptional, monsters

6 or more: legendary — heroes, dragons

One Sheet Rules — Your Old School Experience

The OSR movement (the Old School Rules/Revival/Renaissance, etc.) has, over the years, brought to light a lot of interesting rules and ideas, but a recent instance, namely Bill King's One Sheet Rules, seems well worth the time to consider. 

Taking inspiration from early editions of D&D, The Black Hack, Knave, and other OSR and rules-light systems, the One Sheet Rules are an ultra-light, flexible system that takes many familiar OSR concepts and shapes them into a compact framework that would be just enough for any OSR style adventuring.

The simplicity of One Sheet Rules is outstanding. For example, almost every step in character creation is an easy to remember rule of "three": three points go to three abilities (STR, DEX, INT), you begin with 3d3 hit points, you choose three items of equipment or spells, and so on. The basic system, roll d20 and roll high against a target, is cleverly configured so that, if you choose, only players ever need to roll. To run an encounter, all you need to know is the level of the opposition, which serves rather like the HD rating of older systems. There is a experience system, but "advances", like experience rolls in RuneQuest, are based on rolls, not accumulated experience points.

Is it perfect? No. But it is imminently adjustable, and that's what matters. Personally, I would give characters slightly more hit-points in the beginning, like RuneQuest, but with a flatter accumulation and a maximum of about 18. And I would decouple Monster levels from hit points, so PCs could face a frail but deadly-swift foe, or a weak attack from a massive creature that takes considerable damage to drop. But both of these decisions are but a moment to make and easily ported to the rules.

With the Once Sheet Rules, it's possible to convert adventures and even whole campaign settings on the fly. I've sometimes wondered what it would take to pick up and run an old MERP adventure or start playing in the Old World or Warhammer without the cumbersome original rules. Although Basic Roleplaying is always an option, ultralight systems like One Sheet Rules are even faster to adapt.

Where to find them

The One Sheet Rules can be hard to find, and the Tinkerage only came across them by chance.

The One Sheet Rules by William King are available on itch.io: https://billk.itch.io/one-sheet-rules

You can also subscribe to the One Sheet Review mailing list (links in the rules), which allows you to receive the One Sheet Magic and Monsters edition, which includes a basic bestiary and spell list (highly recommended).

Fighting Fantasy for your freeform game

Fighting Fantasy (the minimal gamebook rules) could be enough of a framework for rule-light, freeform gaming, with a little judgement and tweaking.

Core Rules

Choose your character type, such as WARRIOR, SORCERER, or ROGUE.
Your initial SKILL is 7.
Your initial STAMINA is 1d6+6
Your initial LUCK is 1d6+6

Choose three Special Skills to complete your character, and note any equipment your GM allocates (usually a weapon, a backpack, some coin and rations, and optional potions).

Now, since most of the FF rules are easy to remember, you can start playing.

Test for Skill when character abilities and Special Skills are on the line.
Test for Luck when chance and happenstance are the deciding factor.
Roll probability (x in 6) when the chance of success depends on a variety of factors, including the external circumstances and the soundness of the player's plan.

In combat, the highest roll plus SKILL hits, and the standard wound is 2 STAMINA. Bigger creatures can ATTACK more than one target per round, but never roll more than once.

Apply modifiers freely as the conditions and tactics on the battlefield change.

Playing FF as a Freeform Game

From then on, the GM is free to work like the author of an adventure gamebook to develop and extend the rules according to the direction the game takes.

Experience

At certain key points in the campaign, characters advance 1 SKILL and 2 STAMINA. Advances in LUCK are rare and memorable.

At first, SKILL 7 characters will be able to defeat only weaker creatures (goblins, orcs, rat men, wolves); choose their foes carefully, and encourage "inventive" tactics. Common Trolls have SKILL 8. In this world, many stronger creatures become deadly terrors, dreadful, lurking threats to be avoided or outwitted, at least until the adventurers gain a few SKILL points.

Humans have a maximum of 12/24 in SKILL, LUCK, and STAMINA. Dragons are always terrifying.

Combat

STAMINA damage is weariness as well as wounds and shock. Player characters are truly injured at zero STAMINA.

Most weapons begin at 2 damage, but over time the characters may discover finer weapons, or come across armour with a x in 6 chance of stopping a point or two of damage.

Arrows (test of Skill to hit) become an important strategy to wear down a foe before closing for battle.

Magic

Add a MAGIC score (or another custom score, like RESOLVE, if your campaign requires it). Design a list of spells, set the cost in MAGIC, and continue. Perhaps learning spells leaves little time for sword-play (-2 SKILL in battle).

The Green Dragon in its lair

Under pandemic restrictions, the Tinkerage is confined to home and taking the opportunity to play Green Dragon style scenarios with two novice, or beginner, players. Overall, this has gone very well. Green Dragon play is designed to get up and running fast, and adventures are full of encounters, battles, and dramatic turns.

Here are the current conventions, in a nutshell.

Characters are simple, and fit on a single index-card:

• Type: this is a short description of background and calling, such as Knight of Chalice, Elven Archer, Mysterious Witch-doctor.
• Attribute: a significant characteristic, such as Tough, Intelligent, or Agile.
• Skill: the character’s signature skill, such as sword and shield, archery, or knife-fighting.
• Special: a character”s outstanding feature, often inventive and unique, such as a talent for detecting lies, talking to animals, or magical tricks and curses.
• Each character begins with 3 Hits.

All aspects of the character, including equipment, are chosen by the player, and approved or modified by the GM.

The rules are a familiar version of roll and read with two regular dice. In this simple method, the player declares an action, the GM assesses the likely outcomes, and the dice roll. Any roll of 6+ is close enough to go as expected. Lower rolls are progressively worse than expected, higher rolls, from 9+, are better and better!

The only new rule is the addition of Luck points the younger players can spend to overcome unreasonably bad results that can lead to frustration rather than engagement. We will experiment with a small luck pool, starting with 1 point per session. (Sessions are usually short.)

Addendum; Easy battle pieces

Pitched battles run quickly in this system, but younger players appreciate a figure that they can focus on and to visualize the situation. Any handy chess pieces work well, but the Tinkerage has been experimenting with custom printable tokens folded into standing playing pieces.

1 - Locate some suitable icons, with clear, distinctive graphics. The icons site game-icons.net is a great place to start.

2 - In Google Draw, or a suitable app, set up your printable pieces, using an approximately 1” x 4” grid, with four 1” squares (in fact, slightly less than 1” sits neatly on a standard battle map). The two center blocks will represent the facing side and back of your playing piece. The icons are up to you and the players, but for the facing side I used a portrait style icon, and for the rear side icons representing the character’s battle gear.

3 - Print, cut out, and fold the pieces into a triangle. Use a small coin (a US penny is perfect) to weight the base, with a piece of clear tape wrapped over to hold the paper together. 

Now, choose any adventure or propose your own, and begin.

Craft and Luck at the Green Dragon

[Since the Blogger app caused an inadvertent repost of Narrative Adventures at the Green Dragon pub, the Green Dragon discussion continues with a close look at resolution. This minimalist mechanic is "balanced" because all outcomes are weighted around the middle – a fair roll indeed!]

Let us look at the table used to assess a character's skill and luck in a doubtful situation. This well worn table, somewhat revised, is consulted whenever characters take action according to their particular skills and abilities in a risky situation.

The player rolls two common tavern dice, and the professor interprets the result:

2-3... Horrible. This is often counted as a fumble or serious misfortune. In battle, the character may be severely wounded or even defeated.
4-5... Poor. An error or mishap. In battle, the character's guard is down and they may be wounded or forced to retreat.
6-8... Tolerable (6) to Fair (7) to Skillful (8). A tolerable to good outcome, usually interpreted broadly as the expected or middling result. In battle the character stands their ground and may wound their opponent.
9–10... Fine. A very good to excellent effort. In battle, a strong hit.
11–12... Marvelous to Exceptional. An outstanding result, often described as uncanny or elvish craft, combining exceptional skill and good fortune. The outcome is always decisive.

NOTES

• The professor rarely provides an adjustment, but often rules precisely according to the situation, especially in the 6–8 range. For instance, if a skilled hunter rolls a "5" while tracking a stag, this may not mean utter failure, but rather the tracks become muddled or pass through a tangled briar.
• When a character has a substantial advantage, the professor grants them an additional die to roll, and the player chooses the best pair. In the case of a crucial disadvantage, the professor chooses the worst pair instead!
• A 6 on any die is called the "crown" and grants an immediate advantage in the situation, in addition to the benefit of the current roll. Two "crowns", being a 12 in total, are greatly valued.
• A 1 on any die is called the "evil eye" and imposes a disadvantage in the situation, which may affect the next turn. Two evils eyes, 2 in total, are greatly feared as more than a mere mishap.
• Rolling a 1 and a 6 means the situation holds steady!

On some rolls, a "hazard" is included, representing the number to be rolled to avoid some threat or overcome a particular difficulty, thus:

7. Doubtful
8. Daunting
9. Desperate
10. Sheer chance!

If the player fails to roll greater than or equal the hazard, this does not always mean their character failed (unless, perhaps, they rolled 2 or 3), only that the danger was too great. For example, if a character is fording a raging river with a hazard of 8 and rolls 7, they are taking every precaution but still find themselves swept off their feet by the current.

Narrative adventures at the Green Dragon pub

#Repost#

A speculative sketch, loosely inspired by the (rumored?) free-form, improvised gaming of early designers and players. 

What if other great world-builders took this path?

A game and story at the Professor's table

Professor T--'s group meets at the Green Dragon pub at least once a week. They play a curious game, which resembles more a story or a piece of theatre, inspired by German "free" Kriegsspiel, and best described as a sort of guided adventure in an imaginary realm.

Materials required are: plentiful supplies of paper (exam booklets are common), pens, pencils, common dice, and occasionally chess pieces and chequers, to mark the places of all the participants in a combat.

Each of the players brings a notepad and a sheet of paper dedicated to their "character". On this sheet are many notes, including the character's name and particulars, their salient characteristics, story and lineage. There is also space for lore regarding the history of each kindred, intermixed with notes on quirks, such as the dwarfs' ability to light fires wherever needed, and snippets of common knowledge, including fragments of elvish legend. Room is set aside for lists of gear and other trinkets that the character carries. We have seen characters described as elves, dwarfs, burglars, woodsmen, rangers, knights, hunters, and wizards, among many others!

The professor also arrives with several notebooks, closely filled with extensive notes, glossaries, and background materials, and many maps and sketches.

When play begins, the professor outlines an intriguing situation, continuing an adventure that clearly started some time ago. Each player replies with their preferred course of action, and the professor then responds with whatever happens next, prompting another player to reply, and so on. Journeys, skirmishes, traps, discoveries, and many curious encounters are all resolved by discussion, plain common sense, and the turns of the story. If the players are wise and attentive, they will usually overcome such difficulties. If they are foolhardy or proud, then their situation will deteriorate.

From time to time the outcome of some action is at issue or more than reasonably uncertain, and then the professor will call for a roll of the dice, and perhaps consult one or more of the many small tables scattered among his notes. One table, labelled "Luck or Craft", is often referred to, thus:

2-3... Horrible
4-5... Poor
6-9... Tolerable -- well
10-12... Marvel. elvish! [sic]

When the dice roll, ones are to be feared, and called "the evil eye". Sixes are highly prized, and sometimes called "the crown".

A thoughtful player who demonstrates the great resolve (or skill) of their character, is sometimes permitted to roll three dice and tally the best two.

Brief and intense fights take place from time to time. Such skirmishes rarely continue for more than a few "turns", with the rare exception of protracted battles. The professor is not sentimental about armed combat, and such scenes are short and deadly. The players will usually prevail (although combat always involves rolls, and so an element of risk), but if they misjudge their position, challenge dreadful foes, press their luck too far, or succumb to blood-lust, even the strongest will fall, memorably.

Another curious table, much used, is kept at hand during such battles:
5... goblin, spider, wolf
6... orc or grt. goblin
7... man-at-arms, grt. orc
9... troll, giant, fell beast
10... capt., wyrm, wraith
12... drake, horror

Now and then, the professor will make a "secret roll" of his own design, to judge how things go by chance, or to see if the characters blunder into, or across, something unseen, or are taken by surprise, or put in an interesting situation by happenstance.

Character may indeed be dazed, poisoned, wounded, enchanted, wearied, and so forth, and must make note of these effects and bear the consequences until the matter is resolved.

When the adventure (or chapter) is concluded, it is time to rest, tend to wounds, and divide any treasures found.

Solo tinkering — Play all the Books

The Tinkerage has been experimenting with solo roleplaying as a way to test some of the freeform, light and Play the World concepts with house rules and designs.

One unexpected benefit of this approach, which could be brought to multiplayer games, is that you get to play not just your own system but ALL the RPG systems, and so one's collection of gaming books acquires new life when you're not tied to a single rules set. So far I've used Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay to generate careers and encounters, BareBones Fantasy to generate missions and locations, Blacksand for Advanced Fighting Fantasy for urban design, adapted Traveller to set up combat ranges, and so on. Now, all the careers, classes, spell-lists, and random mission, encounter, and reward generators scattered across a shelf of game books and systems become relevant and useful again, and help to generate a world and adventures I would never have picked from my own head.

The "system" is free-flowing and based on roll and read principles with other ideas I’ve used here, but structured enough to generate variety and surprises.

For characters, I pick or adapt a handful of basic characteristics from any system that inspires or feels right. In this case, Strength, Dexterity, Intellect, and Will. I roll 2d6 for each characteristic, and a 9+ is "+1" and an 11-12 is "+2"; a 5- would be "-1", but for the sake of playability I would discard a character with a net negative set of characteristics.

Then, from the career or class description (I used a Soldier from Warhammer, rolled at random) I choose a suitable 4-5 skills or talents, and allocate 6-7 points, with +2 the highest single rating.

The player character has 3 Hits, but experimentally I converted each "Hit" to 1d6 hit points, so rolling for a total from 3-18.

For example:
Corporal Angfire, Peasant, Soldier
Strength 6, Agility 9 (+1), Intellect 9 (+1), Will 8
3 Hits (12 hp)
+1 Fight, Cool, Dodge
+2 Marksman

In play, whenever the character is in a spot, a point where I, as player or GM, can't easily judge the outcome, I roll 2d6, and add any modifiers for the character:

• On 7+ the outcome is a bare success, enough to keep the scene moving. The character may still be in trouble.
• A roll of 9+ is decisive.
• 5- is a setback or failure. A hit in combat. 
• A 2-3 indicates severe negative consequences, such as a heavier hit.
• The target roll occasionally shifts to indicate situational risks or advantage, but it is is never less than 5+ or more than 9+.

Most combats are skirmishes, and so only the character rolls to attack and/or defend. If the combat were to be more dangerous or against a single, determined opponent, both sides would roll and compare totals.

As I said, the character's Hits are tallied by hit points, and so damage is also converted to a d6 roll, with armour reducing the hit points lost by a small amount (1–2 points for light to medium protection). Ordinary creatures and opponents just have a fixed number of Hits to take them down.

There are two other rolls I use to represent the uncertainty of a scene in a solo game:
Probability - what are the chances? (1d6):
Very likely 2+
Likely 3+
Possible 4+
Unlikely 5+
Very unlikely 6+

Situation - how good or bad is the current situation? (1d6):
1- Very Bad
2 - Bad
3 - Doubtful
4 - OK
5 - Good
6 - Excellent

So with a light framework and some inspiration it’s possible to play all the books.

The Cracked Kingdom

All was well in the reign of Curefin the Good, but that reign is over.

Martyn now sits on a contested throne, makes wars, grinds the poor, stirs rebellion.

They Fey Courts have grown dark and unfriendly, and meddle in mortal affairs.

Hedge-wizards and sorcerers bicker, and some finger the dusty covers of books of forbidden lore with a new interest.

And as old treaties fray, familiar enemies press at the borders of the cracked kingdom.

⚔

How often could a campaign, a game, get underway on the back of a few scribbled notes like these, found on a scrap of paper at the back of the desk?

Perhaps all you need to do with these is get ready to play the world:

• Characters have 7 points for attributes and skills (max. +2); 6 Hits
• In danger, roll 7+ to succeed: higher (9+) is better, lower (5-) is worse (negotiate modifiers)
• In combat, everyone rolls and the higher roll succeeds: 1 light damage; 2 solid; 3 heavy (armour provides additional protection, scene by scene, on the same scale)

Freeform, Light Characters

As outlined in the last post on playing the world with freeform, light rules, creating a character becomes a process of developing a description and highlighting only the significant, to play, attributes.

How might this work?

First, come up with a concept around the role you want to play. This can be a profession, a character type, or even a simple background. Later, you'll attach a name and a short title to this role.

Then, come up with a description of a couple of lines or sentences. This description will include the characteristics (such as deft, tough, cunning) and the skills (swordplay, climbing, crafting) that best fit the role you have in mind, and any quirks that make a character unique.

How to come up with a concept or description and pick skills and characteristics? The freeform technique means that this can be almost anything. You can choose from a book or show that you like. You can draw a picture or choose a miniature, and let what you see be your guide. You can pick up any RPG rules and choose character professions and characteristics and abilities that capture your interest and look playable. You can even roll a few dice for the stats in that rulebook (such as strength, dexterity, intelligence, and so on) and shape your concept around the results.

When you're satisfied with the description, then pick out the notable attributes: from 5 to 7 is a good number. Assign a +2 score to two at most, and +1 to the rest. This does not have to be exact, or add up to given number of points, because it's up to the player and the GM to judge how valuable each attribute might be.

Here are two characters, built using this method, with sketches as inspiration.

Gilbert Lurkerer, professional sneak, is extremely quick and quiet, clever, handy with a short blade or a thrown missile, and an affable gossip.
Quick+2, Quiet+1, Clever +1, Short blades +1, Throw +1, Gossip +1

Temerra Quickfoot, woodlands archer, is uncannily deft and graceful as any of her elven kin. She is a deadly archer, skilled hunter, and master of all the woodlands.
Deft+2, Elvish Grace+1, Deadly Archer+2, Hunter+1, Woodlands+1

Play the World

Searching the for insights into the 'free-form" role-playing procedures of some of the earliest GMs and designers, the Tinkerage came across an intriguing series of posts called "Play the world, not the rules" on Darkworm Colt.

This is a method that you can summarize on a page, uses only six-sided dice, descriptive character generation, and just two basic mechanics. And the point of this is that the rules, the "Visible Rulebook" to borrow a term from from S. John Ross, are necessary only to the extent that they facilitate the interaction between the players, their characters, and the worlds they want to explore.

Here's the method for playing the world:

1 - Characters

Briefly describe your character, including notable attributes, like skills, characteristics, or professions (maybe five or so). One or two attributes may count as outstanding (use two words for emphasis like "excellent tracker"). The necessary level of detail is to create a playable role.

If you're stuck, roll dice to help you decide on your attributes, and refer to any work of fiction, rule-set or character generation system for ideas about stats and skills, professions, and backgrounds.

In general, a modifier for a notable one-word attribute is +1, an outstanding two-word attribute (skilled swordsman, talented pilot) is +2, and rare superlative attributes (exceptional swordsman; best pilot in the system) are +3.

2 - Tests

When you need to account for risk or uncertainty, roll the dice. An average roll (around 7) is average, you most likely continue but the situation is not necessarily resolved, high is good (around 9+) and usually decisive, low (around 5-) is bad and entails negative consequences.

Apply modifiers for suitable character attributes and the situation and equipment in the +3 to -3 range.

3 - Opposed rolls

Roll the dice for opposing efforts (such as combat, but also other cases of active opposition) and compare. Highest wins, and the bigger the difference the more decisive the outcome. Apply modifiers, as for tests.

4 - Hit points

Darkworm Colt uses a "three strikes" system: character can take three hits and then they're out. Tougher characters might have more hits at the GMs discretion.

For the sake of greater flexibility, I'd suggest six hits, with stronger characters adding 1 or 2 more as indicated by a suitable attribute. Lighter attacks deal 1 hit. Heavier attacks can inflict 2 or 3 hits. The GM should apply judgement and err on the side of character survival. A character at exactly zero hits is stunned, staggered, dropped, and so on, but not dead.

5 - Play the world

The game isn't in the method; the game is in the sources you choose for inspiration, in the worlds you construct, and in the scenarios the GM devises and the creativity players bring to them.

Review - Tales from the Green Dragon Inn

The two or three souls who occasionally wander into the Tinkerage will recognize both the "Green Dragon" as an establishment and the name of Eldrad Wolfsbane, or Chris Medders, who is also the author of the free-form RPG Dungeonpunk, which is reviewed here. Tales from the Green Dragon Inn is a "story telling game" inspired by the Tinkerage's thought experiment in Narrative Adventures at the Green Dragon Pub, which speculates how a scholar-author's RPG sessions might appear if they came to gaming without published rulebooks but plenty of creativity and care.

What are the hallmarks of a "Green Dragon" game?

• Free-form characters, created through description.
• Deep, immersive settings.
• Light, improvised rules that are steered by the game-world and its expectations, and rely on creative interpretation.
• Using common materials (notebooks, six-sided dice, counters from other games).

So how do the Tales from the Green Dragon Inn compare?

Character generation, using notes on a "character sheet", is exactly what it should be: descriptive, detailed, and encouraging imagination. The short sample characters are nice guides. The only point to make is that the Green Dragon Inn game seems very rooted in Dungeons & Dragons fantasy, such that the suggested classes and occupations are recognizably D&D, namely fighting man, rogue, holy man (cleric), and magic-user. This is fine as these things go, but one would hope that Green Dragon players would look beyond the regular character class stereotypes.

Players don't really need to know the rules before they begin, but the rules are perfect for Green Dragon play. Most tasks are resolved by a luck roll and interpretation. The target range is similar to that used by the "Powered by the Apocalypse" system, where a 6 to 8 is an "average" roll, higher is better, and the narrator can treat results as appropriate. Combat, as in the original post, is only slightly more complex, where more powerful creatures present a higher number to be hit. A nice addition to combat is a short chart of wounds, from scratches to fatal, which more or less matches the luck table. Armor is introduced as a way to soak up wounds, although in my opinion medium armor should be able to take more than a "scratch". All in all, it's a very light, easy system that encourages adjudication at the table.

It's fair to say that the text is riddled with spelling mistakes and other expression errors, and I hope the next upload corrects the spelling of narrative as "narritive" [sic] on the cover[1]. And there's no need to emphasize every other sentence, virtually, with an exclamation mark. But, with its simple type and layout, Tales from the Green Dragon Inn certainly conveys enthusiasm and the home-made creativity that encapsulates the ethos of the Green Dragon style.

Another quibble is that we find in the "Monsters" list references to "kids", "women", and "men". None of these are, of course, monsters, and I would hesitate to include items in a table that imply that kids are fair game for combat, or that women are for some reason less dangerous in combat than men.

But, while the world of Tales from the Green Dragon Inn is more strongly grounded in the familiar tropes of dungeon fantasy roleplaying than the professor's world (or Arihmere, we hope) the author is committed to fun and adventure in that world, and the simple rules and free-form procedures are a perfect example of Green Dragon style play in action. Let's hope that the Green Dragon Inn hosts many memorable games, and inspires even more.

DISCLOSURE: As above, Tales from the Green Dragon Inn was inspired partly by a Tinkerage post, and the author generously provided a free copy for this review.

Notes
1. Glad to say the cover has, in fact, been updated since this review was first posted. Good to see a quick response from the author.

This update May 15, 2018.

A skirmish at the Green Dragon pub

As has been noted elsewhere, at some of its most dramatic moments, the professor's curious mix of tale-telling and game can involve combats, about which the professor is remarkably clear-eyed.

Such encounters, be they skirmishes or pitched battles, arise from the scenario and choices made in play: they are never forced for their own sake, and the players' characters often (but not always) have a chance to avoid them. Rarely, if ever, do two equally matched opponents stand forth for a gentlemanly bout.

Sometimes, whatever playing pieces are at hand, from chess-men to checkers, may be first arranged to show the rough situation, but this is far from necessary, and short encounters may well be resolved without them.

Whoever chooses to act and move first, whatever the consequences, does so. If the characters are ambushed, then they must respond to the ambush. If they charge or strike, then they have the initiative. From then on, each move and counter-move is resolved as most makes sense. Every player may take some sort of action before the turn is ended.

Given the risk, dice are rolled to resolve each combat. Each player rolls, and the professor adjudicates the outcome based on their skills, tactics, armaments, and position. Usually, a roll of six or more is required for the character to hold their ground and at least keep up their guard. Depending on the foe, a higher roll may be required to strike and prevail. For example, we see in the notes that a "man-at-arms" or "greater goblin" may be slain with a roll of seven or more, but a fearsome troll is wounded only on a roll of nine or more, and a dragon struck on a twelve only. More formidable foes may withstand several hits before they are felled. Even so, when allocating hits, the higher the roll, the better.

A roll of less than 6 means that some sort of setback, a blow, hurt, or wound, is suffered. The lower the roll, the more severe the consequence. The professor is unsparing of both sides, and so a player who rolls low may be wounded, dazed, or even felled and left-for-dead. Some enemies wield dreadful weapons, which may leave a festering wound or even sickness of spirit.

Players look always for sixes – the "crown" on the dice they roll, and two crowns are unstoppable. A single crown indicates a minor boon or advantage. Perhaps the blade bites deep, hampering the foe, or an opponent can be daunted or forced to retreat. Ones, the "evil eye" are feared. A single one may show a disadvantage or complication, but double-ones indicate an evil turn. When ones and sixes appear at the same time, the roll is an alarming close call, with gains and losses for both sides!

Fights do not necessarily end in death. Stern opposition may indeed cause the enemy to falter, but they may flee, or regroup, or attempt to surround the adventurers or even split them. Many goblins could retreat from a single warrior, only to turn and launch arrows at his shield to weight it down. By this token, wise warriors know when to flee, and when a threat is beyond their powers. Recklessness and blood-lust are not rewarded in the Green Dragon game.

Against the most dreadful monsters, only a cunning strategy, knowing the fatal flaw in a dragon's hide or the means to pierce the spell that protects an ancient horror, has any real chance of succeeding. There is always a place for heroism, though, and even a common soldier may hope to defeat the old and strong and cruel if he or she is stout-hearted and battle-wise.

Too Many Hacks

After reading The Black Hack, reviews of Whitehack, and Sharp Swords and Sinister Spells (yet another "Hack" system hack)...

Hack a Character

Roll 3d6 for a series of stats, such as: STR(ength), DEX(terity), END(urance), INT(elligence), POW(er), PRE(sence)

• Set HPs (Hit Points) from the average of STR & END
• MPs from POW

In most cases, your character rolls equal or less than a stat on D20 to succeed in some effort they might reasonably attempt under pressure, given their background and inclinations. Modifiers apply to shift the stat target. A "1" always succeeds and usually grants a critical result.

Magic-using types might select two or three spell options (see Hack Magic), but lack battle experience.

When characters advance, they get a chance to raise their stats. Maybe another chance to raise a favoured stat.

Hack Combat

Generally, roll against STR to hack at things, and DEX to avoid being hacked, or shoot something.

• Use 1d6 for lighter or improvised weapons, 1d8 for martial weapons, when you roll for damage to HP.
• Deduct Armour Reduction (AR), 1-5 (leather, gambeson, maille, half-plate, plate), from any damage you take. 

Only a character with battle experience can attack and avoid in the same round (so green fighters have to choose to attack or dodge).

Creatures get HP (the GM rolls a number of dice) and Ranks that apply to rolls in combat:

• Threat Rank (TR) modifies STR and DEX
• Power Rank (PR) modifies INT or POW (for spells and other eerie stuff)

Hack Magic

Spell casters burn MPs to launch magic. They roll against INT or POW when under pressure. 

• Heal: 1 MP to heal 1d3 HP
• Blast: 1 MP to deal 1d3 damage once
• Protect: 1 MP to reduce all damage by 1 for the duration
• Enchant: 1 MP to add 1 damage for the duration, or 1 to the chance to hit
• Curse: 1 MP to reduce an enemy's TR or PR by 1 (POW roll required)
• Uncanny Ability: 1 MP to add 1 to a stat, for the purpose of accomplishing a task (sneak, persuade, search, etc.) with preternatural skill