I've been reading OpenD6 online. It's a setting and genre neutral TTRPG. Its also free. I like the system, but I think the books are poorly organized and the information is hard to find or difficult to understand. So I'm providing my own notes and I'm taking just a few liberties with the vanilla rules. Let's begin with the game's core mechanic before we get into the rules of how to play. The core mechanic is the mechanic that decides how we simulate actions that we cannot roleplay or resolve through conversation, like attacking each other with swords or piloting ships.
Core Mechanic
The dice pool: Your character's stats are represented as a number of six-sided dice. For example, attributes like dexterity could be 2d6 rather than a number like 14. Skills like longbow, could be 2d6 rather than a number like 6. To make an attribute roll, you roll all your attribute dice and total them; however, to make a skill roll, you roll all your attribute dice and all your skill dice, and total them. Because your dexterity represents hand-eye coordination, then this is the attribute you use to aim and shoot a longbow skill. Actions succeed when the roll meets or beats a number representing the difficulty of the action.
Wild Die: Whenever you make a roll, one die and only one die will be your wild die. If the wild die is a 6, that means your action is a critical success and the wild die explodes; this means you reroll and add the wild die until it stops rolling a 6. If the wild die is a 1, that means the action fumble. Either remove the highest die and the wild die from your pool or the GM can impose a narratively appropriate consequence. Note that only the initial roll of the wild die determines if the action is a critical success or a fumble; if an exploding wild die rolls a 1, that does not turn a critical success into a fumble.
+1s and +2s: Some attributes, skills, weapon damage, etc., are represented by a number of dice with +1 or +2. Example: Dexterity 3d6+1 and Pistol 1d6+2. In this case, you add all the +1s and +2s to the result of the roll. So, in this example, rolling the pistol skill would be 3d6+1 + 2d6+2. Let's say you roll 3, 4, 2, 5, and 5. The total so far is 19. Then you would add your +1 from Dex and +2 from pistol for a final total of 22.
Character Points: This is a currency that you earn by completing adventures, good roleplay, and making progress towards your goals. You can spend them to improve your character outside of the game (detailed in the Character Improvement section). During play, you can also spend one character point per roll to add a single die to a dice pool. Characters typically begin with 5.
Fate Points: After you have rolled your dice pool and before the GM reveals if your action succeeds, you can choose to spend one fate point per roll to double the number of dice in your pool. Note that there is only one wild die per roll, even if you double your dice pool. The game recommends fate points to be more than a simple meta-currency like luck; they should have weight within the setting like the force in star wars. I agree. Let's say they describe your characters' relationship with fate! Is fate on your side today? Spend a fate point and find out. Fate points are only earned by completing adventures. Characters typically begin with one.
Difficulty: The difficulty of actions is determined by the game master, but the game master should evaluate the difficulty based on how likely it would succeed in real life whenever possible as this is our common frame of reference and makes the world believable. Consider this scale:
Very Easy: 1-5Easy: 6-10 (consider that 10 is the difficulty to attack!)Moderate: 11-15Difficult: 16-20Very Difficult: 21-25Heroic: 26-30Heroic+: 31+
Note that the GM does not have to reveal the true difficulty to the players, and the GM can use hidden difficulty to represent elements of a situation or challenge that a player or their character would not reasonably be aware of.
Opposed Rolls
If your action is contested by opposing character's action, both characters make a roll. Highest roll succeed. Ties typically go to the defender if one character can be assumed as a defender.
Modular Game Rules
This system is intended to be setting and genre neutral. Therefore, the game is intended for its rules to be modular meaning they can be swapped in and out. The game master can therefore tailor the system to suit their game. In effect, that makes all game masters the game designers. You can create and add your own rules to suit your campaign. This means this system can be used for different campaigns so that each campaign would have a different feel even though they use the same system.
Core Attributes
There are four core attributes referenced in all the major combat rules of the game. They are Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, and Agility.
Strength describes how much force you can exert and is used in damage rolls.Endurance describes how long you can exert force and is used to resist fatigue, reduce damage, and effects maximum HP (if HP is used).Dexterity (aka coordination) describes fine motor function like hand-eye coordination and is used for delicate and precise tasks like firing a pistol or picking a lock.Agility (aka reflexes) describes major motor function like coordinating your entire body into dedicated movements like sneaking or dodging and melee attacks.
Feel free to change the names of these attributes. For example, Endurance could be Vitality. You should also feel free to fold Endurance into Strength. You may add other attributes to suit your game such as knowledge, perception, willpower, technical, acumen, charm, or magic. You're encouraged to make up with your own.
Consider that 2D is the average attribute for humans. You could ignore attributes and only use skills. This would simplify the game. In this case, consider that all characters have a base roll of 2D + their skill.
Skills
There are no core skills as the skills available in your game depend on your setting. You may design a game strictly around a few modes of play, like combat rather than crafting, exploration or socialization, and you may not consider vehicles or magic strongly. To reiterate the core mechanic, all skill rolls are made by rolling the skill dice and the dice of one attribute that lends itself to the use of that skill.
As a general rule, treat all skills as associated or belonging to only one attribute, but allow for the possibility of a unique case where something may differ. Driving or piloting a vehicle may be based in dexterity, but suppose that an endurance stat might be made to keep from blacking out under intense G forces. Consider that a horseback rider may use their strength to squeeze the horse with their legs and stabilize their core to keep from falling off rather than somehow abstractly balance on a horse with agility.
Note that skill with one weapon does not transfer to another. Axes and Swords are different skills. All melee weapons use Agility to hit. All ranged and throwing weapons use Dexterity to hit. Note that damage rolls are different from skill rolls.
The GM may rule that you can't attempt the action if you don't have any training in a skill. Consider this scale for skills:
0D = Untrained!*1D = Below Average2D = Average3D = Basic Training4D = Professionally Trained5D = Expert or Elite6D = Exceptional, 1 in 100,000 or 1 in a cityetc. Up to 9D which is described as 1 in a setting*Optionally, a GM can add 5 or 10 to the difficulty if a character has non-proficiency with a skill.
Advantages and Disadvantages
At character creation, you may choose advantages and/or disadvantages for your character from a list (or discuss your own with the GM). Each of these advantages and disadvantages has a dice value that is either positive or negative, and is applied to the number of starting skill dice. For example, Debt has a +2D and Quick Draw has a -2D.
Damage Systems and Healing
Do you prefer a Wounds system or a Hit Points system? These rules consider the possibility of using one or the other system in your game.
Hit Points (HP): Player characters begin with 20 + an Endurance roll HP. 20 is standard but can be changed by a game master. A game master can offer the option to allow players to roll their endurance dice and take the average if the roll is less than the average. For example, the average of 2D is 7. If you have Endurance 2D and you roll a 4, that is less than 7, so you could take 7, and have a total of 27 hit points. Characters recover 5 lost hit points per day of rest. At 0 HP, you're dead.
Wounds: When you take a hit, the attacker makes a damage roll to determine if the defender receives a wound. 5 Wounds in standard, but this can be changed by the game master. Characters can recover 1 wound per day of rest. If you're reached your wound limit (say 5 out of 5 wounds), you're dead.
Attacking and Damaging
To attack, make a weapon skill roll. Melee weapons use Agility + Weapon Skill. Ranged and Throwing Weapons use Dexterity + Weapon Skill. The difficulty to hit is 10 by default, but a game master can rule on situations where it might be easier or harder. On a miss, no damage is done.
On a hit, roll damage. Damage is either based on Strength + Weapon, or it's entirely based on the Weapon alone. For example, a fighter with Strength 3D and a great sword that does 1D+2 does a total of 4d+2 damage. A soldier with a purely mechanical weapon like a crossbow might do the crossbow's damage only, which might be 3D. Then, the opponent rolls Endurance + Armor to reduce damage.
If you're using HP, then damage received = damage roll - (endurance + armor) roll. If the total is 0 or a negative number, then no damage is done.
If you're using wounds, then one wound is inflicted if the damage roll meets or beats the endurance roll. What about severity of wounds? We don't do that. Instead, for game purposes, we make of more than one wound even though logically one would only suffer one wound for being hit once. If the damage roll exceeds the endurance roll in the following way:
1 wound = Damage Roll ≥ 1x endurance roll2 wounds = Damage Roll ≥ 2x endurance roll3 wounds = Damage Roll ≥ 3x endurance roll4 wounds = Damage Roll ≥ 4x endurance roll5 wounds = Damage Roll ≥ 5x endurance rolletc.
Wound Effects
1 wound or 14-19 HP = stunned, -1D to remaining actions this round*2 wounds or 9-13 HP = wounded, -1D to action rolls**3 wounds or 4-8 HP = severely wounded, -2D to action rolls**4 wounds or 1-3 HP = mortally wounded, -3D to action rolls**5 wounds or 0 HP = cannot take actions / Dead*this penalty does not apply to endurance rolls to resist damage**lasts until healed; this penalty does not apply to endurance rolls to resist damage
Defending
As described above, an attack is successful if it meets or beats a difficulty of 10, but a defender can substitute this difficulty with a skill roll. To defend, a character must use one action. They must specify how they are defending as each defense is a separate skill. Dodging uses Agility + Dodge. Parrying can only be used to parry a melee attack and is done with Agility + Weapon Skill. To block with a shield, roll Agility and add the Shield Skill. It is possible to roll a result less than 10, and this is allowed and describes a situation where a character chose to actively defend and did so poorly in that instance.
Damage Scaling Based On Size
Characters, objects, or vehicles that are significantly larger than another do more damage to and receive less damage from a smaller character, object, or vehicle. Most characters are human sized. This is the base-size. The book offers everything a size modifier. For simplicity, I suggest this alternative. Half-size refers to something about half the size of a human (such as a hobbit). Quarter-size refers to something comparable to a small pet. Double-size refers to something like a horse, bear, lion, or ogre. Quadruple-size refers to things that are in comparable to elephants, giants, and dragons. Octuple-size is something like a blue whale. These categories are overly simplified for game purposes. For every step up or down, add or subtract 1D to damage.
Ranged Attacks
Ranged weapons have a close, medium, and long range. Anything closer than close range is point blank and receives a bonus 1D. Medium range is penalized 1D. Long range is penalized 2D.
Attack and Defense Modifiers (cover, visibility, etc.)
Modify the attack roll by -2D if the attacker is blinded or making a called shot. If the attacker spends one action to aim, modify the attack roll by +1D. If the defender is benefiting from cover, modify the base difficulty of 10 or other defense rolls (but not parrying) by +5 for light cover up to +15 for heavy cover. Also modify defense by +5 in poor visibility up to +15 in very poor visibility. If a defender is pinned, subtract 5 from the difficulty.
Environmental Damage
Characters take 1D damage for every 10 ft they fall. Characters in or on fire take 2D damage each round, but the fire damage may be scaled up or down depending on the intensity of the fire. Lightning does 9D damage.
Multiple Actions
There is no limit to the number of actions a character can make in one 5-second combat turn! However; there is a penalty to multiple actions. This is because a character who has to split their concentration cannot do everything so well. The penalty is applied to all actions, not just the additional actions. The penalty is -1D for 1 additional action, -2D for two additional actions, -3D for three additional actions, etc. In order to do multiple actions, the player must declare the number of actions at the start of their turn.
Movement
Humans (and similar fantasy or sci-fi races) have a movement of 10. This represents the number of meters they can move in one 5 second combat turn. Movement can be done as part of your action, and so one move does not count as an action, but additional moves do! Each additional move will allow you to move your base movement, and each requires a successful agility roll. Note that each additional move is considered a separate action and is subject to the multiple action penalty. The Difficulty for each additional move is based on the base movement (for humans it's 10) times the number of additional moves. For example, if you wanted to run 25 meters in one turn, this would require two additional moves. The first additional move has a difficulty of 10, and the second additional move has a difficulty of 20.
Character Creation
The game mechanics of character creation are discussed here. A character typically begins with a number of attribute dice equal to 3 x # of attributes. Characters also typically begin with 7 skill dice. They can allocate their attribute dice to attributes and skill dice to skills how they choose within the limits set by the GM. A GM may set a starting maximum and/or minimum for certain statistics, like a minimum of 1D and a maximum of 4D. A single attribute die or skill die can be broken into three +1s or one +1 and one +2 which can be allocated among attributes (if from an attribute die) or skills (if from a skill die). So, for example, you could put 4D into Strength, 2D into Agility, 2D into Dexterity, and 4D into Endurance, or you could put only 3D into Strength and break that remaining attribute die and distribute the three +1s among your attributes for Strength 3D+1, Endurance 4D, Agility 2D+1, and Dexterity 2D+1.
Character Improvement
Characters earn Character Points by completing adventures. The GM can award more Character Points for other criteria such as good roleplaying, making progress towards goals, or overcoming significant obstacles. 1 Character Point can be spent to add a +1 to an attribute or skill (you may also think of this as raising a +0 to a +1). 1 character point may be spent to raise a +1 to a +2; however, note that a +2 cannot be raised to a +3. Instead, the number of dice increases. For example, a 1D+2 does not become a 1D+3, it instead becomes 2D. Also note that the cost in character points for improvement is multiplied by the number of dice. For example, it costs 1 character point to raise 1D+2 to 2D, but it costs 2 character points to raise 2D to 2D+1, then 2 points to raise 2D+1 to a 2D+2, then 2 points to raise 2D+2 to 3D. It costs 3 character points to raise 3D to 3D+1, etc.
Player characters should receive 3 to 15 character points and 1 to 2 fate points per adventure. The factors to consider are many. Did the players achieve their goal?(s) How well did they cooperate and work as a team? Did they do well as individuals? Was fun had by all? Did people roleplay well?
Turn Order
There are two types of turn order in combat. With side-based turn order, all characters on one side declare their actions, and after all actions are declared, they get resolved. Then the other side goes in the same way. At the start of combat, each side rolls a single d6 and the side with the highest value goes first. With individual-based turn order, individual characters declare their action, then resolve them. At the start of combat, individual characters roll Agility, and turns will be taken in order of highest to lowest rolls; although, for simplicity, the GM should make only one Agility roll for groups of like-characters. For example, a group of soldiers. In either type of turn order, once everyone has had a turn, a round of combat is complete. Start a new round and repeat until combat is resolved. Note that initiative only needs to be rolled once per combat, but the GM can change this.
Weapon Damage and Range
On a successful hit, a damage roll is made. Strength applies to most weapon damage except for purely mechanical weapons, like a pistol or crossbow.
Fist = StrengthPunching Knuckle or Gauntlet = Strength +2Improvised Weapons = 1D, but difficulty +5 and weapon can break on a fumble.Knife, Dagger, or Throwing Knife = Strength +1DClub = Strength +1DStaff = Strength +1D+1Longbow = Strength +2D, Range 15/30/50Sword, Battle Ax, or Mace = Strength +2D+1War Hammer or Spear = Strength +2D+2Great Sword or Pole-arm = Strength +3DCrossbow = 4D, Range 10/20/40; Action to reload
Armor and Damage Resistance
When you receive a hit, you roll your endurance and add a bonus from your armor. Subtract this result from the damage delt by the attack to determine the damage actually suffered. 0 or less means no damage.
Cloth or Leather = Endurance + 2Banded Armor = Endurance + 1DMail, either chain or scale = Endurance + 2DPlate = Endurance + 3DShield = Endurance + 2Tower Shield = Endurance + 1D
Encumbrance option: The GM may add a cumulative +4 difficulty to agility rolls for wearing metal armor, carrying a tower shield, or layering armor such as wearing multiple layers of cloth or cloth, or by wearing cloth or leather over other armor types.
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