Lee Torres
10-11-2008, 02:29 AM
This is step one in the D6 Legend System - but in follow-up posts, I'll be rolling out a number of modifications published by various contributors, notably Mike Lynes, Francois Letarte, Jerry D. Grayson, and Ken Burnside, to demonstrate how much the basic system can be streamlined.
Comparing the D6 and Legend Systems
If you're a fan of our D6 System, you may be curious about how easy it will be for you to learn the variants used in some of our new games. (If you don't know about the D6 System, you can look here for more information.) This essay highlights the significant differences between D6 and its most recent variant, the Legend system, though it won't teach you the systems. At their heart, all D6 games follow the same basic principle: Roll a number of six-sided dice equal to the character's skill or attribute score. If the total generated equals or exceeds the difficulty number, then the character succeeds. As with all uses of the D6 system, attributes, skills, and other character details are tailored to the genre of the game. The main differences appear in generating totals, the difficulty numbers, and combat.
Generating Totals
In D6, you roll normal six-sided dice with pips or numbers to come up with your totals. When you roll the specified amount of dice (as determined by your character's attribute score, skill score, weapon score, and so on), you add the numbers to get your total.
With Legend, you can use normal six-sided dice or custom six-sided dice that have symbols instead of numbers on them. As with D6, you roll a designated number of dice. However, instead of adding the numbers, you count successes to figure out the total. (This also means that there are no pips in the Legend system.)
On a normal die, a 1 or 2 is a failure while a 3, 4, 5, or 6 is a success. (On the Wild Die, 1 is a critical failure; 2 is a failure; 3, 4, and 5 are successes; and 6 is a critical success.) The custom dice, typically called Hero Dice, have symbols representing critical failures, failures, successes, and critical successes, making it much easier to count successes.
Hero Dice
Regular Normal Die Regular Hero Die
1, 2 Failure (0)
3-6 Success (1)
Wild Normal Die Wild Hero Die
1 Critical failure (-1)
2 Failure (0)
3-5 Success (1)
6 Critical success (+1, and roll again)
Difficulties
D6 uses a range of difficulty numbers from 1 to 31 and higher. With normal six-sided dice, there's a larger range of values that can be generated with a few dice.
Because the range of values produced by counting successes is much smaller, the range of difficulties is also lesser. In the case of the Legend system, this range is from 1 to 10 and higher. Using the difficulty numbers, however, remains the same in both systems.
Difficulty Chart
D6 Legend
Very Easy (1-5) Very Easy (1)
Easy (6-10) Easy (2), Moderate (3)
Moderate (11-15) Difficult (4), Very Difficult (5)
Difficult (16-20) Extremely Difficult (6), Heroic (7)
Very Difficult (21-26) Very Heroic (8), Super Heroic (9)
Heroic (26-30) Legendary (10)
Combat
The gist of combat is essentially the same between D6 and its variants: The attacker rolls his combat skill, attempting to beat a difficulty number. If successful, he rolls to see how much damage is done. This section offers key differences between D6 and Legend. Be sure to peruse the combat section in the rules chapter of the appropriate game for further and more complete details.
Difficulty Number: The difficulty number in Legend is not a static number, as it is in D6. Rather, it's based on a fraction or roll of the character's Reflexes or dodge score and adjusted by a range modifier.
Dodging: In Legend, when a character dodges, the total generated is used in place of the difficulty number based on the attribute or skill score, not added to that number (as it is in the most popular version of D6).
Body Points: Wound levels aren't used in the Legend system. Rather, damage is taken off of Body Points, which are determined at character creation.
Weapon Damage: To reduce the large number of dice a player would need to roll for many weapons, the Legend system uses die codes times multipliers instead of straight die codes. For example, a handgun has a damage value of 5Dx2. A player would roll five dice and multiply the total number of success by two-instead of having to roll 10 dice. (The first critical success on the Wild Die is only counted once.)
Effect Value: Unlike in D6, getting high totals on your combat rolls with the Legend system has an influence on how much damage is done. The Effect Value is determined by subtracting the difficulty number from the success total. This value is then added to the amount of damage done.
Remember...One aspect hasn't changed in any variation of the D6 system, and that's the idea of having fun. If you do that, it really doesn't matter what the rules say.
Comparing the D6 and Legend Systems
If you're a fan of our D6 System, you may be curious about how easy it will be for you to learn the variants used in some of our new games. (If you don't know about the D6 System, you can look here for more information.) This essay highlights the significant differences between D6 and its most recent variant, the Legend system, though it won't teach you the systems. At their heart, all D6 games follow the same basic principle: Roll a number of six-sided dice equal to the character's skill or attribute score. If the total generated equals or exceeds the difficulty number, then the character succeeds. As with all uses of the D6 system, attributes, skills, and other character details are tailored to the genre of the game. The main differences appear in generating totals, the difficulty numbers, and combat.
Generating Totals
In D6, you roll normal six-sided dice with pips or numbers to come up with your totals. When you roll the specified amount of dice (as determined by your character's attribute score, skill score, weapon score, and so on), you add the numbers to get your total.
With Legend, you can use normal six-sided dice or custom six-sided dice that have symbols instead of numbers on them. As with D6, you roll a designated number of dice. However, instead of adding the numbers, you count successes to figure out the total. (This also means that there are no pips in the Legend system.)
On a normal die, a 1 or 2 is a failure while a 3, 4, 5, or 6 is a success. (On the Wild Die, 1 is a critical failure; 2 is a failure; 3, 4, and 5 are successes; and 6 is a critical success.) The custom dice, typically called Hero Dice, have symbols representing critical failures, failures, successes, and critical successes, making it much easier to count successes.
Hero Dice
Regular Normal Die Regular Hero Die
1, 2 Failure (0)
3-6 Success (1)
Wild Normal Die Wild Hero Die
1 Critical failure (-1)
2 Failure (0)
3-5 Success (1)
6 Critical success (+1, and roll again)
Difficulties
D6 uses a range of difficulty numbers from 1 to 31 and higher. With normal six-sided dice, there's a larger range of values that can be generated with a few dice.
Because the range of values produced by counting successes is much smaller, the range of difficulties is also lesser. In the case of the Legend system, this range is from 1 to 10 and higher. Using the difficulty numbers, however, remains the same in both systems.
Difficulty Chart
D6 Legend
Very Easy (1-5) Very Easy (1)
Easy (6-10) Easy (2), Moderate (3)
Moderate (11-15) Difficult (4), Very Difficult (5)
Difficult (16-20) Extremely Difficult (6), Heroic (7)
Very Difficult (21-26) Very Heroic (8), Super Heroic (9)
Heroic (26-30) Legendary (10)
Combat
The gist of combat is essentially the same between D6 and its variants: The attacker rolls his combat skill, attempting to beat a difficulty number. If successful, he rolls to see how much damage is done. This section offers key differences between D6 and Legend. Be sure to peruse the combat section in the rules chapter of the appropriate game for further and more complete details.
Difficulty Number: The difficulty number in Legend is not a static number, as it is in D6. Rather, it's based on a fraction or roll of the character's Reflexes or dodge score and adjusted by a range modifier.
Dodging: In Legend, when a character dodges, the total generated is used in place of the difficulty number based on the attribute or skill score, not added to that number (as it is in the most popular version of D6).
Body Points: Wound levels aren't used in the Legend system. Rather, damage is taken off of Body Points, which are determined at character creation.
Weapon Damage: To reduce the large number of dice a player would need to roll for many weapons, the Legend system uses die codes times multipliers instead of straight die codes. For example, a handgun has a damage value of 5Dx2. A player would roll five dice and multiply the total number of success by two-instead of having to roll 10 dice. (The first critical success on the Wild Die is only counted once.)
Effect Value: Unlike in D6, getting high totals on your combat rolls with the Legend system has an influence on how much damage is done. The Effect Value is determined by subtracting the difficulty number from the success total. This value is then added to the amount of damage done.
Remember...One aspect hasn't changed in any variation of the D6 system, and that's the idea of having fun. If you do that, it really doesn't matter what the rules say.