Diceless Travail Saga

 I very much was enjoying my Travail Saga discord based campaign (https://lizardmandiaries.blogspot.com/2022/04/travail-saga-jrpg-ish-2d6.html / https://lizardmandiaries.blogspot.com/2022/05/travail-saga-pdf-released.html ) but the dice roll and xp recording heavy nature of the game bogged down playing it by post (in my opinion). This has led to the campaign being on hiatus for some time now (that and the fact I wanted to finish a bunch of generators that are still unwritten). While I thought about going a basic freeform route, I felt this would do away with a lot of the granularity of the character system + undo the hard work of the players in building up their characters....Thus, a diceless system that retains a similar level of granularity but does a way with the need for dice rolls! 

Making a Player Character (PC): 

• Each PC starts with a pool of 8 to assign to their attributes! A PC can increase an attribute by 1 each time they increase in level. 
• The attributes are: 
• Body - the PC’s physical faculties. 
• Mind - the PC’s mental faculties. 
• Faith - the PC’s connection with a higher power. 
• Magic - the PC’s pool of supernatural power.
• A PC MUST have at least 1 in Body and Mind, but does not need to have Faith/Magic
  (but not having these will stop them from casting spells). 
• At creation a PC must decide their “Archetype” - determining what school/s of powers they will progress in. These schools are: Spells, Skills and Abilities. 
• A PC must pick whether they will receive:
•  +8 to one school and + 2 to another per level, or,
• + 4 to one school and + 2 to the two other schools per level. 
• A PC gets these pools to allocate to their schools at level 1. A single power within a school can not receive a bonus of more than +2 per level! 

Attribute Descriptor Table: 

1. Severely weak 
2. Very weak 
3. Weak 
4. Somewhat weak 
5. Somewhat strong 
6. Strong 
7. Very strong 
8. Severely strong 
9. Awesomely strong 
10. Impossibly strong 

Thus a PC with Body 2, Mind 4, Faith 6, becomes: 

• The PC is 
• Very weak of body 
• Somewhat weak of Mind 
• Strong in Faith 

Skill Descriptor Table: 

1. Severely inept 
2. Very inept 
3. Inept 
4. Somewhat inept 
5. Somewhat competent 
6. Competent 
7. Very competent 
8. Severely competent 
9. Severely competent and somewhat skilled 
10. Skilled 
11. Very skilled 
12. Severely skilled 
13. Severely skilled  and somewhat masterful 
14. Masterful 
15. Very masterful
16. Severely Masterful 
17. Severely masterful and somewhat godlike 
18. Godlike 
19. Awesomely godlike 
20. Impossibly godlike 

Thus a PC with Slice 10, Wild strike 6, Shield Block 10, Unarmed strike 1, becomes: 

• The PC is 
• Skilled at Slice 
• Competent at Wild Strike 
• Skilled in Shield Block 
• Severely inept at Unarmed strike 

The Schools: 

Spells: Spells require either the Magic or Faith attribute to cast. 

• In the list below an F indicates the spell can be cast with Faith, and an M indicates the spell can be cast with magic. F/M means either attribute can be used. 
• The magical powers listed here are not descriptions of exact spells, but suggestions of periodic elements of magic. What can be attempted with a magical power is determined by the PC and the possibility, difficulty and outcome of that attempt is determined by the referee. 

1. Bless - F

2. Curse - F

3. Cleanse - F

4. Heal - F

5. Banish - F

6. Summon Light - F/M

7. Calm - F/M

8. Glamor - F/M

9. Mesmerize - F/M

10. Hold in place - F/M

11. Predict future - F/M

12. Summon silence - F/M

13. Summon barrier - F/M

14. Summon wind - M

15. Accelerate - M

16. Shrink - M

17. Invisibility - M

18. Intangibility - M

19. Warp internal organs - M

20. Reflect - M

21. Summon water - M

22. Weaken - M

23. Summon acid - M

24. Grow - M

25. Panic - M

26. Summon vegetation - M

27. Warp form of external flesh - M

28. Summon fire - M

29. Crumble - M

30. Telekinesis - M

31. Harden - M

32. Soften - M

33. Summon lightning - M

34. Summon earth - M

35. Summon hole - M

36. Slow - M

37. Cause terror - M 

38. Cause pain - M

39. Summon shadows - M 

40. Summon sickness - M

Abilities: Some of the below abilities are self evident and do not require further explanation other than their name. Others are more specific and have brief explanations of their suggested mechanics, but as with spells, what can be attempted is determined by the PC and the possibility, difficulty and outcome of that attempt is determined by the referee and a test.

1. Unarmed strike - Hits twice, and knocks target unconscious rather than killing them. 
2. Pressure point unarmed strike - Incapacitate a target with bare hands. 
3. Wrestle - Holds a target in place with own body.  
4. Dodge - Improves your ability to avoid damage. 
5. Intimidate. 
6. Holy smite - A melee attack boosted by the Faith attribute. 
7. Ranged attack. 
8. Thrown weapon attack - Ranged attack boosted by the Mind Attribute, the weapon must be recovered after the attack, and there is a chance it may be lost. 
9. Hide . 
10. Sneak attack - an attack on an unaware target. Kills most humanoids/beings of the same type as the attacker. 
11. Pickpocket 
12. Hamstring - Causes target to hobble slowly. 
13. Torture. 
14. Blind - PC uses whatever is at their disposal to blind a target.  
15. Poison edge - Apply poison to a blade. 
16. Throw net - Holds a target in place. Nets are somewhat cumbersome to carry.
17. Melee attack 
18. Two handed strike - A melee attack using both hands, slow and generally attacks last.  
19. Charge - A devastating opening melee attack that requires an appropriately length run up 
20. Flurry attack  - Multiple, quick, low damage, attacks
21. Parry - The PC defends against attacks using their blade. 
22. Riposte - After a successful parry the PC can give devastating attack to a parried target. 
23. Feint - Opens up the target to unsuspected attacks. 
24. Concussive blow - a melee attack with a blunt weapon,  does double damage to heavily armored targets. 
25. Slice - a melee attack with a  blade, does double damage to unarmoured targets 
26. Wild strike - a chaotic and unrestrained melee attack, could miss, cause damage to the attacker themselves, cause them to drop/break their weapon, etc, or may cause massive damage! 
27. Dual wield strike  - Attack twice in a turn. 
28. Enrage self - Become more powerful, but chaotic and unrestrained, in battle.  
29. Enrage other - target only attacks enrager. 
30. Shield block - defense with a shield.   
31. Protected retreat - PC retreats from combat while defending.
32. Armour self - Prepare and re-enforce your armor! 
33. Find weakness -  Find a weakness in a target. 
34. Open wound - Cause a heavily bleeding wound on target. 
35. Disarm - Cause target to drop weapon. 
36. Shred armour -Destroy targets armor. 
37. Predict opponent -Helps greatly in defense/battle strategy 
38. Exhaust opponent - Wear out targets endurance 
39. Topple opponent - The target falls to the ground, prone. 
40. Bite - Does not do a lot of damage, but is terrifying and health restorative. 

Skills: The skills listed here are broad and suggestive, what can be attempted with a skill is determined by the PC and the possibility, difficulty and outcome of that attempt is determined by the referee and the spell test.

1. Meditate/pray 
2. Negotiate 
3. Law Knowledge 
4. Theoretical and academic research 
5. Forensic investigation 
6. Rumour milling 
7. Judge intentions 
8. Monster knowledge 
9. Historical knowledge 
10. Disguise, costuming and performance 
11. Artistic creation 
12. Navigation 
13. Weather prediction 
14. Sailing 
15. Beast riding 
16. Wilderness survival 
17. Mountaineering and climbing 
18. Hunting and fishing 
19. Herblore
20. Alchemy 
21. Poison brewing 
22. Move stealthily 
23. Lock picking and escape artistry 
24. Tracking 
25. Surgery and barbering 
26. First aid and medicine 
27. Economics and merchantry 
28. Valuation 
29. Prospecting 
30. Farming and woodchopping 
31. Cooking and meal preparation 
32. Smelting 
33. Mining 
34. Weapon crafting and repair 
35. Armour crafting and repair 
36. Building and masonry 
37. Skinning and butchery 
38. Tanning and textiles 
39. Sewing and tailoring 
40. Contraptioning and engineering 

Limit Breaks:  Level times a session/day/Length of time appropriate to the campaign, when attempting an action a PC can roll a d6 that explodes on 6's (re-roll and add new dice roll to total). This roll is a added to the appropriate skill, increasing its descriptor for that action.  

Leveling: To level up a PC: 

0, To get to next level, do something mildly interesting 
1, To get to next level, do something interesting 
2, To get to next level, do something that changes a small group 
3, To get to next level, do something that changes a large group 
4, To get to next level, do something that changes a whole building/structure 
5, To get to next level, do something that changes a town/settlement 
6, To get to next level, do something that changes a whole biome/environment  
7, To get to next level, do something that changes a whole continent
8, To get to next level, do something that changes the whole world 
9, To get to next level, do something that changes reality 

Playing the game: 

• The referee presents a fantasy world to the players. 
• The players tell the referee what they want their PC's to do (perhaps explaining why they may be successful in such an endeavor). 
• The referee tells them what happens. 
• If an NPC is taking an action that involved a PC, the PC can tell the referee how they attempt to react (Say, if the NPC was swinging a sword at them for example!) 
• (PC's cant attempt a skill without 1 level in it! They shall have do do broad and inferior simulacrum of such a feat using their attributes!) 
• (If you really need to roll a dice attribute checks would be a d10 attribute level number or below, and skill checks would be d20 skill level number or below) 

Tokens and Tragedies - the pick your crunch d6 battle system (Fully Custom Edition!)

(I've been fiddling around with this for the last few weeks. It begun as a semi free form/matrix argument inspired battle game but mutated into a more mechanical skirmish game where I try and squeeze as much as possible out of a single d6. I'm currently play testing a Necromunda inspired "hack/total conversion" of these rules. I had plans to put this into a PDF but I don't know if that will be happening any time soon, so here it is in blogpost format!) 

For generating and resolving interesting and unique narrative skirmish conflicts  

• This is not a competitive skirmish game. Some willingness to cooperate to see an interesting battle play out is required from the players

• A digital or hand drawn map with symbols for units/terrain/chits or, miniatures, terrain and distinct chits/unit markers, are highly recommended to play the game.

Key Mechanics: 

Movement: 

• Players state where each of their units will move. 

• If the other player does not slow any units, the units move immediately. 

• Slowed units arrive at the beginning of the next movement phase (and may then move again). 

• A slowed unit’s faction gains a token for each unit slowed. 

• To melee attack a target a unit must move to the area of their target, and then move again into melee range. 

• To range attack a target a unit must move to the area of their target. 

Special Resolution, 

When a unit attempts something that isn't an attack, roll a d6: 

1 - 2) Failure 

3 - 4) Failure, put a +1 chit on unit, unit gets +1  to next roll attempting same thing 

5 - 6) Success 

Basic Battle Resolution,

When a unit attacks a target, roll a d6:  

1) Miss

2) Defend - Put a defense chit on unit - Minus 1 to next battle roll targeting unit. 

CAN stack but only one chit always consumed each attack against unit 

3-4) Injure - Put an injury chit on target.  Each injury chit =  minus 1 to all rolls.

 A unit is dead if it has 4 or more injury chits on it.  

5) Maim - Put a maimed chit on target. Target is  unable to act and an additional attack of 3+ kills it 

6) Kill - Put a dead chit on target. Target unable to act until they are no longer dead.If a unit has their Dead chit removed, they are no longer dead but must remove one if their “Strengths”. 

Tokens: May be used to: 

• Cause a successful dice rolled by a unit with a Tragic Flaw to fail as if a 1 was rolled, but MUST reference the Tragic Detail as a reason for the failure.  

• Causes an unrolled  dice roll by a unit with a Heroic Boon to be an automatic 6 (affected by -1 from injures), MUST reference the Heroic Boon as a reason for the success.

• In the environmental phase a player may spend a token to apply Turf Crunch to a specific area of the map. 

Turf Crunch: Advantages (Crunch Strengths, Special Abilities, Heroic Boons) or disadvantages  (Crunch Weakness, Special Weakness, Tragic Flaws) applied to a specific area of the battlefield.

Setup Phase Summary:

• Agree on number of units in each faction

• Apply Crunch Strengths and Weaknesses to whole faction

• Apply Advantages (Crunch Strengths, Special Abilities or Heroic Boons) and disadvantages  (Crunch Weakness, Special Weakness or Tragic Flaw) to each specific unit .

• Agree on battlefield base terrain description and any special atmosphere

• Apply Turf Crunch to battlefield areas .

• Agree on battlefield objectives 

• Deploy units. 

Battle Turn Summary: 

• Gambit - determine which player acts first in all phases this turn. 

• Movement Phase - Each player, in gambit order,  moves all of their units. 

• Special Phase - Each player, in gambit order,  resolves all of their units special abilities. 

• Battle Phase - Each player, in gambit order, attacks with all of their units

• Repeat! 

Key Terms: 

• Crunch Strength: A positive slight change (one mechanic, one integer) to the key mechanics of the game.

• Crunch Weakness: A negative slight change (one mechanic, one integer) to the key mechanics of the game.

• Token: Spent to make an unrolled dice by a unit with a heroic boon a 6, or a rolled dice by a unit with a tragic flaw a 1. 

• Special Ability: An out of battle ability/power/etc used in the “Special Phase” of a turn.

• Heroic Boon:A descriptive detail that allows the unit to use a token to guarantee a roll of 6. 

• Special Weakness: A negative (generally passive) out of battle ability/power/etc activated in the “Special Phase” of a turn.

• Tragic Flaw: A descriptive detail that allows a token to be used against the unit to turn a roll of theirs into a 1.

• Advantages: Crunch Strengths, Special Abilities or Heroic Boons applied to a unit. 

• Disadvantages: Crunch Weaknesses, Special Weaknesses or Tragic Flaws applied to a unit. 

• Turf Crunch: Turf Crunch are advantages (Crunch Strengths, Special Abilities, Heroic Boons) or disadvantages (Crunch Weaknesses, Special Weaknesses, Tragic Flaws) applied to a specific area of the battlefield. 

• Gambit: When one  player declares that they will act first in all phases of a turn turn. The other player may take a token, or give a “Tragic Flaw ”  to one of the other players units , or give  an “Heroic Boon” to one of their units. 

Key Chits applied to Unit: 

• Slowed: Does not move this movement phase, applies at the beginning of the next movement phase and may then move again. . 

• +1: Applied after a roll of 3 - 4 on a specific action in the special phase,  unit gets +1  to next roll attempting same thing 

• Defense:- Minus 1 to next battle roll targeting unit. CAN stack but only one chit always consumed each attack against unit 

• Injury: -1 to all dice rolls by the unit. A unit with 4 injury chits dies. 

• Maimed: Unit is unable to act and an additional attack of 3+ kills it 

• Dead:  Unit is unable to act until they are no longer dead.If a unit has their Dead chit removed, they are no longer dead but must remove one if their “Strengths”.

Note: A simpler and swifter version of the game can be played if “Army lists” have been prepared that allow the players to simply choose from a list of appropriate Advantages (Crunch Strengths, Special Abilities and Heroic Boons) and Disadvantages (Crunch Weaknesses, Special Weaknesses and Tragic Flaws) applied to a unit. Additionally, having  battlefields prepared with lists of appropriate turf crunch will also help make the game simpler and swifter. 

Faction Setup: 

• Both Players agree on the number of units their faction will have. 

• Each faction has the same number of “Basic Melee Fighting People” that use the “Basic Battle Resolution” to attack. “Basic Melee Fighting People” begin with no advantages or disadvantages.    

• Each player may give  their faction as many “Crunch Strengths” as they desire. These strengths apply to all units in the faction. 

• A Crunch Strength is a slight change (one mechanic, one integer) to the key mechanics of the game.

• Once a player has given their faction the desired number of strengths, a second player may give the first’s faction a “Crunch Weakness” or take a “ Token” for each strength the other took.  

• A Crunch weakness is a slight change (one mechanic, one integer) to the key mechanics of the game. 

Unit Setup: 

• Each player may give each of their specific units as many advantages (Crunch Strengths, Special Abilities or Heroic Boons) as they desire. 

• A Crunch Strength is a slight change (one mechanic, one integer) to the key mechanics of the game. 

• A Special Ability is an out of battle ability/power/etc used in the “Special Phase” of a turn.

• A Heroic Boon is a descriptive detail that allows the unit to use a token to guarantee a roll of 6. 

• Once a player has given their units all their desired strengths a second player may give the first’s units a disadvantage  (Crunch Weakness, Special Weakness or Tragic Flaw) or take a token for each advantage given to the other’s units. . 

• A Crunch Weakness is a slight change (one mechanic, one integer) to the key mechanics of the game. 

• A Special Weakness is a negative (generally passive) out of battle ability/power/etc activated in the “Special Phase” of a turn.

• A Tragic Flaw is a descriptive detail that allows a token to be used against the unit to turn a roll of theirs into a 1.

Notes: 

• A disadvantage cannot override a faction/unit's specific advantage. 

• Crunch strengths/weaknesses should only affect one integer and type of  mechanic (changing the dice roll resolution tables by ONE entry/requiring ONE more or less token/chit, etc.) More than one integer of the same strengths requires multiple weaknesses be applied/tokens taken. 

•  A special ability/weakness should impact the current condition, by one integer, of one unit's status in one mechanic. 

Battlefield Setup:

• A first player describes the terrain of the battlefield.

• These descriptive details can be used in movement slowing and applying Turf Crunch.  

• A second player describes any additional effects, atmosphere, weather, dangers, etc that the battlefield has.

• These descriptive details can be used in movement slowing and applying Turf Crunch. 

• Each player takes it in turns to define a distinct area or region of the battlefield and apply Turf Crunch to it. 

• Turf Crunch are advantages (Crunch Strengths, Special Abilities, Heroic Boons) or disadvantages (Crunch Weakness, Special Weakness, Tragic Flaws) applied to a specific area of the battlefield. 

• Cover, traps, doors, healing pools, etc and so on, can be added to a battlefield in this way. These must seem plausible and logical considering the battlefield’s description and all units, regardless of faction, have equal access and use of these environmental additions.

Optional, Battle Objective Setup 

• A first player describes the basic objectives of the battle of each faction (if it is beyond “Kill the other faction”) 

• A second player describes a complication, technicality, or quantifier to each objective. 

• Objectives may result in Additional Turf Crunch if both players agree. 

Pre Battle: 

Deployment: 

• A first player describes the starting locations of each of their units. 

• A second player may ask the first player to change the location of any of their units. For each unit moved the first player may take a token. 

• The  second player now describes the starting locations of each of their units, following the same procedure above. 

The Battle Begins! 

Play out turns in the following order! 

Gambit: 

• One player declares that they will act first in all phases this turn. The other player may take a token, or give a “Tragic Flaw ”  to one of the other players units , or give  an “Heroic Boon” to one of their units. 

• If neither player (or both) wants to declare that they will act first in all phases, roll a d6, highest wins, to determine who will act first. 

Movement Phase:

• The first player states where each of their units will move. 

• If the other player does not slow any units, the units move immediately. 

• A player slowing a unit must provide a logical in universe reason as to why a unit is slowed. 

• Slowed units arrive at the beginning of the next movement phase (and may then move again). 

• A slowed unit’s faction gains a token for each unit slowed.

• To melee attack a target a unit must move to the area of their target, and then move again into melee range. 

• To range attack a target a unit must move to the area of their target. 

• The  second player now states the movements of each of their units, following the same procedure above. 

• Notes on Movement: Movement will be game and battlefield dependent. The specifics will need to be agreed on by both players before the game begins. As a general rule on a “smaller” battlefield, units should be able to move  any area on the map with a single move. On a “larger” map units may need to move to a specific region of the map with a move, then to a specific area within that region with another move. 

Special Phase:

•  The first player describes the attempted out of battle actions of each of their units, resolving them with the d6 Special Resolution. 

• Tokens may be used in this phase.  

• Tokens: May be used to: 

• Cause a successful dice rolled by a unit with a Tragic Flaw  to fail as if a 1 was rolled, but MUST reference the Tragic Detail as a reason for the failure.  

• Causes an unrolled  dice roll by a unit with a Heroic Boon  to be an automatic 6 (affected by -1 from injures), MUST reference the Heroic Boon as a reason for the success

• The  second player now describes the attempted out of battle actions of each of their units, following the same procedure above. 

• If a unit is an area affected by Turf Crunch that requires a dice roll, the unit must resolve the environmental Turf Crunch before they can resolve their special action. 

• Note: The special resolution system can be used by units to attempt certain actions that may not be covered by specific “Special Abilities” (such as giving another unit a specific piece of equipment), if both players agree on the result of the attempted action. 

Battle Phase: 

•  A first player describes the attempted attack  of each of their units, resolving them with the d6 Basic Battle Resolution. A “Basic Melee Fighting Person” needs to be standing next to a target to attack them (in melee range). Other attack distances will depending on the attacking units Advantages  

• Tokens may be used in this phase.  

• Tokens: May be used to: 

• Cause a successful dice rolled by a unit with a Tragic Flaw to fail as if a 1 was rolled, but MUST reference the Tragic Detail as a reason for the failure.  

• Causes an unrolled  dice roll by a unit with a Heroic Boon to be an automatic 6 (affected by -1 from injures), MUST reference the Heroic Boon as a reason for the success

• The  second player now describes the attempted attacks of each of their units, following the same procedure above. 

• Note: As a general rule a unit can only be the target of up to 4 melee attacks in a single battle phase. 

Return to “Gambit” then repeat until the battle is resolved! 

Optional Environmental Phase: 

• In this phase each player, in gambit order, may spend a token to apply Turf Crunch to a specific area of the map.