Category Archives: FreeD6

Luck Points

Luck is an extranormal ability. A character must be a Dynamic character to have the Luck ability. Luck is a ranked ability; for every rank of Luck, the character begins a play session with one luck point. Normal: a Stock character does not have the luck ability.

Before making a skill check, a character may spend a luck point to double the number of dice in the die code rolled for the skill check. If the character has Wild Dice, they replace normal dice after the luck point doubles the die code. Only skill and ability dice may be doubled by a luck point. Only one luck point may be spent to affect dice during a single turn, regardless of the number of characters with the Luck ability participating in the action.

When a character spends a luck point, it is used up for the session.

Game Masters may award bonus luck points to players who engage in memorable role-playing that entertains the entire table. Trash talking opponents and witty banter between allies are two ways to earn bonus luck points.

The Game Master has the option of vetoing a player’s use of a luck point and narrative influence if he feels it is not justified.

Wild Die

The Wild Die is an extranormal ability. A character must be a Dynamic character in order to have the Wild Die ability. All player characters are automatically Dynamic. Normal: a Stock character does not have the Wild Die ability.

A character with the Wild Die ability designates one of his dice as a Wild Die. This die should be a different color or design than the regular skill dice.

Whenever he makes a skill check, a character with the Wild Die ability rolls the Wild Die in place of a skill die. If the Wild Die rolls a 6, the die explodes and another Wild Die is rolled to add to the total of the skill check. If that Wild Die explodes, another is rolled, until a Wild Die rolls a number other than 6.

If the skill check succeeds, and the Wild Die rolled a 6, the result is a critical success. A fortunate narrative event occurs in addition to the success of the skill check.

If the skill check fails, and the Wild Die rolled a 1, the result is a critical failure. An unfortunate narrative event occurs in addition to the failure of the skill check.

Using Other Dice

A standard set of role-playing dice includes four-sided, six-sided, eight-sided, ten-sided, twelve-sided, and twenty-sided dice. If an effect causes another type of die to be substituted for the Wild Die, the die only explodes on a roll of 7 or greater. For example, if an effect changes the Wild Die to an eight-sided die (WD8), the die would only explode if it rolled a 7 or 8; a WD10 would explode on a roll of 7, 8, 9, or 10.

Core Mechanisms

FreeD6 is a narrative conflict role-playing game compatible with OpenD6. The abilities and skills have a slightly different emphasis, the application of the Health Track is slightly different, and there is a greater emphasis on relative values instead of absolute values. Character creation and the dice rolling mechanism are the same, and conditions are emphasized as a core mechanism. The core mechanisms in FreeD6 are: narrative structure, abilities and skills, conditions, and taking action.

Narrative Structure

Players in a FreeD6 game take on the role of one or more characters they create. Characters are described in terms of their narrative background, the set of tropes and descriptions that determine which abilities and skills the character is able to access and describe their role in the adventure. In cooperation with a Game Master, players create an adventure narrative in which their characters take a central role. The Game Master describes the scenario, the players have their characters take actions and make decisions, and the Game Master adjudicates the outcome and describes the consequences.

The FreeD6 core rules use narrative conflict to describe scenarios in which player characters and NPCs oppose each other. Instead of tracking pawns and tokens on a battlemap, the Game Master describes the location, the opponents, and the results of the conflict. Descriptions and actions are to be understood in the ordinary usage of the language. Players are free to have their characters take any action within the scope of their abilities. Randomly determined outcomes and scales of effect are determined by rolling dice. All actions, events, and effects in the game are interpreted by the Game Master.

Abilities and Skills

Characters are described mechanically within the game as having abilities; the specific abilities a character possesses are determined by the character’s narrative background. Abilities are usually attached to a die code (ranked) and further described by one or more skills which may enhance the die code. Abilities are either normal or extranormal. Abilities describe broadly defined actions which they allow the character to perform.

All characters are described as either Dynamic or Stock in relation to their importance in the narrative, both of these are normal abilities which describe the scope of abilities to which the character has access. All player characters are automatically Dynamic. Some abilities require a character to be Dynamic in order to acquire the ability. Some conditions only apply to Stock characters.

Normal abilities are possessed by most characters and elements, and do not have a narrative background requirement. The most common normal abilities are: Strength, Dexterity, Presence, Wits, Intelligence, and Perception. Some uncommon normal abilities are: Body, Fatigue, Energy, and Sanity.

Extranormal abilities are not possessed by most characters and elements, and usually have a narrative background requirement. Some common narrative backgrounds and their associated extranormal abilities are: wizard (magic), mutant (super powers), adept (metaphysics), and cyborg (cybernetics).

Skills describe specific uses or actions within the broadly defined actions of an associated ability. A skill’s die code is added to the die code of the associated ability when making a skill check. A skill check may be referred to as an ability check if there is no skill associated with the roll. The terms are interchangeable and both refer to rolling the dice.

Die codes describe the number of six-sided dice and adds (pips) rolled when an ability or skill check is made. A die code is written as “number of dice” followed by “D”. If the die code has adds (referred to as “pips”), they follow the “D” and are written as “+1” or “+2”. To make an ability or skill check, roll the die code and add the pips to generate a skill total. For example, a die code of 3D+2 would roll three six-sided dice, add them together, and add 2 to get the final skill total. The skill total is compared to a difficulty; the difference between the two numbers – positive or negative – is the result points. Result points are used to describe the success, failure, or degree of effect of the action.

Conditions

Conditions are the single words or short phrases used to describe abilities and skills. They are to be understood in the common usage of the word or phrase. They enable or restrict abilities with a narrative effect, or they modify abilities with a mechanical effect.

Conditions are either discrete, progressive, or cumulative. Discrete conditions are created once and are not related to other conditions. Progressive conditions are related to other conditions, and replace the related condition when they are created. Cumulative conditions may be created multiple times and the effects of multiple creations are combined. Conditions are used to measure health, willpower, quantity, duration, or any other game element.

Taking Action

Characters in FreeD6 advance the narrative of a game by making decisions and taking actions. Making decisions means that a character responds to the narrative of the game with an action that does not require a roll of the dice. The Game Master adjudicates the outcome of the decision and narrates the results within the game. Making a decision may involve the character doing things related to his skills, but the circumstances are such that there is no need to roll dice to determine an uncertain outcome.

Taking action involves an uncertain outcome in which the dice are rolled in order to determine the degree of success or failure. The player makes a decision and then rolls dice for an ability check, a skill check, or a random event before the Game Master narrates the outcome of the decision. Taking action necessarily involves the character making decisions, but the outcome is variable or uncertain.

The ability of a character to influence the game is determined by their Health and Willpower conditions. A character may be able to make a decision but unable to take action (Incapacitated). A character may be able to take action, but unable to make a decision (Unresisting).

The types of decisions and actions that a character may take, and the effectiveness of those actions, are determined by the character’s narrative background, abilities and skills, and their conditions.

Results and Conditions

Taking action produces results. Results are measured with conditions. Elements within the game are understood to function and respond in the game setting in the same way as their real-world counterparts. It would be exhausting to try and detail all possible circumstances and assign them game mechanics. Instead, conditions are used to describe ways in which results restrict or enable game elements.

Conditions are single words or short phrases that describe an element within the game. Conditions must be understood to be used in their common and ordinary meaning. All elements within the game (characters, objects, or locations) are in a normal or neutral condition unless something changes. In the normal condition, an element behaves in the same manner as its real-world counterpart, with the same abilities and restrictions.

Conditions have two effects: the narrative effect, and the mechanical effect. The narrative effect restricts or enables abilities, and influences actions, according to the commonly understood definition of the condition. The mechanical effect applies a specific game mechanic as long as the condition is in place.

Creating, Modifying, and Removing Conditions

Conditions are created, modified, or removed through the use of skills, abilities, powers, or game effects. Creating, modifying, or removing a condition is accomplished by an ability check that generates enough result points to affect the condition. The result points generate ranks that describe the severity and duration of a condition. Creating a more severe condition requires a larger difference between the result points and the resistance value. Conditions are discrete, progressive, or cumulative.

Discrete conditions are not created multiple times. They may be narratively related to other conditions or they may be unrelated to any other condition. If a character already possesses a discrete condition, and the same condition would be created again, the second creation is ignored.

Progressive conditions are narratively closely related. When a new progressive condition is created, it replaces the previous condition.

Cumulative conditions may be created multiple times. Each instance of the condition is created and removed individually, and all of the effects are added together, even if some of them cancel out others.

Conditions last until they expire or they are recovered. An expired condition is automatically removed at the end of its duration. Conditions may be recovered with an ability check. Recovering (removing) a condition requires the same number of result points as needed to create it.

All elements in the game use conditions to measure their ability, effectiveness, and persistence.

Condition Severity

A condition either restricts an existing ability or imparts a new ability. The severity of the condition describes the scale and scope of the condition, while the number of mechanical effects affects the roll of the dice or the numerical value of a skill, ability, or attribute. The result points of an ability check create a number of ranks to be spent on effects which describe the severity and duration of the condition.

Some ability checks generate an effect roll, such as damage in combat. The effect roll is always considered a rank 1 effect. If the ability check created more than 1 rank, the additional ranks may be spent on additional effects. Effect rolls always generate result points which are translated into ranks and used to create a condition; an effect roll cannot normally be used to create another effect roll.

Result PointsRankCondition SeverityCondition Duration
1-51minimalone full turn
6-102adequateone full round
11-153moderateuntil the end of the encounter
16-204completeuntil the end of the scene
21-255excessiveuntil recovered
26+6overwhelming
Rank Benchmarks

When creating or modifying a condition, ranks are spent to apply one or more of the following effects. An effect may normally be purchased multiple times; only one effect roll may be created in a single ability check. Effects may be purchased from more than one rank. The effects should always be narratively related to the ability check that created them.

For example, a character makes a stamina: endure ability check while preparing to cross a challenging obstacle field. If the stamina ability check creates 3 ranks of effects, options for effects for 3 ranks include: +3WD to acrobatics skill checks until the end of the next turn; or +1 bonus action for one round and acrobatics skill checks are made with Advantage until the end of the next turn; or +1D to acrobatics skill checks until the end of the encounter.

RankEffect
1create an immediate effect roll (eg., damage)
+/- 1D: an effect roll created this turn gains +/- 1D
+/- 2: a single skill check gains +/- 2 until the end of the its next turn
B1: a single skill check is made with Boost-1 until the end of its next turn
P1: a single skill check is made with Penalty-1 until the end of its next turn
+/-1WD: a single skill check gains +/- 1 Wild Die until the end of its next turn
Advantage: a single skill check is made with Advantage until the end of its next turn
Disadvantage: a single skill check is made with Disadvantage until the end of its next turn
Add/remove one full round to an existing condition.
2+/- 1D: a single skill check gains +/- 1D until the end of the next round
+/- 3: a single fixed value gains +/- 3 until the end of the next round
+/- 1 bonus action in the next round
Extend an existing condition to the end of the encounter.
Reduce an existing condition’s duration from the end of the encounter to 1D rounds.
3+/- 1D: a single skill gains +/- 1D until the end of the encounter
+/- 1 full action in the next round
Extend an existing condition to the end of the scene.
Reduce an existing condition’s duration from the end of the scene to the end of the encounter.
4+/- 1D: a single ability gains +/- 1D until the end of the scene
+/- 1 Action point
Require an existing condition to be intentionally recovered.
Reduce an existing condition’s duration from requiring intentional recovery to expiring at the end of the scene.
5+/- 1 ability until the end of the scene
Condition Effect Benchmarks

Conditions as Damage and Composure

Damage and composure describe groupings of narratively related pre-defined conditions related to a character’s ability to take action. Damage and composure conditions are cumulative.

Damage conditions are created as a result of a character taking damage. When a damage roll against Strength resistance creates result points, those results create a damage condition.

Composure conditions are normally created as the result of a successful Wits or Presence ability check. When an ability check against discipline or insight resistance creates result points, those results create a composure condition.

Body conditions are created as a result of an object taking damage. When a damage roll against toughness resistance creates result points, those results create a body condition.

As a character or object accumulated damage, composure, or body conditions, they will be less able to act until those conditions are recovered. The more conditions they accumulate, the more likely it is that they will be taken out of action.

RankDamageComposureBody
0NormalNormalNormal
1StunnedStartledDefaced
2HurtDisorientedDisrupted
3WoundedDiscouragedDamaged
4IncapacitatedDemoralizedBroken
5Out of ActionOut of ActionOut of Action
Damage, Composure, and Body Conditions

Conditions as Attitude and Willpower

Attitude and willpower describe groupings of narratively related pre-defined conditions related to a character’s ability to make decisions. Attitude and willpower conditions are progressive. A character’s attitude and willpower conditions modify their discipline and insight resistance.

Attitude refers to a character’s general outlook on situations, people, and challenges. It encompasses their beliefs, values, and emotional tendencies. A more helpful attitude leads characters to see conflicts as opportunities for growth or resolution. They will approach conflicts with a problem-solving mindset, seeking solutions and compromises. A more hostile attitude views most interactions as obstacles or threats. They will tend toward a fight-or-flight response, act irrationally, and escalate tensions.

Willpower is the character’s ability to exert self-control, remain disciplined, and persist in the face of challenges. It describes their capacity to stick to their decisions and follow through with actions. A centered character is more likely to commit to decisions when faced with adversity. They remain focused on their goals, and resist immediate gratification in favor of their principles. A broken character will be quick to abandon their commitments as soon as conflict arises. They tend to follow emotional impulses or the directions of others; they do not act with deliberation or rationality.

Resistance ModifierAttitudeWillpower
-15HelpfulBroken
-10FriendlyStressed
-5CooperativePressured
+/- 0NeutralNeutral
+5UncooperativeEngaged
+10UnfriendlyFocused
+15HostileCentered
Attitude and Willpower Conditions

Conditions as Measurements

Status conditions are used to measure game elements that have a limited use. Conditions always have a narrative description, but do not necessarily have a narrative or mechanical effect. In this way, a condition is used to measure quantity or duration without requiring the players or Game Master to keep track of individual units.

Each status condition is specific to each individual ability; the description of the ability will include the description of the status and which skill or ability is used to test it. When a status is tested, a failed check moves the status to the next condition; a successful check means the status stays on the same condition. A check that is failed by 5 or more points does not necessarily move the condition by more than one place.

All status conditions are progressive. As the status grows more difficult to test, a failed check becomes more likely, causing the status to deplete more quickly. Status conditions are also used to time a scene with an unknown duration; as the situation comes closer to resolution, the difficulty of a test becomes greater and failure becomes more likely.

DifficultyEffectQuantityDurationCoverage
9Full EffectFullFullFull
123/4 EffectHeavyWaningCovered
151/2 EffectLightFadingPartial
181/4 EffectDepletedDiminishedExposed
No EffectEmptyExpiredVanished
Status Conditions

Other Conditions

Conditions are not limited to damage, willpower, or status, and conditions are not unique to characters. Conditions are used to measure the state of every element within the game, depending on the particular game’s genre and emphasis.

An element always has at least two conditions: normal, and out of action. The normal condition means there is no effect on the character or game element. The out of action condition means the character or game element can no longer take action or make decisions. An element with only these two conditions as options is essentially a simple skill check.

An element or conflict may have any number of conditions. More conditions means that conflicts will have a greater emphasis in the game and take longer to play out. Fewer conditions will have less emphasis and play out very quickly.

An element usually begins in the normal condition and ends in the out of action condition. Every rank (five result points) between them is considered another condition. The number of ranks (conditions) in between the beginning and the end determines the length of the conflict.

Brief EncounterModerate EncounterLengthy Encounter
0 ranks (Normal)0 ranks (Normal)0 ranks (Normal)
1 rank1 rank1 rank
2 ranks (Out of Action)2 ranks2 ranks
3 ranks (Out of Action)3 ranks
4 ranks (Out of Action)
Encounter Length and Importance

Dice Flip

Some abilities, powers, or effects call for a dice flip when a certain number is rolled during a skill check. A dice flip is also called a difference flip. This is written as “Flip-6” or “F6”, meaning that if any die on a roll shows a 6, it should be flipped to a 1 before being totaled to figure result points.

There are six different values for a difference flip: Flip-1 / F1, Flip-2 / F2, Flip-3 / F3, Flip-4 / F4, Flip-5 / F5, Flip-6 / F6.

With standard casino dice, the opposite sides of a six-sided die always add up to 7. When the die is flipped, the final number will be the difference between 7 and the original number. The number pairs are 1:6, 2:5, and 3:4.

Other Dice and the Difference Flip

Not all dice are six-sided; a standard set of role-playing dice include four-sided, six-sided, eight-sided, ten-sided, twelve-sided, and twenty-sided dice. When the difference flip is applied to any die, the result must always equal the difference between the number rolled and a value one greater than the highest value of the die. Not all dice are designed with the same rotational symmetry or value distribution pattern, so that physically flipping a die does not yield consistent results between manufacturers. “Flipping” mathematically is the only way to get a consistent result.

d4d6d8d10d12d20
1:41:61:81:101:121:20
2:32:52:72:92:112:19
3:43:63:83:103:18
4:54:74:94:17
5:65:85:16
6:76:15
7:14
8:13
9:12
10:11
Difference Flip Table

Advantage and Disadvantage

Status conditions, abilities, and effects can give a character Advantage or Disadvantage on a roll.

Advantage

When a character has Advantage on a roll, after the dice are rolled for the skill check, roll the dice a second time and use the higher of the two values to figure result points.

Disadvantage

When a character has Disadvantage on a roll, after the dice are rolled for the skill check, roll the dice a second time and use the lower of the two values to figure result points.

If more than one condition, ability, or effect gives Advantage or Disadvantage, the effect is not applied multiple times. If both Advantage and Disadvantage are applied at the same time, the two effects cancel each other out and neither effect is applied. Every instance of Advantage or Disadvantage must be removed or canceled to remove the effect.