Roll 1
A customizable Tabletop Role-Playing Game system for all ages and experience levels!
About
- a quick overview -
My name is Eric and I've been running tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) for over 10 years.
Throughout this time I've realized that what separates the TTRPG medium from others is one fundamental concept: improvisation with a chance of failure.
In other words, "let's see if you succeed or not" is at its core, and this simple mechanic is what enables countless stories, adventures, and legends to be born from the creativity of friends around a table, virtual or in-person.
Experiencing the joy this medium brings to others over the years, I wanted to contribute to the community by developing a system that:
1) highlights this simplicity
2) is customizable to many different themes, settings, and worlds
3) is accessible to all ages and experience levels
What resulted after many playtests and tweaks is a system that hopefully accomplishes this, and at the very least, celebrates the heart of TTRPGs.
I look forward to hearing about the stories you create with Roll 1 RPG!
-Eric
How To Play
MAIN CONCEPT:
PLAYERS roleplay characters through conflicts and scenarios created by the GAME RUNNER. To see if characters succeed at tasks or attempts in these scenarios, they roll dice. Anything can happen, and every story told through roleplaying and rolling is unique!
ROLLING DICE
(the foundation)
• When a character attempts to overcome a challenge: roll a pool of six-sided dice
• Success = you roll a 1 on any die
• Failure = you don't roll a 1 on any die
Each character has Traits (Physical / Mental / Social), Skills, Items, and Specialties. A specific amount of six-sided dice (d6s) is assigned to each.
When a character attempts to overcome a challenge (anything that has the potential to fail), a dice pool is built with the most applicable Trait (is this a Physical, Mental, or Social challenge?), Skill, and any Items.
Once the dice pool is built, roll to find out what happens! This is the time to be creative and roleplay what the outcome looks like.
DICE POOLS & BOOST POINTS
(what it all means)
1) TRAITS: the natural potential of a character
The three foundational Traits:
PHYSICAL
MENTAL
SOCIAL
What the dice mean:
• Below Average = 1d6
• Average = 2d6
• Above Average = 3d6
• Prodigy = 4d6
• Legendary = 5d6+
Once decided, these dice rarely (or never) change.
2) SKILLS: a list of learnable qualities that every character can improve over time
The list of Skills depends on the setting/world you're playing in. See character sheet example near the end of this page.
What the dice mean:
• Some experience = 1d6
• Familiar = 2d6
• Trained = 3d6
• Advanced = 4d6
• Expert = 5d6
• Master = 6d6+
3) ITEMS: disposable objects that characters can acquire over time
* In order to use all the dice of an Item, it must be "used as intended," meaning the most common way to use it. If not, it's reduced to 1d6 or unusable, determined by Game Runner.
• NOT used as intended = 1d6
• Used as intended = 2d6
Better or more effective versions of the Item:
• High quality = 3d6
• Exceptional quality = 4d6
• Legendary = 5d6+
4) TAGS: a very specific theme or niche that makes the character excel in these particular situations, usually related to backstory or previous life experience
This adds flavor and customization to a character.
Example: "Skateboarder" Tag - this character is particularly good at skateboarding and knows a lot about it. This Tag "activates" whenever a skateboarding situation occurs.
When a Tag activates, change entire dice pool to four-sided dice (d4).
* d4s have a higher chance of rolling a 1 than d6s
5) BOOST POINTS: rolling extra 1s
Any additional 1s rolled become Boost Points, which you store and use at any time until the end of the session. Any unused Boost Points become Growth Points.
Example: rolled 1 / 1 / 1 / 3 / 5 = 2 Boost Points
Spending Boost Points can do the following:
• 1 Boost Point = Reroll (only once per roll)
• 1 Boost Point = negate 1d6 damage (only once per damage roll)
• 1 Boost Point = 1 point towards Growth (as many as you want)
6) AIDING: helping another character reroll
A character can receive aid from one other character.
The aiding character rolls their applicable dice pool: on a success, the helped character can reroll their pool.
(Any additional 1s rolled become Boost Points as usual.)
The aiding character can also spend 1 Boost Point to automatically give the helped character a reroll.
* As usual, characters only get one reroll opportunity per roll - you cannot stack methods for multiple rerolls.
This is the foundation to all characters and rolling. The Game Runner will work with you to build dice pools for any challenge or task, which always starts with the most applicable Trait, then adds a Skill, then any Items.
OPPOSED ROLLS
(resistance and getting hurt)
• RESISTING: when someone or something is resisting against you, or vice versa
This is for situations where your effort(s) are actively being resisted, or you're the one resisting. Competitions also fit within this category.
These are NOT dangerous situations, meaning no one is at risk of getting hurt. (See below for dangerous situations.)
Examples:
• Convincing someone to do something they don't want to do.
• Trying to hack into a computer with an active security system.
• Arm wrestling.
• Performance competition.
1) Opposing parties build the most appropriate dice pool as usual.
2) All parties roll - whoever rolls the most 1s wins (in the case of a tie, the "defender" always wins).
• COMBAT: when a situation becomes dangerous and someone can get hurt
These rules are used when a situation becomes dangerous, meaning characters and parties are actively trying to hurt each other.
This can include mental or social "battles," since fights or wounds can extend beyond physical.
* The Game Runner will declare a situation becoming "dangerous" or "combat," in which the party can attempt to flee if they don't want to proceed and risk getting hurt.
1) Decide who's actively in this fight or this round of fighting. These will be the characters who will roll.
2) Everyone (including all opponents) creates a dice pool with the most applicable Trait and Skill as usual, and adds any and all Items that would be applicable in this fight. This could include weapons, shields, armor, etc.
3) Everyone rolls their dice pool - all 1s rolled cancel out the opponent's 1s. Whichever party has remaining 1s after cancellation ("winning 1s"), they inflict Wounds.
4) Wounds inflicted = roll 1d6 for each winning 1
EXAMPLE:
• Party A rolls 16d6 total and gets four 1s.
• Party B rolls 14d6 total and gets two 1s.
Party A has two winning 1s, so they roll 2d6 and get 1 / 3. Everyone in Party B receives 4 Wounds towards Physical.
WOUNDS:
Every character has a 6 Wound Tracker for each Trait (Physical / Mental / Social). Whenever a character receives a Wound in a Trait, they mark that on their character sheet.
Whenever you roll with a Trait that has a Wound, you must convert a d6 to a d8 per Wound (lower chance to roll a 1).
For example, if you have 4 Wounds in Physical and are about to roll 5d6 using Physical and a Skill, it turns into 4d8 + 1d6.
If you ever reach 6 Wounds in a Trait, you're "taken out of the scene" and can't roll with that Trait until you heal at least 1 Wound.
* If a character takes 12 Wounds in one hit, they become "dying" (or if Mental/Social, unwilling to continue).
STRAIN:
You can take 1d4 damage to "push yourself" past your normal limits and reroll your current dice pool.
HEALING:
A character can attempt to heal Wounds by rolling a relevant pool (usually Mental + healing skill).
Every 1 rolled = 1 Wound healed.
A "long rest" (usually 8 hours of sleep) heals 1 Wound for each Trait.
DYING:
When a character begins "dying", they can become stabilized by:
• Succeeding on a Physical/Mental/Social Trait roll (no Skills or Items added), whichever one they took the hit.
• Another character within reach succeeding on a healing roll.
• Spending all your remaining Boost Points (another player can do this for you as well).
If all of these fail or aren't possible, then the character is "retired."
DISTANCE:
If a character is using a ranged weapon/attack while everyone else is fighting in close combat, that character still contributes to the party roll but is immune to taking any damage since they're far away.
Characters can change distance and close the gap, but they'll be open to attack and can only use defensive Skills/Items until the next round.
CHARACTER GROWTH
(increasing in skill or competence)
At the end of every session, all characters automatically receives 1 Growth Point.
At the end of every session, all unused Boost Points become Growth Points.
Every 5 Growth Points becomes +1d6 to a Skill of your choosing, then resets.
OPTIONAL:
The Game Runner can give you a "milestone +1d6" to add to a Skill whenever you pass a certain point in the story, and/or let you increase a Trait by +1d6 (more rare).
QUICK CHARACTER SHEET
SETTING = normal kids finding and exploring a fantastical, magical world
ABILITIES: allocate 1d6 / 2d6 / 3d6 to the main Traits. Example:
• PHYSICAL: 1d6
• MENTAL: 2d6
• SOCIAL: 3d6
SKILLS: allocate 10d6 to the following Skills in any combination (cannot go above 3d6 in any one Skill)
• Climbing
• Swimming
• Running
• Balance
• Aim
• Scuffle
• Research
• Technology
• Art
• Cooking
• Puzzles
• Finding
• First Aid
• Nature
• Intimidation
• Negotiation
• Making Friends
• Listening
• Peacemaker
• Tricking
• Creatures
ITEMS: create 2-4 basic items your character would carry around
1) Define its "Intended Use" (2d6)
2) Choose one Item that's higher quality (3d6)
SPECIALTY: create 1 very specific thing your character specializes (Example: archery, chess, knots, pop culture, etc)
WOUNDS: have this somewhere on your sheet, and check each box as your character receives Wounds
PHYSICAL WOUNDS (d8) ☐☐☐☐☐|☐ (KO)
MENTAL WOUNDS (d8) ☐☐☐☐☐|☐ (KO)
SOCIAL WOUNDS (d8) ☐☐☐☐☐|☐ (KO)
THE GAME RUNNER
• Determines the world, including the list of character Skills, discoverable Items, and Specialty possibilities.
• Helps Players create their characters, based on the world.
• Creates conflict/scenarios for the characters to interact with.
• Roleplays everything in the world.
• Guides dice rolls and outcomes.
The Game Runner ultimately guides the gameplay, and operates the world that the Players get to roleplay their characters in (which includes roleplaying everything in the world).
There's a lot that can be said for being the Game Runner, so I've created an ADDITIONAL GUIDANCE section that contains more in-depth guidance for all of the above. I'll also be putting out a "Quick Start Guide" soon to help create your own world.
In short, help Players create their characters based on the setting, place obstacles in their way to build tension and the story, call for rolls as often as you can, and see what happens!
* See the TEMPLATES page to help customize/populate the world during preparation or on the fly.
* To read more about my philosophy of Roll 1 as a system (the mindset, development, reasons for choosing mechanics, and more), click HERE
* For a fun idea, you can buy blank d6s and mark one side with a sticker or marker, so if you see that mark you know you succeeded.