D8 Dungeoneering
By d8 Claytonians from killitwithfirerpg
In the beginning of all things, there was the d20. And the d20 was good, but it was usurped by the Dark Octahedron, and forever lost.
To generate your mods for your Thews, Guile, Wizardry, and five other things the group brainstorms, roll a d8.
1 -2 mod 5-6 +1 mod
2 -1 mod 7 +2 mod
3-4 ±0 mod 8 +3 mod
When you want to do something, the target number is always ten or more on a 2d8 roll, but the roll will be modified by the difficulty you face and advantages you have. For example, climbing a wall might get modified by the relative smoothness of the wall and how fast you want to climb, but also should probably take your Thews into account.
Combat
To melee, roll 2d8+[Thews]+[circumstances, such as allies flanking target]-[Foes armor] and try to get 10 or better. To throw into combat, do the same thing, but the circumstances will be -1 more against you for each ally you have flanking the target. To shoot, use +Guile instead. All hits deal d8 damage to the foe’s Luck.
Combat costs
Each character has Level points to spend each round. Play starts to the DM’s left and goes clockwise, with an NPC going after each player’s move. When no one has enough points to do anything, the round ends.
To move costs one point per hex. You may also skirmish someone you just attacked successfully or not, moving them one hex per point you are willing to spend.
To attack costs one point.
To charge costs point per hex traveled and must end with a (free) melee attack.
To defend costs one point per desired penalty point to foe’s roll (you can defend out of turn when someone attacks you).
To take a breather and regain 1d8 Luck costs one, plus one point per adjacent foe.
To switch hand items costs one point.
To prepare an interrupt action (I shoot the next guy to come through the door!) costs one point to set up and another to cancel (I don’t shoot my friend who just came through the door!) and fails if you don’t have the points to actually carry through on the action.
To focus, you spend one point plus one per +1 mod you want on your next roll.
To add an extra d8 before you attack or roll damage costs three points.
Starting Level and Luck
Well it sounds like being level one would be Nintendo-hard in combat, so everyone starts with Guile+d8 levels, or at least one. Luck, the game-stuff that keeps you alive, starts at Thews+1d8 or at least one. BTW Luck can be spent on any roll. Luck regenerates at a rate of LVL points per session.
Getting Better
At the beginning of the game and whenever you level up, roll a d8 to see how many Deeds of Renown you have to do before you can level up again. How do we know they are renowned? Because your fellow players will mention them in their session reports.
When you do level, you gain one more point for combat costs and d8 more Luck.
Dying
If you get knocked to less than 0 Luck, you will die without magical intervention at the end of ½×d8 rounds.
Crits
Rolling double 8s deals max damage and gives you d8 extra combat cost points to spend this round. If a crit knocks someone to less than 0 Luck, they are dismembered, dead on the spot.
Armor & Encumbrance
All armor mods your foe’s difficulty to hit you and takes up weight slots equal to its modifier. You can carry up to 10+Thews things (any more than that is -1 point to rolls per thing). Armor mods max out at 4, but a shield can take them to 5.
Weapons
Two-handed weapons deal the better of two damage rolls. One handed weapons give +1 to-hit. Punches have their damage reduced by the foe’s armor rating.
Spells
One can attempt to memorize any spells they come across (found in librams). Each spell takes one hour to memorize and requires a +WIZ roll, modified negatively by spell level, to enunciate successfully (shot and forgot either way). Retaining spells is draining, reducing the casters available weight slots by one per spell in the brain. For each point of Luck a player is willing to permanently sacrifice at character gen, they can have already found a spell of d8th level.
Foes
Baddies have an π in d8 chance of going first each round.
