Double D6 SRD 1.0

Licence

This text-only SRD is released under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence

Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence

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Contents

Introduction

Double D6 is a traditional role-playing game where one player takes the role of Game Master (GM) who describes what characters see, smell & hear when questing so players can respond with what their characters try to do or say.

Actions

Resolution Rolls

A character can usually be successful in their actions but if there's at least a risk of shenanigans should they fail, they make a resolution roll (RR).

To do this they

  1. Describe what they're trying to do
  2. Agree with their GM which attribute & skill to use
  3. Roll two six-sided dice (2d6) & add one or two modifiers (attribute & skill)
  4. Check their result against:

Or to put it another way:

2d6 + attribute + skill (if applicable) vs. Difficulty or Defence (D)

The resulting roll is to be interpreted by the character & the GM.

Difficulty

The difficulty number, chosen by the GM, represents how likely a character will succeed in their attempt.

Use the following scale for guidance when choosing a difficulty number:

Fighting

If a character attacks a creature, they describe their action & roll a resolution roll(RR) including applicable attribute & skill bonuses.

If they roll higher or match their opponent’s defence (D) points reduce their opponent's health (H) by their experience level (XL) or as determined by the effect of a spell.

All creatures under the GM’s control can attack characters in the same way.

Should a creature be defeated or outsmarted, split its experience points (XP) equally among anyone who was involved in the situation, rounding up any fractions—eg:

Three characters outsmart a 2 XP creature so each character receives 1 XP, rounded up from ⅔ XP

Healing

A good eight hours sleep will fully replenish anyone’s health (H).

Alternative, healing can be carried out by a character of faith.

Obstacles

Overcoming puzzles or tricky situations such as pit traps or swinging blades can also reward characters with XP.

The GM should judge how many XP to grant each obstacle on its own merits but if the characters overcome it in an interesting or enjoyable way, do feel free to increase it.

Experience Points Example Obstacle
1XP A grumpy door with a questionable riddle
2XP A seemingly impassable chasm
3XP A seemingly impassable chasm filled with psychic snakes
4XP A moving wall of rotating blades
6XP An escape from the top of a collapsing tower
12XP Dodging an angry falling star

Advantage & Disadvantage

A character can create an advantage for themselves—eg by accepting another character’s offer of assistance—or they might find themself at a disadvantage—eg trapped in an apple barrel.

In these cases, roll both dice then roll one of them again:

Snake Eyes & Double Sixes

Positions & Distances

The following can help describe where characters are relative to other characters, creatures & objects.

Keeping the exact details of a place in everyone’s imagination (AKA theatre of the mind) means everyone can add to the location.

Characters

Character Creation

  1. Choose type of creature
  2. Describe a couple of their traits
  3. Roll for attributes
  4. Roll for wealth
  5. Choose their specialism(s)

Creatures

Choose from a list of classic fantasy creatures or make one up using the rules in creature creation

Traits

Pick a couple of flavoursome traits—eg unusual ankles.

They can be used to gain an advantage when carrying out a task.

Attributes

All characters & creatures have six attributes.

An attribute defines how likely a character can do a task & adds a bonus to their resolution roll (RR) when attempting it.

Working down the list from Strength to Charisma, roll 2d6 & ignore the highest number rolled.

Equipment

When on quests, characters usually carry a pack of equipment.

Decide on appropriate items to have in their pack with the GM—eg:

The quantity & quality of a character's starting equipment depends on their wealth.

Wealth

Roll 1d6 to determine a character's starting wealth:

Consider if the character's wealth is from their things or who they know.

When questing, wealth is:

Specialism

You have three specialism points (SP) to spend across four specialisms.

A point in a specialism grants the character one related skill as well as the health (H) & defence (D) points marked next to that specialism.

All SP can be placed on one specialism or they can be spread over more than one.

Skills are added to resolution rolls (RR) whenever that skill is used by a character.

Faith

Those with faith pray to small gods; whenever someone mentions the phrase 'oh god', it's these gods that are listening—eg the Oh god of Falling.

Those of faith can petition a small miracle from their Oh god—eg soft ground—by:

  1. Describe how they’d like the miracle to manifest to the GM
  2. The GM picks a difficulty number based on how likely it will be granted
  3. Add the total prayer skills to a resolution roll (RR) to determine success

The more requests in a day, the less likely an Oh God will grant it.

Each day, those of faith can pray up to their number of prayer skills to fully heal any character/creature & restore their health (H).

Fight

A character can fight without a fighting skill but if they have at least one they can add a skill bonus to their resolution roll (RR).

For every fighting skill, pick a type of weapon that they're trained in using and add it to their pack—eg rusty sickles, cutting words, swooping scythe, fisticuffs etc.

When using that weapon to fight, add their total fighting skills to a resolution roll (RR) along with an applicable attribute—eg strength to swing a sword.

Sneaks

For every sneaking skill, choose a specific sneaky thing they can do—eg pick a pocket, hide really well, make really good speeches, etc.

When attempting a sneaky thing, add your total sneaking skills to a resolution roll (RR) along with an applicable attribute—eg dexterity to pick a pocket.

Spells

For every spell skill, you have two sparks of magic.

To cast a spell or make a magic potion, you use a number of sparks depending on the size of the spell effect.

To do this:

  1. Describe the effect of your spell & its appearance to your GM
  2. Decide on its size together (see table below)

The bigger the spell the more sparks needed to cast it.

Once a spark has been used it cannot be used again until dawn.

Add the character's total spell skills to a resolution roll (RR) to determine how successful their spell is in its intent.

Size Duration & Effects Guidance
Tiny (1 spark)
Mouse-sized		 Lasts up to 1 second
Effect is in one place
Visual illusion
Strength of a light breeze
Small (2 sparks)
Cat-sized		 Lasts up to 6 seconds
Can move slowly
Sound illusion
Could lift a heavy book
Medium (3 sparks)
Wolf-sized		 Lasts up to 1 minute
Moves at walking pace
Physical illusion
Could lift a heavy chair
Increase/reduce health H points by your XL
Large (4 sparks)
Bear-sized		 Lasts up 6 minutes
Moves at running speed
Summon/banish an object
Lift a table
Increase/reduce H by your XL +1
Huge (5 sparks)
Elephant-sized		 Lasts up to 1 hour
Moves as fast as an arrow
Summon/banish a small creature
Lift a cart
Increase/reduce H by your XL +2
Gargantuan (6 sparks)
Whale-sized		 Lasts up to 6 hours
Moves almost instantly
Create an object
Summon a medium creature
Increase/reduce H by your XL +3

Experience

Characters start with 1 experience level (XL).

Whenever they gain 12 experience points (XP) from overcoming creatures & obstacles, increase your experience level by +1.

Every time this happens, add one specialism point (SP) to one of their specialisms and gain its benefits—eg increase health (H) & defence (D) points & their number of skills.

Specialisms can be chosen however a player sees fit but they should try to give an in-game explanation for why their character now has that specialism—eg they touched a magical trinket & gain 1 SP in spells.

Character Death

Characters can die on a quest when their health (H) drops to zero. When this happens a devil is sent to offer them one of three options...

  1. Eternal bliss or damnation (delete as appropriate)
  2. Rebirth with no memory of your former life, or
  3. Immediate resurrection as your current self

Either of the first two options result in the player creating a new character

The third option, resurrection, comes at a cost. The player & GM decide on a suitable deal for the character to return to life—eg their left eyeball gains sentience.

Creatures

Creatures can be all shapes & sizes; dangerous, kind, or somewhere in between; some can talk while others communicate through vibrations & explosive sneezes.

Take some time as a group to make some up.

Creature Creation

Creatures have experience points (XP) instead of experience levels (XL).

XP is similar to XL so a creature starts with 3 specialism points (SP) & gains 1 SP for every extra 1 XP—eg:

Creatures can also have as little as ½ XP. These have only 1 SP to spend on a specialism—eg:

Give it a Name

Choose a common fantasy creature with a slight adjustment or make up a completely new name.

Any collection of sounds will do, you just want to come up with a word that sounds like it could be a fantastical monster—eg Grokkelsnek.

Choose its Attributes

Find out the the creature’s six attributes by:

Add a Couple of Traits

Make up a couple of traits that the creature has—eg skin type, appearance, things it’s good at, things it does, etc.

Traits can be the same for all creatures of that type or specific to that particular creature—eg dragons commonly have ‘firey breath’ & ‘flappy wings’.

When using these traits, just like the characters, creatures have an advantage to their resolution roll (RR).

Consider the following body parts when picking traits:

Consider the possible traits those body parts could have:

Questing

Questing is what characters do for riches, revenge or reward.

The Game Master (GM) presents the quest to the characters & adjudicates their actions but characters can try to complete that quest in any way they choose.

Planning a Quest

You can consider the hero’s journey structure when thinking about the people, objects & obstacles that they might come across.

  1. The characters personally need something—usually the reason they are questing at all
  2. Something happens to make them go on this quest—eg a cry for help, a found treasure map, etc
  3. They search in places they don’t fully understand while looking for a solution
  4. They find helpful clues, people & objects
  5. They overcome a final obstacle & take their reward but give up something of themselves, a dear object or belief
  6. They return to where they started, changed by their quest

Names & Goings On

Start with a name for the object of the quest, a couple of interesting words strung together will do.

Once named, consider the following questions:

  1. Take — What is the object?
  2. Take — Who/what is stopping anyone getting it?
  3. Find — How can someone/something help get it?
  4. Search — Where can it be found?
  5. Go/Need — Why might the characters want it?

Write a couple of short sentences with your answers.

Descriptors

A handful of words to remind you of the mood you want to create—eg a scary horror in deep water might include words like damp, dank, slopping & moist

Secrets

Note down a couple of secrets the characters can find on their quest—eg when finding a scroll.

Secrets could be:

Maps

You can map out a place for a quest by drawing circles with letters in them.

  1. Look at the descriptors you jotted down
  2. Think of five places that spring to mind when thinking about those words
  3. Label them A–E then draw lines between them
  4. Use dotted lines for secret paths

Places & Peculiarities

Places can be any shape or size—eg:

Give each place a peculiarity to make it stand out from all the other places.

Inhabitants & Inclinations

Every creature has its own wants, needs & desires.

Note down the creatures in each place on the map & how they might react to the characters.

Dangers & Delights

For each place on your map, note down a dangerous and/or delightful thing.

Dangers can be traps, puzzles, etc. & have a difficulty number associated with it.

Delights can increase the characters’ wealth, revitalise their health or temporarily increase their attributes—eg:

Wyrds

Note down six weird & strange things, wyrds, that could happen to characters while on their quest.

Roll 1d6 to choose which one occurs when the characters do something unexpected—eg a spell misfires.

System Reference Document (SRD): Double D6

Author: Luke Earl / Æther Corp Ltd.

Version: 1.0

Licence: CC 4.0