DRYH: Ashes of Gods - Post Apocalyptic Rules Hack

Dice Pools [d6]

Each player's dice pool is made up of dice from up to 3 smaller pools, while the GM rolls from a single variable pool.

Players

Discipline dice represent the focus a character brings to a task. Your discipline dice are always part of your dice pool.

• A player must roll 3 Discipline Dice (or whatever permanent Break dice may have replaced one or more of the original Discipline Dice) on any character action.

Primal dice represent a character's ability to reach beyond normal endurance and strength and apply it to a task. Primal dice don't reset; they accumulate in your pool from action to action.

• A player must add the total number of Primal dice from the previous roll and may add +1 additional Primal die/turn if desired (to a maximum of 6 Primal dice) to any character action.

Break dice represent a character's ability to willfully break from reality, to reach beyond themselves and give more than humanly possible. Break dice are not cumulative and reset with every action (provided they are not permanent).

• A player can add 0-6 (temporary) Break dice to any character action.

Game Master

The dice the GM rolls are called Pain dice and they represent the stress of the situation the characters have to overcome in a given action.

• The GM rolls as many Pain dice as appropriate to the situation (12 is the most pain dice a character is ever likely to roll against with a hard cap of 15).

Determining Success

• Dice faces 1-3 count as Successes
• Compare total successes in player pool to successes in the GM's Pain roll to determine the overall Success or Failure of a given action.
• Success means the player's goals advance.
• Failure, at the very least, means the player's goals do not move forward, or may even be pushed back, and the opposition's goals advance instead. Additionally, one of the following consequences may apply at the GM's discretion.
  • Player must add 1 primal die to their pool
  • Player must check off a Break response of the GM's choosing.

[Note: The GM cannot inflict a consequence that causes the same effect to happen twice. IOW, if Primal dominates, they can't force the player to add a second Primal die, and if Break dominates, they cannot force the player to check off a second break response].

Determining Strength

• The Strength of a pool is determined by the highest die face showing in each pool [Discipline, Primal, Break, and Pain]

Determining Dominance

The pool with the highest strength Dominates

• If Discipline dominates, Primal resources remain steady and Break is held in check. You have the option to remove a Break response check-mark or decrease your Primal dice by one.
• If Primal dominates, you dig even deeper into your reserves. Increase Primal pool by one die.
• If the Break dominates, things get more chaotic. Check off a Break response and behave accordingly.
• If Pain dominates, you pay a greater price to succeed (or fail) than you otherwise might. Pay a coin into the GM’s Loss coffer.

Overextended

• If Primal is increased above 6, you are completely drained of all reserves and you Crash. You only have access to Discipline dice until you recover. No Primal dice. No Break dice [incl. permanent Break].
  • Recovery requires a full day for each time your character has crashed, before you can again roll Primal or Break dice.
  • Recovering characters cannot use help dice from other characters.
• If you must check off a Break response, but you have none open to check off, you Snap. Clear out your responses, lose one Discipline die, and gain one permanent Break die. Your character will always be a little bit 'off' . . . a little out of touch with reality. If you lose all Discipline, you are Broken. The character is lost forever in a fog of madness.

Using Knacks and Edge

Knacks are things you are especially good at.

• To make minor use of a Primal Knack, your Primal pool must currently have at least one die. On the affected roll, your minimum number of successes is equal to the current number of dice in your Primal pool.
• To make major use of a Primal Knack, you must increase your Primal pool by one, and you may add the total number of dice in your Primal pool to the roll as additional successes.

An Edge is a superhuman ability that you developed when you Changed.

• To make use of your Edge, you must add one to six temporary Break dice to the roll, [minimum number of Break dice determined by the GM based on the potency of the effect].

Coins of Redemption and Loss

• The GM may spend one coin of Loss to add or remove a 6 from any pool in play; the coin pays into the Redemption coffer once spent. If this causes pain to dominate, no coin is paid into the Loss coffer that turn.
• Any player may spend one coin of Redemption to remove one Primal die from their pool, or to remove a check mark from a Break response, or to add a 1 to their Discipline pool.
• Any player may spend five minus Discipline in Redemption coins to recover one Discipline die by removing one permanent Break die.

Modified Help Rules

Replacing the Help rules as written in DRYH with the Help rules introduced in The Bad Man. [Note: Helping another character replaces your regular action roll].

To help another character, you can choose one of the following options:

• Use a Primal Knack (without the usual benefit of minimum/bonus successes). Describe how you’re using that knack to help, and roll your current Primal dice. Those Primal dice count as a part of the acting character’s pool. Both you and the acting character will face the consequences if Primal dominates.
• Use your Edge. Describe how you’re using that Edge to help, and roll however many Break dice you want to (GM sets the minimum) up to a maximum of 6 dice. Those Break dice count as a part of the acting character’s pool. Both you and the acting character will face the consequences if Break dominates.
• Take the hit. Specify one character you’re helping. If something other than Discipline dominates on that character’s roll, you face the consequences instead of them.

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