Age Of Dragons: Game Systems
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Overview of Task Resolution
Age of Dragons aims to keep dice-rolling systems as simple as possible, to keep the emphasis on storytelling and to make the game easy to learn.
The game system uses pools of six sided dice. Generally half a dozen six-sided dice per player should be enough to start off. The rules henceforth refer to these as D6, with standard terminology as follows.
- XD6 indicates that you roll X number of six-sided dice. Each die you roll that equals or exceeds the Target Number counts as one Success. For example, 4D6 indicates that you roll 4 six-sided dice.
- TN(X+) indicates that you need to roll X or higher for a die to count as a success. For example TN(3+) indicates that any dice that roll 3 or higher count as a success.
- The Difficulty is the number of successes you need to get to achieve a given task, and is written as Diff X. For example Diff 2 indicates that you need to attain 2 or more successes to achieve a task.
So, for example, 6D6 TN(5+) Diff 3 would indicate that you roll 6 six-sided dice, counting any that roll "five" or "six" as a success, with three such successes needed to achieve the stated task.
Determining Dice Pools
The number of dice you roll for task resolution is determined by several factors, but primarily by your Attributes. The three Attributes are Soma, Sophis and Pneuma.
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Birthright Modifiers
Several Dragon Breeds are especially blessed in certain ways, and receive a bonus to their dice pools accordingly. For example, Sable Dragons have Exceptional Will and gain +1 dice to Sophis-based tasks that relate to mental willpower.
Dragon Breeds can also be weak in certain ways, and can receive dice penalties. For example, Ghost Dragons have Unsettling Presence and take a -1 dice penalty to Pneuma-based tasks that relate to positive social interaction.
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Assigning Difficulties
The difficulty is the number of successes you must attain to succeed at a given task. This number is set by how hard the task is.
Note that difficulty is independent of who is attempting the task. Two dragons of different capabilities who attempt the same task will face the same difficulty.
Levels of challenge
- Difficulty 1
This is the default difficulty for tasks that present some challenge, but are fairly straightforward.
For reference, the odds of getting at least one "6" on three dice is about 43%, so even unskilled dragons rolling their worst attribute with no modifiers will succeed just under half the time.
On the other hand, for a mortal (who normally have Attributes of 1, or at best 2) a Difficulty 1 task is still quite hard. Dragons are quite simply better than mortals at all tasks - physical, mental, magical and social.
Example tasks: Searching a messy room for a dropped key; Smashing down a heavy wooden door; Lifting a two-hundred-kilo box off the ground;
- Difficulty 2
This represents hard tasks, that even a Dragon requires some skill to achieve consistently. Tasks of this difficulty are beyond the abilities of all but the most specialised and skilled mortals.
Its worth noting again - Dragons are better at almost all tasks than humans. They are not just brutish monsters, but are capable of enhanced tasks of dexterity, greater mental agility and greater creativity as well.
Example tasks: Tossing a dart so that it snatches a feather out of the air; Composing a symphony to the standard of the greatest mortal composers; Distilling a herbal cure for a new plague; Lifting a fully loaded cart;
- Difficulty 3
These are tasks that lie beyond mortal capability, and are not altogether easy for dragons either.
Example tasks: Pulling down an iron portcullis; Spotting a face in a crowd of ten thousand from three hundred feet up;
- Difficulty 4
Even Dragons find these tasks of this level incredibly hard, and usually a combination of expert training, natural aptitude and a little good luck is required to pulls these tasks off.
Example tasks: Smashing through a stone castle wall with just physical might; Creating an impromptu haiku that will convince a poetry-hating Blood Dragon to spare your life; Spotting one ant out of three million with a glance;
- Difficulty 5
These tasks are the stuff of legend, even for Dragons - the sort of thing that they describe their mythological culture heroes doing. Most Dragons aren't even capable of tasks of this magnitude, and those that are may push themselves this far maybe once or twice in their lives.
Example tasks: Convincing a dozen hungry Wyverns to serve you rather than fight you; Coming up with a revolutionary new system of politics that shakes the world's societal foundations; Dodging a lightning bolt in open skies;
External modifiers
External modifiers are crcumstances that makea task easier or harder or easier to complete. They increase or decrease difficulty accordingly.
For example, composing a serene poem about a mountain valley is only a Difficulty 1 task. Given an hour or two of peace, a few books of poetry to inspire you, and good weather, it will become Difficulty 0. On the other hand being forced to do so in a few minutes, in the middle of driving rain and sleet, might increase the Difficulty to 2. Trying to form the poem while fighting for your life against a trio of snapping wyverns might be Difficulty 3 or even higher.
External modifiers reflect the environment rather than the individual. Anybody coming into the task would face the same external modifiers. For example, hunger and injury are internal modifiers, whereas weather and equipment are external modifiers.
Permutations
Open tasks
Open tasks have no set difficulty, but instead more successes garnered equates to better results.
Competed tasks
Competed tasks are made when two characters act in direct opposition to each other. In this circumstance the character that achieves more successes past the difficulty wins the contest.
For example, playing a game of chess is a Difficulty 1 Competed Task. Both players of the game make the roll, and the one that scores more successes wins the game, with a larger margin of victory resulting in a more solid victory. If both fail to score any successes, then neither has the skill to close the game, and you must roll again. If both score equal successes, then the game is a stalemate.
Extended tasks
These are tasks which take more than one roll to succeed. The GM could rule that a certain number of total successes is needed to complete the task. Failing a single roll along the way could indicate that the player makes no progress towards his goal, or that he has to give up the task altogether.
For example, flying out of a storm to safety could be an extended task, at difficulty 2. If the player accumulates 20 successes over time, then he has flown free of the storm into calmer skies. If he fails a roll, then he is forced to land, and cannot take off again safely.
