D6 Simple Rules Overview for Empire Ascendant

Empire Ascendant

The following rules are based on the free Mini Six roleplaying game which can be downloaded as a PDF here. These rules include variants and call-outs specifically for use with the D6 version of Star Wars the Roleplaying Game, 1st Edition, originally by West End Games.

Attribute and Skill Rolls

Whenever the rules call for a die roll, it's usually a Skill (or, if you don't have an appropriate one, default to the governing Attribute) and roll the dice against the Target Number (TN). The die code tells you how many dice to roll and what to add: 4D means roll four six-sided dice and add them together, while 3D+2 means roll three six-sided dice, add them together, and then add two to the total.

General Rules for Knowledge Skills

Information Difficulty

• Anyone knows that! - 5
• Common knowledge - 10
• Not widely known, but not secret - 15
• Specialized knowledge - 20
• Expert knowledge, top-secret - 30

What do I know about (common subject matter)

Roll Knowledge or a particular skill, and here's what you know based on your roll:

• 5+ You're pretty ignorant.
• 10+ Layman's knowledge.
• 15+ Broad general knowledge; may confer a minor advantage in some circumstances.
• 20+ Specific, detailed knowledge; may confer a moderate advantage.
• 30+ Comprehensive knowledge; may confer a major advantage.

General Rules for Repairs

The difficulty to repair an object depends on the damage done to it:

• Light damage - 10
• Heavy damage - 20
• Severe damage - 30
• Destroyed - cannot be repaired

Modifiers to the difficulty include any of the following:

• Working at a well-stocked facility with spare parts -10
• Working with parts and tools +0
• Working without proper parts or tools, or in severe conditions +10

Time to Use:

• 15 minutes, but if the roll fails, subtract the roll from the difficulty.
• +1 day for a second round of repairs, but if the roll fails, subtract the roll from the modified difficulty.
• +2 additional days for a third round of repairs, but if the roll fails, so do the repairs. A new facility or expert is needed to start the process again.

Multiple Workers

• Make the skill rolls on the same schedule as above, but subtract the highest roll from the difficulty number each time.

Astrogation

Time to Use:

• Position is known and route is well-traveled - 1 minute
  • Lower it up to as little as 1 round at increasing difficulty
• Position is known but destination's route is not - 1D hours
  • Lower it up to as little as 1 minute at increasing difficulty
• Current position is unknown and jump is effectively blind - 1 day
  • You can do one of these faster, but you're pretty much doomed

Bargain

Make an opposed Bargain roll when trying to haggle over the price of goods or services.

• Beat opponent by x3 or better: Price is halved.
• Beat opponent by x2 or better: Price is 3/4 (75%) of original price.
• Beat opponent, but not quite by x2: Price is discounted up to 10%.
• Rolls are tied: Price is normal.
• NPC beats you, but not quite by x2: Price is increased up to 10%.
• NPC beats you by x2 or better: Price is increased 50%.
• NPC beats you by x3 or better: Price is doubled.

Bribes

The difficulty for a successful bribe is based on who you're bribing:

• Corrupt hick-planet judge - 5
• Maitre-d'hotel at a swank restaurant - 10
• Planetary official - 15
• Imperial official - 20
• Imperial Naval officer - 30

The difficulty is modified by the size of the bribe:

• 1 million credits -20
• 100,000 credits -15
• 10,000 credits -10
• 1,000 credits -5
• 100 credits +0
• 10 credits +5
• 1 credits +15

Beast Riding

1. When first mounting an animal, roll this skill vs. the animal's Orneriness.
2. Failure indicates you've been bucked off and probably have a limited number of chances to try again.
3. Any time the animal gets spooked (by blaster fire, for example), roll this again.

Bureaucracy

Has two uses:

1. General knowledge of bureaucracies and how they work.
2. Gaining access to special information by "playing the system."

Difficulty of gaining access to information

• Available to all - 5
• Available to almost anyone - 10
• Available to anyone who qualifies - 15
• Somewhat restricted - 20
• Extremely restricted - 30

Modifiers

• The request is...
  • Common +0
  • Extremely unusual +10
• The bureaucracy in question is...
  • Well funded / has good morale +0
  • Poorly funded / has bad morale +10
• Your relationship with the bureaucrats is...
  • Neutral or allied +0
  • Antagonistic +10

Command

Rolling to command a group of NPCs has a difficulty based on their relative loyalty to you:

• Every reason to obey you - 5
• Some reason to obey you (common interest) - 10
• No reason to obey you - 15
• Skeptical or suspicious - 20
• Every reason not to trust you - 30

Computer Programming / Repair

The Difficulty to retrieve specific data is:

• Public data - 5
• Easy to access - 10
• Private data - 15
• Secret data - 20
• Top-secret data - 30

If your roll is half or less than half of the Difficulty, the network intrusion is detected.

Con

The difficulty of a con is based on who you are trying to con:

• Your own grandma - 5
• A naive teenager - 10
• A stormtrooper with no orders preventing the request - 15
• A customs inspector - 15
• Jabba the Hutt - 30

Modifiers include:

• The target...
  • Trusts you +0
  • Distrusts or dislikes you +10
• The target feels...
  • The request requires little/no effort +0
  • The request is risky or dangerous +10

Demolitions

The Difficulty is based on the size and/or structure you are trying to blow up:

• Very flimsy object (plywood door) - 5
• Flimsy ojbect (hardwood door) - 10
• Average (transparisteel, durasteel door) - 15
• Lightly armored object (blast door) - 20
• Heavily armored object (starship hull) - 30

Note that standard detonite comes in a fist-sized cube that deals 1D damage like a grenade.

Gambling

There are three ways to handle gambling.

1. Game of chance: Determine the winner by random roll.
2. Legit games of skill: Make a Gambling roll for all players, high roll wins, ties result in a draw.
3. Cheating: The cheater automatically wins, or if there is more than one, the cheaters roll off against one another to determine which one wins.
   • Everyone else makes a Gambling roll against the cheater; anyone who beats the cheater detects the cheat.

Hide / Sneak

If someone is actively searching for you (using the Search skill), this skill acts much like a Full Dodge: simply add the Hide/Sneak skill roll to the TN for the character using Search.

Languages

Most people understand most galactic languages. When someone says something and they aren't speaking in Basic, roll this skill to see if it's understood.

• Simple phrase - 5
• Simple sentence or concept - 10
• Moderatley complex paragraphs or concepts - 15
• Complex concepts or long-winded explanation - 20
• Complex, technical or culturally-specific concepts - 30

Stamina

Failing a Stamina roll sets your condition at Fatigued. A fatigued character reduces all rolls by 1D until they rest (usually for an hour, or for a full night's sleep depending on the circumstances).

Streetwise

Difficulty is based on how common the goods / services are that you are looking for.

• Very common (lawyer, blaster) - 5
• Common (petty thief, drugs) - 10
• Moderately common (skilled pickpocket, rare drugs) - 15
• Difficult to find (safecracker, heavy ordinance) - 20
• Very difficult to find (renowned thief, unregistered starship) - 30

Modifiers

• Law enforcement in the area is...
  • Easygoing +0
  • Establishing martial law +10
• You are...
  • Familiar with the area +0
  • Know exactly zero people around here +10
• Your reputation is...
  • Amenable to the general populace +0
  • As a narc for the Imperials +10

Swimming

A failed Swimming roll means you start drowning. Roll 2D each round to determine whether you die, just like a Mortally Wounded character.

Saving a drowning character requires two Swimming checks, with the multiple action penalty. The second check is against TN 15 in order to save the victim.

Combat

Scaling

When fighting in the same scale, no modifiers are factored in.

When fighting out of scale, the following modifiers come into play. When dealing damage to a smaller target or resisting damage inflicted by it, the larger adds the difference in modifiers to their die rolls (or the noted static defense bonus). Smaller scaled targets attempting to dodge attacks from -- or attempt to attack -- a larger opponent add the different to their defense and attack rolls.

Scale // Modifier

• Character . . . None
• Speeder . . . +2D / +6 to Dodge
• Walker . . . +4D / +12 to Dodge
• Starfighter . . . +6D / +18 to Dodge
• Capital Ship . . . +12D / +36 to Dodge
• Planetary . . . +24D / +72 to Dodge

Actions

A character can declare multiple actions in any combat round, but each action beyond the first imposes a -1D penalty to all actions performed in the same round. These penalties are cumulative.

Facts

A Fact is either an action or a "not-really-an-action" that still imposes a -1D penalty on characters as if they were performing multiple actions.

• Drawing a weapon from its holster
• Loading a weapon
• Setting a blaster to stun
• Running (moving twice your base speed)
• Crawling while prone

Movement

Normally, a character can move 5 meters without any issues, and 10 meters counts as running (see Facts).

Characters with lower base movement rates (such as a droid with a move of 3m) can run, but do so at 2x their base movement rate (6m, in the case of the aforementioned droid).

Prone

A character can drop prone at any time on their action, without penalty. Dropping prone provides some advantages against ranged combat, and is also the only way to (attempt to) avoid explosions from grenades, thermal detonators, and the like.

A prone character can crawl 2 meters as their movement, but suffer a -1D penalty to all other actions, as doing so is a Fact.

Standing up from prone and taking other actions can be done without penalty, though you cannot move (crawl, walk or run)

Initiative

1. Declaration phase (determine your actions, including multiple actions, or declaring Full Dodge).
2. Roll 1D per character, actions proceed in ascending order (1s go first, 2s go second, etc.).
3. Resolve first action for each character in initiative order.
4. Repeat for subsequent actions, until all declared actions are resolved.
5. End of combat round.

Defenses

Defenses are a static number. Normally, the Target Number (TN) of any ranged attack is simply based on the range, and any melee attack is based on the weapon employed. Characters have two choices during the Declaration phase of initiative in terms of defense:

1. No defense/not declared: The TN is modified by the character's appropriate static Defense score.
2. Full Dodge: The character declares that they will do nothing except defend themselves. The TN is modified by the character's static Dodge + 10.

Static Defense are calculated as such, and should be noted on your character sheet:

• Brawling Parry = (Brawling Parry skill dice x3) + pips
• Dodge = (Dodge skill dice x3) + pips
• Melee Parry = (Melee Parry skill dice x3) + pips

Fire Combat

Range Difficulty

• Point-blank - 5
• Short - 10
• Medium - 15
• Long - 20

Other Difficulty Modifiers

• Target has Cover: +5
• Target is Prone: +5 (except at Point-blank range)

Grenades

1. Roll your skill dice to see whether you hit, or -- if not -- if it scatters.
   • Scatter: roll 1D to figure out the direction of the scatter, and 3D for the number of meters it scatters.
2. Determine who is in the blast radius, and what their range is from the grenade.
3. Roll 4D for the grenade to "hit" each of the potential targets.
   • Any use of Full Dodge takes effect right now, and automatically results in the character falling prone.
4. Anyone who is hit takes damage normally.

Grenade Modifiers

• In an enclosed area (10 x 10 x 10 meters): +1D to damage
• Targets protected by flimsy cover (window): -1D to damage
• Targets protected by hard cover (door, slit): -2D to damage
• Targets protected by full cover: grenade can't damage them (but can destroy the cover)
• Explosion in vacuum: -1D to damage

Damage

When you are hit, simply subtract the Soak roll (Strength + Armor) from the Damage roll.

Damage Roll > Soak Roll by // Effect

• 0-3 . . . Stunned
• 4-8 . . . Wounded
• 9-12 . . . Incapacitated
• 13+ . . . Mortally Wounded

The effects of each level of damage are:

• Stunned: You suffer -1D to all rolls (except Damage and Soak) for the rest of the round and for the next round.
• Wounded: You fall prone and cannot act for the rest of the round. You suffer -1D to all rolls (except Damage and Soak) until healed. If you are wounded twice, you become Severely Wounded.
• Severely Wounded: Same as Wounded, but you suffer a -2D penalty instead of -1D. If you are wounded again, you become Incapacitated.
• Incapacitated: You fall prone and are knocked unconscious.
• Mortally Wounded: You fall prone and are knocked unconscious. Roll 2D every round; if you roll a number less than the number of rounds you've been mortally wounded, you die. A First Aid roll of Moderate difficulty with a Medpac can stabilize a Mortally Wounded character, negating the need to roll 2D every round.

Mooks

Certain enemies may be classed as Minions or Henchmen:

• Minions are defeated on any successful hit.
• Henchmen are defeated whenever they would normally be Wounded.

Blasters Set to Stun

Setting a blaster to stun is a Fact, incurring a -1D penalty on any subsequent actions in the same round.

When determining the effects of damage from a blaster set on stun, any result of Wounded or greater simply means the target is knocked unconscious for 2D minutes. A Stunned result (ironically) means the target is unharmed.

Vehicles

Chases

1. Vehicles start at Short, Medium, or Long range.
2. Roll piloting skill + the vehicle's speed dice (Sublight Speed for spacecraft).
3. High roll gets to choose whether the range is increased or decreased by 1 position (or stays the same).
   • A tied roll means they stay at the same range.
   • If the pursuer wins while at Long range, he may choose to escape, and the chase ends.
   • If they are at Short range, the winner (whether it is the pursuer or the person being chased) may choose to make the other vehicle crash (but this counts as multiple actions; see Crashes below).

Crashes

1. The "attacker" makes a piloting roll at -1D for multiple actions.
2. The "defender" makes an opposing roll with the same penalty.
3. If the defender fails, he crashes. See the Falling and Collision table.