Flamepunk: Basic Rules

Flamepunk:Main Page -> Flamepunk: Basic Rules

---

Overview of Task Resolution

The Flamepunk game system is based on the 666 game engine by Asklepios.

The fundaments of this system are as follows:

• You use six-sided dice.

• By default, you have six dice in your action dice pool. Each player will probably need six dice. These six dice are "spent" to perform various actions and refresh fully at the start of each full round.

• You can spend Pyros to do cool stuff to the dice roll, and by default you have six points of Pyros.

The Basic Roll

To perform an action, you take any number of dice from your dice pool, and roll them. The player (or GM) rolling the dice decides how many dice are rolled. Essentially, this reflects a degree of control on the character's part: they can throw themselves fully into a task, or just dedicate part of their action capacity to a task. Normally a character will hold back a little (usually so he can defend himself) but sometimes he'll want to go all out.

Then roll, the dice, and look at the numbers you get.

Example:

Skaz doesn't like the grin that the blazer thug is throwing at him, so he decides to knock the smile off the lughead's ugly face. He balls his hand into a fist and throws a punch. Skaz's player decides that Skaz is angry, but not reckless, and takes just four dice out of his six dice pool to roll. He rolls the three dice: 3, 3, 5 and 6.

Apply Defences

Optionally, the roll may be reduced by defences. A defence is something that directly interferes with the dice roll. For example, an untrained dodge lets you pick put one dice out of any physical attacks that are thrown at you.

Different sorts of defence are covered in other chapters.

Example:

The blazer isn't just going to stand there and get punched. He leans back to try to get out of the way. The GM (controlling the Blazer) picks the "6" out of the roll, leaving Skaz's player with just 3, 3 and 5.

Search for "Hits"

Each type of action "hits" on different dice results. For example, an untrained brawler throwing an ordinary punch hits on a 5 or 6. Count up the number of dice rolled that have scored a "hit".

Example:

Skaz's player has rolled 3, 3 and 5 (after defence has been applied). Checking his character sheet he notes that a punch scores "hits" on a 4, 5 or a 6. The first two dice don't count, but the "5" does. He counts one "hit".

Count "Multiplier"

The multiplier is the largest multiple of a single number you note on the dice. Larger multiplier means more effect.

For example, a roll of 1, 1, 1, 1, 5, 6 would have a multiplier of 4, while a roll of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 would have a multiplier of 1.

Note that the multiplier is counted by looking at the entire rolled dice pool, not just the hits.

Example:

Skaz's player has rolled 3, 3 and 5 (after defence has been applied). He counts that there is one "5" and two "3"s. The multiplier for the action is therefore 2.

Calculate "success level" (if applicable)

If you scored at least one "hit" (after defence has been applied) then the action counts as successful.

To work out the success level, multiply the number of "hits" by the "multiplier".

A higher success level translates into a higher degree of success. For example, when you punch someone your success level is the number of points of damage you deal them.

Example:

Skaz's player has rolled one "hit" with a "multiplier" of two. One multplied by two equals two. His success level on the action is two.

Check "failure level" (if applicable)

If you scored no "hits" (after defence has been applied) then the action counts as having failed.

The failure level is simply equal to the multiplier.

A higher failure level implies that you have messed up more. A failure level of 1, for example, is just an everyday failure - you don't succeed, but you don't cause yourself any problems. A failure level of 6, on the other hand, would be a truly massive mess-up: not only do you not set out what you planned to do, but your failure has catastrophic consequences for you.

For example, if you set out to punch someone, and you fail with a high failure level, you will immediately lose extra dice from your action dice pool to represent over-reaching yourself. The combat rules detail this to greater detail.

Hit Targets, Consequences of Success and Failure=

Most actions that a character will regularly engage in have their own rules. Combat, social interaction, spellcasting and flamerunning all have specific guidelines that let you know what numbers count as a "hit", and what a success of failure means.

If the rules don't specifically cover what you are trying to do (for example, if the action represents trying to smash down a door, or research an alchemical formula) then the default hit numbers are "5" and "6". The GM can decide on a case by case basis what defences to apply, depending on how hard a task is, usually allowing unmodified rolls for simple tasks, taking away one to three dice for challenging tasks, or taking away four or more dice for even harder tasks.