Simple D100 System without other poly-dices?

[Watchtower]

I couldn't find the general forum in here, so if I'm posting in the wrong place, you can strike me down with a sword and remove my corpse. I'm looking for the simplest D100 to start out in that does not require other poly-dices like D4, D8, D12, D20, D32, etc (why call it D100 in the first place anyway?) Yes, they're fun, but I want simple! I accept D6 just fine, though. My experience was M-Space and even though it was supposed to be the most simplest RPG derived from Mythras Imperative, it was still hell for me to work with. I just want to be able to set up the game and create NPCs on the fly really quick by hand. I've seen the calculator/generator, though. So, by hand. You still pointing that sword at me? Give me a hand or kill me!

[Mugen]

French BaSIC was a BRP version that used d100 and d3s for damage values.

I'm not suggesting that you learn French to play that game, but rather that you use the same method as the authors of BaSIC did, which is pretty simple : simply replace each dX in damage expressions with a d6+Y. For instance, instead of 1d8+1, a broadsword would deal 1d6+2 damage. D4s would either be changed into d6-1, or d3s.

You can also look at Pendragon, in which damage is always expressed as a number of D6s, based on the STR+SIZ of the character. Weapons have little impact on that value. Usually, 2 handed weapons deal +1D6 damage, and some weapons deal more damage against specific kinds of armor.

[Lloyd Dupont]

Regardless, learning French is a good idea! 😛 

[Zit]

if you accept a narrative approach, you can use the generic basic Conflict rules of Revolution d100, where d6 would express either a damage or a tactical advantage. I houseruled in a game I wrote (in French as well...) that light weapons give a +1, heavy ones a +2 and 2H use one additional +1.

[Kloster]

You have Rolemaster.

[KPhan2121]

The only D100 RPG that I know of that only uses the D100 is Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying 4e. When you make a roll, you determine the degree of success by how low you roll compared to your skill value. In combat, you don't roll die for damage but you add in your degree of success on top of a weapon's normal damage value to determine the damage dealt. It might be what you're looking for, but I wouldn't call it a simple RPG.

[soltakss]

You could use QuestWorlds with 1D100 instead of 1D20, increment in units of 5 and it becomes functionally identical to QuestWorlds.

[wombat1]

This answer may or may  not be what you want as it will sound complex, but it isn't, not really.  Bear with.

The other dice can be simulated as follows:

1. A d 4 can be simulated by a pair of d6's as follows. Let's assume there are two color of dice, similar to a d100 pair. Indeed, I prefer using a pair of dice to an actual d4, which never seems to bounce very well on the table, so I wonder if it is really random.

Dark die.    Light die    Result

1-3              1-3                 1

                    4-6                2

4-6             1-3                 3

                   4-6                4

 

2. A d 8 can be simulated by adding a 3d die again, 1-3 will give us that d4 range, 4-6 will give us 5,6,7, 8.

3. A d12 can be simulated by a pair of dice again, with the 1st die, 1-3   2d die, 1,2,3,4,5,6  

                                                                                                                4-6              7,8,9,10,11,12

4 A d20 can be simulated by a d6 and a d10. 1-3 1st 10 numbers 4-6 2d 10 numbers.

5. I've lived happily forever without even thinking of a d32, but it is, ahem, a d4 and a d8.  I'll let anyone curious work out the d tails.  (Sorry, couldn't resist.)_

 

 

 

 

Edited January 10, 2022 by wombat1

[SDLeary]

7 hours ago, wombat1 said:

This answer may or may  not be what you want as it will sound complex, but it isn't, not really.  Bear with.

The other dice can be simulated as follows:

1. A d 4 can be simulated by a pair of d6's as follows. Let's assume there are two color of dice, similar to a d100 pair. Indeed, I prefer using a pair of dice to an actual d4, which never seems to bounce very well on the table, so I wonder if it is really random.

Dark die.    Light die    Result

1-3              1-3                 1

                    4-6                2

4-6             1-3                 3

                   4-6                4

 

2. A d 8 can be simulated by adding a 3d die again, 1-3 will give us that d4 range, 4-6 will give us 5,6,7, 8.

3. A d12 can be simulated by a pair of dice again, with the 1st die, 1-3   2d die, 1,2,3,4,5,6  

                                                                                                                4-6              7,8,9,10,11,12

4 A d20 can be simulated by a d6 and a d10. 1-3 1st 10 numbers 4-6 2d 10 numbers.

5. I've lived happily forever without even thinking of a d32, but it is, ahem, a d4 and a d8.  I'll let anyone curious work out the d tails.  (Sorry, couldn't resist.)_

 

 

 

 

As polyhedral dice do exist, this does seem over complex just for the sake of not using polyhedral dice. As for things that go beyond standard gaming dice, then yes something else needs to be come up with. I suggest something that is easy to read and will put all the answers right with their "target numbers"... lets call this... a Table! Something that has lots of possibilities when you are already using percentile dice! 😉

SDLeary

[ThornPlutonius]

DWD Studios has released a line of "D100 Lite" games (including "Frontier Space" and "BareBones Fantasy").  Their system uses only D10 dice.  Roll 2D for D100 and roll multiples of D10 (sometimes reduced by division - e.g. 1D/2). 

[Susimetsa]

The classic choices for this are MERP/HARP/Rolemaster. D100 with no other dice used and pretty interesting critical tables for various damage types. I've listed them in the order of complexity from simplest to most complex.

Edited January 12, 2022 by Susimetsa

[Ravenheart87]

Add Against the DarkMaster to the list, which aims to be a MERP spiritual successor.

[smiorgan]

Ruin Masters is a simple BRP derived system (via Drakar och Demoner) that uses only d100, d10 and d5, thus using only d10 dice.

 

[Susimetsa]

2 hours ago, Ravenheart87 said:

Add Against the DarkMaster to the list, which aims to be a MERP spiritual successor.

That one's slipped completely under my radar! Thanks for the heads-up!

[DreadDomain]

On 1/8/2022 at 4:24 PM, Watchtower said:

I couldn't find the general forum in here, so if I'm posting in the wrong place, you can strike me down with a sword and remove my corpse. I'm looking for the simplest D100 to start out in that does not require other poly-dices like D4, D8, D12, D20, D32, etc (why call it D100 in the first place anyway?) Yes, they're fun, but I want simple! I accept D6 just fine, though. My experience was M-Space and even though it was supposed to be the most simplest RPG derived from Mythras Imperative, it was still hell for me to work with. I just want to be able to set up the game and create NPCs on the fly really quick by hand. I've seen the calculator/generator, though. So, by hand. You still pointing that sword at me? Give me a hand or kill me!

Not knowing what you want to play (fantasy, space, pulp, horror, several style) a few systems come to mind:

• HarnMaster - During play Shock and Kill are rolled with d6s and the rest is d100
• Against the Darkmaster, the spiritual successor of MERP, HARP and Rolemaster (the latter being on the more complex side)
• Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. I am not sure about the other Warhammer games like Soulbound, Wrath and Glory, Age of Sigmar, etc...

Now if M-Space was too complex for you, I suspect the above will also be. If you like BRP, maybe the simplest options would be to:

• Use Call of Cthulhu 7e as a base. You can play horror (obviously) but also pulp, modern, dark age, etc. Remove sanity and adjust damage roll to just d6 and d10 (1d4 becomes 1d3+1, 1d8 becomes 1d6+1, etc). I believe aside from d10s and D6s, only d4s and d8s (and only for damage) do it should be easy.
• Use King Arthur Pendragon. It uses d20 and d6s only. If you really want d100, it's doable to multiply skills/traits/passions/etc by 5 but at this stage, it would probably be easier to use CoC.

Creating NPC by hand (winging it) with CoC and KAP is fairly easy.

Edited January 13, 2022 by DreadDomain

[wombat1]

On 1/10/2022 at 11:06 PM, SDLeary said:

As polyhedral dice do exist, this does seem over complex just for the sake of not using polyhedral dice. As for things that go beyond standard gaming dice, then yes something else needs to be come up with. I suggest something that is easy to read and will put all the answers right with their "target numbers"... lets call this... a Table! Something that has lots of possibilities when you are already using percentile dice! 😉

SDLeary

I don't necessarily disagree, but the OP wanted no oddly shaped dice.  My point, and I did have one, was that you can, in fact, do everything you need to do with d100 and d6.

Except to sub out the d4, which I find problematic, I don't usually use any of these.