d6 the future of d20?

[trancejeremy]

Anyway, let me add, I think whether the game is slow or quick really depends on how good you are at adding.

Me, I can add up dice as quick as looking at them. So even if I had a character with a 15 dice skill level (which is pretty much incredibly rare, they would be like the Einstein of Einsteins), it would take me all of 2 seconds to add it up. OTOH, other people aren't as quick when it comes to adding.

Me, I had a lot of practice from really really bad golf scores. Lots of 5s, 6s, 7s and up. (I once got over 100 on a 9 hole course)

 

[Acid_crash]

There is a new revision of TORG coming out next year also from WEG...that's something I've been waiting for for a while now.

 

[Ranger REG]

Me, I had a lot of practice from really really bad golf scores. Lots of 5s, 6s, 7s and up. (I once got over 100 on a 9 hole course)

So WEG should get Tiger Woods to promote their games.

 

[Elthurien]

IMHO i think the d6 rules are one of the best systems there is. The best points are fast gameplay and the skill system is second to none.
I think 3rd edition swiped alot of info out of the d6 system.

on the other hand, its not D&D, i've tried many years ago to convert my GH campaign to d6 but gave up when Eric started the old 3rd ed site.

 

[Elthurien]

To add to my last, If d6 had some sort of level system where you feel like your character is growing with the campaign i would snatch it up immediatley.

 

[shadow]

Well from my experience d6 seemed fairly cinematic. Characters could do just about anything. This was because (as I stated previously) all skills default to the relevant attribute. If you have a high score in an attribute you are automatically very proficient in any skill falling under the attribute without spending any bonus dice to develop the skill. This emulates movies where heroes can do anything the story calls for them to do. However, it makes characters seem remarkably similar. Also it leads to weird situations -like when my friend's character, a young kid, had the same gun skill as my experienced mercenary.
The other disadvantage of the d6 system is the bucket of dice syndrome. After about characters get 6d or 7d in a skill, rolls begin to bog down the game. (It gets ridiculous when you are rolling 12d or 13d.)

 

[trancejeremy]

Well from my experience d6 seemed fairly cinematic. Characters could do just about anything. This was because (as I stated previously) all skills default to the relevant attribute. If you have a high score in an attribute you are automatically very proficient in any skill falling under the attribute without spending any bonus dice to develop the skill. This emulates movies where heroes can do anything the story calls for them to do. However, it makes characters seem remarkably similar. Also it leads to weird situations -like when my friend's character, a young kid, had the same gun skill as my experienced mercenary.

While that's possible, it's not exactly d6's fault, per se.

Like I said, heroes average 3D in each attribute, with a maximum of 4D. (5D for aliens/fantasy races). Which in d20 terms, would be the equivalent of 18.

The only way they have the same gun skill, is if you give them the same number of skill dice.

A young kid should really not have as many skill dice as a experienced mercenary.

That is one of the downsides of d6, at least in the old game - there was no guideline for creating characters of differing power levels - everyone, old or young, just got 7 skill dice. (Though the simple answer was to just give more experienced characters more skill dice).


Anyhoo, you also get both of those things in d20. Say you have character A, the kid, who has a Dexterity of 18. He'll get a +4 to hit to hit rolls with his gun, the same as grizzled mercenary, if he had a dexterity of 18. At low levels, the bonus from dexterity is much greater than what he gets from his BAB.

 

[Ranger REG]

I think 3rd edition swiped alot of info out of the d6 system.

For example?

 

[AFGNCAAP]

d6 Star Wars was fun, but it was a nightmare when high skills (& thus, the bucket o' dice) became an issue. Improving Force Abilities were nightmarish as well.

On top of that, IMHO, it had a key issue regarding advancement--randomly assigned development points for advancement. Basically when you successfully complete an adventure, you gain points to use for character development (or for in-game use). Developing higher-ranking abilities (and sometimes, skills) was very difficult because of high point costs; in addition, it is very feasible for some characters to remain stagnant & others to advance because 1 character burned up a lot of development points in order to survive an adventure, while another character barely spent any points in game at all (if at all).

On top of that, though there was a limit to the total # of points that could be given, there wasn't really anything built in to guard against bad math or cheating (adding a point or two more than what was actually gained). If it was a fixed number of points awarded for everyone, then it'd be a bit easier to determine if a character was short or over on points gained. This, however, is more of a personal pet peeve of mine (too many bad experiences with cheating players).

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Is the d6 system here the same system used for Shadowrun?

If so, I both liked and disliked the system. I liked the character creation a lot, because the freedom of the skill system allowed me to create a character with exactly the abilities I wanted.

On the downside, the power level did not rise evenly over time. Most of the time, it grew very slowly as you laboriously bought extra dice of skill, and every so often it made a jump that changed the game entirely. This was usually when I new level of equipment became available (wetware, polymer weapons, military-grade hardware, etc.) I prefer a more steady increase in power level, with visible gains after nearly every session.