Evil Dead D6: Basics & Game Mechanics

Evil Dead
D6

Table of
Contents

Introduction

Basics

Guestbook

II. The Basics
This game is based on West End Game's D6 system. Pick up one of West End's many games to fill in the gaps of these rules. If you have any questions or comments, please email me and I'll try to answer them for you.

GAME MECHANICS

The Dice
The system requires players to roll six-sided dice (D6), which represent a character's attributes and skills. When appropriate, the Game Master will tell a player to roll a number of dice equal to either the attribute or skill being used. The player rolls the appropriate number of dice, adds the values together and tells the GM the sum. If the sum is equal to or greater than the difficulty number (See below), the character succeeds. If it is lower, the character fails.

Example: Vern is trying to walk along a thin ledge without falling. He has a Body of 3D. The GM sets a difficulty number and then the player controlling Vern will roll 3 dice and sum the results to see if he is successful.
Example 2: While stuck in a shopping mall under siege by mindless zombies, Vern is trying to order a hapless security guard to give him his pistol. Vern has a Barking Orders skill level of 3D+2. The GM sets the difficulty and the player controlling Vern will sum the result of 3 dice and add 2.

The Wild Die
Each player should designate one of his or her dice to be the Wild Die (it is helpful if it's a different color or shape).

Whenever the the Wild Die comes up with a 2,3,4, or 5, add the result to the other dice as normal. But, if the Die comes up with a 6, add 6 to the dice total and roll the Wild Die again and add the new value to the dice total. If another 6 comes up, roll and add again. This continues as long as the player continues to roll 6's on the Wild Die.

Example: Vern has a Shooting Stuff skill of 4D. When he fires, he rolls 4 dice. His values are 2,5,3 and on the Wild Die, a 6, resulting in 16. He rolls the Wild Die again and gets another 6! The total is now 22 and he gets to roll again. This time, he gets a 1 and adds that to the sum to get a 23 for his shot.

If the Wild Die comes up with a 1 when a character is first rolling a Skill or Attribute Check, roll the Wild Die again. If the value is 1 through 5, remove the Wild Die and the die with the highest value from the dice to be added.

Example: Vern is shooting again. He rolls a 2,5,6 and on the Wild Die a 1. He rerolls the Wild Die and gets a 2. He removes the Wild Die and the die that came up 6 and adds the remaining two dice together to get 7.

If the second Wild Die roll comes up to be a 6, then the character has Complicated. He or she has screwed up in a particularly bad way....perhaps jamming his weapon or tripping over his own feet. Complications should make a character's life more difficult, often humorously so, but never kill them outright.

Example: Vern is stuck in the basement of his house, locking in combat with a deadite attacker. He grabs his power drill, intent on driving a 1 inch bit into the deadite's skull. The GM tells him to make a role using his Stabbing, Slashing and Bludgeoning skill. Vern, with a skill of 4D rolls 4 dice. He gets a 2, 3, 4, and on the Wild Die a 1. He rerolls the Wild Die and gets a 6 and Complicate! The GM tells Vern's player that as he attempted to plunge the drill into the deadite's head, he yanked the cord from the wall. The drill slows to a useless stop as the deadite lunges...

The GM could have just as well said that Vern accidentally stabbed himself with the drill, or that it flew out of his hands at the last minute. Anything that makes Vern's life a little more scary.

Difficulty Numbers
When a character makes an Attribute or Skill check, they are usually rolling against a difficulty number. Difficulties are divided into the following categories:

Difficulty	Difficulty Numbers	Description
Very Easy	1-5	Anyone should be able to do this most of the time. Example: Shooting a deadite with a shotgun at close range.
Easy	6-10	Most characters should be able to do this most of the time, though there is still a change for failure. Example: Smacking a deadite up side the head with a chainsaw.
Moderate	11-15	Requires a fair amount of skill and/or effort. Most unskilled characters will fail such an attempt. Example: Shooting a small object, such as a possessed hand, at short range.
Difficult	16-20	Only highly skilled characters succeed at these with any regularity. Example: Engaging in combat while riding full gallop on a horse.
Very Difficult	21-25	Even pros have a hard time pulling these attempts off. Example: Shooting out a demon's eyeball at 30 feet.
Extremely Diff.	30-40	Only the luckiest and most skilled are successful. Example: Jumping onto the back of a giant deadite beastie and whacking it over the head with an axe while it tries to throw you.
Heroic	40-50	The stuff of legends. Example: Jury-rigging a trap that will capture hundreds of deadites in one fell swoop.
Unearthly	50-75	A character must have advanced magical powers to even consider the attempt. Example: Opening a space-time rift that permits travel through the centuries and across dimensions.

Opposed Rolls
When a character is testing his or her Attributes or Skills against those of another (PC or NPC), the parties involved make Opposed Rolls. The one with the highest roll wins.

Example: One character tries to shoot another. The first makes a Shooting Stuff roll while the other makes a Getting Out of the Way roll. If the attacker's roll is higher than the others' defensive roll, then he hits.

Character Points
A character may spend his or her Character Points to gain additional dice during an action. They receive an additional die for each point spent. A character may spend up to 3 CP's per action or attack, and up to 5 CP's for any defensive action (Getting Out of the Way, resisting damage or possession, etc.). If the die purchased with a CP comes up a 6, the player may re-roll it and add the new value to the total (as for the Wild Die, though there is no penalty for rolling a 1). Though CP's may be used to augment an attack, they may not be used to increase damage.

Example: Vern gets punched by a demon for for 23 points of damage. He rolls his Body of 3D and gets a 10. That's 13 points below the damage level, which is Mortally Wounded. Vern's player decides to spend some Character Points. He spend one for an additional die and gets a 5, reducing the difference to 8, meaning Vern's Wounded. The player decides to spend an additional CP and rolls a 6! He gets to roll again and gets a 4, which means his Body roll is 2 over the damage roll. Vern suffers no damage from the attack!

Character Points may not be used the same around that Mojo is used.

Mojo Points
Mojo represents a character's inner strength, heroic potential and, most importantly, dumb luck. When a character spends a Mojo point, all skill and attribute dice totals are doubled for that entire round. Anything which is not part of a character (a weapon or vehicle), is not affected.

Example 1: Vern is armed with a sword and is in melee combat with an deadite skeleton. He decides to spend a Mojo point one round. His Stabbing, Slashing & Bludgeoning: Sword skill is normally 4D. This round, it will be 8D. He would normally do 4D+2 points of damage with the sword (3D for his Body + 1D+2 for the sword). This round, his Body will be doubled, for D6 damage, and then added to the damage for the sword, 1D+2, for a total of 7D+2.
Example 2: Vern is firing his pistol at an advancing zombie and decides to spend a Mojo point. His Shooting Stuff skill doubles from 4D to 8D, but the pistol's damage (4D) remains the same.

See Characters: Mojo for rules about using and regaining Mojo. Remember, Mojo may not be used the same round Character Points are spent.

Effect Value
Some successes (and failures) are more dramatic than others. For each 10 points (round down) a character rolls over the base Difficulty for an action, he will have an additional Effect Value of 1. This may increase damage by 1D for each Effect Value or simply result in a more advantageous outcome.

Example 1: Vern is firing his pistol at a zombie again. The Difficulty is 10. The player rolls Vern's Shooting Stuff skill and ends up with a 31 (nice shooting). Because that is at least 20 over the Difficulty, he has an Effect Value of 2 and adds 2D to the damage roll from the pistol.

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