Hello!
This blogpost will be a summary of the game mechanics for Cybergothica. It isn't exhaustive, but hopefully it will help anyone interested in our game have an idea on the style of play this RPG will have.
THE OPEND6 SYSTEM
Cybergothica uses a modified OpenD6 system, which was used in the Ghostbuster and Star Wars RPG in the the 1980s.
The basic mechanic of the D6 System is that the character has a certain numbers of six-sided dice and adds the total amount after rolling. If the total of the roll equals or is greater than the target number they are rolling against, the character succeeds. If it is less, they fail. The total of the dice roll is called a Score. The target number they are rolling against is called the Standard Difficulty (SD), which may be static or rolled against the character and may have modifiers to make the SD harder or easier to roll against.
The way a Dice Roll is written is xD, with x being the number of six-sided dice rolled and D being the term for a six-sided die. So if a character has a 3D in the Strength attribute they roll three six-sided dice for Strength-related rolls.
Another important core mechanic with the dice rolls are Pips. Pips are added as a bonus or penalty to the Dice Roll, to represent better knowledge of a certain skill, particular equipment, or external factors. Pips only come as a +1/-1 or +2/-2. Each Die is worth 3 Pips, so a "+3/-3" automatically turns into another Die to add or subtract to the total number of dice thrown.
For example: A sword that has a +1 to the Melee Combat skill would give a +1 to the character wielding it a +1 to their Melee Combat roll, which let's say is 4D. So the roll would be four six-sided dice plus one. It would be read as 4D+1. If the Sword had a -1 penalty to Melee Combat, the character's Melee Combat would be 3D+2 due to the single Pip reducing a Die's 3 Pips to only 2.
WILD DIE
For ALL characters, player or NPC, one of the Dice in their roll is treated special and is called the Wild Die. Whenever this Wild Die rolls a Six, it can be rerolled again and the result added to the Score. The Wild Die can be rerolled as long as it keeps rolling a six; if anything else is rolled, the Wild Die is no longer rerolled and its final result is added to the Score.
The Wild Die is selected from the dice pool rolled, not a special dice added to it. A character with 4D in Running has 3D in normal dice and 1D Wild Die.
ATTRIBUTES AND SKILLS
Attributes and Skills are what determine the amount of dice a character must roll. Attributes are the core traits that all characters have, while Skills are traits that a character may or may not have but will help with a particular Attribute.
The Attributes are as followed:
STRENGTH: How strong and healthy a character is. Important for determining the damage added to melee and certain ranged weapons as well as for determining Health Points.
AGILITY: How agile and quick a character is. All physical offensive and defensive skills use Agility and should be considered an important Attribute to focus on for combat-focused characters.
PERCEPTION: The character's ability to perceive things, visible or not. Perception is incredibly important as it determines Initiative during combat or other scenes that require such. The most important skills in the Perception Attribute are Investigation and Search.
TECHNICAL: Technical is the character's skill in technical skills that require advanced knowledge. Is less abstract than the Knowledge Attribute. Firearm Repair, Medicine, Comms, and Sensors are skills that rely on the Technical Attribute.
KNOWLEDGE: Knowledge is different from Technical in that the Knowledge Attribute is more academic, dealing with fields such as Languages and Tactics, as well as scientific skills such as Chemistry and Biology.
AURA: Aura is the character's sense of self and their charisma. Aura also represents a character's ability to use Gateware-based powers. Important skills such as Willpower, Persuade, and Gateware Offensive/Defensive/Support Power are under Aura.
EXTRANORMAL: The Extranormal Attribute is for usage of the Arcane Arts. This Attribute is the only one that starts at 0D and requires Advantages to gain a 1D in.
Each Attribute starts at a 1D and cannot go below that. No character can start above a 5D in any given attribute, but may increase it through character progression, equipment, or Cyberware.
Skills are attached to a particular Attribute and when taken for the first time, they add the Attribute to any Dice put into that skill. For example, a Character has a 3D+2 in Agility and wants to put 1D+1 of their Skill Points into the Firearms Skill, the total Firearms Skill would be 5D.
Certain skills can be used untrained, such as Melee Combat or Sneaking. To use these, simply roll the Attribute attached to the skill. For more complex and technical skills such as Medicine or Xenobiology, a difficulty modifier of between +5 to +20 is added, or the character may not even be able to use that Skill if it's too technical or arcane.
ADVANTAGES, DISADVANTAGES, AND SPECIAL ABILITIES
Advantages and Disadvantages are unique features that give each character a unique color. Some are Advantageous, such as having extra money, having special equipment, or having contacts in certain fields that could help in the adventure. Some are Disadvantages, such as being hated by a group of people or having bad luck. Most Advantages and Disadvantages are grounded and far from fantastical, but can help flesh the character out. Each Advantage has a cost and each Disadvantage gives a Point to use to buy another Advantage or Skills.
Special Abilities are similar to Advantages, but much more powerful and fantastical. Special Abilities include things like Flying, Invisibility, or Shapeshifting. Most of the Special Abilities are gained through Cyberware or from racial abilities, but can also be obtained through magical means if the character has access to such powers.
FATE POINTS
Cybergothica can be a brutal game where revelation and completion of a adventure, or even the life of a character themselves, can be determined with a single roll of the dice. Fate Points are special tokens given to each player and important NPCs to use to double a roll's Score. Each player gets a specific number of Fate Points depending on a set of criterias that their character meets, while the Gamemaster may have important NPCs have Fate Points of their own.
HEALTH
Cybergothica uses Health Points with a threshold system, where at certain percentage of HP left, penalties are given to the wounded characters. At 0 HP, the character must roll Stamina throws an increasingly difficult Standard Difficulty and die upon failure. While in general all characters would be suffer wounds as their HP goes down, minions and other less important NPCs can either have a simplified wound system or do away with the wound system on account for their weaker stats, at the Gamemaster's discretion.
SANITY
Because Cybergothica is based on Gothic Horror, the slow descent into madness and melancholy is an important theme in the game.
Most characters start with 50 Sanity Points, modified by Advantages/Disadvantages and potentially their Race. Installing Gateware can also permanently reduce Sanity. Seeing horrifying events and creatures or failing Willpower rolls on Gateware or spellcasting reduce Sanity. At 25 Sanity Points, all Skill throws have a +5 Standard Difficulty modifier. At 5 or under, the difficulty modifier is +10. At 0 SP the character goes insane and must roll a table of Breakdowns that affect their character for a period of time or even permanently.
There are a variety of ways to regain Sanity Points, but it is generally a slow process.
DAMAGE
For melee weapons and certain ranged weapons such as bows and throwing knives add the character's Strength Damage (which is half the character's Strength Attribute or Lifting Skill, whichever is higher, and dropping any pips before rounding up) to the weapon's damage. For other weapons, especially firearms, only the weapon's damage dice is used, though aiming at certain parts of the body can do more damage.
Damage Rolls can explode from the Wild Die as normal.
When an attack succeeds against a defensive skill check, such as Dodge or Melee Defense, then the attacker may roll damage.
In Cybergothica, armor is used to soak damage from successful attacks. For example: An attacker has a gun that deals 2D+2 and rolls a 10. The defender has armor that has a Damage Resistance of 2D and rolls an 8. 8 is subtracted from the damage of 10 and the defender only loses 2 HP.
EQUIPMENT
Cybergothica has an extensive list of Weapons, Armor, Equipment, Vehicles, and Services that the character can get, either in Character Creation or during their adventures.
In terms of weaponry, there are Melee Weapons, Primitive Missile Weapons, Firearms, Heavy Firearms, and Explosives/Grenades. For Melee Weapons and most Primitive Missile Weapons, the character's Strength Damage is added to the weapon's damage dice, as mentioned previously. These types of weapons would be represented with an Addition sign before the damage dice. So, for example, a character with 2D in Strength Damage (from an Strength Attribute of 4D) with a Short Club with a damage of +1D has a total damage 3D. Firearms and other Primitive Missile Weapons like Crossbows have a static number of damage and do not add any character's Strength Damage, represented by having no Addition sign before the dice.
Outside of damage, some weapons have an effective range that reduces the character's effective Attacking Skill, Firearms have Rates of Fire that allow them to shoot a certain amount of bullets for increased damage or accuracy, Explosives have a Blast radius, and many weapons have special features such as having reach or being throwable.
Armor comes in two types: Normal Armor and Power Carapaces. Power Carapaces is Cybergothica's version of Powered Armor and are considered the best protection in the game. All Armor have Damage Resistance and Special Features.. Power Carapaces give extra bonuses to Strength and Agility, and some armor can be worn under Power Carapaces.
Both Arms and Armor can be customized with positive Modifications and hindering Malfunctions to create a unique arsenal. Each Modification such as more jetpacks or built-in camoflauge systems increase the item's cost, while Malfunctions such as noisy Powered Carapaces and Cursed Weapons decrease the item's cost.
In addition to all that, there are a variety of Items that can help the character in both Combat, Exploration, and Roleplaying, ranging from a variety of survival tents to exotic Spices and Hirelings to help the character in a variety of roles.
CYBERWARE
While Cybergothica is thematically different from its Cyberpunk roots, it still maintains a focus on Cyberware. The body is broken up into various sections and have a finite number of Cyberware Slots in which characters can add Cyberware, ranging from armor built underneath the skin to built-in hidden weapons around the arm. Cyberware enhances the power and abilities of the character greatly, but the time and cost to install Cyberware is great as well.
By the time of the Cybergothic Age, old-fashioned Cyberware is a well-established technology and considered relatively primitive. Newer Cyberware based on Hemotechnology with its blood-thirsting nanomachines called Hemites and the newest field of extradimensional energy and Santiy-sapping Gateware Technology have expanded the power of Cybernetics greatly, to the point of seeming magic. Each Cyberware has its Hemoware and Gateware equivalent. Some Cyberware variants have their own unique ability, while others have the same ability but the Hemoware variant uses Blood Points while the Gateware can cause Sanity loss if the character fails both their Gateware-based skill and their Willpower rolls. Some abilities range from simple, such as an extra boost to a certain skill or movement speed, to astonishing, such as casting Hemoplasmic fireballs and Resurrecting from death.
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