17 March 2024

Ghostbusters via Tricube Tales: Combat

In a previous article, I explained the challenge resolution rules of Tricube Tales as I thought they might be applied to Ghostbusters. Here, I shall attempt to describe how Tricube Tales resolves combat and how I would apply it to, again, Ghostbusters. Please read the previous article (and the article previous to that) for a better understanding of this one.

In addition to karma, which can be spent to reduce the difficulty of challenges, characters start with 3 points of resolve each. Characters lose resolve (usually 1 point for a failure and 2 points for a critical failure) whenever they fail a dangerous challenge such as combat. Characters whose resolve is reduced to 0 are eliminated from the scene (although they can usually return later with restored resolve) and/or may be given an affliction, which operates as a quirk.

Combat encounters are assigned both difficulty and 2 to 3 effort tokens. If the challenge is lost, the character loses resolve. If the challenge is won, an effort token is removed for each successful die result. When all of the effort tokens are depleted, the enemy is vanquished.

How do we use these rules in the world of Ghostbusters? Perhaps ghosts with 2 effort tokens require one challenge to weaken them with a proton pack and one challenge to maneuver them over a ghost trap. Ghosts with 3 effort tokens require two Ghostbusters to each make a successful challenge followed by a third challenge to slide a ghost trap under them (although maybe a very qualified Ghostbuster could do it alone with a lucky roll). Difficulty will vary, of course, and certain entities may have effort tokens in excess of 3, or they may require more complicated means of disposal. In addition to difficulty and effort tokens, ghosts will, of course, have other (mostly paranormal) abilities. The GM would be wise to exercise these abilities to ridiculous extremes.

Let's look at an example of an encounter between a Ghostbuster and a ghost in need of busting.

Winston Zeddemore
Trait: brawny
Concept: Ghostbuster
Perk: combat expert
Quirk: Ghostbusting novice

Slimer Junior
Difficulty: 5
Effort: 2
Description: free-floating poltergeist

Winston Zeddemore, responding to a call from a local restaurateur, discovers a free-floating poltergeist haunting the dumpster behind the restaurant in question. Priming his proton pack, Winston must make an agile roll. Since his trait is brawny, not agile, but the challenge is related to his concept (Ghostbuster), he rolls two dice. If he wants to regain some previously lost karma, he can raise the difficulty to 6 before he rolls by using his quirk of being a novice at Ghostbusting, but in this example he chooses to roll against the normal difficulty of 5.

With two dice, Winston rolls 5 and 4. The 5 is a success. He hits the target and Slimer Junior loses 1 effort token. The 4 is not a success. He can either roll again and hope for another success (at the risk of failing and losing 1 resolve as a consequence), or he can use his perk of being a combat expert to lower the difficulty to 4, which would give him two successes immediately, bagging and trapping the ghost in one fell swoop.

And that's how I would adapt Ghostbusters to Tricube Tales.

I think.

Playtesting would be in order.

13 March 2024

Ghostbusters via Tricube Tales: Challenges

[The following article, describing how challenge resolution works in Tricube Tales, originally appeared as a response to a comment on this article. Note: I changed the word "task" to "challenge" in keeping with the terminology used in the rules. In a future article, I will likely tackle the subject of translating the antagonists from Ghostbusters to Tricube Tales.]

Challenges are resolved by rolling one to three six-sided dice. The GM will call for a trait roll (agile, brawny, or crafty) and state a difficulty (4, 5, or 6). If any die equals or exceeds the difficulty, the character succeeds.

If the challenge matches both the character's trait and concept, the player rolls three dice. If the challenge matches one, but not both, the player rolls two dice. If the challenge matches neither the trait nor the concept, the player rolls one die.

Characters start with 3 points of karma each. If the player wants to reduce the difficulty after rolling, the player can spend 1 point of karma to reduce the difficulty by 1 if it can be related to the character's perk. If the player wants to increase the difficulty before rolling, the player gains 1 point of karma and the difficulty increases by 1 if it can be related to the character's quirk.

Dr. Raymond Stantz
Trait: crafty
Concept: Ghostbuster
Perk: expert on Occult Studies
Quirk: overly enthusiastic

So, if the GM says deciphering the mystical writing in a pentagram requires a crafty roll with a difficulty of 5, Ray rolls three dice (because he's crafty and it fits his concept) and succeeds if any of them come up 5 or 6. After rolling, he can choose to spend a point of karma and reduce the difficulty by invoking his perk (Occult Studies expertise). If he wants to regain karma, he can raise the difficulty to 6 before rolling the dice by invoking his quirk (overly enthusiastic).

If the GM says firing the proton pack at the lethargic poltergeist requires an agile roll with a difficulty of 4, Ray rolls two dice (because he's not agile, but he is a Ghostbuster) and succeeds if any of them come up 4, 5, or 6. He can probably justify using his perk or his quirk to modify the difficulty.

If the GM says using a crowbar to bludgeon a hostile robot requires a brawny roll with a difficulty of 5, Ray rolls one die (because he's not brawny and the task does not fall under the purview of being a Ghostbuster) and succeeds if it comes up 5 or 6. He cannot invoke his perk since robot-fighting is unrelated to Occult Studies, but he could use his quirk of being overly enthusiastic to raise the difficulty and regain karma.

[Edit: I replaced "Explanations and Examples" with "Challenges" in the article's title.]

14 February 2024

Ghostbusters via Tricube Tales: Characters

I have yet to play or run Tricube Tales, but I thought I would test its effectiveness at translating well-known fictional characters. Naturally, I chose Ghostbusters.

Tricube Tales (available here through DriveThruRPG) is a minimalist role-playing game that resolves actions using 1d6, 2d6, or 3d6. Characters are created by choosing a trait (agile, brawny, or crafty), a concept (selected or created by the player), a perk (which lowers a task's difficulty at the price of karma), and a quirk (which raises a task's difficulty, but awards karma).

This is how I translated the main characters of the first Ghostbusters movie:

Dr. Raymond Stantz, a crafty Ghostbuster who is an expert on Occult Studies, but overly enthusiastic.

Dr. Egon Spengler, a crafty Ghostbuster who is a brilliant inventor, but socially clueless.

Dr. Peter Venkman, a crafty Ghostbuster who is charming, but vain.

Winston Zeddemore, a brawny Ghostbuster who is a combat expert, but a Ghostbusting novice.

Janine Melnitz, a crafty secretary who is confident, but sarcastic.

Louis Tully, a crafty lawyer who is dedicated, but awkward.

Dana Barrett, an agile musician who is brave, but naive.

18 January 2024

News at 6-Sided: Monsters! Monsters! 2.7 Released

Trollgodfather Press has released a 2.7 edition of Monsters! Monsters! on DriveThruRPG (in preparation for the eventual release of a 3rd edition that will include expanded rules for non-monster adversaries). In November, the "1976 Zero Edition," an early draft of the rules, was also released. Both editions, as well as the 2nd edition, are currently available as PDFs. (The 2nd edition softcover book is available here.)

04 January 2024

Looking Back at Past Goals

Back in 2016, I dared to post some New Year's resolutions for Decidedly Six-Sided (entitled "Short List of Six-Sider Goals") and never looked back. Well, let's look back now and see how I fared in the intervening years.

"1. Run more sessions of the 1st edition Ghostbusters role-playing game."
Status: I did! (Not nearly as many as I would have liked, but I did run more sessions.)

"2. Complete my own version of universal D6 role-playing rules."
Status: I haven't completed them (although I'm close), and they aren't D6 rules (although they can be played with six-siders and there is a D6-style option), but I am confident I will achieve a version of this goal this year. (A glimpse of its progress can be found in Omnia Pro Omnibus.)

"3. Acquire a set of new casino-style six-sided dice."
Status: Negatory. This was the easiest goal to achieve, and it still languishes in one of my online wish lists. I have no excuse.

"4. Run Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls."
Status: Didn't happen; won't happen. The deluxe edition made a handful of changes that were helpful, but many more that overcomplicated a famously simple game and made it seem less fun to me. It also provided unnecessary details that left less to the gamer's imagination. Earlier editions were freewheeling and inspiring. The deluxe edition feels stubborn and curmudgeonly. I might lift a few new rules and incorporate them into a 5th edition T&T game, but I am not interested in investing the time required to wrap my head around all the changes made by the deluxe edition. Plus, Flying Buffalo and Ken St. Andre no longer have anything to do with T&T, so it seems pointless to pursue it.

"5. Run Classic Traveller."
Status: Still haven't done it; still want to do it.

"6. Post here more often."
Status: Succeeded. My annual output has gone from single digits to double digits, and I hope to continue the trend.

As you can see, the results are mixed. (I could have predicted that.) Maybe I'll make a new list of goals for 2024 and revisit it in 2032...

Be seeing you...

13 November 2023

The D6 System and the Duel

If you need alternate dueling rules for your adventures with The D6 System, read Peter Schweighofer's Dueling Blades (also found on his D6 Resources page at Griffon Publishing Studio).

31 August 2023

RPGaDay 2023: Day 29

29. Most memorable ENCOUNTER

This question doesn't interest me, so I'll just focus on the featured word, "encounter," precede it with "random," and follow it with "table."

Random ENCOUNTER Table (RPGaDay 2023 Edition)

Roll 1D6

1. A fully clothed centaur (with briefcase).
2. An enigmatic macroplanarian.
3. A Floating Head of Lettuce (of Doom).
4. A gourdian angel (primarily protects gourds).
5. An octopus piloting a mecha.
6. The Aquabats!

[For more information on #RPGaDay (or #RPGaDay2023 specifically), read this.]

30 August 2023

RPGaDay 2023: Day 28

28. SCARIEST RPG you've played

I can't think of a single role-playing game I have played that was consistently scary, but I can think of plenty of instances in many different games—as a player or as a GM—that were startling and/or eerie. But too much of any one thing in a game becomes a bore. In any role-playing game there ought to be humor as well as drama, action as well as horror (or suspense). What the ratios are depends on the situation, but there's no reason a comedy RPG can't have dramatic stakes, or a dramatic RPG can't have moments of slapstick. Likewise, sometimes the greatest terror happens in fantasy adventure RPGs, and sometimes the horror RPGs inspire resourcefulness and heroism. It's all based on the circumstances. And the players. And the GM.

But the role-playing game that I hope is the scariest in the best way possible is Ghostbusters: A Frightfully Cheerful Roleplaying Game (although Og and Paranoia are contenders).

[For more information on #RPGaDay (or #RPGaDay2023 specifically), read this.]

29 August 2023

RPGaDay 2023: Day 22

22. Best SECONDHAND RPG purchase

Ghostbusters role-playing game boxed set.

The best secondhand role-playing game purchase I have ever made was a copy of the boxed set of Ghostbusters: A Frightfully Cheerful Roleplaying Game, complete, unpunched, and containing a Ghost Die in perfect condition. It was a miracle I found a copy, and it was reasonably priced. I had been kicking myself for not buying a copy when it was available in stores (I think because I was worried it was based more on the cartoon than the movie), and to find a complete, undamaged, affordable copy of the game after all these years was lucky indeed.

Original Ghost Die from the Ghostbusters role-playing game.

[For more information on #RPGaDay (or #RPGaDay2023 specifically), read this.]

28 August 2023

RPGaDay 2023: Day 04

4. Most RECENT RPG bought

Cover of Fie, I Say!

The most recent RPG I bought this year was Tim Snider's Fie, I Say!, "The D6 Comedy-Fantasy-Parody Roleplaying Game" inspired by Ghostbusters: A Frightfully Cheerful Roleplaying Game. I'll write more about it later here in Decidedly Six-Sided.

Fie, I Say! is available in two different formats (PDF and black & white softcover book) here from DriveThruRPG.

[For more information on #RPGaDay (or #RPGaDay2023 specifically), read this.]