Is the difference between D20 and D6 a D14?

[Eric J.]

This is a follow up to:

http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=11010

Alright.  I was asked to keep you posted but there were a few problems.  First, my internet went out.  That's what happens when you live in a monopolised city whith a company that doesn't cut you any slack.

Anyway-

If you'll recall, I succumbed to my illbased morality and sent my brother, and his friend into a mystical world of Dungeons and Dragons where your only friends were your party and your sword.  I tried to explain to them the concept, the style, and the potential of roleplaying.  I didn't spark their interest.  They forced me to GM.  But I think I kept it for a while.  Anyway, our sessions went a little bit better than the ones we had when I first started playing (Of course I was an oddity.  I was 12 with a book my mom picked up trying to figure out how to do it with my peers who hadn't a clue.)

Here are the sessions (what I can remember):

1. They started out in a tavern and they had some fun there.  I tried really hard to set the tone with JUST the right music and JUST the right discription.  I explained that they were 3 friends who came back together to their home villiage who had gone 3 different ways.  Anyway, once the formailities were over I had some skeletons attack the villiage.  They ran outside and started attacking them.

2.  Well they did a pretty darn good job taking care of the skeletons (hey, they're my siblings and my best friend's sibling) and they talked to the town representitive.  A Dragon, evidently, flew into a mountain at the same time the skeletons attacked and they needed someone to take care of it.  They agreed to for 500 GOLD A PIECE (They really thought it was a lot of money.  That killed me.  Broke my heart actually.)  Anyway, Renee (my sister the theif) ran after someone in dark cloths who led her to a rooftop where she was asked to join the theives guild.  She was told to wait for her assignments.  Anyway, they set off up the road into the mountain (which I drew using a landscape scene I had seen on my trip to California as a basis) and on the road ahead they came upon 3 orcs and an ogre.  Ryan corrected me when I said that the ogre was using a mace.  He's all like: Don't you mean a MORNINGSTAR?  And I'm all like: "OKAY FINE.  He's using a morningstar.  Thank you for correctimg me, ya jerk!  They did some pretty cool tactical things to defeat the orcs (Ryan had his mage hide in the tall grass, prone, and fired at them) and when the ogre was the only opponent left they had a good idea.  Ryan (the mage) used the Jump Spell (gives you a +30 to jump) on Shane (Ryan's friend with the ranger).  He used it to Skyrocket at the ogre and tripple his damage (he rolled the maximum amount, dealing like 30something damage) killing the ogre with one hit.  It was cool.

Session 3-4

This is where the game got a little more borring.  Renee didn't want to play so her character "Went off".  Anyway they went to sleep and had to fight a snow spider, which they handled pretty well.  They went through the mountain dungeon and it was pretty uneventful.  It turns out it was an old military fort.  They talked to the ghosts and had some fun.  It was okay.  Maybe even fun.

Anyway, that was our last session.  Afterwards they wanted to start a new game.  I don't know why.  Maybe it was because Renee would rather play with her friends than play and they wanted new characters.

Anyway, I don't have a whole lot of Roleplaying games I have access too nor do I have a whole lot of cash or personal freedom.  So I chose D6 Star Wars.  My alternatives were Shadowrun, Star Wars D20, D&D, a bunch of free RPG systems and downloading Rifts off the internet.  They elected to choose Star Wars.

Unlike D&D for newbies, making characters in D6 is kindof fun. It took me a while to teach them the basics of the attribute system (you have 18 dice to put into 6 attributes which form the basis of the skills system, forming a minimum).  They wanted to play bounty hunters which fit PERFECTLY into my idea.

Ryan created a character called Ifrit (he's into Final Fantasy, myths and legends).  He's a fun-loving bounty hunter Rodian.

Shane created a character called Reuven (he couldn't think of a name and refused my gestures to help him come up with one) so I gave him one from a book I'd read recently.

Their personalities aren't very original, but it's okay.  That's something that you develop.  They're having fun. That's what's important.

The first session they tracked down a bounty hopping on buildings after him.  They cought him and met up with eachother.  Next, they went into space and found themselves allying with the 'smuggler's alliance.'  Afterwards, they went back to the planet they were on.  They met a grimey man at the spaceport.  He told them about a private job he wanted them to go on.  It's at a hotel that the Red merchent family owns.

So they got their tuxedos (a very funny scene) and they headed over (they didn't care that it diminished them down to less than 200 credits each.

Unknown to them the grimy guy is the bounty they're after.  He's in a battle for thier fathers will and if he thought that one of his two children was trying to kill off the other one, he would cut them out of the will.

So Ifrit enteres a dancing contest at the motel.  After all he IS a fun-loving bounty hunter (which costed them a thousand credits to get in) and he wins thanks to Shane's character beating up, gagging and impersonating the announcer.  Ifrit wins the final round of the contest against the bounty's sister.

Anyway, that's where they are.

It's been a LOT more fun and yesterday I had them test my new Priority combat system (a system which allows for near-simultanious actions).  Ryan died thanks to his procupation with a gameboy game (I didn't kill him off.  He just didn't think.  He ran in front of the shots of three strom troopers and didn't think to use a few character points reducing damage).  Shane, thankfully was able to use terrain, his holocube, and his recording rod creativelley enough to defeat the rest of them.

They've both been pretty ingenious so far and it lets me reflect on my past roleplaying experiences.  hehehe.  We hopped around the galaxy doing stupid stuff.  We would go pod racing, jump between pods, fail a jump check and have our droids win our races for us.  That kind of thing.

Ryan's going to tell me what to say here: "Okay, what's it like being elite roleplayers?"

"Ryan, I didn't say they're elite... just that they have a lot of experience playing and in game design."

Silence.

"Ryan, anthing else?"

"Who would win in a fight?  Spock or... Chewbacca?"

"Okay, that's enough pressure for now."

Anyway.  Sorry for the delay.  It's the week before finals.

May the wind be always at your back,
-Pyron