ONE
Version 1.0
Copyright (C) 1998 By Anthony Salter
ONE is a simple, fairly generic role-playing engine that I wrote specifically for web publication. At the time I started this project, RPGs were in a "bigger-is-better" phase. Some tomes I purchased were upwards of 350 pages, most of them rules.
I hate rules. I would prefer to read setting over rules any day. All the rules do is keep everybody honest, and most GMs pick one engine and translate the settings from other RPGs to it.
So I've just given you another option. When you find that the latest book you've picked up contains more numbers than imagination, feel free to use ONE as a replacement engine. The concepts are simple, and should be easy to convert.
Well, enough with the lip-flapping, let's get to the game!
There are five defining statistics for all characters, and the average human statistic is 7. You therefore have 35 points to split up among the five Stats any way you desire, as long as the Stats end up inside the human range of 2 to 12.
The five statistics, with descriptions:
Strength (abbreviated STR): This is the total-body strength of the character. It directly affects how much the character can carry.
Intelligence (INT): Basic smarts, this measures not only how much your character knows, but how quickly new things are learned.
Dexterity (DEX): This measures full-body dexterity as well as manual agility.
Health (HLT): A measure of how resistant to disease and injury the character is.
Speed (SPD): A measure of how quickly the character does anything. The turn-based combat system described later uses this score to determine how often a character can act.
Hit Points (HP): Okay, I lied. Characters actually have six Stats. But you don’t spend character points on Hit Points. Instead, Hit Points are equal to (HLT * 3).
Once you’ve split up the points for your character, you are ready to buy Skills.
SKILLSSkills are purchased after Stats have been decided on. Most skills are based on a Stat, and higher Stats make skills easier to learn. Each character begins with 35 Points to spend on Skills.
So how do you buy a skill? Look at the Skill List below. If the Skill you want is listed under a Stat, it means that you have a Base to start from, equal to (Stat / 3), discarding any fraction. If the Skill you want is listed under "No Default", it means that your Base is 0.
Once you have determined the Base level, you buy extra levels by spending your points. Base+1 costs 1 point. Base+2 costs two points. Base+3 costs three points, and so on. However, you must remember that all levels must be paid for. If you wish to jump straight from Base to Base+5, it doesn't cost five points, because you must also pay for Base+4, Base+3, Base+2, and Base+1, for a total of 15 points.
There is no limit to how high skills can go.
I've attempted to create a list of skills that can be used in any gaming period. This might mean, though, that some skills are not quite self-explanatory, so I've thoughtfully provided a list below describing what each skill actually means. This list is in alphabetical order.
Bureaucracy (INT): The ability to "work the system" to achieve what one wants without attracting the law or otherwise standing out. The ability to know when to fill out the forms in triplicate and when to slip a fifty under the table.
Club (DEX): Ugg use club. Hit things. Hurt them. Actually, this same skill would apply to any non-bladed hand weapon – clubs and maces being the most common.
Disguise (INT): The ability to look like someone else at a moment’s notice. This applies only to the physical aspect of disguising yourself, a good Social Engineering skill (see below) can give you bonuses on your attempt to disguise yourself - as can a good disguise kit.
Engineering: Ach, Captain, ya canna’ break the laws of physics! The ability to keep electromechanical or electronic machinery in good working order, and occasionally make them do things they aren’t supposed to. "I’ll need more parts to turn this toaster oven into a death ray, sir."
Forgery (INT): The ability to make unofficial official documents, fake signatures, etc.
Gambling (INT): The ability to spot fixed games, quickly assess the chances of winning, and cheat when needed.
Grav Vehicle (DEX): The ability to operate any planetary-based antigrav vehicle.
Gunnery (INT): The ability to use vehicle-mounted guns to inflict damage.
Hacking (INT): Yes, this is an "any-period" skill. By hacking I mean the ability to procure information you are not supposed to have by means you are not supposed to have access to. Today, most hacking would be done with a computer. In a fantasy setting, a person might break into a large library and use his Hacking skill to quickly find the information he wants. Sort of a cross between researching and security.
Hand Blade (DEX): The ability to effectively wield any easily-concealable, one-handed bladed weapon.
Hand Projectile (INT): The ability to effectively hit targets with any easily-concealable, one-handed missile weapon. The type of weapon depends on the genre; in a fantasy setting this skill could be used for blowguns and hand corssbows. In a modern campaign, a Derringer or other holdout pistol would fit into this category.
Helicopter (INT): The ability to operate any rotor-based flying vehicle.
Hovercraft (DEX): The ability to operate any hovercraft-based vehicle. Note that this is not the same skill as Grav Vehicle, as hovercraft may not be anti-gravitic and must stay close to the ground or water.
Interplanetary Craft (INT): The ability to operate craft that can fly between planets in a solar system.
Interstellar Craft (INT): The ability to operate craft that can fly between solar systems in the galaxy. Note that an interstellar vehicle will require both of the above skills to safely operate, as it will handle far differently between "in system" and "out system".
Jet Plane (INT): The ability to operate any jet-propelled flying vehicle.Long Blade (DEX): The ability to wield any two-handed, bladed melee weapon.
Long Projectile (INT): The ability to fire any long-range two-handed missile weapon. In a fantasy campaign, this skill would be used for longbows. In a modern capaign, this skill would be used for rifles and machine guns.
Mechanical (INT): The ability to build and maintain purely mechanical devices, such as cars, toasters, and difference engines.
Medical: The ability to diagnose and treat diseases and injuries. If you are playing in a campaign with several different races, this skill must be purchased separately for each race.
Motor Watercraft (DEX): The ability to operate any motor-driven watercraft (surface or submersible).
Navigation: The ability to navigate around a certain area. The area of expertise must be specified when purchasing this skill.
Pickpocket (DEX): The ability to take things out of people’s pockets without them knowing about it. If you fail your roll, a high Speed score is advisable.
Polearm (STR): The ability to wield any oversized, two-handed melee weapon.
Prop Plane (INT): The ability to pilot any propellor-driven aircraft.
Sail Watercraft (INT): The ability to pilot any sail-powered watercraft.
Short Blade (DEX): The ability to wield any heavy, one-handed bladed weapon.
Short Projectile (INT): The ability to fire any not-easily-concealable, medium-ranged projectile weapon. In a fantasy campaign, this skill would be used for bows, crossbows, and arquebuses. In a modern campaign, it would be used for heavy pistols, machine pistols, and shotguns.
Social Engineering (INT): The art of getting your way with words. It covers acting, conning, bribing, fast-talking, the works.
Streetwise (INT): Familiar knowledge of a certain area. The area known must be specified when the skill is purchased.
Tracked Vehicle (DEX): The ability to pilot any tracked land vehicle.
Unarmed (DEX): Don’t have a weapon to fight with? This skill allows you to fight anyway, but don’t go unarmed to a machine-gun fight.
Wheeled Vehicle (DEX): The ability to pilot any wheeled land vehicle.
ONE is based on two six-sided dice. I picked this model because it's very simple, the dice are easy to procure, and yet it's not a straight-line progression. Using a skill means simply rolling two dice and comparing the result to your skill score. Was your roll lower than or equal to your skill? You succeeded, and angels will blow fanfares for you as adoring members of the opposite sex bring you gifts. Was your roll higher? You failed, and are at the mercy of the machinations of the GM, whom you accidentally insulted earlier in the evening...
Of course, you will rarely roll against just your Skill. The GM will typically assign modifiers to the roll as appropriate to make it harder or easier. For instance, the GM may assign a -1 penalty to your pistol shot for distance or darkness, making it more difficult for you to succeed. Or, he may assign a +2 to your Social Engineering skill if the person you are talking to is easily duped. The GM usually has final say on what modifiers are appropriate, but if you think the GM is being unfair, smack him arou...er, discuss the situation with him calmly and rationally.
If your action is opposed (someone is using their Skill to block yours) this is called a Contest of Skill. Not only do you have to succeed at using your Skill, but your opponent has to fail at using his. Most combat falls under the heading of Contests of Skill - if you swing a sword at your opponent and make your Skill roll, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ve hit. If your opponent can defend, and make his own Skill roll, then he blocks your shot.
A lot of times, things aren’t quite as complicated as combat. If two people are trying to snatch the same piece of paper from the floor, obviously it’s going to be over quick, and only one will win. This is called a Quick Contest, and is handled as follows: Both parties roll two dice and add their Skill. The highest total wins, with ties being interpreted by the GM. In the above example, the GM would probably have the players roll a Quick Contest against DEX (since there is no Grab a Piece of Paper Off the Floor Skill) and a tie would result in both players coming up with half the paper. Hope it wasn’t important...
Modifiers typically range from -3 to +3. Modifiers outside this range typically guarantee success or failure. However, multiple modifiers can be assigned (one for range and one for darkness, etc.), and the GM should feel free to heavily modify any roll he feels will be at a substantial penalty. And the GM has the final say.
The Speed score becomes very important in combat. It dictates how and when a player can act. The possible Speed score for human characters ranges from 2 to 12, and one combat turn is 12 Segments long. The following chart shows how Speed and Segments work:
Speed Segments
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
1 1
2 1 1
3 1 1 1
4 1 1 1 1
5 1 1 1 1 1
6 1 1 1 1 1 1
7 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
8 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
9 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
11 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
12 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
13 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2
14 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 2
15 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 2
(Honorable Master, why does the chart go from 1 to 15 when humans may only have Speeds of 2 to 12?)(Ah, young grasshopper. Not everyone is human.)
As you can see, a higher Speed means you act more often, and have fewer vulnerable Segments.
So what can you do in a Segment?
Change Facing: This is actually free action. At the beginning or end of your turn (but not both), you can turn to face any direction you wish. This does not count against your movement.
Movement: Typically, you can change your "state of position" one time in one Segment. If you do this, you cannot take any other action except free actions. A few sample changes include taking a few running steps towards or away from your opponent, step to the left or right, drop prone or dive for cover, kneel, or go from prone to a kneel or from a kneel to standing in one segment. Movement of any type gives enemies a -1 penalty to hit you. If you don’t wish to actually move, you can dodge in place and still get the -1 penalty.
Hand Actions: Since you have two hands, it is possible to do two things (one with each hand) in one segment, at a -2 penalty to both actions. Possible hand actions include Attack (with the weapon in your hand), Defend (with a weapon or shield), and Ready (pull a weapon out so it can be used on the next turn). If you have a weapon in both hands, you may take a Double Attack, but each attack will be at a -2 penalty (devastating if it hits, though). You can do this with both melee and one-handed missile weapons. If you have a weapon or shield in both hands, you can take a Double Defend, and defend yourself against two different incoming melee (but not missile) attacks in the same round. Again, both rolls would be at -2.
One of the most important questions players ask is, "How much damage can my characters take?" As mentioned earlier in the Character Creation section, characters have Hit Points equal to three times their Health. But it’s actually a little more complicated than that. Here’s an example.
Groc the Caveman has a Health of 9 (hardy soul!) He therefore has 27 (9 * 3) Hit Points. Groc gets into a fight with a passing dienonichus. The dinosaur wounds Groc pretty badly, doing 11 Hit Points of damage before he can finally kill it.
Groc is down to 16 Hit Points, but worse, he has lost more than his Health in Hit Points. That means he is now wounded, and all of his Skill uses will be at -2 until he can heal back up.
Groc continues on towards home, but is attacked by a smilodon. The beast does another 8 points of damage before Groc can drive it off.
Groc is now down to 8 Hit points, and has lost more than twice his Health in Hit Points. This means that he falls unconscious – his wounds are too great to allow him to stay awake.As Groc lies there, a group of procompsognathids come by and start chewing on him. Though they are small, Groc can’t fight them off, and they do 8 Hit Points worth of damage to him. Groc is now dead. Poor Groc.
To sum up: Characters have (Health * 3) Hit Points. Losing your Health in Hit Points causes you to become wounded, with a -2 penalty to any action you take until you heal up above this level. Losing twice your Health in Hit Points causes you to fall unconscious at the beginning of the next combat segment - which means that if the blow that reduces you to "unconscious" level takes place on Segment 2, you will fall unconscious on Segment 3, and can take no action. Losing three times your Health causes you to die - again, at the beginning of the next combat segment.
In ONE, just like in any other RPG, armor can mean the difference between life and afterlife. There are three pertinent facts you need to know about each type of armor - how much damage it stops, how much it slows you down, and how much it costs.
A set of armor has an Armor Value (AR) that tells you how much damage from each attack the armor blocks. For instance, a set of armor with an AV of two would block two points of a twelve point attack, reducing the damage the character takes to ten points.
If the character wearing the above set of armor was hit by 21 separate, 2-point attacks (a firing squad of BB guns, perhaps?), the character would not be hurt at all, since all 42 points would be blocked by the armor. If that 42 points were dealt in one attack (by a grenade, possibly), the armor would only stop two points of the 42, leaving 40 for the character to take (hope he’s got a will...)A set of armor also has a weight. This weight counts against how much a character can carry. Heavier armors weigh you down, lowering your Speed and making you slower. Better armors move better, provide good protection with lighter materials, or are powered, and therefore have lower weights.
Armors with higher AVs and lower SRs tend to cost more, obviously. Something capable of stopping shotgun blasts while still allowing the character to pirouette is obviously something worth having.
Shields come in two types - small and large. Shields don’t stop full-body damage the way armor does, so they don’t have AV ratings. What they really do is make you harder to hit. A small shield, when worn, gives the wearer a -1 penalty to be hit - this is cumulative to any other modifiers. This represents the chance of the shot hitting the shield instead of the person. Shields can also be used to manually block melee attacks from opponents - the shield wearer rolls on his highest hand-to-hand combat skill for success.
Large shields give even more protection, but are hampering. A large shield give the wearer a -2 penalty to be hit, but gives the wearer a -1 penalty to attack or defend - it’s hard to get that bulky thing where you want it, and you can’t see through it.
How fast characters heal tends to vary depending on how badly hurt they are.
Characters who took damage, but were not reduced to wounded level regain one Hit Point per day, or two per day if under constant medical care (in a hospital, for instance).
Characters who are reduced to wounded level regain one Hit Point per week without constant medical care, or two per week if under constant medical care. Once they are healed to above wounded status, they heal faster, as above.
Characters who are reduced to unconsciousness by their wounds will not regain consciousness unless they are cared for. These characters cannot regain Hit Points outside constant medical care, and will continue to lose one Hit Point per hour until they die. They regain one Hit Point per week while under constant care. Once they are healed above their Health in Hit Points, they will awaken and start to heal faster, as above.
We can now run an example combat. We’ve got two characters, Larry and Curly, who are just dying to go at it. Larry has a short sword in one hand (which does one die of damage), and a small shield in the other. Curly has a short sword in each hand, but he has no shield. Instead, he wears a light set of armor with an AV of 2. The armor weighs enough to reduce his Speed by one point. When combat begins, they are facing each other with weapons in hand.
Larry's Pertinent Numbers Curly's Pertinent Numbers Short Blade: 8 Short Blade: 10 Hit Points: 30 Hit Points: 24 Speed: 7 Speed: 9 (reduced to 8 by the armor)Segment 1:
Neither character is fast enough to make an action in this segment.
Segment 2:
Curly goes for a Double Attack. This gives him a -2 penalty on both rolls. Larry’s shield gives him another -1 penalty on both rolls, giving Curly an effective Skill of 7 (which is still passable).
Larry will Attack and Shield, also at -2 to both rolls, giving him an effective skill of 6.
Curly's first attack fails (he rolled a 9), but he scores with the second (a 6). Larry's Shield roll fails (he rolled a 7), but he scores with his attack (he also rolled a 6). Both characters take 1d6 damage. Larry takes 1 (down to 29), Curly takes 4 (reduced to 2 by the armor, so he’s down to 22).
Segment 3:
Curly Attacks and Blocks, with an effective Skill of 7.
Larry Attacks and Shields, with an effective Skill of 6.
Both characters make both their rolls. This means that they both hit each other, but successfully blocked the shots, so no damage is taken this Segment.
Segment 4:
Neither character is fast enough to act in this segment.
Segment 5:
Curly will Double Attack this round. He makes two Attack rolls at an effective Skill of 7.
Scared by the recent wound, Larry goes for one Attack to avoid the penalty, trusting his shield to make things harder for Curly. Larry attacks with his full Skill of 8.
Larry hits with his one attack, and rolls a 5, causing Curly to take 3 points of damage. This drops Curly to 19. Curly hits with both attacks, and rolls a total of 7 for damage. Larry must take all of this, which drops him to 22.
Segment 6:
Here, Speed counts. Only Curly may take an action this round. He takes a Double Attack, with an effective Skill of 7.
He hits with one attack, and does 2 points of damage. Larry is now down to 20 points. He has taken his full Health in damage, and is now wounded, with an additional -2 penalty to any further actions he may take.
Segment 7:
Though wounded, Larry does have a card to play: only he can take an action this round. The only thing he can do is a single Attack, which he takes. He succeeds, and rolls a 6 for damage, causing Curly to take 4 points, dropping him to 15. Now Curly is wounded, too.Segment 8:
Both combatants back away from each other, then flee in their separate directions.
The whole battle has taken just eight seconds.
ONE is now complete enough for you to be able to use it in most role-playing situations. Though the system may be expanded at a future date, new rules will follow the pattern described above, and be completely optional.