Cockroach RPG System

by Pascal

Rating: everyone
Tags:
Length: 756

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Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-03-23 19:28:48 UTC

Rules

Stats

There are four Major Stats: Mind, Body, Grace, and Courage. Major stats generally don't change outside of special circumstances.

Mind governs any action which requires thinking or education.

Body governs any action which requires strength or resistance to injury.

Grace governs any action which requires care or precision

Courage governs any action which requires willpower or the ability to endure hardship.

(Note: Considering removing courage due to lack of usefulness. "Courage" could simply be role-played)

Major Stats are rated from 1 to 5, with 1 being average and 5 being superhuman.

There are two Minor Stats, Health and Destiny. Minor stats can change regularly over the course of the game.

Maximum Health = Body + 2

Destiny is special. I'll get to it later.

Actions

In combat, there are turns. Turn order is decided in order of highest to lowest Grace. Everyone gets 1 action per turn. Outside of combat, everyone can do whatever actions they want.

An Action is something that requires special skill or exertion beyond normal, everyday activity. Rather than deciding a character's abilities based on a long, complicated chart of skills, each Action is decided on a case by case basis.

When you make an Action, you declare what it is you want to do, then the group decides what stat is required.

As of now, usually only one stat is used in any given action, though stats are added together in certain situations. For example, melee combat is governed by Body, but surprise attacks use the sum of Body and Grace.

Rolling

IF THE FOLLOWING SEEMS COMPLICATED, JUST ASK THE STORYTELLER WHAT TO ROLL AND YOU'LL PICK IT UP AS WE PLAY.

Once you figure out what stats you need, you take the number of that stat and that's how many d10's you role. An 8, 9, or 10 is a "hit." If you get a hit, then your action succeeds. Some actions get better if you get more hits. If you're administering first-aid, you heal 1 point of health per hit you get. If you're fighting an enemy, you deal 1 point of damage per hit you get. Especially difficult tasks may require multiple hits to succeed. 10's are "crits." A crit counts as 2 hits.

An action should go like this:

Rarity wants to pick a lock with her hairpin. The group thinks about it, and decides that lockpicking falls under Grace.

Rarity has 4 Grace = 4d10.

She rolls 10(crit), 2, 5, 8(hit). She gets two hits from the crit, giving her a total of 3 hits, enough to pick the lock.

But what if you fail an action, and it leaves you totally fucked? You slip while running from a haywire Industrial Chassis, and it grinds you into jelly under its treads, you miss an attack you really needed to hit, or a piece of falling masonry crushes you. Normally, that'd be the end, but for heroes, there is still a sliver of hope.

At any time, you may spend a point of Destiny to turn one of your failures into a success, as if all your dice had been hits, or to turn any roll against you into a failure. Once spent, Destiny cannot be recovered. Note that destiny won't let you succeed at things which are impossible for you. If Big Mac has 1 Mind, then Destiny won't let him succeed at a Mind action which requires 3 hits because he only has one die, for example.

Death:

Most attacks will not kill you outright. If you are reduced below 1 heath, you fall unconscious until you receive first-aid. If you are damaged while unconscious, then you will die. Some things, like getting hit by a train, will kill you outright (unless you spend Destiny, or course).

Character Creation

The sum of all main stats is 10, no stat lower than 1 or higher than 5. Destiny is 2.

Yep, that's it. You can make a character in about 10 seconds.

As of now, rules for magic, different races, or other special abilities are pretty light. Winged characters can fly if they're at half or more of their total health. Unicorns can use Telekinesis to make actions over short distances, counting all their stats as 1.

There is no system of experience or leveling up. Characters can become more powerful by finding equipment or learning occult secrets, but there are no "experience points."

The rules are open to debate. If you have any suggestions, let me know.