This entry is part 8 in the series The Sixes System

Image by alan9187 from Pixabay

0. Fundamentals (repeated for all posts:)

— The Sixes System is a minimalist game system suitable for any and all genres.

— It has been used in my Dr Who campaign since September 2014, which has just come to a successful conclusion.

— Characters are constructed using a point-buy methodology with NPCs generatable using die rolls for speed.

— Success or Failure on tasks is determined by adding dice to a pool based on ability and circumstances which are then rolled against a target number determined by the GM.

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

17. Characterization

There are four principal avenues of characterization in the Sixes System.

First, and perhaps strongest, is the choice of Optional Characteristic. Not necessarily how high a score the character has, though that is a secondary aspect, but the actual choice of characteristic. This choice serves to define what the character is naturally gifted at, and how the character will think and will approach any situation. A scientist, for example, should always be questioning and trying to understand; action may be required as a result of that understanding, but intelligence/data acquisition and analysis should always comes first. An Engineer will think in terms of systems and mechanical responses. A (medical) Doctor will translate the world in terms of health and well-being. You get very different interpretations of the character of Doctor Strange if he is a healer who happens to know magic, or a sorcerer who was once a healer. Personally, if creating the character using the Sixes System, I would define the stat as Sorcerer Supreme, implying that he has a responsibility to Magic itself and to those who use it which he acknowledges.

Second, and stronger than anything bar the Optional Characteristic definition, are the choice of Disadvantages, if any. Most characters will have some, and many will have several. These serve to restrict the otherwise free reign that a player has over his character – either prompting him to be inclined in a certain direction, or forcing him to avoid certain choices of action. Note that the value of any disadvantage should be campaign specific, and based on how frequently the disadvantage will restrict the character as well as how severely. As a general rule, the more abstract a Disadvantage is, the more frequently it will be a factor. GMs should also think carefully about the implications and consequences of choices of Disadvantage. A character who is “Nervous going into battle” may manifest this fear in many ways – shaking of the hands, a quivering voice, indecision and hesitation, a cold sweat, and other signs of stress like snapping at people. If the player doesn’t want the GM to have free reign in this area, he needs to define the Disadvantage more explicitly – and accept that its impact will probably be reduced, and hence its value to the character, as a result.

The third strongest characterization definition is implied and not explicit, unlike the first two items. This is the choice of skills and how they are defined by the player creating the character. To anyone who has read any of the comics (far more than is shown in the movies), Spider-man should have a skill in Wisecracks, or perhaps in Banter. I would permit the character to add “Distracting” to the title, thereby defining what it was that this was used to achieve. That skill, on the other hand, doesn’t belong anywhere near the Terminator – any Terminator!

The weakest, by far, are the actual characteristic values. This is in direct contrast to the experience offered by most RPGs. Once again, the characterization imparted is more by implication or consequence than it is explicit in definition, though the values may alter the relative frequency of occurrence of certain behaviors. A character with a Disadvantage, “Apologetic and Sincere after making a mistake,” yields a very different individual if he has a low Intelligence score or a high one. And note that this means that the character is not Intelligence-Oriented (See section 1.2).

18. NPCs

One benefit of the game mechanics is that it’s really easy to generate NPCs when you’re in a hurry.

  1. Stats: roll 2d6 for the values. At least one should be 9+. Generate a value for the optional stat even though you don’t know what it is, yet.
  2. Purposes: roll 1d6 for the values. At least one should be 3+.
  3. Decide what the character does. Label the primary stat accordingly.
  4. Skills: Make a list of possible skills that the character might need to use.. Ignore anything that doesn’t fit that definition, you can always add to the list if necessary. Roll 1d6 for the values, reading the results as 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4.
  5. List any Disadvantages that will be obvious factors in the character’s in-game manifestation – behavior, appearance, etc. Ignore the rest, but assume that they are there.

That’s it, you’re done.

But, even better, if you have some idea of the characterization and profession already, you can generate a single stat – the optional stat – and move on to step 2 immediately. As I said in step 5, you can always generate the rest if and when you need them.

19. The Scales Of Ordinary

The above technique generates characters of typical PC levels. There are times when a more mundane character is needed.

  1. Stats: roll 1d6 for the values. Add 2 to one of the results. Generate a value for the optional stat even though you don’t know what it is, yet.
  2. Purposes: roll 1d3 for the values. Add 1 to one of the results.
  3. Decide what the character does. Label the primary stat accordingly.
  4. Skills: Make a list of possible skills that the character might need to use.. Be more generalized than usual. Ignore anything that doesn’t fit the “might need to use” definition, you can always add to the list on-the-fly if necessary. Roll 1d6 for the values, reading the results as 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 2. A result of 0 means that the character either doesn’t have the skill, or has it in an even more generic form, or has it just as a hobby. If that doesn’t seem right, “steal” a skill point from somewhere else.
  5. List any Disadvantages that will be obvious factors in the character’s in-game manifestation – behavior, appearance, etc. Ignore the rest, but assume that they are there.

It should be remembered that characters are rarely “all they can be”. They are normally deficient in some areas related to their field of expertise. If a character is supposed to be an expert in their field, you can steal points to take that specific skill up to a very notable three or even four.

star wars kittens

Image by naobim from Pixabay, Background by Jorge Guillen both from Pixabay, Color & background modifications by Mike. (I’m quite proud of the job I did on this one, so you can click on the image above to get the full 1285×1466-pixel version).

20. The Scales Of Extraordinary

You may also need to generate the occasional extraordinary character, superior to normal. This is appropriate for arch enemies to oppose a group of PCs, for example.

  1. Stats: roll 3d6 for the values and discard the lowest. Generate a value for the optional stat even though you don’t know what it is, yet. Rearrange the scores so that the user-defined characteristic is highest.
  2. Purposes: roll 2d6 for the values and discard the lower die for all but one Purpose, where you must discard the higher die. This lower purpose should have a value of three or less.
  3. Decide what the character does. Label the primary stat accordingly.
  4. Skills: Make a list of possible skills that the character might need to use.. Ignore anything that doesn’t fit that definition, you can always add to the list if necessary. Roll 1d6 for the values, reading the results as 0, 1, 2, 3, 3, 4. Pay special attention to any abilities that you want the character to have, including spells and super-powers.
  5. You may raise one skill to a score of 5 by ‘stealing’ two skill points from another one or two skills.
  6. List any Disadvantages that will be obvious factors in the character’s in-game manifestation – behavior, appearance, etc. Ignore the rest, but assume that they are there.

These settings are intended to accurately model superiority while still leaving room to grow and space for imperfections, flaws, and shortcomings.

Image by Dina Dee from Pixabay

Designer’s Notes & Discussions: Characters

There’s only one innovation of note within this section, and it’s actually more contained elsewhere and only expressed here.

    The Innovations

    “A character is defined, within the Sixes System, by what he tries to achieve and how he goes about accomplishing the achievement” – that’s how I explained it to the player in the Lovecraft’s Legacies campaign when he was creating his interpretation of the 11th Doctor, informed by the analysis I presented back in 2014 (Dr Who and the secrets of complex characterization). And it’s a fair representation of the way characterization works in the game system.

    This does mean that it can take a bit of effort for a player or GM to get their head around when first encountering the system – it’s fine once you get used to it. I often find that the adjustment is more easily made by first converting a character – like Batman or Spider-man, or Buzz Lightyear or whatever – that the player/GM already knows very well. That way you can experiment a bit, you can nuance different elements of the character and get some idea of how that would alter the characterization rendered during play, and so on. For example, if you chose Batman’s “Optional Stat” to be “Crime-fighter”, you get a very different character to choosing “World’s Greatest Detective” – perhaps with an Obsession for fighting crime. Remember, too, that the same character sheet has to apply to both Batman and Bruce Wayne!

    It is far often easier to have a character in mind – a profession and a distinct personality and even a history – and then to realize or actualize that character through the game mechanics, than it is to start with a completely blank slate. This points up one final aspect to the game system that needs to be highlighted: The mechanics of this system are very character- and role-play- driven, and not the other way around.

    This can be either a benefit or a curse – that’s entirely a function of how you use what has been provided.

The final two parts of the System write-up deal with adapting it to suit different genres of campaign. I’ll post something else next week and resume this series at the start of next month. These aren’t meant to be comprehensive guides to the genres in question – certainly nothing on the order of the series on Pulp that I co-wrote a few years back – more information on how best to integrate the genre with the game system.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email