[Forum Game] Roll to Dodge: Lost in the Void

[Cap'n Coconuts]

You wake up inside a cavern about 10 meters wide. The rock walls surrounding you are a lifeless shade of gray. Despite the apparent lack of light sources, the area is strangely well lit. There is only one path available to take.

You look around in confusion, as you have no idea where you are. In fact, you barely remember who you are. You haven't the foggiest idea about your past life, whatever it was. You notice there are other people nearby who are just as perplexed as you are.

But first, who are you?

Spoiler

Roll to Dodge is a free-form RPG that can be played in text-based environments such as online chats and forums. The results of many actions are determined by a roll of a six-sided die:

• 1) Epic Failure: What could possibly go wrong? Everything.
  
• 2) Failure: An ordinary failure. How boring.
  
• 3) Partial Success: You didn't fail, but it didn't quite work out as intended.
  
• 4) Success: Your action worked out okay! Lucky you.
  
• 5) Perfect Success: Your action worked out in the best feasible way.
  
• 6) Overshoot: You succeeded so much that you may wish you had failed.
  

Spoiler

First, you need to make a character. All player characters are initially amnesiacs: they know very little other than their name, motor functions, arithmetic, and the ability to speak, read, and write. At first, everyone's characters will have the exact same stats and abilities, but your character may develop new abilities over time.

Your character can be just about anything that is reasonably humanoid in size, shape, and ability. They can be humans, elves, aliens, anthropomorphic animals, androids... anything within reason.

You may create an evil or hostile character if you wish, but be aware that this setting encourages player cooperation. Furthermore, other players may decide to attack your character if you cross too many lines.

Your character application should look something like this:

• Name: The name of your character.
  
• Creature: What your character is.
  
• Appearance: A basic description of how your character looks. For most characters, this would include details such as height, build, hair style, eye/skin/hair colors, and clothes. For a humanoid robot, you'd also write if the robot looks outwardly mechanical or not. For an anthro, you'd also write about things like claws (if they have them), fur patterns, and digitigrade feet. You don't need to describe features that would be taken for granted, such as an elf's pointy ears. They won't own anything except for ordinary clothes on their backs. Try to keep this no longer than a few sentences.
  
• Personality: A basic description of how your character acts. This will form an idea of what manners of speech and behavior are "in character" for your character.
  

Once you have a valid character made, that character will be given some basic stats.

• HP: Hit points. Your character is incapacitated at 0 hitpoints, and slain if it reaches a negative quarter of its maximum. If John Doe had 100 max HP, he would die at -25.
  
• PP: Power points. A limited energy source used for extraordinary tasks.
  
• Attack: Your character's expected damage output on a roll of 4 (Success), assuming the attack connects.
  
• Spirit: Your character's expected preternatural power.
  
• Defense: How well your character is protected. Acts as direct damage reduction. Some attacks, hazards, and events may ignore defense.
  

You can start playing with the same post in which you made your character. You may post to perform various actions, with the rules and restrictions below:

• Standard Actions are generally anything that requires significant effort or concentration. In ordinary circumstances, you may do one of these only once per turn. Examples:
  • Doing just about any voluntary thing in combat.
    
  • Trying to escape from danger or avoid obstacles.
    
  • Interacting with the environment.
    
• Simple Actions do not require a roll and automatically succeed, but you can only do one per turn. Simple actions are treated as Standard Actions in combat and other perilous situations. Examples:
  • Walking from one room to another.
    
  • Using an item in your inventory
    
  • Switching one or more pieces of wielded/worn equipment.
    
• Reactions happen automatically and involuntarily (it's just listed here for completeness' sake). Each reaction requires a roll. Examples:
  • Dodging attacks or traps.
    
  • Resisting debilitating status effects.
    
  • Saving throw to not die from instant death or some sudden misfortune.
    
• Free Actions do not require rolls and can be done many times per turn. Examples:
  • Talking and communicating with gestures.
    

Once every player has posted (or almost every player, if some people are taking too long), I will post the results of your actions as well as any other happenings. My posts will mark the end of a round and the beginning of the next round will commence. If you post too many actions, all of the excessive ones are ignored.

Spoiler

Bonuses/Penalties

It is possible to alter your roll results by equipping certain gear, gaining passive abilities, or gaining temporary or circumstantial buffs/debuffs.

Inherent and equipment bonuses combined cannot exceed +1, nor can they drop below -1. Although bonuses and penalties will counter and cancel each other, they cannot stack above +1 or below -1.

Buffs/debuffs can grant roll bonuses or penalties on a wider scale than +1 to -1, but multiple buffs with similar bonuses will not stack. Nonetheless, bonuses and penalties will still counter each other.

Regardless of your roll bonuses or penalties, your adjusted rolls cannot be lower than 1 or higher than 6.

Combat

When starting or during combat, you may attack as a standard action. When making an attack, the roll determines if you hit and how much damage you would do on an enemy with 0 Defense.

Attack Action:
1) Self-harm 1x Attack or ???
2) Miss
3) Base damage is 2/3x Attack
4) Base damage 1x Attack
5) Base damage is 1.5x Attack
6) ???

At this point, damage is reduced by the enemy's Defense (or yours if you hurt yourself). Attacks will always inflict a minimum of 1 damage unless they miss completely.

Overshooting causes you to overdo an attack, which may lead to amazing damage output while also injuring yourself.

If you have the Guard skill, you can take a defensive stance instead, granting a circumstantial buff until the next round. Having a shield will make you more effective at defensive stances with the right skill.

Guard Action:
1) -1 to Dodge Reactions this round
2) Nothing
3) +1 to Dodge Reactions this round
4) +2 to Dodge Reactions this round
5) +3 to Dodge Reactions this round
6) ???

Whenever anything makes an attack, the target gets an opportunity to dodge. If the target cannot move, the Dodge Reaction automatically fails but is still rolled to check for Epic Failures.

Dodge Reaction:
1) Critical Hit (2x damage)
2) Hit with full damage
3) Hit with 2/3 damage
4) Hit with 1/3 damage
5) Perfect dodge (no damage)
6) ???

When threatened with a status effect or debuff, the potential victim must make a Resistance roll. Each source for a status effect has a RD (Resistance Difficulty) rating. If your Resistance roll meets or exceeds the RD, you are unaffected. If the roll is just one short of the RD, you are partly affected. Worse rolls mean you are fully afflicted by the status effect.

Resistance Reaction:
1) Fails to resist anything; badly affected
2) Fails to resist anything
3) Unaffected by RD 3; partly affected by RD 4
4) Unaffected by RD 4; partly affected by RD 5
5) Unaffected by RD 5; partly affected by RD 6
6) Unaffected by RD 6; partly affected by RD 7

Of course, an ailment with a RD of 8 or above will afflict you no matter what you roll.

Spoiler

In addition to the MFGG forum rules, you must follow the game's guidelines. Deviating from these guidelines may result in warnings, penalties, character death, and/or being banned from playing depending on the severity of the offense and number of past offenses.

• As the current acting GM, I have the last word in any dispute and reserve the right to change these guidelines as necessary.
  
• Avoid making a Mary Sue--or, in other words, an overly idealized or wish-fulfilling character.
  
• Don't make your character act in ways that could make other players feel uncomfortable. Speaking of which, don't make a character for your sexual fantasies.
  
• Stay in character. To avoid confusion, mark any out-of-character communication as such (e.g. "OOC: Oh wow, three Perfect Successes in a row!").
  
• Try to avoid metagaming. Your characters should not be able to take advantage of information that they couldn't realistically know.
  

I'll post as often as I feel like it and as player participation permits. If a player hasn't posted in 48 hours, their character may be on autopilot for that round.