This document covers the core rules for playing games of Open Adventures. In future the intention is to build upon these rules with new supplements and expansions that can add more complex features.
Every tabletop game requires characters to play as. Legendary heros, members of the city watch, undead hords, etc. In open adventures these characters are represented by a set of attributes, equipment and traits.
A core mechanic of Open Adventures is the dice pool. A lot of games will have you perform 2 or 3 actions (such as move, fight, cast a spell, etc) each turn, but in Open Adventures these activities are instead dictated by how many dice you have in your pool.
Player characters will have a pool of dice (usually around 5 for heroic or villainous characters). Players can then assign those dice to their attributes to perform actions. The more dice you assign, the better the results of the action.
Dice from your dice pool are also used to defend against enemy attacks (using your defense attribute), so be carefull, using all your dice on your turn will leave you defenseless.
For example A player decides to move their barbarian character and attack a skeleton warrior. The player assigns two of their dice to their "Move" attribute. Their Move attribute is 4, so the barbarian can move up to 8"/spaces (which allows him to reach the skeleton)
The player then decides to perform a powerful attack on the skeleton. They assign two dice to their "Fight" attribute and roll those dice to attack, a 2 and a 5. As the barbarian's Fight attribute is 3+ that means one dice is a hit. The player could spend their last dice on another attack, but instead they decide to keep their final dice in reserve (to try and protect against the skeleton's upcoming attack).
Finally, you do not need to pre-plan all your actions, dice can be assigned in any order on your turn. You could move once, then fight, then move again, etc.
All actions in the game are controlled by your characters "Attributes". Each character has the following attributes, that can be assigned dice from the players dice pool to perform these actions.
The Move attribute is a fixed number (usually between 1 and 10) that shows how far the character a character will move, based on the dice assigned. A character with Move 4 can move up to 4"/spaces when a dice is assigned.
The Fight attribute is used when you perform a close combat attack. It will be a number between 2+ and 6+. This is the number you have to roll on any assigned dice to succeed at hitting an enemy.
The Shoot attribute is used when you perform a ranged combat attack. For some characters (without ranged weapons) it will be blank. Otherwise it will be a number between 2+ and 6+. This is the number you have to roll on any assigned dice to succeed at shooting an enemy.
The Skill attribute is used when you perform skilled actions (such as picking locks, hacking computers, etc). It will usually be a number between 2+ and 6+. This is the number you have to roll on any assigned dice to succeed.
NOTE Very often, any check involving skill will involve passing more than one dice roll. These dice can be rolled simultaniously, or one after the other, BUT you cannot perform any other actions between dice rolls.
The Mysticism attribute is used when you perform a magical or mystical actions (most commonly casting spells). For some characters (without mystical inclanations) it will be blank. Otherwise it will be a number between 2+ and 6+. This is the number you have to roll on any assigned dice to succeed at performing a magical action.
You may also need to roll dice against your Mysticism attribute instead of Defence to defend against some magical attacks.
The Defence attribute is used when you need to defend against physical damage. It will be a number between 2+ and 6+. This is the number you have to roll on any dice you DID NOT assign on your turn. Each success will avoid a single point of damage.
Unlike other games that might represent character health via a "Wounds" or "Health" stat, in Open Adventures a characters health is represented by their dice pool!
Each time a character takes damage, you remove one dice from your pool. If you loose all your dice then the character is dead/out of the game.
Below will cover the most common actions you can perform in Open Adventure and how you use dice from your pool to perform them.
Be it an armoured paladin, an enforcer with a batton or a space knight with a laser sword. Melee attacks represent a lot of actions in most tabletop games. In Open Adventures, opponents need to be adjacent in order to engage in close combat .
In order to perform a melee attack in Open Adventures, first you must be adjacent to your opponent (unless you have a weapon allows melee attacks from longer range). Then you must decide how many dice you want to dedicate to the attack from your pool. For example, a quick slash might only use one dice, but a heavy cleave using a two handed axe (or a precision strike with a knife) could use two or three dice.
Once you have decided how many dice to use for the attack you can then roll them. You CANNOT split the results after you have rolled. Each dice with a result greater than your "Shoot" stat is considered a success. Each success represents a single point of damage.
Bows & arrows, crossbows, rifles, plasma cannons, etc are all examples or ranged weapons used in tabletop games. Attacking at range is an similar to close combat. First, decide how many dice you want to use for the attack. A quick hip shot might use only one dice, but an aimed shot at tough enemy might need three!
Once you have decided how many dice to use for the attack you can then roll them. You CANNOT split the results after you have rolled. Each dice with a result greater than your "Shoot" stat is considered a success. Each success represents a single point of damage.
For player characters, each point of damage taken results in removing a dice from the dice pool. Once the player has no dice left in their pool, they are knocked out or killed (removed from the game).
Players can defend against damage using their "Defence" attribute. They can roll as many dice as they have left in their pool. Every dice result that is greater than their "Defence" attribute is a success. Every success will ignore a point of damage.
Non player characters (NPC) work a little differently. In order to injure or defeat them you will need to do a enough damage in one attack to equal or exceed their armour. For most NPCs this will be enough to kill them, though some may be able to take multiple hits.
Games will probably involve players making skill checks for various actions. Picking a lock, hacking a computer, repairing a vehicle are all possible examples of a skilled action.
Making a skill check is similar to attacking. First choose how many dice from your pool to assign to the action. The action will have a difficulty (representing a number of successes). Once you have assigned your dice, you can roll them. Every dice with a result greater than the characters "Skill" attribute is a success.
NOTE some skill actiuons might require a number of sucesses greater than you can achieve in one turn. This is by design, every success against a skill check reduces the difficulty by one. BUTvthis resets if you perform any other action between checks.