Oldheads
Never too late to start something grand.
Player Characters
Start at 1 Health Die (HD). Roll your first HD to generate 1-6 Health Points (Hp). Each time you gain an HD, roll an additional 1d6 Hp onto your previous Hp total. Conversely, subtract -1d6 Hp from your total for each HD you lose. Begin with 2d6x50 pieces of hack silver.
For Body and Will, Roll 4d6 and remove the highest die.
Body - Prowess and precision. Roll under this stat to act before foes in battle, pass physical saves or to impress people. Divide this stat by 4, rounded down, to generate your Dodge Value (DV).
Will - Personality and presence. Roll under this stat to keep casted spells, pass mental saves or to outsmart people. Divide this stat by 4, rounded down, to determine the number of languages known.
For Luck, Roll 4d6 and remove the lowest die.
Luck - Pure chance. Use to make up the difference in a roll to make it a success or roll under for a fortuity to occur. Multiply this stat by 5 to generate your age.
Classes
Weapon User - Body predominate stat. Make a number of attacks each round equal to your HD. Apply HD as a negative modifier to attack rolls.
Magic User - Will predominate stat. Know a number of spells equal to your HD. Apply HD as a negative modifier when rolling to save casted spells.
Backgrounds & Title
1d20
- Hermit. Begin with a fishing rod.
- Gardener. Begin with 3d6 turnips.
- Gravedigger. Begin with +1d4 Will and a shovel.
- Beekeeper. Begin with 2d4 jars of honey.
- Weaver. Begin with a backpack.
- Ropemaker. Begin with 200 ft of rope.
- Barge Puller. Begin with +1d4 Body.
- Ex-soldier. Begin with medium armor and shield.
- Woodcutter. Begin with an axe.
- Hostler. Begin with a horse.
- Charlatan. Begin with loaded dice.
- Scribe. Begin with writing kit.
- Cutpurse. Begin with dagger and 2d6x10 hack silvers.
- Blacksmith. Begin with +1d4 Body and a hammer.
- Farmer. Begin with a cow.
- Butcher. Begin with +1d4 Will and an axe.
- Herder. Begin with a sheep.
- Candlemaker. Begin with 3d6 candles.
- Cobbler. Begin with a fancy pair of shoes.
- Cheesemaker. Begin with a wheel of tasty cheese.
Time
A round in combat lasts 6 seconds. A turn in exploration lasts 10 minutes. A watch in travel lasts 4 hours.
In between sessions, unless ending on an adventure cliffhanger, time passes on a 1:1 basis, so that each day spent in between game sessions correlates to a day passed within the fiction. If ending in the middle of an adventure or scene, finish out the scenario then timeskip the amount of days since the last session.
Movement
Move a number of inches according to your armor as 10 feet in battle skirmishes or dungeon crawls, yards in wilderness scenarios, and miles in overland travel. Parties moving together move as its slowest member.
To escape pursuers in a chase, roll 1d20 under your MV.
Rest
Spend a watch resting to restore 1 Hp. A full day spent resting restores 6 Hp. Injuries or poisons require a week or more of rest to recover from.
Battle
Roll 1d20 under Body to pass initiative. Otherwise, act after your opponent. When everyone has acted, the round ends and a new one begins. During each round, you may move up to your MV range and take an action. An action is refined as an attack, environment interaction, helping someone, drinking a potion, etc.
Helping an ally allows them to roll twice and take the preferred result.
Defense
Armor value (AV) indicates the number needed to roll under to hit.
Dodge value (DV) indicates the number added onto an attack roll made against you. The higher the DV, the less likely it is for an attack to hit.
No armor: AV 12, No Max DV, MV 12’
Light armor: AV 10, Max DV 2, MV 10’
Medium armor: AV 8, Max DV 1, MV 8’
Heavy armor: AV 6, Max DV 0, MV 6’
Shields can be held wielding light or medium weapons. They add 1 DV and block 1d6 damage with each hit. If a weapon damage roll is more than double the shield’s block roll, the shield breaks.
Donning and removing armor takes a number of turns equal to the armor tier. One turn for light, two for medium and three for heavy. This amount of time is lowered by one turn for each person assisting, to a minimum of 1 turn.
Attacks
Roll 1d20. If the opponent has a DV score, add it to this roll. If the result is under the opponent’s AV the attack hits. Exact AV hits result in clashes. Clashes deal respective weapon damage to both combatants. A result of 1 is always a hit, rolling twice the amount of damage. A result of 20 means a fumble, disarmament, or mishap.
Light Weapons: 1d4, duel wield to double the damage roll.
Dagger: Deals double damage on clashes and sneak attacks.
Shortsword: Parries on clashes, deal damage and take none.
Hatchet: Throw up to 5’. Bounces to next foe with 3’ for second attack.
Club: Knock opponent’s unconscious when reaching 0 Hp.
Medium Weapons: 1d6, wield with both hands to add +2 the damage roll.
Longsword: Treat light AV as unarmoured.
Spear: Brace to attack charging foes, dealing double damage. Throw up to 10’.
Hammer: Treat heavy AV as medium.
Flail: Lower an opponent’s DV by 1.
Handaxe: Treat dual wielding opponents as if they were wielding a single weapon.
Heavy Weapons: 1d8, must be wielded with both hands. Reroll on damage results of 1 through 4 and add the subsequent result onto it.
Battlexe: Splits shields on any higher damage result.
Maul: Treat heavy and medium AV as light.
Polearm: Brace against charging foes, doubling damage. Forgo damage to pull someone down.
Greatsword: Negates braced attacks. Treat medium and light AV as unarmored.
Roll 1d20 under your Body stat but above the opponent’s Body score to pin, trip, shove or throw them. Light weapons deal auto damage during winning grapples.
Firing ranged weapon hits much like melee. Firing out of your weapon range requires rolling your attack twice and taking the higher result. Enemies with cover gain +2 DV against your attacks. Rolling a 20 on an attack means you are out of ammo. If available, fill a gear bubble to replenish it without having to visit a settlement.
Shortbows and slings fire up to 30’, dealing 1d6 Hp damage.
Longbows and heavy crossbows fire up to 40’, dealing 1d12 Hp damage.
Crossbows fire up to 20’, dealing 1d8 Hp damage.
Reaching 0 Hp or 0 HD means death. Pass a save using any stat to stay at 1 Hp albeit knocked out for 1d6 rounds. Subtract -1 from the stat used.
Spells
Spells are cast with components. Decide what spell components are needed for your particular means of casting magic. After each casting, roll under your Will stat to keep the components or else they are destroyed. New components are then required to cast the spell again.
Result of 20 is a lost component plus corruption. Lower Body stat by 1 and roll on the corruption table.
You cannot cast a spell if you were attacked in the previous round.
Components of the spells can be sacrificed and made into a potion mimicking the spell’s effects.
Gear bubbles can be used to provide spell components in a pinch, resetting in town for 25 silver each..
Spells from The Vanilla Game may be used with slight adjustments.
Goods
100 pieces of hack silver equals 1 gold coin.
Characters carry a number of inventory items equal to their Body score. A hand held object counts as one, a two handed object as two. Light armor counts as one item, medium as two and heavy as three.
Characters possess three gear bubbles to fill when in need of equipment or spell components on the fly. It takes 25 silvers to reset a gear bubble in a settlement.
Examples
Rope & Grapple Hook: Climb a distance equal to half your MV.
Holy Symbol: Choose symbol motif and deity association. Pray to turn 2d6 HD worth of undead. Preach with symbols to gain 1d4 HD worth of followers.
Holy Water: Heal 2d6 Hp to self or deal 2d6 Hp damage to the undead.
Sack: Occupies a Body slot but holds up to 4 items or 400 bits of hack silver or gold coins.
Backpack: Occupies 2 Body slots but holds up to 6 items or 600 bits of hack silver or gold coins.
Lockpick kit: Opens locked doors, 2-in-6 chance to break after use.
Healing Potion: Heal Xd6 Hp where X is equal to your HD.
Mana Potion: Cast a spell without rolling under Will.
Restoration Potion: Restore 1d3 stat damage.
Reinvigorate Potion: Restore a lost spell.
Speed Potion: Double your movement. Gain 1 DV.
Light Weapon - 20 silver
Medium Weapon - 50 silver
Heavy Weapon - 100 silver or 1 gold
Light Armor - 50 silver
Medium Armor - 100 silver or 1 gold
Heavy Armor - 300 silver or 3 gold
Shield - 50 silver
Experience
Reach the next HD by gaining XP. It takes 10 XP to reach each new HD level.
1 XP for each month of downtime.
1+ XP for funerals*.
1-3 XP for battles.
4 XP for boss battles.
5 XP for completing quests or oaths or promises.
*Spend a number of gold pieces (or 100 silvers) up to HD of the slain character to gain +1 XP for each HD level they possessed in life.
Referee Tools
Light
Roll the appropriate die and mark the result for the respective light source. Each turn this value lowers by 1. When reaching 0, the light source extinguishes. At value 1 the light source visibly wanes.
Candle: 1d6+1.
Torch: 2d6.
Lantern. 4d6.
Distance
Use a thread or string as a measurement ruler. Mark 1’ spaces on the string with black marker. Doesn’t need to be exact, just handy.
Encounters
Danger levels depending on dungeon depth, usually the deeper the more dangerous. Roll every other turn, a result of 1 means an encounter.
Low threat = 1d8
Medium Threat = 1d6
High Threat = 1d4
Encounters take place at 1d6x10’ inside and 2d6x10’ away outdoors.
Catching a side surprised means acting out an entire round before initiative is rolled. If it is not clear who is surprising who, there is a 2-in-6 chance to be surprised.
Reaction
Roll 2d6 to determine the reaction of encountered parties. Reactions can be used outside of dungeon crawling to determine an NPC’s reaction to offers, news or threats.
2 = Hateful
3-5 = Belligerent
6-8 = Ambivalent
9-11 = Friendly
12 = Helpful
Morale
When a head enemy is slain or the enemy force reaches half their encountered numbers, roll 1d20 under their Will to keep fighting and not flee.
Foes
Name
X HD = X Hp
Body X Will X (Roll under save to avoid effects).
AV X DV X MV X
Attack as X
Special as X
Bosses have full 6 Hp per HD.
All foes can move once and attack once or otherwise perform an action instead of attacking.
Beastling
1 HD = 3 Hp
Body 5 Will 3
AV 12 DV 2 MV 10’
Claws, 1 damage.
Yelp. On death 1in20 chance its death cry attracts 2d6 more.
Beastman
3 HD = 9 Hp
Body 11 Will 5
AV 10 DV 0 MV 8’
Axe, 1d6 damage.
Gore. move and attack with advantage. Success deals 1d6 and pushes back 1’, dealing 1d4 more damage if knocked into an object.
Beasthulk (BOSS)
5 HD = 30 Hp
Body 15 Will 8
AV 8 DV 0 MV 10’
Claws, as longsword, 2d6 damage.
Multiarmed. Ignore DV when attacking.
Throw. Grappled opponent’s are thrown 2d6 spaces and take the number result as damage.
An adventure for Oldheads is available for play, Passing the Torch.