Many times I’ve heard stories about how D6 turns into a game where massive handfuls of dice are rolled, driving people bonkers with the amount of counting they need to do. In some instances, I’ve even heard of characters running around with 14D in skills….or more!
Early on, I instituted a “graduated skill advancement” so that I wouldn’t have to deal with players rolling 15 or 20 dice at a time. For a long time, the formula was all up in my head, but for my last campaign that I ran, using the D6 system to run a fantasy game, I put the formula on to paper. Here, now, is the formula that I use in my games for advancement of skills for characters in D6.
I will preface this formula with the following information:
1. I do not allow skill advancement after every game session. Generally speaking, I wait anywhere from 3 to 5 game sessions before I consider giving the players the opportunity to advance their characters.
2. I have never had an instance where a player was rolling 14 or more dice in something…unless they had used a Fate/Force point.
3. I feel earning skill points should become harder as the person gets better. I based this off of “real life”, where once you learn something, you need to push your knowledge further in order to become better at that skill. This formula represents that.
4. While it may seem like more book work, it’s not really. The duty of keeping track falls to the players, not to the GM, so only the players suffer if they do not keep track of what they need to.
5. Of course, the GM has the final say, and can extend the time, increase the cost, or allow even greater advancement as he/she sees fit.
And now…the formula.
The formula is calculated on SKILL DICE only, not based on the skill dice added to the attribute dice.
ADVANCEMENT FROM 1 Pip THROUGH 3D
Skill must have been used at least a couple of times since last advancement, in a successful manner for a majority of the time. Cost in CPs is appropriate to whatever the current D amount is for the skill, with a minimum of 1. Typical advancement is one or two pips, or 1 full die. GM announces maximum advancement allowed, and player decides what they can afford or what they want to advance to.
Example: If Bob was to roll Running in a race, once, and fail, it would not qualify. If, however, he took part in a long race, requiring two or more Running rolls, or in several races, as long as he had some success in the rolls, he could advance this skill. The GM would then announce that, because Bob had more success than failure, he could raise the skill a maximum of 2 pips. Bob is currently at 2D, for raising by two pips would cost 4 CPs. He decides it’s worth it and spends the 4 CPs to make his Running skill 2D+2
ADVANCEMENT FROM 3D+1 THROUGH 4D
Skills must have been used heavily since last advancement, or there must be at least two cases of substantially above average rolls, usually Very Difficult or Heroic rolls that were not augmented by either CPs or Fate/Force points. Cost in CPs is appropriate to whatever the current D amount is for the skill. The GM decides whether to allow one or two pip increases at this level of skill advancement.
Example: Bob took part in many a battle, using his Dodge skill rather extensively to avoid damage. He even had two rolls where the total was over 30, and he had not used any CPs or Fate points to get it there. His current Dodge is 3D+1, and the GM feels that Bob could raise it up to 2 pips if he wants. Two pips would cost Bob 6 CPs, and he wants to save some for later use, so Bob only decides to raise it 1 pip, for 3 CPs. Bob now has his Dodge skill at 3D+2.
ADVANCEMENT FROM 4D+1 THROUGH 5D
Skills must have been very heavily since last advancement, or there must be at least two cases of amazing rolls, usually in the 35 to 40 range for rolls that were not augmented by either CPs or Fate/Force points. Cost in CPs is appropriate to whatever the current D amount is for the skill. The maximum advancement is 1 pip per skill advancement session.
Example: Bob spent the last three game sessions using his Blaster skill, in some rather heavy duty shoot outs. There had been three major battles in the last three sessions, and several minor skirmishes in between. So Bob rolled Blaster more times than he could count. Bob doesn’t remember getting anything super amazing, but he knows he’s used that skill a whole lot. The GM decides that there was, indeed, enough combat to give Bob more than enough use to consider advancing, even though he didn’t have any amazing dice rolls. So the GM says Bob can increase his Blaster up a pip. Bob currently has 5D in his Blaster, and it would cost him 5 CPs to advance it up a pip. Even though he wants to save CPs, he feels he’ll need more Blaster skill in the future, so he spends the 5 CPs to increase it to 5D+1. Now, if Bob wants to raise his Blaster skill anymore, he’ll have to follow the next step of advancement.
ADVANCEMENT FROM 5D+1 THROUGH 7D
Skills must have been used extensively over a long period of time, usually 1 to 2 months of “game time”. Amazing rolls can help trim the time down from 2 months, with the minimum time being 1 month between advancement. Cost in CPs is appropriate to whatever the current D amount is for the skill. The maximum advancement is 1 pip per skill advancement session.
Example: After a month and a half of “game time” has passed, and Bob has been in several more battles, and rolled his Blaster a lot, he asks the GM if he can increase his Blaster skill again. The GM asks him when the last time he advanced it, and Bob thinks it was several game sessions ago, or about a month of “game time”. The GM asks Bob what his skill is at, taking into account how long it’s been. Bob tells him it’s at 5D+1. The GM decides that because Bob isn’t on the high end of the knowledge spectrum for the skill, the activities that Bob has done would qualify. He says that Bob can advance the skill 1 pip if he wants. That would cost Bob 5 CPs. Knowing he won’t get another chance for a while to do it, Bob spends the 5 CPs and goes to 5D+2. Now it will be another month or two in game time before Bob can raise that up to 6D.
ADVANCEMENT FROM 7D+1 AND UP
At this level, advancement can only be achieved by being Instructed by someone with a higher skill than the character learning it. It can be as little as 1 week or as long as 1 month between skill advancement at this level. Once the instructor has taught the person up to a level equal with the instructor’s skill level, then the instructor can no longer teach the person. Cost in CPs is appropriate to whatever the current D amount is for the skill. The maximum advancement is 1 pip per skill advancement session.
Example: It’s been months of playing, and Bob has managed to get his character’s Blaster skill up to 7D+1. Knowing that he can no longer increase his Blaster skill unless he recieves training, Bob goes looking for someone that can teach him. In the game, he finds a retired marksman who is willing to train him to become better, IF he gets paid for the training. Bob agrees. After Bob trains with the retired marksman (who has a skill of 9D) for only a week, he asks the GM if he can increase his Blaster skill. The GM decides that Bob has been spending enough time, in game, with the retired marksman, and his blaster rolls recently have been more successes than failures, he’ll let Bob increase his skill by 1 pip. That will cost Bob 7 CPs to do it, and even though it’ll leave Bob with almost no CPs left for the next game session, he does it so he can bump his Blaster skill up to 7D+2. Once Bob reaches 9D in Blaster, he’ll have to find another character that can train him, as his skill would be equivalent to the retired marksman and would then not be able to learn any more from that individual.
And there you have it…the formula that I use for determining advancement. Mind you, when calculating this out, this does not include the base attribute dice. So even though Blaster is under Dexterity, and Bob’s DEX might be 3D, those 3D are not counted when calculating where Bob is at in his Blaster skill when figuring advancement. So in the last example, if Bob’s Blaster was at 7D+2, and his DEX was at 3D, Bob would be rolling 10D+2 when he rolled his Blaster.
As you can see, it becomes more challenging to get skills to very high levels, and you have much longer times before your PCs are running around with 12, 13, or 14 dice in skills.
Hopefully this will help other GMs out there that have experienced the problem of “too many dice” and didn’t know how to contain it. I know that it’s worked wonders in my games, and I’ve never had people complaining that there are too many dice.
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