[Mechanics] Outplay 2021 The System

[Admin Bhelogan]

RPGX Presents
Outplay 2021 The System
OUTSMART OUTROLL OUTLAST
A Lasers and Feelings Hack
With additional inspiration from Swords & Sorcery

You are an adventurer in The Crossing Companions Adventuring Guild. Your specific style and skills make you a valuable team member on your squad, where together you set out on missions to fulfill contracts, find treasure, defeat evil, and bring peace and stability to the world. Of course, it doesn't hurt that you make a few coins along the way doing it.

Character Creation

1. Name Choose an appropriate Name for your adventurer, and give them a descriptive title. Describe what they look like, and give them some personality. A short background story may be appropriate as well.* The Title may describe the type of adventurer they are, or mark deeds they have done in their past, such as Eric the Swordsman, or Chloe the Slayer of Firebreathing Goats. * For Outplay this will be part of the Character Write-Up

2. Race Choose a Race, or roll to randomly select one: Die Roll 1 2 3 4 5 6 Race Human Elf Half Elf Dwarf Halfling Exotic* * Exotic can be any other race of your choice, such as a gnome, tiefling, minotaur, sprite, and so forth.

3. Character Number (CN) Roll a 1d6, (rerolling any 1s or 6s), or choose a number between 2 and 5. A low Character Number (CN) means you are better with things like magic, perception, knowledge, or persuasion while a high number means you are better with things like weapons, sneaking, athletics, or intimidation.

4. Gear, Signature Moves and Known Spells Choose 3 pieces of specialized Adventuring Gear (AG) that your character may use on their adventure. They are considered experts in using this gear. Each piece could be a weapon, armor, lockpicks, ropes, or anything that they are specifically trained to use. For any adventurer that can cast spells (Has a CN of 4 or lower), one of these should aid in spell casting such as an orb, a spellbook, a magic wand, a talisman necklace, a holy symbol, or even a magical tattoo. This will be known as your Spell Focus (SF). Create 2 Signature Move (SM) that your adventurer knows, and is performed using a piece of Adventuring Gear (AG). This could be a special attack, a trick with a rope, or even baking a generations-old secret cookie recipe. For any adventurer that can cast spells (Has a CN of 4 or lower), one of these will be your Known Spell(s) (KS), and is cast using your Spell Focus (SF). The number of known spell(s) you have is based on your CN using the table below: CN KS 4 1 3 2 2 4 Your Signature Moves (SM) and Known Spells (KP) (created using the Spell Creation Guidelines below) are locked and do not change throughout the adventure.

Playing the Game

Rolling the Dice Whenever you do something that is possible, but could fail, you must make an Outplay Roll. Roll a 1d6. Roll +1d if you are using one of your pieces of Adventuring Gear (AG) or your Spell Focus (SF) to perform the action. Roll +1d if the action is one of your Signature Move (SM) or casting a Known Spells (KS). Roll the dice and compare the results to your Character Number (CN). When your action involves physical aspects of your character, such as attacking with a weapon, performing feats of strength, sneaking around guards, you want to roll UNDER your CN. Any Penalty is added to each die roll, and any Bonus is subtracted from each die roll. Count the number of dice that succeed. If a die lands on your CN number exactly, count two successes. This type of roll will be specified as Rolling Low. When your action involves magic, or mental aspects of your character, such as casting a spell, persuading an NPC, recalling a lost piece of knowledge, or noticing something hidden, you want to roll ABOVE your CN. Any Penalty is subtracted from each die roll, and any Bonus is added to each die roll. Count the number of dice that succeed. If a die lands on your CN number exactly, count two successes. This type of roll will be specified as Rolling High 0 - If none of your dice succeed: You fail miserably. Your action not only fails, but the GM will describe what kind of setback is introduced because of your failure. 1 - If one dice succeed: You barely made it. The GM introduces some kind of harm or cost as a result. 2 - If two dice succeed: You do it well. Congratulate yourself. 3 - If three dice or more succeed: Critical Success! The GM introduces some benefit or extra effect you get. Helping If you would like to help another character with a roll, describe what you are doing to help, and make an Outplay Roll of your own. If successful, they add +1d to their roll. Wounds When a character is injured, due to events like utterly failing a dangerous task or falling victim to a trap, they gain a Wound. Each Wound adds a Penalty to any Outplay Roll. If a character reaches 5 wounds, they are considered dead. Without the aid of magic, characters will heal one wound per day. Penalties and Bonuses Certain spells, or other narrative effects determined by the GM may grant you a Penalty or a Bonus on rolls. Your GM will tell you if these apply indefinitely until a situation is corrected or if they only apply to your next Outplay Roll.

Magic If you have any Known Spells (KS), then you know how to use some kind of magic with at least a rudimentary level of proficiency. You may cast a Cantrip (a Spell that has minor effects or gives flavor but provides no mechanical benefit) at will. When you cast any other Spell, you do so using your Spell Focus (SF) and you may cast one of your Known Spells (KS) Spell Creation Guidelines 1) Choose a name for the spell. 2) Choose an effect for the spell: Healing, Damage, Buff, Debuff, Utility Healing - A healing spell will remove a number of wounds equal to the number of successes on an Outplay Roll. A character may not benefit from a Healing spell more than once per day. Damage - A damaging spell will deal wounds to an enemy equal to the number of successes on an Outplay Roll (see below) Buff - A Buff will affect your team. As a few examples, it may allow them to ignore a penalty from Wound, add a +1d to a future roll, or grant your allies a Bonus, depending on what the spell's intent is. Debuff - A Debuff will affect a group of enemy targets. The effectiveness of the spell will depend on the number of successes on an Outplay Roll Utility - A utility spell affects other elements of the game, not covered under Healing, Damage, Buff or Debuff, such as illusions, or creating temporary objects. The effectiveness of the spell will depend on the number of successes on an Outplay Roll The duration of any Buff, Debuff, or Utility spell will last for one minute.

Weapon Attacks On a successful Weapon Attack, damage is determined by the number of successes on an Outplay Roll

[Admin Bhelogan]

Also, check out this video discussion on Outplay for 2021

Please post any questions about the system in the Competition rules and rules queries for Outplay 2021 thread.