Hit - Score First Edition

Intro

Hit-Score is a super-lite, free-form roleplaying system adaptable to all settings and meant for people who hate explaining complex systems or just love simplicity in their games. In short you roll a six-sided die (1D6), adding a D6 for each skill that would help in the given situation, and then take the highest result and you are done!

Character Creation

Aspects are different areas of interaction that change depending on the setting/game. Common Aspects are Combat, Social, Magic, or Sanity for instance but be sure to ask your Game Master (GM) which Aspects will be used.

Qualities are very broad descriptors, jobs, or stereotypes like Charismatic, Strong, Soldier, Diplomat, Ranger, or Smart for instance. You usually start with a single Quality.

Skills are free-form and entirely made up by the player. Skills may be as broad as to cover a field of expertise but should never be usable outside a specific area. Skills like “Close Combat” is as broad it should get but you can build on top of this with increasingly specific skills like “Sword Fighting” followed by “Stabbing” if you wish.

Flaws are negative descriptors such as injuries, status effects, or traumas that can give enemies bonuses when rolling against you. Taking a Flaw (willingly or not) grants bonus xp for use in character progression based on its severity.

To Make A Character: Think of a character concept (i.e. a job, profession or class) and a suitable name. You start with 1 Quality and 5 Skills, as well as 10 Hit Points (HP) and 1 Defense (DF) in each Aspect. You may move 1 HP from one Aspect to another and can take one Flaw.

Character Example: 'In a Fantasy setting I decide to make a fighter character named Alex. I give them the Warrior Quality and the CQC, Kicking, Punching, Banter and Tap-dance Skills. A Flaw could be: “Afraid of Rainbow Snails” for 1xp bonus.'

Task Resolution

Hit	Success?	Result
-3	No, and...	Critical Failure
-2	No	Failure
-1	Yes, but...	Partial Success
Equal	Yes	Success
+1	Yes	Success
+2	Yes, and...	Critical Success
+3	Yes, and..., and...	Critical Success

To roll a standard task check, count how many Skills and Qualities you have which would reasonably help you do the task at hand and add one. That is the number of dice you roll. After rolling, pick one D6 which becomes your Hit Score (HS) and add +1 for every natural 6 remaining.

Interactions which are not actively resisted, like scenery or environment use a Target Score (TS), usually 4, though more difficult tasks can be harder at 5 or 6! If the Hit Score matches or beats the Target Score the task is considered a success! If it is lower than the Target Score the task may be failed or only partially successful. The Game Master dictates the result based off of the degree to which the Target is beaten or can use the Task Resolution Chart for reference.

Easy tasks are never rolled for. If a task is below a Target Score of 3, just assume that it was a success.

Advanced Tasks are tasks requiring specialist knowledge. When performing an advanced task roll 1D6 fewer dice than normal – this may reduce you to 0 dice, making the task impossible. This is called a Dice Penalty.

Character/NPC related interactions, Character/NPC related interactions are all considered a form of combat, be it social, physical, or magical. Like in Task Resolution you use your relevant Skills and Qualities to roll a Hit Score. The opponent then subtracts their DF in that Aspect from your score and the remainder is lost in HP from that Aspect. When a character reaches 0 or less HP in that Aspect they lose that match. A Hit Score below DF is a miss.

 In story terms you got your information, negotiated a discount, or your opponent dropped unconscious.  HP recovers at rates dictated by the GM and may differ between Aspects. 

Roll-Offs are a form of instant combat in situations where it may be over in the blink of an eye. Participants roll a standard task check, highest Hit Score wins! DF and HP may also be added to the result by GM discretion if applicable.

Initiative determines the order in which participants in a normal combat will make their rolls each turn. This is resolved as a special Roll-Off with everyone rolling. Higher roll results go first and equal results attack at the same time.

Resolution Examples

Standard Task:' Jack uses two Skills, Kicking and Bashing to kick a regular locked door in. He rolls 1D6 + 2D6 for his two Skills, getting two 6’s and a 1. He picks a 6 and adds +1 for the extra 6 for a total of 7. According to the GM he successfully kicks in the door, AND stuns the guard AND jams the alarm!

Combat: Jack and the guard roll initiative, with Jack getting a 2 and the guard a 5, however the GM rules that the guard is stunned! In a combat, that same total of 7 would subtract that guard’s DF of 1 for a devastating blow of -6 HP!

Character progression

After each session, quest, fight, etc. the GM may choose to give all players a number of experience points (xp), usually 1-5xp, to spend on making their characters stronger. For 2xp, players may buy a new Skill or Power relevant to what happened in the session. Extra HP in an Aspect costs 3xp each. Extra DF costs 5xp each. If allowed, a player can take a Flaw relevant to the session for additional xp, or a GM might choose to impose one.

Special Abilities

Powers are special abilities such as spell-casting, psionics, or powerful martial arts. Not all settings/games use them so be sure to ask your GM if and how they’re being used. Using a Power counts as an advanced task and the GM decides the outcome as per normal task resolution rules. Attack powers deal damage as normal combat but may have additional effects, with degree and effect determined by Hit.

Q&A Section

Hit-Score rules in jpeg form for sharing on image boards or easy print

Hit-Score GM Page for guidance on setting up and running games

Is there an easily printable version somewhere?

Yes, right here to the right

How does ”and...” or "but" actually work? What, for instance, happens of someone rolls 8 on kicking in a door?

A roll of 8 gives 3 additional effects: One for rolling 6, one for rolling 7 and one for rolling 8. Examples could be that you manage to kick in the door AND it hits a guard in the room AND it stuns him AND his helmet flies off, hitting the other guard in the room, stunning him as well. "But" is the reverse and in the above case, the door would be kicked in BUT very loudly, alerting all nearby guards to the situation. This however could vary depending on the situation depending on the Game Master. They can choose to use the chart or not to determine the effects.

How does combat work?

Exactly like any other Character/NPC related interactions action. Hit points are self-explanatory and Defense is damage reduction from dodge, armor, or what suits your fancy.

Example Part 1: John pulls out his SMG and fires it at the charging werewolf. John has the Ganger quality and as such is considered proficient with the gang's signature weapon: the SMG. Other than that, his skills are Ranged Combat, Street Smarts, Driving Really Fast and Gardening (he always secretly wanted to be a florist). John picks up the standard die, then adds one for both his Ganger quality and one for his Ranged Combat skills, and rolls the three dice. They end up a 1, a 6 and a 4. John picks the 6 because he really wants the werewolf dead as fast as possible (but he could pick a lower dice if he just wanted to harm it a little or try and scare it off). Consulting the table, John sees a roll of 6 is has a Degree of Success of 4 - the werewolf suffers 4 damage. The Game Master secretly deducts the Defense (Combat) for the werewolf (3 - it's a badass werewolf pack leader) and subtracts the remaining 1 from the werewolf's hitpoints (Combat). The Game Master then narrates what happens and how the werewolf dodged the worst of the shot and only seems to have suffered a minor injury.

Example Part 2: Following the above example, if John's roll had been 6, 6 and 6 for instance, he would take one of the 6´s as his roll and then add 1 for each extra six he rolled. John rolls an 8! Consulting the table, John sees it is a Degree of Success of 6! The Werewolf suffers 6 damage as above, the Game Master secretly subtracts its Defense (Combat) and deducts what is remaining from its Hit Points (Combat) and then narrates how the werewolf was unable to dodge the shot and suffers what seems to be a potentially pretty serious wound.

Example Part 3: If John is lucky and reduces the werewolf to 0 hit points (Combat) before it kills him, it will be rendered incapacitated - either dead, stunned, knocked down, wounded badly or whatever the Game Master decides fits the situation. If it is not dead now, John will be able to kill it without much effort.

How does various Defenses and kinds of Hit Points work?

Different Aspects (or situations if you will), have different Defenses and Hit Points. These can be social, combat or whatever else fits the setting. All Defenses start at 1 and Hit Points start at 10, but both can be increased by sacrificing skills or getting experience. You only improve either Defense OR Hit Points and only in a single Aspect. Hit Points regenerate at a rate determined by the Game Master. Normally Combat Hit Points, for instance, will be regained over time whereas Social Hit Points will usually recover instantly after a conversation. Hit points do not affect each other between Aspects so getting beat in a debate does not hinder combat for instance.

As a Game Master, what do I do with different weapons and damage?

It depends on the game you want to play. If you want to play gritty and dangerous games, let small weapons deal 1 extra damage, hand weapons 2 extra damage and double handed weapons deal 3 extra damage. If you want more relaxed and survivable games, reduce damage for not using weapons for instance and do not give any bonus to damage for using weapons. If you want more detail, give heavy weapons a -1 point penalty to hit and balance it out adding bonus damage if they actually hit, and vice versa with smaller weapons. For instance, a two-handed battle axe could give -1 to-hit but +4 damage (effectively, +3 damage but harder to actually hit with) while a rapier could give +1 to-hit and no bonus damage (effectively +1 damage total while being easier to hit with)

What damage should rifles or pistols deal?

As above, it depends on what kind of game you want but a good starting point would be no bonus for pistols and an additional damage for rifles. Most people are really very bad at using pistols anyway so any more than a fleshwound is pretty unlikely unless you are shooting at point blank range

I want to give my players armor but how should I handle it in the rules?

Give them bonus HP in combat situations and rarely extra Defense (except with Penalties) as Defense multiplies the effectiveness of HP barring Defense ignoring abilities.

How many spells can I cast and what do they do?

It is up to the setting and the Game Master but it would be a good idea to run through some basic spells you want and agree on the effect of them with your Game Master. Some will want to run free form mages able to bend space and time while others will prefer to run classical DnD wizards who have to learn every spell individually. Just make sure Game Master and player agree what kind of spells are available.

Can I pass this off as my own?

No. If you are going to use this, at least give some credit where due. And no permission is given for use in anything which includes anyone making a profit from using this set of rules in any way.

About

First edition was made on /tg/ July 5th 2020. Hit-Score is directly inspired by and based off of [D6 3rd Edition] by Shadowplay.

Resources

• | Version 1 by Remoon101 - Contains the base and advanced rules. WARNING: Advanced rules are a work in progress and may be unbalanced for Hit-Score, adjust as needed.

• | Version 2 by Remoon101 - Contains the base and advanced rules. Version 2 is a format overhaul alongside rule tweaks. WARNING: Advanced rules are a work in progress and may be unbalanced for Hit-Score, adjust as needed.

Expansions

Character Sheets