Dev Update

Mini Six Continues

I'm trying to write about something other than the OGL drama today. Yes, I've been following the latest news, and WotCs latest statements change nothing for the project.

Mini Six Bare Bones Edition: Will continue to exist in its current form. I'm working on returning it to print, but it will take at least another month I think. (I've ordered proofs.)

When: The PDF remains freely available. The print version will return in a month or so, if all goes to plan.

Mini Six Bare Knuckle 1.0: All done now (I think) except for the new magic section, which is taking me a bit more work than I thought it would. (Isn't that always the way it is?) This version of the game is an SRD-like text that will be released under an open license. It removes OpenD6-specific content and language. Compared to Bare Bones Edition, it also has many small mechanical changes throughout. It's virtually identical to the plan I had initially developed for what would have been Mini Six Revised Edition, minus the addition of the new rules modules, advice, and mini settings. If you liked BBE, then you're likely to approve of BKE.

It would be trivial for you to "remix" it into something that very closely resembles Bare Bones Edition if you want.

It's not a full game - it's a toolkit to make a game. It's up to you to assemble the parts, but that was also true of Bare Bones Edition.

I don't plan to support BKE 1.0 with updates in the future or to back-port anything from 2.0 to it, but both will eventually be released under open licenses, so you'll be able to remix if you like. The only updates I plan to maintain for 1.0 will be errata or minor edits (spelling or grammar), if needed. (I guarantee that will be needed.)

When: "Soon." (I'm actively working on it now.) Sometime between a few days and the end of the month, I think.

Mini Six Second Edition: I went back to the drawing board for this. Since I'm "de-OGL'ing" and taking down the OpenD6 banner, I now feel free to use ideas that I never would have otherwise. I no longer feel a responsibility to be a standard bearer for how a game system that originated in the 1980s might be presented now. (Even though I may not have been very successful at that goal with BBE.)

I guess that I'm saying that Mini Six Second Edition is becoming its own thing. That's why I finally settled on a name. "Mini Six Revised" would imply a refinement on the earlier system, and what I now have planned is a larger break than that.

Some of these ideas are things I've had in mind in the past and discarded, and some are based on suggestions and conversations that I've had in the past and recently. Everything is at the planning stage, but here are the big changes I have on the burner right now:

• A system that counts successes. Roll a handful of d6s. Every 4, 5, and 6 is a success.
• Player-faced rolling. PCs roll to do things, and they also roll to avoid bad things. The GM won't usually be rolling any dice.
• Attributes are static numbers. Skills are rated in (whole) dice. There is no concept of "pips" in the game. Say that you have a "shoot" skill of  5d6 and an Agility of 2. Roll 5d6 and you can add up to 2 to the resulting roll before you calculate successes. Say that your roll consists of (1, 2, 2, 4, 5). Before applying your agility modifier that would be 2 successes. But you can bump up one of those dice that resulted in a 2 to 4. Due to your agility, you have an additional success, for a total of 3. You can split up the agility bonus as you like, as well - so instead of adding 2 to a single die, you could add 1 to 2 dice.
• Advantage and Disadvantage. Instead of having extensive lists of circumstances that provide bonuses or penalties the GM can declare that you have disadvantage or advantage on a test. When you have advantage, all dice turn into exploding dice (roll an additional d6 for every 6 that shows, and yes, you can use an attribute raise to bump a die to a 6 and it still counts to explode.) Disadvantage means that 4s aren't successes, only 5s or 6s count.
• Normally, even a single disadvantage cancels out any number of advantages and vice versa. The GM should interpret this rule carefully and not allow "trivial" advantage or disadvantage to come into play. There's no such thing as "double advantage" or anything similar. You either have advantage (or disadvantage) to a test, or you don't.
• The Fist Full of Dice rule. You can only ever roll up to 10 dice on a test. If for any reason you need to roll more than 10, then every die beyond 9 counts as an automatic half-success. for example, if you need to roll 11 dice, you only actually roll 9 and add one automatic success. If you should roll 12 dice, then you only roll 10 and add one automatic success. This means that if the total dice rolled would be an odd number, you will roll 9 dice and add a certain number of automatic successes, and if the total number would have been a n even number of dice you roll ten and add the automatic half successes. Ignore advantage and disadvantage for these automatic successes, but either status still affects the dice actually rolled.
• The vehicle rules will include two modes. These modes will have names later. One mode is for things that are mainly controlled by a single person or a very small crew. Things like cars, real-world aircraft, and space fighters. The other mode is for vessels where the crew must closely coordinate to operate. A sailing ship or a battleship would be this sort of craft. The modes will operate together, but each will have some unique concerns and procedures. There is obviously some wiggle room in the middle for vehicles that are a little bit of each, so some vessels might lean into both modes.

Please note that none of the ideas above are tested and only reflect my current "wish list." The final product might differ significantly.

When: When it's done. This is more ambitious than what I planned to do in December. I've never tackled a project as ambitious as this before, so it's hard for me to say.

Mini Six Bare Knuckle 2.0: This will be released at the same time as Mini Six Second Edition. It will have all of the rules, but none of the advice or mini settings from Second Edition. It will be available under an open license.