Note: This is an advanced review of the pdf version of the final product.

By John Grigsby, Staff Reviewer

Available from FRP Games

D6 Adventure Rulebook HC
[Currently Out of Stock]
Retail $29.95 Sale $23.96

Initiative Round
The D6 Adventure rulebook provides all the fundamentals to play in any kind of genre that you can imagine, using West End Games' famous D6 System roleplaying rules. This is a 144-page softcover by Nikola Vrtis, based on material by Greg Farshtey, Douglas Kaufman, Fred Jandt, Peter Schweighofer, Bill Slavicsek, Bill Smith, Ed Stark, George R. Strayton, Teeuwynn Woodruff, and others. The Chris Dien cover depicts a two-fisted gunslinger on a rooftop as action explodes (literally) behind him. John Bridges, Bob Cram Jr., Elizabeth T. Danforth, Talon Dunning, Malcom Hee, Fil Kerney, Jaime Lombardo, Ron Hill, John Paul Lona, Christopher Martinez, Aaron McCellan, Allen Nunis, Brian Schomburg, Lee Smith, Pete Venters, and Chris Watkins offer their talents to the interior art. The D6 Adventure rulebook retails for $29.95.

D6 System is back! What's that? You've never head of the D6 System? Well, a while back, before there was such a thing as the OGL or the d20 System, a company called West End Games released a set of mechanics designed to allow you to experience any kind of adventure that you could imagine. The system itself was built around a six-sided dice, a common sight in the home of nearly anyone who has ever played a board game of any kind. The mechanics were self-contained, in a single rulebook, but they also powered many games that were produced by West End, the most popular one being Star Wars. In fact, many elements of the original West End game are still being drawn upon by Wizards of the Coast for their Star Wars d20 Roleplaying Game.

As the name implies, the only dice used in D6 Adventures are six-sided dice. Character creation involves distributing 18 dice among your seven attributes; Reflexes, Knowledge, Coordination, Perception, Physique, Presence, and in some games, Extranormal. Unlike say, D&D, these dice are not rolled to generate a stat. Instead, they are indicated by the number of dice allocated to the ability—1D, 2D, 3D, and so forth. When putting dice into an attribute, you can split the dice up into pips. Each die equals three pips. Thus, if you had four dice left to spend, you could divide them as 1D+2 and 2D+1. With the exception of Extranormal, an attribute must have at least 1D and no more than 5D.

Once you've placed your attribute dice, you divide 7D among your skills (with a maximum of 3D in any one skill). Skills are more specific applications of an attribute. Examples include dodge and jumping under Reflexes, lockpicking and throwing under Coordination, and lifting and swimming under Physique. As with attributes, dice can be added whole to a skill, or by pips. It is also possible to specialize in a skill, narrowing your focus, but giving a greater degree of familiarity in the chosen area of study. A single skill dice can be spent to purchase 3 specialization dice.

D6 System offer two means of handling damage; the one to be used in the campaign is chosen by the GM. Body Points function much like hit points in D&D. They are lost gradually as the character is exposed to damage. At its simplest, the target's damage resistance total is subtracted from the attacker's damage total and the result is subtracted from the Body Points the character has remaining. Body Points recover naturally with rest, or the process can be sped along through the use of the medical skill, magic, psionics, or even advanced technology.

Wound Levels are more realistic and more difficult to recover from. There are six levels of wounds in the D6 System; Stunned, Wounded, Severely Wounded, Incapacitated, Mortally Wounded, and Dead. Using the Wound Levels system, the basic process requires that the defender make a damage resistance roll (instead of using a static total). Thus, a poor damage resistance roll can result in character death a lot more quickly. The Wound Level is determined by how much the attacker's damage total exceeded the target's damage resistance roll. If a target takes additional damage less than his current level, he moves up one level. Each Wound Level also has certain effects on the character. For example, a Wounded character suffers a -1D penalty to all actions until healed. A Mortally Wounded character falls unconscious immediately and must make a Physique roll each round. If the roll is less than the number of minutes the character has been Mortally Wounded, he dies. Optionally, these effects can also be applied under the Body Points system. As mentioned earlier, Wound Levels also take longer to heal. Where Body Points are recovered automatically with rest, Wound Levels require a Physique roll (the difficulty is based on the Wound Level), and the character may relapse on a Critical Failure!

Characters may also have Advantages, Disadvantages and, in some games, Special Abilities (such as super powers or cybernetic enhancements). As you could probably guess, disadvantages make life more difficult for a character, while advantages grant the character a little something extra. A disadvantage grants points which may be used to purchase advantages, extra skill dice, or extra attribute dice. D6 System uses abstract wealth, similar to the way that d20 Modern does, though there is a simple method for converting to hard cash, should the GM prefer to run it that way,

D6 System characters also have both Character Points and Fate Points. Character Points have a dual use. They are used to improve characters between adventures, but they can also be used during an adventure to increase a die roll. Because Character Points are also used to improve your character, the system is naturally balanced through this mechanic. Spend too many Character Points on die rolls and your character may be a big success, but ultimately comes out a loser. Character points are gained for completing adventures, overcoming obstacles, roleplaying well, and having fun.

Fate Points, on the other hand, represent the character's devotion to his or her personal moral code. A character that sticks to his code will gain Fate Points. A character that strays from her code loses them. When a player feels that she really needs some help, she can spend a Fate Point to double the number of dice she is entitled to roll for one single roll. If the action boosted by the Fate Point supported the character's moral code, then he gains the Fate Point back at the end of the adventure. If not, it may actually end up costing him another Fate Point.

The basic game mechanic in the D6 System is really pretty simple. Decide what skill to use. The GM will assign a difficulty number based on how difficult the situation is. For example, a character making a Demolition roll to disarm a bomb may start with a difficulty level of Moderate (12) which means that the character must roll higher than a 12. If the first few attempts failed, as the timer got closer to zero, the GM might decide to increase the difficulty number to represent the anxiety the character is feeling. Skill rolls that may be opposed by the actions of another character are called opposed difficulties. In this case, both characters roll and the results are compared. The character with the higher total succeeds. As an optional rule, the GM may decide to use Result Points. Basically, the higher the roll is above the difficulty number, the more impressive the result. Meeting the Demolition difficulty number exactly might mean that the character snips the wire just as the timer clicks to zero, but if the number is exceeded by 13-16, the character might have disarmed the bomb with enough time left over to catch up to the villain before he can make his getaway. The rules contain a number of standard static difficulty numbers for the skills to assist the GM in determining a difficulty number.

A unique mechanic that makes life interesting in D6 Adventures, however, is the Wild Die. Whenever a player or the gamemaster makes any roll, one of the dice must be a different color than the others. This is the Wild Die. If a 6 is rolled on the Wild Die, this is called a Critical Success; 6 is added to the total and the Wild Die may be rolled again. As long as Critical Successes keep turning up, the die may be rerolled. If any other number comes up, it is added to the total and the player stops rolling. If the initial roll of the Wild Die is a 1, this is a Critical Failure. This can either cancel out the highest roll of the other dice, or it may cause an unexpected complication raging from a minor mishap to a catastrophic problem.

The chapter on magic addresses the perks of the Magic Extranormal attribute. By applying Character Points to one (or more) of the four magical skills, a character can learn to command forces beyond the comprehension of most people. Every spell in the D6 System falls under one of the four magic skills—Alteration, Apportation, Conjuration, or Divination—and each spell has a difficulty number that must be exceeded by a skill roll in the appropriate skill. Unlike many other games, however, each spell must be created by the caster and researched before it can be used. Though the rules offer several pre-calculated spells, it is much more entertaining to create your own. A spell has a number of modifiers that must be considered, and a spell worksheet is included to make developing a spell much easier.

Unlike spells, the Psionics Extranormal ability is a little more cut-and-dried. Every psionic ability is defined as a unique skill, and the skill must be learned before it can be called upon. While the GM can develop new skills, and there is also a method by which the player can increase his skill roll slightly (by taking special requirements such as gestures or components), the psionics system does not offer the flexibility of the magic system.

The rules conclude with some gamemaster tips, an optional system for reducing dice rolling (what fun is that?), and a quick reference sheet. There is also a selection of those famous D6 Adventures character templates for a variety of characters including a field scientist, a correspondent, and a supernatural hunter (to name a few). There's also a blank sheet here to let you develop your own characters or templates.

Critical Hit
The system is easy to learn, very adaptable, and just plain enjoyable. When you get right down to it, the D6 System works well. It always has, and that's what made it such a success in its previous incarnation. It's well-balanced, uses very common dice that are readily available, and has proven its adaptability through countless genre books.

The wild dice mechanic is a unique and highly-entertaining addition that is unlike any I've ever seen in any other RPG. Combined with the unique magic system where a hero actually creates her own spells, this makes for a winning combination that is an excellent game system for anyone seeking a break from the d20 System standard that permeates the market nowdays. D6 Adventures offers a system that is simpler, every bit as elegant, and doesn't rely on class and level mechanics.

Critical Fumble
The only thing I can see that would improve the D6 System is if it had been released as public domain, in the same manner as the SRD. Though the original was not done in this fashion, it was much more a framework than the current incarnation, and many people released their own rulesets powered by the D6 System. I'd like to see something similar done here.

Coup de Grace
If you're seeking a break from d20, then D6 System is well-worth your time to take a look. Several support supplements are planned, including fantasy and space genre books, and the return of Torg, which was one of the most interesting games ever produced. If they release it as a D6 system product, I just might have to be there. I can't really comment on the construction of the book itself, as my copy is a PDF for review, but the table of contents did prove quite helpful in the writing of this review.

Final Grade: A-