Simple Dice-Pool Zombie Grappling Rules

If your survivor is about to get grabbed by some zombies, use this rule.

Adult, healthy, and well fed survivors roll 2d6. If they're weaker, only 1d6

Add +1d6 if the survivor is wielding a proper zombie killing weapon, like an axe or baseball bat.

Add +1d8 if the survivor is wielding a badass zombie killing weapon, like a sawn-off or chainsaw.

Every zombie in the group rolls 1d6. Special infected, like acid blood or Tanks from L4D, roll 1d8.

Roll all dice simultaneously. Highest number on a single dice wins. In the event of a tie, the highest number of dice rolled total wins. If the survivor wins, they get away. If the zombies win, they get in a bite or you take one wound or lose a life or whatever.

If you can't find enough dice to roll for the zombie's dice pool or if its statistically ludicrous for the survivor to win, they just die. Huge groups of zombies just rip you apart.

Note: Yes, it's intentional that you can't be bitten by a group of zombies if you get a lucky roll of 7 or 8 on your big weapon die. This is to represent your guy running through a crowd of zombies blasting and sawing them all to pieces without getting bitten. Yes, it's also intentional that most rolls will end in ties of 6, meaning that the zombies will always succeed if there is more then three of them at once.

Example: Rodney gets cornered by a group of undead, who press at him from all sides against a wall. There are 5 zombies. They roll 5, 5, 4, 3, and 2. Rodney swings his bat and gets a 6, 3, and 2. He gets away. That was a very lucky escape, Rodney.

Also if the survivor has a really shitty weapon like a knife or rifle in close range they roll a 1d4 for their weapon instead. Same for really shitty zombies like crawlers or weak ass skeletal zombies, they just add +1d4 to the hoard's dice; still adds to the hoard's deadliness but they're much easier to escape from in small numbers. Also this combat system has nothing to do with actually running around and shooting zombies or fighting zombies in a big army against a shield wall of survivors or anything cool like that, it's just a little grapple rule.

Sage Variant- Sage Magic Dice

As Dirt Simple Magic Dice, but applied to Sages instead. They have the following spells;

Healing- Die result = hit points restored to a creature. Excess points are lost.

Curing- Restores die result stat points. If target is diseased, reduces the disease as though they had die result days of bed rest, if terminal/incurable disease, it is suspended for die result rounds or turns instead. If target is under effect of curse, must beat monster HD/caster level to end the curse.

Warding- Protects against 1 environmental factor for die result turns; darkness, heat, underwater breathing, getting lost, supernatural dread, etc. Can also be used to create a Ward that turns away creatures of die result HD or less of a specific type (undead, beasts, constructs, etc.)

Bless- Grants die result +AC vs one attack OR bonus to one saving throw.

Counter-Spell- Cancels the result of an enemy's spell caster's die roll, reduces enemy spell power equal to roll result. If result is zero or negative; spell is nullified.

Warning- Detect a trap or hazard you suspect in die result feet.

Restore- Mend an item that has taken die result damage or less. Purify die result rations or flasks of water. If die result equals armor's normal AC bonus; armor is repaired. If die result equals weapon's maximum damage value, can restore it to working condition.

Revive- Die result + Negative hit points = 0 or higher; revives dead/dying at 1 HP and very weakened. Every turn spent dead increases negative hit points by -1d6 for the sake of this spell. You only get one chance to revive someone; else they can only be reborn by greater magicks.

Dirt Simple Magic Dice

Sorcerers get 1 Magic Die per level per day or per adventure. To cast a spell, they must declare the effect and roll the dice. The result of the roll is the result of the spell and what it can accomplish. All magic dice are d6

In combat, Magic Users are limited to casting spells that use 1 die at a time. If they spend combat rounds “charging” up the spell beforehand, they can add another die to their roll from their pool. The total maximum of dice you can cast in one round is equal to your MU level.

For example a 3^rd level Magic User could charge up for two rounds in combat, then on the third round release a spell that uses up all 3 of their magic dice.

If the Sorcerer possesses a Wand or Staff, they can cast 2 dice in one round. Each round spent “charging” still only lets them use one more dice on their spellcast. Some very powerful wands or staves may even grant an extra spell die to be used per day, +1 to spell result casts with it, or other more specific magical effects or powers.

Outside of combat, the magic user can cast as many die as they want into a spell as they have as much time as they need. This is usually accompanied by a ritual.

All Magic Users start with the following spells;

Harming- Die result = damage dealt to an enemy within throwing distance.

Healing- Die result = hit points restored to a creature. Excess points are lost.

Conjuring- Creates a 1 HD creature for die result combat rounds.

Warding- Protects against 1 environmental factor for die result turns; darkness, heat, underwater breathing, getting lost, supernatural dread, etc.

Protection- Grants die result +AC vs one attack OR bonus to one saving throw.

Hexing- Stuns one creature for one combat round. Dice result is maximum HD you can stun

Illusion- Creates illusion of die result elements. Each element is a single thing that fools one sense; a snoring bear would be 2 elements, it's stench would be an extra element, a fake goblin that is poking it would be another element, etc.

Levitation- Can move an object in die result = load for one combat round. Dagger is 1 load, sword is 2 load. Halfling is 3 load. Unencumbered human is 6 load.

Counter Spell- Cancels the result of an enemy's spell caster's die roll, reduces enemy spell power equal to roll result.

Armello Roleplaying Game + 10 Armello Story Seeds

Armello is a video game board-game sort of thing featuring furry characters. The game's lore and world is pretty stock-standard fantasy fair besides the animal people, but has some nice quirks to it and a theme of good vs evil. The thing about Armello though is it has rules for dice, combat, and stats for characters since it has some RPG elements. For this reason I sometimes consider how Armello could be used to create a system for tabletop RPG adventuring- and I wrote one up. 

If you converted the level up system for a to-gold traditional system, you could probably make this an OSR style game about cute animal people getting fucking murdered in dungeons.
But I'll leave that honor up to you.

Armello Dice Symbols

Armello uses regular 6 sided dice for their rolling mechanics, but without numbers and instead symbols. I've linked these up to numbers on a die that I think are very close to their original symbols and intent, plus each piece is on the exact other side as its opposite.

6- Wyld

5- Sun

4- Shield

3- Sword

2- Moon

1- Rot

Armello Stats

Armello uses 4 stats; Health, Fight, Wits, Spirit. Health is the number of hits you take before falling; a single combat may not kill you, just the total number of injuries over time exceeding your health will. Fight is the number of dice rolled in combat, Wits is the number of dice used in perils, and Spirit is the magic stat. All characters in Armello itself start with a stat total of 15, you could adjust these numbers. With a recommended soft cap of 5 in one single stat.

Armello Combat

Combat in Armello deals damage both ways, both attacker and defender can die from an attack. But combat in the board game is about an entire exchange, not blow by blow, which would work better for this system. The problem comes with party based gameplay, how are multiple characters supposed to contribute to one battle? Maybe they do not, or maybe each exchange only counts for a single few seconds of dueling, but is still an exchange between a target and yourself either way. Maybe everyone in the party just rolls combat, is hit with an enemy 'force' die roll, and hope they overcome it. Here is a small bestiary.

Every Sword is a hit. Every Shield is a block, which blocks one enemy hit.

In Armello, Suns count as hits during the day and moons at night. Due to dungeon crawling usually being a big aspect of OSR, this applies a lot less. Instead moons count as hits when you are sneak attacking, and suns count during pitched combat. Maybe instead it's based on light; Suns count as a hit when you have enough torchlight. Maybe moons count as a hit if your light level is as low as it can go, or only counts as a hit for those with Infra-vision.

Then, there is Wyld and Rot dice. Wyld and Rot dice count as hits in combat if you're the right alignment, and they explode meaning after registering it as a hit it rerolls again. The opposite alignment die just counts as a miss.

Wyld die is explosive and powerful for characters who are lawful or clean of the Rot.

Rot die is explosive and powerful for characters who are choatic or corrupted by the Rot.

Armello Saving Throws & Skill Checks

These are called Perils. The DM rolls a certain number of dice, and you need to roll the same symbols. You roll a number of dice equal to your Wits stat, with a die of your alignment counting as a reroll. Even if one of the symbols of the test is your alignment symbol, you still receive a reroll after it is 'locked in'.

Armello Magic

You have a number of spell points equal to your magic stat. Each spell point can be expended to cast a first level spell effect, or can be combined to cast a higher level spell effect. Your magic points only return at dusk. Most spells and magic in Armello have a curse/buffing or healing effect and are almost always tied to nature and natural forces- such as letting out the inner beast of each of the anthro characters, healing rot corruption, or calling a lightning strike on a foe. Either make up your spells as you cast them or the DM will make some spells for you with appropriate costs.

Spells directed at enemies get a save; the number of die rolled by the caster is dependent on their magic stat vs the wit dice of the enemy getting hit regardless of the number of spell points used. Characters high in Spirit will have weak spells that are hard to resist from their sheer force of will.

You could also substitute something akin to the Sage magic system; with each magic point being equal to 1 HD of 'power' you can use for a spell. The magic system can be vague in the game, being tied to cards that you can play. For this you can divorce it from the setting and make a more general magic system with less nature-based effects to tie it into your setting instead.

The final type of magic are Spirit stones. Spirits stones are a general collection of Wyld power. Each spirit stone can be expended as a one time 1 point magic boost to cast a spell with or to empower another spell. It is said collecting 4 spirit stones and performing a ritual can totally cure a person corrupted with Rot, but this will result in the person's death if they are truly evil on the inside.

The Rot

This is a maddening disease that slowly corrupts and kills those infected by it. It is a perversion of nature and bringer of ruin. Banes and other creatures deep within dungeons have the rot- and can spread it to characters by defeating them in combat. Once infected with the Rot, the character takes 1 point of damage each sunrise.

When a character has 1-4 Rot, they are considered “infected” by the rot. At this point, they can, if willing, roll a number of dice equal to their spirit and spend 2 magic once per day when sitting at a place of natural beauty. If they get at least enough Wyld dice equal or greater then their rot, they can cure 1 rot for that day. This is one of the few ways to heal rot, the other methods involving rare potions and talismans.

Once a person reaches 5 Rot though they are considered Corrupted. Their body starts to change; and while they still take 1 damage per day at sunrise, the rot gives them power and they start to depend on it. Rot dice now count as wild and the Wyld dice count as useless rot dice in combat. Additionally, once a character is corrupted, anytime they fight a character with any amount of rot less then them, they get to add a number of dice equal to the lesser rot character's rot stat. Therefore a character with 5 rot gets to add +2 dice to hit attack against a character with 2 rot. This also applies to magic saves.

Prestige & Leveling Up

Each time you complete a general quest objective, solve a worthy challenge, or defeat a creature of darkness you get +1 prestige. Prestige is the closest thing Armello has to a social mechanic; so assume characters with higher prestige have more sway with commoners, nobles, and the various factions in the lands of Armello.

Each time you complete one of these major quests, you also get a level up. You may select any stat to increase, and gain that benefit permanently. You cannot choose the same stat twice in a row, and can level up a maximum of 4 times.

Armello Story Seeds – 1d10

[1] The King is said to have been totally corrupted to the core with rot, and is slowly going mad. His sorcerers are summoning banes and other creatures of darkness to the countryside, is putting a bounty on the heads of the heroes of the animal clans, and his laws become more paranoid and cruel each passing day. End his reign of terror.

[2] Darkness grows in the dungeons beneath the world; dark forces and their followers are attempting to grow a creature of blackness so foul that it will consume the entire world in rot. Travel to the stone circles in the world, collect spirit stones and hold them close as you will face corruption you can't even imagine in your pursuit of purity.

[3] War among the animal clans is coming. The relative peace between them is ending after years of prosperity- and now they vie for more power. You must pick a side or fight to maintain the peace. There are rumors of a conspiracy putting these clans against each other for their own benefit- perhaps they could be the key to ending this conflict before it begins.

[4] The rot has spread to a small and sleepy town- and as the King's Guard fight to keep it contained it spreads. Then again, and then again. The corruption of both mind and body is seemingly spreading among the population, one step ahead of the law. Then, rumors of a strange drink called “Hot Rot Wine” seem connected; the highly addictive drink being traded in secret among the poor and sad populations of Armello- peddled by animals in black. How will you stop the sale of this illegal drug?

[5] Foreigners from across the sea are invading! They're bug people, or lizards, or something else entirely, and they are no good. Enslaving the kind animals of Armello; raise the armies of the clans and march against them to free your people.

[6] There is a new young animal to ascend to the throne, but his innate magical talent is so extreme that is risks unraveling the kingdom if not controlled. You must take this boy across the land to the far off mountain valley where the druids can teach him to control his incredible power over the Wyld.

[7] The Helm of Heroes has been found! This magical item has once belonged to many of the most famous hereos of Armello's past, and is now being fought over by many rival groups. Collect it for your own use, or to keep it safe from those who wish to abuse its power.

[8] The furless cat known only as The Stranger has been causing trouble to the more powerful nobles and leaders of Armello. His events and tricks are not random; but the moment anyone gets close to him he disappears the moment he's not being watched. Everything he's doing is leading to something big, to rock the foundation of the clans and kingdom.

[9] The forsaken clan, “The Bandit Clan”, seeks more power and recognition in Armello. These outcasts are no longer satisfied working with the more prestigious clans and under their shadow- now they are preparing for an armed revolution. Will you join them, or end the uprising?

[10] The King is dead and Armello is safe. But the dungeon's underneath the palace are still crawling with monsters and strange experiments. Somebody's gotta clean it up.