Dirt Simple First Aid

Whenever you are in a dungeon, out in the wilderness, or in an adventure location, you can take a short rest (exploration turn) to perform various actions. One of these is healing.

In order to heal another party member, you must expend bandages (or healing herbs) to heal them. You heal them 1d6 + your Intelligence modifier and the healing item is consumed. Your character can also be trained in the arts of healing, either as a class feature or as training that can be purchased in downtime (similar to weapon training, or studying for new spells). Every time you train your healing, you can increase the amount you heal by +1.

Certain hazards, rusted blade-traps, the undead, and complex injuries become aggravated. This means that the injury deals its normal Hit-Points effect of damage, but any healing roll made to heal that character is now made at a minus, and subtracts the amount you heal with your healing action by that amount. For example, a triangular bayonet is very difficult to stitch up, and has a aggravated wound value of -3, the touch of a Wight would be -7. This means that attempting to heal it while unskilled can actually make it worse. (This acts as an incentive to have dedicated healing-focused characters to be able to safely restore health, and reduce healing effectiveness overall).

Additionally, certain items like healing potions and food heal when consumed, which do not trigger aggravated wounds. Regular rations consumed on a short rest restore +1 Hit-Points. This means that even if you're cursed and burned with acids and all other sorts of shit, you can still recover a little bit of HP in a safe if time-inefficient way.

This system is the trimmed down version of this.

Dirt Simple Wealth- Wealth as Treasures Abstraction

I want to make it clear from the outset that any OSR style game, or games with gold for XP, should absolutely not use this system under any circumstance. This concept is more fitting for a generic adventure or high fantasy story game. The granularity and importance of keeping track of individual gold pieces and time is not necessarily something you want for a more casual game; so this method is a compromise between more objective systems and the more abstract wealth-as-a-stat system found in some games.

In some PbtA games, wealth is like an abstract stat. The idea being that anything under your wealth level is not something you need be concerned with; but anything equal to or over your wealth level is a significant purchase and will or has a chance to reduce your wealth level by one degree. The idea behind this system is to more accurately portray a character's lifestyle within the world; a high class noble has no concern over daily lodgings and meals, and can freely buy horses or servants if needed without any impact to their overall finances, but buying a powerful magic spell or a castle would be something they need to carefully consider. On the flipside, a character with a wealth level of one or zero would have to carefully consider how they will make enough money each day to afford their meals or simple services.

The idea is to take the above basic system, but instead of abstract stats or levels, tie your wealth level to each significant treasure you have looted.

Wealth as Treasures
As adventurers explore the world, do quests, and raid tombs, they will eventually come into possession of valuable artifacts. Some of these may be magical or very powerful; as as such will be valuable, but some will be valuable purely for other reasons; great works of art and craft, huge gemstones or precious metals, cultural and historical significant, etc. These are your treasures.

You are only going to be keeping track of significant treasures; typically the namesake of whatever dungeon, tomb, or royal family you're stealing from. If your players make a plan to steal the Mona Lisa, then that would become the significant treasure written on their character sheet. The other paintings and valuables in the Louvre that were stolen fetched you a lot of money, but those are part of the abstraction. Naturally a thief or graverobber will keep the best finds for themselves- so for each of these great treasures you possess, you treat this as one "wealth level".

Your daily expenses are not being paid by these treasures, you are buying your food and servants with the silver coins you looted from the orcs you fought in the dungeon, or you are making a small daily stipend from the local banking guild by stowing your treasure in their vault- but the treasures remains your primary wealth. When you need to purchase something valuable to your wealth-level, you will need to exchange a treasure for it. The DM decides which treasure you are trading away, not you.

So for example; a character with a single treasure; a glorious golden signet ring from an ancient dynasty, will have enough wealth laying around from their previous dungeon haul to buy their daily necessities. But if they suddenly need to buy a good fast horse to get out of town, they will begrudgingly give away this ring, vastly overpaying, to the stablemaster for his finest steed. Now, when you reach the next town over, you will have lost one level of wealth and are struggling, on the run and hungry, until you can find another valuable treasure to add to your character sheet.

Treasures also scale upwards; while the first great treasure you find may be one piece of jewelry or animate portrait, later treasures will be exponentially bigger and more valuable. This is tied together inherently with character progression; more dangerous dungeons have better treasures, so what counts as a "significant treasure" may change based on how many you already have. You can dive into the lagoon and pry open as many giant clams as you wish for pearls; but one or two or a dozen more isn't going to bring you to the heights of wealth and luxury; you'd need something greater.

Once a character has four, five, or six significant treasures; they'll be living like a King and have no issue affording property, income generating businesses, paying servants, and hiring mercenary bands. But if you want a truly exorbitant purchase, like the construction of a new castle, you'll still need to give up one of your precious treasures for it. While your character's liquid wealth has not actually decreased sans one treasure, consider it like losing a bit of the renown and respect they garnered that helped them keep their level of income before; while the local archbishop may be irritated that you won't donate the lost scrolls of the saint to the church; if you lose them again he'd be downright furious, and stop sending rookie healer-priests to your fort for free heals- thus increasing your expenses. Or maybe, you can't get as much money from pilgrims or wealthy nobles on tour who want to see your collection. You get the idea.

Dirt Simple Grappling

How long have grapples been a meme for in D&D or DIY stuff? I feel like at this point, they've been such a point of contention that people have created a whole bunch of house rules and simplifications for them. Even 5e has pretty simple rules for grapples.

But can we go simpler? By simpler in this case, I don't just mean "roll attack or roll under strength", I mean something that's got a little meat to it. So instead; Dirt Simple Grappling.

Grappling Rules
Grappling goes in two stages, going from a Grab to a Hold. You must have at least one hand free to utilize a grab. You can still use the other hand. You can only upgrade a Grab to a Hold if you have both hands free, or using small enough weapons (daggers, claws, etc.) that you can still use an arm effectively. You can make attacks with your free hand, but must use your action for a round grabbing somebody unless you're a badass Fighter or something. You can also instantly put somebody in a Hold IF you perform a grapple from stealth.

In order to grapple somebody, roll one of your class's HD size die vs one of whatever size dice you use for monster HD (I use d6 for my game), if your  roll is higher, you succeed in your grapple action and have grabbed the monster. If the monster's roll is higher, your action fails. If the monster is naturally armored and spiked or is wearing spiked or razor armor, then you take damage from your failed grapple.

Note: I use this for my surprise rolls. I would allow a player to add any initiative bonuses they have from stats/class/race/magic items or whatever to add to this grapple, since its implied to be a sort of agility thing, but you can't get a bonus to grapples if it's a weapon, since it only works for attacks with that weapon.

In a Grab: The Monster cannot move away from the grabber and they cannot attack the grappler with a ranged or long reach weapon like a spear or whip. The Grappled target CAN attack the grappler with a shorter weapon, spell, natural weapon, etc. The grappled target can move towards or around the grappler, just not away from them. This includes the ability to charge right into them in an attempt to bowl them over if they are significantly larger or wearing heavy armor.

To move from a Grab to a Hold, you can simply use your action on a round to hold the creature. You move it into a position you can wrap your arms around it, pinning it down. The grabbed creature cannot attack the grabber anymore once in a hold.

In a Hold: Creatures that are in a hold are put in a condition where they (pick one);

• Cannot Move AND Cannot Attack their Grappler. All other attacks are made at disadvantage.
  
• Are shoved/thrown 10 ft in a direction (ends grapple)
  
• Knocked prone (must spend a round to get back up, or fight with disadvantage on the ground- can end grapple or the grappler can go prone to keep the hold on the ground)
  

If a creature is of a significant size advantage OR has more arms then the defender, then they can make a grab turn instantly to a hold. The first roll determines if the monster can escape from the hold before it is made. For example, a giant wrapping his hand around you is instantly a full hold, meaning you can't fight as your body is constricted in its grasp. The same applies to giant snakes, many-limb tentacle monsters, and so on.

Takedowns
Once someone is in a Hold, you can attempt to take them down. This can be a nonleathal choke until they pass out, or a lethal neck-snap type of move.

Add your class damage bonus with attacks with your Strength modifier. If you're a Monk/due with powerful unarmed attacks, you can add the maximum possible size of your unarmed attack die to this too if you don't think it's too broken. If this number is equal to or greater then the enemy's remaining HP, you can take them down. Otherwise, you deal your normal unarmed combat damage as you slowly twist their ligaments too far or constrict their airway and the like.

The purpose of this ruleset is to make grappling a simple ruleset that reduces the power of a grapple while making it something that doesn't waste your turn automatically- and provides some tactical use. Also, a lot of ruling over rules still applies. You can't grapple anything too big or strong, or anything without a physical body, of course, and will have to handle it on a case by case basis.

Dirt Simple Megadungeons

Do you lack the creativity, skill, time, or talent to create a Megadungeon? Do you want a dungeon crawling experience that is epic in scale but without all the hard work? Then this rule is for you.

Instead of writing or making a full mega dungeon, write up and create vague “zones” instead. The zone may be each floor of the dungeon, or different areas on each floor. Perhaps the first floor of a megadungeon is an underground cavern that leads into an ancient crypt. The cavern and the tomb would both be one “zone” of the megadungeon. You describe them in open terms, sights and smells, and accompanying random tables, but you don't draw every room and corridor.

Every exploration hour, the players roll a 1d6 on the table. They find;

[1] Random Encounter

[2] Faction HQ or Monster Lair

[3] Hazard (Trap, Precarious movement, or dungeon “puzzle”)

[4] Landmark (Safe zone, unusual architecture, interesting tidbit)

[5] Snapshot or “Cut Away” Dungeon

[6] Stairs/Next Zone Passage

The reason why “hours” are used here is to make megadungeons feel big. Every turn for you is an in-game hour of exploring many side passages, large caverns, going through several transitional areas and sparsely populated dungeon hallways and side rooms. You might say these areas are smoothing over a more boring part of dungeon gameplay; retracing your steps, dealing with straggling monster encounters, climbing up and down walls that are not inherently dangerous; that sort of thing all rolled into an hour-long unit of time.

This means that you're still getting basically one encounter per hour. You also lose one torch every roll of this dice, indicated you've explored quite a lot of dungeon by then.

The “Snapshot” or “Cut Away” Dungeon is essentially where your players get traditional dungeon crawling among this otherwise abstract system. This snapshot is something the DM prepares in advance for each major area or place in the megadungeon. Essentially, a small to medium scale dungeon with several rooms, corridors, and tactical exploration and placement. The idea here is to concentrate your quality of dungeon making into these areas, so that you can have the “feel” of a megadungeon, without having to draw every single hallway and room.

Dirt Simple Turn Undead

By popular request.

Trying out a drawing tablet

Dirt Simple Turn Undead

Everyone can Turn Undead. All you need is a holy symbol. I like more animist religious stuff, so I divide it into Magic Charms (one use, but cheap) and Holy Symbols (unlimited uses, but expensive). You can also put a Magic Charm over a doorway or something and it keeps spirits from going through it if you've already turned them, or like lock the spirit back in its coffin, but it's just a slip of paper so if somebody tears it off the spirit is free that easy. Really expensive holy symbols like gold ankhs or portable altars and the like give you +1 or +2 for the contest.

Everybody can only turn undead 3 times a day, regardless of the symbol.

When you decide to turn undead, the user holds up the holy symbol and says a prayer. Then, compare the level/HD of the Turner to the unholy creature;

If the Monster has a higher HD then the Turner's HD, then the monster cannot attack them for one round. Even a powerful demon or wraith will pause at the sight of the cross.

If the Monster has a lower or equal HD then the Turner's HD, the monster is turned and must flee.

If the Monster has less remaining Hit Points then the Turner's HD, the monster is destroyed.

Clerics, Sages, or other classes with a role involving dealing with spirits and the undead treat their level as being higher for the purposes of Turning. Something like +1 starting at 2^nd level, and going up every other level. So at 2^nd level they can turn a 3 HD Undead, at 4^th level Turner counts as 6 HD and are guaranteed to destroy a 1 HD skeleton, etc.

Also also; this is mostly a single target thing, but a really high level Sage could totally split up their HD worth of turning power to rebuke a whole room of zombies. If you don't like the idea of a 1^st or 2^nd level Sage/Cleric being able to destroy undead this early on in the game, just make it so you have also have a higher level then the monster's HD in addition to beating it's current Hit Points

Also 3: Add your Wisdom modifier to this contest, because it fits and Wisdom sucks anyway. Gives a little more character variation and makes Cleric or Sage-types more likely to want to play them if they get a high Wisdom at character creation.

Dirt Simple Cleave

So some of the “solutions” to fighting multiple enemies at a time include rules like multiple attacks for fighter progression, mighty cleave (kill enemy to get an attack to kill another enemy to get another attack, etc) and a few others.

Truthfully, I'm sure these work fine, but I somewhat dislike multiple attacks because it slows the game down and seems too multiplicative powerful. If you get a level up where you deal +1 to hit and/or damage and then another level up where you get an extra attack that's a huge power spike; not just double potential damage but more chances to hit, since even if your first hit misses you get another chance. Mighty Cleave rule is also really nice, elegant, but it also encourages a kind of weird playstyle of killing all the minions or weak dudes before attacking the dude with the most hit points, since that way you get the most attacks, and also turns the fighter's turn into a bunch of rolls an damage and rolls and damage and back to back stuff.

Thinking on it a bit more; I suddenly came up with a very simple idea. I have no idea if this has been done before, it probably has in somebody's rulebook, but I haven't personally seen it. Still, I don't want to claim ownership of this idea since its so simple. I will instead take credit for the design philosophy; make the Fighter do more damage on a hit, which not only makes them better with single targets, but also with this move.

Dirt Simple Cleave

If the Fighter wants to attack multiple enemies, they simply declare how many enemies they are trying to hit with one blow. This must be declared before any to-hit dice are rolled.

Then, the Fighter rolls a to-hit for every enemy they are trying to attack. The ones that are hit will take a portion of the damage, the attacks that miss have avoided the attack.

When the damage is rolled, simply divide the amount of damage you deal among all the enemies you attempted to strike, rounding down. ie, slicing at three goblins with your greatsword, roll damage of 10. Divide by three and round down; each goblin takes three damage. One of the goblins wasn't hit because they had a shield; you still only deal three damage to the two remaining goblins.

You can attack as many enemies with your weapon as you could reasonably hit- one handed weapons could swing and hit the two abreast orcs in the hallway in front of you, where as two handed weapons could potentially sweep everything around you at once. Weapons like daggers and rapiers probably can't attack multiple enemies at once, unless you had some kind of insane speed or dexterity that let you stab that fast, or maybe a spear could be shoved through one guy and hit a bunch of guys in a line, but couldn't be swung in a arc very well.

This is a very simple mechanic, and only requires a little math. Things like damage resistance and damage reduction apply after the damage has been divided and dealt. All types of damage are also applied evenly; a sword of fire will divide its fire damage and slashing/physical damage evenly among all the targets hit, all the fire won't just selectively target the troll.

Note: Monsters can also use this. Maybe you like that idea because instead of feeling like the giant is picking on one player with its 1d12 big club attack, it's going to sweep it around and hit multiple party members for between 0 to 4 damage. Also makes giant monsters feel a bit different to fight, they're hitting half your party instead of just going one on one like all the human sized enemies with single target weapons like swords.

Note Note: I'm more fluffing this as a single big wide swing as opposed to multiple attacks. You could just use multiple attacks for this, but I'm specifically avoiding it because two handed weapons are implied to be best for it (higher max damage) and because it might strain believably (why is your guy stabbing three people and dealing less damage then if he just stabs one?)

Note3: You might be tempted to make this deal a minimum of 1 damage on damage split up, just in case the player rolls a 1 on their damage roll, but I disagree with that decision. It might be a waste of their turn, but players can already waste their combat turn by missing an attack, so who cares. Plus rounding it up to 1 means that it may encourage annoying tactics, like swinging a flail around in a big circle to try and hit 6 or more enemies on a single attack, which would eventually clear a room of goblins either way but just seems dumb. This way, you can bounce off enemy armor which fits the fiction a little better then lucky scraps and bumps dealing significant damage.

Dirt-Simple Item Sockets

Items can have sockets. Whenever you find a hoard of weapons or armor, they have a 1 in 6 chance to have one socketed item among them. Socketed items are usually of the highest level of craftsmanship; masterwork items that were intended to be treasured. Due to how good dwarves are at crafting, assume that every dwarf treasure trove or tomb is filled with masterworks; increase socket chance to 2 in 6.

If an item has sockets, treat the 1 in 6 chance rolls as exploding. So if they have sockets, they have one socket. If you roll another 1 in 6, then they have two sockets. If you roll a third 1 in 6 in a row; then they have three sockets. At this point, stop rolling, as only legendary or special items have more then three sockets. Items also have a maximum number of sockets based on their size. For weapons, it's the damage die; 1d4 = 1 max socket like a dagger with a jeweled hilt. For 1d6 weapons like swords and axes its 2 sockets, and finally greatswords and polearms can have up to 3 sockets; embedded along the hilt, or inside the meaty head of the great war mallet.

Finally, sockets are always found empty unless the item was already owned; most socketed weapons found in ancient tombs had their gems pulled out and the item left to collect dust.. You can insert a socket with a gem whenever you wish as long as you're in town. Dwarves in the party have the innate crafting skill so they can socket a gem with a single turn of downtime and a small repair hammer. You can attempt to remove a gem from a socket, but it will have a 1 in 4 chance to chip the gem and lower its quality by one degree (Dwarves only have a 1 in 6 chance instead). High quality gems become standard, and standard gems become dust and are destroyed. Some gems are inherently more powerful then others; Diamonds, Rubies, Sapphires, Topaz and Emeralds are considered the most valuable and grant the most powerful bonuses.

Gems Powers

Every gem has a specific effect based on what it is socketed in and the type of gem. Consult the tables below for each gem type and what they do. Many socketed gems will add a small amount of damage to weapons on a successful hit, or increase resistances when placed in armor, and so on. These gems are elemental in focus, but other types of gemstones may not be; special rune stones, magic crystals, or jewels may have totally unique effects. Regular gems have a basic effect, with high quality gems which are larger or more brilliant have a more powerful, advanced effect.

Ruby gems have power over fire and are associated with strength.

Weapons- Deals 1 Fire Damage on a hit. Quality Rubies deal 1d4 Fire Damage on a hit.

Armors- Reduce Incoming Fire Damage by -1, Quality Rubies make the user immune to desert heat, and reduce all incoming Fire Damage by -2

Accessories- Wearer gains +1 to their Strength stat. Quality Rubies grant +2 to their Strength stat.

Sapphires have power over cold and are associated with intelligence.

Weapons- Deals 1 Cold Damage on a hit. Quality Gems deal 1d4 Cold Damage on a hit.

Armors- Reduce Incoming Cold Damage by -1, Quality Sapphires make the user immune to tundra cold, and reduce all incoming Cold Damage by -2

Accessories- Wearer gains +1 to their Intelligence stat. Quality Gems grant +2 to their Int stat.

Topaz have power over lightning and are associated with dexterity.

Weapons- Deals 1 Shock Damage on a hit. Quality Gems deal 1d4 Shock Damage on a hit.

Armors- Reduce Incoming Shock Damage by -1, Quality Topazes make the user immune to high altitude sickness (or grants Slowfall), and reduce all incoming Shock Damage by -2

Accessories- Wearer gains +1 to their Dexterity stat. Quality Gems grant +2 to their Dexterity stat.

Emeralds are poisonous and are associated with nature and poison.

Weapons- Save vs poison on hit, take 1d6 damage on a failed save. This save triggers again every turn, with a successful save ending the poison. Quality gems have -2 for enemy saves against this.

Armors- While equipped, you +1 to poison saves. Quality increases this to +2

Accessories- Wearer restores +1 hit points if you sleep or camp in a natural place each night. Quality grants the regular bonus, plus you can go one more day without food or water.

Diamonds are powerful and are associated with purity.

Weapons- Makes the weapon +1. Quality makes it +2. Does not stack with other diamonds.

Armors- Makes the armor +1. Quality makes it +2. Does not stack with other diamonds.

Accessories- Wearer gets +1 to all saves. Quality grants +2 to all saves.

Amethyst are magical and associated with the arcane.

Weapons- Makes the weapon count as a wand or staff for the purposes of needing a spell focus. Quality gems make the weapon's attack ignore magic shields, blocks, or other spells such as Windwall as long as the bow is embedded with an Amethyst.

Armors- Grants +1 to spell saves and grants +1 AC vs summoned creatures. Quality increases the normal bonus to +2 each and makes all defensive spells last a turn longer if they last at least a turn.

Accessories- Grants an additional 1^st level spell slot, once per day. Quality increases this to a 2^nd OR two 1^st level spell slots, decided each morning when you prepare spells.

Citrine is associated with wealth and health.

Weapons- Grant nothing.

Armors- While wearing this armor, you gain +2 Maximum Hit-Points. Quality gems increase this to +4 Maximum Hit-Points.

Accessories- Grant protection over enterprises or households. 1 in 6 chance to avoid any disasters or economic failures that would harm your holdings. This only works if you're wearing the accessory for the entire time you are out questing, it's like a homeward charm of protection. Quality gems make this protection grow to 2 in 6, and grain a +5% bonus to income from your holding.

Amber is associated with toughness and rural life.

Weapons- Deals +1 damage to wild animals. Quality deals +1d4 damage to wild animals.

Armors- Grants +1 AC vs wild animals. Quality grants +2 AC vs wild animals.

Accessories- Wearer gains +1 to their Constitution stat. Quality grants +2.

Aquamarine is associated with the scholars and healers.

Weapons- Grant nothing.

Armors- Grant nothing.

Accessories- Wearer gains +1 to their Wisdom stat. Quality grants +2.

Jet is associated with luxury and the old world.

Weapons- Deals +1 damage. Quality deals +2 damage. Attacks with this weapon harmlessly pass through 'pure' beings. Such as virgin maidens, unicorns, monks, all-white lambs, etc.

Armors- Grant nothing.

Accessories- Wearer gains +1 to their Charisma stat. Quality grants +2. This charm works on most lower class people, but nobles see the wearer's charm as superficial.

Experimental Dirt Simple Light Levels

Full Illumination- This is the level of light as outside on a sunny day, or inside a fully stocked and attended Dwarf feasting hall, etc. Anything brighter then this is clearly supernatural, from another dimension, and so on. No penalties for actions; creatures of darkness like orcs or cavern beasts will instead get a penalty of -2 on their rolls instead from the intense, blinding light.

Torchlight- The level of light produced by a torch, huge jar filled with fireflies, a magic Light spell, cavern filled with luminous mushrooms, and so on. No penalties for actions.

Candlelight- The level of light produced by a single candle. As should be mentioned here; light levels are not cumulative. Two candles still counts as the candlelight, but additional sources of light will help prevent your lights from being snuffed out. As in no amount of candles equals a torch, unless you've literally covered an entire room with them or some other ridiculous situation. Creatures who rely on light to see get -2 to all attacks and saving throws.

Matchlight- The level of light created by sparse, inconsistent, or otherwise very poor light. Also called "Dim" levels of light. Might be created by a few scattered, loose torchbugs in a room, a single glowing mushroom, or striking several firestarters and going by the sparks and flashes. Character who rely on this light get disadvantage OR -4 to all attacks and saving throws.

Total Darkness- No light at all. In this scenario, characters cannot fight at all. Only using some kind of supernatural blindfighting, or in a lucky 1 in 20 chance can you actually hit an opponent with an attack. You also cannot cast spells, as you cannot see or visualize your target, depending on the spell being cast. Total Darkness may also nullify your saving throws against monster abilities; you cannot dodge the sucking, swallowing mouth of a giant monster unless you can see it coming, as such total darkness is the absolute most dangerous situation and should be avoided at all costs.

Dirt Simple Lockpicking & Lock Tiers

Are X in 6 or Percentile lockpicking chances too swingy? Want to remove skill rolls? Instead of using a roll to pick locks, your Rogue can just pick them. It simply takes time and a lockpick to open most locks, with the exception of puzzle style locks, which are more like weird dungeon doors that have slide puzzles or little mazes to solve instead of keys.

You'll probably need specialist tools to open the higher tiers of locks- as a rule of thumb, you need a number of tools equal to the lock's tier to open it. These include things like wedges, picks with different heads, vices, tumblers, and so on. Magic locks fit into this paradigm as either advanced puzzles or as whatever base lock was enchanted +1 higher Tier.

If you want to include a use for Dexterity- change the time it takes to unlock a lock tier above your own by 6 - Dex Modifier. (adding if Dex mod is negative)

Dirt-Simple Lockpicking - Lock Tiers Table

Rogue lvl	Tier	Description
x	0	Improvised, rusted, primitive.
1	1	Standard or common locks. Owned by merchants and lesser-nobles.
3	2	Mechanical Puzzles- Sliding blocks, levers and pullies, etc.
5	3	Advanced locks. Used by the very wealthy or to protect great treasure.
7	4	Advanced puzzles. Reflective mirrors, crystal arrays, etc.
9	5	Ancient Locks. May not use keys- old daggers and talismans slot in instead.
x	6	Self-Aware Clockwork, "Unbreakable", and Divine-level locks.

If the lock is two stages or below your current tier of lock, you can open it basically instantly. You've seen it before.

If the lock you're picking is one stage below your current tier of lock, you can open it in one turn.

If the lock you're picking is an equal stage to your current tier of lock, you can open it in two turns.

If the lock you're picking is one stage above your current tier of lock, you can open it in 6 exploration turns/one hour.

If the lock is two or more stages above your current tier of lock, you can't open it. It's too complex. You'll have to bypass it through breaking it or leave it for later.

Even Dirt-Simpler Magic Resistance

I wrote this magic resistance ruleset a while back, and decided it was too complicated. A chance to avoid spells works better. Let's tie it into an existing mechanic.

You wear Armor to avoid attacks. This is called AC.

You wear Ward to avoid spells. This is called WR. Could also be short for “Witchcraft Resistance”.

Spells that already give a saving throw have no effect on ward, they avoid it entirely. The save is avoiding the physical or magical energy causing the effect. Spells that do not grant a saving throw must content with warding, as they are directly attempting to alter the target of the spell. Things like Sleep and Magic Missile therefore require a roll to bypass the Ward of a target.

The Ward of any creature is base 10, or base 1 if you want spells to function similarly with most creatures not being able to resist them. Wisdom modifier is added to this protection, similar to AC adds your Dexterity bonus. (Or Con bonus, if you're a hipster like me.) Casters roll a d20 + Int modifier + level of spell equal or higher to the Ward to hit.

Wards are increased by wearing a Talisman. In the same way you can only wear one suit of armor at a time, and better armors just increase your AC, Ward can only be gained from one talisman at the time. Homespun protective charms protect like leather, high end crystal talismans made by shamans protect like chain or plate.

Dirt Simple "Roll to cast Spells" Mechanic

I made this rule specifically because because of the common complaint I see with D&D- that magic users never fail to cast spells and spells are a reliable 1 to 1 resource trade. While balance discussion on the games is pretty annoying and I've already discussed it to death, some chance to cast spells without too much change to the core rules might be an interesting addition.

Whenever a magic user casts a spell, roll a d20 and add their Intelligence modifier. Then, use the following chart to determine what level the spell is cast at.

Spell Casting Table

1 or less : Caster level – 3

2 – 5 : Caster level – 2

6 – 9 : Caster level – 1

10 – 13 : Caster level +/- 0

14 – 17 : Caster level +1

18 – 21 : Caster level +2

22+ : Caster level +3

The spell is cast as though the magic user is of the level rolled on the table above for the purposes of spells scaling, damage, or resistances. If the magic user rolls low enough that their level drops below the caster level that can cast a spell of that slot (5^th level Magic-User casting a 3^rd level spell, gets a -1 to their Caster Level from the spell) the spell fizzles instead, the slot wasted OR the spell going haywire, depending on the DM and the tone of the game.

Using this system, spell casters can fail spell casts and have variation in how powerful they are each time they cast the spell. While this system could also mean that magic users can cast spells with better scaling, a few extra damage dice or rounds of duration a spell gains from the MU being higher level is minor compared to the extra chance to fail a spell outright- this system is slightly weighted towards the negative aspect without modifiers, hopefully making the magic user a little less powerful for those that believe the MU is too strong.

Dirt Simple Slashers

Very simple d6 roleplaying game based on mass-murdering slashers from the movies. Loosely based on the Cabin in the Woods mythos.

This game may feature any number of victims as playable characters, and one player to play as the DM or Slasher. Every player rolls a 1d6 to see what role they pick, lower rolls being better. If you lack a player, slide everyone down to fill the empty space.

These are the roles;

1. The Virgin
2. The False Suspect (The Gentleman)
3. The Scholar
4. The Athlete
5. The Fool
6. The Whore

Each roll can be played by any gender, but the virgin and the whore are almost always women. The 2^nd roll “The False Suspect” is totally optional. Once the rolls are determined, the killer must roll a 1d6+1 to see who he targets first. The killer always targets the person closest to the roll going downwards; so if they roll a 7, then they go after the Whore, or the Fool if the Whore is not in play. The reason for the 1d6+1 is because the killer never targets the virgin first, who has the best chance of survival. Every time a character is killed, everyone moves down a space on the d6 roll, this way the killer will slowly pick off victims one by one until the virgin is usually the last, or the survivors manage to escape. With only 5 characters, The Whore actually has a chance of escaping.

Every “round”, the killer will chase the target. The target may react by using the environment to stave off the killer; hiding in a closet, building a barricade, arming themselves with a weapon, etc. If the killer rolls their number or under, their defense wasn't enough and they die. The killer dictates how they die, and usually leaves behind the corpse in an obvious place so the other characters can find it. If the character is the virgin, who should usually die last, the Killer may just toy with her instead; such as giving her a scar, or dropping her into a pile of corpses and leaving her for dead even though she isn't, and so on. This goes with the special victory condition of the killer with the last survivor being the virgin, just horribly scarred for life.

If the character acted out their role and used their personal skills they can lower their rank by one; for example the athlete can use a weapon or their strength to try and attack the killer, or to run away over an obstacle. The scholar can use their intelligence to make a plan, or the fool can do something unexpected and stupid, like playing dead, which somehow works if the killer fails the roll. The False Suspect gets to lower his rank against the killer if he acts in defense of another character, or does something incriminating that makes the other characters doubt him. While the players OOC know he is just a player, in the game he is the “most likely” person to be the killer and may be accused or taken away by police.

The only exception to the above is the virgin, who can lower her rank (and therefore always evade the slasher) if she calls for help. Once all the other characters are dead, then the virgin is finally vulnerable. If the character cannot think of any kind of defense, the killer just kills them. If the killer's roll is over the characters rank, then the killer is evaded temporarily and it will select a new victim with a 1d6 roll, going down the list of whoever is left.

Finally; the game can also end early based on the fiction. For example, if the killer is buried in a rockslide that they couldn't lift out of even with their superhuman strength, or if they were blown apart by a bomb, then the slasher is dead and the survivors win. Some slashers may be supernatural even moreso, such as a ghost or malevolent AI, in which case defeating them requires more fitting means; trapping the ghost in a puzzle box, hacking the AI with a virus, etc. Regardless, the Killer wins the game if all characters die, or if the Virgin gets away but was scarred and suffered horribly through the events of the game.

Dirt Simple Magic Resistence

Do you want an easy method to allow PCs highly specialized to fight against magic to resist it without just relying on saving throws or an X% chance to avoid the spell entirely? Then use this. Due to the broadness of this concept, it could also easily be ported to be used as a Legendary Resistances for demigod like or high level characters.

Dirt Simple Magic Resistance

When your character fails a spell saving throw, use your character's HD as a monster to factor in their vulnerability. Your character's HD is calculated as a combination of your level + your magic resistance and your magical vulnerability (if any). Magic Vulnerability counts as things like curses and weak willpower, and is only applied occasionally. Magic Resistance can still apply versus spells that do not grant saves; this is your protection instead.

To determine Magic Resistance, use the rule of threes.

• Every singular item that grants +3 to an elemental resistance or spell saves
• Every three items that grant +1 resistance to a specific save, element, or magic effect
• Any item that blocks the effects of a specific spell of at least third level or higher.

For example; if your character carries a wooden leg that makes them immune to the spell Tessoc's Marionette, and carried a cluster of 3 or more coins that granted them bonuses against evil fairy trickery, then you could consider their magic resistance as +2. When calculating their HD against spells, consider it as their actual HD + 2, which could render them immune to some spells.

If the spell is not affected by HD, then instead spell elements may be blocked. If your magic resistance is equal to or higher then the spell level or at least half the monster's HD for spell-like abilities, then you can block a single spell element. For example, if an ice spell freezes you to the ground in addition to dealing cold damage, your resistance lets you block one of the two elements automatically, even if you fail your save or the spell isn't changed by HD. Whichever would be worse to hit you is the one that is resisted. So if you're on death's door, you get stuck to the ground but take no damage. If you have plenty of HP but need to move to strike your target, you take the damage but don't get frozen to the ground, and so on.

Magic Resistance could also be applied when you succeed a saving throw, but the spell has secondary or extra effects beyond the first. Spells that deal multiple dice in damage, but have one or more still apply on a successful saving throw, may have extra damage dice blocked by the magic resistance. Each time you resist a spell or spell effect, your magic resistance number drops by 1. This means as your resistance is depleted you both start becoming susceptible to spells of weaker levels and gain less protection from spells.

Dirt Simple Spell Components

Dirt Simple Spell Components

There are 10 Forms of spell components (taken from Ars Magica & Freeform Ritual Magic); Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Plants, Animals, Images, Minds, People's Bodies (Separate from animals), and Prime (magic energy/pure arcane power) Components coming from these sources can be cast with relevant spells most correlated with the component- a mummified cat, for example, is used to cast Animal based spells, where as embers from a witch's oven are used to cast Fire spells.

In order for something to be a spell component, it has to be at least one of the following;

• Unusual / something not natural / Painstakingly made
• Infused with magic energy / had spells cast upon it / related to Wizardry
• Culturally significant / is “touched by fate” / Long lost relic

If the component has one quality, it can be used to cast a 1^st or 2^nd level spell, and is consumed.

If the component has two qualities, it can be used to cast a 1^st or 2^nd level spell as a spell focus, meaning it is required to cast the spell but is not consumed on casting. It can also be used to cast more powerful spells, but is consumed.

If the component has all three qualities, it can be used as a spell focus for all but the most powerful of spells. Alternatively, depending on how much this can unbalance the game, it can be used as a spell focus for 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd level spells, and has 1d4 uses as a spell component for greater.

Powerful Spell Components

When you need spell components for casting powerful spells, creating a permanent spell effect or magic item, inventing a new spell, or a complex magical ritual- take the spell effect's level, multiple it by 2 and roll on the component generator twice. This value is named Y. Extremely powerful or complex spells may have to roll more times on the table.

Component Generator - 1d12

[1] Requires an item or collection of items that cost Yx1000 gold.

[2] Spell must be cast or created at a place of power that is Y months of hard travel away.

[3] Requires body part or personal trinket of a creature with Y for HD

[4] Requires a ritual step or painstaking research over another Y seasons.

[5] Must be cast with the aide of a descendant of a bloodline. You know an ancestor Y generations ago and will have to trace the lineage down to the present day.

[6] Requires Y number of special Runes, the knowledge of each is highly guarded.

[7] The caster is aged by Y years, or you can take ½ Y in level drain just after the spell is finished.

[8] Requires Y number of other Mages to finish the spell. They will demand payment, favors, exclusive rights after the first casting, scheme to steal the formula, etc.

[9] Finishing this spell will release a curse that will last Y years and have a random (really bad) effect. It will also require a Cleric or Sage of Y level to even try to manage the symptoms.

[10] Requires special solution of Y different potions of “Greater” potency or better; to create the alchemist slurry to soak the item in / get the caster high on.

[11] Requires the sacrifice of Y virgin young women, or double Y “sacred” animals, such as snow white lambs or virgin rats from the temple of the hidden goddess.

[12] Requires summoning a magical creature of ½ Y in HD to grant guidance or continual bloodletting over the course of a year and a day. Creature is self centered and will always seek means of tricking the caster and escaping captivity.

Dirt Simple Size Modifiers

All creatures have a size category. The size category influences how good you are stealth, your ration consumed per day, combat charging bonuses, and bonus Hit Points. Bigger creatures are stronger, but less stealthy and require more resources. Smaller creatures are sneakier, but less powerful. The bonus HP gained by size applies to player characters and NPCs generated as hirelings or playable monsters, not monsters that already use HD.

On the first round of combat a creature may choose to Charge. Charging into combat lets you add your charge bonus to your AC AND to-hit until you either miss an attack OR are hit. This can be positive or negative based on your character's size, as smaller characters are likely to dash themselves on a charge. Mounted creatures get to add their mounts size to their charge bonus. If you do not charge, you have to enter combat by stealth or fire at range until the melee is upon you. Some weapons, like spears, can ignore an enemy's AC bonus when charging, making them better against charging foes.

Size 1- Gnomes, Housecats, Kobolds, Goblins

+2 to stealth rolls, -1 to charge bonus, -2 to starting HP. 1 meal needed daily.

Size 2- Halflings, Hobgoblins, Dogs & Goats

+1 to stealth rolls, not change to charge bonus, -1 to starting HP. 2 meals needed daily.

Size 3- Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Boars, Wolves

no change to stealth rolls, +1 to charge bonus, no change to starting HP. 3 meals needed daily.

Size 4- Dragonborn, Gnolls, “Giant” Insects, Bears

-1 to stealth rolls, +2 to charge bonus, +1 to starting HP. 4 meals needed daily.

Size 5- Half-Giants, Draft Horses, Trolls & Ogres

-2 to stealth rolls, +3 to charge bonus, +2 to starting HP. 5 meals needed daily.

Dirt Simple Weapon Specialization

If you are a Fighter, you get +2 weapon points every level. If you are a semi-combat class, like a Thief or Dwarf, you get +1 every level. If you are a non-combative class, you get none. Using ASU or related systems; classes with d10 would get +2, classes with d8 get +1, classes with d6 get none.

Weapon points can be used to grant special bonuses to the character while they are wielding that specific type of weapon. The maximum number of weapon points you can put in a weapon is equal to your level, which means you will have to diversify your weapons if you're a Fighter. Some weapons may be covered under multiple types.

The maximum number of point total you can put in any weapon is 4, until name level, in which it increases to 6 for Fighters. The limit of 6 can only be increased by divine intervention, a special weapon technique taught by ancient masters, etc.

The total of weapon bonuses is the point total, regardless of what abilities you actually chose. For example, your Fighter may have +1 AC, +1 to hit, and +2 to initiative with daggers. This is a point total of 4, and cannot be improved again at least until name level or other circumstances.

Instead of having weapon points be gained from leveling up; they could also be trained by paying a cost during downtime. Each weapon training may take a season or a "Haven" turn. In this case, the maximum points you can have in ALL weapons is equal to the normal point values above; 2 per level for Fighters, 1 for semi-Fighters, and ½ for non-Fighting classes. This cap is removed at name level or level 10, but your maximum per weapon is still 4, unless if you are a Fighter in which case your maximum for any given weapon is 6. Training any given weapon to 5 or 6 point total will require advanced, expensive training that may be restricted unless a quest or service is preformed.

For a point, you can improve your fighting style for a weapon and pick one of the following;

• +1 to hit
• +1 to damage against a specific class of creature (undead, beasts, constructs, mortals, dragons, etc.)
• +1 AC while wielding that weapon
• +1 initiative to turn order (does NOT count for getting advantage on an initiative roll)
• -1 to enemy saves vs this weapon's combat maneuvers (ie; tripping with a hooksword)
• Stuns for one round on a 20 to hit roll. Each point increases range by +1 (ie; at 4 points in this ability enemy is stunned on a roll of 17 or higher)

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.

Dirt Simple Alchemy

Heavily inspired by the newest Zelda; Breath of the Wild, this potion system is meant to simplify some of the thoughts I had on how I wanted to do alchemy. I can't take all the credit for this, as some of the ideas were brainstormed by anonymous contributors.

Dirt Simple Potions

In order to create a potion, it requires an open flame, water, a flask or vial, and a cauldron. Ingredients must be mixed together. Each ingredient has an effect; Each type of ingredient grants a 1d6 roll to determine the potion's strengths for that effect. Each additional ingredient of the same type grants just +1 to the roll for that effect.

For example; If you make a potion with 3 healing shrooms, a healing butterfly wing, and an attack boosting chili pepper; you would roll 2d6+2 for Healing and 1d6 to calculate your attack bonus. This effect roll is how powerful the potion is when drunk or applied to a weapon in the case for poison.

When mixed; the ingredients in the potion disappear into a colorful, often glowing liquid that is clearly supernatural. Potions only have one day of 'shelf-life' before they lose their magic and turn back into a useless ingredient slurry. Potions with ongoing effects grant the drinker their power for one exploration turn, which is not related to their shelf life.

Whenever foraging or shopping for potion ingredients, roll on each list to see what you find. You don't know what they do if you find them in the wild unless you're a Sage of appropriate level or unless you have a book that can tell you- otherwise you'll have to experiment. Inferior ingredients only grant 1d4 for rolling their effects, Rare reagents like from high HD monsters can have 1d8 or higher for their potion effects.

Ingredients- Roll 1d6

[1] Herb or Fruit

[2] Animal Flesh or Bone

[3] Mushroom or Mold

[4] Insect or Arachnid

[5] Monster Part or Egg

[6] Powder or Salt

Effect- Roll 1d10

[1] Attack- For every 5 points of X; grants +1 to hit

[2] Protection- For every 5 points of X; grants +1 AC

[3] Elemental Resistance- Absorbs X of an Elemental Damage. The Elemental this ingredient resists is tied to its location and the creature; ie Fire Drake teeth grant Fire resistance, Moss from a swamp grants acid resistance, etc. Or determine randomly- (1d4- Fire, Cold, Lightning, Acid)

[4] Sensing- You gain the ability to see in the dark to a number of feet equal to X times 5. You also gain the ability the 'hear' loud sounds through walls, floor, or ceiling such as the sound of miners striking at rock or rushing water. Range of this ability is roughly equal to X feet.

[5] Mana- You can recover a spent spell slot in spell level equal to X or less. If you're using another system, count this as restoring +X mana points or adding +X to the next spellcrafting check.

[6] Healing- Restore X Health. If fed to a dying character with -X or more health, save to be revived

[7] Cure- Fights against the disease as though you had X days of bed rest. Incurable diseases are instead delayed by X days. Restores X points of attribute damage.

[8] Antidote- Reduce X Poison Damage from what you are suffering. Not a resistance; must be drank after you are poisoned. On save vs death poison, add +½ of X to your saving throw.

[9] Poison- Adds +X Poison Damage on first strike if applied to a sharp weapon or arrow. Target gets a save to resist the poison. Poison damage is rolled after the hit is confirmed.

[10] Stability- Adds +X number of days this potion will keep before spoiling.

Potion Errata

Due to how strong some of these effects can be, especially with multiple potion ingredients of the same type, that is the reason for the potions short shelf-life. Stability-effect ingredients can be added to make them better and last longer of course.

Ingredients of the same effect and type have lesser effects then adding in multiple ingredients of the same effect but different type. However it doesn't make much sense for a bear's molar that can cure disease and camel fat halfway across the world that can also cure disease to be considered the “same” ingredient. You can choose to have each biome have its own set of ingredients that are counted as different ingredients in different biomes.

If you're the type to have weird, mutational, or potential dangerous potions with side effects then consider having a random saving throw whenever a tonic is ingested and have the player roll on the effects table if they fail the save. Whatever effect they roll is instead reversed for them; so if they roll Attack they fumble all of their attacks horribly, or they suddenly become very flammable and they'll take X bonus fire damage if so much as a torch brushes up against them.

Of course, these rules don't have to ever be the extent of your potions or tonic making adventures. Let players soak an ent's bark in a tonic and ingest it to gain barkskin for their protection tonics, or make it so any potion mixed with a dragon's heart becomes permanent, or can be poured out into a strange alchemical homunculus. But you were already thinking of doing that, weren't you?