Dreadnaught diceless RPG – Introduction

Dreadnaught – a diceless RPG system

Ages ago I mentioned thoughts on a diceless RPGing system. Finally I figured it is time to quantify what I have done and post it on the blog. The entirety is pretty extensive, so I’ll post it in manageable chunks. This unfortunately also means that I’ll make forward references that aren’t vindicated til later posts are made. So… without further ado:

First-off, just because it is a diceless system, doesn’t mean it is a system without extensive number shuffling and keeping track of things. I enjoy rather complex designs, so you can expect a fair amount of intricacy. The overall design is something I like to think of as a streamlined implementation of DnD, but some might recognise the influence of BESM as well.

The random element of dice is largely removed from the design, instead the DM may chose to add a random (dice-based) touch to progress of the game – but this is entirely optional. Instead of dice the game allows players to influence the outcome of events by spending action points. Performing any given action does not inherently require the expenditure of action points, but using action points to enhance the activity performed greatly increases its efficacy. In essence using action points is a player’s way of praying to destiny to favor him or her.

Action points come in two varieties: an allotment of action points for the day, and a seperate set of action points for encounters. During an encounter a certain amount of action points is allocated per combat round. Similarily each player receives a certain amount of action points each day. More detailed rules later stipulate the mechanisms by which this works.

The core rule for rounding in Dreadnaught is that all fractions are ignored. In other words, whenever necessary the numbers are rounded down.