I ran Mini Six for the first time last weekend and it was good. Everyone – even the “not really RPG dorks” in the group – grokked the task/combat resolution mechanics within minutes.
The speed and simplicity of character creation was greatly appreciated by a couple of folks who like to play, but don’t get off on more involved character creation (like the way BRP can feel, when you’re divvying up 300-odd points across a large selection of skills).
Everything flowed smoothly, and though one character died, a replacement was easily created (and subsequently slotted in) while the rest of us completed the combat that killed said unlucky bastard. A Hero Point was spent to do a little dramatic/environmental editing, the new character was introduced, and the adventure kept on rolling.
Oh, and during the combat we had a super explosion of the Wild Die, ultimately yielding a result of 55 on an attack roll. I had that hit bypass the poor target’s armor because, well, it just felt right to give *some* kind of bonus for that insane a roll.
After we were done, the players all remarked on how much the appreciated the ease of the game system and – this probably can’t be stressed enough – the simplicity of character creation. One of the players is a fairly hardcore RPG guy (he’s the one who’s running the CoC game I’m in now), while the other two players game in varying degrees, neither is a “serious” RPG player. That their characters triumphed mightily in combat while the more regular player’s bit the dust is probably illuminating.
So, ultimately, a whole lot of fun was had with just a handful of d6, a very few rules (six pages’ worth at most), and a lot of imagination. That was awfully, awfully nice.
There’s a chance we’ll be continuing this game tonight. Or we might play something else entirely. Either way, while I was generally interested in Mini Six (and, by extension, Open D6) before, I’m officially sold on it now. It’s got just enough crunch possibility to keep my rules-focused players happy while being light enough to be enjoyable for my less geeky friends. BRP still rules my “serious” table, and BoL still has ahold of my heart. But this groovy game has found its place with me for sure.
SORRY I ARE OSR TRIED AND TRUE, YOUR FUN WITH D6 MINI IS MAKE ME BLUE!!!1
IT ARE NOT GOT ALL THE FEETCHURS OF RETRO GAME DESIGN SO MUST BE BADWRONG FUN!
WAIR IS:
1)THE JIM FLAMINGPRINCESS PICATURES OF GUTS BEING RIPPED OUT OF PEEPLE FROM BIG-TATTED WIMMEN?
2) 23 SUBCHARTS FOR GOT TO SPELL AND FIGHT?
2) FUNKY DICE MUSTB UY ADDONS (D13, D17 AND D41’S) FOR ROLEING ON CHARTS IN #2??!!
THIS GAME ARE FAIL!!!1
:p
NUNYA
Do you think I can be excommunicated from the Grognardic Church for this transgression?
If so, do you think using Mini Six to create a D666 Table for gory combat results would restore me (and it) to my former state of grognardism?
You know, my parents used to drink Blue Nun back in the day. As a NUNYA who’s feeling blue, are you related? What is you alcohol content, anyway?
Nice to hear this. I’ve had Minisix for a while and it seems like it would be quick and easy to run/play. You have confirmed my suspicions.
Glad to share the word, Narmer. I had zero experience with any iteration of the D6 System prior to picking up Mini Six and in that iteration it really is as easy to run & play as it seems.
Durning my initial flirtation with Mini Six when it was first released I also downloaded all of the now free Open D6 content (D6 Fantasy/Space/Adventure, etc.) and I’ve been looking into that more since last weekend. I love to play with toolkit systems, and this stuff just plain seems like fun (and reminds me a bit of my ancient days of mucking about with the Hero system back before it was unified).
Cheers!
I’ve downloaded all of the Open D6 stuff too. But, like many things, I have not had the time to read it. I have read through D6 Star Wars though and like its look. Except the force rules. They seem overly complex to me. I do like the look of Mini Six better because of the simplification.
Mini Six is, for my money, the perfect entry point for the D6 System. It covers the key mechanics nicely while simplifying (or eliminating) the things that had previously given me pause when looking at the system in the past.
Better still, it’s a perfectly playable game on its own. Any individual group (or subset of a group, in my case) might find they want more crunch to the system (and if they do, there’s plenty to pull from in the Open D6 stuff), but these additional tidbits are far from necessary.
BoL is a great light system, but I think you need a certain degree of “gamerness” to be able to really appreciate what you can do with it. BRP is, of course, all it’s cracked up to be and is perfect for mid-level crunch. But Mini Six makes for an astoundingly good light system that can appeal to the casual RPG player very well on its own and can be expanded when/if needed.
That’s why these three are pretty much my holy trinity of RPGs right now. Excommunication from the Grognardic Church be damned! I never really like class & level systems anyway. 🙂
Are “BIG-TATTED WIMMEN” what i think they are?
You’d have to ask the Joesky-alike poster to know for sure. But yes, I’d suspect so. 🙂
Big tattoos. Right?
Yep, I’m sure that’s what was meant 🙂
This past year I have gravitated more and more to microgames, with Microlite20 and Mini Six being my two games of choice at the moment. Though, like you, I have grown weary of class/level systems, so Mini Six seems to come closer to meeting my taste.
I grew up playing Ghostbusters, and then later moved on to Star Wars D6, so I have had the D6 System in my blood since 1985. I believe that qualifies as “old-school”! If not, please let me know where to hand in my OSR membership card, because I cannot abide by such close mindedness.
…though I do miss using my d41 when I bust out the D6 System in any form! 😉
I am glad to hear you are working on Bushi(D6)o. I think it is a great idea! I have been cobbling together WeirD6 myself (I am mentioning this for the first time here, but I would like to start discussing it in more depth on my blog soon). The game is what the name implies, which is an iteration of OpenD6 (actually much closer to Mini Six) that allows for games that aim to emulate the Weird fiction genre. I am trying to infuse the system with a very strong pulp flavor. The goal of WeirD6 is to act as an SRD for the system that Swords Against the Outer Dark: Sword & Sanity Roleplaying will be built upon. I also have a couple of other projects I would like to follow this up with that uses also uses W6. Bat (Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets) is authoring a Mini Six supplement as well, which I am chomping at the bit to see!
Pao, maybe we can share our efforts once they are closer to completion, so we can get some early feedback. Let me know what you think.
WeirD6 sounds like great fun, Shane. I absolutely can’t wait to see/hear more about it. I think it’s a great idea, my man and I’d be happy to share whatever I can. Though I have to admit I’m probably not really “developing” Bushi(D6)o so much as poking at it a bit. Still, count me in no matter what.
I love it that you & bat are doing things with Mini Six/Open D6. It’s a damn fine time for cubes!
Cool! I am still hammering out some of the smaller details right now, but should have a first draft of the player’s section in place very soon. Once I have that I will begin blogging a bit about the development of the game and I will share what I have with you.
Rockin’! I can’t wait to see more of what you’re up to with this, amigo. My eyes will be glued to Swords & Sanity for sure.
Oh, and I reckon Hopeful Monster, too 🙂
OK, did a little fact checking… Ghostbusters RPG was published in 1986, which is still old-school as hell if you ask me ! 🙂
And given the august personages who were responsible for the system’s initial development (personal faves of mine, all) I think it’s safe to call GB and its descendants truly old school. Which only goes to show that “old school” is most decidedly not some weird constraining term that only means “D&D the way Gary played it.” 🙂
Amen!