Dice Goblin

Prismatic Wasteland posed a neat challenge to start the new year with:

In January 2024, come up with a new resolution mechanic for a TTRPG and give it a name.

So, here we go!

Squeeze Your Skills

I’ve always loved the simplicity and elegance of 24XX by Jason Tocci. I’m going to combine it with 2 other things I love: Usage Dice and the simple 3-stat array found in Into the Odd, Cairn and, heh of course, Block, Dodge, Parry. I’m dubbing it the Squeeze Your Skills mechanic, because it’s funny, sounds dumb, and relates a little bit to the idea of ‘squeezing all the juice out of your skills’.

24XX

From 24XX, we take the basic outcomes of rolls:

1–2 Disaster. Suffer the full risk. GM decides if you succeed at all. If risking death, you die.
3–4 Setback. A lesser consequence or partial success. If risking death, you’re maimed.
5+ Success. The higher the roll, the better.

24XX, Jason Tocci

We’re also keeping the suggested progression in mind: d4 > d6 > d8 > d10 > d12.

Usage Dice

I personally know Usage Dice from The Black Hack by David Black, which was my first foray into OSR games (and still a golden standard in how to publish a game system).

Any item listed in the equipment section that has a Usage die is considered a consumable, limited item. When that item is used the next Minute (turn) its Usage die is rolled. If the roll is 1-2 then the usage die is downgraded to the next lower die in the following chain:

d20 > d12 > d10 > d8 > d6 > d4

When you roll a 1-2 on a d4 the item is expended and the character has no more of it left.

The Black Hack, David Black

You see where I’m going with this?

3 Stats

I’ll take those from Block, Dodge, Parry, which takes them from Cairn but I gotta get those name drops in:

• Strength (STR): Used for saves requiring physical power, like lifting gates, bending bars, resisting poison, etc.
• Dexterity (DEX): Used for saves requiring poise, speed, and reflexes like dodging, climbing, sneaking, balancing, etc.
• Willpower (WIL): Used for saves to persuade, deceive, interrogate, intimidate, charm, provoke, manipulate spells, etc.

Block, Dodge, Parry, Lars Huijbregts (from Cairn, Yochai Gal)

Putting It Together

You have 3 basic abilities, STR, DEX and WIL. Your level at each of these attributes can be:

Level	Die	Description
Poor	d4	No chance at a full success.
Basic	d6	Even odds at Disaster, Setback or Success.
Good	d8	50% chance at Success.
Exceptional	d10	60% chance at Success.
Legendary	d12	66% chance at Success.

Note down your max die for each attribute, and your current die for each attribute. You start with 2 attributes being Basic and one being Good, but can choose to lower the level of an attribute to raise the level of another.

When attempting any action involving risk, such as fighting, avoiding danger or tempting fate, roll the current die assigned to the most relevant attribute.

• On a 1-2, disaster strikes and the die size is lowered.
• On a 3-4, there is lesser consequence or partial success. This crisis is averted, but a next one now looms.
• On a 5+, you succeed. The higher the roll, the grander your success.

If your die size is lowered from a d4, you…

• STR: Die
• DEX: Faint/knocked unconscious
• WIL: are left in a dazed, mindless state