Designing A Table-Top RPG: Resolution

How do you DO things?

Feb 14, 2025

three white dices with blue dots on them — Photo by Ric Tom on Unsplash

Games have conflicts, problems, issues, troubles, struggles, etc. You need a way to resolve these things, a system for resolution. It might be the most basic building blocks of a TTRPG. You need mechanics or otherwise you’re just writing/telling a story.

It could be as basic as flipping a coin or passing off the storytelling to another player to decide what happens.

In the most popular and common ttrpgs, you roll some dice and add some kind of modifier, attempting to get over or under a certain number. This adds a randomness and excitement that many players enjoy about role-playing games.

In OSR/DND, you roll d20 and the GM sets the Difficulty Number to beat based on the situation. The roll is modified by the character’s stats (attributes and skills). You succeed if you tie or beat the number, and lose if you roll under.

In FITD (and apocalypse world, I think?) games, you have a dice pool of d6s, based on your character’s attributes, and the highest number you roll determines your success. FITD also adds in more modifiers, including the situation (Controlled, Risky, Dangerous) and the Effect (Limited, Standard, Great). There’s also Partial Successes, as opposed to the binary succeed/fail system most games use.

You have to figure out what works for your game. At its most basic, how do you decide if a player/character succeeds? What does the player do, mechanically, to reflect what the character is doing, fictionally? Where does randomness come into it? How do the character’s “stats” come into it? What modifies the roll? How does difficulty come into play? The environment? Opposition? Is combat handled the same as any other roll or are there additional rules?

woman in blue dress holding white horse — Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash

Resolution is a big deal. It can be simple or complex, minimal or fiddly, loose or crunchy. Everyone has their personal preferences and what may be too clunky for one player is perfect for another. It’s why there’s so many systems out there, and people have so many opinions about which is better. It comes down to taste.

When I started role playing with friends, we used a Wheel of Time d20 system. We had to because my parents were semi-religious and didn’t like D&D’s reputation. Wheel of Time d20 is pretty much just a D&D 3rd edition reskin, with attributes, skills and the rest pretty much the same. Although it was basic, (and there were enough enemy types, really), it was all we knew and we had a blast. Eventually we moved to D&D 3.5 of course and since that time, I’ve gm-ed and played Blades in the Dark, Mothership, Glow in the Dark, Mechwarrior 2e, Dark Heresy 2e, Warhammer Fantasy 2e, and Scum and Villainy. More recently, solo-wise, I’ve tried Ironsworn, Starforged, Mork Borg, Kal Arath, Blade Runner and more. I’ve seen many different systems! And there’s still many out there I haven’t tried.

I chose a system of resolution similar to Kal Arath because I adored its simplicity. Roll + Stat, DC 8, and keep it moving. It’s quick, easy and keeps momentum high, which is especially useful in solo play when it’s very easy to get bogged down or tripped up, trying to track all the rules by yourself.

I fell in love with Kal Arath’s system after playing it solo through numerous character lives. It’s simple, easy to remember, quick to play. You don’t have to remember much, you can play fast and loose. I also really felt the survival aspect. You have to deal with weather, rations, and dangerous enemies. This all led into what I wanted for Niv Lova. I tweaked some things (adding guns), added some things (repair/crafting), but the core system is the same. 2d6 + Stat vs DC: 8. I like how everything is player-facing. The player rolls attack and defend during combat, which makes playing solo very easy. Also, it only uses d6s, which for some reason, feels right.

When choosing/creating a system for your TTRPG, the question of WHY returns to rear its ugly head. Why choose this instead of that? Why 2d6 instead of 1d20? What percent of successes are you going for? If you want a deadly, survivalist feel, successes should be few (like in Mothership). If you want more pulpy, action-movie feel, successes should happen regularly (D&D). Do you want players to feel nervous or powerful as they reach for the dice? Do you want to instill a sense of doom or glory? Do you want to use a bunch of different types of dice (d4/d6/d8/d12/d20) or stick to one?

Don’t let these questions slow you down, though. If unsure, just try something. Throw some dice. Look up some probabilities. Play test some combat and see what happens. Once you have something, you can try it and see what needs to be changed. If you have nothing, stuck due to an inability to choose, overwhelmed with options, then you’ll never get started.

Some systems resonate with their setting, such as Mothership’s low-rate of success connecting with the space horror setting/theme, while others are meant to be used in a variety of settings, such as Fate.

What systems do you love or hate, and why? What have you tweaked/changed/altered and for what reasons? What house rules do you use and for what purpose?

Playing With Myself

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