Thin Veneer of Reality

By Claytonian JP, inspired by Slimpunk, art by Wally Wood

When you attempt an action, if it is during the exploration phase, it uses 1d6 Party Luck. Actions might include searching for secrets or retroactively detecting a trap. The party collectively has 10 Luck during exploration. If 0 Party Luck is reached, the Reality Master peels back the veil and lets something unwelcome in. Torches sputter, monsters wander up, the chaos god awakens. You get the picture. Then Party Luck resets.

The PCs can regain 1d8 Party Luck by doing something productive or resourceful. Figure out a puzzle. Make an offering to the statue you just found. Get a girlfriend. Eat a meal. Play a Zelda fishing game. Reveal something about your backstory. Have an arc. Spend a night carousing. Resolve an issue. Have a moment where you sit down with Michelle Tanner and have a talk about what you learned today.

If you face an arduous task, it may take multiple rolls to tackle.

When you attempt  a combat action (move, threaten, hit, reload, cast a spell), it will happen, but you will use up 1d6 of your Character Luck. Each person has a different amount of PCL. If you reach 0 or less, a bad thing happens and then it resets. If you face stakes dire enough, you may well die. The RM needs to make an effort to telegraph how bad things are getting. Bosses will often mame, demoralize, and kill.

Every time you go into negative PC Luck, convert it to XP and reset your Luck to its starting number. If you get more XP than your PCL score, you gain one PCL permanently and reset XP to 0. You can also flush your XP to do that much damage to a foe, losing the XP but not CL.

Monsters either come in scads of many, or in tougher (solo) varieties. If you attack weak ones, you’ll kill the same number as the amount of PCL you lost when you made a combat action to assault them. For instance, roll a 3: Take three PCL damage and kill three weak monsters.

Stronger monsters will have Luck to protect them from your intentions. If you attack them, you will hit and deal the same amount of damage your Character Luck takes. For example, roll a 4 to damage, and you take 4 Character Luck damage while the monster takes 4 as well.

Weak monsters will do their best to body for their bosses and are ablative. Some really tough monsters will force you to roll bigger dice than d6s, or exploding dice, or both.

Example tough Monster: Psychic Vampire. LP 15. Bad things: Enthrall PC, raise the dead as servants, turn into brain-fog.

Optional rule if things seem too easy: Sixes always mean that something bad or odd goes along with whatever other results your dice give you.

To generate a character, roll 1d4+5. This is your Character Luck. Then choose or roll some options from below. If you have a better idea, suggest it to the RM.

I am a…

(roll twice) My preferred weapons are my… or my…

My body is that of a…

I adventure for… and ...