Six (Game System)

Premise

An entirely untested system. Can be used with Reconstructed Espionage Action or anything else.

A character can be represented by a lined sheet of paper, or a notecard. On the card you will write down the things you are carrying. One thing is one line.

You cannot carry more than six things. This is the primary mechanic of the game.

Rules

If you try to do a reasonable or easy task you will succeed. If you try to do a difficult task, or a reasonable task under stress, you must roll 1d6. On a 5 or 6, you succeed. If you can name a relevant thing that helps you, you also succeed. The GM and the other players can name things that would hurt you, which cancel out 1-to-1. If you encounter serious consequences, the GM may make you take on harmful things and/or lose helpful things.

If all your slots are filled with harmful things, you are dead or out of the game. It may be harder to let go of some things than others.

Sample Characters

Start by choosing a name and a class. This will determine your starting things. Each class also has a kind of thing they are good at acquiring from the environment. Here are a few sample classes.

Class - The Society Butcher

Fancy Dress. Silenced pistol. Command of six languages. Permission to enter elite circles. A hole where your heart should be.

You can pick up strings from NPCs you meet. A string is a thing that represents an obligation, and the strength of the obligation is determined by how long you spend interacting with the NPC.

If you spend five minutes talking to them, they will do a favour for you, or ignore an indiscretion. If you spend an hour talking to them, they will cover for you, or give you something to help you. If you spend a night with them, their heart will break for you.

Class - The Old Spenser

All-terrain smart camouflage suit. Night-vision goggles. Rifle. Close-quarters combat skills. A brutal wound, half-healed.

You can procure equipment from your environment. When you can name a gadget, tool, item, or small object that might reasonably exist in the scene, you find it.

Class -  The Pattern Analyst

Dull suit. Networked radio terminal. Encyclopaedic knowledge of most things. Air of standoffishness and undoubted expertise. A deathly fear of conflict.

Name three things in the scene and how they are connected. If the other players agree, they are connected in that way.

[To be continued?]