D6 2e Preview: Modularity, Oh My!

Modular? What does that mean?

When we sent our email about D6 System 2e, we knew it’d inspire a lot of questions! Today’s preview is the first in a series of reveals about what Gallant Knight Games has planned out for the new core rulebook for the D6 System.

If everything goes right, the next preview will have a Kickstarter page for everyone to follow along with!

Now, let’s dive into what we meant by modularity! As always, this is preview material and is subject to alteration or change before the final product!

Escalating Modularity

Throughout the D6 2e core rulebook, you will find that the book is structured in a series of escalating rules modules, each being used to introduce alternative rules or modifications to the baseline rules.

In addition, throughout the book, there are other sidebars and optional rules. These optional rules are designed to allow you to genre bend and modify the game to fit various themes, in a “plug-and-play” fashion. The additional and optional modules help you to fine-tune your campaign to fit the genre you’ve chosen to play in!

The modules are housed under various genres or sections of the book, but each module can be used with other genres and modules. That means, even if magic is housed under Fantasy, there’s no reason you can’t use it in superheroes or science fiction! If a module does not work with another module, we’ll call it out.

Some of these modules are long (several pages or more) and some are short (only a page or two)! The goal is to communicate as efficiently as possible.

Like any tabletop roleplaying game, the more rules you add to the game, the more likely an unusual edge case is going to come up. Dice mechanics are no match for the sheer power of imagination and creativity players can espouse, and as such, the GM must be prepared to make a few rulings now and then to ease the gameplay where the rough parts might cause fiction.

But…

Let’s put our money where our mouth is! Here’s a list of the currently written and planned modules for the core rulebook (with a few surprises held back). There’s a lot here, but we think you’ll be excited to read about it!

Core Rules
These are the basic rules that all D6 2e games need to function. They are the least complex distillation of the game. Attributes, skills, the wild die, and more all end up in this section.
Module: Hyper-lethal Combat
Module: Environments
Module: Pips
Module: Weapons by Genre/Era
Module: Experience Points
Module: Milestone Character Advancement
Module: Perks & Talents
Module: General Foes & Bestiary
Module: Templates

Fantasy
These rules cover fantastic and historical style roleplaying, from deep and dark dungeons to mighty quests and heroic happenings in worlds of sword and sorcery, high fantasy, low fantasy, and everything in between.
Module: Fantasy Skills
Module: Magic Points Casting
Module: Freeform Skill-Based Magic
Module: Active & Responsive Combat
Module: Fantasy Bestiary
Module: Fantasy Templates

Science Fiction
These rules cover hard science fiction, space opera, and more! If you want to careen across the stars in acts of rebellion, try to make ends meet in a difficult and dark universe, or boldly go into the utopian future humanity could have, this is for you!
Module: Science Fiction Skills
Module: Starships & Starship Combat
Module: Driving & Vehicles
Module: Psionics
Module: [Surprise!]
Module: Science Fiction Bestiary
Module: Vehicle Templates
Module: Science Fiction Templates

Superheroes
These rules cover superheroes, from the classic four-color paragons of goodness to the grim and dark Iron Age heroes who were soaked in blood while wearing pouches galore.
Module: Superheroic Skills
Module: Superpowers
Module: Gadgets & Gear
Module: Hideouts & Strongholds
Module: Nemesis, Companions, and Sidekicks
Module: Superheroic Templates

Whew…

That’s a lot of text. You deserve a cool art preview. Check out this piece by Tan Ho Sim for the book! You can probably guess what section it’ll go into!