Limitless is a streamlined roleplaying system designed to be used in your next game. It offers a player facing dice pool mechanic thats easy for beginners and deep enough for veterans.
Use Limitless in your game by adding the text "A Limitless roleplaying game" somewhere in your document.
Cheers!
- Many influences from The Black Hack by David Black and The Riddle of Steel
- Many influences from "The Riddle of Steel" by Jacob Norwood
- Warning: this game contains Deadly Weapons.
© Copyright by Jacob Rex
Limitless was written with these philosophies in mind.
Your Character's abilities are determined by their Stats and Equipment.
Simply describe what your Character does and the GM will determine the Check.
Your Stats have a chance to increase as you play, making levels uneccessary.
Initiative is determined by Combat Checks each round making the battlefield fun & fast paced.
Checks resolve when dice roll over & under target numbers, making Modifiers unecessary.
Checks create degrees of success, allowing Players to make all the Checks.
Every weapon has the potential to do lethal damage. When you are on the battlefield you are literally fighting for your life!
Magic is mysterious & unweildly and requires Checks to cast. Failure results in hilarious or dangerous consequences!
Limitless is released under the Open RPG Creative license (“ORC License”) for others to use.
Whenever you attempt to do something with a consequence of failure, your Game Master (GM) will ask you to make a Check to determine what happens. Checks are made by rolling 2d20. Each die that rolled below the relevant Stat is counted as a Success.
| Successes | Outcome |
|---|---|
| 0 | Failure |
| 1 | Success but... |
| 2 | Success |
The "but..." of partial Successes and Failures depends on the situation at hand. In Combat for example, this often means the Defender can apply their active Defense bonuses from Weapons & Shields. Ultimately, the consequences of partial Successes & Failures are up to the GM.
Non Player Character's (NPC's) never make Checks. Instead, the GM will set the scene and asks you to respond. You can choose to respond to the same situation in different ways depending on how you want to play your character, and your decision will determine the Check you make and it's difficulty. For example, when faced with an arrow trap you could: leap out of the way (Agility), raise your shield and brace for the hti (Endurance), swipe the arrow out of the air with your sword (Dexterity), and so on. See the Character Creation chapter for more information about Stats.
A Check's Intensity is the highest number rolled in a Check. For example if a player rolled a 12 and a 4, the intensity of that check would be 12. Intensity can be used for various things, like resolving Partial Successes in Combat or determining Initiative.
A Check's Difficulty is the lowest number a dice can roll and be counted as a Success. This means the dice in your pool only Succeed if they are below your Stat and above the Difficulty. This allows the DM to account for situations like cover, darkness, terrain, powerful enemies etc.
| Difficulty | Description |
|---|---|
| 0 | Standard |
| 1-5 | Difficult |
| 6-10 | Challenging |
| 10+ | Daunting |
Your GM may determine that a Check is impossible and no roll can be made.
To create a Character, Roll Stats and select a Background.
Stats are generated by rolling 3d6 nine times and assigning each result as desired to Strength, Agility, Dexterity, Vitality, Vigor, Endurance, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. This generates stats between 3-18, with 10 being average.
Strength describes your Character's physical might. It determines how easily they can apply force to objects.
You'll use Strength to...
- Weild heavy weapons without Difficulty
- Apply force to objects and push, pull, lift, or break them
- Peform atheltic actions like climbing, grappling etc
Agility describes your Character's atheleticism & nimbleness. It determines how easily they can react quickly or perform some physical feat.
You'll use Agility to...
- Perform stealthy actions like moving silently or hiding
- Perform athletic actions like jump, run, tumble, balance, etc
- Avoid harm by dodging
Dexterity describes your Character's fine motor skills & hand-eye coordination. It determines how easily they can perform complex or precise actions.
You'll use Dexterity to...
- Weild weapons without Difficulty
- Perform complex actions like disabling devices, picking locks, tying a rope, pick pocket
- Perform precise actions like catching or hitting something in mid air, throw a dart, sleight of hand, etc
Vitality describes your Character's physical health. It determines how easy they can get sick or perish from injury.
You'll use Vitality to...
- Determine your Hit Points (HP), which is how much damage you can withstand before dying
- Resist disease, poison & toxins, etc
Vigor describes your Character's fitness. It determines how quickly they can recover from sickness or injury.
You'll use Vigor to...
- Heal while resting
- Recover from conditions like Shaken, Poison, Disease etc
Endurance describes your Character's hardiness. It determines how much of a burden they can bear or what they can withstand.
You'll use Endurance to...
- Determine your Buden threshold (Optional)
- Withstand lethal or serious blows
- Endure pain, fatigue, heat, cold, hunger, thirst, hold your breath, etc
Intelligence describes your Character's cleverness & thinking ability. It determines how easily they can understand, process or recall information.
You'll use Intelligence to...
- Recall information about a subject you're knowledgable about
- Perform intellectual actions like crafting, discerning, investigating, reasoning, etc
- Evaluate the statements of NPCs
Wisdom describes your Character's perceptiveness & judgement. It determines how easily they can appreciate, discern, and understand the nature of things that require contemplation or meditation, especially in the realm of philosophy and religion.
You'll use Wisdom to...
- Perform contemplative actions like discerning, observing, judging, intuiting, etc
- Resist fear, temptation & deception
- Intuit the intentions of NPCs
Charisma describes your Character's personality. It determines how easily they can interact with NPC's and hold a conversation.
You'll use Charisma to...
- Persuade, seduce, bluff, intimidate or othwerwise influence an NPC
Your Max HP is equal to your VIT. Whenever you take Damage that is not blocked, you lose that much HP. You are Knocked Out (KO'd) when your HP is reduced to zero. See the Damage & Recovery section for more information.
Burden is a measurement of how hindered you are by the Equipment you're carrying. Your Burden is equal to the number of items you're carrying in excess of your Endurance. The Difficulty of all Strength, Agility, or Dextertity Checks is increased by your Burden.
Backgrounds determine your Characters starting Equipment and Stat Bonuses, but do not lock them in to a style of play. Below are some examples to get you started. Work with your GM to determine what backgrounds are available to you.
| Background | Equipment | Bonuses |
|---|---|---|
| Alchemist | Leather Armor, Dagger, Potions | +2 INT |
| Barbarian | Greatsword, Hide Armor | +1 STR, +1 VIT |
| Cleric | Chainmail, Sword, Mace | +1 AGI, +1 WIS |
| Cowboy | Revolver, Bandolier, Boot Knife | +1 DEX, +1 CHA |
| Detective | Shoulder Holster, Pistol | +1 INT, +1 CHA |
| Monster Hunter | Leather Armor, Crossbow, Whip | +1 DEX, +1 INT |
| Space Marine | Bodysuit, Burst Rifle | +1 DEX, +1 END |
| Swashbuckler | Leather Armor, Cutlass | +1 AGI, +1 CHA |
| Wizard | Robe, Quarterstaff, Dagger | +2 INT |
Whenever you take Damage, a Hit Location die of d20 is also rolled to determine where you will be hit. Below is the hit location tables for humanoids.
| D20 | Location |
|---|---|
| 20 | Any |
| 18-19 | Head |
| 11-17 | Body |
| 6-10 | Arms |
| 1-5 | Legs |
If your HP drops to zero, you are knocked out and suffer an Injury decided by the GM based on where you were hit and the damage type. Each Injury lowers your Max HP by 5 and increases the Difficulty of all Checks by 2. If your Max HP falls to zero or below due to a knockout, you die.
Whenever you take Damage greater than your END you have suffered a Lethal Blow. Consult the table below:
| Location | Outcome |
|---|---|
| Head | You die instantly |
| Body | You die but you can give a death speech |
| Arms | You are maimed or dismembered. Suffer 1 permanent Injury |
| Legs | You are maimed or dismembered. Suffer 1 permanent Injury |
An attack against a helpless opponent may target any location and be lethal if the attacker desires.
After an hour of rest, you can make a Vigor check. You recover 1d6 HP for each Success. During a this rest, a character can: eat, drink, read, and tend to wounds.
After a night of rest, make a Vigor Check. You recover recover 1d6 HP for each Success.
After a month of rest involving no physical labor of any kind, you can make a vigor check. You recover 1 Injury for each Success.
The GM will award 1-3 Valor at certain milestones within the game or as a reward for good roleplaying. You may spend Valor to do one of the following:
1. Advance. Outside of Combat, spend 1 Valor to Advance. Choose a Stat and roll d20. The Stat increases by 1 permanently if you roll higher than it. 2. Reroll. At any time you may expend 1 Valor to reroll a failed Check, Damage roll, or Defense roll.
To use Magic, describe what you want to happen and your GM will determine the Check. Depending on the game world, this could be an Intelligence check for tome/memorization based magic, Charisma for inner force magic, or perhaps Wisdom for faith based magic.
| Successes | Outcome |
|---|---|
| 0 | Mishap |
| 1 | Unintended success |
| 2 | Success |
Unintended Successes should do what the magic user wanted but in an unexpected way, perhaps lasting only one Round instead of sustaining, doing limited Damage or having some other unexpected result.
A Mishap means the magic went ary and does something harmful. The nature of the mishap should be related to the action that was attempted, with more dangerous magic having more serious or even lethal consequences. For example, if the caster attempted to create light, perhaps they accidentally blind themselves for some period of time. If the caster attempted something like teleporting to another location, perhaps they find themselves trapped in some alternate realm.
The GM may set a difficulty for a magic check. This will be based on the game world and other situations at the GM's discretion.
| Difficulty | Summary |
|---|---|
| 0 | Common magic. Trivial consequences. |
| 1-3 | Uncommon magic. Painful consequences. |
| 4-6 | Rare magic. Serious consequences. |
| 7+ | Dangerous magic. Lethal consequences. |
Equipment refers to Weapons, Armor, and Shields or other items held or equipped by your Character. In LIMITLESS, Characters are free to use any Equipment they prefer based on thier play style.
Attack is a measure of how effective a Weapon is at doing Damage. The Damage dealt by a weapon is the highest of Xd10 where X is the Weapon's ATK. If the result is a 10, add 1d10 to the Damage. Repeat this until something other than a 10 is rolled.
Defense prevents incoming Damage and is rolled at the same time as Attack. The Damage prevented is the highest of Xd6 where X is the defendants total DEF. If the result is a 6, add 1d6 to the Defense. Repeat this until something other than a 6 is rolled. If a Defense roll is higher than an Attack roll then no Damage is dealt.
Weapons in LIMITLESS are a strategic choice for the player, as all can do lethal damage. Players should choose weapons that suit their style of play and preference.
- generally, attack with agility
- any weapon can be two handed and attack with STR to add 1 ATK (maybe also +2 difficulty?)
- use dex to target a specific location?
- add difficulty to target a speific location?
- combat check vs opponents dex to disarm
- dex check to avoid disarm
- Weapons do not provide DEF against Ranged attacks.
| Melee Weapons | ATK | STR | DEX | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dagger | 1 | 6 | 8 | 12 |
| Broadsword | 2 | 11 | 9 | 25 |
| Rapier | 2 | 8 | 12 | 25 |
| Scimitar | 2 | 10 | 10 | 25 |
| Sword | 2 | 10 | 10 | 25 |
| Estoc | 3 | 10 | 12 | 50 |
| Longsword | 3 | 12 | 10 | 50 |
| Bastard Sword | 4 | 14 | 10 | 75 |
| Greatsword† | 5 | 16 | 10 | 100 |
| Club | 2 | 8 | 8 | 10 | | Flail* | 3 | 8 | 12 | 30 | | Mace* | 3 | 12 | 8 | 30 | | Warhammer* | 3 | 11 | 8 | 30 |
| Axe | 2 | 10 | 8 | 30 | | Battle Axe† | 4 | 14 | 8 | 60 | | Greataxe† | 6 | 16 | 8 | 90 |
| Spear | 3 | 8 | 12 | 20 | | Halberd† | 5 | 12 | 12 | 50 |
- Ignores 1 DEF from armor † Two-handed
| Ranged Weapons | ATK | STR | DEX | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shortbow† | 2 | 8 | 12 | 40 |
| Longbow† | 3 | 10 | 14 | 80 |
| Hand Crossbow* | 2 | 6 | 8 | 50 |
| Crossbow†* | 3 | 10 | 8 | 100 |
| Heavy Crossbow†* | 4 | 12 | 8 | 150 |
| Melee Weapons | ATK | STR | DEX | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Axe | 2 | 10 | 8 | 20 |
| Bat | 1 | 10 | 8 | 10 |
| Brass Knuckles | 1* | 8 | 12 | 25 |
| Chainsaw | 4 | 10 | 8 | 200 |
| Police Baton | 1 | 8 | 8 | 25 |
| Survival Knife | 1 | 8 | 8 | 50 |
| Switchblade | 1 | 6 | 8 | 20 |
- Does not explode
| Ranged Weapons | ATK | DEX | Capacity | Ammo | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carry Size Pistol | 2 | 10 | 10 | 9mm | 500 |
| Revolver | 3 | 10 | 6 | 357 | 750 |
| Full Size Pistol | 3 | 10 | 15 | 9mm | 500 |
| Lever Action Carbine | 4 | 12 | 12 | 357 | 600 |
| Bolt Action Rifle | 5 | 12 | 8 | .30-06 | 500 |
| Semi-Auto Rifle | 6 | 10 | 12 | 357 | 1000 |
Shields provide active protection against incoming Damage when there is a Partial Success for the defender. Shields can also grant the defender cover when they're focusing their attention on a ranged attacker.
| Shields | DEF | POI | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buckler | 1 | 1 | |
| Round* | 1 | 2 | 25% Cover |
| Wood Shield | 1 | 2 | 25% Cover |
| Heater | 2 | 3 | 25% Cover |
| Kite | 2 | 3 | 50% Cover |
- Breaks whenever an attack defended with this shield deals 10 damage or more
Armor provides passive protection to all incoming Damage on the body part it protects. Armor slots include head, body, arms, and legs.
| Type | DEF | STR |
|---|---|---|
| Padded | 1 | 5 |
| Leather | 1 | 8 |
| Chain | 2 | 10 |
| Brigandine | 3 | 12 |
| Plate | 3 | 13 |
When combat breaks out, gameplay is broken down into Rounds. At the start of each Round, the GM sets the stage and explains what the NPCs are doing. Then, you and your teammates say what you each plan to do that Round and everyone rolls their Checks at the same time. Everyone's actions are resolved in the order of the highest die roll shown in each check with ties happening simulataneously.
It's possible that your Action may become moot by the time your turn comes around. Perhaps the monster you targeted was killed by another player before you acted. Such is the nature of Combat.
The battlefield is broken into abstract distances of near, close, far and distant. You are enagaged in Combat with nearby enemies. You can move to a close space as part of your turn. Moving far takes an entire turn. Distant Combatants have left the battlefield and would require a check to catch up to or find.
- Unarmed ATK is Xd6 where x is 1/6 strength rounded up
- No active def when unarmed
- Unarmed attacks are made with Agility
- Make a Check to determine attacker/defender
- Attacker rolls Damage & Hit Location
- Defender rolls Defense
- Resolve
| SUCCESSES | OUTCOME |
|---|---|
| 0 | You are hit |
| 1 | Tough choice |
| 2 | You hit your enemy |
- if intensity is above their difficulty you hit but they can defend
- otherwise you are hit but can defend
- Make a Check
- Attacker rolls Damage & Hit Location
- Defender rolls Defense
- Resolve
- Roll Usage Die
| SUCCESSES | OUTCOME |
|---|---|
| 0 | You miss |
| 1 | You hit your enemy but they can defend |
| 2 | You hit your enemy |
You can choose location to target prior to making your Combat Check, but it will introduce a Difficulty determined by the GM. Uses Dex
Cover increases the difficulty of ranged checks.
| Cover | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| 25% | 3 |
| 50% | 6 |
| 75% | 9 |
| 100% | Impossible |
good ideas
- vig determines your stamina. you spend stamina every round to do things in combat
- weapons and shields provide 1d6 defense for each stamina spent, up to the max for that equipment
- weapons provide d10 attack for each stamina spent, up to the max for that equipment
- armor provides passive defense regardless of stamina
- heavy armor reduces the size of your stamina pool
- two handing a weapon adds +2 damage
- you may spend 1 extra stamina to add d10 to a attack
- you regain 5 stamina every round
- in RoS all weapons do d10 but have different target numbers, so you buy dice with your stamina
- in this g
bad ideas
- pain: gained every time you become shaken. ongoing penalty as a difficulty floor. pain check per day.
- shaken: shock
- hp: loss of life,
- poise is a pool like hp but it resets after a skipping a turn to take a breather or after combat
- any damage taken comes from poise first, and then from life
- poise is a pain threshold. if you fail an END on a poise break you gain 1 pain. Pain persits as a difficulty floor or addition until resolved, which resolves at a rate of VIG/day
- some ability to determine how much of your defense and attack dice you're using per attack
- Pain is equal to the life lost and is a difficulty threshold on all checks
- Poise maybe is injury table?
Size describes your Character's physical stature. It determines their height and width, how difficult they are to knock over or be affected by attacks, their reach in combat and so forth.
You'll use Size to
- Calculate your Threat
- Determine difficulty of grappling or knockdown checks
- Withstand dismembering blows to limbs