Roll for shoes

roll-for-shoes.md

taken from expanded with material from

Roll for Shoes

Rules

Roll for Shoes is a tabletop RPG “micro system” with a very simple set of rules.

The original post is archived at “I roll to see if I have shoes on!”, but here are the rules:

1. Say what you do and roll a number of D6s, determined by the level of relevant skill you have.
2. If the sum of your roll is higher than the opposing roll, the thing you wanted to happen, happens.
3. At start, you have only one skill: Do Anything 1.
4. If you roll all sixes, you get a new skill specific to the action, one level higher than the one you used.
5. For every roll you fail, you get 1 XP.
6. XP can be used to change a die into a 6 for advancement purposes only.

Examples

This mini-system works beautifully for crafting characters on the go. Here are some example "charsheets" from the dungeoncrawl of Cakewalk that I ran:

• Krey the Heretic Monk of the Church of Pain : 0 XP Do anything 1, Fist O'Pain 2, Burning Fist O'Pain 3, Heretic 2, Teeth of Biting 2!
• Ferret the Son of a Shoemaker: 2 XP Do Anything 1. Boots of Kicking 2. Feet of Feats 3. Supplier 2.
• Ryu the Polymorphed Egglayer: 2 XP, Reptillian 2

But my favorite moment was this:

I had asked the players if they were doing anything to prepare for the dungeon before leaving town. One of them said he's checking to see if "he has his heirloom shield" with him. He rolls and botches, and so I say: "Your father is a shoemaker. You are not sure why you ever thought you had anything even remotelly close to a shield." After a little while, this character and the would-be monk make it to the heavy doors of dungeon Cakewalk and have a little conversation regarding their preparedness. The monk says he's barefoot and happy to be so, 'cause, well, he's a monk! And then the shoemaker says "I check to see if I have shoes on!"... Which is beautiful, of course - we've already established he's the son of a shoemaker, so he definitelly has shoes on. So if he does win this roll, we know that he doesn't just have shoes on, he has awesome shoes on!

And then he rolls a 6 on that roll and gets Boots of Kicking 2.

And then he rolls a 3-6 roll for kicking down the dungeon door, and upgrades it into Feet of Feats 3.

Tools

Body Parts

1. Head
2. Left arm
3. Right arm
4. Torso
5. Left leg
6. Right leg

Specific Body Parts

11 Left ear	21 Right ear	31 Left eye	41 Right eye	51 Nose	61 Mouth
12 Left shoulder	22 Left upper arm	32 Left elbow	42 Left forearm	52 Left wrist	62 Left hand
13 Right shoulder	23 Right upper arm	33 Right elbow	43 Right forearm	53 Right wrist	63 Right hand
14 Left upper	24 Right upper	34 Left middle	44 Right middle	54 Left lower	64 Right lower
15 Left hip	25 Left thigh	35 Left knee	45 Left shin/calf	55 Left ankle	65 Left foot
16 Right hip	26 Right thigh	36 Right knee	46 Right shin/calf	56 Right ankle	66 Right foot

NPC Tables

Roll D66 (two D6 side by side) for each of the tables below.

Description

11 Adorable	31 Filthy	51 Slender
12 Attractive	32 Furry	52 Slimy
13 Bald	33 Glamorous	53 Spiky
14 Bearded	34 Huge	54 Stinky
15 Beefy	35 Lanky	55 Stylish
16 Bony	36 Muscular	56 Sunburned
21 Bulky	41 Obese	61 Tall
22 Chiseled	42 Pasty	62 Tattooed
23 Chubby	43 Petite	63 Tentacled
24 Clean	44 Scary	64 Tiny
25 Creepy	45 Shifty	65 Ugly
26 Elderly	46 Short	66 Voluptuous

Personality

11 Annoying	31 Fearless	51 Noisy
12 Arrogant	32 Fidgety	52 Optimistic
13 Awkward	33 Friendly	53 Quiet
14 Bossy	34 Grumpy	54 Rowdy
15 Clumsy	35 Judgmental	55 Rude
16 Confident	36 Kind	56 Sad
21 Courageous	41 Lazy	61 Sarcastic
22 Demanding	42 Maniacal	62 Selfish
23 Embarrassed	43 Mean	63 Shy
24 Enthusiastic	44 Messy	64 Silly
25 Evil	45 Murderous	65 Simple-Minded
26 Excited	46 Nervous	66 Stubborn

Extras

While the basic Roll for Shoes rules are purposefully simplistic, there are some extra rules and systems you can add to a game to emphasize themes or add mechanics as necessary.

Weaknesses

Weaknesses are similar to Skills, but instead have a negative number associated with their level (e.g., Running -2, Climbing Ladders -3). Weaknesses are rolled with the noted number of D6s (as absolute value), but only the single lowest rolled die result counts.

Example: A character is being chased, having to use Running -2 to roll two D6s: they roll a 4 and 2, and use the 2 as their result. Another character must use Climbing Ladders -3 and would roll three D6s, similarly using the lowest single result.

A few important notes:

• Weaknesses are intended to be permanent, being analogous to negative Skills.
• Broad Weaknesses should start at -2 since -1 does not make sense as a roll on its own.
• Advancements are not possible with a Weakness, so rolling all sixes simply gives the character a single result of 6.
• Weaknesses can be quite punishing, so it’s recommended to only use them—and optionally the related rules below—when it’s fitting to the setting, style, and mood of the game.

Getting Worse

A possible additional rule is to invert advancement for Weaknesses: any Weakness roll of all ones grants a Weakness more specific to the action, at one level lower than the failed task.

Example: A character fails Running -2 with both dice rolled 1, and is given a new Weakness called Fleeing Uphill -3.

Gaining Weaknesses

Weaknesses are typically given at the beginning of a session, to emphasize an aspect of a character at creation. Alternatively, particularly bad Skill rolls could result in creating a Weakness: any Skill roll of all ones grants a Weakness at a related level, specific to the rolled action. This should only occur for Skills above level 1 (by default anything other than Do Anything 1).

Example: An otherwise capable character is given a very hot cup of tea, and attempts to Drink 2. They roll two 1s, and unfortunately gain Drinking Hot Beverages -2.

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Statuses

Statuses act as temporary modifiers to any relevant rolls, instead of being treated as a rollable Skill (or Weakness) on their own. Statuses can be positive or negative, and are typically written with their signed modifier value first to differentiate their usage (e.g., +1 Strengthened, -2 Poisoned). A character can have many effective Statuses, and multiple Statuses can affect a given Skill/Weakness roll. Statuses are intended to only be temporary, and should be dynamically added or removed when narratively appropriate.

Example: A character attempts to throw a molotov cocktail but fails spectacularly. It falls to their feet and explodes, giving them -3 On Fire which remains attached to them until they dive into a nearby river, thus removing the Status.

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Damage

By default, outcomes are handled purely narratively, around goals and actions that characters perform. Each action is a discrete move towards a goal, with no resulting values taken into account other than success. This works fine in most games and groups that don’t have a need to track damage.

Alternatively, you can use the difference between opposing roll results as a Damage value, and assign the damaged character a Status related to the damage.

Example: An orc swings its Stone Club 3 at an elf mage that tries to block with Magic Barrier 3. The orc rolls 9 and the elf rolls 4, resulting in 5 Damage. The GM describes the elf's failed defense as mistiming the spell cast, and the club strikes their shoulder. The 5 Damage outcome is used to place a -5 Clubbed Shoulder Status on the elf. This Status modifier would be applied to any rolls that rely on that shoulder, and could be removed with a successful heal.