Roll for Shoes is an incredibly simple and minimalistic "micro system" designed to fit any potential roleplay the player wants. There are only six (main) rules.
- "Say what you do and roll a number of D6s, determined by the level of relevant skill you have."
- "If the sum of your roll is higher than the opposing roll, the thing you wanted to happen, happens."
- "At start, you have only one skill: Do Anything 1."
- "If you roll all sixes, you get a new skill specific to the action, one level higher than the one you used."
- "For every roll you fail, you get 1 XP."
- "XP can be used to change a die into a 6 for advancement purposes only."
Additional rules exist, but these are the six main ones. The intent is to provide a launching off point for any kind of campaign a player may think of, but can't find a system that works for the intended world. Definitely more on the story side of the Story to Gameplay Ratio.
The official site can be found here
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Compare Powered by the Apocalypse, a somewhat more complex (but still relatively simple) system also designed more for roleplay than combat.
Tropes:
- Minimalism: Specifically designed with this in mind, to be a launching off point for whatever the player may have in mind.
- Solo Tabletop Game: Extremely simple to do in this system, thanks to the incredibly simplistic ruleset. All the player needs is a random event generator and they can pretty much make any single player campaign they want.
- Stat Grinding: You start off with only one stat. "Do Anything", which you have only 1d6 in. However, this will eventually branch off into more stats if you roll a 6 for a specific action. For example, if you wish to fly, and roll a 6 from the do anything roll, you will gain the stat "Flight" and have 2d6 in the stat. Rolling nothing but sixes again in that stat will then give you another d6 to add to the pool.
- Universal System: The intent of the system is to let you play absolutely anything you would want to.
- You Have Researched Breathing: The name is partially derived from this concept. "I roll to see if I have shoes on!" Is the buzz phrase that gave the system its name. You start of with that stat "Do Anything" and gain more specific stats depending on if you roll all 6s or not.
