Making a Character

NUGGET Attributes
These describe natural talent at general kinds of things.
This is a trimmed-down version of the LODE system As NUGGET is very simple there are just four:
found in Silver Branch products. It aims to be a simple Brawn - strength, toughness, stamina
tool for introducing people to roleplaying games or Agility - speed, coordination, flexibility
putting a game together in a hurry. It’s more traditional Brains - noticing, remembering, working things out
than innovative. NUGGET lacks the detail to handle Will - determination, self-control, charisma
specific genres (e.g. superheroes or fantasy) really well,
but it’s enough for simple games where characters are Most people are rated at 0, the average point. Some are
basically normal people with special skills - horror, talented at +1. A few are exceptional, rated +2. Some are
crime, low fantasy, science fiction, monster collecting... particularly poor, rated -1. Player characters are well
above average. You have 2 points to raise Attribute levels.
Spend both on one at +2, or split them between two at +1.
NUGGET is a simple set of roleplaying game (RPG) If you take one at -1 it gives an extra point to spend.
rules. A group of people sit around pretending to be
imaginary characters having adventures in a fictional Skills
setting. Each controls a player character (PC), except one These are areas of knowledge, training and experience,
who takes the role of Game Master (GM), setting up like Fighting with Swords, Piloting Starships, Chemistry or
situations for the PCs and controlling the other characters Investigation. They go in levels 1-4: Basic, Professional,
they meet (non-player characters, NPCs). The players say Expert, Master. NUGGET doesn’t give a list, so you’ll have
what their characters do and the GM tells them what to name your own, neither too broad nor too narrow.
happens next. The story progresses through scenes of Write down your Occupation. This is what your
particular actions at a location. You’ll need pencils and character spends their time doing - Space Smuggler,
paper and about 10 six-sided dice. Doctor, Private Detective, Barbarian Warrior, Schoolgirl,
etc. It gives 1 level with a cluster of Skills, and you don’t
have to list them all: whenever it makes sense for an action
Basics to fit within the Occupation you get an Advantage on the
roll (but use a specific Skill if you have one written down).
Characters are described with Advantages and Pick one Core Skill that’s central to your Occupation
Disadvantages compared to an average, untrained person. (e.g. Medicine for the doctor, Sword Fighting for the
If a task is neither trivial nor impossible, you roll a “pool” barbarian, Pilot Starship for the smuggler) and write it
of a variable number of dice to see whether you succeed. down separately as level 2 (professional).
The pool is made up of the Base Dice that an average You also have 4 levels of Skills to allocate as you wish.
person would get, plus one die per Advantage (Adv) from They can be new hobby Skills (the doctor might be an
a Skill (knowledge and training) and an Attribute (natural amateur stage magician), or you can increase specific Skills
talent), minus one die per relevant Disadvantage (Dis); e.g. from your Occupation - your work is your life!
Research + Brains.
Base Dice (BD) set difficulty. Just rolling your Finishing off
Advantages is BD 0, a task that needs a professional. If Write down 1-3 Goals - things that are important to the
anyone can have a decent try it’s BD +2 (probably the character, which could be people, objects, organisations,
commonest). If only the best can pull it off it’s BD -2 principles or things they want to achieve.
(subtract 2 from your Advantages). Near-impossible tasks Write down your Initiative bonus: the total of Agility
are BD -4. The GM can give an extra Adv or Dis for special and Brains Advantages and the levels of your highest
situations. If you end up with no dice it’s just too hard. Fighting Skill. (Disadvantages subtract; it can go negative.)
Count each die that shows 4, 5 or 6 as one success. A Write down your Physical Resistance (2 + Brawn
single success means you just barely do it, though not very Advantages) and Mental Resistance (2 + Will
well; 3 successes is a good, solid result; 5 or more successes Advantages). These scores are the number of dice you’ll
is truly impressive. No successes (all rolls 1, 2, 3) means actually roll (BD 2) - it speeds things up if they’re handy.
failure. If they’re all 1‘s that’s a fumble: you messed up Write down Destiny Points, with space for it to change
and the GM describes the awkward consequences. over time. You start with 1 point.
Exceptional success can be handled in one of two You have ordinary items of equipment to allow you to
ways. For a realistic or gritty style run the game “lid-on”: perform your Skills - beyond that it depends on the game.
if all dice come up as 6‘s you get one extra success. For
high-energy, unpredictable action run it “lid-off”: each die
that shows 6 can be rolled again for a possible extra Combat
success, and further 6’s give further re-rolls.
Initiative. When it comes to high-speed action, things
Opposed rolls happen when two characters come into
happen in rounds: chunks of time a few seconds long
conflict - a physical fight, interrogation, haggling, arm-
divided into 10 phases. At the start of a round everyone
wrestling or a chess match. Both characters make
rolls one die and adds the result to their Initiative bonus.
appropriate rolls. The one with more successes gets their
The GM counts down from 10 to 1, and your initiative
way, and the difference tells you how decisive it was. Ties
total tells you when you can take your action (e.g.
usually go forward (dramatically!) to another roll.

NUGGET v2.1 © Tim Gray for Silver Branch Games 2002-6. www.silverbranch.co.uk This document may be copied and distributed freely -
it’s meant to be used - but it may not be altered or incorporated into other work without permission.
punching, throwing, shooting). After phase 1 the next normally but costing a physical or mental Hurt for fatigue
round starts, until the fight is over. A total over 10 means unless a success is spent to be good enough to avoid it. The
you can act once on 10 and again on the remainder (e.g. 14 players and GM need to agree how much or little these can
=> 10, 4), up to 10, 8. A total less than 1 means you’re too do. Possibilities include “Telepathy”, “Moving Objects”,
confused to take an action this round. You can also do one “Fire Magic” and “Illusion”. Mind-based attacks use
simple thing for free each round any time after you’re Brains with Will as base damage, or just a roll with Will.
ready for your first action (Phase 1 if you can’t act) - e.g.
drawing a weapon, picking something up or running a Destiny Points
short distance. More involved actions like all-out sprinting These are a mixture of karma, luck and self-esteem,
take an action. You can delay an action till later in the given by the GM during play and spent to direct the
round. Characters acting on the same phase go in order of character’s path. Use counters for Destiny during a session
Initiative bonus. You can defend against an attack at any and write it down at the end. Gain a point for doing
time; one roll counts against all attacks in that phase. something cool like beating an enemy, performing a
Attack and defence. Attack rolls use the relevant Skill dangerous stunt, or just making everybody laugh. Gain a
plus Agility, usually BD +2. Defences, like parrying or point if the character takes an important step toward one
dodging, are similar but use any close combat Skill (e.g. of their Goals in a scene - but a point can also be taken
not Gun), and against projectile weapons are BD 0 to BD away if a Goal is seriously thwarted, like your beloved
+2 depending on cover. If the attacker gets more successes aunt getting hurt or the Empire taking over your base! (If
it’s a hit and does damage; otherwise it misses. you are already at zero and would lose a point, the GM
Damage. Add the difference between attack and gains one to a general pool for the opposition.)
defence successes to the base damage, below. Hand-to- Spending Destiny. Spend one to make a roll again and
hand attacks add Brawn Advantages as well. keep the result you prefer. If the GM allows it, spend one
0 unarmed to be unconscious instead of dead (some games should be
1 knife, small club dangerous, but usually heroes can survive all sorts of
2 sword, big club, axe, spear, arrow harm). Buy a new level of a Skill between adventures for
3 big sword, polearm, handgun, SMG (new level x 5) Destiny Points. Specific games may have
4 rifle, shotgun further uses, like establishing a minor, plausible
6 machine-gun coincidence, or getting one die to roll when you have none.
8 tank gun
The target rolls Physical Resistance to withstand the Opponents
attack, with successes taken away from the total damage. In general, give opponents the abilities they ought to
(A fumble adds 1 to damage!) Read the result off here: have rather than trying to balance points. Minions are low-
level riff-raff with an Occupation and low or no Attribute
1-2 Hurt and Skill bonuses. Put them all on initiative (3 + bonus).
3-4 Injured Even one Hurt takes them out of a conflict. Henchmen
5-6 Injured and Unconscious have higher stats and are taken out by an Injury or 3
7+ Injured and Dead Hurts. Major villains work like PCs, with abilities as good
Note Hurts and Injuries on your character sheet : they or better, plus other advantages like henchmen or fiendish
build up and give penalties while they last. Hurts are devices. They start with Destiny - often one point per PC -
bruises and cuts that slow you down - each subtracts 1 and can get more for advancing their plans.
from Initiative for future rounds and takes 5 minutes of Animals, monsters, aliens etc can have Attributes
rest to disappear. Injuries are serious wounds - each takes beyond the normal range: up to +4 and down to -2. This is
1 off Initiative and gives a Disadvantage for all rolls except most common with Brawn, related to size.
Resistance, and takes a day of rest and care to recover.
“Unconscious” and “Dead” are self-explanatory. Someone Threats
with medical supplies can try first aid: roll Medicine + Apart from combat, characters get exposed to all sorts
Brains, BD 2. Each round the patient and healer do nothing of things that can do them physical or mental harm, like
else, one success can be spent to heal a Hurt. fire, poison, falling, or terrifying monsters. They’re all
Combat details. Any armour worn subtracts from handled the same way: the GM gives a damage rating
damage: 1-3 points for archaic types, possibly up to 5 for from the table below, which is opposed by the appropriate
modern types. Firearms with spray/burst firing give an Resistance and applied as above.
Adv to hit. Shields give an Adv to defend. Surprise, e.g. if
an opponent has successfully sneaked up, means no 1 Irritating
defence roll is possible. Unseen opponents turn attack and 3 Painful/Tiring (desert)
defence into Fighting + Brains rolls, BD 0. 5 Damaging (ordinary fire, drowning)
8 Deadly (strong electricity)
10 Extreme (space, deep ocean)
Special rules Record mental damage separately: Hurts and Injuries
add to those from physical damage, but heal
Weird stuff independently. An “Unconscious” result from a Threat
This includes things like magic and psychic powers.
gives an impairment lasting about a scene, e.g. blinded by
NUGGET doesn’t try to cover these. The way they work
a flash, fleeing in mindless terror. “Dead” gives a
makes a big difference to the feel of a game, and that needs
permanent condition - curing it could be a story seed.
detail. One simple way is to set them up as Skills, rolled

NUGGET v2.1 © Tim Gray for Silver Branch Games 2002-6. www.silverbranch.co.uk This document may be copied and distributed freely -
it’s meant to be used - but it may not be altered or incorporated into other work without permission.