System Basics
This website contains the entirety of the rules you'll need to know, and then some. Like most pen-and-paper RPGs, you'll also need dice – in this case, a handful of common, run-of-the-mill six-sided dice will do the trick. You’ll usually want two per player but having extras is a good idea, and perhaps a single four-sided dice to calculate percentile chances if you want to get fancy.
Throughout the game, your characters will likely try to do things that aren’t exactly everyday mundane tasks. We rely on the random results of dice rolls for determining everything from how injured your enemies become after hitting them with your sword, to whether or not your character is able to swim against the current.
We refer to a six-sided dice as a 'd6'. A number before the 'd' indicates that more than one die is used – when the system refers to '2d6,' we mean you should roll two six-sided dice and look at the total sum. A value before or after the type of die, like 'd6+2', means that that number is added to the result of the roll. If the d6 comes up as 5, for example, the total score would be 7.
Often, FFd6 will call for a random target to be chosen. A fair way to determine this would be to have all eligible targets roll 2d6, with the lowest roller ending up as the target.
When the system states that an effect has a 50% or 25% of occurring, you could resolve this by rolling a 1d4 or percentile dice…or continuing with your normal 2d6 dice. A 25% chance is 9 or higher on 2d6, a 50% chance is 7 or higher, and a 75% chance is 5 or higher. Use whatever method is easiest for you and your group!
You almost always round down in the FFd6 system, but never round to zero. Half of one is considered to still be one.
In many game systems that use d20s, a result of 1 is a spectacular, automatic failure, where a roll of 20 is an automatic success. In the FFd6, which uses a 2d6 roll for the majority of checks, there is a chance that the result will come up with both dice landing on sixes. In combat, this dice result means that the character performs a never-miss Critical Hit and possibly a Limit Break.
For skill checks, however, such a roll does NOT count as an automatic success. Players can do truly preposterous things at higher levels within the rules of the system, and it takes more than just a lucky roll to make a character’s (possibly crazy) wishes a reality.
When both dice land on 1s, this is called a Complication. In combat, a Complication means the monster or character automatically misses their attack no matter how accurate they might normally be, but there’s never more dire consequences.
On skill checks, Complications get a little more…well, complicated. Since Final Fantasy heroes are often beyond beginner’s mistakes, rolling nothing but 1s means outside influence or fluke happenstance ruined whatever the character was trying to do - such as the guards coming to investigate what all that noise is about. This is a chance for the GM to spice up the story with new problems arising to supplement the old ones. Not only is your airship spiraling out of control, but one of the engines is now on fire!...and so on!
Throughout the game, your characters will likely try to do things that aren’t exactly everyday mundane tasks. We rely on the random results of dice rolls for determining everything from how injured your enemies become after hitting them with your sword, to whether or not your character is able to swim against the current.
We refer to a six-sided dice as a 'd6'. A number before the 'd' indicates that more than one die is used – when the system refers to '2d6,' we mean you should roll two six-sided dice and look at the total sum. A value before or after the type of die, like 'd6+2', means that that number is added to the result of the roll. If the d6 comes up as 5, for example, the total score would be 7.
Often, FFd6 will call for a random target to be chosen. A fair way to determine this would be to have all eligible targets roll 2d6, with the lowest roller ending up as the target.
When the system states that an effect has a 50% or 25% of occurring, you could resolve this by rolling a 1d4 or percentile dice…or continuing with your normal 2d6 dice. A 25% chance is 9 or higher on 2d6, a 50% chance is 7 or higher, and a 75% chance is 5 or higher. Use whatever method is easiest for you and your group!
You almost always round down in the FFd6 system, but never round to zero. Half of one is considered to still be one.
In many game systems that use d20s, a result of 1 is a spectacular, automatic failure, where a roll of 20 is an automatic success. In the FFd6, which uses a 2d6 roll for the majority of checks, there is a chance that the result will come up with both dice landing on sixes. In combat, this dice result means that the character performs a never-miss Critical Hit and possibly a Limit Break.
For skill checks, however, such a roll does NOT count as an automatic success. Players can do truly preposterous things at higher levels within the rules of the system, and it takes more than just a lucky roll to make a character’s (possibly crazy) wishes a reality.
When both dice land on 1s, this is called a Complication. In combat, a Complication means the monster or character automatically misses their attack no matter how accurate they might normally be, but there’s never more dire consequences.
On skill checks, Complications get a little more…well, complicated. Since Final Fantasy heroes are often beyond beginner’s mistakes, rolling nothing but 1s means outside influence or fluke happenstance ruined whatever the character was trying to do - such as the guards coming to investigate what all that noise is about. This is a chance for the GM to spice up the story with new problems arising to supplement the old ones. Not only is your airship spiraling out of control, but one of the engines is now on fire!...and so on!