Introduction
Anyone who has read my previous reviews will likely know I am a dice junkie and when I was asked to do a review for BONES: The Customizable Dice RPG…how could I resist? BONES is a different sort of RPG that I think is a lot of fun as it is right now and has a lot of potential should Vincent Raven decide to further pursue the game’s development.
The Presentation
BONES is a 51 page PDF that is laid out with a single column and a side bar. Printed out (or if you have a hefty screen size to have pages side by side) it looks fine, but in a single page mode, there is a slight awkwardness to the layout. Otherwise it is easy one the eyes and the charts and tables are well labeled and clearly presented. The cover and interior art is by Andrew Navaro. While the art is simplistic it does convey examples and text references well.
In addition to the game are templates and graphics for the customizable dice aspect of BONES. This requires some work on the player side to complete the necessary materials for game play. The dice icons are well done and clear as to their meaning in regards to symbolism and with the tables needed for cross referencing in the core rules. One slight complaint I have with this part of the BONES RPG is that I would have liked to have seen the icons displayed in their colors when appropriate. Some icons have red, green and blue colors that convey mastery in a skill or a race skill. This can be quickly rectified by any drawing program on a pc, but would have been a nice addition to the documents in the BONES download.
Throughout BONES are good examples of game play that really put the rules into perspective. While BONES is not a complicated RPG, these examples really cemented the mechanics of the game.
Character building in BONES is different than any other RPG I have experienced. There are no stats, just dice that are customizable for each character. Characters start with 4 fully populated dice, each one starting with an automatic success and either a mental or physical success (if they are human, more on that below). The player then assigns skills (e.g. melee, missile; craft, etc…) of master skills to each die. In the generic game this is dictated by the player. In the campaign setting the first two dice are dictated by culture and training packages (more about the campaign setting later). It would have been good for BONES to have a few character sheets populated with pre-generated characters for samples to look at and also for use in the introductory adventure.
Advancement is simple, players gain dice sides by number of sessions played. The more dice they have the more sessions they have to play to get more sides. When a die is filled up, they get a new die with a selected skill icon, a universal success and either mental or physical success.
Races
Races in BONES are geared towards only humans but there are some quick rules for additional races. Instead of either a mental or physical success they have a racial success which applies to a choice of three skills whenever that icon is rolled. For example an elf has a master artisan, master perception and magic. This might be a bit more powerful than humans mental or physical success and maybe some negative aspect should have been introduced to each race to balance this perk.
Skills and
Resolution
Skills can be universal or restricted which in terms of game play means two things. With generic skills are attempted the attempted skill, mental or physical successes rolled count towards the characters action even if they are not skilled in that specific skill (e.g. melee is a universal skill). Restricted skills can only be used by someone with the skill but any of the attempted skill, mental or physical rolled count towards the characters success.
You might ask; why bother with loading up on skills when you can get successes from other skills? The answer is two fold. Once a skill has been advanced enough they gain skill the choice of mastery icons which give addition bonuses to rolls or perks to the character. Each skill has three masteries to them, so there can be plenty of variety and to benefits by obtaining multiple masteries in a single skill. Additionally the number os successes is limited by the number of icons bought for a skill. This is less of an issue at an early level when a character does not have many dice, but as their dice pool grows they need to buy more icons to get a higher ceiling for potential successes.
Each skill has examples of difficulty and the resolution for skills is simple. Difficulty is determined by variable number of dice thrown to oppose a player’s task. If the GM gets more nulls than the player has successes then the task fails, if it is more it is a success. Additionally if a player has a magic item, is aflame or poisoned they have a die for one of these added to their rolling pool and if the icon comes up…more damage to the character or an additional success is calculated into the result.
Spiffs
Spiffs are perks that are generated in character building and game play. Good writing and game play will give a player spiffs which can in turn be traded in to modify the story, miraculously survive death, re-roll a die, take more damage, etc. They are sort of like disposable/regenerating feats in another RPG. This is a cool mechanic because it rewards good play and also lets the player be more involved in the plot if they want. BONES is very much designed around the player’s interaction with the campaign and the spiffs exemplify that philosophy.
Combat
Combat works with a similar mechanic in except extra dice are thrown in for armor, weapons and effects (like being poisons or on fire). Additionally magic items a player has might have their own dice too. There are some nifty rules in the combat section. The first nifty item is players (with one exception) get to declare actions last. That way a player can determine if they want (or can) defend an attack, go all out or a balance of the two. Another is mounted characters always have initiative over ones on foot. Lastly is the hoard rule, which stipulates that when being attacked en masse. The bigger the hoard then more hoard dice that are rolled against the player.
One thing missing from combat in BONES was in what order to players go in. While all npc’s and monsters usually yield initiative multiple players performing actions might get a little jumbled without a hard rule.
Combat is resolved by noting the difference is defending and attacks and if there is more attack successes (melee, universal and physical successes) than defensive ones (defense and physical successes), the number that is the delta is the number of dice the target looses. For example a wimpy goblin with two dice takes two damage in combat, he looses two dice from his pool and is out of the fight. If the total damage goes negative equal to their dice total they are dead (two more damage and the goblin is deader than a snake).
Equipment
Equipment is straight forward also. Weapons and armor types have predetermined dice and those are rolled along with an attack.. Likewise magic items that would impact game play would have their own dice (e.g. a flaming sword, boots of stealth, etc.) when applicable. I would have liked to have seen more rules on magic items and more magic items. The weapons and armor are a little sparse, but entirely serviceable.
Magic
Magic is pretty simple yet broad in scope. It is also harder. The rule in BONES is it is always one step more difficult than doing it the mundane way. Casters start with one theme (mind affecting, fire, etc.) and as they gain skill sides to the dice they can branch out into other themes. The player determines the effect and limitation of the magic. Unless some sort of sacrifice is made the spell is instant and considered complete. Effects could last longer is a sacrifice is made, be it something of value, blood or health. Magic is rolled very similarly to combat or skills. However there is a limit to a casters ability and when the number of spells is reached some hard choices have to be made.
Bestiary
There is a small bestiary in BONES and while it does not cover many specific creatures all the tools are there to make any sort of creature as they have mix and match dice templates. For example if I wanted to create a wimpy flying demon I would choose the following dice types: demonic x2 and flier. The more dice a creature has the tougher they are. Imagine a monster with those dice plus dice from a cast member’s profession and that could be a lethal adversary indeed!
NPC (Cast Members)
After the bestiary is the npc section that works on a similar principle. Depending on how tough an NPC is the more dice from set professions they receive. There are a some examples to get an idea how to build a cast member and after that tons of dice options to build one to the GM’s liking. As with the bestiary the more dice a cast member has the tougher of an adversary (or allie) they will be.
Setting
BONES has a setting that is an alternative history focusing
around the times of an alternative
Sample Adventure
There is a good sample adventure in BONES that not only serves as an example of how do write one but also seems very challenging…perhaps too challenging. It is a fun read and a scenario I would enjoy as a GM, but as a player it could very well end up very, very bad.
A Word About Dice
You had better have a lot of six sided dice and the ability to make the icons. Luckily there are plenty of sticker sheets that can be slapped into a printer, cut as needed and applied to a trusty d6 and you are good to go. Most gamers have lots of extra dice sitting about and if not d6 is the easiest die to go find on the cheap. There are a lot of dice to be made for BONES which will require a bit of work and a lot of dice are needed, unless you just assign numbers for the icons (which doesn’t sound nearly as fun). But once the dice are made there should be very little work there after. Just combine the needed dice and roll away.
What I would use
BONES for…or why I like it
BONES is a functional RPG that I think would be fun to play. The mechanics are solid and well explained and any RPG makes us a slave to the dice…BONES is just slightly more so. For players like me who have lots of dice and enjoy rolling them; this RPG has a nice chemistry.
The simplicity of BONES might throw some players for a loop as it weighs in only at 50 pages and far more possibilities than RPG’s with page counts an order of magnitude higher…or has nearly more supplements than BONES has pages.
I think BONES would also make for a good RPG oriented miniatures game. There was an old school war game I played at a convention called Samurai Bloodbath that had a much simpler scheme but shared the same spirit. It would be fun to set up a dungeon crawl and have a miniatures game that the character shad to accomplish tasks, fight, etc…plus have lots of dice to roll.
Characters are defined by what they can do and everything else is implied. If a character has lots of melee icons they probably are pretty strong and dexterous. Likewise a character who is scholarly is probably pretty smart and wise. This is reflected by the fact that most skills also count as mental or physical successes. I have seen other RPG’s try to accomplish this with nearly incomprehensibly complicated rules (remember the rules in the venerable Rolemaster Companion II trying to tie cross-training to skills).
The charts and rules are well laid out and convey the information very well. They are also in the back of the PDF for ease of reference or cutting and pasting.
What could be
better in BONES
I would have liked to have seen the Cold Iron Campaign in a
more complete state with the background and occupation selections complete as
well as more information on this alternative
In the generic character building I would have liked to have seen a slightly more rigid character building process. My thought is the first two dice of the character’s initial four would be determined by background and occupation. The others would be selected by the player as hobbies and experiences before the campaign. The NPC tables for occupation would work in a pinch but there are no options for background.
In the equipment section I think there should have been more examples of magic items and weapons. Combat and loot are two key things in an RPG and BONES could have had a little more.
As I mentioned earlier the graphics for the icons that required color should have been done in color. BONES is a PDF and many gamers have access to color printers.
For a GM it might be a little daunting as there is a fair amount of prep work to be put into a game of bones beyond the normal plotting and planning. The creation of dice will likely soak up a fair amount of time if time is an issue.
For flaming damage (the only magical effect die) I would have liked to have seen a more generic die called elemental damage or magical damage as
Lastly I there needed to be several character examples for players and GM’s to inspect
Synopsis
I liked BONES: The Customizable Dice RPG. There is a good and deceptively simple rules foundation that allow for a lot of possibilities. I like the dice mechanic and the painless character building. It is a game (once the dice are assembled) that could be picked up and played in the matter of minutes by even the most inexperienced gamer. It also has a subtle depth that many experienced gamers (like myself) should enjoy.
BONES could have used a little more polish its character building and the campaign setting but with a little work or reading most of the gaps can be filled pretty easy. Hopefully there will be a second edition or supplement for BONES because I would like to see more.
For a gamer of any level looking for something new or fun, BONES is definitely worth picking up at www.rpgnow.com (additionally on that website is a custom dice roller for a dollar and free dice templates to download).
