Mechanics Overview

Errant Assets uses a combination of narrative effects and D6 dice pools to resolve conflicts and tension.

Errant Assets characters may have access to abilities or gear that effect circumstances directly. These abilities and gear generally affect how and when dice pool tests will be necessary, and may add bonuses or bypass some tests completely.

Narrative effects are generally defining elements of characters, and are intended to function as written. Though they may be dependent on the success of a paired test, the effects themselves happen automatically on that success.

Example narrative effects:

Errant Assets is meant to be a flexible system, which means sometimes the application of rules may not be straightforward. When in doubt about the interpretation of a rule, the DM is the arbiter of what interpretation is both reasonable and most enjoyable for the entire table.

In the Errant Assets system, you may often encounter narrative situations and effects that are not explicitly described in the rules. In these situations work together as a table to determine any mechanical impacts on rolls or character actions. Keep in mind, though Errant Assets often defaults to semi-realistic physics, this is a game and the enjoyment of the table as a whole is more important than any realism.

When attempting an action, players roll a set of D6s determined by their abilities and situational modifiers.

Each 5 or 6 rolled counts as a “success.” Each 1 rolled counts as a “mistake.”

Challenges will require a different # of successes in order for the action to succeed. A simple action such as negotiating price with a friendly contact may only need a single success, while complex actions such as bluffing past hostile guards may take several.

Generally a player will not know the success target needed for an action, but can make a perception check to estimate the difficulty. The DM can communicate the expected ease of an action if it’s something the character would be able to guess.

Dice pools are generally a combination of 3 elements:

Most dice pools in Errant Assets will range from 4-15, though you may occasionally push this up to as high as 21.

There are no dice pools above 21. If a bonus would give you additional dice beyond that, the dice are lost.

Actions are not always tied to the same attributes or skills. When attempting an action, declare to the table how you are accomplishing that action.

For example:

Success thresholds are flat scores between 1-12

Success thresholds are directly tied to the difficulty of the task, but may be affected by elements unknown to players.

For most skill tests, Errant Assets uses “meet to beat” rules - an action succeeds if it meets the success threshold.

In the few circumstances where you must break a tie, compare additional scores in the following order until the tie is broken: Skill Attribute, Savvy, roll off.

No matter how skilled you are, little slips and accidents happen. Mistakes represent the way these accidents build up over the course of a run. An individual mistake does not have a consequence, but is counted into the “Alarm Pool” that builds over time.

Certain triggers during a run may cause the alarm pool to be rolled. Any 1s rolled in the alarm pool raise the existing alarm state by 1, potentially taking a perfect run into disaster.

The alarm pool is transformed to locational heat after the characters exit the hostile setting.

Growing dice pools increase the chance of rolling a 1, but also the opportunity for big bonus effects or additional successes to negate the mistakes. Larger dice pools give you more options along with the additional risk.

As a skilled professional, there are some actions that your character should have done often enough to be basically rote. At any time, you can trade a dice pool of 5 for a single success with no risk of mistakes.

A guaranteed success must be declared before rolling. Trade the 5 sacrificed dice for a single success and if desired, roll any left over additional dice for additional successes.

You are able to stack guaranteed successes, trading 10 dice for 2 successes, and so on.

Sometimes you will roll more successes than were needed to accomplish the action. Success overages can be spent to modify an action, using one of the options below.

Though a runner lives and dies mostly on their skills, a little luck goes a long way. Savvy can be spent to nudge fate in your favor. Spend savvy points to adjust effects.

Savvy regenerates slowly. Once spent, savvy will automatically refill to your Essence limit at a rate of 1 point per week.

DMs can award savvy at any point during a campaign as a reward for clever thinking or engaging moments. Savvy above your essence limit will be retained until spent, but is always the first Savvy spent.

In some circumstances, a second pair of hands can help assure success. For extended or cumulative tests, multiple characters may be able to roll together to pool successes.

In situations where only one character can make the test (such as a stealth test), other characters may be able to boost the success or reduce mistakes.

Assist actions must always explicitly state how they are helping. To assist a stealth action, you may need to create a distraction, physically block a guard’s sightline, pick up dropped items, or hack cameras. You could assist a perception test by creating a diversion, moving blocking objects, or holding a light.

Successes can be spent either to negate mistakes, or to lower the threshold for the assisted character’s roll.

Assist actions can be resolved before or after the helped check, but the decision to reduce mistakes or lower the threshold must be made before rolling the assist.

Assist actions are not exempt from mistakes.

Every now and then an attempt fails completely through bad luck, bad timing, or both. If a player rolls more 1s than successes on any given test, the test is considered a complete fumble.

Complete fumbles automatically add all outstanding 1s to the alarm pool and trigger the alarm pool to be rolled. Any alarm triggered must be resolved before moving on from the test.

No attempts at mitigation or assistance can reduce the # of 1s added to the alarm pool after a complete fumble is triggered.

If the fumble had enough successes to succeed at the action, the action might be completed. For example, if picking a lock, the lock with still be picked at the end of a critical fumble, but the door might open to a room full of guards, a silent alarm might be triggered, or someone might spot the character kneeling in front of the door on a camera. In some circumstances, having the action succeed might actually be harmful, but it will still complete.

Not all failed tests must be abandoned. Some tests are able to cumulate successes over a space of time. Extended tests keep all of the mistakes and successes from each previous roll until the action is successful or abandoned, at which point they are resolved. Mistakes can be negated by team efforts during each round, otherwise they will be added to the alert pool when the action ends.

Any success overages can be spent during the final action resolution as normal.

Each roll takes the full duration of the action test. For a crafting check that lasts hours, this means each roll represents a loss of hours.

When attempting a simple success-fail extended test, the character will lose all accumulated efforts if they take any other actions until the test ends.

When attempting a cumulative-success extended test, the character will keep all successes but immediately resolve mistakes if they take any other actions.

For example:

For some extended tests and situations, [Working title] leverages a metered tracker. These trackers mark incremental situation changes over time.

For each filled tier of a metered track, effects will apply to characters. This may include circumstantial changes and dice pool bonuses or penalties.

The outcomes of some simple checks may impact ongoing metered trackers, such as a fumbled check raising the alert level.

Most metered tracks have a limit or cap. When the metered track is completely filled, additional effects may occur and spillover to other tracks may be triggered.

Metered trackers are cumulative. Effects from each previous tiers apply even after moving on to the next tier.