Stray TTRPG Framework v0.3

Outdated

Newer version with different project name: Nuradan RPG

Stray TTRPG Framework is my attempt at combining features and mechanics I like into a cohesive, simple set of rules for pen and paper or digital roleplay. I also want to own my system in order to create content for it without worrying about licenses changing. It’s meant to be easy to introduce to players, to avoid a lengthy “session 0”, but wants to have features that can carry a game over multiple sessions or long campaigns.

In my Stray TTRPG Framework players will start as a group of “strays”, vagabonds with no home trying to find their place in the world and doing everything they can to survive.

While easy on players, it’s recommended that GMs read through the ruleset and do some preps. It’s not recommended for beginner GMs or GMs that are not used to improvise. My system has a serious vibe, and players will be rewarded for roleplaying above tinkering with stats. It’s also setting agnostic and easily hackable to fit the needs of the GM.

Before starting a game, a GM should have a clear idea of its setting, themes, and hooks that will come up during plays. While the system can be used to fit a sandbox setting as well, I’m designing it for GMs that want to tell interactive stories in a world of their choosing.

Players can expect decision making, challenges, quests, interactivity and collaboration, and combat.

To play, only d6s and a way to take notes for the GM and players should be needed. While I will provide a barebones character sheet and other templates, I want this system to allow for an easy set up with your friends in a bar with just an app to throw dice and another to take notes.

Setting introduction

To make it easy for players to pick up on rules and mechanics, the GM should make the intro work like a tutorial. The GM will first introduce the setting and themes for the game to the players. Playing Characters or (PCs) will start from rags, often just getting out of jail, or after barely surviving a mugging. They will usually need to find food and resources, equipment, and shelter by themselves during the first hours of gameplay.

Players, after hearing about where they are, what are they supposed to start with, and what their general goals could be, would then proceed towards creating their PCs.

Character creation

PCs have 3 main stats that will cover all the challenges they might face during their adventures.

• Strength (STR): This value represents how strong a PC is, and how good they are at smacking stuff or feats of strength.
• Dexterity (DEX): This value represents how agile and dexterous a character is and how good they are at sneaking, balancing, aiming, etc.
• Intelligence (INT): This value represents how smart and charismatic a character is and how good they are at reading, perception, speaking, or casting magic or hacking (if your setting has any).

Their value represents how many dice the player would roll when the PC attempts to do something pertaining to each stat. The higher a stat, the better is a PC in that domain.

Notes for the GM

For regular human PCs, these can have a value ranging from 0 to 6, before modifiers. Different races, NPCs, enemies, or bosses might have values outside of these ranges. As a reference, 1 should be the level an average human is at, where 6 would be the pinnacle of human achievement (before other enhancements comes into play). A fantasy orc, for example, might start with an average STR of 2 and cap it at 8, being superior to humans by default in that regard.

There are 2 more values that will influence how a character will play out.

• Constitution (CON): This value represents a PC’s health and their ability to carry stuff. It is the sum of the base STR and DEX of a PC, and may vary over time as a PC gets hurt, heals, or acquires new strengths. When this reaches 0, the PC will risk death.
• LUCK: A player can spend their PC’s LUCK points to re-roll the result of one die from one of their rolls, once per roll. LUCK is restored at the beginning of each roleplaying session, or when the GM deems appropriate in case of shorter campaigns.

A PC always starts with the following template:

PCs starting template

• STR (1)
• DEX (1)
• INT (1)
• LUCK (0)

After giving a name to their PCs, players proceed with adding 3 points to the starting stats, distributing them however they prefer. The amount of starting points can be changed by the GM depending on where they want the PCs’ power level to be upon game start.

For example, a PC named John spending 2 points in STR and 1 in DEX would combine into:

John

• CON (5) (3 STR + 2 DEX)
• STR (3)
• DEX (2)
• INT (1)
• LUCK (0)

It’s worth noting here that stats can be improved upon in the future by leveling up (see Progress) or by using items, effects, potions, etc.

Fears

Players can decide to optionally add Fears to they PCs, in exchange for extra LUCK points. Fears act as contextual modifiers for rolls. A PC who’s afraid of the dark will have a -1 when trying to roll when no source of light is around them, and so on. I have a short list of Fears in the Examples below, but GMs are encouraged to expand and modify it to suit their campaigns.

Players and GMs are encouraged to roleplay around PCs’ Fears when appropriate.

Traits

My system allows for the use of Traits alongside basic stats. A Trait can be anything from Leatherworking to actual magic capabilities, but they are optional. It’s up to the GM to compile a list of Traits players can choose from at the beginning of a game, or as opportunities for PCs to pick up along their way.

If the GM allows, players may contribute their Traits as long as they are unique enough to contribute meaningfully to a PC.

The GM can decide how many Traits a PC may already have attached at the beginning of a game.

Traits are expressions of a PC’s knowledge, backgrounds, or special proficiencies. Traits can represent fantasy races, magic usage, professions, and more. Traits that can level up are expressed with the format “Trait (X)”, where X is the amount of additional dice a PC can Pool when using their Traits while roleplaying, on top of the relevant stats. Regular Traits offer 1 additional die when used. For player-supplied Traits, the GM evaluates if the Trait can be leveled up or not. Something like a PC’s race won’t usually change, while a profession the PC picked up can be nurtured and grow.

When roleplaying, a player might decide to use one or more of their Traits to resolve a task. There are no fixed rules for how to use Traits, they come with a brief description and must be applied with common sense and logic.

Traits, once acquired, usually cannot be lost or forgotten.

There’s a bunch of Traits examples below.

At this stage, the GM can either introduce inventory management or basic task resolution. I would recommend to start with an empty inventory, and explaining it as PCs gather items, weapons, and resources, and jump into task resolution first.

Game flow

An in-game day is split into four Watches: Morning, Noon, Evening, and Night.

Apart from Combat, each round takes up half of each section, resulting in a total of 8 game rounds per in-game day.

A game round plays as follow:

1. GM narrates, explains, and moves NPCs
2. Each player does something with their PC
3. Repeat

Task resolution

To start with, a GM should introduce a simple Challenge or a Contest, which are two ways to resolve non-combat situations in the game world. This could be reading the area for clues, pickpocketing someone for change, or convincing a merchant to give them some food for free, just to give players a feel for the dice system.

If the result of any action, player or GM controlled, is not obvious, dice are rolled to decide its outcome. D6 are rolled in Pools. A player deduces how many dice to Pool for their PCs depending on the stats in use, useful equipment, bonuses, debuffs, and other modifiers.

A player is encouraged to roleplay and come up with inventive ways to approach a situation to make sure they are taking advantage of everything at their disposal. An item might not have a +1 listed, but if the player give a sufficiently plausible narrative excuse on why the item could constitute an advantage, the advantage is granted.

The results of the dice rolls are measured in Successes: every even number in the result is counted as a Success. On top of this:

• You don’t roll more than 6 dice. Any extra 2 dice in a Pool are automatically counted as a Success. For example, if a Pool says to roll 10 dice, 6 are actually rolled and the remaining 4 become 2 automatic Successes (4/2).
• Results of 6 explode: they count as a Success, and another die can be rolled (and another, if another 6 comes up). It’s important to not re-roll the same die, because the final results are important for interpretation. Dice that explode aren’t counted in the limit of 6 dice per Pool.

Challenges

Challenges, or more commonly “saves” or “feats”, describe an (usually environmental) obstacle the PCs need to overcome in order to get what they want. Dice are rolled against a Difficulty Score (DS) set by the GM: if the resulting Successes are equal or above the DS, the roll is considered successful.

DS	Difficulty level
1	Easy
2	Tricky
3	Hard
4	Heroic
5	Legendary
6+	Impossible

To read the area for clues, for example, a PC would need to use their intelligence and perception to make an accurate assessment, therefore making their INT the relevant stat for the subsequent roll. Reading a peaceful but unknown area might be a simple DS (2) Challenge. A PC with INT (3) would Pool 3 dice and roll them to see if they succeed. If they get 2 or more Successes, they pass the Challenge. Otherwise, they fail.

The leftover Successes from a successful Challenge are called Extras (EX) and can be used by certain Skills or by the GM to further enhance the narrative.

Effort

Sometimes, players might want to control the amount of effort they put into a task to avoid too much EX. As such, players can always choose how many dice to Pool, up to the maximum they can currently afford. They are not forced to always throw the maximum number of dice.

Risk

Sometimes, PCs might want to attempt something that, regardless of its DS, might be considered risky. For example, a PC might want to jump from one roof to another, with some distance between the two. The PC just needs to run and jump, making it a DEX Challenge, but if they are not careful they risk to injure themselves.

For this, GMs can set a Risk Score (RS) to add an extra dimension to the dice roll. The RS is added to the DS, but it’s not required to pass a Challenge: PCs can still succeed when they meet the DS, but to do so without consequences, they will also need to mitigate the RS with additional Successes.

RS can be assigned following these guidelines:

RS	Risk level	Description
1	Minor	The PC risks something like a strained ankle, or the loss of an unimportant item, a one day long disadvantage.
2-3	Moderate to Severe	Injuries start to occur around here, as well as important debuffs, or other consequential changes to a PC gameplay like an NPC refusing to talk to them. They fucked up, and they need to feel it.
4+	Major	The PC risks the worst that can happen to a character before actual death, which can also be plot related: loss of an essential quest item, death of an important NPC, being put in jail, etc..

If a PC succeeds but couldn’t mitigate all the RS involved, the remainder is used to narrate some consequences in line with the above table. Of course, Extras are calculated after RS mitigation.

A PC launching themselves from roof to roof might be DS (2), RS (2) Challenge. Let’s imagine a PC with DEX (5) racking in 3 Successes from their dice roll. They beat the required DS (2) so they succeed, but are left with RS (1), which signals a Minor negative consequence for the character. They might have strained their ankle in the process of landing and they need to roll one less die on their DEX for the rest of the day.

Contests

Trying to pickpocket someone, convincing a vendor to give the PCs a bargain, or winning at arm wrestling against someone all require a PC to go against someone else’s stats. When this happens, opposing rolls are thrown: who gets the most Successes wins.

For example, trying to get free food at the beginning of a game might require a PC with INT (2) to go try to convince that NPC who has INT (2). Both Pool their dice and roll (the GM would roll for the NPC) and the results are tallied. The NPC gets 1 Success, while the PC gets 2, succeeding in convincing the NPC into giving them some bread.

As in with Challenges, leftovers in Contests may be counted as Extras and may be used in certain contexts.

Helping others

Players can team up to face Challenges, and sometimes even Contests. There are no specific rules on teaming up, it’s up to the players and the GM to decide the appropriate course of action depending on each situation. I believe my system has enough flexibility to allow for inventive ways of teaming up.

For example, pushing a heavy boulder out of the way could be tried by all the PCs Pooling their STR. In our example of traversing roofs, there might be a PC on the other roof ready to catch the PC jumping. The GM decides that this could reduce the RS by 1. Trying to pickpocket somebody could be helped by a PC distracting the victim and reducing their INT roll.

In my game, the GM has to mediate and support the decisions of the players, while still keeping the tension of Challenges and Contests.

Inventory

A PC’s base Carrying Capacity (CC) is equal to that PC’s current CON, but modifiers can be applied to it separately from CON. For example, carrying a Backpack adds 3 CC to a PC independently of their actual CON.

Generally, items use 1 CC each. Bulky items take up as much CC as their Bulky stat says, and Petty items don’t count towards a PC’s CC. Some items are Stackable, and can fit into a single slot up to their Stack Size. For example, Torches have Stackable (5), meaning a PC can carry up to 5 Torches using up just 1 CC.

There are a few Example Items below.

If a PC reaches or goes above their CC, they become Encumbered (X), where X is the number of excess CC being used. X is then subtracted from dice Pools: if a PC is Encumbered (2), for example, and they were supposed to Pool 5 dice, they pool just 3 instead.

Coin shouldn’t count towards CC.

At this stage, players should have a feel of how the game should progress. They should have gathered some food, resources, and maybe some pieces of equipment. They should have a clear idea of where they are and what’s the world around them is like. Now, the GM can lay down a few plot hooks and let the players work towards reaching some more long term goals.

Weapons

Weapons can come in their simplest form as “Weapon STAT (X)” where STAT is the relevant Stat roll they influence (STR, DEX, or INT for magic staffs or drones) and X is the amount of dice the weapon contributes to the Pool.

Weapons can have additional effects or rulings in their description.

Armor

Armor comes in its simplest form as “Armor (X)” where X is the amount of Wounds that can be mitigated during Combat.

Armor can have additional effects or rulings in their description.

NPCs and Enemies

PCs will interact with a lot of NPCs and probably some Enemies along their way, each controlled by the GM.

Every entity will have its own stats like the PCs do: CON, STR, DEX, and INT. Some entities might even have some LUCK the GM can use. Entities’ LUCK can be reset during rest periods.

Rules on how to take down Contingents are explained in the Combat section below.

Combat

Combat is played in rounds, and Combat in this system is not meant to drag on for sessions on end. The GM may decide to run boss fights or large battles over multiple stages with different rules, but that’s up to them. The Combat rules are currently being fleshed out a bit more with a few playtests, and some sections might still result crude at first read.

PCs have three ways to get into Combat:

• Performing an Ambush on enemies
• Being Ambushed by enemies
• PCs or GM controlled entities openly start Combat

The side that starts Combat goes first, unless there’s are Ambushes or unless something says otherwise. There’s no pre-defined playing order for PCs inside a Combat round, and players can plot their course of action before making their decisions.

Generally, each PC gets to try 1 action during their portion of the round. It’s up to the players to come up with ways to take down their enemies by using their stats, items, and Skills, but there are three broad categories of actions a PC can attempt during their Combat round:

• Attacking
• Preparing
• Escaping

Attacking

An Attack is the primary way to deal Wounds or damage to the opposing side. An Enemy is considered dead or defeated when their number of Wounds matches or exceeds their CON.

There are five primary ways to Attack:

• Melee: A PC needs a Melee weapon to perform a Melee Attack. A PC Pools under their STR, and adds all the modifiers that would apply from weapons, items, or other effects. The number of Successes, plus any additional bonus dictated by items or other effect, minus the Enemy’s damage mitigation (some armor, for example), is inflicted as Wounds to the Enemy
• Ranged: A PC needs a Ranged weapon to perform a Ranged Attack. A PC Pools under their DEX, and adds all the modifiers that would apply from weapons, items, or other effects. The number of Successes, plus any additional bonus dictated by items or other effect, minus the Enemy’s damage mitigation (some armor, for example), is inflicted as Wounds to the Enemy
• Bare Handed: A PC Pools dice under their STR and calculates Wounds as with the other Attack types, but the PC must also run a DEX Contest against their target’s CON. If they lose the Contest, they suffer 1 Wound.
• Magic: Each Magic attack, spell, etc., has its own rules for Combat, but they all have a DS to cast that must be Challenged with the PC’s INT, and / or some other requirements.
• Environmental: A player might decide to use the environment to their advantage: shooting an oil barrel on fire, casting lightning on water, or creating a landslide. These actions, when successful, will Wound the opponents.

Whatever the Attack type, the Pooling of dice works the same as with every other type of task resolution in the game. Players can narrate their attacks while combining their environment, positioning, weapons, equipment, Traits, and other effects.

Preparing

A PC can spend their Combat round action to get into a defensive stance, set up a trap, move to another position, cause a distraction, etc. Anything that doesn’t involve directly performing an Attack.

This is resolved by GM set Challenges and Contests, depending on the situation.

Escaping

A PC can attempt to escape Combat and retreat to a safe position. This is usually very difficult to pull out alone, and one would need the help of the whole group to get out of harms way. This can be a single Challenge or a group effort.

Teaming up in Combat

Players can help each other and team up even during Combat by doing their Combat round action together.

For example, a PC might Prepare a distraction for an Enemy and buff the attack of another PC.

Combat flow

Once a PC has done their play, they’ll need to wait until their next Combat round and other PCs won’t be able to interact with them. They can still be passive subjects of other PCs’ actions, like an empowering spell or another PCs throwing them to the ground to help them avoid upcoming danger.

When players are done with their Combat round actions, the GM takes on and decides the actions of the entities under their control. The same rules for attacking and defending apply to GM controlled entities.

Enemies have a simplified Combat round flow, and will only perform actions listed in their descriptions on top of basic movements and preparations.

Damage mitigation

Armor, effects, or positioning might affect the amount of Wounds someone receives after an Attack. The framework can be made as crunchy as needed. But as a general rule, Armor items should usually state how much Wounds they can mitigate. High ground, attacking a distracted enemy, or backstabbing can constitute advantages that are awarded in the form of additional dice to Pool.

Side play

Not all the PCs might be involved in Combat. PCs that are currently outside of Combat will continue their play as usual, one round at a time, and will play before the PCs that are currently in Combat. They can end up in Combat in a few ways:

• They decide to try an Ambush. If they succeed, they get to play a Combat turn immediately. If they fail, they need to wait for their next turn to act.
• They get Dragged into Combat by some game action, and they need to wait for their next Combat turn to act. For example, a PC might be sneaking around, and a PC in Combat decides to reveal their position (by casting a spell or shouting at them).

Ambushes

Players or NPCs may decide to sneak and do surprise attacks. Depending on the situation, this can be done by running a Contest between the INT of the victim (in case of our players, the target with the highest INT) and either the DEX or the INT of the attackers. If the attackers succeed, the victim skips their first round of Combat. The side that wins the Ambush goes first at each Combat round.

Morale

Some Enemies or Contingents can have a MORALE stat. If they don’t, they will never attempt to flee from Combat. If they have a Morale stat, they have to roll an exclusive Morale check at the beginning of their Combat round. The higher the Morale stat, the less likely the Enemy is to flee.

To run a Morale check, the GM Pools as many dice as many Wounds the Enemy has and rolls. If the resulting Successes are more than the Enemy’s Morale stat, the Enemy will flee or surrender, ending the Combat.

Contingents

Groups of Enemies that can act as one, or are too numerous to manage individually, can form a Contingent. A Contingent can be expressed with the format “Enemy (X)”, where X is the number of units that make up the Contingent.

Contingents will list the stats of one of their units, and upon defeating one, the number of units in the Contingent is reduced and the other stats reset. When the Contingent counter reaches 0, the Contingent is completely defeated. Contingents can take longer for PCs to take down, and expose them to more damage.

Contingents can also have a MORALE stat. To run a Morale check on Contingents, the GM Pools as many dice as many unites the Contingent has lost up to that point. If the resulting Successes are more than the Contingent’s Morale stat, the entity will disband, flee, or surrender, ending the Combat.

Injuries, Healing, and Death

Taking damage from actions or Combat reduces a PC’s CON. Sometimes, events in the game can result in Injuries, or semi-permanent conditions that affect a PC until they are treated. They could be a broken arm that reduces a PC’s ability to carry stuff, or a penalty on STR rolls, etc.

A PC can recover lost CON aside from Injuries by spending the night in a safe spot.

A PC that reaches 0 CON is considered Critically Injured and will die if not treated with utmost urgency by someone with healing capabilities.

Game pace and maintenance

• PCs must eat something fulfilling once per day or suffer a -1 to their COS. This stacks.
• PCs must sleep a few hours every day or suffer a -1 to their INT. This stacks.

Progress

PCs starts at Level (Lv.) 1 and can level up to Lv. 10. There’s no fixed progression system, but I believe everyone learns something at the table and PCs should progress together. For longer campaigns, a GM could let PCs level up at the end or at the beginning of each or every other session. For shorter campaigns or one shots, the GM could use a few rest periods to award PCs a level.

Upon gaining a Lv., players can allocate 1 new point to one of their STR, DEX, INT, or LUCK.

Some Skills may be leveled up as well, with the player spending the point on 1 of them instead of their PCs’ basic stats.

Examples

What follow are some examples GMs can use to craft their additions to each game.

Example Fears

Fear of fires

PCs with fear of fires may be scared when they see fire in any large form, such as a bonfire, explosions, or forest fires. Or they may get severe anxiety thinking or talking about fire.

Fear of confined spaces

PCs affected by this fear will often go out of their way to avoid confined spaces, such as lifts, tunnels, closed wagons, or dungeons. If they are forced into a confined space, they might get sever anxiety or panic attacks.

Fear of open spaces

The PC will be disadvantaged in open spaces such as fields, plains, or large canyons; situations where the PC perceives their environment to be unsafe with no easy way to escape.

Fear of darkness

PCs with this condition have extreme anxiety when they’re in the dark or think about darkness.

Fear of deep waters

PCs with this condition have intense fear of large or deep bodies of water. A PC with fear of deep waters may be afraid of the ocean, sea, and large lakes.

Fear of crowds

A PC with this fear experiences high levels of anxiety when they’re in a crowd or just thinking about being in a crowd.

Example Traits

Race Traits

Human

Can’t learn magic but can use Scrolls or Spellbooks.

Wood Elf

Nimble and agile, advantaged in woods and forest areas.

Orc

Strong brute, starts with an extra point in STR. Can’t learn or magic.

Mountain Dwarf

Sturdy mountain folks that mitigate 1 extra Wound per Combat round. -1 to magic.

Rustling

Fauns and dryads, can use nature magic themed around plants, vines, and roots.

Profession Traits

Cook (1)

Knows stuff about food, can craft meals out of ingredients, etc.

Cartographer (1)

Good at reading maps, orienting themselves, giving directions, planning trips.

Stablehand (1)

Knows their ways around animals, may be able to read tracks, or tame wild animals.

Jester (1)

Might be a professional, useful distraction. Or can be used to earn some money by street performing.

Blacksmith (1)

Knows their ways around ore, smelting, blacksmithing. Can repair equipment.

Mason (1)

Knows how to build a house.

Scholar (1)

Can study, research, identify items. Knows history, geography, politics..

Herbalist (1)

Knows their way around plants, herbs, can craft medicaments and potions.

Cultist (1)

Knows ancient lore, religions, occult symbolisms and traditions.

Doctor (1)

Can patch Wounds, and attempt to save a Critically Injured PC.

Thief (1)

Good at pickpocketing, lockpicking, breaking into stuff, being sneaky and silent.

Tanner (1)

Can skin an animal, or create bags, straps, or other pieces of equipment.

Example Items

The following examples are meant to give GMs an idea of what items can be used for in this framework, and show off their flexibility and rule bending nature.

Sword

• Melee Weapon STR (2)

Dagger

• Melee Weapon STR (1)

Longbow

• Ranged Weapon DEX (2)

Torch

• Stackable (5) Can last for up to 1 Watch.

Plate Armor

• Armor (2)
• Bulky (2) Breaks after mitigating 5 Wounds and must be repaired to be effective again.

Staff of Omens

• Ranged Weapon INT (3)
• Requires INT (3) or more

Mysterious Tome

A book written in an unknown language. An intelligent person or a scholar might attempt to decipher it.

Scroll of Fireball

• Stackable (5) Can be consumed to cast a fire ball after passing a Challenge DS (2) on INT; Blasts an area and does 1+EX damage to affected entities.

Ruby Gem

• Petty

Food ration

• Stackable (5)

NPCs, Enemies, and Contingents

WORK IN PROGRESS

Credits

While this system has been put together by me, it is also inspired by countless hours of live play, hacking, and tinkering with existing games. Additional inspiration comes from games like Risus, Star Wars FFG, Into the Odd, Tunnel Goons, DURF, and more. Some references might be more obvious than others, but I hope you can appreciate the result.

License

This framework and this text are licensed under the CC-BY 4.0 License. This means you are free to share, download, print, distribute, and adapt my work (even commercially), as long as you give appropriate credit to me as the original creator.

Changelog

• 2025-03-30: v0.1 released
• 2025-03-31: v0.1.1 COS → CON typo
• 2025-04-01: v0.2 → major revamp, tutorial flow, Skills, RS, Combat, Contingents, focus on Pools
• 2025-04-02: v0.2.1 → Skills limit on start, Skills progress, Skills list
• 2025-04-02: v0.3 → Skills → Traits, simplified Traits leveling, project name, added more examples