BASTARDS BASIC (my home ruleset for social adventures.)

14 Nov, 2026

A system for 2+ players and one Game-Master (GM).

all mentions of dice refer to d6.

Principles

detailed and explained in my last post.

• Everything in the world affects and is affected by something else. There are no dead leads.
• Knowing what is connected to what else is the most powerful tool at your disposal. If you investigate this, there'll always be progress for you to make, and danger to put yourself in.
• Messing with something’s most delicate relationships is the most effective way to mess with it, but also exposes you to those same risks.

Creating a Character

Roll once on each of the following tables, for Upbringing, Training, and Misfortune. Each gives your character Skills (italicized) and starting Equipment (bolded).

The places, people, and events referenced in the tables should all be real and currently affecting your game-world; I highly suggest writing your own for the setting you plan to run your game in. Note the results down, and make them come up during play. Don't forget: the player-characters are part of the game-world too.

The following examples are built for the setting I'm currently writing: Theocastrum, a metropolis based on 19th-century Rome/Naples/Milan.

Upbringing (d6)

1. Left to a convent of schismatic nuns as a toddler. Religion. Banned prayer booklet.
2. Helping out in the back of a mercenary-beloved cook-shop. De-escalation.
3. Playing in the trash-fields outside the industrial quarter. Hiding, rummaging.
4. Courier-kid for Church administrative offices. Running. Messenger bag with a false bottom.
5. Actually studying! In a school, with a teacher! Latin, classical music.
6. Cleaning factory chimneys and fixing machinery. Squeezing in tight spaces, hunger.

Training (d6)

1. Building the new ironwork bridge over the River of Bronze. Industrial processes. Hammer, helmet.
2. Smuggling goods in piles of merchandise in the harbor. Black market. Dose of opium, switchblade.
3. Handling and hauling goods in the river-harbour warehouses. Storage, weightlifting. Retractable hooked pole, candle.
4. Great Cathedral security guard. Fighting crowds. Baton, cloth breastplate.
5. Caravan-rider from afar, driving the carts bringing weapons and gold. Haggling, orientation. Flintlock pistol.
6. Printing newspapers and advertisement pamphlets in the workshops of grand enterprises. Spreading information. Letter-opener, stack of revolutionary pamphlets.

You can’t choose what your character is, but you can choose how they act in the conditions they are presented. What do they think of their past? Were they forced into their occupation by circumstance, or did they actively seek it out, and why?

Misfortune (d6)

1. Beat someone very important in a game of cards. A single out-of-mint gold coin.
2. Involved in a large-scale factory strike. A red smoke bomb.
3. Seeked the protection of an excommunicated preacher for a crime. A basket of bread.
4. Stood up to a gang of mercenaries attempting to extort you. A fancy feather.
5. Your employer’s land flooded due to neglected canal infrastructure. Bag of barley seed.
6. The Church attempted to seize your property through a bureaucratic loophole. A wax seal.

If applicable to the setting and to the players’ expected roll within them, have them start with some money.
For Theocastrum, this is d6 Ducats, enough for a single night’s stay at an inn of low-to-middling quality.

Alternatively to rolling Misfortune, you might choose to roll a single Misfortune for the whole party ahead of time, and start the adventure in-medias-res, as the described event is taking place.

Saves

When a risky situation presents itself, make a Save to avoid negative consequences. Roll a die, and:

• add another die if you have a Skill applicable to the situation;
• add another die if you have a piece of Equipment applicable to the situation;

to a maximum of three dice on a single roll, if you have both.

If your save is contested by an NPC, both roll as above: whoever rolled the highest number succeeds, the other fails. In a tie, whoever initiated the contest wins.

Hit Points

Each player-character (and generally, each human character) has 3 Hit Points, which represent your ability to endure harm. A regular instance of damage (a punch, a bar-stool to the head, slamming against a wall, etc.) removes 1 HP; a more severe hit (getting stabbed or shot, struck in the head with a warhammer, falling off a building, etc.) removes 2 HP.

At 0 HP, you are knocked unconscious or otherwise made unable to fight/move around. At negative HP, you are dead.

Recovery

Characters recover 1 lost HP per night spent in a safe location where they can eat a hearty meal. More long-lasting injuries require the (expensive) services of a doctor.

New Characters

Introduce a new player-character when:

• an existing player-character dies;
• when a player wants to retire their character, temporarily or permanently;
• when a new player wants to join the game.

When a new player-character is needed, the table may create a new character from scratch, or the player may take on an NPC the party has befriended and who is willing to join them. If the context permits it, have a player whose character has died/become indisposed in the middle of a session take on the role of an NPC ally in the vicinity until the session ends and a more permanent replacement can be found.

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This is the system I use in many of my home games. Now, you don’t need me to tell you that, in the grand scheme of things, the ruleset you use doesn’t matter, at least not as much as the adventure design and the GM’s approach to refereeing and the player’s initiative to act and yadda yadda yadda. Still, I’ve been meaning to put this system out there somewhere for everyone to see and use, and now it is, and i can sleep ever so slightly more serenely at night.

And hey, if you like it, tell me! I’m thinking of making a proper booklet with layout and art and character sheets and everything. If that interests you, lemme know on the discords or the blueskies. Link’s in the homepage of this blog. Byeee!

#mechanics