This is a simple ruleset for roleplaying, inspired by Vincent Baker's "Otherkind dice" idea. I'm calling it a playset for now, because it still needs some rules for how to construct a scenario before I can properly call it a game.

Before You Play

One player is the GM; he or she comes up with a scenario: a situation where something bad is going on, or is about to happen, and hopefully one or two different sides with different wants and needs.

The other two players each make up a character and decide how their character fits into the situation described by the GM. That's probably just a few hints; the full details of the scenario won't be known to them until and unless their characters discover them.

You will need some dice, also. I use three white dice (d6s), one yellow d10, one green d8, and one or more red dice (d6s). The colours aren't necessary, but they make it easier to tell them all apart. The white dice are basic dice, the d8 and the d10 are Feature dice, and the red dice are advantage dice.

Making Characters

To make a character, first come up with a basic concept ("brave princess warrior", "aging banker with extra-sensory powers", etc) and name the character.

Second, write down four character Features. Features help you succeed in play. Each character has four Features. Choose four things from the categories below:

• A passion, belief, motivation: something that drives the character. ("In love with the Empress", "driven by the need for revenge", "seeking God")
• A character trait: some aspect of the character that is a powerful force of his or her personality. ("Brave as a lion", "sultry seductress", "charming jokester")
• A background, profession, or bit of the character's history. ("King's scholar for twenty years", "served the NYPD as conflict negotiator", "former gladiator", "raised by wolves in the wild")
• A skill, talent, or unusual ability. ("champion archer", "brilliant inventor", "hotshot pilot", "master thief", "has a pair of gills and webbed hands")
• An important possession: an item of equipment, a pet, a tool, or a weapon. ("My faithful steed", "a magical sword", "a suit of powered armour", "a set of lockpicks")

If you really want, you can take two Features from the same category, but you must have at least three different kinds of Features. Choose one of your four Features to be your character's Main Feature--it is more influential, more important than the others. Add a detail to your character that somehow hints about that Feature to anyone who meets him/her.

Third, come up with something that is a flaw, shortcoming, disadvantage, fear, or source of pain for the character. This is a fifth Feature of sorts. It can get you in trouble, but usually won't give you any kind of advantage.

In Play

When a conflict--a tense, uncertain situation--comes up, the GM may ask the player of the character who is involved to roll the dice. When one of the GM's characters faces an uncertain situation or conflict, the players may ask the GM to roll dice for that character, if they wish. (If their character is involved, it's usually better for them to roll the dice themselves. But they can ask anyway, if they choose.)

When a roll is called for, the player controlling that character tells everyone what the character is trying to achieve: their goal. Each of the other two players names a danger that character faces: something bad that could happen whether they succeed or fail in achieving their goal.

1. Set out the three white dice.
2. If the character has a Feature that would help them in this situation, replace one of the three white dice with the d8.
3. If the character's Main Feature is helping them in this situation, replace one of the three white dice with the d10.
4. If the character is well-prepared for the situation, or has some other advantage over their opposition, add one red die to the three dice on the table.

The player then rolls the dice. Any die that comes up with a 5 or higher is a "hit". The player can spend his or her hits as he or she wishes:

• Spend one hit to succeed at your immediate goal.
• Spend one hit to avoid one danger.
• Spend one hit to establish an advantage for your character. Write down what it is.

If no hits are spent, the character fails to achieve their goal and both dangers come true.

Advantage Dice

Aside from getting an advantage die simply by enjoying some kind of advantageous circumstances, there are two other ways:

1. When you establish some kind of advantage by spending a hit you rolled, it's just like holding on to that die for later. When the advantage comes into play, you can roll an advantage die in addition to the dice you'd normally get and erase that advantage.

2. Whenever your character does something stupid, desperate, or irrational--i.e. gets in trouble--because of one of his or her Features, make a mark on your character sheet. You've just earned an advantage die you can later spend at any time.

The GM can instigate this, too: "Hey, I see you're 'Very brave'. I'll give you an advantage die if your character decides to jump through the flames." If the player accepts, he or she earns an advantage die just the same way.

Spending Earned Advantage Dice

You can also spend two earned advantage dice to create a new Feature for your character. It replaces a Feature you currently have. For five advantage dice, you can replace your fifth, flawed Feature with something positive.

How Many Features Apply?

Normally, you just get the die for whatever Feature is most applicable: the d8 if it's a regular Feature, and the d10 if it's your Main Feature. However, sometimes there's a really strong case for more than one Feature being an advantage for your character for a given roll. If it's a Main Feature and a regular Feature, bring in both the d8 and the d10. If it's two regular Features, bring in the d8 and say the other Feature gives your character an advantage: add in a red advantage die. In all such cases, feel free to be generous--this ruleset is designed so that it's always best to err on the side of the player rolling the dice. By the same logic, hand out that advantage die liberally.

That's all the rules!

Other Stuff

Some optional things.

Magic

For a Feature that is magical, unusual, psychedelic, or weird:

• Say what it's useful for. Write down three things. For instance, the ability to breathe fire might be useful for "frying men or beasts", "melting stone or metal", and "frightening, intimidating, or impressing one's foes".
• Say what its limitation is. This must be accepted by all the other players, so make it interesting. That fire-breathing ability might be "useless against women or children", for example.

Challenge

If a character's goal sounds like something really, unusually tough:

• Only a hit generated by a die that rolls a 6 or better can be spent to achieve this goal.

Helping and Hindering

If you want to help or hinder another character's roll:

• Say what you're doing to help or hinder, and what you're trying to achieve: are you trying to help them achieve their goal? Fail at their goal? Helping them avoid a specific danger? Trying to make a specific danger happen? Choose one.
• If you're helping, pick up two dice. The GM names one danger that you face. If you have an applicable Feature, adjust the dice as usual. Once they're rolled, you can choose how to spend any hits--to avoid your own danger, or spend it on the danger or goal of the player you're helping.
• If you're hindering, pick up two dice. The person you're hindering names one danger that you face. If you have an applicable Feature, adjust the dice as usual. Once they're rolled, you can choose which die to allocate to avoid your danger, and which to hinder your opponent. To succeed in achieving the goal or avoiding the danger you're trying to cause, your opponent must not only score and spend a hit, but must also use a die with a higher result than yours, or your efforts to hinder them succeed.

Helping or hindering dice are rolled first, before the main character's roll is made.

Quick example: The Vizier wants to grab the vase from the flying carpet. You want to hinder him--keep him from getting that vase--so you pick up two dice. You're using your "prehensile tongue", so you switch one of the d6s for a d8. The Vizier's player says the danger is that you fall off your perch. You roll the dice and get a 3 and a 6. You decide to let the danger happen--you WILL fall off that perch, and probably break the vase--but you spend the 6 to hinder the Vizier's goal. Now the Vizier will fail, the vase snatched from his grasp by your tongue, unless he has a die showing a 7 or higher and uses that hit to succeed.