On several occasions I’ve found myself in situations where it would be fun to play Dungeons & Dragons, but I just don’t have the usual resources at hand. What comes out of that is a “game” of cooperative storytelling, with some kind of conflict resolution element. The following system came about as a result of talking with Adam, a fellow Dungeon Master, about conflict resolution that was dice-independent. In this case, I’m drawing on a variation of rochambeau, or rock, paper, scissors. Specifically, I’m renaming the options in Sam Kass’s five-option variant, rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock.

Basic Game Mechanic

The game mechanic for conflict resolution is based on the “contest”. A contest is resolved by comparing a spontaneously-generated hand sign with one generated by the game master. The contest values, along with their original names, are as follows:

Stamina (Rock), relates to Constitution (CON)

Stealth (Paper), relates to Dexterity (DEX)

Sword (Scissors), relates to Strength (STR)

Subtlety (Lizard), relates to Charisma (CHA)

Sorcery (Spock), relates to Intelligence (INT)

Contest Order

Sword cuts Stealth; Stealth subverts Stamina; Stamina resists Subtlety; Subtlety sways Sorcery;
Stamina resists Subtlety; Subtlety sways Sorcery; Stamina resists Subtlety; Subtlety sways Sorcery;
Sorcery zaps Sword; Sword severs Subtlety; Subtlety exposes Stealth; Stealth undermines Sorcery;
Sorcery saps Stamina; Stamina defies Sword

Characters

Characters have five basic abilities: Constitution, Dexterity, Strength, Charisma, and Intelligence. Given an array of values (1,2,3,4,5), players assign one value to each ability. High value indicates the character’s primary role in the game. Each role has an associated feat.

Depending on your primary ability (5 score), your character can perform the following feats once per encounter:

Fighter (STR): Awarded one success in any single contest versus a monster, or in a “Strength“ challenge.

Sorcerer (INT): Grant one success to each ally when you succeed in a contest using the “Sorcery” hand-sign.

Rogue (DEX): Steal one success from a skill challenge or monster when you succeed in a contest using the “Stealth” hand-sign.

Bard (CHA): Either steal one success, or restore one lost ability point to an ally, from a skill challenge or monster when you succeed in a contest using the “Subtlety” hand-sign.

Cleric (CON): Restore one lost ability point to each ally when you succeed in a contest using the “Stamina” hand-sign.

Conflict Resolution

For each Skill or Monster challenge, you must contest hand signs with the Game Master. You will need to succeed on the best of 3, 5, or 7 contests depending upon the difficulty of the challenge, or power of the monster.

If your success results in a victory over a monster, you may immediately move to join with an ally against their opponent. The monster must choose which player to attack on its turn. On your turn, you will be able to make your regular attack.

When you fail in a contest with a monster you temporarily lose one ability point (based on sign used by monster). If ability points = zero for any one ability, then character falls unconscious. Abilities reset at end of each combat/challenge, or one point may be recovered for each round of rest taken during combat.
An ally may take a round to grant a rest to an unconscious player.

Creating Challenges and Rewards

Game masters are encouraged to create challenges and monsters of various difficulties for their players, keeping in mind the capabilities of their parties. Rewards for successful completion of challenges can be monetary- and/or equipment-based. Feel free to create magical equipment based on some of the following mundane samples:

A helm will add one Ability Point to your INT, for damage purposes (temporarily lost ability points).

Armor or shield will add one Ability Point to your CON, for damage purposes (temporarily lost ability points).

A sword or other weapon, when used by a Fighter, will award one success in any single contest versus a monster, once per encounter.

A wand or other implement, when used by a Sorcerer or Bard, will grant one success to each ally when you succeed in a contest using the “Sorcery” hand-sign, once per day.

A holy symbol or other relic, when used by a Cleric, will restore one lost ability point to each ally when you succeed in a contest using the “Stamina” hand-sign, once per day.

Thieves’ tools, when used by a Rogue, will steal one success from a skill challenge or monster when you succeed in a contest using the “Stealth” hand-sign, once per day.

In Closing

No real provisions have been made for scaling the system, and I’m sure there are lots of opportunities for improvement. The design goal was really to provide a simple system for a near resource-free adventure role-playing game. Let me know what you think, or if you have any fun with it.