Brawlquest

A simple, chaotic, dice-based RPG you can learn in minutes.

Play as yourself in an imaginary environment. Fight your friends to the death with creativity and luck.

Setup

All you need to play are 3 or more people, writing materials, and a six-sided die.

A doodle of the materials needed and an example of a player sheet. The player's name, a Health stat, and a Holds list

The Questmaster

Choose one person to be the Questmaster (QM). They will come up with the environment, narrate the game, and decide what happens. They must be creative and able to improvise quickly.

The Players

Everyone else will be Players, who actually play the game and make actions. Write all Player's names on paper.

Health

The health of Player's in-game versions is represented by a written number from 100 (full health) to 0 (death). The QM decides how much health Players lose or gain on their turn, if any. They start with 100.

Holds

Holds is a written list of the Player's items, abilities, and conditions. The QM decides what Holds Players gain or lose during the game. They start with none.

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Gameplay

Gameplay consists of Players taking turns making Actions.

Actions

To make an Action, the Player says specifically what they want to do and how they plan to do it. Players can use their Holds and surroundings to their advantage. Usually only one action is allowed per turn.

The Player then rolls the dice. That number and their Holds are used by the QM to decide what happens in-game.

World

The World is the environment the game takes place in. Each game has a unique World made up by the QM as it is explored by the Players.

Each time a Player encounters a new part of the World as a result of their action, the number they rolled is used by the QM to determine how dangerous (low number) or advantageous (higher number) that environment will be to the Player.

Roll Outcomes: 1 is catastrophic failure, 2 is failure, 3 is partial failure, 4 is partial success, 5 is success, and 6 is success with a bonus.

Starting & Winning the game

The first round of each game has Players rolling to "Wake up" as their action. Their roll is used to determine where they wake up in the game World, what is nearby them, and if they're immediately in danger.

Over the course of the game, Players gather weapons, items, and Holds that will help them fight the other Players.

The last Player standing wins.

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More

The content in this section is totally optional. Skip it if you think you're ready to play.

Gameplay Example

The playersheets for Biff and Dana. Both have acquired some holds and taken some damage.

It's difficult to fully understand the rules until you see them in play. Here's an example of how a typical turn might play out:

This game takes place in a sewer system with lava. It's halfway through the game and Players are starting to encounter each other. In-game Biff is attacking In-game Dana using some of the Holds he has gained. It's Biff's turn. Biff is standing on a giant oven mit raft which is floating down a lava canal. Dana has jumped onto the raft on her last turn.

Player Biff: "I want to use my Hot Hands to heat up my steel pipe and hit Dana on the head."

The QM has decided to allow Biff to attempt to do this because these two kind-of-seperate actions are apart of one attack.

Player Biff rolls a three.

QM: "Biff, you heat your crowbar, but it starts to melt in your hands as you swing at Dana. It clangs off her helmet and you fall over, landing inches from the lava. No more pipe, and take 5 points of damage from the fall. Dana, take 3 points of damage from being hit."

Biff's turn is over, and now it's the next person's turn.

Bonus Rules

The QM chooses whether to implement these bonus rules. QMs are encouraged to make up their own.

Roll Substitutes: The QM can offer Players to do something else instead of Roll the die to determine their success. For example, a feat of strength can be decided with an arm wrestling match with the QM.

Revival Roll: On their first turn after they die, a Player can roll to revive themselves. If they roll a 6, they are revived with 15 Health. If they roll a different number, the Player who killed them gets +15 Health (if applicable).

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