Updating Time - Bloody, Bold, and Resolute (or at least 2 out of 3)

I am a week into radiation treatments, which are not going too poorly. I have been warned that the worst is yet to come, but for now I'm doing okay. The biggest thing I’m dealing with are the side effects of the medicine I am on to dull my nerves and senses; it's basically for pain suppression, but it makes me really, really loopy. However, it works. I smacked my toe the other day, split the toe nail, and was bleeding pretty good, and I had a moment of ‘ouch’ before my brain just said, 'nope. doesn't hurt' and it suddenly stopped hurting altogether - even though I'm pretty sure it hurt like a mother.

That said, I know that projects make my happy. Okay, projects at least distract me from being unhappy, so that's just as good, right? Anyhow, I started tinkering with Cupcake Scouts just to do it, and then realized I had a whole new way to look at the 2D6 system, and then decided this would make a wicked sweet update to the Resolute game system I did like a decade ago. For those who don't know (that would be pretty much everyone), It's a 2D6 fantasy game system. 
Let's try to summarize this...

Your character has only four abilities: Attack, Defense, Talent, Hits. In each, you have a rating of +0 (meh) to maybe +4 (super duper mighty fine). Hits work a little different, starting at 3 and going as high as maybe 7. You attack? Roll 2D6 + your attack rating. Want to avoid being hit? (or avoid a spell effect, resist that toxin, or dodge the falling stone?) Roll 2D6 + your defense rating.

Monsters, enemies, and situations have static ratings; a goblin might have an attack 8 (so you roll defense trying to equal or beat that 8), while that dragon with defense 13 is going to be pretty hard to land an attack on.

However, I realized that I have always viewed the numbers as expanding east and west along the number line (can I push this to +5? Will +6 unbalance the game?) but never viewed it as north-south orienting the numbers. What I mean is, you have ways to interpret the numbers beyond just their basic value. Here's some examples from my rough notes:

You can choose to focus one ability; this means that you have advantage, rolling 3D6 and keeping the better 2 dice any time you check this ability. So, a fighter type is going to favor attack, and will get to roll 3D6 (keeping 2) to hit, while everyone else rolls a boring old 2D6. Same number scale, but a different way to get to the result, and a marked advantage within that same scale. Furthermore, the fighter can select a 'tag', a way that they want to specialize in combat. Here are the three options I have right now:

-        Archer. Any time your total attack result is 12+ with a ranged weapon, you immediately attempt another attack on the same action. 

-        Might. Any time your total attack result is 12+ with a melee attack, you deal 2 hits instead of 1. 

-        Savagery. At will, add 1 hit of your own to damage you deal on a successful melee attack. You may add up to your Att rating times each turn.

So, the numbers are still in the same scale, but there are different ways to interpret the results.

I have some working solutions for magic and skills like thievery that I like as well… I’ll save those for another blog post…