2026-03-13

A Life of Violence

It’s Luke Gearing’s Violence!, but with d6’s. Some of the words here are practically Luke’s exact words from his original post. These can be found in the Other Cases and Hand-to-Hand sections in particular.

Initiative

Roll 1d6 per individual or group. Highest goes first.

Do this at the beginning of each round, a single moment between life and death.

If you’ve caught your opponents by surprise, you all shoot first and roll 1d6 again after the ambushing party’s turns.

Groups can be used for larger scale actions involving, for example, 3–4 bands per “side” of a conflict.

Shooting

Find a target within line of sight and roll 3d6. A matching set of dice for any number hits. Prior training means rolling 4d6. Advantages as a whole such as higher ground or surprised targets adds an additional 1d6. Rapid fire of at least 3 shots adds another at medium range or closer.

Handguns always roll at 3d6 beyond close range regardless of advantages or rapid fire. So does shot but not slugs in shotguns.

Injury Checks

If you’ve shot someone, roll another 3d6. Add 1d6 if they are already Injured. Hunting rounds, military calibers, and shotgun slugs add 1d6 too. While buckshot adds 2d6 at close ranges. Add 1d6 per shot fired.

Any matching numbers and the target goes Down. Roll 5d6 and refer to the table:

Lastly, armor deducts a d6 to as far as 2d6 for each rating above 0 to a maximum of 3.

Injuries

They’re real. Apply them to specific body parts and expand on them. There’s a difference between a concussion and a cut on the brow. Deduct a d6 for when an Injury inhibits shooting, -2 for everything else.

Down

Players Downed during combat die without medical attention. Goons die instantly. Treat named characters as players when desired.

Reloading

Account for every shot. Automatic fire consumes 5 rounds with every attack.

Reloading takes always consumes a round. Although, anything that you’ve trained with that’s quickly reloaded can be freely reloaded in between rounds.

These are usually stripper clip loading bolt-action rifles or single-shot breech-loading rifles. Coach guns, maybe.

Other Cases

Sniping

If the targets are unaware and you have training, roll 5d6. If you have advantages, roll 6d6. Otherwise, resolve with initiative onwards.

Suppression

When firing to suppress, no roll is required.

When a suppressed target attempts to take an action which could expose them, roll 1d6. If the number rolled is equal to or less than the number of people firing to suppress, the target is shot. The number rolled is how many individuals hit. Resolve each separately, determining randomly which shooter hits.

If Suppression is at hidden or obscured targets, it only has half effect (e.g. 2 people would have to fire to have a 1-in-6 chance of shooting individuals as they take action). That unless the weapon is automatic.

Firing to suppress uses half the ammunition in a weapon. Weapons without magazines or similar cannot be used to suppress. If a shooter doubles their ammunition expenditure, they count as 2 people firing.

Machine-guns and the like with ammo in excess of 80 or greater use only 1/10th of their ammunition to suppress.

Explosives

Explosives. Resolve as Shooting against all in the blast radius.

• Those in the kill-zone automatically receive 1d6 Injuries.
• Those in the shrapnel-zone automatically receive 1d6-2 Injuries.
• Those in the tertiary-zone roll 4d6 to getting Shot and add 1d6 to the Injury Check.

Shooting a Charging Person

Those with a drawn firearm can try to shoot individuals charging at them out of initiative order. Attempting this means they forgo they turn.

• If they are already pointing the weapon, they have a 5-in-6 of getting 1d6 shots off at them, resolve to hit.
• If attempting to draw and shoot a handgun, they have a 3-in-6 of getting 1d6 shots off at them.
• If attempting to draw and shoot a long arm, they have a 1-in-6 of getting a shot off at them`.

Hand-to-Hand

Both combatants roll 1d6 at the start. +1 with training or experience. +2 if with both. Add relevant modifiers. Announce if intent is to subdue or to kill. 4-in-6 chance someone dies anyway. 5-in-6, if someone’s without both training and experience. Compare the results:

• If the difference between them is 1 or 0, both are Injured and the fight continues.

• If the difference is 2–3, the high-scorer is Injured. The low-scorer is Injured and makes an Injury Check.

• If the difference is 4+, the low-scored is Injured and goes Down.

Compare combatants’ reach. The one with greater reach adds +1 to their roll.

If Melee is initiated during a round, both combatants have their turns consumed until one goes Down.

Grappling

Victorious unarmed combatants can elect to grapple instead of causing an Injury Check. When grappling, they roll 1d6 and consult the table below. They may do any of the actions listed at the value rolled or below (e.g. rolling a 4 means actions 1,2,3 or 4 are available).

1. Shove or Go to Ground.
2. Slam.
3. Throw.
4. Joint Lock.
5. Pin.
6. Choke.

Shoving does just that, propelling the victim away. If they collide with any object, there’s a 3-in-6 they fall, possibly injuring themselves.

Going to Ground means both combatants hit the ground. The victor gets a +2 on the next round of combat against that combatant.

Slams involve striking objects with the grappled person and maintaining a grip. This triggers an Injury Check, with the referee determining lethality 3. The victor gets +3 on the next round of combat against the grappled combatant.

Throws launch the grappled combatant. They have a 5-in-6 chance of falling, and anyone else they hit has a 3-in-6. Those falling take Injury Checks, modified by their environment.

Joint Locks disable a limb - usually one holding a weapon. A break can be forced on a 2-in-6. This, of course, is an injury.

Pins disable the victim totally. They are disarmed in the process. Chokes Down the grappled if not interrupted immediately. They are powerless in this process.

Enemy Morale

Assign a morale rating to a general group of enemies from 3 to 9. The higher, the less likely to rout.

Roll 2d6 when their

• leader is shot

• numbers are halved

If the result exceeds the sum of their total morale, they flee or surrender.

Players’ prerogative on when their characters fold.'

Non-Violence

Use common-sense and conversation to resolve. Otherwise, roll 2d6 and add a relevant skill if applicable. On an 8+, actions succeed. Otherwise, there are failures, complications, or both.

Lifepaths and Skills

COMING SOON.