Revolver
Not a Beatles album, but a sketch of a 1-in-6-based RPG mechanic, intended for a group of at least 3 players. Take and adapt as needed.
Create a character in your preferred way. You might write a 50-word description, list their strengths, roll 3D6 down the line or use an actual system. The resulting index card or character sheet defines what your character can achieve.
In play, narrate what your character does. Any player (including GM, if there is one) may interrupt to call out things that seem impossible or risky.
When challenged in this way, take a good look at your character sheet. Discuss with the table and make sure everyone agrees. Then, do as follows:
- If impossible, decide on a different action. (If in doubt, ask your GM how you can get closer to your goal. Maybe you have to sneak up to the dragon before you can stab it in its soft underbelly.)
- If risky, you'll do it. There is no failure, but there are possibly costs. Ask everyone for threats. Pick one of those options. Roll a d6. If it turns up 1, the threat you picked comes true. On any other number, it goes smoothly. Either way, describe the successful risky action and its outcome, and then invite another player to take up the narration.
- If neither risky nor impossible, simply say how you do it and then let another player step into the spotlight.
Minutiae:
- Threats may range from slight complications (like losing an item) to character death. Always come up with something negative, though. Lean towards heavier impact: The chance is only 1-in-6.
- In PbtA terms, players are always "failing forward": All rolls are successes, sometimes with a complication, though complications are often akin to hard GM moves.
- You may never define a threat for your own roll, but you can always take your pick. (If you really hate all of them, you may pull back and let another player step into the spotlight.)
- Among the options given by other players, you're free to choose the one you like most. It need not be the threat that's least dangerous or easiest on your character. Think it over before deciding. Chances are the threat will not come true, and surviving mortal danger feels so much better than, say, not losing your flashlight.
- If you like, you can propose PbtA-style GM Moves like "Reveal an unwelcome truth" or "Show an approaching danger" as threats, even ones unrelated to the situation and the character performing the risky action. However, a danger introduced in this way should be massive, a real turning point in the storyline.
For example, the party has found shelter in a friendly old man's hut during a snowstorm. Player A says her PC wants to rummage through the man's chest while he has his back turned, stoking up the fire. Everyone agrees this is risky. When it comes to threats, player B suggests that, on a roll of 1, the friendly host may turn out to be a cultist of a reptile god, intending to sacrifice his visitors to the deity. How this fact might be revealed (or hinted at) is left open. Also, note that the NPC remains a friendly old man without any cult affiliation if player A rolls anything but a 1.