D6 Rules/Wild Die

This is a guide on how wild die work in the D6 system. At the bottom, I outline how wild die work specifically on Star Wars: Galaxy at War, so feel free to skip to that portion.

Wild Die
Whenever a wild die comes up as a 2, 3, 4 or 5, just add it into the dice total normally.

When the wild die comes up as a 6, add it to the die total. Roll it again and add the new number to the total, too. If the new roll is 6, add it to the total and roll the die again. You can keep on rolling as long as you get sixes.

For the first wild die roll only, if the wild die comes up as a 1, the player must tell the gamemaster. The gamemaster can choose one of three options:


 * Add up the dice normally.
 * Total up the skill dice normally to see if the skill roll succeeded, but a "complication" occurs (see below)
 * Subtract the one and also subtract the highest other die.

The wild die rule counts for all die rolls in the game, including skill and attribute checks, weapon damage, and rolling Perception for initiative.

If the player is rolling two different types of dice at once - for example, rolling the character's starfighter piloting skill and the starship's maneuverability die code - only one die counts as the wild die.

Why the wild die?
The wild die represents the quirkiness of fate and luck. Sometimes characters are really, really lucky... and other times they just can't seem to do anything right.

For example, Luke is able to successfully fight off scores of stormtroopers while on board the Death Star... but feared bounty hunter Boba Fett falls prey to the Sarlaac. One was having a good day - one was having a very bad day.

Complications
Complications make a character's life more ... well ... complicated. Something directly related to the die roll has gone wrong — sometimes horribly so — and now the characters must deal with the situation.

You should use complications to help tell a more interesting and exciting story. Complications should only happen a couple of times in an adventure — most often during its dramatic conclusion — and should get the players excited and more involved in the game. When you use a complication, the players should be asking themselves, "What do we do now?"

Complications should be fair and balanced: they may put characters in danger, but they shouldn't be "death traps" with no possibility of escape. They should challenge the characters, forcing them to be clever and courageous in dealing with the situation.

Complications can also be used to balance powerful characters. If one character has become invincible — perhaps due to a fantastic set of bounty hunter armor — the armor may short out if a complication is rolled. Complications should be directly related to what the character was doing — if a character gets a complication while repairing a droid, perhaps the droid's components short out and start a fire, or a malfunction makes the droid harder to fix.

Below are some examples of complications from the Star Wars movies:

Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia are running through the halls of the Death Star, being chased by stormtroopers. They come to a door and run out to see ... an empty chasm. Luke makes his Perception roll to find the door controls, but his roll isn't high enough for him to figure out how to work them — and he gets a complication. Thinking quickly, Luke blasts the door panel to shut the door. The complication is that the panel also has the controls to the bridge, so they can't extend it.


 * Han Solo is chasing a squad of stormtroopers down a hall of the Death Star, and has conned them into thinking that he's a whole squad of soldiers — but he also got a "1" on the wild die. The complication is that the stormtroopers round a corner into a dead-end—they have no choice but to turn and fight. That's when they realize that Han is alone.


 * Han Solo is trying to sneak up on an Imperial scout trooper in the forests of Endor. Han gets right up close to the trooper, and thinks his sneak is successful, when CRACK!, he steps on a twig, alerting the trooper. The snapping twig distracted Han, giving the scout trooper the chance to make an attack.


 * Lando Calrissian is flying the Millennium Falcon down one of the tunnels within the Death Star. He makes a space transports roll to get through a tough stretch of tunnel, and succeeds at the roll, but a complication occurs. The Falcon hits a support beam, snapping off the ship's antenna dish and disabling some of its sensor systems.

Pushing the Story Along
Notice that Han's stepping on the twig advances the story. Without the scout troops getting away, the Rebels never would have met the Ewoks, who ultimately disrupt the Emperor's carefully laid trap. The Alliance fleet would have been decimated by the Death Star, while the Emperor would have continued his domination of the galaxy... the fate of the galaxy hinged on Han Solo failing a sneak roll!

Creating Complications
Gamemasters should take a few minutes to come up with complications for key scenes in adventures. Here are a few possibilities: have only a few seconds to act before the grenade explodes ...
 * One of the characters kills a stormtrooper. Unfortunately, when the trooper hits the ground, it triggers the grenade on his belt. The characters


 * A character is doing a routine sensor scan of a planet and either picks up something completely erroneous or misses something absolutely vital. In the first instance, the character may believe that the planet has a small Imperial outpost, while in the latter, the character may completely overlook said outpost and land on the planet, thinking it is a safe haven.


 * While sneaking up on enemy troops, the character's comlink beeps, spoiling the surprise attack. This is a great trick for players who didn't think to turn off their characters' comlinks.


 * A blaster's power pack comes up unexpectedly empty. Alternately, the pack overloads, short-circuiting the blaster.


 * A character slips and falls while moving, perhaps spraining an ankle. The character cannot run until the sprain heals ... this can be even worse if the character is caught out in the open during the middle of a battle.


 * While haggling over the price of a blaster with a merchant, someone else interrupts and offers the merchant's original asking price. This is especially useful if the weapon is somehow necessary to continue the adventure — for instance, if its circuit boards have been imprinted with a secret Rebel code.


 * The characters are tracking someone who's carrying a sensor beacon when the beacon is discovered, dropped, or stolen. Now, the characters are on a wild gundark chase while the target escapes.


 * The vehicle the character is piloting runs out of fuel, its controls freeze up, or perhaps the weapons become locked on autofire because of a computer glitch.


 * Two characters in a lightsaber duel have their blades fuse. The characters must make opposed Strength rolls to free the blades.


 * A computer system the characters are slicing through freezes up for a second. Is it just a glitch or something else?

How It Works On SW:GaW
The Star Wars: Galaxy at War +check system automates the wild die process; it automatically sees a 1 and subtracts, and it will loop the 6 rolls infinitely, as long as you receive a 6.

However, the benefit of the SW:NW +check system is that it shows you each result plus the wild die result. What does this mean? Well, it means you can follow one of the three rules outlined above! If you're running your own private scene with other players and you all agree to ignore the wild die, you may add up the skill rolls as normal - or you may use the Complication rules, where you add up the skill roll normally to check for success, but something screwy happens like outlined above that helps propel the story in a new and interesting way - remember, the fate of Endor hinged on Han getting a complication on that Sneak roll (in game mechanic terms).

So the decision is up to you, the players, how you want to use the wild die - the system just automates the process for simplicity, but it is open to players changing the rules as they see fit for their scene. Remember, that is the golden rule of the MUSH... the D6 system is merely a tool, not the end-all-be-all.

However, if you are in a scene with a GameMaster running it, the GameMaster will determine the wild die rules.