Impressions of Swords and Six-Siders

 Having played Swords & Six-Siders (S&SS) pretty much as written what are my impressions?

Well, the solo adventure was somewhat disappointing. It was mostly riddles; I did not have a single combat encounter although Tweedle succumbed to a trap.

Nevertheless, I found it very easy to whip up an adventure at a moment's notice. The monsters are identified with a single monster level, which determines combat stats, hit points, etc. I just picked out a few monsters from a satisfyingly long list and away I went. The appendix of the Expanded Edition even has conversion charts to translate classic D&D monsters to S&SS.

Combat was quick and intuitive, similar to D&D. Roll vs the enemy's AC to hit, then roll damage if applicable. S&SS only uses a single D6 so AC is either 4, 5, or 6*. Not a lot of granularity but it makes it easy to remember in combat. Also, there are not a lot of modifiers, so math is minimized. 

* Some higher level monsters can have AC = 7, but a natural 6 still hits.

Damage rolls always use a D6 with a +1 mod for two-handed weapons. No groping for dice. An interesting facet is that body armor does not affect AC but reduces the damage roll (with a minimum of 1). This is a concept with which I have been experimenting so I like the idea. Also, it somewhat solves the granularity problems with to-hit rolls. Even if you reduce armor classifications to light, medium, heavy you potentially have a 3 point modifier, which is extreme on a D6.

Differences in fighting ability for characters with the same type of armor is modeled with the higher skilled (i.e. higher level) character having more hit points. I have quibbles with this system, which I will share at a later time, but it is consistent with D&D and does work.

Ability checks are a simple D6 roll with a target of 6. An ability of 6 gives a +1 modifier to checks while a 1 gives a -1 mod. The GM can also add half the character's level if it seems appropriate. At one point, Tweedle had to make a Dexterity check to avoid falling into a pit trap. With a DEX of 6, he received a +1 mod. His roll of 5 was a success.

I tweaked a couple of minor things during my session:

• Characters generally start with 3-6 hit points, gaining another D6 per level. Tweedle, for example, started with 3. Given that weapons do 1D6 damage, it's quite possible for a novice character to die with one hit, as happened with Tweedle. For my second test, I employed an "operatic" variant from the sci-fi version Lasers & Six-Siders, which gives an additional 10 hit points at start. I think this may be a bit excessive, but as I prefer a more cinematic style I would definitely say that characters need to start with more hit points.
• I added critical hits with resulted in double damage. I ruled that would only happen half the time on a natural 6, however, Criticals definitely helped Tweedle in the Sea Devil Cave. He scored a couple of of them (including a 12-damage crit on the boss!).

Other than that, I pretty much played as written (I did use D12s because they were handy, but I converted results to a D6). Overall, I was very happy with the results. There weren't a myriad of stats to complicate combat and the game ran smoothly. I don't think I had to look at the rules once! I can see myself adopting S&SS as my go-to RPG rules (although I probably won't because I like to tinker and design). Nevertheless, if I were starting a campaign with new players, S&SS would be my go-to system.

Overall, I heartily recommend Swords & Six-Siders.