Custom total for dice roller
In reply to LonePaladin (msg # 2):
I'll be using a slight variant of the Simple d6 system, which I stumbled across while looking for a lightweight mechanic to use in a mainly story-focused game. It's a very bare-bones set of mechanics, but I know some people have made an effort to make variants like "Simple d6 fantasy" and "Simple d6 sci-fi" that seem more defined. AFAIK these mostly pin down what skills and items are available, however, and don't change the base mechanic.
In Simple d6, any action with uncertain outcome result in a roll of the dice. You roll 1d6, and for each skill you have that relates to the action you add another die to the pool (kinda like Wushu, I think?). Skills are arbitrarily defined by the GM and player together, and you can have any number of them as you keep gaining new ones.
The result of the roll is as described in the first post, and then a chart is consulted:
1 = "No"
2 = "No, but ___"
3 = "Yes, but ___"
4 = "Yes"
5 = "Yes"
6 = "Yes, and ___"
7+ = "Yes, and ___ and ___ ..."
In the case of combat, you need at least a 3 to hit, which also equals 1 damage. Damage from successful attacks is equal to the result minus 2.
For results beyond 7, every extra point adds a bonus effect of some kind. For example, if you struck a zombie with a holy sword, the effects could be described as "hacks off its arm" and "holy aura causes the zombie to turn and flee".
I'm not sure if the damage value or bonus effects need to be mentioned by the dice roller. Merely having the "extra 6 = +1" rule would be good enough.
Example:
Output could be something simple like this: "Character rolled 7 using 5d6 (6 3 6 4 1)."
Alternately, if the extra info is added, perhaps something like this:
"Character rolled 7 using 5d6 (6 3 6 4 1). Damage: 5. Bonus effects: 2."