Dash - Charge Creator Kit

Dash is the condensed Charge format for quick play, fast onboarding, and lightweight Powered by Charge game design.

Dash - Charge Creator Kit hero art

Introductions

Dash is a condensed version of Charge that fits on a half fold brochure. With this new and streamlined format, it has never been easier to get started with Charge!

It can be used as a Charge cheat sheet for your table, but it’s also a great stepping stone if you want to design your own Powered by Charge game.

Features

  • All the core rules of Charge, condensed in a half fold brochure format.
  • A streamlined action list ready for pickup and play.
  • A beautiful minimalist character sheet on the back cover of the document.
  • Affinity Publisher and Google Docs templates for you to make your own Charge game using the Dash format.

The Game

Before We Start

Define lines that should not be crossed. Pause or rewind the game if something uncomfortable happens during a session. Always make sure everyone is comfortable with the direction of the story.

Playing The Game

One person is the game master (GM), the rest are players.

GM: Guide the story, present challenges to the group. Be a fan of the players. Ask them questions, fill the world with their answers. If it’s cool, let them try or split complex challenges into clocks.

Player: Narrate what your character does. Make action rolls when things are risky. Give everyone a time to shine. Fill the world with your ideas. Take risks, and rise up from failures.

Action Rolls

When there’s a challenge that needs to be overcome, and there’s a risk of failure, make an action roll. This resolves the action of the PC as well as any GM characters that are involved

GM, telegraph the risk of the roll (low, moderate, high) and the effect (limited, standard, great). Pick an action, roll 1d6 for each action dot, and read the single highest result.

If you end up with zero or less dice to roll, roll 2 dice and keep the lowest.

  • On a 66, it’s a critical success. You achieve your goal with increased effect.
  • On a 6, it’s a full success. You achieve your goal.
  • On a 4-5, it’s a partial success. You achieve your goal, but there’s a consequence.
  • On a 1-3, it’s a bad outcome. Things go badly, and there’s a consequence.

Momentum

When a player makes an action roll, that roll can generate momentum. You start every session with 2, and generate more when you make successful rolls. You use momentum to get various bonuses or resist incoming consequences.

  • On a 4-5, you gain 1 momentum.
  • On a 6, you gain 2 momentum.
  • On a 66, you gain 3 momentum.

When momentum is spent for a roll, that roll cannot in turn generate momentum.

Consequences

If you make an action roll, and you get a partial success (4-5) or a bad outcome (1-3), you suffer a consequence.

  • Reduced Effect : reduce the effect of the action by one level.
  • Complication: tick 1-3 segments on a new or existing danger clock, based on the risk.
  • Escalated Risk: increase the risk of future related action rolls by one level.
  • Lost Opportunity : what you tried didn’t work, you need to use another action.
  • Worse Condition: take 1-3 stress, based on the risk.

STRESS: When your character takes stress, tick segments on your stress clock. Update your character’s condition beside the clock. If you fill the clock, clear it, and you are taken out for the scene. To recover stress, rest, lay low or seek medical attention. The GM will look at the fiction and tell you how much stress (1-4) you clear.

DETERMINATION ROLL: To resist or limit your or someone else’s consequence, build a pool of d6s by adding 1d6 for each charge of momentum you are willing to consume. Roll and take the highest result.

  • On a 1-3, the consequence still happens.
  • On a 4-5, the consequence is reduced.
  • On a 6, the consequence is avoided.
  • On a 66, the consequence is avoided, and the risk of your next roll is lowered.

Your Character

When creating a new character, write down their details:

  • Concept: an elevator-pitch version of who the character is.
  • Appearance: what the character looks like, what they wear, etc.
  • Ties: 1-3 relations that the character has with certain people or organizations in the world.

Assign 4 action dots among the following 6 actions on your character sheets.

  • Muscle: move, overcome, wreck.
  • Finesse: hide, skulk, lurk.
  • Move: run, jump, climb.
  • Study: gather, scrutinize, analyze.
  • Talk: befriend, charm, manipulate.
  • Focus: concentrate, meditate, trance.

At character creation, actions cannot have more than 2 dots.

PROGRESSION: After a big story event, every PC gets a new talent. This either gets you a new action dot, or a situational talent. For the latter, decide on a specific situation that activates the talent’s bonus and fill the blanks on your sheet.

Challenges And Danger

When the PCs face a complex obstacle, like enemies putting up stiff resistance, or when you want to inject the tension of impending danger, don’t leave it to a single action roll: draw a clock.

Clocks are circles divided in 4, 6 or 8 segments. Generally, the more complex the problem, the more segments in the clock.

When a PC tries to overcome an obstacle with an action roll, tick a progress clock with 1 segment for a limited effect, 2 segments for a standard effect, or 3 segments for a great effect.

When a PC gets a complication as a result of their action, tick a danger clock 1 segment for a low risk, 2 segments for a moderate risk, or 3 segments for a high risk.

Special Actions

PUSH YOURSELF: Consume 2 momentum per push and gain one of the following.

  • Add 1d6 to your action roll.
  • Increase the effect of your action.
  • Take action even if you were taken out.

ASSIST: Consume 1 momentum to add 1d6 to an ally’s roll. Doing this also exposes your character to the same risks.

ADD TENSION: Ask the GM to add a consequence to the scene. If you accept it, add 1d6 to your action roll.

SET UP: Make an action roll to improve the effect or risk for people following through with your action.

PROTECT: Step in to confront a consequence that an ally would otherwise face. Describe how you intervene, and suffer the consequence for them. You can try to reduce or cancel the consequence with a determination roll.

FLASHBACKS: Call for a scene that has happened in the past to affect what hasn’t been established in the fiction yet. The GM sets a cost in momentum, between 0-2, and asks for action rolls if necessary.

FORTUNE ROLL: To disclaim decision making, you can make a fortune roll. The result of the roll helps guide the outcome as to where the story goes next, but doesn’t feature momentum nor consequences. Roll a number of d6s based on a specific action or the odds of a thing happening, and interpret the results.

  • On a 66, it’s a critical success. There are great results, and something exceptional happens.
  • On a 6, it’s a full success. There are great results.
  • On a 4-5, it’s a partial success. There are mixed results.
  • On a 1-3, it’s a bad outcome. There are bad results.

Designer Notes

This next section goes over how to customize and adapt the mechanics found in this document to help you design your own game Powered by Charge.

Your Game

This is your project, so you can create, update, remove all the text and mechanics found in this document in any way you want. You just need to give us attribution for our work (see the Attribution Text section).

Content Warning

Take the time to include a content warning section that includes the themes present in your game. Being transparent will go a long way to ensure a safe playing experience for everyone at the table.

Your Setting

Explain the setting of your game, and what the story is mainly going to focus on. Touch on the sort of challenges the PCs will encounter, the factions that inhabit the world, and the places the player character might visit.

Your Momentum

Dash is a game that revolves around initiative, and momentum is the reason for this. It is what drives the players forward. Momentum is awarded when the player characters take risks, and is consumed to give bonuses in return. For your game, think about the triggers that will generate it, and the different ways it can be spent.

Your Consequences

More often than not, action rolls will succeed, but with a consequence. The types of consequences available for the GM to use in your game will help shape the kinds of adventures that the players will experience. Dash games are about moving forward. Considering this, think about the types of things that can go wrong for the player characters, and define them as consequences. The default list of this document works as a good starting point, but you should change it to better match your game’s aesthetic.

Your Stress

Stress is the default health pacing mechanism of the game. If you want characters to feel stronger or weaker, adjust how big is the stress track, what kind of triggers can fill it, what happens when it is filled, and how it can be cleared, etc. Be as generous or harsh as you see fit. You can also rename it to something else, or use multiple tracks to handle different types of consequences.

Your Determination

Characters in Dash are proactive, and take matters into their own hands. But, when things don’t go according to plan, they burn their momentum as a way to get the narrative control back. You can change the cost of using a determination roll, or reevaluate the result distribution as a way to reinforce the themes present in your game. Don’t forget that when a player character thinks about using their determination, they are considering using their precious momentum now, even though it might complicate things later.

Your Details

A character is usually defined using details. Details are aspects that are true about a character. Those aspects give them narrative liberties in the fiction. Think about the important aspects of your game, and include them as character details. Things like backgrounds, relationships, equipments, etc. Once defined as details, player characters can just use or call to them without having to roll for anything for they are true.

Your Actions

To interact with the world, characters use their actions. To make this game your own, you should customize the action list to something that better fit the aesthetic of your setting. Look at the kind of things you think player characters will do the most. If you aim to have a smaller action list, each action should cover more ground, and the opposite is true if you want to have a broader list of actions. To decide of the amount of initial action dots players can assign at character creation, divide the number of actions you have by half, and add 1 to it.

Your Talents

In Dash, characters talents are meant to be filled by the players when they reach an important milestone in the story. To help with analysis paralysis, consider designing a list of situational talents for the players to pick from when they gain a new talent dot. To design situational talents, try to frame them in a format that looks like “Get X bonus when Y situation happens”.

Your Playbooks

Instead of having each player decide of their details, skilled actions and talents, you can provide playbooks for the players to choose from. Doing this helps the players get a clear idea of the kind of characters they can play, and also enables them to get to play your game as quickly as possible. To design a playbook, give them a name, pre-fill their details, assign action dots, and design a unique talent tree for them. Each playbook then acts as a fun and unique archetype.

Your Progression

By default, progression happens when the GM considers that the story has reached an important milestone. Depending on the kind of pace you want your game to add, consider tying additional mechanics to the progression system. Maybe progression happens every time a mission is successful, or perhaps a clock is tied to the way progression works. Your choice.

Your Push

Players can burn their momentum to push their characters to their limits, and gain mechanical bonuses in return. For your game, think about the cost of pushing yourself, and the various types of bonuses you can gain from it.

Your Extra Mechanics

Dash comes with a set of mechanics that handles numerous aspects of gameplay. Dont hesitate to get rid of the stuff that doesn’t apply to your game, then add mechanics that you think will reinforce your world. Add only what is necessary, and try to tie it with the core dice mechanic to keep things homogeneous.

Your Rolling Tables

Consider adding rolling tables for the things you consider important in your world. Rolling tables help in two-way. First, they help put a focus on what is significant in the game. Second, they help facilitate sessions for when the players are in doubt about where the story should go next. You could include tables for things like items, locations, allies, enemies, complications, missions, etc.

Other Guidelines

Start with the setting. Try to find inspiration from things you love. Something like a movie, a TV series or a book. Once you’ve found a piece a media that gets the inspiration flowing, mix it with a second one to create a unique combo. From there, work on adding things from your imagination to create something nobody has ever seen before. Think about the core gameplay loop that the players will experience when playing the game. Every mechanical aspect of your game should reinforce this loop, and the setting. If it doesn’t, take a moment to see if the mechanic is required at all, or find a way to tie it back to the game in a rewarding way. Remember, less is more. This SRD is written very briefly to give you a lot of design room. Rephrase or expand as you see fit to make this game your own.

License

Both Dash and Charge are released under Creative Commons Attribution CC-BY.

That means that if you want to make a game using or based on this, you just need to give us attribution for our work.

Because Charge is based off Blades in the Dark, you would also need to include attribution to the creators of this game as well.

To do so, copy the text below in your own game and things should be good to go.

This work is based on Charge, product of Fari RPGs (https://farirpgs.com/), developed and authored by René-Pier Deshaies-Gélinas, and licensed for our use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

This work is also based on Blades in the Dark (found at http://www.bladesinthedark.com/), product of One Seven Design, developed and authored by John Harper, and licensed for our use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).