D6 System vs Open Legend
Compare D6 System and Open Legend side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| D6 System | Open Legend | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Universal | Universal |
| Tags | Toolkit, Modular, Cinematic, Hackable, Skill-Based, Character Building | Toolkit, Classless, Hackable, Heroic, Modular, Character Building, Tactical, Crunchy |
| Core Mechanic | Rate attributes and skills in numbers of six-sided dice, then roll that pool and total it against a difficulty number set by the GM. One die is the Wild Die: a 6 explodes and is rolled again, while a 1 can introduce a complication. Pips give +1 or +2 between full dice, and Character Points can be spent to add dice to a roll. | Roll a d20 plus one or more attribute dice (d4 through d12 based on attribute score, scaling to multiple dice at higher scores) against a Challenge Rating. All dice explode on their maximum face and can keep exploding without limit. Characters have eighteen attributes split across Physical, Mental, Social, and Extraordinary categories; extraordinary attributes channel banes (negative effects) and boons (positive effects) instead of tracking a spell list. Advantage or disadvantage adds extra dice and drops the lowest or highest before summing. |
| Dice | d6 dice pool | d20 + d4–d12 |
| Complexity | Medium | Medium |
| Availability | Free quickstart | Free core rules |
| Runnability | 4 of 5 book tools | Book tools not listed |
| License | Proprietary (licensed from West End Games) | Open Legend Community License (SRD) |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | Not yet researched |
| Publisher | Gallant Knight Games | Seventh Sphere Publishing |
| Year | 2024 | 2018 |
| Languages | English | English |
| Best For | Groups who want one adaptable engine they can take across genres (cinematic action, fantasy, cyberpunk) with modular crunch they can dial up or down. | Groups who want a single classless engine to handle fantasy, science fiction, modern, or horror campaigns through eighteen attributes spanning physical, mental, social, and extraordinary domains, with magic and special effects folded into the same dice mechanic as combat. |
| Highlights | Attributes and skills are rated in numbers of d6 that you pool, sum, and compare to a difficulty number, so improving a trait literally adds dice. One die in every pool is the Wild Die, which explodes on a 6 to push results higher and can trigger a complication on a 1. Genre Modules for fantasy, cyberpunk, superpowers, and more bolt onto the same core, so one engine spans many settings. | All dice explode on maximum rolls with no cap, producing occasional dramatic result spikes through the same mechanic that handles ordinary rolls. Magic is folded into the attribute system through banes and boons, so extraordinary attributes like Energy or Entropy roll for fixed effects rather than tracking a spell list. Hits that exceed a defense by ten or more automatically apply a free bane on top of damage, so big roll-overs translate into status effects like knockdown or stunned rather than wasted overflow. |
| Considerations | Large dice pools mean rolling and summing many d6s per action, which slows resolution for highly skilled characters. The breadth of optional modules and rules variants means groups must decide which subsystems to use before play. Character creation allocates dice and pips across attributes and skills, requiring some up-front arithmetic. | First-level character creation spends 40 attribute points across 18 attributes plus 6 feat points across a tiered feat list, producing heavy upfront decision load before play begins. Weapons have no damage dice (damage equals your action roll minus the target's defense), so weapon variety within a category is largely cosmetic, and the book itself notes that a longsword mechanically dominates a shortsword. Hit points come from Fortitude, Presence, and Will (HP = 2·(F+P+W) + 10) rather than from level, so a character who dumps all three stays near 10 HP regardless of how much XP they earn. |